Chapter 635: That Is My Money!

Nanping, Jiangling Prefecture, the office of the Jingnan Military Governor — oh, no, that's not right! After Zhang Zhao enfeoffed Gao Conghui as King of Jing, this place had already been renamed the Palace of the King of Jing.

But receiving the royal title had not brought Gao Conghui much joy; he was worrying about Nanping's future.

Strictly speaking, the Nanping of Gao Jixing and his son Gao Conghui could not really be counted as one of the Ten Kingdoms.

Because these two generations of "Gao the Beggars" had never once declared themselves sovereign; they had been busy all over the realm offering submission in exchange for benefits.

Among all the states under Heaven, only Nanping, along with the Qingyuan Army holding Quan and Nan (Zhang) prefectures, had never claimed a royal title.

At this time Li Jing was still preparing to invest Liu Congxiao as Military Governor of the Qingyuan Army, so for the moment, Nanping stood as the sole exception.

Precisely because of this uniqueness, the foundation of Nanping's existence was not very solid.

In the past, Gao Conghui had not worried much about this, because whether it was Li Congke, or Shi Jingtang and his son Shi Chonggui, or even Liu Zhiyuan, Gao Conghui did not think any of them could amount to much.

The Central Plains, after more than ten years of warfare, was depopulated and desolate; often for several prefectures and counties there would be no sign of human habitation for a dozen li, and the entire population of Henan had sharply declined to three or four million.

Add to that the Khitan threat and the Central Plains emperors' growing inability to keep their own Military Governors in line, and there was simply no capacity to threaten Nanping's survival.

But once Zhang Zhao entered the Eastern Capital, everything changed. Gao Conghui caught an extremely unusual scent from Zhang Zhao, and this was an important reason he risked sending his son Gao Baorong to the Eastern Capital to pay court.

First, to express complete submission; second, to let Gao Baorong observe the mood of the Central Plains and the character of Zhang Zhao.

And when Gao Baorong returned and reported what he had seen and heard, Gao Conghui's heart went cold.

The ferocity of the Hexi troops went without saying; Zhang Zhao, the Shaoming Son of Heaven, had a grand and magnanimous bearing and was a man of far-sighted vision.

He built great palaces without using public funds, conscripted commoners for labor without many deaths, and on top of that won universal praise.

As Son of Heaven, he owned no more than four sets of ordinary clothes; though he was fond of beef, in the three years since arriving at Kaifeng Prefecture in the Eastern Capital, he had not once allowed himself to eat it.

At the same time he knew how to promote culture and education. After taking control of the Central Plains, he did not rush to squeeze the common people, but first established institutions, rewarded loyalty and righteousness, and used extremely brilliant methods to strip the Military Governors of their power.

This was no barbarian bandit from the remote wastes of Hexi — this was the manner of a great dynasty's emperor!

Ever since Gao Baorong returned, and everywhere showed his reverence for Zhang Zhao, Gao Conghui's illness had grown steadily worse.

Nanping was small and weak, yet sat astride a vital communications hub. With such a ruler emerging in the Central Plains, Nanping's room for survival was bound to vanish.

Gao Conghui drew two breaths with all his strength, but the tightness in his chest seemed not to ease at all; instead, because of the overexertion, waves of headache and palpitations began.

In the two or three years since this affliction had settled in, Gao Conghui's chest had never once felt light, and his appetite, strength, and mental acuity had all begun to decline rapidly as the disease progressed.

This was a classic case of bronchitis developing into emphysema, and it had already reached the late stage.

In later ages, given Gao Conghui's status, living another ten or twenty years would have been no great problem.

But in this age, the physicians of the Palace of the King of Jing could only diagnose Gao Conghui with a qi ailment; the heart, lungs, and other organs had already suffered damage, but there were no medicines or methods to treat it. It was a completely incurable terminal illness, and Gao Conghui could at any moment die suddenly from acidosis.

He knew his days were numbered, yet troublesome matters were not few. His heir, his third son Gao Baorong, looked like no man capable of holding the family estate, and his favorite tenth son, Gao Baoxu, was even worse.

This was not to say Gao Baoxu lacked ability; precisely because Gao Baoxu had a bit of ability, he had always harbored a small measure of self-confidence, as well as a deep longing to preserve the Gao family estate.

That was not good. Nanping's arm could not twist the thigh of the Zhou state. If one failed to recognize the times, then it would no longer be a question of whether the family estate could be kept, but whether the family itself could be kept.

Gao Conghui was about to call for an attendant to bring the medicinal broth prepared with mint, a broth that could make his heart and lungs feel waves of coolness. He did not expect it to cure him, but it could give the illusion of some relief.

But before he could get the words out, the palace doors were suddenly flung open.

Who would dare push open his palace doors on this storm-lashed night? Of course it was his favorite tenth son, the man Nanping called "All Is Lost" — Gao Baoxu.

Gao Baoxu stood in the doorway, rainwater streaming down from his topknot like a waterfall, his dark-green round-collared robe completely soaked through, looking as if he had just been fished out of the water.

Gao Conghui's heart immediately seized up. He forced himself to remain composed as he looked at Gao Baoxu. "My son, why such alarm? What has happened?"

Gao Baoxu looked at Gao Conghui, anxious tears bursting from his eyes, mingling with the rain and streaming all over his face. In a mournful voice he said:

"An alarm has come from Gong'an County! Yesterday before dawn, the Wuan Army yabing officer Xu Keqiong and others opened the north gate of Tanzhou and let Ma Xi'e into the city. Ma Xi'e has become the master of Southern Chu!"

Gao Conghui turned pale with shock and quickly asked: "How did you learn of this, my son? Could it be a false rumor?"

Gao Baoxu shook his head violently. "It is no rumor. Zhang Shaodi, Troop Commander before the Wuan Army headquarters, and other Southern Chu yabing officers, unwilling to submit to Ma Xi'e, have already led several hundred troops to Gong'an and requested entry into our Nanping borders, to await Ma Xiguang's return south."

"Heaven is destroying the Gao clan!" Gao Conghui could hold himself together no longer. He raised his head to the sky and gave a long sigh, felt an itch in his throat, and amid violent coughing, several threads of blood suddenly sprayed out. Then he crashed heavily to the floor.

The reason Gao Conghui was so agitated was that he had seen it — seen why Zhang Zhao had kept Ma Xiguang in the Eastern Capital all this time: he had been waiting for this very moment.

If Ma Xi'e had failed to take Tanzhou and seize control of Ma Chu's power, then Zhang Zhao could at most have sent a few thousand, at the very most ten thousand or so troops to escort Ma Xiguang back south.

Though they would certainly have had to pass through Jiangling, Nanping had always been obedient and submissive, and the previous year had even presented the Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases, giving Zhang Zhao not the slightest pretext. This Shaoming Son of Heaven had always held high the banners of loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and righteousness, so he would have had no way to swallow Nanping whole.

Even if Zhang Zhao had hardened his face and come anyway, a few thousand or ten thousand troops would not have been frightening; that many men could not have taken Jiangling, where the Gao family, father and son, had entrenched themselves for decades through their beneficence.

Nor could Zhang Zhao have sent more; if he had sent more, it would have been too obvious, and all the states under Heaven would have been on guard.

But now, Ma Xi'e had entered Tanzhou. Moreover, the previous year, the former King of Chu, Ma Xifan, had already sent Ma Xiguang to the Eastern Capital to pay court, and had accepted the title of King of Chu from the Zhang Zhou.

That meant Ma Chu was now, like Nanping, a vassal and tributary of the Zhang Zhou, and the Shaoming Zhang Son of Heaven could legitimately mobilize a great army southward to suppress the rebellion.

Since a rebellion was to be suppressed, and Nanping was also a vassal, there would be no problem with the imperial army entering Jiangling and using Jiangling as a forward base for pacifying Ma Chu, would there?

As for how long the great army's campaign would take? Whether it would leave once it arrived? Was that something a vassal king like you could decide?

By the next day, the news was more precise. Zhang Shaodi, Troop Commander before the Wuan Army, along with yabing officers Li Yanwen, Liu Yantao, and several dozen other Ma Chu officers, formally sent a written request to Gao Conghui, asking that he permit them to settle in Gong'an County or come to Jiangling to await Ma Xiguang's southward return.

News from Tanzhou also arrived: after Ma Xi'e entered Tanzhou, he immediately had Ma Xiguang's wife, Lady Wang, and their three sons beaten to death with rods.

He had Li Honggao, one of the Eighteen Scholars of Ma Chu's Tiance Prefecture and Secretary of the Wuan Army Military Governor's office, who had strongly advocated for Ma Xiguang, dismembered; his younger brother Li Hongjie and more than seventy members of their household perished with him.

Still not satisfied, Ma Xi'e then killed Tang Zhaoyin, Administrative Assistant of the Wuan Army, and dozens of other officers including the yabing officer Yang Di.

At the same time, Ma Xi'e's entry into Tanzhou had depended heavily on the aid of the various creek-cave barbarian troops of Langzhou (Changde in Hunan), and so after entering Tanzhou, he could not fully control these barbarian troops.

The barbarian troops thereupon plundered Tanzhou on a grand scale, and seeing the barbarians begin to loot, the Wuping Army soldiers of Ma Xi'e's own command were naturally unwilling to be left behind.

And so the Langzhou troops and barbarian troops looted for three full days, killing officials and commoners, burning houses and dwellings. The treasures and goods accumulated over decades by Ma Yin, King Wumu of Chu, and his son Ma Xifan were all carried off into the barbarian settlements, and the palaces and buildings were all reduced to ashes.

Report after report struck Gao Conghui speechless. In particular, the burning of the Ma family palaces in Tanzhou to ashes, and brothers maiming and killing each other, plunged Gao Conghui, whose days were already numbered, into an inner war between heaven and man.

He summoned his third son Gao Baorong, along with Gao Baoshen, Gao Baoyin, and his most beloved tenth son, Gao Baoxu.

"Has Fourteenth Son replied? What did he say?" Propped into a sitting position on a folding bed by two maidservants, Gao Conghui asked softly of Gao Baorong, who had hurried over.

The "Fourteenth Son" Gao Conghui spoke of was his fourteenth son, Gao Baoying, who had been chosen to marry Lady Luo the Fourth, younger sister of Zhang Zhao's trusted general Luo Shande, known as Shanzhu'er.

Gao Baorong quickly stepped forward and answered: "Fourteenth Son's reply just arrived. He says he has graduated from the Academy of Heavenly Works, and the Son of Heaven, praising his outstanding talent and learning, has by special decree promoted him to Clerk of the Zhangtai in the Secretariat, attending at His Majesty's side.

His wife's elder brother, the Marquis of Yumen and General of the Left Shenwei Guard, Luo, remains in undiminished imperial favor. Recently he was commissioned to suppress the Huaibei bandit rebellion in the two prefectures of Hao and Si, and word has it he has already won a great victory; promotion and ennoblement are right before his eyes."

Gao Conghui nodded with satisfaction, and the color on his pale face looked much better already.

Only Gao Baorong found it somewhat hard to speak. He hesitated a moment, then continued: "Fourteenth Brother also said... the Sage has said: the great trend under Heaven is that what has long been divided must unite, and what has long been united must divide. He considers this extremely reasonable.

Since the Great Tang declined, the realm has been in chaos for a hundred and eighty years, and now the time has come for what has long been divided to unite.

Our Gao family has kept Jingnan stable for decades. Scholars, commoners, gentry, and merchants all feel gratitude for the Gao family's virtue, and the Sage, when speaking of Prince Wuxin (Gao Jixing), also praised his benevolence.

This is a fortunate thing for our Gao family. If we could..." At this point Gao Baorong drew a deep breath before continuing.

"If we could offer the three prefectures of Jingnan to the court, then the Gao family's wealth and honor could be expected to endure, and we would leave a great name of loyalty and righteousness in the histories."

"What audacity! How dare Fourteenth Brother utter such treasonous words? Is he still a descendant of the Gao family?"

Before Gao Conghui could speak, Gao Baoxu had already leapt out. He performed a full kowtow, pressing his forehead to the ground, and cried out in a mournful voice.

"Father, Fourteenth Brother has married a daughter of the Luo family and become a trusted confidant of the Son of Heaven. He has his own grand prospects ahead, and he no longer considers the Gao family at all. I beg you, Father, do not believe Fourteenth Brother's treasonous words."

It was not only Gao Baoxu who spoke so; Gao Baoshen and Gao Baoyin also wore angry expressions, clearly extremely displeased with these words of Fourteenth Brother Gao Baoying.

A flush of red suddenly rose on Gao Conghui's face, followed immediately by violent coughing.

A maidservant hurriedly brought over the medicinal decoction, but Gao Conghui waved his hand and would not take it. Instead he looked at Gao Baorong and asked: "Third Brother, what do you think of Fourteenth Brother's words?"

A struggling expression appeared on Gao Baorong's face. In the end he too knelt and performed a full kowtow before Gao Conghui.

"The three prefectures of Jingnan were won by our grandfather Prince Wuxin and you, Father, through hacking through brambles and thorns and enduring humiliation under heavy burdens. The ancestral estate was not easily come by — how can it be lightly offered up?

Yet the three prefectures of Jingnan are narrow in land and weak in troops. If the Son of Heaven is truly determined, then while you, Father, are still here, we might perhaps hold out. But after you, Father, have passed on, your son truly cannot withstand them."

Gao Baorong's words were indeed what was in his heart. Who would not wish to hold the family estate and rule as a lone sovereign? But the problem they faced was that Nanping simply had no strength to resist a punitive expedition from the court. Stubborn resistance would likely mean the destruction of the entire family.

"Father! The court is not as powerful as one might think. In the past, when they campaigned against the Southern Tang, they failed to take Jiangning in one stroke because their navy was inadequate.

Now our navy is superior to the Southern Tang's. If the court dares to come against us, we should form an alliance with Ma Xi'e, and at the same time make contact with the Shu and Tang states. Combining the strength of four houses, relying on the valor of our navy, Jiangling can certainly be defended."

Gao Baoxu, hearing Fourteenth Brother Gao Baoying's words, felt as though his heart were on fire. Hearing his elder brother Gao Baorong's words, he was also greatly displeased. He knelt on the ground, roaring loudly.

But this time, Gao Conghui did not even glance at Gao Baoxu on the floor, whom he had originally doted on most. Instead he looked at Gao Baorong and gave a long sigh.

"My son is prudent and knows his own limits. He can preserve the clan. I am at ease."

"Sage! Sage, you must see justice done for your servant! I can give up being lord of the Chu domain, but my wife and children are truly innocent. Why did Ma Xi'e have to slaughter my entire household?"

Zhang Zhao had just finished announcing the reforms when news of the Ma Chu affair arrived. To be honest, Zhang Zhao had not expected that fellow Ma Xi'e to be so ruthless.

Ma Xiguang had not actually contended with him at all, yet in the end Ma Xi'e raised troops, entered Tanzhou, and even killed Ma Xiguang's one wife and two sons.

Speaking of this, Zhang Zhao actually felt somewhat guilty in his heart. These events seemed to have nothing to do with him, Zhang Zhao — after all, no one could have known that the former King of Chu, Ma Xifan, would die of illness so quickly, still less that Ma Xi'e would be so vicious.

In the eyes of others, this was Zhang Zhao favoring Ma Xiguang, which was why he kept him in the Eastern Capital to enjoy wealth and honor.

After the Ma Chu incident, Zhang Zhao, amid his hundred pressing affairs, had also been continuously drawing out troops to prepare to escort Ma Xiguang back to Tanzhou to succeed to the throne. One could say he had acted with considerable loyalty and righteousness.

But Zhang Zhao actually knew, which was why he had kept Ma Xiguang until now. He bore responsibility.

Thinking of this, a look of guilt could not help but appear on Zhang Zhao's face.

But then Zhang Zhao immediately froze again, because if one put it that way, had he not kept Ma Xiguang for a time, then according to the course of history, it would not merely have been Ma Xiguang's wife and sons who were killed — even Ma Xiguang himself would have found it hard to escape death.

Put that way, Zhang Zhao had in fact saved Ma Xiguang's life.

Ahem! Sage Zhang's expression immediately returned to normal, and then his face filled with fury.

"That wretch Ma Xi'e, as a subject utterly devoid of loyalty and righteousness — I had intended, for the sake of Prince Wumu's (Ma Yin's) honor, to spare his life.

But seeing him today, so vicious and cruel — Depi, please restrain your grief. I will certainly avenge you, and seize and slay this beast!"

Ma Xiguang departed in tears, and Zhang Zhao immediately summoned Zhang Huaiqing in.

Since the old man had been reported by Pei Yuan, he had been unwilling to leave Liangzhou — after all, he was used to living there. He dawdled his way to Chang'an, stopped and amused himself for several months, and only in the end arrived at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, together with a group of elders from the various Liangzhou families.

And they had only just arrived. Traveling from the Western Capital, Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture, to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, had taken them a full year and a half or more.

Although Zhang Huaiqing feared neither Heaven nor earth, he was still somewhat wary of this grand-nephew of his, because he always felt that Zhang Zhao was so unfamiliar as to make him a little afraid.

Looking at Zhang Zhao, he did not feel this was his own grand-nephew. Rather, he seemed very much like that second grand-uncle he had met only a few times but remembered vividly — the Huanzu Ding Emperor, Zhang Yichao.

"How many sons-in-law or grandsons-in-law does Granduncle have?"

Faced with Zhang Zhao's baffling question, Zhang Huaiqing was stunned for a moment, then answered in a small voice, utterly bewildered.

"To answer the Sage: eleven sons-in-law, twenty-four grandsons-in-law — ah, no, twenty-six."

Zhang Zhao was also speechless. Truly worthy of being the breeding machine of the Dragon-Tongue Zhang family — he could not even remember how many grandsons-in-law he had. Zhang Zhao reckoned he certainly could not recognize them all either.

"And how many of them are no longer among the living?" Zhang Zhao continued to ask.

Zhang Huaiqing now began to taste a hint of something. He looked at Zhang Zhao and asked hesitantly: "The one who just left was Ma Xiguang of Ma Chu, wasn't it? I hear he's a useless, honest man, and now his whole family has just been killed. The Sage isn't thinking of..."

Zhang Zhao nodded. This was exactly what was good about Zhang Huaiqing — he was very self-aware. He knew that his use to Zhang Zhao was simply to provide sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters — especially daughters and granddaughters — for Zhang Zhao to marry off and form alliances.

So Sage Zhang chuckled. "Does Granduncle still not see it? Our Zhang family has now risen to such wealth and honor. So when choosing sons-in-law, shouldn't we pick exactly this kind of fool... ah, this kind of honest man with plenty of money?"

Zhang Huaiqing savored this carefully, and indeed it made sense. So he thought for a moment and said: "Twenty-Third Daughter is sixteen, gentle and virtuous. Perhaps she would do."

No! Zhang Zhao waved his hand and refused. "Twenty-Third Daughter is young and in the bloom of youth, still an unmarried maiden waiting in the inner chambers. Ma Xiguang is nearly forty — not a match. Choose another."

Zhang Huaiqing was quite willing to give away a flower-like sixteen-year-old unmarried granddaughter.

But Zhang Zhao would not agree. It was originally a good thing; there was no need to ruin the future of a girl in the flower of her youth.

In that case, Zhang Huaiqing thought for a moment. "Then there is only Tenth Daughter's elder sister, Eighth Daughter. The year before last, her husband died in battle outside the walls of Yanshi, leaving behind three children. She would be a fitting match for Ma Xiguang."

Tenth Daughter was Zhang Huaiqing's daughter, married to Gao Yunquan, the former Military Governor of the Zhangwu Army of Yanzhou under the Later Jin.

This Zhangwu Army of Yanzhou was the first Central Plains military province that Zhang Zhao had won over. Even the Zhangwu Army's designation still existed — it was now called the Zhangwu Garrison of the Imperial Guard.

Eighth Daughter's husband had originally been a squad general in Zhang Zhao's personal guard, the Hanshan Unit. When Zhang Zhao was besieged by Yelu Pode beside the Yang Canal at Luoyang, he had unfortunately died in battle.

Eighth Daughter was now only thirty-three. She could not remain a widow her whole life. Ma Xiguang was a weak-willed man with no bad habits — exactly the right person to help Sage Zhang's meritorious official raise his sons. Perfectly suitable!

"Very well! Granduncle, have Eighth Aunt come to the palace once. I will speak with her personally.

As for this Ma Xiguang, I do not intend to send him back to Tanzhou. When the time comes, I will enfeoff him as Prince of Changsha Commandery, and let him hold the Wuan Army Military Governorship in absentia.

As for the wealth of the Ma Chu state, he will be permitted to keep one or two hundred thousand strings of cash, and settle his household in Luoyang."

Zhang Huaiqing was delighted to hear this. Two hundred thousand strings was no small sum. As long as Ma Xiguang knew what was good for him, the betrothal gifts would have to be at least five or ten thousand strings.

Zhang Huaiqing has many sons and daughters, and many places to spend money, so this can just relieve his urgent need.

"Right! Thirteenth Uncle still has no stipend fief, does he? In that case, We shall also grant Thirteenth Uncle a stipend fief of one hundred households in Jingzhou.

Uncle has contributed much effort, and to this day still holds no title of nobility. Better to take Changsong County in Liangzhou as his designation, and make him Marquis of Changsong."

Zhang Zhou's title must first of all be hereditary without diminution; otherwise, it would begin to be downgraded in the third generation, and after a few generations they would become commoners.

Second, it must have a stipend fief. Without a stipend fief, the annual stipend is actually not much — it is only high in political status.

But high political status must be matched by civil and military ability. For Zhang Huaiqing's branch of the family, their abilities are ordinary, so the political significance of a title really is not very great — all that remains is making money.

The Thirteenth Uncle Zhang Zhao spoke of was the son Zhang Huaiqing had given in adoption to the Guiyi Army's second Military Governor, Zhang Zhouying, the Emperor Huai of the Ancestors, Zhang Huaishen.

The Zhang family's Duke of Nanyang Commandery also went to this Thirteenth Uncle, but Zhang Zhao had not added a stipend fief for him.

But at this point, Zhang Zhao had already married off five or six of Zhang Huaiqing's daughters and granddaughters to win over talent, so it would not do to be too stingy.

Moreover, Zhang Huaiqing, as the highest-ranking member of the Zhang family's generation and the only one of the Huai generation, ought to be given a title as well.

After Zhang Huaiqing had also left, Zhang Zhao, blazing with fury, summoned in the Mountain Boar, Luo Shande.

Luo Shande had just put down the unrest in the two prefectures of Haozhou and Sizhou. Incited by Liu Renzhan, Military Governor of the Qinghuai Army of Shouzhou in the Southern Tang, the local great clans had stirred up a disturbance neither large nor small — all aftereffects of their fields being confiscated.

Zhang Zhao had therefore dispatched Luo Shande at the head of three thousand men of the Left Divine Might Guard to help Gao Yunquan, Surveillance Commissioner of Haozhou and Sizhou, suppress the unrest, and he had just returned to the Eastern Capital.

"Damn it! That dog Ma Xi'e entered Tanzhou, and he actually dared to let his troops sack the city of Tanzhou!

The Ma Chu palaces in Tanzhou were all burned to ashes. The gold, jewels, and jade accumulated by the two Chu kings, Ma Yin and Ma Xifan, were all plundered by the barbarian soldiers. The loss is at least six hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand strings of cash.

That is Our money! Ma Xi'e is plundering Our money!"

Zhang Zhao was so angry his hair nearly stood on end. He paced back and forth twice, then said to Luo Shande:

"You are to lead the Left Divine Might Guard at once to escort Ma Xiguang south. Also notify Ma Zhaoyuan (Ma Yaozi): if after ten days there is still no word from Lu Yan, then march straight on Jiangling City.

But you must be careful not to let the Gao family's gold, silver, and silks be plundered as well. We are still waiting to use that money to reward the officers and men!"

Before a trusted confidant like the Mountain Boar, Zhang Zhao no longer concealed anything. The moment he thought of the Ma Chu royal palace treasures being plundered, he was sick at heart.

In the eyes of Sage Zhang, who was now nearly a pauper, the treasures of the Ma Chu palace already belonged to him.

"Your servant obeys! Sage, please quell your anger. Your servant will surely lead the officers and men of the Left Divine Might Guard to persuade those Langzhou river-valley barbarian tribes to hand over the treasures they plundered."

The Mountain Boar, Luo Shande, knew how to play along. He understood Zhang Zhao's meaning: recover as much of the loss as possible.

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view.