Chapter 629: This Is the Shame of Ten Thousand Generations

Chengde Prefecture was still one huge construction site, hardly suitable for "receiving" Shulu Ping, who had come from afar, so Zhang Zhao chose Beianzhou instead, where the residents had basically all been relocated.

When Shulu Ping was still more than twenty li from Beianzhou, Zhang Zhao ordered Murong Xinzhang to lead two hundred riders ahead and bring back Empress Dowager Li, Shi Chonggui, and their party.

He did not want to hand over Shi Chonggui and the others in front of the Khitans, because no matter how shameless Shi Chonggui was, he had once been the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains, and had once boldly vowed to drive the northern barbarians away; at the very least, while he was on the throne, he had not chosen to bow and scrape.

Whether to kill him or punish him was Zhang Zhao's affair, and there was absolutely no reason to let the Khitans continue humiliating him.

Empress Dowager Li and her party had traveled more than two thousand li in under two months and were utterly exhausted; many of them had forced themselves to reach this place almost purely on hope, so Zhang Zhao had deliberately prepared a good number of carriages to bring them back.

At the end of the seventh month, the fields around Beianzhou were lush and green; to the left and right of the yellow silk canopy, the silver-bordered Three Stars Banner symbolizing the Zhang-Zhou imperial house and the commander-in-chief's great silver-bordered banner with golden tassels fluttered and snapped in the wind.

Empress Dowager Li, Shi Chonggui, Empress Feng, and the others slowly arrived with the carriages; when they were still more than a hundred paces away, the three of them got down from the carriages together with the eunuchs and palace attendants.

Empress Dowager Li led Shi Chonggui and Empress Feng forward from a distance of thirty paces, performing the three kneelings and nine kowtows the entire way.

Zhang Zhao raised a hand and signaled Murong Xinzhang to help Empress Dowager Li to her feet. "You are advanced in years; you may dispense with that."

Empress Dowager Li, hearing this, prostrated herself once more. "Your slave kowtows in thanks to the Grandfather Son of Heaven!"

Afterward, Zhang Zhao accepted the three kneelings and nine kowtows of Shi Chonggui and Empress Feng. When the kowtowing was done, Zhang Zhao did not let Shi Chonggui rise, but instead took a long horsewhip from Li Cunhui's hands.

Shi Chonggui did not know what Zhang Zhao meant to do. He stared at Zhang Zhao in terror, his body beginning to tremble slightly. Zhang Zhao walked up to him and suddenly lashed him with the whip.

There was absolutely no holding back in that stroke; it instantly split open the tattered hemp-cloth garment on Shi Chonggui's back, and long, blood-red welts immediately rose on his dark-yellow back.

"You unfilial wretch! No matter how shameless Shi Jingtang was, he was still your father, and you dared to laugh merrily at your own father's funeral!"

Shi Chonggui jerked as if struck by lightning. Zhang Zhao was a mounted emperor who practiced martial arts year-round, and a full-force whip stroke from him was extremely painful.

Shi Chonggui did not dare howl; he could only clench his teeth tightly, tears and snot streaming down his pain-wracked face.

"As Son of Heaven, above you could not employ worthy ministers, below you could not feel for the people's suffering, so that the northern caitiffs invaded and the people of Hebei and Henan died in great numbers.

Even in years of great disaster you still squeezed and extorted them; your harsh rule killed more people than the northern caitiffs. I truly wish I could simply beat you to death."

Zhang Zhao roared, and lashed out savagely with the whip again. This time Shi Chonggui finally could not hold out; he let out a piercing shriek, curled up on the ground, and begged for mercy.

"Grandfather Son of Heaven, your grandson has already spent three years in the northern lands, enduring the cold wind and a thatched hut, suffering unbearably. I am willing to repent!"

Zhang Zhao took a wooden gag from the waist of an attendant beside him — the kind used during marches — and tossed it to Shi Chonggui.

"You beast, three years in the northern lands and you cannot bear it? What about the million innocent people who died under your rule — how did they bear it?"

Shi Chonggui did not dare wail any longer. He picked up the gag from the ground, bit it between his teeth, pressed his head to the earth again, and knelt properly with his back exposed.

Zhang Zhao lashed out savagely once more. "You animal! Lady Feng was your aunt by marriage, and you dared commit adultery with her, and even made Lady Feng your empress — corrupting all ethics, shameless beyond measure!"

That stroke made Shi Chonggui's whole body shake like a winnowing sieve; he whimpered through his mouth, so much so that he bit through the gag, his mouth filling with blood.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhao did not intend to beat him further. Instead he shouted, "Shi Yanxu, Shi Yanbao, where are you?"

At once two trembling men came forward — the elder perhaps seventeen or eighteen, the younger only thirteen or fourteen. When they arrived, they too pressed their heads to the ground and knelt as Shi Chonggui had done.

"You watched your father take the whip, and not one of you stepped forward to take it in his place — unfilial as well! Three years in the northern lands, and you have become the same as the Hu caitiffs — have you forgotten filial piety and righteousness?"

Zhang Zhao stepped forward again and gave Shi Yanxu and Shi Yanbao two lashes each, beating them until they shrieked without cease.

After the five lashes were delivered, Zhang Zhao finally felt his anger much relieved. With those five strokes, the scene was no longer the welcoming back of a former Son of Heaven, but a grandfather disciplining his unfilial descendants.

The matter of Zhang Zhao having answered Shi Chonggui's plea to enter the passes and lend aid would never be brought up by anyone again.

Having finished whipping those three wretches, Zhang Zhao turned and looked at Empress Dowager Li, still kneeling on the grass.

"Your husband Shi Jingtang raised troops at Taiyuan. Though he was indeed forced by the Last Emperor, a true man dies when he must die — how can there be any justification for colluding with foreign enemies to invade one's own home? I have already declared the Shi Jin a false dynasty, so you need not continue as Empress Dowager."

Empress Dowager Li wept mournfully. "Your slave never wished to be Empress Dowager; it was truly beyond my control. To be able to return to the homeland today is entirely by the grace of the Grandfather Son of Heaven. Henceforth I wish only to become a nun in the Eastern Capital."

Zhang Zhao waved a hand. "That will not be necessary. You are a woman of the inner chambers; how could you have influenced your husband's deeds? I have heard that Yongle was raised by your own hand?"

The face of Empress Dowager Li, pressed to the ground, showed a look of surprised delight. It seemed this Grandfather Son of Heaven was a reasonable man after all; at last she could enjoy her remaining years in peace.

"Although Yongle lost her mother at the age of two, the grace of giving birth lies with her mother, while the means of raising her came from her late father, Emperor Mingmiao. I did indeed keep her by my side and care for her, but that is far from what could be called raising her."

Zhang Zhao's expression finally softened considerably. "You are a reasonable one after all. I grant you a fifty-mu estate in the Eastern Capital, to serve as your monthly allowance. An elder sister is like a mother, so in daily life Yongle shall care for you, and let her do her filial duty."

Empress Dowager Li wept aloud at these words and knocked her head on the ground like a pestle pounding garlic.

"I demote Shi Chonggui to Gate Captain of the Xinzheng Gate of Kaifeng Prefecture in the Eastern Capital, and order you, father and two sons, to guard the Xinzheng Gate. Whenever elders enter the city, you shall bow to them in apology!"

Shi Chonggui and his two sons were overjoyed. They had truly feared that Zhang Zhao would cut them down with a single stroke; after all, for someone like Shi Chonggui, dying a hundred times would not be unjust.

Now that they could serve as gate officers, not only were their lives spared, they would at least have a salary to live on — far better than eating the northeast wind at Huanglong Prefecture.

Once she heard that Shi Chonggui and his two sons had been settled, Empress Feng looked pitifully toward Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao looked back at Lady Feng as well. This empress, once peerlessly beautiful, had been tormented into gauntness, her face full of the marks of hardship.

"Lady Feng shall immediately take vows as a nun and reside at the Qingjing Nunnery in Kaifeng Prefecture. Lady Zhao and Lady Nie shall follow Shi Chonggui and make their living with him; I grant them a two-courtyard residence in the Eastern Capital."

Empress Feng and Lady Zhao and Lady Nie also hurriedly knelt and kowtowed in thanks. Zhang Zhao looked fierce on the surface, but he had still given them a way to live.

Only Lady Feng had it somewhat worse. Qingjing Nunnery was the nunnery where Empress Cao Yanxi sent palace women who had committed grave offenses, and there was not a single easy character inside. For Lady Feng to go to Qingjing Nunnery, one could only say it was slightly better than Huanglong Prefecture.

As for Lady Zhao and Lady Nie, both were Shi Chonggui's consorts and had no record of wrongdoing, so they could be allowed to live a somewhat stable life.

With these matters settled, there were still two women and two men kneeling behind Shi Chonggui. The two women were Shi Chonggui's younger sister, Princess Yongtai, and his youngest daughter, Shi Wanniang.

Princess Yongtai was full-figured, with a hint of exotic charm between her brows and eyes, yet her overall features were Han in style, giving her an indescribable allure — well, to put it crudely, she looked like a very fine roast chicken.

Princess Yongtai was not Shi Jingtang's daughter either; her birth father was Shi Jingtang's elder brother Shi Jingru, so she was Shi Chonggui's full sister by the same father and mother. Moreover, because she was not one of Shi Chonggui's concubines, her treatment had been much better.

When the Eastern Capital fell, Princess Yongtai had been seized by Xiao Han and afterward installed by him in Liaoyang Prefecture. She had therefore been sent by the Khitans from Liaoyang, and was completely different from Shi Chonggui and the others, who were like refugees.

Zhang Zhao studied her carefully for a few moments and was about to speak when he suddenly heard several loud dry coughs beside him.

Zhang Zhao looked over in surprise and saw Li Shengtian staring at him with a face full of vigilance.

Zhang Zhao gaped at Li Shengtian, speechless. Before he could say anything, Li Shengtian sauntered over and took hold of Princess Yongtai's fair, tender little hand.

"How did such a beauty fall into the hands of the Khitan caitiffs? A pity, a pity!

I am the Great King of the Great Zhou and Great Jin Kingdom, Administrator of the Anxi Province, Military Governor of the Four Garrisons of Anxi, Li Shengtian. Would you be willing to follow me to Khotan and share in wealth and honor?"

Princess Yongtai's eyes lit up. Shi Chonggui and the others at Huanglong Prefecture still did not fully understand the current situation, but Princess Yongtai understood it very well, and she understood even better who Li Shengtian was — this was a great Buddha whose thigh was thicker than a well mouth!

Going to Anxi with Li Shengtian was far better than being snatched back and forth by one man after another.

Although Princess Yongtai would have preferred the Shaoming Son of Heaven, judging by the Shaoming Son of Heaven's attitude toward her elder brother Shi Chonggui, he certainly did not want to get entangled with him.

At once, Princess Yongtai put on a bashful look and rose to her feet, following Li Shengtian's hand.

"This humble body is but willow and reed in bearing; to have caught the Great King's eye, I only fear my service will be clumsy. I beg the Great King to show me pity."

"Ha ha ha ha! Good! Good!" Li Shengtian threw back his head and laughed aloud, then deliberately cast a smug glance at Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao fought hard not to roll his eyes. By seniority, this Lady Shi was of Li Shengtian's granddaughter's generation. It seemed Li Shengtian had never forgotten what happened back in Shule, when Zhang Zhao had informed him that Cao Yuanxing had carried off the Khara-Khanid queen.

Fine! Uncle, as long as you're happy, that's all that matters — just so long as Aunt doesn't come looking for trouble with me.

Zhang Zhao gave a cough and was about to step forward to congratulate Li Shengtian, when Li Shengtian stretched out a hand. "Does the Sage still have use for this riding crop? If not, perhaps he would bestow it upon his subject."

Zhang Zhao looked at Li Shengtian in puzzlement, wondering what he wanted with the riding crop. Li Shengtian pointed a finger toward Feng Yu and the others standing dumbly over there.

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"These men spent three years in the north, enduring every hardship. If we still put them to death, I fear it would harm the Sage's benevolence. Yet if we let them go, how shall the grievances of a million lonely souls across Henan and Hebei be redressed?

Better to hand them over to me. Ningyuan still lacks a few farmers to pick cotton."

Zhang Zhao nodded with pleasure. A fellow like Feng Yu was indeed just as Li Shengtian said.

And this gesture of Li Shengtian's also suited his temperament — he felt that since he had snatched a beauty from Zhang Zhao, he naturally ought to repay him in some measure.

Zhang Zhao nodded and handed the riding crop to Li Shengtian. Li Shengtian took it, cinched his belt tight, and walked over with a swaggering, crab-like gait.

"Treacherous villains, who bewitched their sovereign and brought ruin upon the realm — you deserve the punishment of thunder!"

With that, Li Shengtian swung the riding crop and sent Feng Yu and the other treacherous ministers from Shi Chonggui's day rolling and howling across the ground, thoroughly indulging his taste for playing the loyal and righteous minister.

But when Feng Yu had taken his third stroke, a tall, thin figure threw himself forward and shielded Feng Yu with his own body.

He took two lashes full on, tears and snot streaming down his face from the pain, before crying out in entreaty: "I beg the Great King to stay his hand! My father is frail of body — if he should die beneath your whip, would it not stain the Great King's benevolence!"

Zhang Zhao walked over and looked at the man with two terrible welts across his back. "Out of stinking mud and mire, a white lotus has bloomed after all!"

"This lowly commoner is willing to die on the road of exile — I beg the Sage for mercy!"

This was Feng Yu's eldest son, Feng Jie. What Zhang Zhao did not know was that this man truly did have some ability.

In history, in the third year of Guangshun of the Later Zhou (953), under Khitan surveillance, he fled from distant Jianzhou (Chaoyang in Liaoning) and traveled several thousand li back to Kaifeng, later taking part in the Later Zhou's battles against the Khitan.

Though he never became a great general, only a minor officer, to travel several thousand li back home still required some cunning and willpower.

Zhang Zhao nodded. "Exile Feng Yu and his son five thousand li to Anxi to garrison the frontier. No amnesty shall ever apply, and after death they may not be returned home for burial!"

Having said this, Zhang Zhao felt much better. With a body like Feng Yu's, exiled to Anxi, he would most likely die on the road.

Though it did not look as satisfying as a public beheading, in truth the hardship and torment of that journey was far more agonizing than a single stroke of the blade.

"Ahem! Father, could you grant that little lady to your son? Your son is just in need of someone to manage the household."

Zhang Zhao really was about to roll his eyes now. He stared at Li Cunhui in utter speechlessness.

A fawning, ingratiating look appeared on Li Cunhui's face. The person he was pointing at was a thin, small girl kneeling on the grass.

The girl was fourteen or fifteen at most, looking especially frail from malnutrition, with skinny arms and legs, and eyes made unnaturally large by her thinness.

Though she had little flesh on her, one could still tell that with proper care, she would absolutely grow into a beauty.

But this little girl was Shi Chonggui's youngest daughter, Shi Wanniang! Zhang Zhao stared at Li Cunhui, speechless.

This dog's wife had died a little over a year ago, when a bad cold apparently triggered myocarditis and carried her off.

In the year since, people had constantly proposed matches for him, and he had rejected every one — yet now he had taken a fancy to Shi Chonggui's youngest daughter.

What was he thinking? Marry Shi Chonggui's daughter — did he not care about his future at all?

"You... you really aren't picky, are you? Everyone else can't avoid her fast enough, and you're rushing to step forward!" Zhang Zhao found himself somewhat annoyed, though he couldn't say why.

It wasn't that he had his own eye on Shi Chonggui's daughter, but rather — was a skinny little bean-sprout like this pale, young, thin thing worth Li Cunhui raising the matter on such an occasion?

Wasn't a slender waist and full hips, the lavish front-and-back figure of the dining hall, better? What did he want with this pale, young, thin thing?

"Your son simply likes this kind. I beg Father to grant it."

Li Cunhui gave a shameless grin and looked at Zhang Zhao beseechingly. People all thought Li Sanlang was brave but witless — but that was wrong. Li Cunhui saw things very clearly.

Knowing Zhang Zhao's character, and the bond between their two families, even if he, Li Cunhui, married Shi Jingtang's wife, Empress Dowager Li, Zhang Zhao would still employ him as before. So he was not at all worried that marrying Shi Wanniang would cost him his position.

On the contrary, Li Cunhui saw clearly that if he married Shi Wanniang, those with schemes would stop trying to draw close to him. Murong Xinzhang's bloody example was right before his eyes.

His lifelong rival, Second Brother Murong, had been driven by rumors and schemers to what state? To the point where he hardly dared even enter the palace to visit his mother.

Now it was said that Murong Erlang had already found a good place for himself. He, Li Sanlang, had no wish to be pushed into Murong Erlang's position — after all, his adoptive father the Son of Heaven had only young sons. So he might as well remove himself from the game now.

Zhang Zhao said nothing, clearly also thinking of something. Li Cunhui simply clasped his hands and bowed.

"Father, your son has no shortage of concubines and sons born of them. If a high-born lady with powerful backing entered the household, who knows what chaos the inner quarters would become. Marrying someone like Shi Wanniang would actually save trouble."

There was truth to that, Zhang Zhao reflected. Li Cunhui was no model husband like Murong Xinzhang, content with one wife and two concubines.

The bastard had more concubines than Zhang Zhao had consorts. Not a single legitimate son, but over a dozen children by concubines. He truly was not suited to marrying too forceful a principal wife.

"I think you've figured that if you marry the Shi girl, no one will manage you when you bring more women home, right? Go ask her yourself. I'm done meddling."

Zhang Zhao was thoroughly exasperated. Well, a grown son is beyond his father's control. Li Cunhui was twenty-six now; if he wanted to dirty his own name a little, let him.

A cool wind blew in gusts, snapping the war banners. The vast open country beyond the frontier was utterly unlike the mountain-ringed landscape of Fujian. Lin Renzhao rode a black warhorse behind Zhang Zhao, stirred to sudden heroic spirit by the scene before him.

One who has never been to the grasslands can hardly understand this feeling.

When you sit astride a warhorse, spear in hand and bow on your back, standing in such vast open country, watching the wind sweep the grass and reveal the cattle and sheep — you cannot help but feel a longing to gallop to the edge of the sky, a desire to conquer all under heaven.

Zhang Zhao turned his head to look at Lin Renzhao. "Lin Huzi, what do you think of this northern scenery?"

Sage Zhang now, beyond martial ability, placed ever greater weight on character.

And Lin Renzhao happened to be, in history, a tiger of a minister of fine character — nothing at all like a typical Five Dynasties military man. It was only a pity he had fallen into Li Yu's hands.

So after capturing Lin Renzhao, though Zhang Zhao had not immediately given him important employment — partly because Lin Renzhao at seventeen or eighteen did not yet possess the ability history would record — he had still thrown him into the Dragon Strategy Academy to study military arts and stratagems.

On this northern campaign against the Khitan, Lin Renzhao had followed beside Li Cunhui and had not seen much of the battlefield; by the time they arrived, the fighting was nearly over.

Afterward he had followed Yang Jiye on a trip to Yunzhou, and again had not managed to get into a fight.

Yet this Lin Renzhao, with no battle merits and no family background, had received the immense favor of being made Zhang Zhao's personal attendant.

And so Lin Renzhao, from his initial resistance, had begun to regard Zhang Zhao as the lord of all under heaven.

Now that Zhang Zhao was asking him, Lin Renzhao cupped his hands. "Reporting to the Sage, Lin Huzi has only now understood how vast the world is. The scenery beyond the northern frontier truly stirs a man's heroic spirit."

Zhang Zhao nodded, then looked at Li Gu, who had just returned, and asked, "Weizhen, I hear that in the Khitan's Dading Prefecture you killed several northern barbarians in a fit of rage?"

Li Gu hurriedly dismounted. "Your servant acted out of righteous indignation and nearly ruined a matter of state. I beg the Sage to punish me!"

"What crime is there? Had I been present, I would likely have killed even more. Rise."

Zhang Zhao first waved for the bowing Li Gu to rise, then looked around at the civil and military officials and spoke.

"In every dynasty, the steppe has had its times of ascendancy. Emperor Gaozu of Han suffered the Siege of Baideng, and Emperor Taizong the Cultured made the Alliance of the White Horse.

These were shames for the Han and the Tang, and so both Han and Tang watered their horses at the Hanhai and sealed the mountain at Langjuxu, washing away their disgrace with barbarian blood.

Now in our Great Zhou, the ruler of Jin was taken captive. Though it was not the responsibility of our Great Zhou, as people of the Celestial Court of China, to have the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains taken captive, and his empress and consorts wantonly humiliated by the barbarians — this is a shame for all ages!

I ask you all to remember this moment, remember the wretchedness of the Shi clan and their ministers just now. Once the south is pacified, we will make them pay the price!"

The assembled generals listened, grinding their teeth in fury. Murong Xinzhang, in white armor and on a white horse, rode up before Zhang Zhao.

"Sage, though the Khitan are defeated, their spirit is not broken. They still harbor thoughts of returning. If we are to use the Silver-Saddle Khitan Guard to draw in the warriors of the northern frontier and break the Khitan apart, then today we must strike terror into their hearts."

Zhang Zhao knew that the Empress Dowager Li must have told Murong Xinzhang all about the humiliations, which was why Murong Xinzhang was so eager to win back a measure of justice.

At that very moment, a guard galloped in from outside to report that Shulu Ping was coming under the Khitan emperor's yellow silk canopy and bearing the great banner that symbolized the lord of the steppe.

A cold sneer appeared at the corner of Zhang Zhao's mouth. "It seems this aunt of mine intends to lean on her age. Even now she still wants to preserve some face. Hmph!

All generals, hear my command. Challenge them one after another. Strip the Khitan's face clean off and trample it into the mud."

Murong Xinzhang spurred his horse forward again. "Sage, your son begs to be the first to fight!"

Zhang Zhao waved his hand. "Your white-robed Murong name shakes the world. If I send you out, the Khitan will not accept their defeat. Today I will not send out great generals. I will use only junior officers to crush their prestige."

With that, Zhang Zhao shouted, "Yang Jiye, Zhao Kuangyin, He Jiyun, Feng Jiye, Zhang Cheng, Wang Shenqi, Lin Renzhao, Zhang Yuanhui, Yao Kechou, Xue Guizhong..."

Zhang Zhao named twenty-three battle commanders in succession, all cavalry officers of Captain rank, all around twenty years of age — the young and fierce elite of Zhang Zhou's generation.

"Go at once! You must smash the Khitan's yellow silk canopy and cut down their great banner!"

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