Chapter 656: Why Not Take Up the Wu Hook, My Son?

Once the Lantern Festival was over, Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital, finally settled down from its carnival atmosphere, and every trade and profession began returning to normal.

When people in the Eastern Capital saw a royal procession approaching with silver-bordered Three Stars banners, they crowded around, and auspicious words poured out as if they cost nothing, clanging and clattering in flattery.

They had reason to support the royal house so fervently, because although the Sacred Zhou had stood for barely two years, the Sacred Son of Heaven had abolished corrupt governance, rectified the officialdom, lightened corvée and taxes, equalized land and remitted harsh levies, and struck down the arrogance of military men.

With this whole string of policies, the long-suffering people of the Central Plains had finally gained a stable life.

No one had to worry any longer about a mutiny suddenly breaking out, or about soldiers from every corner of the realm treating the Eastern Capital as their hunting ground.

Nor did they need to fear that a powerful steppe people like the Khitan would suddenly invade, for the Emperor had long since defeated them.

Still less did they need to worry about losing their livelihood at any moment and starving to death with their whole family, or about being cut down in the street by some soldier over a single word of disagreement.

Add to that two years of favorable weather, which perfectly matched the new dynasty's claim of following Heaven and answering the people's will, and the whole realm turned ever more willingly toward the Zhou.

What the gathered people of the Eastern Capital did not know was that riding in the imperial carriage were none other than the Princess of Shache and her husband Cao Yanming, the Construction Commissioner of the Divine Capital, who had just finished reporting to Zhang Zhao.

And this couple was not particularly well liked by the people of the Eastern Capital.

Because once the Divine Capital Luoyang was fully built, it would immediately replace Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital, as the seat of the capital.

Zhang Zhao did indeed have this intention. First, the Eastern Capital Kaifeng Prefecture and the Divine Capital Luoyang were simply too close together, with a great deal of functional overlap.

Second, the imperial palace at Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital, could hardly sustain the grandeur of a great dynasty's royal house.

Never mind the claim that the Northern Song imperial city in the Eastern Capital had no problems—Zhao Da actually wanted to move the capital, while Zhao Er was shackled by Eastern Capital land prices.

Given the freakish prosperity of the Northern Song Eastern Capital back then, if the Northern Song had moved its capital, housing prices would surely have collapsed overnight, and then the entire city would have gone bankrupt together—something the Zhao-Song dynasty simply could not afford.

But Zhang Zhao had no such worry. He could move the capital before Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital, had fully swollen up. In fact, Zhang Zhao was already preparing to abolish the title "Eastern Capital" and demote it to Kaifeng Prefecture.

From then on, this economically vibrant city would only need to bear the economic burden of the capital region.

Luoyang, for its part, could fully exploit its political and military advantages to become the political center, and the Luoyang basin could support tens of thousands of households of the personal army and the imperial guard, greatly increasing security.

In the third year of Shaoming, 948 CE, on the eighteenth day of the first month, Zhang Zhao led the full civil and military court to attend the completion ceremony of the Yinluoshui Yangqu Canal.

Historically, because Luoyang's status declined rapidly and the Luoyang basin and Guanzhong fell into ruin, no one maintained this canal, and by the early Northern Song it had already silted up severely.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song there were plans to repair it, but they were ultimately abandoned for various reasons, the greatest of which was the opposition of all Bianjing.

At that time, the powerful and wealthy merchants in Kaifeng held enormous advantages there, and they feared that repairing the Yangqu Canal would weaken the situation in which the whole realm supplied Kaifeng, so they opposed it fiercely.

Moreover, the area around Luoyang was genuinely poor then, and Guanzhong was no longer the imperial capital, so there was no need for the Central Plains and the southeast to send grain and money to support Guanzhong. Thus it was never completed.

From then on, the Yangqu Canal was completely abandoned, its course gradually encroached upon by farmland, and Luoyang thereupon declined utterly.

But in this timeline, Zhang Zhao repaired the Yinluoshui Yangqu Canal almost without regard to cost.

Because he still needed to transport large quantities of supplies into Guanzhong, keeping the line from Guanzhong to Liangzhou prosperous, so as to ensure that the national policy of stabilizing the northwest could be carried out.

After presiding over the completion ceremony of the Yinluoshui Yangqu Canal, when the first grain ship from Bozhou Prefecture in Shandong Province reached the Baibo ferry outside Luoyang, Zhang Zhao did not return to Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital, but instead took up residence at Jinshan Palace outside Luoyang.

The next day, Zhang Zhao again led the civil and military officials and the meritorious nobles and imperial relatives in a grand ceremony, formally entering the city of Luoyang.

On Zhang Zhao's left was Li Shengtian, wearing the court robes of a prince of the great dynasty. On his right was Cao Yuanzhong, in the court robes of a state duke.

Together with Zhang Zhao, the group proceeded with song and dance to the newly completed Vermilion Bird Gate outside the Purple Tenuity Palace.

Zhang Zhao issued an edict formally announcing the court's return to Luoyang.

From the time they rose in Hexi, Zhang Zhao and the Hexi political group he had built had always held two goals: to restore the great dynasty, and to return to the old capital.

Now the lesser goal of returning to the old capital had finally been achieved—the nation's capital had returned to the Divine Capital Luoyang!

However, Zhang Zhao did not issue the edict demoting the Eastern Capital to Kaifeng Prefecture just yet; it was better not to be so radical all at once.

In fact, at present only the inner palace system had moved over; the Secretariat, Chancellery, Department of State Affairs, and Bureau of Military Affairs had not yet relocated. Zhang Zhao planned to complete the move gradually over five months.

On the twenty-second of the first month, after all preparations were complete, Zhang Zhao took his maternal uncle Li Shengtian to the Purple Tenuity Palace to bid farewell to Li Shengtian's elder sister, Zhang Zhao's legal mother, the Empress Dowager Ciyou.

The Empress Dowager Ciyou had finally pulled through, and her health had recovered considerably. She also knew that Li Shengtian's return to Khotan was utterly unchangeable, so she no longer threw little fits.

This greatly lightened Zhang Zhao's heart. To him, the Empress Dowager Ciyou was a mother in all but name, and if she had truly thrown a fit and refused to let Li Shengtian return to Khotan, it would have been very difficult for him to handle.

And Li Shengtian, to soothe his elder sister, promised that after returning to Khotan he would send his eldest grandson to the Central Plains, to console his elder sister's longing.

After their brief reunion, Li Shengtian was about to depart, and this time he would not be leaving alone.

Zhang Zhao would first escort Li Shengtian and Cao Yuanxing and his wife directly to Shazhou, where Cao Yijin's coffin would be exhumed, fulfilling the vow he had made back then to carry the coffin home.

At the same time, accompanying Li Shengtian and his wife to the Western Regions were merchants from Guanzhong, the Central Plains, Hedong, Hebei, Hubei, and Meng Shu.

Zhang Zhao had revived the Silk Road through a small circulation loop, but for now the scale of this trade route was still too small, and the profit points were insufficient.

It could neither satisfy the Central Plains' demand for white sugar, olive oil, ivory, and pearls, nor meet the demand abroad for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain.

In this period, when the Maritime Silk Road had not yet begun to show its power, Zhang Zhao decided to have the Hexi Chamber of Commerce organize several batches of large-scale caravans to head west.

First, to let professional merchants discover the bright spots and make professional adjustments for the continued survival of the Silk Road.

Second, to stimulate the Chinese mindset of going out through the Jade Gate Pass, and incidentally use the caravans that went out to gather intelligence on Transoxiana, India, Persia, and other places.

In early spring, the weather in Guanzhong was still far from warming, and thick snow still lay everywhere.

Past Tong Pass and continuing west, the surrounding hills looked somewhat bare, and the soil did not appear very fertile.

On both sides of the imperial highway, villages lay one after another as if placed along the roadside, tranquil with a touch of ease.

Horn calls sounded continuously, and a procession flying silver-white and gold banners passed through with clamor.

After passing Huayin County, one could continue west along the Cao Canal, and the road became broader and smoother.

The governor of Weinan Prefecture, the chief clerk of Huazhou, and the county magistrate of Huayin County had long been waiting by the roadside.

In this era the kneeling salute was not yet practiced, so officials great and small simply waited by the roadside, and besides them there was also a group of military officers in martial dress.

At this time the military commanders guarding Guanzhong were divided into four sectors.

West of Guanzhong was guarded by Zhebu Jiashi, Commander-in-Chief of Xiongwu Garrison, Governor of Tianshui Prefecture, and Concurrent Military Supervisor.

North of Guanzhong was Zhao Hui, father of Zhao Yanjin, Military Supervisor of the Four Prefectures of Qing, Ning, Bin, and Jing, commanding the troops.

The core area of Guanzhong was the responsibility of Luo Yu'er, Defense Commissioner of Guanzhong Province and Military Supervisor of Chang'an Prefecture.

From west of Huazhou to Tong Pass was the responsibility of Wu Xingde, Garrison Commander of Tong Pass and Military Supervisor of Weinan Prefecture.

The moment Zhang Zhao's carriage appeared, the welcoming crowd erupted, and everyone by common consent chose Luo Yu'er as their leader, coming forward joyfully to greet him.

Luo Yu'er came from the Yuan Cong faction, and at the end of last year he had just married Zhang Zhao's thirteenth sister-in-law, Cao Yanying, making him and Zhang Zhao brothers-in-law, which brought the two sides even closer.

So when Zhang Zhao saw Luo Yu'er approaching in court robes with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger, he too moved as if wind were under his feet and jumped straight down from the carriage.

"Sage, the civil and military officials of Guanzhong, along with the venerable elders, have prepared a traveling palace in Huayin County. They request that the Sage and the Great King of the Jin Kingdom stay tonight in Huayin County."

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily and clapped Luo Yu'er on the shoulder. But don't assume that because his name is Yu'er, he's some handsome fellow like Zhao Zilong.

Quite the opposite — Luo Yu'er was built rather like a bear. Back in Anxi, Zhang Zhao once joked that he was the half-brother of Manxiong Zhang Zhaozhong, born of a different mother.

"Good! Tonight we stay in Huayin County. Summon all our old brothers to me — tonight we'll have a proper drink."

As Guanzhong was Zhang Zhao's base second only to Hexi and Longyou, there were no small number of officials left there from the Yuan Cong faction, the Donggui faction, and the Lianglan Six Valleys tribes.

They were Zhang Zhao's core supporters, and wherever he went, he naturally had to spend time nurturing those bonds.

In Shu, at Chengdu Prefecture.

Zhang Zhao had already reached Guanzhong and was preparing to attack Shu, yet Shu itself remained entirely peaceful and joyous.

After twenty years of governance by Meng Zhixiang and his son Meng Chang, the Chengdu Plain around Chengdu Prefecture had become one of the first regions in all the realm to recover the conditions of the Great Tang era.

At this time Chengdu Prefecture had twelve monthly markets: the first month's Lantern Market, the second month's Flower Market, the third month's Silkworm Market, the fourth month's Brocade Market, the fifth month's Fan Market, the sixth month's Incense Market, the seventh month's Seven Treasures Market, the eighth month's Osmanthus Market, the ninth month's Medicine Market, the tenth month's Wine Market, the eleventh month's Plum Market, and the twelfth month's Peach Charm Market.

According to the season, different specialty markets (commodity fairs) were promoted, thereby stimulating the development of industry and commerce.

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Take the first month's Lantern Market, for example. Zhang Zhao, stingy as he was, had put up lanterns for five days in the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture and the Divine Capital of Luoyang, then stopped because he thought it too extravagant.

But in Chengdu, the Lantern Market ran from New Year's Day all the way to today, the twenty-eighth of the first month — a full month in all.

As the Son of Heaven, Meng Chang also had to leave the palace and share in the people's joy. He set up an evening banquet hall at Daci Temple, and at dusk ascended the temple gate tower to watch the Brocade River night market, where all manner of festival goods were laid out.

By some coincidence, the bustling Lantern Market street in Chengdu Prefecture occupied roughly the same spot as the later Chunxi Road and Taikoo Li, and it was likewise the favorite haunt of the fashion-obsessed.

Hmm! On this matter, my great Chengdu certainly has a tradition.

By now it was the last two days of the Lantern Market, and the fun-loving people of Chengdu had not yet had their fill, so as it was about to end, they threw themselves into it even more wildly.

Presently, cheers rang out from the direction of the palace. It turned out that the Shu Son of Heaven, seeing the people still not satisfied, simply lifted the curfew — and tonight the Son of Heaven would also come in person to release lanterns outside the temple gate tower.

Meng Chang ascended a tall tower within the palace and drank merrily with his consorts.

During the feast, Lady of Bright Countenance Li Yanniang, a dancer by origin, begged Meng Chang to have golden gongs and drum music played, while she offered up a newly choreographed dance.

This woman Li Yanniang, a dancer by origin, had nevertheless won Meng Chang's favor and ranked alongside the Flower Core Consort, Lady Fei — she naturally possessed extraordinary talents.

It was said that the Chaotian topknot hairstyle was invented by Li Yanniang.

But what she excelled at most was dance, and she was acclaimed as having no equal under heaven. With a slender waist and full hips, she could perform the palm dance like Zhao Feiyan of the Former Han.

Meng Chang had drunk no small amount of Goose Yellow Wine, a tribute from Hanzhou (Guanghan in Sichuan), and was already tipsy as if floating in the heavens. Seeing Li Yanniang's otherworldly dancing, he felt utterly ethereal, as though he were in the celestial palace, and even began to sing along.

The Flower Core Consort, Lady Fei, seeing Meng Chang so delighted, also wished to compete for his favor. She waited until Meng Chang and Li Yanniang had finished their song and dance, then immediately stepped forward and said to Meng Chang:

"The other day I heard the Sage say that the dishes were all stale things — the moment they were brought up, he felt disgusted and could not lift his chopsticks. After returning, I racked my brains and devised two new dishes. I beg the Sage to taste them."

Meng Chang was overjoyed. Lady Fei was not only beautiful as flower and moon, but also brilliant as ice and snow. Dishes she had painstakingly devised would surely be extraordinary.

Sure enough, the Flower Core Consort at once presented two fine delicacies.

The first was Crimson Sheep's Head: take a cleaned white sheep's head, boil it with red ginger, roll it up tightly, press it down with stones, and steep it in wine so the wine flavor penetrates to the bone, then slice it thin as paper.

Meng Chang picked up a slice and ate it, finding none of the mutton's rankness whatsoever, but rather a fresh and elegantly subtle aftertaste. Combined with the rich red ginger and the faint fragrance of fine wine, the more he ate, the more the flavor lingered endlessly.

The second was Moon Plate: slice Chinese yam, mix evenly with lotus powder, add the five flavors — fragrant and refreshing, crisp yet tender, pure white as silver, looking like the moon, its light sweetness able to cut through the greasiness of wine and meat.

Meng Chang ate with great delight and, slapping the railing of the tower, cried out loudly: "Lady of Bright Countenance Li offered a dance — reward her a hundred thousand cash.

The Consort offered fine dishes, with even greater care — reward her likewise a hundred thousand cash, plus two thousand bolts of top-grade brocade."

The words had barely left his mouth, and before the Flower Core Consort and Li Yanniang could even give thanks, the surrounding concubines all surged forward, a flock of orioles and swallows clustering around Meng Chang with soft, honeyed flattery. Meng Chang was so delighted he lost all sense of bounds, and in his floating daze he rewarded away twenty thousand bolts of brocade.

And had those brocades been sold along the trade routes, they could at the very least have bought three hundred sets of armor or over a hundred Hexi warhorses.

At the same time, Zhang Zhao was also holding a great banquet for the civil and military officials of Guanzhong in Huayin County. At the height of the drinking, the company too sang and danced.

But what they sang was not the "Ice Skin and Jade Bones, Pure Without Sweat" that Meng Chang favored.

The company first sang the Liangzhou Song by Xue Feng, the favorite of the Guiyi Army and indeed of all the Han folk of Hexi and Longyou.

"Last night the foreign troops avenged the nation's wrongs; the Protector-General of Shazhou broke Liangzhou. The Yellow River's nine bends now return to Han; beyond the frontier, battle blood flows far and wide."

At the height of their singing, the company clamored for Zhang Zhao to set the tune. Zhang Zhao, his cheeks flushed from drink, struck his bowl with his chopsticks right there at the feast and sang loudly the fifth of Li He's "Thirteen Poems of the Southern Garden."

"Why does a man not carry the Wu hook, and take back the fifty prefectures of the mountain passes? I beg you, sir, to ascend for a moment to Lingyan Pavilion — what scholar ever became a marquis of ten thousand households?"

Li He wrote this poem in the days of military province fragmentation, when his grand ambitions found no fulfillment.

But now, sung from the mouth of Zhang Zhao, a founding hero-king, it naturally carried a different meaning.

The civil and military officials were greatly stirred, singing it over and over. Luo Yu'er even leaped into the center, performed a dance of homage before Zhang Zhao, and then cried out loudly:

"Sage, your servant also wishes to ascend Lingyan Pavilion! In this campaign against Shu, you must let me be the vanguard!"

Well, in this world, officers like Yin Zhengqi — Yin Yaozi — and Liu Zaisheng, who would obediently go handle logistics when Zhang Zhao told them to garrison a place, were in the minority.

Luo Yu'er had not gotten a battle since defeating Yelu Deguang, and he was already beside himself with impatience.

The moment he stepped forward to request battle, officers great and small surged up, wishing they could go right now and drag Meng Chang before Zhang Zhao — their fighting spirit blazed like a rainbow!

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