Chapter 686: Warm Wine Becomes Verse — the Lord of Meng

Zhang Zhao rubbed his nose, then stood up and began pacing about the room.

Because the news Pei Yuan and Feng Dao had brought back was simply too explosive.

Of course, this explosiveness was relative.

To Pei Yuan and Feng Dao, it did not seem like much — it was merely a few barbarian chieftains hoping to borrow the Emperor's prestige to seek greater power, and the submission they displayed in doing so.

Of course, the court could also take the opportunity to extend a hand onto the plateau.

It was only a pity this opportunity had come in the wrong era. The Great Zhou had not yet unified the realm and simply lacked the strength to attend to it.

Had this been in the days of the Great Dynasty, with Tibetan nobles volunteering to go up onto the plateau and fight a civil war, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong would surely have leapt for joy.

But now, it somehow always felt a little lacking.

Yet for Zhang Zhao, he immediately realized what was happening.

As long as he agreed, then in this era, the Six Dharma Sect would soon attain the position that the Tibetan Buddhist school had held in history.

"What sort of man is this Langjie Jiangcuo? Is there any chance he could unify Qingtang?"

Hearing Zhang Zhao ask this, Pei Yuan and Feng Dao shook their heads at the same time. Feng Dao pondered a moment, then spoke.

"This man counts as a hero in Songpan Prefecture, but he is no more than a talent of a single prefecture or county. Moreover, Songpan is far from Lhasa, and the Lang clan is not a proper royal Zanpu line. Even with court support, it would be hard for him to grow powerful."

After Feng Dao finished, Pei Yuan continued, "Of course, this is only our judgment of the present situation. If decades from now the Lang clan or the Lun family produces a great hero, then it would be another matter."

"From what Yuying says, you must have made preparations long ago. Tell us — how should we prevent such a situation from arising?"

Zhang Zhao knew that Pei Yuan never simply tossed problems at him; he only offered solutions for Zhang Zhao to consider. This was one of the key reasons Pei Yuan had become his trusted confidant.

"The solution must still come from the Sage himself." Pei Yuan looked at Zhang Zhao and chuckled.

"I have already met the youngest legitimate daughter of Langjie Jiangcuo, the Pacification Commissioner of Songpan Prefecture. Though she is of barbarian birth, she is not untamable, and her looks are quite decent.

The Lun family's eldest daughter is also just sixteen, and her appearance and bearing are of fine quality as well.

I humbly beseech the Sage, for the sake of family and realm, to take the daughters of these two families as consorts. When they bear imperial sons in the future, the Lang clan and the Lun family can welcome them back as their lords, and be commanded to guard the imperial clan, each securing one region."

Zhang Zhao was directly amused by Pei Yuan's words, but on second thought, it was not so laughable after all.

A sage ruler and enlightened sovereign could accomplish much between the bed curtains. Sending a son of Tibetan blood up onto the plateau was far better than letting great clans like the Lang clan control it directly.

Feng Dao also smiled as he urged Zhang Zhao, "Sage, Pei Gong's plan is indeed workable.

Qingtang has many high mountains, with great wind and snow for half the year, and there is also the affliction of miasma. Of men from the Central Plains who go up, two or three in ten cannot endure it. In former days the Great Dynasty's prestige was shattered precisely because the Tibetans held the advantage of terrain.

Moreover, the plateau is bitter and cold, and most of its people cannot know culture and refinement. Without knowing culture and refinement, they cannot turn their hearts toward China, and are most prone to rebellion and vacillation. Rather than exhaust the people and waste resources establishing commanderies and counties, it is better to practice loose-rein rule.

The Lang clan and the Lun family have long been in Qingtang. If they can obtain the Sage's support, they will naturally be able to gain a firm footing and contend against the Zanpu of Lhasa. At the same time, since they need the court's support, they will surely not dare to rebel lightly.

If an imperial grandson enters as their lord, and a loose-rein state is established, making the Tibetans submit — this is something even Emperor Taizong of the Great Dynasty wished to do but could not accomplish!"

Zhang Zhao listened, and his heart stirred. Back then, if Songtsen Gampo had not sought a bride but instead been willing to marry his daughter to Emperor Taizong of Tang, and then welcomed his grandson back, Li Erfeng would probably have been so delighted he would have done the splits right there in the Taiji Palace.

Though he now faced only two local Tibetan nobles, that was precisely what made it excellent!

If there were still a Songtsen Gampo and a Gar Tongtsen on the plateau, Zhang Zhao would have a headache. Local strongmen like Langjie Jiangcuo were exactly the sort he could control.

Of course, the most important reason was that whether the Lang clan or the Lunchang Bomi family, they all had need of him.

Only if Zhang Zhao agreed to put his strength behind bringing the Six Dharma Sect up onto the plateau could these two families gain the ability to win over the various Tibetan tribes and challenge the three great Zanpu royal lines of Lhasa, Gongtang, and Guge.

Right! The Guge royal line — Zhang Zhao suddenly remembered. The reason Zhang Bingzhong of the Zhenyuan Kingdom had dared to rebel was precisely because he had gotten together with the Guge Zanpu, Jide Nimagun.

If his own hand could reach onto the plateau through the Six Dharma Sect, and establish a Khyber Pass-style corridor running from the plateau straight to India, then he would no longer have to fear the feudal lords enfeoffed in India disobeying.

Whoever dared disobey, he would send the Tibetans down from the plateau to put down the rebellion.

Very well! Thinking of the benefits of controlling the plateau, the Great Sage Zhang stared speechlessly into the air.

Why was it that when Li Erfeng forged the glory of the Great Tang, he could rely on hot blood and heroic spirit, but when it came to his turn, Zhang Erfeng, it always had to be connected to the bedchamber?

"Send orders to Cui Huxin, Prefect of Ya'an Prefecture, commanding him to seek out the great clans of the Tibetans, the various Qiang, and the Black and White Yi west and north of Shu.

Have him persuade the chieftains of each tribe to bring their most beautiful daughters and bravest sons, together with Langjie Jiangcuo, to Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture.

Order Li Yanli, Prefect of Huangshui Prefecture, to summon the chieftains of the local Tibetan, Qiang, and Tuyuhun great clans from north and west of the Western Sea and around Dafeichuan to come to Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture.

Huang Fei, go tell the head monk, Master Daoyuan of Dayun Temple, to have the dharma-preaching monks in Qingtang spread the word that I intend to select ten beauties from among the Tibetan, Qiang, Tangut, and Tuyuhun peoples to attend me."

Huang Fei and Director Dong stared at Zhang Zhao in astonishment. Good heavens — just a moment ago he had been somewhat reluctant over two beauties, and in the blink of an eye he had increased the number to ten himself.

Could he handle it?

Pei Yuan and Feng Dao were also briefly shocked, but they immediately understood: the Emperor wanted to blow the matter up, so as not to give the Lang clan and the Lunchang Bomi family the chance to monopolize everything.

Pei Yuan even deliberately glanced at Zhang Zhao's rather robust physique. He believed the Sage could bear it.

Feng Dao was practically on the verge of tears. The Sage worked too hard. For the peace of the realm, he would have to endure the ravages of ten wolf-like, tiger-like young Tibetan and Qiang ladies all at once. How magnificent!

Zhang Zhao was of course not looking for ten more beauties out of lust. In truth, his consorts were already quite numerous.

His thinking was this: since the Six Dharma Sect was to go up onto the plateau, then go even more thoroughly. Henceforth, three living Buddhas would be established on the plateau.

One in Lhasa, one in Supi (Chamdo), and one in the Ngari region. Beneath the three great living Buddhas, several dozen Great Virtues and Rinpoches would also be established.

To match this, a large number of Pacification Commissioners and the like would be set up to manage governance, completely feudalizing the Qingtang Plateau and establishing a religion-led theocratic regime that would serve as a loose-rein dependency of the court.

And among these living Buddhas and Great Virtues, at least three-tenths would be his own descendants, and the rest would be marriage kin. After that, the plateau should be stable for one or two hundred years.

It was just that, in this way, the common people of the Qingtang Plateau would continue to suffer greatly under such a regime.

This was the tenth century. Zhang Zhao could only do it this way — first stabilize the upper strata, and firmly tamp down the territory before anything else.

In the third year of Shaoming, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Zhang Zhao, who had already stayed in Guanzhong for nearly half a year, finally finished arranging all matters and prepared to set out for Liangzhou.

Before departing for Liangzhou, Zhang Zhao made a point of transferring Fan Quan back from the Shandong Province.

With Pei Yuan going to the Central Plains, someone had to take over the position in Liangzhou. Fan Quan was one of the few men Zhang Zhao could trust completely who was not already burdened with heavy responsibilities.

On the fifteenth of the seventh month, Zhang Zhao appointed Fan Quan as Chief Minister of Hexi Province, Defense Commissioner of Hexi, and Keeper of the Western Capital Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture.

Compared with Pei Yuan, Fan Quan's authority was somewhat reduced. He was no longer a plenipotentiary minister who grasped everything, but began to shift toward being a normal provincial Chief Minister and Keeper.

At the same time, the system that had been established to let Pei Yuan wield sole authority and manage Liangzhou well — under which the Chief Minister of Longyou Province had been moved to work from Tianshui Prefecture — was also abolished.

Jia Yanchang, Chief Minister of Longyou Province, could finally leave Tianshui Prefecture and return to work in Lanzhou Prefecture, the true provincial seat of Longyou.

But Jia Yanchang was a pure civil official, so Zhang Zhao gave the post of Longyou Defense Commissioner to Li Yanli, who had been managing the He-Huang Valley from Huangshui Prefecture, and let Jia Yanchang simply handle administrative affairs.

On the eighteenth day of the seventh month, Zhang Zhao held a grand banquet for his officials at the Chang'an prefectural seat in Jingzhao, under the pretext of celebrating the recovery of Shu, and once again bestowed rewards upon the two columns of troops who had taken part in the Shu campaign.

Not only did all officers of Captain rank and above who had campaigned against Shu attend this banquet, but civil and military officials from Chang'an and indeed all of Guanzhong took part as well. The feast tables stretched all the way out from the Vermilion Bird Gate, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

The junior officers and common soldiers who were not qualified to attend the banquet also received rewards of one sheep for every three men, one jar of wine, three jin of rice and flour, and one zhang of white cotton cloth per man, along with three days' leave.

They gleefully took their rewards and pay and swaggered about Chang'an, and in the course of a single day stirred up dozens of brawls and jealous quarrels, nearly working the constables who kept order in Chang'an Prefecture to death.

The climax of the banquet was the appearance of Meng Chang, the captured ruler of Shu.

According to the custom of our Great Tang, a captured ruler such as Meng Chang was required to perform a dance or two at a banquet like this.

In years past, even the mighty Jieli Khagan, lord of the great desert, had to dance. What virtue do you, Meng Chang, possess that you should not dance?

But our Lord of Meng was quite unwilling to dance. From the moment he entered the banquet he knelt prostrate on the ground and refused to rise, turning a blind eye to everything, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

This behavior naturally aroused considerable displeasure. The soldiers and officers around him, drunk and roaring loud enough to shake the roof tiles, bellowed that they would come drag Meng Chang out to dance.

Zhang Zhao also watched coldly from the side, with no intention of going over to dissuade them.

This Meng Chang, how to put it, was a second-generation man of power with a bit of ability, who in his heart longed to swallow the sky and spit out the earth, but lacked the corresponding talent.

And when it truly came time to die, he lacked the resolve to die for his principles.

Yet once danger receded, the learning he had acquired and his inner self-respect made him feel extraordinarily ashamed, wishing he could die on the spot, and then he would start acting out in all sorts of ways.

But when his acting out truly brought him to the brink of death, he immediately grew afraid again.

This endless cycle was the most complicated thing about Meng Chang. At this moment, for instance, he again refused to dance — clearly courting death.

So Zhang Zhao had no intention of restraining his civil and military subordinates. He wanted to break that still-struggling heart of Meng Chang's and make him submit completely.

And just as Gao Huaide's hand was about to seize Meng Chang's arm, a small, thin figure suddenly threw herself down not far in front of Zhang Zhao and pleaded piteously.

"This slave is willing to dance in her father's place, to congratulate the Sage on ten thousand years!"

The figure who had thrown herself forward was a young girl dressed in men's clothing, named Meng Xuanzhu, the eldest daughter of Meng Chang, fourteen years old this year.

Zhang Zhao knew this because Princess Fuxing had spoken to him beforehand. The Meng family had sent Lady Fei of the Flower Stamen, but were still uneasy at heart, and wished to send Meng Xuanzhu into the palace as well, to seek complete safety.

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Do not think that the civil and military officials in the hall had drunk too much and were merely making a racket — their minds were perfectly clear. When they saw Meng Xuanzhu throw herself forward and plead, the others all stopped at once.

Zhang Zhao looked over this Meng Xuanzhu, dressed in men's clothes and not yet fully grown.

Her looks went without saying. Her mother Zhang Taihua was recorded in history as having rare beauty from youth, with brows and eyes bright as day, her loveliness not inferior to Lady of the Flower Stamen. Her father Meng Chang was strikingly handsome, a few degrees finer than Leslie Cheung.

A daughter born of such a powerful union of genes could not possibly be ugly. Although Meng Xuanzhu's body had not yet fully developed, she already deserved the phrase "brows and eyes like a painting."

However, Zhang Zhao waved his hand. Meng Chang was six or seven years younger than him, and he had already taken Lady of the Flower Stamen from him — there was no need to seize the man's daughter as well.

A man nearing thirty-six, constantly taking in teenage girls — what kind of business was that!

So Sage Zhang clapped his hands, summoned the Barbarian Bear Zhang Zhaozhong to his side, pointed at Meng Xuanzhu, and said to him: "What do you think of this girl? More than a match for that little black bear of yours, wouldn't you say?"

The Barbarian Bear was startled, astonished by Meng Chang's family background, and seeing that Meng Xuanzhu dared come forward in such circumstances to plead for her father — proof enough of courage and filial piety — he sighed with genuine feeling.

"This girl has something of imperial blood in her veins, and is so filial besides. My worthless son is lazy, gluttonous, and slippery — how could he be worthy of her? Not to mention that this girl ought to be..."

"Between lord and vassal such as us, why speak of such things!" Zhang Zhao immediately cut off the Barbarian Bear's words.

"Everyone knows that I, Zhang Zhao, have no love for powdered beauties, only for loyal ministers and righteous men. You, Barbarian Bear, were willing to set aside high office and noble rank to guard my side — how could I not know it!"

Among the four men always at Zhang Zhao's side, Dunzhu Zhang Zhaojiu, Qiongredorjin Zhang Zhaojie, and Wang Tongxin truly could not be sent out to hold command over a region.

But the Barbarian Bear, though rough in appearance, was careful at heart. Though he had read little, he was well versed in propriety, and could be sent out.

Yet for the sake of Zhang Zhao's safety and the stability of the court's power, the Barbarian Bear had resolutely chosen to remain at Zhang Zhao's side.

One must remember, this was the Five Dynasties! Palace armies mutinying and rebelling was as common as eating and drinking. Zhang Zhao's personal troops came from Hexi, but who could say whether they might not fall into corruption.

As the last line of defense at Zhang Zhao's side, a fierce general who could both lead troops in battle and coordinate security, the Barbarian Bear had given up a great deal — so much so that his office was still no higher than Chief Military Inspector, and his title still only that of marquis.

While those sent out, such as Ma Zhaoyuan and Zhang Zhaojun, had long since attained titles of Duke of the State and Commandery Duke, and their posts had made them lords of their own regions.

The Barbarian Bear, hearing this, was overcome with gratitude, and prostrated himself on the spot to give thanks.

The little black bear, who had not yet left for Nanxi Prefecture, stood in the distance with shining eyes. Hearing that his father no longer declined, he too hurried out to give thanks, kowtowing so hard he nearly cracked the gold bricks on the floor. His deliberately comical manner set everyone laughing heartily.

Zhang Zhao shook his head helplessly. A half-member of the imperial clan, raised in the palace from childhood, thoroughly versed in military texts, fierce in martial prowess, and quite shrewd — who knew what he would grow into in the future.

When Meng Chang heard Zhang Zhao's arrangement, he finally raised his head, and for the first time a look of gratitude appeared in his eyes.

As the Lord of Meng, who still bore a strange self-respect, he had in fact been terrified that Meng Xuanzhu would be sent to Zhang Zhao's bed.

Zhang Zhao shook his head. This Meng Chang! If he did not pass through this trial, he would certainly keep acting out in the future.

And even now, Zhang Zhao did not intend to let him off.

So Sage Zhang picked up a large horn of wine, walked before Meng Chang, and said: "In years past, Prince Si of Chen composed a poem in seven paces, and thereby escaped disaster.

Today you and I are not brothers, but we were both once lords of our own domains. I will not make things difficult for you.

I have heard that in Shu you composed half a poem: 'Ice-like flesh, jade-like bones, cool without sweat; in the water pavilion the wind brings secret fragrance and warmth. The curtain opens, the bright moon alone peeps at the watcher; pillow askew, hairpin fallen, cloud-tresses in disarray.'

If you can compose the second half before this wine grows warm, then I shall pardon your offense of defiance just now!"

With that, Zhang Zhao had someone pour the horn of wine into the gold-inlaid wine-warming pot on Meng Chang's table. The civil and military officials of the Zhang Zhou court all gathered around to watch Meng Chang.

Our Lord of Meng watched the flame beneath the wine-warming pot gently licking the bottom of the pot, as if his life were also being burned away bit by bit by that flame.

And the looks of the surrounding Zhou civil and military officials, as if they were watching a macaque, instantly shattered Meng Chang's composure.

Two streams of clear tears slid down the Lord of Meng's face. Amid grievance and shame, just as the wine in the pot was about to boil over, Meng Chang, heartbroken and pale, in a trembling voice, slowly began to chant.

"Rising, the jeweled chamber is silent and still; now and then I see scattered stars cross the River of Heaven. I count on my fingers when the west wind will come; I only fear the passing years are secretly exchanged."

"Ha ha ha! So it truly was you who wrote it, not that fat Su passing it off as his own." Zhang Zhao burst into loud laughter.

Many people said that Meng Chang had only written the first two lines of this poem "Avoiding the Heat at Moke Pond," and that the rest had been completed by Su Shi, old Fatty Su. When Zhang Zhao was in university, he had argued with people about this. Today he finally got his answer.

"Live carefully in the days to come. If you produce fine verses like these again, send them up at once!"

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily. Among the surrounding civil and military officials, the civil officials all wore expressions of admiration, while most of the military officers cheered even louder than the civil officials, as if they all understood perfectly.

What the hell did they understand? They were just putting on a show of flattering Zhang Zhao.

Everyone was having a good time — only Meng Chang completely broke down. He gulped down the fine wine on the table and wailed at the top of his lungs.

Because this poem was written by Meng Chang for Lady Fei, but back then he had only managed the first half; the second half simply would not come to him.

Today, under the threat of death, the second half finally came — but Lady Fei had already been lying in another man's bed for months. How could he not break down!

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