Chapter 678: The Responsibility of a Founding Emperor

In Weiyang Palace, the conversation between Zhang Zhao and Pei Yuan continued.

One of the two men feared that the label of Dharma King upon him would be misunderstood by the world as an intention to push the Six Dharma Sect from Hexi out across the whole realm.

To be both master of the secular world and sole sovereign of the spiritual realm — such a thing, even leaving aside China with its deeply secular flavor, could no one accomplish even in Europe, where one man could never be both Roman Emperor and Pope.

Therefore, Zhang Zhao did not personally step forward to reform Buddhism, lest he be opposed by the whole world.

The other man felt even more that he must be cautious, because what he was doing was taking a dangerous gamble on his sovereign's behalf.

This sort of thing was not easy to handle — after all, the example of Chao Cuo lay before him.

The words of Chao Cuo's father — "The Liu clan shall be secure, but the Chao clan is in peril!" — had for a thousand years been the thing most feared by all who served as ministers.

Pei Yuan cast a careful glance at Zhang Zhao. In his heart he knew very well that if he truly made a mess of this affair and left the realm in turmoil beyond repair,

then this emperor before him, who treated him with the kindness of a father and the bond of a brother, would immediately and without hesitation push him out to quell the world's fury — just as Emperor Jing of Han had once pushed out Chao Cuo.

The reason he knew this so clearly was that if Pei Yuan put himself in the other's place and thought it over, were he in Zhang Zhao's position, he would certainly be capable of doing such a thing; and Zhang Zhao, whose temperament was much like his own, would surely be capable of it too.

Of course, the Buddhist establishment of today did not possess the mighty power of the Liu clan's feudal lords in the Former Han; their attacks were more spiritual assaults through the written word, and perhaps it would not come to the point of taking a blade below Xuanwu Gate.

Yet Pei Yuan, as a Confucian scholar, did not much fear the axe upon his body. Before he pledged himself to Zhang Zhao, Pei Yuan had more than once felt swords pressed against his neck.

What did he fear? He feared that if the matter went wrong, the annals of history would record him in heavy strokes, depicting him, Pei Yuan, Pei Yuying, as a worthless man who had bungled the task.

Worthless — that was the word Pei Yuan feared most in all his life.

The two men discussed some further details, and Pei Yuan weighed his words carefully before slowly speaking to Zhang Zhao.

"From the court's perspective, the Sage's proposed reform of the Buddhist establishment is considered from the angles of economy and custom.

The Buddhist establishment collects the realm's gold to cast Buddha images, which is quite improper; as for self-mutilation as almsgiving, that is an evil practice and indeed must be changed and reformed.

But from another angle, since the Buddhist establishment entered China in the late Former Han and the Xin Mang period, it has endured a thousand years, and has been entangled with our Chinese culture ever since.

Through repeated collisions and repeated blending, it has already been absorbed and encompassed by us. If reform is to be undertaken, the implications extend not only within and beyond the court, but will also affect the Five Sacred Mountains and the rivers."

Words like "angle" and "economy" had all been brought by Zhang Zhao, and the officials of the Zhang Zhou court could now employ these new terms quite proficiently. "The Five Sacred Mountains and the rivers" was Pei Yuan's way of hinting at the intellectuals within and beyond the court.

Zhang Zhao thought it over; what Pei Yuan said did indeed make sense.

If one were to speak of the cultural challenges China had faced in its history, the European science brought by the Western powers' sturdy ships and powerful cannons was only the second.

The first was precisely the coming of the Dharma from the west — the violent shock delivered after Indian culture was transmitted to the Central Plains through the Buddhist establishment.

This shock was far more violent and ferocious than later generations imagine, even surpassing the second.

Because the second shock only relatively changed the lives of the Chinese people, but failed to truly strike at the innermost core of Chinese culture.

It could not even bring down ancestor worship, that most outward manifestation of Chinese culture.

But the coming of Buddhism from the west, carrying with it the shramana tide of thought, struck Chinese culture to its very core.

For example, before Buddhism came from the west, Chinese culture had no concept of hell or heaven. Ancient Chinese culture held that after death, the soul went to Mount Tai.

But after Buddhism arrived, heaven and hell, blessings, evil retribution, the afterlife, cause and effect, and the like first began to appear in Chinese thought.

For ancient Chinese thought, which relatively lacked logical thinking, the dialectical thought of the Buddhist establishment was nothing less than a great earthquake in the world of ideas. That scholars of every dynasty delighted in associating with monks was precisely their way of receiving this collision of thought.

As for other outward aspects — painting, music, architecture, and so on — they were visible everywhere.

Historically, Chinese culture's discarding of the dross and absorbing of the essence of Buddhist culture was completed at the end of the Tang and beginning of the Song.

The Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism that so profoundly influenced later China was in fact produced only after Chinese culture had thoroughly absorbed Buddhist thought.

This was an era in which, after Chinese culture had suffered the violent impact of Buddhist culture, the original Chinese culture — with Confucianism as its concrete form of expression — began a great cultural re-creation, or renaissance.

This was a major dividing line in classical China. This great cultural current began to surge after the An Lushan Rebellion, and only stabilized after the Three Masters of the early Song and the Five Masters of the Northern Song.

Zhang Zhao groaned in anguish, clutching his head and trying his best not to let his thoughts run wild.

He was just a nobody who liked playing with swords, bows, and crossbows — just an ordinary person who liked digging up history and culture to show off and make a living!

Why did he have to crash headlong into this era of great transformation?

If only he were like Zhao the First and Zhao the Second, knowing nothing at all, then his heart would not carry so many burdens.

But Zhang Zhao had already seen this thread of development, and the pressure in his heart was imaginable.

Success would bring blessings for a thousand years; failure would bring calamity to his descendants.

Pei Yuan looked at the Emperor with both gratification and sympathy; he was not at all surprised by the Emperor's lapse of composure.

The gratification was that Zhang Zhao grasped things at a single hint, understood the responsibility upon his shoulders, and felt such anguish — precisely what a sovereign who cherished the realm ought to feel.

Without such anguish, he would at best be a ruler like Zhu Quanzhong or Li Cunxu, unworthy of being called a Sage who appears once in five hundred years.

The sympathy was because once Zhang Zhao understood these things, he could no longer simply dump all such matters onto Pei Yuan. Sovereign and minister in harmony — naturally they must share the burden.

And while Zhang Zhao's head ached, Pei Yuan suddenly felt somewhat lighter.

"Sage, your minister can help the Sage resolve the Buddhist establishment's problems in the court and in customs.

But in the matters of the Five Sacred Mountains and rivers, and the six schools and nine streams of thought, we will need to select another influential minister to assist."

Pei Yuan used the word "assist," making clear that the reform of the Buddhist establishment was still to be led by him. The Emperor treated him so generously; if he still tried to shirk the heavy burden, that would not be the conduct of a proper minister.

Zhang Zhao thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head. After the Song and Ming, the Central Plains had grown ever more conservative, and the change in the climate was not entirely the doing of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism.

Or rather, the reason Song-Ming Confucianism became conservative was that it was brought forth by a larger environment trending toward conservatism.

And the reason the climate grew ever more conservative was that the Northern Song valued the civil over the martial, crippling one of its own legs.

A cripple — and a rich cripple surrounded by a circle of scoundrels at that — how could he not be conservative?

In truth, only by being somewhat conservative could he hold his base. The Northern Song was not the Han or Tang; given its military strength, without a measure of conservatism it could not have gained a firm footing.

"Who does Yuying think can assist you in accomplishing this matter?" Zhang Zhao asked in a low voice.

The "this matter" he spoke of was now no longer merely the reform of the Buddhist establishment, but also how to handle the revival of Confucianism, and further, how to set a broad general direction for the future development of Confucianism.

Pei Yuan was also very sensitive, and at once heard something else in Zhang Zhao's words.

He looked at Zhang Zhao with some surprise, not understanding why Zhang Zhao seemed to harbor a faint resistance toward Confucian scholars, as though he feared they might produce something terrible.

Pei Yuan could never have imagined how, decades later, after the state went "lame," the Confucian scholars' counterattack and settling of accounts against the military men would be so savage.

The military men used the sword to end lives physically; the literati launched spiritual attacks, casting the military men utterly into the abyss on every level.

So Pei Yuan was merely surprised, and did not think much of it. Hearing Zhang Zhao's question, he answered at once: "Feng Dao, the Assistant Administrator of Political Affairs and Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, bears the literary hopes of all under Heaven and can serve as your support.

The rest, such as Sun Guangxian, Hanlin Academician and Academician of the Chongwen Institute, and the Hanlin Academicians and Secretariat Drafters Yuan Heng, Wang Renyu, Deng Xunmei, Meng Bin, and others, all have literary reputations.

Your servant has also heard that Qiu Guangting of Qian-Yue, Ouyang Jiong of Meng-Shu, and others are likewise quite learned.

If the Sage would grant your servant authority to summon all such literary men of the realm to the divine capital Luoyang — on one hand to complete the national histories of the Great Dynasty, the Zhu Liang, and the Later Dynasties, the local gazetteers of Nanping, Nanchu, and Meng-Shu, and the gathering, sorting, and selection of all books under Heaven —

on the other hand, to discuss what may be taken from the teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, the Daqin faith, the Dashi faith, and Manichaeism, and to weigh the merits and failings of the six schools of Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, Daoism, the School of Names, and Yin-Yang.

From the decline of the Great Dynasty to the rise of our own, there has never yet been a comprehensive reckoning by all under Heaven of why the Great Dynasty flourished, and why it fell.

If the Sage can bring this about, it will be the most flourishing undertaking under Heaven. Those who have not yet submitted, such as Southern Tang and Qian-Yue, could then be settled by a single proclamation!"

"Settled by a single proclamation" was an exaggeration, but it could certainly greatly diminish the will to resist of all the other powers under Heaven that had not yet submitted.

Zhang Zhao's eyes lit up. He suddenly remembered a book he had read before transmigrating — the contents were almost forgotten, but the title he still remembered very clearly, and it suited Pei Yuan's proposal perfectly.

What was this called? This was called: my Great Zhou may overflow with martial virtue, but it chooses a culture victory.

After mulling it over for a long while, Zhang Zhao finally voiced the last unease in his heart to this, his most trusted minister.

"A man has two legs, and only then can he climb and walk. A state with civil and martial is like a man's two legs.

But since An and Shi, military men have held the state, killing men for amusement at the slightest impulse. Those who despise civil officials remain countless even now. This accumulated resentment has lasted several hundred years.

If my Great Zhou hands all the authority of the court to the Confucian scholars, how do we know that in days to come they will not take revenge for the savagery of the military men over these two hundred years?"

As Zhang Zhao said this, he understood perfectly well in his heart: it was not a question of whether they would take revenge — they most certainly would.

Although the authenticity of Han Qi's saying, 'Only he whose name is called out east of the Donghua Gate is a true man,' remains doubtful, since the saying was recorded, whether or not Han Qi actually said it, it represents a widespread social understanding.

After the Northern Song, the brutal retaliations came one after another: 'thieving conscripts,' 'good iron is not beaten into nails, good men do not become soldiers,' a third-rank Regional Commander saluting a seventh-rank County Magistrate.

Zhang Zhao's words left Pei Yuan stunned. For all his wisdom and strategy, he had never seriously considered this question.

After all, this was still an era when civil scholars needed to borrow the emperor's prestige merely to avoid being extorted — or hacked to death — by military men.

Yet the emperor was now already considering whether the civil scholars might take revenge on the military men. Should this be called preparing for a rainy day, or groundless worry?

After thinking for a moment, Pei Yuan nodded, deciding to follow Zhang Zhao's line of thought.

"Since the decline of the Great Dynasty and the rise of the military provinces, all under Heaven have long suffered under the swords of military men. This is not simply a question of whether the civil scholars will take revenge. Restraining the power of the blade over the court is already the consensus of all under Heaven.

The Sage cannot turn a blind eye to this, nor can he, out of fear of the future, refrain from elevating the status of the civil officials.

Otherwise, if all affairs are settled by the sword alone, it cannot endure. These two hundred years of chaos must also have some accounting.

Your Majesty is sagely in letters and divine in war, your grace spread to the four seas. You are the one man uniquely suited to set things right without letting matters tip entirely to the other extreme.

If the Sage cannot resolve it, then it must be left to his sons and grandsons.

In all the dynasties past, among later descendants who could approach or even surpass their founding emperors, there were only three: Emperor Taizong the Filial and Cultured, Emperor Shizong the Filial and Martial, and Emperor Zhongzong the Filial and Exalted of the Former Han.

This matter absolutely cannot be left to posterity to handle!"

Very well! Zhang Zhao nodded with full self-awareness. Clearly, neither before nor in the more than a thousand years after would any dynasty produce three consecutive high-caliber emperors like Emperor Wen, Emperor Wu, and Emperor Xuan — so much so that Emperor Jing of Han, who was sandwiched between them and had upper-middle ability, seemed utterly dim by comparison.

Who knew what bizarre creatures his own descendants might turn out to be.

Pei Yuan was right. This was a problem he ought to solve. Even if there was no solution at present, he could not give up eating for fear of choking. It had to be solved step by step.

Fortunately, Feng Dao was already on his way to Chang'an because of the question of the surrender ceremony, so there would not be long to wait.

Zhang Zhao quickly adopted Pei Yuan's suggestion: use Pei Yuan to handle the reform of Buddhism in government affairs, and use Feng Dao to attempt to solve the cultural problem.

Feng Dao was sixty-six this year, his energy far from what it had been. And Zhang Zhao, in employing men, preferred those like Zhang Xichong, He Ning, and Guo Tiance who were capable in practical governance.

Although Feng Dao held the title of Assistant Administrator of Political Affairs, he basically only handled matters related to the Ministry of Rites. His greatest achievement had been digging through old documents to research the institutions of the Ji Zhou for Zhang Zhao.

So Feng Dao had actually already begun to entertain the idea of resigning and returning to his fields.

But this time, the moment he arrived at the Jingzhao prefectural seat of Chang'an, before he had even crossed the Ba Bridge, Zhang Zhao sent carriages to bring him directly to the Weiyang Palace. Then, after he had drunk only a single cup of hot milk tea, Zhang Zhao tossed this enormous topic at Feng Dao.

Feng Dao listened unhurriedly to Zhang Zhao's instructions, and a look of delighted surprise appeared on his face.

He was not delighted that he was about to be given important duties. He was delighted that this emperor who liked to play the terrestrial immortal still knew his limits — he had no intention of using the Hexi Six Dharma Sect to replace the Buddhist establishment of the Central Plains.

Feng Dao immediately clasped his hands and praised him: "Your Majesty is truly a sage ruler who appears once in five hundred years! But if you wish to change the customs of two hundred years and revive the Han and Tang, it is not enough merely that the Six Dharma Sect not enter the Central Plains!"

Seeing Feng Dao's manner, Zhang Zhao understood at once that it was no injustice that he had nearly been assassinated at Xiangji Temple.

So even a man like Feng Dao believed he intended to use the Hexi Six Dharma Sect to replace the Buddhist establishment of the Central Plains, and to hold both the secular world and the heavenly kingdom in his grasp.

A cold sweat broke out over Zhang Zhao. Fortunately, he had kept a clear head and had not personally carried out a suppression of Buddhism like Guo Rong's. Otherwise it truly would have thrown the realm into upheaval.

"Since I have invited the venerable Feng here today, please speak freely. What more must I do? Tell me one by one."

Feng Dao's expression turned solemn, and he put away the flattering, admiring look from before. "Your servant asks the Sage to move the Six Dharma Sect out of Hexi and Longyou. Reduce the authority of the Secretariat, or do not treat the Secretariat as an inner court set against the outer court!"

What the hell! Zhang Zhao leapt to his feet. The Six Dharma Sect and the inner-court Secretariat were the Sage Zhang's two arms, inner and outer!

He had not even ascended yet, and they wanted the Sage Zhang to cut off both his own arms?

Pei Yuan, standing to the side, broke out in a cold sweat. He knew Zhang Zhao could tolerate even some rude behavior from his ministers, but he certainly could not tolerate ministers coveting his power.

Sure enough, Zhang Zhao, blazing with fury, pointed at Feng Dao and roared: "Does the brush-wielder seek to seize my great authority? You are my subject — how dare you speak of such a thing?"

"Brush-wielder" meant the writing brush — it was the phrase military men of this era most liked to use to mock civil officials.

Historically, Shi Hongzhao had even openly declared that to settle the state and the altars, long spears and great swords were enough — what use were brush-wielders?

Zhang Zhao was truly enraged by Feng Dao. It reminded him of how, in the mid-to-late Ming, emperors had been shackled by the civil official clique, to the point of having to rely on eunuchs to keep power in their hands.

Feng Dao looked at Zhang Zhao without the slightest fear. This fearlessness came from his understanding of Zhang Zhao.

Under rulers like Zhu Quanzhong or Li Cunxu, Feng Dao would never have dared say such things even if beaten to death, because saying them would have meant certain death by the blade.

But not with Zhang Zhao. Since the Sage Zhang wished to be a Confucian sage-king and enlightened ruler, he had to abide by the rules and ways of a sage-king and enlightened ruler.

Even though Feng Dao had spoken such bold words, Zhang Zhao would certainly not have him executed. At most he would be dismissed from office or fined.

"Hexi and Longyou may be borderlands, but since the Champion Marquis of the Former Han broke the Xiongnu, they have been the arms of the state. If the Six Dharma Sect does not leave Hexi and Longyou, then as time passes and customs change, Hexi and Longyou will be cut off from the central lands. Would that not be cutting off one's own arms?

Now the Sage uses the Secretariat to gather the great authority of the court. This may indeed allow Your Majesty to unify the realm and build a great dynasty surpassing the Han and Tang.

But if later descendants imitate this, making the inner court heavy and the outer court light, with governance issuing from many gates and the outer court no better than a clay bodhisattva, that is the road to internal chaos and disaster. It may seem to concentrate power in the emperor, but it is more likely to be seized by the ambitious.

Even if no outer minister seizes power in the Secretariat, should a bold and rash descendant like Emperor Yang of Sui appear among Your Majesty's heirs, the old story of the Sui perishing in its second generation may well be repeated."

Zhang Zhao glared hard at Feng Dao, his surface anger not yet faded, but in truth he had already sobered somewhat.

He too was turning over Feng Dao's words. The Six Laws Sect would split the culture of Hexi and Longyou from the Central Plains. The Inner Court Secretariat's power kept expanding until it would eventually hollow out the outer court. On closer thought, none of this was mere alarmism.

Seeing that Zhang Zhao was considering it, Feng Dao prostrated himself and bowed again, then spoke to Zhang Zhao.

"Your servant has eked out sixty-six years of life, held office as a ministry minister, and sat among the chief ministers. My life is already complete. I could have kept silent and spared myself calamity.

But Your Majesty is truly a sage ruler, and only for that reason did I dare speak plainly and lay this before you. I beg Your Majesty to give it thought."

Zhang Zhao thought for a moment, then personally helped Feng Dao up from the ground. "Just now We were overcome by fury and spoke improperly. We ask Lord Feng not to take it to heart.

The Six Laws Sect and the Secretariat are, in truth, the sword and blade in Our hand, the armor on Our body. For the moment, they cannot lightly be set aside."

As Feng Dao was helped up by Zhang Zhao's own hand, tears suddenly streamed down his aged face. "Your Majesty is truly a sage lord! What I said just now was not to ask Your Majesty to cast away your sword and armor at once.

Rather, the Six Laws Sect and the Secretariat are things that only a heaven-sent, brilliant ruler can control. Your Majesty can wield them, but your descendants may not be able to. It would be wise to prepare early."

Zhang Zhao nodded repeatedly. "It is exactly as Lord Feng says. We will certainly give it careful thought."

Sage Zhang knew that Feng Dao dared to speak this way not only because there was some truth in it, but also because he was uneasy about Zhang Zhao's identity as the Unbounded Heaven.

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This unease was rooted deep in the hearts of Chinese people shaped by a thousand years of Confucian, Legalist, and other schools of thought.

The relationship between the two was also something Zhang Zhao would have to think through carefully after unification.

Having thought it through, Zhang Zhao was about to reassure Feng Dao further when a guard came in to report: the Director of the Department of State Affairs, Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery, the true Chancellor of the Great Zhou, Zhang Xichong, had died of illness four days earlier in the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture.

Zhang Zhao was stunned for a long while. This man who had grown up among the Khitan and, as an adult, led thirty thousand men south to return — this Five Dynasties Xin Qiji, the weightiest minister willing to stake everything to get things done for Zhang Zhao — had died at a truly inopportune time!

Now how were the court's personnel to be arranged?

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