Chapter 695: A Ruler Must Not Wage War in Anger

Zhang Xiancun felt a chill run through his entire body. He found himself standing in a vast, empty hall, surrounded by corpses piled layer upon layer on the floor.

Though he could not make out the faces of these bodies, in his heart he knew these people were those closest to him, because that heart-rending pain could not be faked.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, flee quickly! We cannot hold out much longer!" Someone was shouting at the top of his lungs from within the thick fog.

But with that shout, more giant, demon-like figures kept charging out of the fog, cutting down the warriors around Zhang Xiancun one by one. Blood sprayed all over his face, ice-cold.

"I don't want to be Crown Prince anymore! I don't want to be Emperor! Stop it, stop it!" Zhang Xiancun wailed desperately.

The night was deep. Zhang Zhao stood with his hands clasped behind his back outside Zhang Xiancun's bedchamber and let out a long sigh.

"Since ancient times, troubles all come from being too clever. Cun-ge'er is intelligent and has great ambitions. I hope he can get through this trial.

If he cannot pass this hurdle in his heart, and a heart-demon erupts one day, that would be bad."

"This old servant believes the Sage's words are not entirely correct!" Supervisor Dong said softly beside Zhang Zhao.

"Oh? You rarely oppose my opinions. Tell me what you think."

Zhang Zhao looked at Supervisor Dong in surprise. This was the first time he had heard Supervisor Dong disagree with him.

Supervisor Dong straightened his back, then turned to glance at Zhang Xiancun's bedchamber before saying: "This old servant has been in this imperial city for forty-three years now, counting from the final years of the Great Tang, when the Liang ruler Zhu Wen selected me to enter the palace and serve the Great Tang's Emperor Zhaozong.

This servant has seen the sons of Emperor Zhaozong, the sons of Emperor Taizu of Liang, and the sons of the emperors of the later Zhuang and Ming temples.

Back then, even when the Great Tang had declined to such a degree, did not the sons of Emperor Zhaozong still regard the position of Crown Prince as more important than anything?

The sons of Emperor Taizu of Liang were that foolish, yet did they not still covet the imperial throne at every moment?

As for Prince of Qin Li Congrong, his succession was already a foregone conclusion, yet he was still incited to reenact the old story of Emperor Yang of Sui.

From this it can be seen that whether one wishes to be Crown Prince has nothing to do with intelligence or stupidity. On the contrary, the intelligent can more quickly walk out of the inner demon's obstruction. This old servant believes the eldest young lord will soon come to terms with it."

Zhang Zhao nodded gently. "I also believe that my son, Zhang Zhao's son, will surely be able to untie this knot in his heart.

Go and deliver my edict. Have Yongle come to Tianshui, and let her escort Cun'er to Chengdu Prefecture to stay for a while."

Yongle was Princess Yongle, the daughter of Hua Jianxiu. Her beauty was absolutely beyond question. Before Zhang Zhao had even entered the Central Plains, after Princess Yongle was sent to Chang'an by He Ning, she had already captivated Zhang Xiancun.

But in recent years, because the two of them were still young, Zhang Zhao had restricted their contact.

It was not for any other reason, but that they had not yet reached marriageable age. Zhang Zhao feared the two might produce a "human life" and damage the dignity of the imperial family.

Supervisor Dong also knew that Princess Yongle was absolutely the best medicine to cure Zhang Xiancun's heartache. His face brightened with joy as he asked: "Is the Sage preparing a wedding for the eldest young lord?"

Zhang Zhao nodded. "Once I have escorted Lord Cao's coffin from Shazhou to Bozhou for burial, Cun'er will be sixteen, just the right age for marriage."

Having finished thinking about Zhang Xiancun's matter, Zhang Zhao began to think about Zhang Xianyu.

Originally, Zhang Zhao had planned to send both Zhang Xianyu and Zhang Xiancun to Nanxi Prefecture to gain some experience, but now Zhang Zhao had changed his mind.

Because from the current situation, Zhang Xiancun indeed needed to endure hardship and gain experience, but Zhang Xianyu did not need to go.

This boy's problem was in a completely different direction from Zhang Xiancun's.

Zhang Xianyu's problem was that his cautious, timid mother had instilled in him a large amount of negative emotions such as self-abasement and cowardice, causing the child to be able to show compassion to those below, but to have some problems when looking upward.

But the situation in Suyab and Talas was even more complicated than in the Dali Kingdom, and the steppe peoples needed a rough and powerful leader even more than the people of the Dali Kingdom did.

For the Dali Kingdom, the people might still need a bit of conciliation. But for the people of the steppe, conciliation was the very last thing on the list.

Because the herders of the southern and northern deserts were scattered across the boundless grasslands with no defensible terrain, unlike the Han people who had cities to defend.

Therefore on the steppe, enemies could come from all directions, and one never knew when the entire tribe might be wiped out.

This environment of constant existential threat had forged their extremely cold and ruthless character.

On the steppe, you could be a brutal lord, or you could be relatively benevolent, but there was one prerequisite: you had to be a ruthless man.

You had to make your followers always believe that following you would at the very least keep them alive, that you were the most ruthless man under heaven.

The moment they felt you were strong in appearance but weak within, they would quickly abandon you.

How many lords of the steppe in history controlled hundreds of thousands of bowstrings one moment, and the next moment found their power exhausted and their fortunes collapsed — all because those below saw through the essence of their decline and abandoned them.

Admiring the strong and clinging to powerful thighs is the first law of survival for the people of the steppe.

Although Suyab and Talas already had some settled life and farming, from heart to material conditions, they still operated by the steppe people's ways.

If Zhang Xianyu's character did not change, Zhang Zhao could not send him there. No matter what, he could not send his own son to his death.

So Zhang Zhao decided not to throw Zhang Xianyu into Nanxi Prefecture, but to keep him by his side.

To let him see how noble and glorious a thing it was to be the son of Sage Zhang, of Zhang the Supreme Heaven, and to cultivate the pride and ruthlessness in him.

Zhang Zhao was about to leave Tianshui Prefecture for Lanzhou. The first to leave were actually Gao E'niang, Xiao Sagezhi, and Zhao Rongniang, because all three were pregnant and no longer suited for long journeys.

Now only Guo Wan'er and Lady Fei, Madam Huarui, remained by Zhang Zhao's side.

Everyone assumed that Lady Fei would now surely monopolize his favor. After all, Guo Wan'er was about the same age as Zhang Zhao, and in beauty she was not even fit to carry Lady Fei's shoes.

But unexpectedly, after Zhang Zhao favored Lady Fei for two days, this beauty whom outsiders considered most suited to Zhang Zhao's tastes, and who was utterly charming, directly fell out of favor. The Emperor never visited her bedchamber again.

There was no helping it! Sage Zhang paced a few restless steps. Between Guo Wan'er and Lady Fei, who was more delightful could be figured out with one's toes.

But first, Lady Fei's mindset had not quite shifted yet, and she was not very attentive in the bedchamber, which made this great Sage Zhang somewhat displeased. He wanted to put some pressure on Lady Fei, so she would not rely on her beauty and grow arrogant from favor.

Second, Zhang Zhao still had to consider Guo Wan'er's feelings.

Guo Wan'er had been by Zhang Zhao's side since Suyab, serving as his personal secretary and bed companion, yet after all these years she had never borne a child.

Now, seeing that Sage Zhang already had nine sons and seven daughters, plus those still in the womb, a full twenty children in total.

This fully proved that it was not Sage Zhang who was incapable — it was one hundred percent Guo Wan'er's issue.

These days, watching the bellies of Gao E'niang and the others gradually swell, especially that little fox-spirit Zhao Rongniang, who had conceived after only two or three times of receiving his favor, one could imagine the pain in Guo Wan'er's heart.

If Zhang Zhao now abandoned her to daily entwine with Lady Fei, heaven only knew how depressed Guo Wan'er, who had always made her infertility a sickness of the heart, would become.

So Zhang Zhao was still very considerate of her feelings, basically keeping Guo Wan'er inseparable from him.

In the end, it was because Zhang Zhao had deep feelings for Guo Wan'er, who had followed him from very early on and had always worked diligently at her secretarial duties. Ordinary women could not enjoy this warmth from Sage Zhang.

A founding hero-ruler, especially when the realm was not yet fully unified, could not spare much space for personal feelings.

But even so, Guo Wan'er was still very distressed.

This was not really jealousy. If it were, that would be underestimating the vision and breadth of mind of Guo Wan'er, whose position was equivalent to an alternate member of the Secretariat in later ages.

What truly made Guo Wan'er so miserable was something else entirely.

It turned out that after the bloody coup in Suyab, a portion of the Guo family had fought desperately to escort Guo Wan'er's parents to safety in Khotan.

But Guo Wan'er's elder brother, Guo Tianxing, had tragically drowned in the Tianshui River (the Naryn River) during the retreat.

And even that was not what pained Guo Wan'er most. Back in Suyab, after her parents and elder brother had forced her to marry a man of her own clan who was a generation above her, her affection for them had faded considerably.

Otherwise, given Guo Wan'er's standing in Zhang Zhao's heart, her parents and elder brother would have long since returned to the Central Plains to enjoy a comfortable life.

What pained Guo Wan'er most was that the Guo family members who had fled to Khotan had sent word of something that filled her with dread.

After Guo Guangyi allied with Li Guoshou, the two families had also sealed the alliance with a marriage.

Guo Guangyi had given his daughter — Guo Zhou'er, the most beautiful flower of the Suyab Guo family — in marriage to Li Guoshou's youngest son.

It looked like an ordinary marriage alliance, but there was one enormous problem: Guo Zhou'er had originally been intended for Sage Zhang's harem.

Moreover, when Guo Xuanli had last returned to court, he had submitted a memorial to Zhang Zhao about it, so Zhang Zhao knew of the matter.

This was outrageous! To dare steal a woman belonging to the Emperor!

Guo Wan'er no longer dared imagine how furious Zhang Zhao would be when he learned of this. Even an ordinary commoner would have to wash away such a humiliation in blood, let alone Zhang Zhao.

Aside from this worry, Guo Wan'er had in fact long looked forward to Guo Zhou'er coming to the Eastern Capital.

Because from her position, Guo Wan'er naturally understood Zhang Zhao's inner design for dividing the realm. Besides, a woman always needed offspring to have something to rely on.

She herself could not bear children, so she had hoped that once Guo Zhou'er entered the palace, she would bear several sons, and one could be adopted over to her. A son of her cousin was, after all, more reliable than a son with no blood relation at all.

Given her standing with Zhang Zhao, as long as she had a son, she would surely be able to secure the position of a great king of a vassal state when the Emperor divided the realm.

Guo Wan'er had also imagined that once her beauty faded with age, she would become a carefree queen dowager.

But now, with Guo Zhou'er married off, all those beautiful plans had been shattered. It would be strange if her mood were good.

Zhang Zhao had also clearly sensed that something was off with Guo Wan'er. At first he had assumed it was because she could not bear children.

But on further thought, Guo Wan'er's hopes of bearing a son had probably been cut off seven or eight years ago. It was unlikely she was still brooding over that now — clearly something else was going on.

However, Zhang Zhao would not deliberately ask, because he knew Guo Wan'er generally could not hold it in and would say it herself.

Sure enough, after seeing Zhang Zhao glance at her several times, Guo Wan'er came over like a little she-cat, acting coy and adorable, even massaging Zhang Zhao's shoulders and pounding his legs, putting on a thoroughly fawning display.

Zhang Zhao looked at Guo Wan'er's forced smile and let out a long sigh. "Out with it. However big the matter is, say it now — I can still take it."

Guo Wan'er stopped her fawning motions and said in a low voice, "My father sent word by relay riders from Khotan: Guo Guangyi of Suyab and Li Guoshou of Talas have sealed a marriage alliance. Guo Guangyi has given his second daughter, Guo Zhou'er, in marriage to Li Guoshou's youngest son."

Zhang Zhao frowned, because at first he did not recall who this Guo Zhou'er was. After all, when the arrangement had been made, Guo Zhou'er had only been nine years old.

Besides, once Zhang Zhao had entered the Central Plains, what kind of beauty had he not seen? He had long since completely forgotten the nine-year-old slip of a girl the Guo family had agreed to send.

But he knew that with Guo Wan'er's cautious nature, she would not deliberately bring up such a matter, because the marriage alliance between Guo Guangyi and Li Guoshou was hardly earth-shattering news.

So Zhang Zhao, puzzled, repeated the name Guo Zhou'er under his breath twice — and then it suddenly hit him!

In an instant, dark clouds gathered on Sage Zhang's face, and a murderous impulse shot straight up to the crown of his head.

"Filthy dogs! Guo Guangyi and Li Guoshou want their entire families to walk the road to the Yellow Springs together, is that it? I will certainly grant them that."

Guo Wan'er dropped to her knees with a thud. "Guo Guangyi deserves death, but not all of the Suyab Guo family supports him.

Li Guoshou is an arrogant wretch, but not all sixty thousand households of Talas are guilty subjects. I beg the Sage to examine this clearly."

The veins bulged on Zhang Zhao's forehead as he paced back and forth across the room more than a dozen times. Only when he heard the palace attendant outside announce that the Marquis of Shanshan, Zhang Xiancun, sought an audience did he feel his anger subside a little.

If Guo Guangyi's alliance with Li Guoshou to carry out a bloody coup in Suyab was a case of being unable to resist the temptation of dominating a region, then using Guo Zhou'er for a marriage alliance could only be called arrogant beyond measure and utterly brazen.

This was outright provocation!

Brazen?

Zhang Zhao savored the word that had just surfaced in his mind.

Could it be that Guo Guangyi and Li Guoshou really were brazen — or even deliberately provoking him, trying to make him fly into a rage and make a wrong decision?

Had they long since prepared for Zhang Zhao to send a large army, and were even now spreading a great net, waiting?

At this thought, Zhang Zhao's already receding anger vanished in an instant. He reached out and pulled up Guo Wan'er, who was weeping pitifully on the floor.

"Why are you kneeling? I would not vent my anger on everyone just because of a few thieving slaves."

After pulling Guo Wan'er to her feet, Zhang Zhao carefully calculated again. The Suyab Guo family controlled roughly four hundred thousand people, while Li Guoshou of Talas was estimated to have over sixty thousand households — also roughly four hundred thousand people.

The two forces combined came to over eight hundred thousand people. In terms of the Central Plains, that was comparable in size to Ma Chu and Nanping — a small state.

But in the Western Regions, it was absolutely a force that could not be ignored, capable of fielding over a hundred thousand armed herdsmen.

There was another issue worth noting: if Hamid of the Samanid Persians had not died, then with that fool's intelligence, could he have been duped into supplying equipment to Li Guoshou and Guo Guangyi?

After all, in Transoxiana at present, the only power with the capacity for large-scale iron-smelting and armor-making was the Samanid Persians.

A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. It was, after all, a great state of three or four million people. It had been thirteen or fourteen years since he had taken advantage of their father-son strife to secretly destroy a main force of theirs — the Samanid Persians might well have recovered their national strength by now.

"Leave the palace at once. Have Guo Guangsheng go to Liangzhou and notify Hu Guang. Tell Hu Guang everything that has happened.

Tell him I am not in a hurry for him to wash away my humiliation. Rather, I want him to grasp the intent behind this matter.

I have a feeling that this must have been brokered by Saktu behind the scenes. Before I sent men to capture Talas, it had already followed the Heavenly Square faith for nearly thirty years. Perhaps they have now converted, and are entangled with the Samanid Persians."

Guo Wan'er understood the gravity of the matter. She immediately rose, wiped her tears, and prepared to leave the palace to find Guo Guangsheng. Zhang Zhao thought for a moment, then called her back.

"I am sending you so that you will convey my meaning word for word. You must make sure Guo Guangsheng impresses upon Hu Guang that this is exactly what I mean — I am not urging him to rush out of the Jade Gate Pass to seize the two traitors Guo and Li for me."

Sometimes when a sovereign's authority is too great, there is the drawback that his every move gets over-interpreted by his subordinates.

So Zhang Zhao wanted to give special instructions, in case Hu Guang misunderstood and hastily led his troops out on campaign, only to fall into a trap.

And Zhang Zhao also knew that after having a heart-to-heart with Zhang Xiancun, he would have to set out quickly.

He might even have to stay in Shazhou for a while longer. This rebellion in Suyab might well not be an isolated incident.

(End of Chapter)

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