Chapter 677: Having Taken Shu, He Now Looks Toward Dian

In the Jingzhao prefecture of Chang'an, Zhang Zhao still did not know that another stroke of romantic fortune was about to come his way.

Of course, he had considered Lady Huarui, but after thinking it over for a long while, Sage Zhang suddenly felt that it might be a little difficult to make a move.

Because historically, before Zhao Da and Zhao Er, the rulers of the successive Central Plains heavenly dynasties still cared somewhat about their reputations after destroying an enemy state.

Only Zhao Da could, for the sake of Lady Huarui, poison Meng Chang just seven days after he arrived in the Eastern Capital.

And Zhao Er, in order to seize the Younger Zhou Empress, likewise gave Li Yu a cup of poisoned wine.

Of course, in times of chaos, those separatist kings could do such things too, but they were not the lords of a unified realm.

The present Sage Zhang, bearing the hopes of all under heaven and constantly styling himself a sage sovereign and enlightened lord, truly found it somewhat hard to use every possible means for the sake of a single woman.

Perhaps Meng Chang at this time had not yet become corrupt — was it possible he might be fierce enough to commit suicide and die for his country?

Zhang Zhao stroked his chin and was actually somewhat looking forward to Meng Chang being tactful enough to do so.

The moment he thought of the beauty of the historical Lady Huarui of the Fei clan, even I, Sage Zhang, found it rather hard to resist!

"Sage, the Duke of Hedong Commandery has already reached Fengxiang Prefecture. You said you would send the Hanshan Capital guards to welcome and escort him as a display of honor."

Just as he was growing somewhat stirred, Xiao Sagezhi's clear voice came from outside the door.

Sage Zhang immediately felt a heat in his lower abdomen, abruptly pulled open the door, seized Xiao Sagezhi around the waist, and hoisted her onto his shoulder.

In that lightning flash of a moment, from the corner of his eye, Sage Zhang also caught sight of a white-robed female official whose mouth had dropped into an O shape, her face showing astonishment before quickly turning meek and submissive.

Very soon, Xiao Sagezhi could no longer endure it; her eyes drunkenly hazy, she looked at Zhang Zhao and said.

"Sage, Zhao Rongniang is just outside. She has long admired the Sage. Why not summon her in today?

This slave has trained her for Your Majesty for a very long time. She understands everything, and she may not be inferior to the beauties of Shu."

Zhang Zhao rubbed his nose and for a moment said neither yes nor no, but Xiao Sagezhi understood.

Because she had discovered that the Emperor carried within him a very strange moral sense, of unknown origin, that constrained him — and this caused the Emperor to maintain a certain peculiar reserve in matters of the imperial consorts.

Before long, light footsteps sounded, and Zhao Rongniang, still wearing her silver-white female official's robes, was led before Zhang Zhao.

At seventeen this year, Zhao Rongniang was clearly still a young and inexperienced girl compared to Zhang Zhao's other consorts.

Of course, inexperienced as she was, she was still extremely beautiful.

Back then, her mother, Han Qiniangzi, even amid the chaos of war, had attracted the attention of the then Zhang Sikong with her looks; this Zhao Rongniang, a few degrees more alluring than her mother Han Qiniangzi, naturally satisfied Zhang Zhao greatly.

But Zhang Zhao still habitually wanted to hold back a little, because his clearest impression of Zhao Rongniang was still of that small, frightened, terrified face when he had rescued her from the pile of corpses at Jingzhou.

The whole "raising a girl" thing was still a bit too advanced for Sage Zhang, a loser from the future who had transmigrated.

"Rongniang's maternal uncle is the Commissioner of the Northern Court of the Xuanhui Bureau of Meng Shu. He has long enjoyed popular esteem in Shu and is a Shu official who can be relied upon.

Her second maternal uncle, Han Baosheng, is a renowned physician under heaven. Since the Sage is to compile the Compendium of Materia Medica to standardize the world's medicinal materials, he will certainly make great use of Han Baosheng."

Xiao Sagezhi, her lovely body bare, spoke softly from behind. The so-called inability to withstand the ravages was merely an excuse — there are only oxen that die of exhaustion, never fields that are ruined by plowing.

Everything she did today was entrusted to her by Empress Cao Yanxi.

Although Xiao Sagezhi was extremely obedient because she regarded Sage Zhang as a deity descended to earth, and was moreover quite favored due to her status as a Khitan empress,

she had, after all, once been a Khitan empress, and she knew that favor was something that faded with time — when beauty waned, love slackened.

The best example was the Imperial Noble Consort Cao Yannai, who five years ago had been the most favored in the harem; after her youth had passed, although the Sage still often kept her by his side, in practice he used her as a personal secretary, and as for the bedchamber, it was rare for anything to happen even once in half a year.

If Imperial Noble Consort Cao had come to this, she, Xiao Sagezhi, had neither shared hardship with the Emperor nor had a son renowned throughout the world, so she had to be all the more careful.

Therefore she was very respectful toward Empress Cao Yanxi, and as for this small commission from the Empress, Xiao Sagezhi, who was constantly at the Emperor's side, was certainly going to carry it out.

Of course, besides the Empress's commission, another consort, Noble Consort Li Ruoliu, had also asked Xiao Sagezhi.

Because Zhao Rongniang's maternal uncle had prestige in Shu and had also held an office pacifying the various southwestern barbarian peoples.

And the eldest imperial son born of Noble Consort Li was going to be sent by the Emperor to the Kingdom of Dali to be its king — this was no longer a secret among the consorts.

Noble Consort Li naturally was willing to give Zhao Rongniang a push, in order to secure a bit more support for her son.

Zhao Rongniang lay prostrate on the ground; when she heard Xiao Sagezhi's words and raised her head, the adoring, fervent look in her eyes seemed about to melt Zhang Zhao entirely.

"From that day by the Jing River, everything of Rongniang's has belonged to the Sage. Rongniang is wholly willing to serve the Sage."

Very well — with words spoken to this extent, to refuse any longer would be discourteous.

Sage Zhang therefore pulled the lovely beauty up from the ground, and could not help sighing inwardly: power truly is a fine thing!

A man in his thirties, and a teenage girl insists on clinging to him.

Of course, what ultimately made Zhang Zhao decide was still the Han family's line in Shu.

Zhang Zhao was not entirely at ease about Shu now — not for any other reason, but because he feared that Yin Yaozi might get carried away and lose control of the officers and soldiers under him.

One must understand that these tens of thousands of brave men were conquerors who had endured every hardship to take Shu; even a fool could imagine how elated they must feel after conquering Shu's dazzling world.

Having survived near-certain death and won great merit, whether in this era's army or even in the armies of later ages, what soldier would not want to savor the conqueror's thrill?

Fine wine and delicacies, beautiful women and riches — if these are not given in full, military discipline simply cannot be controlled.

The little beauty before him had already begun to undress; Sage Zhang was enveloped by two burning bodies, a faint, elusive fragrance reaching his nose, and soft yet intense panting in his ears.

But at this moment, Zhang Zhao's thoughts were exceptionally clear: he could not wait any longer; he must send imperial envoys to Shu to assist Yin Yaozi, Yin Zhengqi, in regulating military discipline.

He must not let happen the disaster of Zhao Da's day, when Wang Quanbin was sent into Shu and the entire province rose in rebellion.

Zhang Zhao was extremely pleased by Pei Yuan's arrival. Since Pei Yuan had taken up garrison duty at the Western Capital, Chengtian, in Liangzhou Prefecture, the two had not seen each other for nearly three years.

Meeting again now, apart from those signature long, narrow eyes, Pei Yuan was a completely different man from when the two had met in Shazhou.

At that time, Pei Yuan had been nothing more than a down-and-out scholar who had come to Liangzhou seeking advancement, but now he was one of the civil officials most trusted and relied upon under Zhang Zhao.

Pei Yuan was also full of emotion. Before seeing Zhang Zhao, he had been deeply uneasy, not knowing whether the Emperor's trust in him was still as it had been.

But after they met, without need for many words, that sense of sovereign and minister in perfect accord, as warm as old friends of many years, immediately dispelled all of Pei Yuan's misgivings.

Zhang Zhao sent his adopted son, the Duke of Jinyang Commandery, Li Congyi, to lead two hundred elite troops of the Hanshan Capital in person to escort Pei Yuan from Fengxiang Prefecture to before the Vermilion Bird Gate of Chang'an, and then personally drove the Son of Heaven's carriage to welcome him into the palace.

Pei Yuan performed the grand ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows before the carriage, after which Zhang Zhao descended and returned the empty-hand salute. Once sovereign and minister had bowed to each other, Zhang Zhao then took Pei Yuan by the arm and entered the palace together with him.

Pei Yuan cooperated fully and did not decline Zhang Zhao's courtesies, because he knew that Zhang Zhao was building momentum and preparing for his return to court to preside over the great reform of the Buddhist establishment.

West of Chang'an city, on Dragon Head Plateau, lay Weiyang Palace.

In Chang'an, Zhang Zhao did not fully restore the three great palaces of the Tang dynasty — the Taiji Palace, the Daming Palace, and the Xingqing Palace.

Since Chang'an could no longer serve as the center of the state, there was no need whatsoever to restore these palaces, which had long since fallen into ruin.

Therefore, in Zhang Zhou's Chang'an, only the Zhuque Gate was restored; a smaller Xingqing Palace was rebuilt on the foundations of the original Xingqing Palace, and on the Longshou Plateau the famous Weiyang Palace was restored.

The Xingqing Palace could serve as temporary lodgings for princes and consorts when they came to Chang'an; at present it housed Li Shengtian and his wife Cao Yuanxing.

The Weiyang Palace, of course, was Zhang Zhao's traveling palace in the Jingzhao Prefecture of Chang'an.

Only, compared to the Weiyang Palace that flourished through the Han, Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zhang Zhou's Weiyang Palace was far smaller in scale — chiefly to make it convenient, from this high ground of the Longshou Plateau, to display Zhang Zhou's regard for Guanzhong and its rule over it.

After Pei Yuan entered the Weiyang Palace together with Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao immediately held a family banquet, inviting the Great King of the Jin Kingdom, Li Shengtian, and his wife, the Grand Princess of the Wei Kingdom, Cao Yuanxing, as well as the Senior Princess of the Han Kingdom, Li Zhen'er, and the Marquis of Kucha, Cao Yanlu, and his wife, to keep them company; he himself brought only Cao Sanniang's son Yan Nai — the scale could hardly be called modest.

This was entirely in the form of a family banquet, because Zhang Zhao not only deliberately excused Pei Yuan from performing the rites between sovereign and subject, but also had Pei Yuan bring his eldest son Pei Quanli, his second son Pei Quanzhong, and his eldest daughter, the Pei family's eldest young lady, to pay their respects.

These were Sage Zhang's future daughter-in-law and son-in-law, so of course he had to see them in person.

The Pei family's eldest young lady wore a blue-green ruqun dress and did her best to appear demure before her future father-in-law, but this still could not conceal that bold, open-hearted bearing of hers.

Zhang Zhao, of course, had long known of this eldest young lady's temperament, and was extremely satisfied with her.

Cao Yannai, on Zhang Zhao's behalf, even bestowed upon her in succession an eight-treasure gold dangling hairpin, the finest Shu brocade, and top-grade rouge and powder offered as tribute by the Wu and Yue kingdoms.

Pei Yuan's eldest son, Pei Quanli, was already seventeen years old. He had been serving as a personal yabing officer at Pei Yuan's side, following Pei Yuan everywhere to pacify and govern both the barbarian and Han peoples, accomplished in both civil and military affairs. Only, having always followed Pei Yuan, he had not yet found an opportunity to win merit, so his name was not well known.

After hearing the high praise from his second son Zhang Xianyu, Zhang Zhao summoned the Hanlin academicians and Secretariat drafters Deng Xunmei and Meng Binyu to examine him, and the two men repeatedly said, "Excellent."

Deng Xunmei and Meng Binyu were both renowned literary figures and poets of this time; to win a single word of praise from them was no easy matter.

Although there was certainly an element of flattering Pei Yuan in it, at least Pei Quanli's learning did have some substance.

Afterward, Zhang Zhao also ordered the Bureau of Military Affairs staff officer for military planning, Pei Tongyuan, to examine his grasp of military strategy, and his competent responses also won Pei Tongyuan's praise.

The little black bear Zhang Liechao, seeing that Pei Quanli had received so much praise, immediately declared that he wanted to compete with Pei Quanli in spear technique.

Others might have thought this was merely a child's competitiveness, but Zhang Zhao knew that this crafty little black bear had surely received some favor from Pei Yuan.

The result of the bout was entirely within Zhang Zhao's expectations: although the little black bear had held back, he still won a great victory of eleven to three.

Actually, this was already quite good. One must know that the little black bear Zhang Liechao was extraordinarily gifted: his father, Zhang Zhaozhong, was a true stout bear of a man, and his mother was a general's daughter from the Luo family of Shazhou.

Let alone someone like Pei Quanli, who was roughly his own age — even fully grown elite cavalry officers in the army generally could not beat the little black bear.

Zhang Zhao was overjoyed, but it was a pity that this child's mother was of musician stock from the Music Bureau of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and thus he could not marry my Sage Zhang's eldest legitimate daughter. So he could only ask, "Eldest young master is indeed a young hero. Would you be willing to come to your uncle's side as a squad general?"

A squad general of the Hanshan Unit, who would also frequently stand guard at the forbidden palace, was no ordinary officer — but to his surprise, Pei Quanli was unwilling. He clasped his hands.

"Your humble officer thanks the Sage for his generous favor, but rather than standing guard at the forbidden palace, your humble officer would prefer to fight on the battlefield and guard the frontier for the state."

Pei Yuan's expression grew somewhat awkward; perhaps he too had not expected his eldest son to speak this way.

Zhang Zhao sighed inwardly as well. Even among great houses, every family has its own difficult scripture to recite!

Pei Quanli had merits in both civil and military matters, but because of his birth, the matter of marrying a princess would never fall to him.

Of course, Zhang Zhao had no intention of changing that. Setting aside Pei Quanli's age, if he were to marry his eldest legitimate daughter to the son of a woman from the Music Bureau, he would never get past Empress Cao Yanxi.

Of course, most importantly, Pei Quanli's talents were not yet worth such a large wager from Zhang Zhao.

If Wei Qing or Huo Qubing stood before him — no! Even if it were a Di Qing standing there, Sage Zhang would have agreed a thousand times over.

"Quanli has a heart to serve the state, and We happen to have a good place for him." Zhang Zhao said to everyone with a smile.

"In the time of the false Shi Jin, after Duan Siping of the southwest destroyed the Yang clan's Great Yining Kingdom, he requested enfeoffment from Shi Jingtang and thereby obtained the position of Military Governor of the Tonghai Army.

We have founded the state three years now, yet their ruler Duan Siying has not come to pay tribute. Could it be that We are inferior to Shi Jingtang?

Now that the Shu Kingdom has been settled and Shu is rich and prosperous, We intend to send a great general to take command in Shu and call the Duan clan to account — and We are just short of a talented general such as Quanli."

In fact, by this time the second emperor of Dali, Duan Siying, had already been overthrown by his uncle Duan Siliang and forced to become a monk at the Chongsheng Temple — only Zhang Zhao's side did not yet know of it.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment, and then understood what Zhang Zhao intended to do.

Calling the Duan clan to account was a small matter; but using the opportunity of calling the Duan clan to account to mobilize the money, grain, troops, and officers of Shu, giving them something to do and settling their minds — and even putting a leash on the great army that had just conquered Shu — that was what mattered most.

So Pei Yuan clasped his hands. "If the Sage intends to call the Duan clan to account, he will need to send an imperial envoy to Shu to assist in the matter.

The Duke of Cai is steady and prudent, fully equal to so great a task, but Shu is newly settled and the people's hearts are not yet won; I fear he cannot attend to every detail."

Zhang Zhao knew that Pei Yuan understood his meaning, and laughed twice. "We were just about to discuss this matter with Yuying."

When the others heard Zhang Zhao say this, they immediately knew that this welcoming family banquet was about to end. Including Li Shengtian, they all took their leave of Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao also made a point of exchanging a few words with Pei Yuan's second son, Pei Quanzhong. The boy was only nine years old, but he could already bow to Zhang Zhao like a little adult, and his manners were quite complete.

One could see that although the boy was somewhat quiet, he was still quite clever; it was probably strict family upbringing that made him seem a little dull.

But Zhang Zhao was actually all the more reassured. Zhang Qinan was clever, mischievous, and restless; matching her with a steadier husband was no bad thing.

After everyone had left, Pei Yuan and Zhang Zhao were alone together — well, not quite: there was still a court historian responsible for recording the emperor's words and deeds, and several trusted eunuchs, in the distance.

The eunuchs did not matter, but the historian listened until sweat rolled down in beads, because the content of the conversation between the emperor and the Duke of Hedong was simply too explosive.

And the historian knew that after today's recording was finished, he would not be able to return home for at least half a year.

What Zhang Zhao and Pei Yuan discussed was, of course, the reason Pei Yuan had come from the Liangzhou Prefecture at Chengtian to the Chang'an Prefecture at Jingzhao.

Pei Yuan had come to complete, on Zhang Zhao's behalf, the historical mission that should have been accomplished by Sage Zhang himself.

To deal with those vested interests in the Buddhist establishment who had gone too far in their actions.

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