Chapter 662

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What is the most valuable thing in the twenty-first century? Talent is the most valuable!

But Zhang Zhao felt that the words "twenty-first century" at the front of that sentence ought to be deleted.

In any era, talent is the most valuable.

Just like now — Zhang Zhao very much wanted to launch an earth-shaking yet foundation-preserving great counterattack, but when he looked around at his civil and military officials, there was not a single one suited to the task.

He had famous commanders to hold a region, and he did not lack fierce, peerless warriors.

In letters there were Feng Dao, Lu Yan, and Sun Guangxian; in governing there were Zhang Xichong, Fan Zhi, and Xue Juzheng; in military planning there was Guo Tiance and others.

The only thing he lacked was a trusted, ruthless strategist to do this sort of work for him.

His adopted son Zhang Liecheng was called a spymaster, but he only excelled in loyalty, and was skilled at bribery, sowing division, and assassination; when it came to playing political mind games, his attainments were still far from sufficient.

So then, in the whole Zhang Zhou court, was there even one such qualified figure?

There was! And what was more, all three generations — old, middle-aged, and young — had someone.

The older generation was the founding heavy minister of Zhang Zhou, Sage Zhang's trusted confidant, the thirty-nine-year-old Chief Minister of the Secretariat-Chancellery, Governor and Defense Commissioner of Hexi Province, Defender of the Western Capital, Prefect of Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture, and Duke of Hedong Commandery — Pei Yuan.

The middle generation was the Secretariat's Zhangtai Gentleman and Duzhi Drafter, this year twenty-five years old — Zhao Pu.

The younger generation was my Great Song's chariot god, Second Brother Zhao, who had just turned eight.

These three were all of the type skilled at politics, wielding power, and scheming with plots and tricks.

Of course, at the same time, these three were also quite capable at state-building and framing grand policy; Pei Yuan was the weakest of the three in this respect, but he was even more outstanding at governing localities.

It was just that Second Brother Zhao was still too young, Zhao Pu had not yet matured, and Pei Yuan...

Zhang Zhao rubbed his chin and paced back and forth. He truly felt a little embarrassed!

Pei Yuan, as his trusted heavy minister, had first been thrown into Shuofang to fill the great hole left after Zhang Xichong's departure, and later had been left to garrison Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture. Even so great an event as Sage Zhang's accession to the throne, Pei Yuan had not been able to take part in.

And now to make him act as a harsh official, to take on the great thunderbolt of suppressing the Buddhist establishment — did that not seem a bit too heartless?

And if Zhang Zhao were to act like Guo Rong and directly set out to destroy Buddhism himself, would that be feasible?

Clearly it would not.

First, after the fall of Zhang Chengfeng's Jinshan Kingdom in former years, Zhang Zhao had relied on devout faith in the Buddha to successfully dispel the Cao family's notion of rooting him out completely.

Although he was a transmigrator, outsiders could not possibly know that!

So in the eyes of the people of this era, he, Zhang Zhao, ought to be an extremely devout believer in the Buddha, and the Buddhist establishment had shown him life-saving grace.

Second, after Zhang Zhao had made a haul in India, he had also forced the Indian Buddhist establishment to elevate him to Silver Wheel Holy King, and after returning had created the Supreme Heaven and the grand Hexi Six Dharma School.

There was no problem with this, and many Buddhist believers truly believed that Zhang Zhao had indeed received the Buddha's teachings and thereby attained enlightenment.

Although the people of the Central Plains did not believe as devoutly as the people of Hexi that he was the Buddha's spokesman in the secular world, they still believed that Zhang Zhao was a god or Buddha descended to the mortal realm.

With Zhang Zhao bearing such an identity, if he were to personally take the field like Guo Rong and smash Buddha images, it would certainly cause a great uproar, and it was quite possible that everyone under heaven would rise up in opposition.

Because the people of the world would not think Zhang Zhao was destroying Buddhism, but rather that he wanted to destroy the Central Plains Buddhist establishment and promote the Hexi Six Dharma School.

On this land, first of all, the Central Plains Buddhist establishment would certainly fight back desperately.

Because the "destruction" in the previous suppressions of Buddhism was not total eradication, but the elimination of those who had gone too far.

With the Six Dharma School behind him, Zhang Zhao's suppression of Buddhism could very easily be understood by the Central Plains Buddhist establishment as the complete extermination of them.

Second, the Confucians, as well as the Huang-Lao and Legalist schools that still had some vitality, would absolutely never accept the establishment of a theocratic state.

They had no armed force in their hands, but they still had the nerve to fan the flames and carry out nonviolent noncooperation.

As for the military men who held great power, they would be even less willing.

Now that a powerful emperor had appeared above their heads, the pressure on them was already great enough; if there were also a god or immortal riding on their necks, would there be any way left to live?

But could he simply not suppress Buddhism?

The answer was also no.

Before this, Zhang Zhao had ordered the Brocade Guard and the Ministry of Rites to make a thorough survey of the Buddhist establishment throughout the Zhou realm, and the result had greatly startled Zhang Zhao.

In just the half of the realm held by Zhang Zhou, there were actually more than 26,800 temples. The large ones had nearly a thousand monks and nuns, the small ones only two or three, for a total of more than 270,000 monks and nuns, among whom those holding ordination certificates were not one in a hundred.

Good heavens — the entire population of Zhang Zhou at present was only one million in Hedong, over two million in Hebei, 3.5 million in the directly administered capital region, and 1.8 million in Guanzhong.

Hexi and Longyou had 1.5 million people, Shuofang and Ningxia 800,000, Hubei one million, Hunan 850,000, and Jianghuai 600,000 — at the absolute most, a total of less than thirteen million people.

Yet there were over two hundred thousand monks and nuns. If one added the tenant households controlled by the temples, the estimate was around one million, and if one added together the relatively devout believers, there were at least three million or so.

Moreover, among these more than 26,000 temples, they held nearly six million mu of temple fields.

The Hedong Capital City Temple, the Hebei Kaiyuan Temple, the Shendu Fuxian Temple in the directly administered region, the Great Xiangguo Temple in the Eastern Capital, and other great temples all had several hundred monks and nuns each, and tens of thousands of mu of temple fields apiece.

And at this time, besides the unspoken rule of self-mutilating almsgiving that assaulted Chinese ethics and morality, Buddhism also greatly favored casting Buddha images.

There was nothing wrong in itself with the Buddhist establishment casting Buddha images, but they insisted on using copper to cast them.

The land of China, whether in the later republic or at this time, was always extremely short of copper.

Especially now — Zhang Zhou was so short of copper that Zhang Zhao had collected more than two hundred thousand jin of copper, yet did not dare mint coins at all.

Because once coins were minted and put on the market, they would be hoarded away and vanish, and the common people would still have to use cloth or other things as currency.

There was still some silver, but Zhang Zhao absolutely did not dare use silver as circulating currency in this era either.

First, the existing stock could not possibly support circulation; second, ancient China had a custom — silver could be used directly as money.

Cut off a small lump, and that was money. Circulating silver would mean the state lost its seigniorage.

But copper was different. A small piece of copper could not be used directly as money; only copper coins were money, and only they could circulate.

So before the great quantities of silver from the Americas appeared, copper coins were the only reliable and profitable circulating currency.

He Ning had once told Zhang Zhao that of all the copper under heaven at present, forty percent had been cast into bronze images by the various Buddhist temples.

If it could all be taken into state ownership, not only would the coin shortage in circulation be greatly relieved, but the state's finances could also become extremely ample.

Zhang Zhao swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He finally understood why, historically, Guo Rong's suppression of Buddhism had reached the point where he was so desperate that he personally took the field to smash Buddha images.

These bald heads had gone too far — occupying several million mu of good fields, controlling several hundred thousand tenant households, and still not paying taxes.

They held forty percent of the realm's precious metals, which severely restricted the development of the market economy.

But of course, the most important point was that they simply had no power to protect this property!

For although the temples had monk-soldiers, among nearly thirty thousand temples there were at most two or three thousand monk-soldiers, scattered across the entire realm, utterly incapable of opposing the court. The only thing they could rely on was faith.

This was simply a three-year-old child inheriting a billion in family wealth! If he did not grab a share, Zhang Zhao would feel he was letting himself down.

"Yuying, ah! Yuying! Then I shall have to make you suffer a little more!" Sage Zhang made this decision full of guilt.

This great slab of fat meat naturally had to be eaten, and since they dared come provoke him, even less could they be left alone.

Zhang Zhao decided that once the Shu campaign was fully deployed, he would use the pretext of escorting Cao Yijin's coffin back to his hometown to withdraw to Hexi and Longyou, and then send Pei Yuan to the Eastern Capital.

When Zhang Zhao left, Zhang Zhou's de facto chancellor, the Prefect of the Masters of Writing and Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery, Zhang Xichong, was already gravely ill — the perfect moment to send Pei Yuan to the center to serve as de facto head and preside over the great plan to suppress Buddhism.

Once Pei Yuan had settled everything, Sage Zhang would return to set things right.

Hmm! At that point he would demote Pei Yuan to the Southern Tang, which was about to be conquered, to serve as a garrison commissioner, and summon him back after a few years.

But there was a problem: Zhang Zhao had not seen Pei Yuan in over two years, and the closeness between them had greatly diminished. This was obviously a pit — would Pei Yuan actually be willing to jump in?

And he could not just keep using the man without giving anything! Even between lord and vassal such as he and Pei Yuan, there had to be a binding of interests for the bond to hold firm.

Zhang Zhao rubbed his chin and thought. Pei Yuan had two sons and two daughters; the eldest daughter was fourteen this year, nearly at the age for marriage.

As for himself, his eldest son Zhang Xiancun was fifteen this year, but he had already been promised Princess Yongle and the daughter of An Shuqian's family, so he could not be matched with Pei Yuan's daughter.

His third son Zhang Xianzhao was only six this year, and the designated heir Zhang Xianjing was even younger, only four this year — certainly unsuitable.

Then the only suitable one was his second son Zhang Xianyu, who had just turned thirteen this year.

But this too had a problem: Zhang Xianyu's mother Ayiguli was of too lowly a status. Not only was she a pure Uyghur, she was also not much favored in Zhang Zhao's harem, and because of poor health, after giving birth to Zhang Xianyu she had borne no other children.

Zhang Xianyu himself was also rather withdrawn. Although Zhang Zhao tried hard to make himself appear fond of Zhang Xianyu, everyone could sense that this child was not particularly favored — the kind of forgotten second son.

For such a prince to marry into an ordinary military or civil merit family would surely set the other party's eight generations of ancestors' graves smoking.

But for Pei Yuan, who came from the great Han clan of the Pei family of Wenxi in Hedong and was himself high in rank and power, it was not so perfect.

No! He had to sweeten the deal.

Zhang Zhao suddenly remembered that Pei Yuan's second son was nine this year, while his own third daughter Zhang Qinan was seven this year.

And Zhang Qinan's status was not something Zhang Xianyu could compare with. She was born of Empress Cao Yanxi, and was the first child of Cao Yanxi and Zhang Zhao. In a non-imperial household, Zhang Qinan would be the legitimate eldest daughter.

This status was absolutely worthy of the match!

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao immediately summoned his second son Zhang Xianyu in.

This time, because he was escorting Cao Yijin's coffin back home, Zhang Zhao had brought both his eldest son Zhang Xiancun and second son Zhang Xianyu with him.

The chubby Zhang Xianyu was in the outer courtyard practicing spear techniques with Man Xiong's eldest son Zhang Liechao. When he heard that his imperial father's personal attendant had come with an urgent summons, he had no time to change clothes and could only come in dripping with sweat.

Like Man Xiong, Zhang Liechao looked foolish but was actually a sharp one. He shamelessly tagged along and was now poking his head in and out at the doorway.

The moment Zhang Xianyu entered, Zhang Zhao was somewhat stunned.

He found it hard to connect the handsome young man before him — hair black tinged with green, fair-skinned, high-nosed, bearing some resemblance to himself but better-looking — with his own shy, quiet second son.

For an instant, Zhang Zhao thought the person before him was not his son.

And though he was drenched in sweat, his build was sturdy. Fat he might be, but he was certainly not a shut-in.

Zhang Zhao could not resist reaching out and patting Zhang Xianyu's plump little belly.

The result further confirmed his judgment: it was not the soft fat of a chubby child, but a layer of firm, springy flesh — the standard physique of a battlefield brute!

Zhang Xianyu was startled by his imperial father's action. He was about to jump away when he suddenly remembered the other was his father, so he flushed red and stood there at a loss.

"Hehehe. Hahaha!" Schadenfreude-filled laughter sounded from outside the door.

Zhang Zhao turned his head and saw a smaller version of Man Xiong poking his head in and out at the doorway.

"Little black bear, the one who stole the kasaya robe — get your ass in here."

Zhang Liechao was stunned for a moment, then hung his head and walked in.

The boy had looked like a bear since childhood and was dark-skinned, so Zhang Zhao often teasingly cursed him as the little black bear and the kasaya thief.

Zhang Zhao suddenly noticed that Zhang Liechao was also drenched in sweat, and asked in puzzlement: "What were you two just doing?"

"The second young lord and the Commander were just practicing spear techniques. This slave watched carefully for a while — very well-ordered!" Before Zhang Liechao could answer, the attendant behind him answered with a smile.

Zhang Zhao was even more puzzled. Zhang Liechao was one thing — he had trained his body since childhood and was on the path of a fierce general. But what gave Zhang Xianyu the ability to spar with such a small-scale brute?

"Find them a set of armor." Zhang Zhao said this to the attendant behind him, then turned back to look at the two boys.

"You two practice right here and let me see. I want to test your martial skills."

Before long, the attendants brought out two small sets of leather armor and leather helmets, with a wooden sword and a wooden shield as weapons.

Even an all-wood spear still carried some danger, so sword and shield were used instead.

The two boys thrust their wooden swords hard into a bucket filled with red pigment, then began clashing before Zhang Zhao with crackling blows.

Hearing the commotion, a group of maids gathered around, and with Zhang Zhao's approval, began cheering in coquettish voices.

Zhang Zhao discovered that these two boys, especially Zhang Xianyu, were absolutely not showy amateurs — they had real skill.

Every thrust was nimble and powerful, and their use of the shield was quite proficient.

Sage Zhang himself had fought across battlefields, so he could naturally see the substance of it.

With a soft smack, accompanied by an exaggerated scream and a chorus of startled cries from the flock of beauties, the little black bear Zhang Liechao took two hits to the chest, and red pigment instantly smeared across the leather armor on his chest.

"You slippery little thief — watch your old man beat you to death!" Zhang Zhao pulled off his empty belt and chased after him in three quick strides.

Zhang Liechao, who had just been playing dead on the ground enjoying the soft words and warm fragrance of the flock of beauties, immediately leapt to his feet and bolted for the door.

This kid — Zhang Xianyu was clearly not his match, at least two or three parts inferior, yet he had thrown the match at the last moment.

Such cunning had to be properly punished.

Teenage boys have such good stamina, and since this great Sage Zhang had not led troops in battle for a long time, after two laps he still could not quite catch up.

But Zhang Liechao, after all, knew how to read expressions. When he saw that his imperial uncle's face was starting to look a bit awkward, he deliberately stumbled and fell, letting Zhang Zhao land several hard lashes.

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Zhang Zhao was rather speechless too. Man Xiong's son was highly skilled in martial arts and cunning as well.

Unlike Man Xiong, who could not recognize a hundred characters in total, this fellow, though not much of a literary talent, had no trouble reading.

Well then! Had he unknowingly raised a Wang Zhongsi or a Qi Wuyi here in the palace?

Presumably there was no hope of a Champion Marquis; with such a slippery temperament, he probably could not become that kind of hero.

But when facing his son Zhang Xianyu, Zhang Zhao felt somewhat ashamed.

The Zhang Xianyu in his memory was still the chubby little silent lump of a boy at seven or eight years old.

But he had not expected that the boy had now grown into a smaller version of Murong Xinzhang.

That, however, made him all the more at ease in sending Zhang Xianyu to seek out Pei Yuan, and Pei Yuan would surely be satisfied as well.

The little fatty Zhang Xianyu also thoroughly enjoyed this rare moment of closeness with Zhang Zhao.

For as long as he could remember, Zhang Zhao had always been away at war, and even when he returned he was busy without pause.

Still, when he heard that Zhang Zhao intended to make Pei Yuan his father-in-law, the childish face Zhang Xianyu worked so hard to put on burst forth with a delight that belonged only to an adult.

Because he knew very well Pei Yuan's standing in Zhang Zhao's heart. Although Pei Yuan had not entered the central administration, although he had always guarded the border towns,

Zhang Xianyu knew that with his imperial father, no one who was not the most trusted of the trusted would be sent out to hold Liangzhou.

Although he had no thought of contending for the position of crown prince, if he could make the high-ranking and powerful Pei Yuan his father-in-law, it would be of considerable benefit to his future.

Zhang Zhao was fairly satisfied with the delight Zhang Xianyu displayed.

At least this boy understood what marrying Pei Yuan's daughter meant; he was not stupid.

At present, all the sons of me, Sage Zhang, are still young, so I very much hope that the two sons who can barely be considered grown men can lend him a hand.

Zhang Xianyu's performance was exactly to his liking.