Chapter 624: You Are All Loyal Ministers

Taiyuan — a city of fierce, biting winds. Ever since the first year of Duke Zhao of Lu, 541 BC, roughly the fourth year of King Jing of the Eastern Zhou, when Xun Wu of the Zhonghang clan of Jin led his army north to strike the Red Di and seize this place, it has been the northern pearl of the Chinese agrarian civilization.

From the Eastern Zhou to the present, more than fifteen hundred years have passed. Many places have changed their names several times, but no matter how this city changed, it has always had only two names: either Taiyuan or Jinyang.

Of course, the Xin dynasty period doesn't count. That fellow Wang Mang was probably a map obsessive — he could always cook up some new tricks on a map.

When Zhang Zhao arrived at Jinyang, it was just dusk. The majestic city of Jinyang left Zhang Zhao dazed and spellbound.

He suddenly realized where the confidence of Liu Zhiyuan, Guo Wei, and the others came from — it was this very city of Jinyang.

What a mighty city this was!

Its circumference was at least eighty li, meaning each side of the wall alone was more than ten kilometers long. It had eight main gates, plus sixteen auxiliary gates.

There were six barbicans of various sizes. Along the walls stood seventy-seven wall battlements and sixty-one enemy towers, with countless bastions, pit traps, and the like besides. At its widest, the wall top could accommodate eight horses abreast without crowding.

The wall's highest point was about three zhang, and the moat below was more than a zhang deep. The wall body was built of rammed earth mixed with lime and clay, reinforced with dressed stone.

The city moat was both wide and deep, its surface glittering. One glance was enough to tell that draining such a great river would require an unimaginable amount of work.

Besides this outer city, within Jinyang there were also two inner cities — the Tang imperial palace built on the foundation of the Jinyang Palace, and the Hedong Military Governor's headquarters — both equally high-walled and thick-walled, with large stores of grain and fodder.

Against such a mighty city, even if the outer city were breached, if the inner city's defenders fought to the death, the time required would have to be counted from half a year upward; the outer city would probably be counted in years.

Zhang Zhao looked up. The gate tower atop Jinyang's wall, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, pressed down with the overwhelming weight of Mount Tai flying straight at one's face.

Zhang Zhao glanced left and right. The civil officials and military officers around him all wore shocked expressions. If they had truly come with an army to attack, the soldiers would probably conclude before even fighting that this city could never be breached, and their morale would drop by three-tenths.

"What a mighty city! To the north it joins Mount Xizhou, to the east it commands the Taihang range, to the west it leans on the Luliang mountains, and to the south stretches open flatland that can harvest a hundred thousand shi of grain. It holds the strategic pass of the four frontiers and controls the capital city of the five plains.

The Great Dynasty's founding emperor, the Later Dynasty's ancestral temple, and the Jin ruler Shi Jingtang — all marched south from this place to seize the Central Plains. Extraordinary!"

Zhang Zhao said with deep feeling. He thought of how, in history, the power of this city of Jinyang had been displayed to the fullest in the early Northern Song.

Liu Chong, a mere scoundrel, with descendants all mediocrities, had been able to rely on the single city of Taiyuan alone to hold out against the Later Zhou and Northern Song for more than twenty years.

But later, such a mighty city was destroyed at the hands of Zhao Guangyi.

The Chariot God feared Jinyang's mighty walls and resented the long, stubborn resistance of its soldiers and civilians. He called the place "the first to submit in prosperity, the first to rebel in decline," and then used the excuse that the stars of Kaifeng and Taiyuan were incompatible to issue an edict ordering Jinyang's destruction.

Zhao the Second first moved the city's gentry and wealthy households to Kaifeng and Luoyang, then set the city ablaze. What was especially vicious was that the Song army's burning of Jinyang was not planned but done on a whim, without notifying the people of Jinyang.

By the time the great fire spread, the common people had no idea at all. Countless elderly and children in the city were burned to death or trampled to death while fleeing.

Afterward, Zhao Guangyi conscripted tens of thousands of men to level the peak of Mount Xizhou north of Jinyang, calling it "plucking the dragon's horn."

He also ordered the Fen and Jin rivers to be diverted to flood the ruins of Jinyang, forbade anyone from living in the area, and utterly destroyed Jinyang.

That dog! Why couldn't he have been killed by the Liao army at Gaoliang River?

At this thought, Zhang Zhao's temper flared. He suddenly said to Zhang Cheng beside him, "Hold a Hundred Donkeys Feast today. We shall have a proper meal of donkey meat!"

Zhang Cheng:...

Li Fang over there had not heard the emperor angrily say he wanted to eat donkey meat. Instead, he thought the emperor had been awed by Jinyang's imposing might, so he cupped his hands and said to Zhang Zhao:

"Though this is the mightiest city under heaven, it cannot withstand the most benevolent lord under heaven! Your Majesty follows Heaven and answers the people's call; your benevolence and virtue spread across the four seas. The heroes of the realm hear of it and bow in submission. Why fear this mere single city!"

Zhang Zhao's mood immediately improved considerably. He laughed heartily and continued walking forward. To tell the truth, he had just now, in fact, entertained the faintest thought — should he destroy the city of Jinyang?

This place's geographical position was simply peerless, with a mighty city crouching upon it, the nearby populace fierce and hardy, and over these past few decades, marching south from Jinyang to become emperor had almost become a convention. It truly did put great pressure on the defenseless Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture.

But once Li Fang said those words, Zhang Zhao immediately couldn't help but let out a rueful laugh.

He was not that Chariot God from history who had barely managed to hold the state together through countless perils. There was no need for such despicable methods.

At Jinyang's south gate, the Ying'en Gate, Liu Zhiyuan's lawful wife Li Sanniang and his son Liu Chengyou knelt at the very front, with all the officials of Hedong, great and small, kneeling behind them.

Among them, Liu Chengyou, not yet sixteen, was stripped to the waist and leading a fat sheep, in the posture of baring the flesh and leading a sheep in surrender. He shivered uncontrollably outside the gate tunnel. It wasn't the cold — it was probably fear.

The moment Zhang Zhao arrived, Liu Chengyou grew even more terrified, actually shaking like someone stricken with malaria, unable even to speak.

Li Sanniang, grief-stricken to the extreme, could only crawl forward two steps on her knees in her son's place, press her forehead to the ground, and say in a mournful voice:

"Your subject, the wife of the former Prince of Beiping of Jin, Liu Zhiyuan, surnamed Li, together with her second son Liu Chengyou, kneels to welcome Your Majesty's sacred carriage. We now present the maps and registers of the twelve prefectures of Hedong, and beg the Sage for his mercy."

Hedong in the broad sense is roughly equivalent to the great majority of present-day Shanxi Province.

But in practice, when people speak of Hedong, they mean Hedong in the narrow sense — namely Taiyuan Prefecture and the twelve counties and prefectures under it: Jinyang, Taigu, Qi, Wenshui, Yuci, Yu, Shouyang, Leping, Guangyang, Qingyuan, Jiaocheng, and Yangqu.

Zhang Zhao casually flipped through and looked. In the twelve counties and prefectures of Hedong, there remained more than 97,300 registered households, with a registered population of more than 195,000. He couldn't help frowning.

This figure was far below the 280,000 households of the Tang dynasty's peak, though of course it was also higher than the 35,200 households at the time of the Northern Han's destruction.

Moreover, the actual population was certainly larger than what the household registers showed, because in these registers, each household had only slightly more than two people — that was definitely abnormal.

If one calculated by the normal standard of four to five people per household, there would still be more than four hundred thousand people!

Good heavens. A place as large as Hebei — not counting the six prefectures of You, Yi, Mo, Ying, Ji, and Tan — had been ravaged by the Khitan and disasters until only a little over two million people remained.

But in Hedong, just these twelve counties and prefectures alone still had over five hundred thousand people. Then the whole of greater Hedong probably had around a million.

It seemed he had indeed benefited from the advantage of age. If Liu Zhiyuan had been around his age, who would win the deer — that would truly have been a fight!

Li Sanniang actually still had a fair bit of the charm of a woman past her prime, and she was not old — exactly the same age as Zhang Zhao. But Zhang Zhao had no interest in her.

It wasn't exactly a lack of interest. How to put it — Liu Zhiyuan could be considered a hero, not a playboy like Meng Chang or Li Jing. There was no need to insult him.

Besides, though Li Sanniang had charm, compared to a peerless beauty of eighteen or nineteen like Lady Huarui, she fell far too short.

Therefore Zhang Zhao merely nodded lightly and waved his hand. "Rise. Liu Zhiyuan, though he failed to recognize the times and gave rise to reckless ambition, the fault does not lie with you, mother and son.

In consideration of Liu Zhiyuan's past merit with the soldiers and people of Hedong in resisting the Khitan, you mother and son shall go to live in Luoyang. Liu Chengyou is enfeoffed as Marquis of Shunyi, granted a residence, and given an annual stipend of two hundred strings of cash. Serve your mother well!"

Li Sanniang was overjoyed at these words. Zhang Zhao's attitude surely meant he would not make things difficult for them, mother and son. She immediately kowtowed again, weeping too hard to speak.

Liu Chengyou, who had been scared witless, only now came back to his senses. He kowtowed to Zhang Zhao without stopping, repeating, "I thank the Sage for his mercy in sparing my life."

Zhang Zhao did not stay in the Great Prince of Beiping's mansion within Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong Military Governor's headquarters, but instead moved directly into the Jinyang Palace, known as the Tang imperial palace.

It was here, back then, that Li Yuan was urged by his second son Li Shimin to march south from this place and seize the Central Plains, opening the Tang dynasty's three hundred years of rule.

Of course, this was no longer the Sui-dynasty Jinyang Palace of Li Yuan's time. The original Jinyang Palace had long since fallen into ruin. This present Jinyang Palace, which looked quite suitable for habitation, had been rebuilt by Li Keyong and his son Li Cunxu.

Zhang Zhao took to the Jinyang Palace at first sight — magnificent, grand, and imposing. It also sat at the tail end of the Tianlong mountain range, with the famous Tianlong Mountain Grottoes to the southwest.

These Tianlong Mountain Grottoes, though little known in later times, were so only because in the 1920s they suffered devastating plunder by foreign cultural relic bandits, and later the Tianlong Temple was destroyed by fire, leaving the grottoes essentially ruined and abandoned.

But at present, after the excavation work begun by Gao Huan and his son Gao Yang of the Northern Qi and continuing through to Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes were even more beautiful than the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, and ranked alongside the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang.

Unlike the rigorous, refined sculptural style of this period — that is, of the Tang dynasty — the Longmen Grottoes are renowned for their lifelike, realistic figures full of the flavor of daily life, which more readily put people in a peaceful frame of mind.

Having entered the city, he naturally had to hold a grand banquet for his meritorious officers. Zhang Zhao gazed at the distant Tianlong Mountain grottoes and Tianlong Temple, and said to Li Fang beside him.

"This place has bold and sweeping scenery, a cool climate, and Tianlong Temple is solemn and lovely — truly a fine place to escape the summer heat.

Send men at once with letters to the Eastern Capital, inviting the two empress dowagers, the Noble Consort, the Great King of the Jin Kingdom, and the Grand Princess of Wei to come to Jinyang."

Zhang Zhao still felt some wariness toward Jinyang in his heart, so after thinking it over, he simply decided to bring his mother and the children to Jinyang to stay for a while, to strengthen the bond between the Zhang-Zhou imperial house and the people of Jinyang.

After thinking it over, Zhang Zhao still felt it was not enough, and called back Li Fang, who was just about to go draft the edict.

"Have the Empress come to Jinyang as well. Send her a secret edict telling her that when she arrives in Jinyang, she is to proclaim a three-year exemption for the people of Jinyang, Taigu, and ten other counties from the salt-and-iron tax, the silk tax, the farm-tool levy, and other miscellaneous taxes.

Also exempt the people of Hedong from three years of the poll tax. The heavy responsibility of guarding the Eastern Capital shall be entrusted to the virtuous Noble Consort Cao."

The tax categories at this time were the same as in the mid-Tang, still operating under the spring-and-autumn two-tax system, but apart from the basic tax on farmland, there were also a great many surtaxes collected along with the land tax — the farm-tool levy, the yeast levy, the oxhide tax, and the border-crossing tax.

In addition, there were per-capita miscellaneous taxes such as the poll tax, the salt-and-iron tax, and the silk tax.

The burden on the common people at this time was extremely heavy; even ordinary wealthy households and the local strongmen of small fortified manors bore very heavy taxes.

For the court was filled entirely with unreasonable military men. Other matters could be discussed, and the laws and ordinances often did not have to be strictly enforced — but if you dared not pay your taxes, then heads were certain to roll.

And in order to contend with Zhang Zhao, Liu Zhiyuan had raised the number of tax categories in Hedong to a shocking sixteen, so the burden on the residents of Hedong was truly too heavy.

Hearing this, Li Fang made a suggestion to Zhang Zhao: "The Sage has newly entered Jinyang, and the people's hearts are not yet settled. It would be better for the Sage first to use Liu Zhiyuan's excessive cruelty toward the people of Hedong as grounds to proclaim an exemption from the poll tax for Hedong, Yunzhou, and other places, in order to calm the people. Then, when the Empress reaches Jinyang, exempt them from three years of miscellaneous taxes."

Zhang Zhao nodded after hearing this. Indeed, it should be done this way — first to steady the people's hearts, and then to bestow favor step by step. The two layered together would leave a deeper impression in the people's minds.

So Zhang Zhao immediately announced publicly that the autumn poll tax for Hedong, Yunzhou, and twenty-seven other prefectures would be waived.

The reason he did not waive three years all at once was still out of consideration for fairness and fiscal pressure.

Yet even this one-year waiver of the poll tax at once set Jinyang City roaring with cheers. Zhang Zhao, in the Jinyang Palace far from the city proper, could even hear the cheering.

After Li Fang went out, Guo Rong, Guo Jin, Wang Yin, Liu Ci, Li Tao, and the other Hedong officers were brought in. Guo Rong still looked somewhat embarrassed, but Zhang Zhao quickly waved him over.

"Sanlang, why so distant? Come here, quickly!"

A moved expression appeared on Guo Rong's face. He walked to a point some ten-odd paces before Zhang Zhao, then suddenly prostrated himself on the ground, weeping too hard to speak.

"Your servant has failed Your Majesty in many ways, and also failed the comrades of former years. Beneath the walls of Fuyang I even killed and wounded soldiers and officers of the Great Zhou. Even nine deaths could not redeem such crimes. Truly I have no face to see the Sage again."

Guo Rong was not putting on an act; this was genuine emotion. At Fuyang, the Zhou army outside had shouted battle cries that shook the heavens, and the two sides had clashed at close quarters many times in the breached southern part of the city.

Although Guo Rong had not held back, the guilt in his heart had always been extremely heavy. Now, seeing Zhang Zhao, his heart was nearly at the point of collapse.

Zhang Zhao also gave a long sigh. "When you, Guo Rong, heard that your mother was gravely ill, you did not cling to high office, rich salary, and a bright future, but rushed back across a thousand li — that was filial piety.

In Fuyang you fought with all your strength, and did not betray Liu Zhiyuan because of your special relationship with me — that was loyalty.

That you are now in such agony is because there is still righteousness in your heart. How can such a loyal, filial, and righteous minister be said to have no face to see me?"

Guo Rong raised his head and looked at Zhang Zhao through streaming tears. "However loyal and filial I may be, your servant still killed more than a hundred former comrades. It is truly hard to bear."

Zhang Zhao rose to his feet and pulled Guo Rong up. "This is not the fault of you, Guo Rong, alone. It is the fault of us military men, who for several hundred years have slaughtered one another.

The brave warriors of the realm did not die expanding the borders or fighting foreign foes to the death. How many heroes instead died at the hands of their own people?

I founded the Great Zhou and restored the rites of Zhou precisely so that we would no longer slaughter one another, but could be as in the great dynasties of old, when all the heroes of the realm fought for the country!"

Zhang Zhao spoke these words from the heart, and naturally he spoke them with deep feeling.

Guo Jin, Liu Ci, Wang Yin, Li Tao, and the others all prostrated themselves on the ground, overcome with emotion. Guo Jin in particular appeared deeply moved.

"I only regret that I did not come to know the Sage's breadth of mind sooner. Otherwise there would never have been today's sorrow."

Zhang Zhao released Guo Rong and said to him, "Since your heart is heavy with guilt and you find it hard to bear, go home and rest for a while. I hear you have just had a son — enjoy the pleasures of family life for a time."

Historically, before his wife Lady Liu was killed, Guo Rong had two sons by Lady Liu and one son by a concubine.

But the year 951, when the entire families of Guo Wei and Guo Rong were killed, had not yet arrived, so Guo Rong had only just had his eldest son, Chai Zongyi.

But Guo Rong shook his head and said to Zhang Zhao, "Your servant will not go rest, because my lord father is still in Shexian. I wish to go south and persuade him to come and submit."

At the mention of Guo Wei, Zhang Zhao also nodded, and asked the group of Hedong officers in the hall, "Guo Wei, Bai Wenke, and Guo Congyi have gathered ten thousand troops in Shexian and have yet to come to Jinyang to beg forgiveness. What is their plan? What do they intend to do? Do any of you know?"

Zhang Zhao's original intention was to ask Guo Rong, but Guo Jin, standing behind Guo Rong, suddenly stepped forward and said to Zhang Zhao, "Since the King of Beiping has passed away, Guo Wei and the others, as his subordinates, absolutely cannot have any intention of holding out in stubborn resistance.

Your servant believes that Guo Wei, Guo Congyi, and Bai Wenke are merely afraid that, having killed and wounded so many Great Zhou soldiers and officers, they do not know how Your Majesty will deal with them, and therefore they have gathered their troops and are holding their ground.

Now that Your Majesty has entered Jinyang and has done no harm whatsoever to the families of the Hedong soldiers and officers, if you can pardon the crimes of these three men, a single messenger will be enough to make the army at Shexian lay down its arms and surrender."

Guo Jin had understood Zhang Zhao's meaning. By asking what Guo Wei and the others were planning, he was really asking whether these men still had any intention of continuing to resist.

This was mainly because, historically, Guo Wei had also become emperor. Although they were already at the end of their rope, what if Guo Wei harbored other intentions?

But in the view of Guo Rong, Guo Jin, and the others, Guo Wei would have to be insane to dare such a thing. With only those ten thousand or so men at Shexian, and all their families in Jinyang, they would not dare resist even if you beat them to death.

The reason they had not yet come to surrender was most likely fear that Zhang Zhao would take revenge on the Hedong military men. If Zhang Zhao had let his troops loose to plunder upon entering Jinyang and killed their families, then the three of them would certainly have fought to the death in resistance.

But now that Zhang Zhao had entered Jinyang and done no harm at all, their worries had completely vanished. Indeed, a single messenger would be enough to summon them.

Zhang Zhao smiled and nodded, and said to Guo Jin, "I have heard that you, Minister Guo, once mourned Liu Zhiyuan for three days at Fuyang?"

Guo Jin dropped to his knees with a thud. "In reply to the Sage: your servant is a man of Jinyang and a fellow townsman of the King of Beiping. In former years we both served as generals under the Illustrious Temple Emperor of the Later Dynasty, and he showed me kindness. It was only right to mourn him for three days."

Zhang Zhao understood very well in his heart that everyone under heaven was gradually figuring out his preferences, and so they were all looking for ways to put on the appearance of a loyal minister, so as to find favor in the emperor's heart.

Zhang Zhao was not entirely certain that Guo Jin was putting on an act, but in such matters one judges by deeds, not by thoughts. Even a man who merely pretended to be a loyal minister could be turned into a real one.

"A loyal minister indeed! Then I shall appoint you to go south to Shexian together with Guo Rong, and persuade Guo Wei and the other two to come to Jinyang.

Tell them that this war was a contest between me and Liu Zhiyuan, and that they were being loyal to their lord. As long as they lay down their arms and come over, past offenses will not be pursued."

Having finished arranging for Guo Rong and Guo Jin to go persuade Guo Wei and the others, Zhang Zhao had not even had a sip of water when Zhang Liecheng and Zhao Pu came in.

The matter they reported was also very simple: the question of making the big figures of Hedong bleed a little.

The work of confiscating the mansions of Liu Zhiyuan and his close kin such as Liu Chong, and of taking stock of the Jinyang treasury, was still ongoing, but it was thought that the money and goods would not amount to much.

Because Liu Zhiyuan had staked everything on his decisive battle with Zhang Zhao, he certainly would not have left behind much property.

Then, having spent so much just to enter Jinyang City, Zhang Zhao could hardly end up with nothing at all — the soldiers below were still waiting for their rewards.

Although Zhang Zhao was prepared to take a loss, he certainly could not afford to lose too much.

Therefore, those great Hedong clans that had wholeheartedly supported Liu Zhiyuan, as well as Liu Zhiyuan's trusted confidants such as Guo Wei, Bai Wenke, and Wang Jun, could not avoid parting with some of their wealth.

But this matter could not be handled by Zhang Zhao himself; it had to be done by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Revenue Officials of the Secretariat.

Zhang Liecheng, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Personal Guard, and the Revenue Official Zhao Pu had come to report the "extortion" list to Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao looked it over, struck out only the name Guo Jin, then tapped heavily on the two names Su Fengji and Liu Zhu.

"These two — interrogate them harshly, confiscate every bit of their family property. If anything is hidden, their heads are forfeit!"

Su Fengji was a man deeply trusted by Liu Zhiyuan, and he was especially cruel by nature. In past years, on his birthday, Liu Zhiyuan sent him to the prison to review cases, intending for him to release some prisoners as a blessing.

But when Su Fengji reached the prison, regardless of the severity of the crimes, he simply slaughtered every prisoner in the entire prison. Then he clapped his hands and, refreshed and clear-headed, went to report to Liu Zhiyuan: "The prison is quiet now!"

Liu Zhu was much the same — cruel and fond of killing. In history, the slaughter of Guo Wei's entire family, old and young, and Guo Rong's entire family, old and young, not even sparing infants, was his doing.

What was even more bizarre was that these two were Liu Zhiyuan's trusted confidants. Cruel and murderous as they were, Liu Zhiyuan considered them decisive and relied on them heavily.

Moreover, when Liu Zhiyuan raised his army this time, he scraped the land bare in Hedong, and most of that was also the work of these two. Killing them would justly appease the people's anger.

Zhang Liecheng instantly understood Zhang Zhao's meaning. Zhang Zhao generally did not lightly say that someone must die, but once he said their heads were forfeit, it was certain to be an execution.

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