Chapter 687: So This Is What a Treacherous Minister Looks Like!

In the third year of Zhang Zhou's Shaoming era, 948 CE, on the seventh day of the eighth month, in the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture, the funeral of the Prefect of the Masters of Writing, Zhang Xichong, was underway.

Apart from the Emperor, who was far away in Chang'an and did not come, Empress Cao Yanxi, the Emperor's fourth son and the Empress's own son Zhang Xianjing, and all the rest were present in full.

The civil and military officials of Zhang Zhou, even military governors stationed in distant provinces, mostly sent men to travel a thousand li to attend.

Among them, Ma Zhaoyuan, Prefect of Guilin Prefecture and concurrently Military Supervisor of Guilin Prefecture, sent his personal general to rush back from Lingnan at a pace of one hundred fifty li a day, making the journey expressly for this.

Although Zhang Xichong was neither of the Yuan Cong faction nor the East Return faction, the old man had won the respect of nearly everyone through his character and ability.

In some respects, Zhang Zhao was not a qualified feudal emperor.

Because he had received no education of that kind at all, and the places where he rose to power were remote borderlands like Anxi, Beiting, and Hexi, which could not give him experience in ruling a Central Plains dynasty.

His level was nothing more than that of a later-era history enthusiast who, after absorbing a vast amount of knowledge, plus the conclusions of a large crowd of experts and authors on the internet and in television and film who had themselves never been emperors, had merely summed up the successes and failures of emperors.

To put it crudely, he was a keyboard warrior with a bit of a brain.

He had some insight, but probably not much.

So on the surface, Zhang Zhao was very capable of taking his ministers' advice, and his ability to swallow insults with a smile was probably stronger than Cao Mengde's, and possibly even stronger than Tang Taizong's.

In the current Zhang Zhou court, you could even curse Zhang Zhao to his face as a fatuous ruler, and as long as you could give a reason or two, you basically would not be punished, and if your advice was of quality, it would even be adopted.

Of course, if you could not give a reason, then the problem became very serious.

On the whole, the atmosphere of the Zhang Zhou court was very positive and upward-looking, and the Emperor could humbly accept remonstrance.

But Zhang Zhao also had a very big problem, which was that, coming from a later era, he was influenced by that age of highly developed information, causing his understanding of the position of a ruler to often be very vague and grand.

In humbly accepting remonstrance, rewarding loyalty and righteousness, and the great policies and guiding principles, Zhang Zhao had no problems.

But when it came to each specific item of state governance, there was always some fancifulness from the later era and excessive over-advancement.

Many people had felt this contradictory combination in Zhang Zhao.

This was also the reason why, even within the court, many people believed that Zhang Zhao truly was a deity or Buddha descended to the mortal world.

Because it is very difficult for a normal person to simultaneously display far-sightedness and complete blindness, knowing nothing at all, such an extreme contrast.

And in Zhang Zhao's court, the civil officials had not yet recovered from one or two hundred years of suppression, and most civil officials were in a state of "better to do less than more, better to slack off than to speak up."

Only Zhang Xichong could correct one by one the clearly erroneous decisions Zhang Zhao made, and revise the overly advanced programs and plans, not caring even if Zhang Zhao became angry.

And he could often make Zhang Zhao recognize these errors and correct them.

In setting an example for officials, it was precisely he, the Prefect of the Masters of Writing, who argued on principle whether facing the Emperor, meritorious relatives, or military governors of the outer provinces, never tolerating any lawbreaking or wrongdoing, daring even to rebuke the Emperor, thereby establishing the self-confidence of civil officials and the foundation of their being respected.

It could be said that Zhang Xichong was like a banner; as long as the civil officials of the realm saw that Zhang Xichong was still there, not killed or banished by the Emperor, they knew they were still safe, and dared to do a few things.

If Zhang Xichong dared not fear men of the military governor and commander level, then ordinary officials dared to discipline the garrison commanders of a city or county, and the constables of prefectures and counties dared to stop ordinary yabing guards from causing trouble.

It could be said that the atmosphere that distinguished Zhang Zhou from the Liang, Tang, and Jin dynasties was half maintained by Zhang Zhao, and half established by Zhang Xichong.

At the funeral, Zhang Xianjing, who was almost five years old, could barely understand some things.

Born into this imperial family, ranked fourth, with his elder brothers above him each having their own outstanding qualities, Zhang Xianjing was destined in this life to be fiercely pushed by his mother Cao Yanxi.

Zhang Xianjing's appearance had even caused Empress Cao Yanxi's temperament to change drastically, from the cunning girl who originally loved to cling to Zhang Zhao, into a "loving mother" who put her entire heart and soul into her son.

Faced with this situation, Zhang Zhao could not say much either, afraid that Lady Nineteen would overthink, so he could only often have Lady Cao Sanniang go look after Zhang Xianjing, "liberating" him from his mother's high pressure for a while.

However, while pushing a child hard has many drawbacks, if the child has strong stress tolerance or is precocious, it is indeed possible to push out a genius, just with a very low probability.

But Zhang Xianjing seemed to be that low probability; at just over five years old, he read and wrote like a little adult, and regarding court politics, he also showed some signs of early wisdom.

For example, just when Zhang Xichong's sons were receiving him, Zhang Xianjing took out a piece of white silk cloth, on which were written eight large characters: "The state has lost its shield, the ruler has lost his clear mirror."

Zhang Xianjing puffed out his chest and, in a milky voice, handed the white silk cloth to Zhang Xichong's eldest son Zhang Yanshun, saying, "The words were spoken by everyone; the writing was done by me. May my Zhang family again have a shield."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yanshun led his family in prostrating themselves, trembling with emotion.

The one before him was very likely to be the next Emperor; these were not just eight characters, they were the guarantee of his family's future wealth and honor!

Cao Yanxi was also extremely satisfied with Zhang Xianjing's performance, and simply let him read the imperial edict in place of the palace eunuch envoy.

In the edict, Zhang Zhao posthumously enfeoffed Zhang Xichong as Grand Tutor and Prince of Qinghe Commandery, and bestowed the meritorious title "Stabilizer of the State and Settler of the Realm."

And from the two posthumous names proposed by the ministers, Wenzhong and Wensu, he chose Wenzhong, which was clearly much better.

And because Zhang Xichong's noble title was not hereditary in perpetuity, by law a non-military-merit title was to be reduced by one rank immediately upon inheritance.

But Zhang Zhao specially permitted the Qinghe Commandery Prince title to begin rank reduction only after three generations, with the commandery prince title inherited by the eldest son Zhang Yanshun.

And he enfeoffed Zhang Xichong's second son Zhang Yanding as Marquis of Fanyang, and granted the sons of the brothers Zhang Yanshun and Zhang Yanding the rank of Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Personal Guard.

He also specially granted three hundred households of tax revenue to Zhang Xichong's old wife, Lady Zou, for her support in old age.

Before long, before Empress Cao Yanxi and the others had even returned to the palace, an imperial envoy arrived from Chang'an Prefecture.

Zhang Zhao again enfeoffed Zhang Xichong's wife Lady Zou as Lady of the State of Yan, permitted Zhang Xichong to be buried according to the specifications of a prince, allowed the construction of a tomb garden, offering hall, stele pavilion, and so on, and ordered the Ministry of Works to select a site on Mount Mang to build the tomb garden.

This was to be buried alongside the imperial tombs!

Zhang Xichong's eldest son Zhang Yanshun and second son Zhang Yanding again knelt and prostrated themselves, kowtowing in thanks for the imperial grace, and the surrounding ministers were also shocked.

Because Zhang Zhou took Luoyang as its Divine Capital, if Zhang Zhao were to pass away, it was basically certain he would be buried on Mount Mang.

But before this, Mount Mang had already buried twenty-four emperors of six dynasties since the Eastern Zhou.

In terms of the scale of the mountain tombs, Mount Mang was now even more crowded than the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture, where people jostled shoulder to shoulder.

Zhang Zhou probably could only bury its first two or three generations of emperors there; subsequent rulers would have to choose other places.

Under such circumstances, to forcibly squeeze out a place to bury Zhang Xichong, a minister, and moreover a large-scale tomb with a tomb garden to be built.

For Han people who attach great importance to their affairs after death, this grace was even greater than the posthumous enfeoffment as Grand Tutor and Commandery Prince, and it was no wonder the Zhang brothers immediately burst into tears; they were truly moved.

However, the next two imperial edicts that arrived at the scene made the court officials feel not moved but astonished, even somewhat alarmed.

It turned out that Zhang Zhao cited the fact that Feng Dao and Pei Yuan had traveled a thousand li, recovered Songzhou, which had been lost since the time of Emperor Ruizong of the Great Dynasty, and caused the surrounding barbarians to submit, with dozens of great and small chieftains coming to pay homage.

He promoted Pei Yuan, Duke of Hedong Commandery, to Duke of the State of Zhao, and Feng Dao, Count of Jingcheng, to Marquis of Yingzhou.

And he appointed the Vice Chancellor and Minister of Rites Feng Dao as Prefect of the Masters of Writing in attendance, Left Vice Director of the Secretariat, concurrently in charge of the Zhangtai affairs of the Secretariat.

Prefect of the Masters of Writing in attendance was a bit lower than Prefect of the Masters of Writing; the Emperor had deliberately dug it out from the old archives, clearly to show the exalted status of Zhang Xichong, and it was estimated that only after Zhang Xichong was buried would Feng Dao truly become Prefect of the Masters of Writing.

Moreover, Feng Dao's personality was not as forceful as Zhang Xichong's, so the most valuable part of this appointment was actually the concurrent charge of the Zhangtai affairs of the Secretariat.

In Zhang Zhou's Secretariat, the Luantai oversaw the Emperor's imperial guard, while the Zhangtai assisted the Emperor in handling government affairs.

The Zhangtai was essentially the Emperor's secretarial staff, similar to the original Grand Secretariat of the Ming dynasty.

Such an important office naturally could not consist of just a few people, so after the Emperor took a portion with him to the Chengtian Prefecture in Liangzhou, a considerable number of Zhangtai officials still remained at court.

Feng Dao's authority to concurrently oversee Zhangtai affairs was the real substance that could prop up his standing as Chief Minister.

If Feng Dao's appointment was a surprise, then Pei Yuan's appointment was enough to be called a shock.

Zhang Zhao granted Pei Yuan the authority of acting with imperial insignia and battle-axe, appointing him Right Vice Director of the Secretariat, concurrently Vice Director of the Luantai, Chief Commander of the Palace Guard Cavalry and Infantry, and Supervisor of All Affairs in the Directly Administered Prefectures and Counties.

Acting with imperial insignia and battle-axe gave Pei Yuan the power of life and death over ordinary officials.

As Vice Director of the Luantai, he could manage the imperial guards in the capital.

As Chief Commander of the Palace Guard Cavalry and Infantry, he could command the imperial guards in the capital, and even the two imperial guard armies rotating into the outer palace.

As Supervisor of All Affairs in the Directly Administered Prefectures and Counties, he held all administrative affairs of the entire directly administered region in one grasp.

The assembled ministers all turned their gazes toward Empress Cao Yanxi and Noble Consort Cao Yannai, and found both of them utterly composed. Everyone then understood that the Emperor had already communicated with the Empress about this.

It seemed the Emperor intended for Pei Yuan to handle some very thorny matters, because Pei Yuan was now just one step away from holding the lives of the Empress and the imperial princes in his hands.

Unless he was to carry out some extremely dangerous undertaking, the Emperor would surely not grant such power.

In Zhang Zhao's military system, three imperial guard armies normally rotated on palace duty. By convention, the Hanshan Division guarded the inner palace, while the various imperial guard armies took turns on duty in the outer palace.

The Hanshan Division was now divided into four garrison commands—Left, Inner, Right, and Front—each with three thousand men, controlled respectively by Zhang Zhaozhong, Zhang Zhaojiu, Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Zhaojie. They were the Emperor's final safeguard.

On this western tour, the Emperor had taken Zhang Zhaozhong's Left Garrison, Zhang Cheng's Right Garrison, and Zhang Zhaojie's Front Garrison, leaving only Zhang Zhaojiu's Inner Garrison of three thousand men to guard the inner palace.

The post of Commander of the Palace Guard Cavalry and Infantry was never permanently established; it was appointed temporarily by the Emperor.

In terms of authority, apart from those on duty in the inner palace, everyone in the outer palace—whether the Hanshan Division or the various imperial guard armies—had to accept this Commander's command.

One could say that the military force Pei Yuan now controlled far exceeded that of the Empress.

Of course, this was only on the surface. In reality, if Pei Yuan ordered an attack on the imperial palace, the moment he gave the order, someone would likely stab him to death the very next second.

But that did not stop everyone from looking at Pei Yuan with changed eyes. Military and civil power, internal and external, all grasped in one hand—so even Feng Dao's appointment as Director of the Imperial Secretariat was merely a cover for Pei Yuan.

How had the great power of the court suddenly fallen into the hands of this man who monopolized power in Hexi!

Gazing at Pei Yuan's uncanny eyes, which at a glance did not look like those of a good man, the assembled ministers felt their hair stand on end. A treacherous minister had appeared!

For a moment, everyone thought of many figures—the Hexi Grand Tutor Dong Zhuo, the Sima clan that rebelled across three generations, An Lushan who raised troops in Hebei, An Chonghui of the Later Tang, and Yang Guangyuan and Jing Yanguang, who overshadowed all during the false Jin.

Pei Yuan looked at the expressions of the crowd and could not help but sigh inwardly. He had known this task would not be easy.

With the Emperor possessing such authority, he was still seen as a Sima Yi. If the Emperor were any weaker, people would probably already be plotting to purge the court of him.

But this was no time to show weakness. The Emperor would be gone to Hexi for a year at most, and in that year, he had to completely settle the matter of Buddhist reform in the Central Plains. He had to hold absolute power and rule by decree alone.

So he deliberately narrowed his eyes, making himself look even more sinister, which set the surrounding ministers' nerves on edge.

But in truth, Pei Yuan was also somewhat on edge, not knowing whether the Emperor had informed the various regional commanders of the Yuan Cong faction.

If he came down hard and some regional Yuan Cong commander truly believed something had gone wrong with the Emperor and marched on the capital to purge the court, that would be serious trouble.

These Yuan Cong men mostly came from Hexi, and their families were almost all devout Buddhist believers. Although they professed faith in the Six Dharma Sect openly, who knew what they believed in secret?

Compared to Pei Yuan's trepidation, Zhang Zhao was as steady as Mount Tai.

Going to Hexi, he had taken half of the imperial guard and palace armies with him, and had also recruited heroes from all over Shu to build five or six new imperial guard and palace armies.

Since he first raised troops, Zhang Zhao's authority in the army had been unmatched. He had no fear of Pei Yuan acting rashly at court—no matter how great the chaos, he could put it down.

Zhang Zhao even hoped Pei Yuan's methods would be more drastic, to flush out all those hidden malcontents ahead of time, and then deal with them all at once.

Before departing for Liangzhou, Zhang Zhao also made a point of summoning Zhang Xiaobao.

After injuring his leg, the young man had become somewhat despondent, and had gone to Shu intending to use his life to accomplish some earth-shaking deed.

Unexpectedly, the journey and his experiences in Shu had calmed his heart considerably, and he gradually began to accept the fact that he was a cripple.

After hearing from his elder brother Zhang Cheng that Zhang Zhao intended to campaign against the Kingdom of Dali, and that he also planned to enfeoff the eldest prince Zhang Xiancun as Great King of Dali in the future, he had become quite stirred, wanting to continue on to Shu and win merit for Zhang Zhao.

So Zhang Zhao deliberately summoned Zhang Xiaobao to the Weiyang Palace on Longshou Plain, and had him dine together with Zhang Xiancun, Zhang Xianyu, and Zhang Liechao, enjoying treatment reserved only for the Emperor's sons and nephews.

Zhang Xiaobao was not particularly ill at ease. When his family had been allotted land in Minqin County, Liangzhou, the Emperor himself had personally stamped the deed.

Moreover, his elder brother Zhang Cheng had always served as the Emperor's personal guard, so he had never felt much distance from the Emperor.

"Little Leopard, what do you think of the character 'Fei'?"

Zhang Xiaobao was gnawing on a large leg of mutton. Hearing the Emperor's question, he did not answer, but after a brief pause, simply nodded, then went back to gnawing.

"Very well! Then from now on you shall be called Zhang Fei!" Zhang Zhao laughed heartily with a mischievous air.

Only then did Zhang Xiaobao understand what the Emperor was laughing about. He put down the mutton leg and said to Zhang Zhao with a solemn expression:

"Your Majesty inspires your servant with the loyalty and valor of the Marquis Huan of the Later Han. Your servant will never fail Your Majesty's expectations."

"A fine young man of mine!" Zhang Zhao exclaimed in praise, then asked: "How old are you this year, boy? Not married yet, are you?"

Zhang Xiaobao—no, he should now be called Zhang Fei—shook his head.

"Your servant is twenty-two this year. The Sage isn't planning to arrange a marriage for me, is he?"

As he spoke, Zhang Fei patted his crippled leg. "This leg is not worthy of a noble young lady."

Zhang Zhao glared. "My warriors are worthy of even heavenly maidens."

"Li Congye, is that Jiannanchun warmed up yet? If it is, bring it over at once."

In the distance, a middle-aged fat man heard Zhang Zhao's call and immediately trotted over, apologizing profusely as he ran.

This man was none other than Meng Chang's elder brother, the grandson of Li Keyong, now renamed Li Congye—formerly Meng Yiye.

"I hear your eldest daughter is sixteen, and both learned and well-mannered?" Zhang Zhao asked.

Li Congye's eyes lit up. Could the Sage have taken a fancy to his daughter?

"Not only is she learned and well-mannered, but my Jiaoniang excels at needlework. Her embroidery is better than the finest needlewomen in all of Shu."

"Excellent!" Zhang Zhao laughed, then pointed at Li Congye and said to Zhang Fei: "Do you have anything of value on you? Take it out and pay respects to your father-in-law."

Li Congye was greatly disappointed, and his gaze drifted to Zhang Fei's crippled leg.

But before his gaze could settle, he felt an invisible, terrifying pressure bearing down on the top of his head. He looked up and saw that it was none other than Zhang Zhao, staring at him with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Li Congye immediately shuddered, and deftly took a gold-inlaid jade from his waist.

"It is my honor that my daughter can marry a trusted warrior of the Sage. Take this jade, and we shall be father-in-law and son-in-law."

With that, he pressed the gold-inlaid jade into Zhang Fei's hand.

(End of Chapter)

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