Chapter 602: The Moral High Ground

The second year of Shaoming of the Great Zhou, 947 CE, New Year's Day, Jinshan Palace.

It had been more than two months since Zhang Zhao, following the advice of his ministers, had sealed off all news from Ma Chu coming through Jiangling.

Ma Xiguang had never detected Zhang Zhao's intentions, because by the custom of the time, since he had come to pay court, it was perfectly normal for the Emperor to keep the envoys of the various states until after New Year's Day when there was no urgent business.

The only one left in an awkward position was the Shu envoy, Li Xiaofeng, a Supervising Secretary of Shu.

For since the Tang Emperor Li Jing had renounced his imperial title and become the Lord of Southern Tang, only the rulers of Meng Shu and Southern Han still held the title of Emperor.

Wuyue had never claimed the imperial title, having always been a vassal of the Central Plains dynasties.

Ma Chu was the same; from the time of its first King of Chu, Ma Yin, Ma Chu had pursued the political strategy of "serving the Son of Heaven above," and likewise regarded itself as a vassal.

Southern Ping went without saying — the nickname "Gao the Rascal" for Gao Jixing and his son Gao Conghui was not earned for nothing.

And Southern Han, far away in Lingnan, had rarely had dealings with the Central Plains dynasties, and had not come this time either.

So among the envoys of the various states on this occasion, only Li Xiaofeng was especially uncomfortable. The Shu ruler Meng Chang was no subject of the Shaoming Son of Heaven, but a rival.

Since arriving at Jinshan Palace the previous year, Li Xiaofeng had basically not dared to accept any invitation from the Zhou state. He devoted himself entirely to keeping his doors shut and receiving no visitors, and together with the few envoys who had come with him from Shu, lived on plain food and drink, as a show of loyalty to Meng Chang.

Your Majesty, you must see clearly — we are men whom wealth and rank cannot corrupt, whom power and force cannot bend, and we have taken no part in the activity of all the realm's states paying homage to the Zhou Son of Heaven.

Had he not been trapped in Jinshan Palace with no way out, Li Xiaofeng would long since have fled back to Shu.

Creak — the door was pushed open.

Li Xiaofeng did not need to look to know who it was. The visitor was surely Zhang Lieming, the man he had once taken for a foolish member of the imperial clan, but who was in fact a high-ranking member of the Brocade Guard.

As for how Zhang Lieming had given himself away, it was actually quite simple. After making contact with Zhang Lieming, Li Xiaofeng had noticed that the Brocade Guard agents who had long kept them under surveillance had become fewer, sometimes almost nonexistent — at least, Li Xiaofeng no longer felt their presence.

Then Li Xiaofeng deliberately waited until Zhang Lieming had come to see him, and sent an attendant to the street corner where a secret agent disguised as a peddler kept watch year-round, and said outright: Lord Zhang orders you to withdraw for the time being.

Upon hearing this, the peddler actually glanced toward the Guiyi Tower where Zhang Lieming and Li Xiaofeng were staying, and hesitated for a moment. Li Xiaofeng understood instantly.

Yet although Zhang Lieming had been taught a lesson by Li Xiaofeng, he was not discouraged, nor was he the least bit embarrassed.

He even took the opportunity to declare that he truly shared Li Xiaofeng's aspirations, and was willing to call him brother.

This ability to remain undiscouraged after being exposed, and to keep pressing shamelessly onward, secretly alarmed Li Xiaofeng.

For although he did not know Zhang Lieming's exact post, since Zhang Lieming was of the imperial clan and served in the Brocade Guard, the Emperor's trusted personal force, he could not possibly hold a low position.

And if Zhang Lieming was still willing to lower himself, he must be after something significant.

Li Xiaofeng did not dare offend Zhang Lieming. To him, nothing else mattered as much as his own life.

His present conduct had already offended the Zhou Son of Heaven; if he offended Zhang Lieming as well, he feared he could forget about ever returning to Shu alive.

So he could only throw his doors wide open and welcome Zhang Lieming in. Zhang Lieming, with great ostentation, had his men lead in two sheep and carry in several jars of fine wine, along with fruits and vegetables that were extremely rare in winter.

The members of the Shu mission, who had been eating plain fare for more than ten days, were already drooling at the sight of the fat sheep and fine wine; the gluttons in their bellies could not be pacified.

Zhang Lieming gave them no chance to decline. With a grand wave of his hand, he ordered the cooks he had brought along to begin preparing the feast right there in the small courtyard of the Shu envoys.

Zhang Lieming took Li Xiaofeng by the hand and sat down with him, a faint, ambiguous smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Elder Brother is truly a master of tactics, seeing through this little brother's meager tricks in just a few moves.

But while Elder Brother won merit, this little brother has suffered badly — I was nearly kicked to death by the Son of Heaven's imperial uncle, and it is all Elder Brother's doing."

Li Xiaofeng felt a chill run down his back. Although Zhang Lieming said it with a smile and a teasing tone, Li Xiaofeng could feel the displeasure beneath it with perfect clarity.

"Brother Cunjie is indeed the Shaoming Son of Heaven's own nephew. Such closeness is something other civil officials and military commanders could only dream of!" Li Xiaofeng had no choice but to speak with great care.

For he knew well that offending the Shaoming Son of Heaven would at worst mean being driven back to Shu in a fit of anger; the Son of Heaven of the superior state would not stoop to target a petty Supervising Secretary like himself. But the Zhang Lieming before him was another matter.

The King of Hell is easy to meet; the little demons are hard to deal with!

Zhang Lieming heard the weakness in Li Xiaofeng's words and suddenly let out a long sigh.

"In the beginning, I met Elder Brother on the polo field. How well we got along! Yet now Elder Brother is full of wariness. Can you and I truly not be brothers, just this once?"

Li Xiaofeng suppressed the urge to shake his head and said slowly, "Brother Cunjie and I each serve our own lord. Moreover, Brother is a noble scion of the superior state — how would I dare presume to claim kinship?"

"And what if Zhou and Shu were no longer divided into 'us' and 'them'?" Zhang Lieming narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice.

Li Xiaofeng at once became utterly solemn. "My Great Shu has a thousand li of fertile fields, a prosperous people, cultured and wise ministers, brave and martial generals, a hundred thousand armored soldiers loyal to the royal cause, and moreover the natural defenses of mountains and rivers, the security of walled forts and fortified passes. It is not something the superior state can covet."

Zhang Lieming gave a soft snort. "If the Lord of Shu truly had a hundred thousand armored soldiers, whence came the great defeat at Ziwu Valley? Do the civil officials of Shu have the wisdom of Zhuge, the Martial Peace King? Can your esteemed father compare to the Martial Peace King?"

Li Xiaofeng's expression grew unnatural. Facing Zhang Lieming's aggressive stare, he could only slowly shake his head.

"My father is noble and pure, yet truly he falls far short of Zhuge, the Martial Peace King. Among the civil officials of Shu, there is likewise none who can compare."

"And the bravest of your generals — can they compare to Guan and Zhang?" Zhang Lieming pressed on.

Li Xiaofeng could only shake his head again. "Guan and Zhang were tiger generals of the age. Shu has none who can match them."

As Li Xiaofeng shook his head, he smiled bitterly inwardly. If Shu had possessed ministers like Zhuge the Martial Peace King and generals like Guan and Zhang at this moment, they would have marched into the Central Plains long ago.

"Since you have neither civil ministers like Zhuge the Martial Peace King nor brave generals like Guan and Zhang, how can Shu not be coveted?

Now our Great Zhou has a sage Son of Heaven on the throne, whose grand vision and great strategy far surpass Emperor Wu of Wei, whose legitimacy in winning the realm is comparable to Emperor Gaozu of Han rising at the Slaying of the White Serpent. He bears the hopes of all under heaven, returned to the realm with the twenty-nine prefectures of Hexi, Longyou, Anxi, and Beiting, and holds the ambition to revive the Chinese people.

In civil affairs he has Zhang, He, Fan, Feng, and Zhao, all men of chief-minister caliber; in military affairs he has Yan, Duke of Jin, Murong of the White Robe, and the other twenty-five loyalists who returned to the realm, as well as Gao, Fu, and An of Hebei, Zhao Kuangzan of Hezhong, and Zhao Yanjin of Shanzhou.

These are all loyal and valiant, wise ministers and renowned generals of the realm. How could Shu not be coveted?"

Li Xiaofeng was left speechless, and could only lower his head in silence.

But Zhang Lieming would not let him off. "From the first time I met Elder Brother, I knew you were a man of profound learning. How can you fail to understand, even less than a wild man like me who fell among the Tibetans, the principle of following a sage lord, unifying the realm, and saving the common people from misery?

It has now been a hundred and eighty years since the great dynasty fell into chaos. Bones lie exposed across the fields; for a thousand li no cock crows; not one household in ten survives. The cruel and the virtueless take the stage one after another. Now is precisely the time to set right what has been overturned.

We who are scholars, born into this age of chaos, why do we not take up the three-foot sword, hold fast to the heart that gives its life for righteousness, and open an era of peace for ten thousand generations?"

Zhang Zhao knew how to deal with these scholars. This whole speech was one he had taught Zhang Lieming to deliver.

The greatest advantage the Great Zhou now held was that it occupied the moral high ground of the Central Plains superior state, and could freely denounce the other states as separatists and dividers of the realm.

Sure enough, this speech quickly struck at the weakness deep in Li Xiaofeng's heart.

For every classic he had studied since childhood, without exception, revered the theme of the realm unified under one rule, and every loyal minister and righteous hero they praised was, without exception, a great loyal minister who upheld the unity of the realm.

The concept of Grand Unity was a hurdle that no scholar could ever get past in his heart.

Of course, Li Xiaofeng could not possibly yield right now. He quickly composed himself and said slowly.

"My father and I have been in Shu for decades now. We were born and raised by the fertile fields of this land, and two generations of kings have treated us generously. There is absolutely no reason for us to betray them."

Zhang Lieming imitated Zhang Zhao's manner, waving his hand grandly and heroically.

"Why would my elder brother say such a thing? Am I the sort of petty man who would incite someone to abandon his lord? When our Great Zhou takes Shu, we won't need to sow discord among the Meng Shu court. We need only send our heavenly troops to the border.

The reason I'm telling you this, brother, is simply that I hope when our army enters Shu, it can harm the common people as little as possible. If we have someone in Shu who understands our hearts, it will also make it easier to restrain our soldiers and officers once they enter."

Li Xiaofeng looked at Zhang Lieming in surprise, suddenly feeling that this fellow actually had a benevolent side. Before he could say anything with emotion, Zhang Lieming looked at him with a mysterious expression.

"These past few days, I have reported my elder brother's character to the Emperor. After much weeping and pleading, His Majesty has basically agreed to release the captured Shu soldiers and let them return to Shu. He has also agreed to let your uncle's family go to Shu. It's just that there is also a brother of Li Hanshi who wishes to go along."

Zhang Lieming said this lightly, and Li Xiaofeng did not pay it much attention. He barely even noticed the last sentence. Instead, he ecstatically seized Zhang Lieming's hands.

"His Majesty is truly willing to release them?"

"A monarch's word is never spoken in jest! If His Majesty says he will release them, then he certainly will." Zhang Lieming said with certainty.

"However, given my elder brother's status, it is probably not appropriate for you to negotiate with His Majesty directly. It would be best if a weighty minister of your father's rank could come in person."

Li Xiaofeng had never been Zhang Zhao's target for recruitment — or rather, not the primary target. The primary target was his father, Li Hao.

(End of Chapter)

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