Chapter 625: Having Taken Yunzhou, He Looks Toward Youzhou

Jinyang, the Jin Shrine — built to honor Tang Shuyu, the founding lord of the state of Jin, and his mother, Lady Yijiang. The exact year of its construction can no longer be verified, but it was likely built in the last years of the state of Jin.

Since the Western Han, the Jin Shrine has been the single most important vessel of Jin regional culture.

Every dynasty carried out large-scale renovations of the Jin Shrine. Especially after the renovations by Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang of the Northern Qi, the shrine rose with towers and viewing halls, ponds were dug through it, and sights such as the Reading Terrace, the River-Gazing Pavilion, the Floating-Cup Pavilion, the Surging-Snow Pavilion, the Benevolent-Wisdom Pavilion, the Equal-Blessing Hall, the Ageless-Spring Pavilion, and the Favorable-Benefit Spring were beautiful beyond counting.

In truth, the Jin Shrine is not only the most important vessel of the culture of the Three Jins, but also an important vessel of Chinese culture as a whole.

Many major surname branches, including Zhang, Wang, and others, split off from the line of Tang Shuyu.

Naturally, the Yan surname of Yan Jin came even more directly from Tang Shuyu of the Jin Shrine.

In former years, Yi, son of Duke Cheng of Jin, was enfeoffed at Yan Town, becoming the first ancestor of the Taiyuan Yan. This branch later spread its leaves far and wide — the saying "all the Yan under heaven come from Taiyuan" originates from this.

Since the Jin Shrine was so important, Zhang Zhao naturally had to come offer worship at the shrine even while matters were still unfinished, for only thus could he show that he valued the land of the Three Jins.

Of course, I, Sage Zhang, always have some novel trick in such matters.

Just when everyone assumed he would follow ordinary ritual and, in his capacity as Son of Heaven, offer sacrifice to Lady Yijiang and her son Tang Shuyu —

Zhang Zhao ordered a somewhat damaged golden seal to be placed in an eight-treasure gold-and-jade casket, and personally carried it in.

This golden seal, engraved with "Hexi Yaqian Chief Military Commissioner," was the sole relic left by Yan Chao — sixth-generation ancestor of Yan Jin, the last Military Governor of Hexi (self-proclaimed), Prefect of Shazhou, and holder of the honorific "Equal to the Three Excellencies."

And within the Jin Shrine, all the Yan-surname clansmen of any standing in Jinyang City, along with more than twenty elderly Yan clansmen over seventy years old, had been gathered.

Among them, an old man of seventy-four stood at the very center, surrounded by the crowd.

He looked as though life had not treated him kindly: a dark, weathered face, a back already badly hunched, both eyes murky and without luster, and hands cracked like the bark of a withered tree.

The brocade robe on him was clearly not his own, for it was far too large — it would be more accurate to say it was wrapped around him than worn.

The reason he could stand amid a crowd of Jinyang high officials and Yan clansmen was that he was very likely a kinsman of Yan Jin.

While Yan Jin was still waiting for Zhang Zhao to arrive in Jinyang, he had sent people to search for his own relatives, and in the end the search had led to this old man.

For in all of Taiyuan, only his family had a tradition passed down by the elders: it was said that the old man's fifth-generation ancestor had a younger brother who held office in Hexi, a man of great courage and decisiveness, once regarded as the hope of the family, who later fell into Tibetan hands — some said he went over to the Tibetans, some said he had died in battle.

This matched Yan Chao's experience all the more closely! Especially the part about going over to the Tibetans.

For Yan Chao, with outside aid cut off and truly no other choice, had gone over to the Tibetans on the condition that the Tibetans not relocate the people of Shazhou — and in the end was poisoned to death.

Moreover, seeing this old man's appearance, Zhang Zhao and Yan Jin believed it all the more. Had some powerful and influential person come forward to claim kinship, it might well have been for social climbing.

But for such an impoverished old man of seventy to come forward, it was unlikely to be entirely false — or rather, even if false, there was likely some truth in it. At the very least, someone in his family must have been stranded in Hexi.

"This is the golden seal left behind by the Military Governor of Hexi, Yan of Taiyuan, of the rank 'Equal to the Three Excellencies.' Elder, please examine it." Zhang Zhao personally handed the golden seal to the old man.

This was to untie the knot in Yan Jin's heart. The family of this foremost fierce general of Zhang Zhou had been carried off to the Qingtang Plateau for over a hundred years, and in truth even Yan Jin himself did not know whether he was actually Han. His only proof was this damaged golden seal.

To put it bluntly — was Yan Jin truly a descendant of Yan Chao? Or had his ancestors simply picked up this golden seal, while he was in fact a Tibetan? It simply could not be determined.

Even Yan Jin himself, when he first came down from the Qingtang Plateau, could barely speak more than a few simple words of Tang speech.

Learning the Han tongue, reading the characters on the golden seal, and understanding its origins — all of that came only after he had killed a Tibetan thousand-household commander and come down the mountain to join the Guiyi Army.

Therefore, finding the root of his ancestry, making himself a true Han, a true descendant of Yan of the "Equal to the Three Excellencies" rank — this had always been Yan Jin's greatest pursuit and deepest longing.

What Zhang Zhao could do for him was to strengthen this outcome and make his identity secure.

When the old man saw the Emperor speaking to him directly, he immediately made to kneel, but was at once held up by the guards.

Yet being held up only made the old man more flustered. Perhaps his hearing was also somewhat failing, for Zhang Zhao's clumsy Hedong speech was not entirely clear to him, and it took him a long while to grasp what Zhang Zhao was saying. He mumbled something under his breath.

"So it was Yan Chao! Back then, the old ancestor sold forty mu of permanent-tenure land and a hundred and twenty mu of allotment land!"

Zhang Zhao listened carefully before he understood what the old man was saying. In Tang times, the equal-field system divided adult male land allotments into permanent-tenure land and allotment land. Permanent-tenure land could be passed down to descendants, while allotment land was returned to the state after death for redistribution.

To safeguard the equal-field system, Tang law stipulated that anyone who resold permanent-tenure land could be punished with up to a hundred strokes of the heavy rod — enough to beat a man to death — while the resale of allotment land was strictly forbidden.

By the middle and late Tang, however, before the An-Shi Rebellion, these regulations had essentially lost their binding force. Not only could permanent-tenure land be sold, but allotment land could be sold as well.

It seemed that before Yan Chao went to Hexi, his family had pooled money to send him out to make his way, hoping that once he prospered he would repay his clansmen.

That said, the person the old man spoke of was not necessarily Yan Chao.

For a man of Yan Chao's station to have risen by accumulated merit from a common soldier was somewhat difficult.

One must understand: the Yaqian Chief Military Commissioner was a high official of the upper second rank, generally regarded as the heir-apparent of a military province — no minor officer by any means.

Then again, born into troubled times, a man of courage and decisiveness such as Yan Chao could indeed rise to Yaqian Chief Military Commissioner in ten or twenty years.

And with the kinship recognition having reached this point, Zhang Zhao could hardly still quibble over such things — and Yan Jin, he feared, would not wish to quibble either. The Jinyang officials and gentry before him were of the same mind.

So Zhang Zhao laughed heartily three times. "Elder, set your mind at ease. This very day, I shall repay the great kindness your family showed Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank. In those years your family put up a hundred and sixty mu of land; today I repay it tenfold, granting sixteen hundred mu of prime farmland on the outskirts of Taiyuan."

Outskirts of Taiyuan. Prime farmland. Sixteen hundred mu. The moment these three words came out, the old man's deafness instantly vanished.

He dropped to his knees with a thud, and the sons and grandsons behind him also thudded to their knees, kowtowing like pestles pounding garlic, crying out, "We thank the Sage for his bounty!"

Zhang Zhao had the family helped to their feet, then turned to the soldiers and civilians at the Jin Shrine and spoke in a loud voice.

"Hedong is a crouching-tiger land, the birthplace of the Great Dynasty. Yet since the Great Dynasty's decline, war has not ceased, and Hedong has suffered especially deeply. To this day, soldiers and civilians alike are in dire straits.

But what I must tell you all is this: compared to Hexi, Hedong has been extremely fortunate. In former years, when the Great Dynasty declined and Hexi fell into Tibetan hands, the pain of national subjugation borne by the soldiers and civilians of Hexi was a hundredfold that of Hedong.

Today I march against the disloyal of Hedong and strike down the wolf-hearted schemers such as Liu Zhiyuan, precisely because I see that war under heaven has not ceased, and to prevent Hedong from being sold by such villains to the Khitan — to prevent Hedong from becoming, like Hexi, a slave of the northern barbarians."

When the crowd heard this, they all bowed in salute, and flattery surged forth like the tide, all saying how fortunate it was that the Sage had come to save the soldiers and civilians of Hedong, and so on. Zhang Zhao accepted it all without the slightest modesty, then continued.

"Today I send the golden seal of Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank back to his homeland, because he was a great hero of us men of Hexi. In former years, when the Tibetans overran all eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou, only Shazhou alone refused to submit.

The Tibetan btsanpo Trisong Detsen came in person to the Qilian Mountains to direct the campaign. Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank led thirty thousand soldiers and civilians in desperate resistance, keeping the Tibetans thwarted outside Dunhuang for eleven full years, and forcing the Tibetan btsanpo to promise publicly that he would not kill a single Han of Shazhou — only then did he open the gates.

He was a great hero. Without Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank, my ancestors would long ago have been slaughtered to the last by the Tibetans. Without him, a hundred and sixty years ago there would have been no sons of Tang left in Hexi and Longyou.

I have returned from the vast sea of sand to rebuild the Great Dynasty. Today, in sending the golden seal of Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank back to Jinyang, I mean to tell you — to tell the heroes and stout lads of Hedong:

In this life, be a hero like Yan of the 'Equal to the Three Excellencies' rank, who served the nation and the people. Do not be a shameless wretch who carves out a fief and drags out a wretched existence, harming the people!"

Within the Jin Shrine, there were many Hedong army officers who had narrowly escaped death this time, and Zhang Zhao's words made them all lower their heads, as though the campaign they had fought under Liu Zhiyuan had not been a contest for the realm, but a rebellion.

Guo Chongwei was also among the crowd. He had not felt much else, but Zhang Zhao's bearing he had certainly felt.

For a trusted yabing officer of Liu Zhiyuan such as himself, apart from possibly losing his family property, he had received no punishment at all.

In particular, after the Zhou army entered Jinyang, there had been no looting, no rape, and not a single person killed without cause. This discipline deeply shook the old martial values in Guo Chongwei's heart.

What did losing family property matter? As long as one could gain trust, a thousand pieces of gold scattered would come back again. Guo Chongwei seized the moment, stepped forward, and kowtowed before Zhang Zhao.

"The Sage's golden words put us all to shame. A hero like Commissioner Yan is a great hero of Hexi, and an even greater hero of our Hedong. I beg the Sage to erect a shrine to Commissioner Yan within the Jin Temple and offer him sacrifices."

Oh? Zhang Zhao turned to look and saw a military officer of about forty prostrated before him. The man was tall and long-limbed, with bright, spirited eyes, a square face and broad mouth, and very upright, regular features.

Zhang Liecheng hurried over and said to Zhang Zhao at his side, "This is Liu Zhiyuan's personal attendant, the Sixth Company Supervisor of the Left Guard Army. He followed Liu Zhiyuan to the very end and was captured in Nanhe. After an investigation found no wrongdoing, he was released."

Zhang Zhao raised an eyebrow. After Liu Zhiyuan's defeat, there were not many in the Hedong Army who could be released without charge, because these men had, to varying degrees, committed plunder, rape, and murder in Xingzhou, Mingzhou, and especially Jize County. They were still being investigated by the Brocade Guard.

And to pass the Brocade Guard's investigation, be released so quickly, and even be permitted to appear at the Jin Temple — this man truly deserved to be called the white lotus of Liu Zhiyuan's ranks.

Moreover, the fellow had a sharp eye. Zhang Zhao had staged such a grand spectacle precisely to enshrine Yan Chao, Commissioner Yan, in the Jin Temple.

He meant to use this great hero of Hexi and Hedong to close the distance between the two sides, to tell the people of Hedong that he, Zhang Zhao, was the true lord of the realm who held righteousness, and that all the rest were mere separatist warlords.

Zhang Zhao had originally arranged for several members of the Yan family to make the proposal, but their proposal could never have the effect of one made by Guo Chongwei, a Hedong Army officer who had been one of Liu Zhiyuan's trusted men.

What Zhang Zhao did not know was that Guo Chongwei, in history, truly counted as a loyal minister.

In his early years he had served as Cavalry Commander in Yizhou. After Yizhou was ceded by Shi Jingtang, Guo Chongwei was ashamed to serve as a claw of the Khitan, so he abandoned his post and returned south.

In history, when Liu Zhiyuan entered Kaifeng, Guo Chongwei was the vanguard. He strictly restrained his men, and when Liu Zhiyuan arrived, he was ordered to distribute all the palace stores as rewards to the armies, so that Kaifeng suffered no major plundering.

Four years later, when Guo Wei entered Kaifeng, in order to steady the army's morale — and with his family dead, his mind had collapsed — he actually let the three armies plunder Kaifeng on a grand scale. It was again Guo Chongwei and Wang Yin who pleaded bitterly together until Guo Wei stopped the looting.

From the Later Han into the Northern Song, Guo Chongwei remained one of the state's principal generals, serving as Military Governor of various circuits, resisting Khitan incursions, diligent and conscientious, with considerable merit.

Later, to avoid Guo Wei's taboo name, he changed his name to Guo Chong. He also had a granddaughter — the very Empress Guo who struck Emperor Renzong of Song on the neck and drew blood.

As the saying goes, the face reflects the heart. Zhang Zhao did not know Guo Chongwei's historical achievements, but looking at the man alone, he felt he was an upright person.

Upon investigation, it proved to be so. Delighted, Zhang Zhao quickly had Guo Chongwei rise, and instructed the Court Diarist at his side to record this name heavily, for future promotion.

Seeing that Guo Chongwei had voiced the Emperor's intent, the surrounding Hedong civil and military officials all immediately began to echo him.

Zhang Zhao then stopped hiding his purpose and at once announced the posthumous enfeoffment of Yan Chao as Grand Commandant, Military Governor of Hexi and Longyou, Supreme General of the Left Imperial Guard, with the posthumous title of Prince of Hexi Commandery.

He ordered the assembled ministers to deliberate on a posthumous name, with "loyal" as the first character, and allotted fifteen mu of land southwest of the Jin Temple to build the Shrine of Duke Yan, Prince of Hexi Commandery.

Afterward, Zhang Zhao entered the Jin Temple to perform sacrifices to Tang Shuyu and Yi Jiang, and to pay reverence to Emperor Taizong of Tang's "Inscription and Preface of the Jin Temple." Then, in his capacity as Son of Heaven of the Zhou, he enfeoffed Tang Shuyu as Prince of Taiyuan, additionally enfeoffed Yi Jiang as the Guangci Dezhao County Magistrate Holy Mother, and ordered the Jin Temple expanded, with a vast Hall of the Holy Mother built for Yi Jiang.

When it was time to leave the Jin Temple, Zhang Zhao gave another order: build a Reading Terrace in the southeast corner of the Jin Temple, and leave behind an imperial stele inscription encouraging the heroes of Hedong to train in martial arts for a strong body and to read for a wise mind.

Only after completing all this did Zhang Zhao formally enter the Hedong Military Governor's headquarters in Jinyang, renaming Liu Zhiyuan's Prince of Beiping residence the Duke of Jin Residence and granting it to Yan Jin.

Yan Jin was badly startled when he heard this. He immediately prostrated himself on the ground and begged Zhang Zhao to retract the order.

He, Yan Jin, had only just been recognized into the clan and could already count as a local of Jinyang. He held twenty thousand troops in his hands and was himself the foremost general under Zhang Zhao — like Liu Zhiyuan to Shi Jingtang in former years, or Guo Wei to Liu Zhiyuan. Now Zhang Zhao was granting him Liu Zhiyuan's own residence. How could he dare accept?

Zhang Zhao did not see it that way. He knew Yan Jin's character. The man had courage and cunning. A Tibetan slave-boy who had come down from the Qingtang Plateau, he could still sit down and read.

At twenty-eight he had followed Zhang Zhao west, and all the way back, Yan Jin alone had persisted in studying culture — not only books on military strategy and tactics, but even the classics, histories, philosophers, and literary collections.

Among Zhang Zhao's original followers, he was the one who truly understood the weight of the two words "loyalty" and "righteousness."

In recent years, as Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, and the new faction rose, the standing of Yan Jin, Bai Congxin, and others had been repeatedly challenged. Others had things to say, but Yan Jin alone remained the calmest.

He often said, "Without the Sage, we would have died long ago in the border wastes, with no place even to bury our bones. How would we have today's wealth and honor?"

If Zhang Zhao still had to suspect a man like this, he would be making trouble for himself. So Zhang Zhao looked at Yan Jin with genuine anger.

"You, Yan Chengjie, and Murong Xinzhang — do you both think I am the sort to suspect my own subordinates?

I dare to use you, Yan Jin, to guard Jinyang. I dare to station you in this place of trouble. That is trust in you, Yan Jin. I know that lord and subject are in accord, and there will never be suspicion between us. Why then this coy reluctance?"

Yan Jin's face showed gratitude. "To receive such trust from the Sage is the glory of a lifetime for your servant. From the day I followed the Sage west, I have always remembered the Sage's teachings, and I have sworn to devote myself utterly to the restoration of the great dynasty.

Therefore your servant fears no rumors or slander, and will surely make Jinyang as tight as an iron barrel for the Sage. But this Prince of Beiping residence is truly not a place a subject may dwell in. Your servant truly cannot accept it, and further begs the Sage to permit the Hedong Military Governor's headquarters to be moved to the north of the city."

Zhang Zhao looked at Yan Jin's sincere face, thought for a while, then nodded.

The current Hedong Military Governor's headquarters stood on the central axis of Jinyang, like a royal palace, and indeed had something of the air of an imperial palace. Granting it to Yan Jin did seem somewhat inappropriate after all.

So Zhang Zhao nodded in agreement. "Then I command you to demolish the Hedong Military Governor's headquarters. Use part of it to expand the Hall of the Holy Mother in the Jin Temple, part of it to build a new Hedong Military Governor's headquarters north of the city. From the remaining writings, paintings, and curios, select a portion to send back to the Eastern Capital, and send the rest to the Jinyang Palace."

On the second day of the seventh month of the second year of Shaoming, Guo Wei, Guo Congyi, and Bai Wenke, persuaded by Guo Rong and Guo Jin, learned of all that had happened in Jinyang. The three men then led more than seventy officers of Shexian above the rank of Hedong Captain, left the army with light cavalry, and rode north to offer their plea. The army at Shexian was placed under the separate control of Guo Rong and Guo Jin, and brought to Jinyang in batches.

On the fourth day of the seventh month, Guo Wei and the other two arrived at the Jinyang Palace. The seventy-odd men bared their shoulders and carried thorn branches on their backs outside the palace gate, presenting themselves in the posture of pleading guilt.

Zhang Zhao immediately summoned the three men and some of the officers into the palace, comforted them with warm words, and then sent them home. Of the officers and men of all ranks, apart from ten men Zhang Zhao selected to serve as palace guards at the Jinyang Palace, all were released to go home.

At this point, everyone set aside the worry in their hearts, knowing that there would be no more war.

After the last ten thousand-odd men of the Hedong Army arrived, the ten thousand-odd Hedong Army prisoners captured earlier by Zhang Zhao were also released. Those who had harmed the common people were dealt with under Zhang-Zhou law, reduced by one degree.

Those to be beheaded, those to serve hard labor, those to be beaten, those to be fined — as long as they were guilty, not one escaped. Of course, in truth the punishments had all been greatly reduced.

Afterward, Zhang Zhao selected three thousand men from among them and announced the formation of the Left Leopard Guard of the personal army.

He appointed Zhang Zhaojie (Qiongre Duojin) as Commander of the Left Leopard Guard, appointed Guo Wei's adopted son Guo Rong as Left Leopard Guard General and Left Company Supervisor, and appointed Bai Wenke's eldest son Bai Tinghui as Left Leopard Guard General and Right Company Supervisor.

With this, he completed the consolidation of the finest part of the Hedong Army, and also set the minds of Guo Wei and the others at ease. Since their sons were being given important posts, they need not be anxious.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Zhang Zhao's legal mother, Empress Dowager Ciyou, and birth mother, Empress Dowager Cisheng, along with Empress Cao Yanxi, Worthy and Virtuous Imperial Consort Li Ruoliu, Great King of the Golden Kingdom Li Shengtian, Grand Princess of Wei Cao Yuanxin, and others, arrived in Jinyang under the escort of one thousand Khotanese warriors and one thousand Left Dragon Guard imperial troops from the Eastern Capital.

Zhang Zhao took the occasion of the imperial relatives' arrival to hold a grand ceremony. Sure enough, he slaughtered a hundred donkeys and made a whole-donkey feast, entertaining the civil and military officials of Jinyang.

This banquet left Li Shengtian thoroughly puzzled. He glanced repeatedly at his imperial nephew, on whose face a teasing smile occasionally flickered, and could not fathom it no matter how he tried.

When the banquet reached its climax, Zhang Zhao personally stepped down and began the grand rewarding of meritorious officials.

Among them, Yan Jin had taken Yecheng and blocked the Hedong Army's line of advance — the greatest merit. Zhang Zhao added to Yan Jin a stipend fief of one thousand households in Taigu County, with an actual increase of fifty households, and bestowed on his second son by a concubine the title of Grand Master for Thorough Counsel — though of course with salary only, not actual appointment.

Fu Yanqing had held Beizhou firmly, ranked second in merit. Zhang Zhao finally parted with a title, enfeoffing Fu Yanqing as Marquis of Huaiyang.

Li Cunhui had followed Zhang Zhao through campaigns north and south, covering a thousand li, ranked third in merit, and was promoted from Duke of Shouchang Commandery to Duke of Su.

Zhe Congyuan had captured Yunzhou, ranked fourth in merit, and was promoted and enfeoffed as Marquis of Yunzhong.

The remaining officers and soldiers each received their own rewards. And once his own people had been rewarded, it was time to show something to the men of Hedong.

The first Zhang Zhao rewarded was Bai Wenke. In the first year of Kaiyun, this man had blocked the Khitan at Qilifeng in Xinzhou, routing twenty thousand Liao troops, taking more than a thousand heads, and capturing alive more than seventy Liao officers.

Zhang Zhao took this as his merit, enfeoffed Bai Wenke as Count of Qixian, and appointed him Prefect of Shuozhou and Concurrent Military Supervisor of Shuozhou.

Bai Wenke had never imagined Zhang Zhao would use this as the grounds to reward him. For the battle merit he had won at Qilifeng, Shi Chonggui had rewarded him with only a hundred bolts of brocade.

All the Hedong officers and men now deeply understood that when Zhang Zhao spoke of fighting for the country, he was not joking.

Compared with Liu Zhiyuan, Zhang Zhao's breadth of vision was indeed many levels higher. Bai Wenke prostrated himself on the ground in wholehearted sincerity and performed the full ceremony of a subject before Zhang Zhao.

Afterward, Zhang Zhao, on the same grounds of resisting the Khitan, elevated Guo Congyi to the title of Baron of Guangyang and ordered him to take command of Xi and Shi prefectures, serving as Troop Supervisor of the two prefectures of Xi and Shi.

The rest, such as Zhang Yanhong, Yao Kechou, and other officers who had rendered meritorious service in resisting the Khitan, all received rewards and titles.

Only Guo Wei was left in an awkward position, because he had been helping Liu Zhiyuan handle affairs in the south — that is, opposing Zhang Zhao — and therefore received no title of nobility.

Moreover, for a man like Guo Wei, Zhang Zhao was certainly going to keep him on ice for a while. Not to mention the yellow robe affair he had staged in history — though that did indeed have a large element of coercion behind it.

But based on his standing and maneuvering within Liu Zhiyuan's faction alone, unless Zhang Zhao knocked him down a few times and snuffed out that flame of defiance in his heart, Zhang Zhao would not dare use him.

The day after the Hundred Donkeys Feast, Zhang Zhao announced the reorganization of Hedong and the corresponding personnel appointments.

The original four military provinces — the Hedong Military Governor at Taiyuan, the Zhaoyi Army Military Governor at Luzhou, the Jianxiong Army Military Governor at Jinzhou, and the Datong Army Military Governor at Yunzhou — along with the other prefectures and counties, were merged into the Hedong Province.

Jinyang was renamed the Northern Capital, called the Northern Capital Taiyuan Prefecture. Yan Jin was appointed Governor of Hedong Province, Defense Commissioner of Hedong Province, Defender of the Northern Capital, and Prefect of Taiyuan.

The Hanhai and Changguo (formed from Guanzhong sworn followers) garrisons of the imperial guard were transferred north.

From the original Hedong troops, another fifteen hundred men were selected, and five hundred men each were drawn from the Zhaoyi Army of Luzhou, the Jianxiong Army of Jinzhou, and the Datong garrison to form the Jinyang Garrison of the imperial guard.

Yan Jin was made Commander-in-Chief of the Hanhai and Jinyang garrisons, He Fujin Commander-in-Chief of the Changguo Garrison, and Guo Chongwei Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Jinyang Garrison.

The Hanhai and Jinyang garrisons were to defend Taiyuan, with Guo Chongwei additionally serving as Troop Supervisor of Taiyuan Prefecture, acting as Yan Jin's deputy in military matters.

He Fujin was made Deputy Defense Commissioner of Hedong Province and Commander-in-Chief of the Changguo Garrison, overseeing military affairs in Luzhou, Jinzhou, and the other prefectures south of Taiyuan.

The Datong Garrison of the imperial guard was transferred back to Yunzhou. The former Commander-in-Chief of the Datong Garrison, Wu Luan, was returned to civil office, appointed Judicial Commissioner of Ningxia Province and concurrently Commissioner of Salt, Iron, Revenue, and Transport for Ningxia.

Yang Hongxin, Prefect of Linzhou, was promoted to Defense Commissioner of Ningxia.

Zhe Deyuan, fourth son of the Yi, was made Prefect of Yunzhou and concurrently Troop Supervisor of Yunzhou, in control of the Datong Garrison stationed at Yunzhou.

After this dazzling flurry of operations, Zhang Zhao spent three days sightseeing in Taiyuan with his family. Afterward, the two empress dowagers remained in Taiyuan to escape the summer heat, Empress Cao Yanxi returned to the Eastern Capital, and a three-year exemption from miscellaneous taxes in Hedong was announced.

The people of Hedong erupted in cheers and were deeply grateful. When Cao Yanxi departed south from Taiyuan Prefecture, the people saw her off for more than ten li along the road. The situation throughout Hedong began to stabilize.

And Zhang Zhao prepared to head east with Li Shengtian, who was clamoring to go with him to recover Yan-Yun, along with the Left Leopard-Tao Guard, a personal army formed from the finest troops of Hedong. This time Zhang Zhao was going to Youzhou.

Yunzhou had already been completely recovered; now only Youzhou remained unsettled.

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