Chapter 757: This Is the Glory That Belongs to the Guiyi Army

The fourth year of Shaoming, 949 AD, the first day of the first month.

This was probably the most comfortable New Year Zhang Zhao had ever spent. Although the empress and his sons were mostly not by his side, it did not stop this Great Sage Zhang from being in an excellent mood!

He had accomplished quite a lot this year, but the two most important things were the northern expedition into the Mobei desert and the "fishing."

First, the northern expedition into Mobei. No dynasty before him had ever had it so easy. On the steppe, let alone fierce figures like the Xiongnu or the Turks, there were not even opponents of the Rouran or Xueyantuo level. It was a complete heap of loose sand, even more scattered than the Central Plains.

So this Sage Zhang led only thirty thousand infantry and cavalry, and at most deployed a little over fifty thousand men, yet accomplished the two peerless feats of carving stone at Yanran and performing the fengshan sacrifice at Langjuxu.

And the "fishing" scheme he had arranged before leaving also achieved unexpectedly enormous results.

Originally, he had only targeted those old men in the old Guiyi Army faction who had original sins and did not know their place, and by the way, he meant to clean up the Hexi Merchant Guild.

But as it turned out, he directly hooked out all the hidden black sheep like Cao Renzun and Yin Yuande.

This rebellion was so far-reaching that it almost covered the vast majority of families in the entire old Guiyi Army faction. Except for his maternal grandfather's Song family and the Luo family controlled by Luo Tongda, every family was implicated to a greater or lesser degree.

Excellent! Truly excellent! Zhang Zhao was so delighted that his eyes narrowed into slits.

These old fellows of the old Guiyi Army faction, relying on their seniority and taking advantage of the fact that Zhang Zhao had no time to devote great energy to keeping watch over Hexi, had been throwing their weight around throughout the region west of Liangzhou, that is, along the Silk Road of the Hexi Corridor. They had even set up private tax posts and openly colluded with the Hexi Merchant Guild to act as local tyrants.

Now that they had all been caught, the families of Cao Renzun and Yin Yuande were certainly going to suffer disaster, and it would not be so easy for the other families to escape punishment either.

Zhang Zhao planned to use this opportunity to thoroughly clean up all the discordant elements along the Silk Road, return the benefits that these people had monopolized to the court, and restore the disrupted merchant environment to normal.

This would not only further promote the development of the Silk Road, allowing it to continue for several more decades or even a century and keep supplying nourishment to the Xia-ruled, Yi-populated lands to the west.

At the same time, by striking down these families, Zhang Zhao estimated that he himself could at least scoop up wealth worth five to six million strings of cash or more, comparable to the gains from raiding Samanid Persia and India.

And he did not need to worry about others' tongues wagging. This was not Sage Zhang seizing his subjects' property, but confiscating the households of these rebels.

With this money, the military expenses for the southern campaign and the migration costs for opening up Liaodong and Liaoxi would basically be secured.

And in the Central Plains, the discontented ones such as Li Ye, Wang Jun, and Xue Huairang were also dragged out.

Although they did not have much wealth, their capture could greatly purify the political environment.

Especially the Wuning garrison of Xuzhou. Zhang Zhao had always wanted to deal with this last remaining organized Five Dynasties yabing guards gang, but he lacked a pretext and truly could not spare the hands. Now, as it happened, they jumped out on their own to seek death. How wonderful.

Right, and there was that dog Zhao Zaili. This Sage Zhang had been coveting—ah, no! He had hated him for a long time.

Shameless and brazen, he had brutally oppressed the common people and amassed a fortune of a million strings of cash, and he actually wanted to live out his remaining years in peace. Dream on.

Besides these domestic villains, Zhang Zhao had also hooked out the nail that was Liu Renzhan, and now he had a pretext for attacking the Southern Tang.

Although Li Jing had specially sent Han Xizai as an envoy a few days earlier, traveling through half of China in the dead of winter to Chengde Prefecture to apologize to Zhang Zhao, saying that everything had been Liu Renzhan's unauthorized action and that the Southern Tang court had known nothing about it.

Heh! As far as Zhang Zhao was concerned, the Southern Tang now truly fit the saying: how can one allow another to sleep soundly beside one's own bed?

These five million people, these thousands of li of rivers and mountains, the several million strings of cash in annual tax revenue, and the flourishing shipbuilding industry—every one of these was something Zhang Zhao needed. He absolutely could not tolerate such a fine place continuing to be wasted in Li Jing's hands.

No, that was not right! The Southern Tang state definitely had more than five million people, and its tax revenue was more than a few million strings.

What a joke. Ever since Yang Xingmi had established a firm foothold, Jiangnan had been the most stable territory in all the realm.

Such a wealthy and populous land, with a population only slightly larger than the Hexi-Longyou region, and a tax level only comparable to Guanzhong plus Ningxia—who would believe that!

Beneath the surface, who knew how much had been embezzled by Southern Tang officials and powerful clans at every level, each dipping their hands in. Once the great army pacified Jiangnan, these fellows would definitely be made to vomit it all out.

Reckoning it all up, the harvest from this fishing expedition was truly enormous!

No, it should probably no longer be called fishing, because Zhang Zhao had originally only wanted to hook out the old Guiyi Army faction, but in the end, out jumped the Hexi Merchant Guild, the remnants of Meng Shu, disgruntled yabing officers, the Hedong rebels, the Wuning Army yabing guards, Zhao Zaili and his lot, and the Southern Tang.

This was not fishing; this was blast fishing!

How many birds with one arrow should this be called? It was probably not even a matter of how many birds—it had simply blasted down all the birds in the sky, even the mosquitoes.

So much so that even someone like An Shenqi was frightened, and actually requested to hand over all his power and return home to retire.

His convenient father-in-law Fu Yanqing also stopped holding on to the little bit of Hebei private troops he had, and voluntarily requested to accompany Zhang Zhao on the southern campaign against the Southern Tang.

A few days earlier, Zhe Congyuan, who had been holed up in the northwest all along, also submitted a memorial saying he was ill and hoped to come to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, to seek out a famous physician and rest for a while.

Since Zhang Zhao had established the Great Zhou, the only men with more than a thousand private soldiers and retainers were Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, Gao Xingzhou, and Zhe Congyuan.

Among these four, the Gao Xingzhou family had the thinnest foundation. He had long since given up those little schemes and obediently followed orders, campaigning north and south.

Moreover, apart from being a bit crude, Gao Xingzhou was an honest fellow by nature, and his mind was the simplest.

The other three were actually none of them easy to handle. Zhe Congyuan was somewhat better, because this man had always been rather disciplined, and the Zhe family could be said to have been raised up by Zhang Zhao. Their private soldiers were their own clansmen, so it was not a big problem.

An Shenqi and Fu Yanqing were actually the ones Zhang Zhao was somewhat worried about, because these two were capable and their character was not bad.

Zhang Zhao was not worried about the troops in their hands, but rather feared that they might be coerced by their subordinate yabing guards or even their own relatives into doing something bad.

Such men Zhang Zhao truly did not want to kill. Not only them—even Xue Huairang and Pan Huan, Zhang Zhao had originally not intended to kill.

Although these two were cruel, greedy for wealth, and fond of drink, they had at least rendered meritorious service in resisting the Khitan. Their private virtue was lacking, but their greater integrity was unblemished.

If they had not come out to make trouble, a life as wealthy gentlemen would have been theirs no matter what. What a pity.

"Sage, the Longyou Circuit Surveillance Commissioner Song Shanyuan, the Earl of Fuyuan Yin Yuanting, the Earl of Changcheng Chen Minzhi, and the assembled old meritorious officials of Hexi have already arrived at the meditation room in the left hall."

Zhang Zhao was just relishing his "blast fishing" masterpiece when Director Dong came personally to report, because these three old meritorious officials of Hexi leading the group were all close relatives of Zhang Zhao.

Among them, Song Shanyuan was Zhang Zhao's third maternal uncle, and could be considered the only one among that batch of shallow-sighted uncles of his who was not so irritating.

Although he always hoped Zhang Zhao would promote a few more of his cousins, he himself was fairly honest, did not embezzle much, and did not recklessly mix himself up with others. It was only when it came to his children's futures that he became somewhat demanding.

The Earl of Fuyuan, Yin Yuanting, was the father of Yin Yaozi, Yin Zhengqi, and the paternal cousin of Zhang Zhao's father, the White-Clad Son of Heaven Zhang Chengfeng. He was Zhang Zhao's cousin-uncle.

And Yin Yuande, who had joined Cao Renzun in rebellion, was Yin Yuanting's own younger brother and also Zhang Zhao's blood cousin-uncle.

The Earl of Changcheng, Chen Minzhi, was the representative of the Chen family of Shazhou. In fact, in earlier times, this branch descended from Chen Xu, Emperor Xuan of the Southern Chen, had been the closest to the Zhang family.

Because Zhang Yichao and his elder brother Zhang Yitan had both married daughters of the Chen family, and the second-generation Guiyi Army Military Governor Zhang Huaishen had also married a Chen cousin as his wife.

It was only later, after Zhang Zhao's grandfather Zhang Huaiding, egged on by Suo Xun and others, seized the great power of the Guiyi Army and exploited the internal family conflicts of Zhang Huaishen, causing the deaths of all six members of Zhang Huaishen's household, that the Chen family was severely struck down and never recovered.

From then on, the Zhang family never again intermarried with the Chen family, so much so that most of the Chen family fled to Yizhou and sought refuge with the Gaochang Uyghurs.

After Zhang Zhao returned east, in order to win over the Yizhou Chen family to stabilize the Beiting situation and eliminate the Gaochang Uyghurs, he sought out the few Chen family elders still in Shazhou and enfeoffed the sixty-something Chen Minzhi as Earl of Changcheng, because the founding emperor of the Southern Chen, Chen Baxian, was from Xiaruoli in Changcheng, Wuxing.

And among the three, Song Shanyuan had married Chen Minzhi's daughter, Chen Minzhi's mother was Yin Yuanting's grand-aunt, and Yin Yuanting's own niece had married Song Shanyuan's second son.

Just look at this tangled web of relationships—this was the reason Zhang Zhao could never properly deal with the old Guiyi Army faction.

Shazhou originally had few Han people, eighty or ninety thousand in all. Over one or two hundred years, the intermarriages had become as crisscrossed as a spider's web. Pull one thread and the whole body moves!

In an age that still valued shielding one's kin and village fellows banding together in mutual aid, if Zhang Zhao dealt harshly with these old Guiyi Army men, then in the eyes of the realm his character would be seen as flawed.

Never mind now — even in later ages, a rich man running a great company would earn a poor reputation if he treated his own relatives too harshly.

Against people like this, unless you used the baiting method and seized a major hold on them, there was simply no way to deal with them.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhao's gamble this time had succeeded.

In the meditation chamber of the left hall of Zhaoming Temple, Zhang Zhao was now using the entire Zhaoming Temple as a traveling palace — after all, it was meant to enshrine him anyway.

The moment Zhang Zhao entered the meditation chamber, the crowd threw themselves to the ground in three kneelings and nine kowtows, weeping noisily and begging Zhang Zhao's forgiveness.

Zhang Zhao stood at the doorway for a while, worked himself up, then raised his head at a forty-five-degree angle and let out a long sigh, after which tears came streaming down.

Before this group could even open their mouths, Zhang Zhao erupted first. "Third Uncle, Second Cousin-Uncle, Eldest Grand-Aunt, Fourth Uncle-in-Law — why? Why in the world? Has this junior of yours still not done enough?

I led a great army back east from Anxi, and I did not pursue your old crime of forcing the Founding Emperor, did I?

I did not suppress you — on the contrary, I gave you offices, money, and titles, did I not? The younger members of your families, so long as they had ability, I have been putting them to good use, have I not?

You sat in Hexi collecting wealth, robbing the state of its taxes, hoarding goods and cornering markets, buying low and selling high — each of you worth a hundred thousand strings, several hundred thousand strings, even a million strings — and I turned a blind eye to all of it and never held you to account, did I?

Without me, you would all be huddled in the tiny patch of Shazhou, and it would be no surprise if the Uyghurs killed you one day.

Now you enjoy the glory of a great dynasty's revival, each of you a noble meritorious follower of the dragon — so why did you still conspire together to rebel?"

Zhang Zhao's face was streaming with tears; the more he spoke, the angrier he grew, until his whole body began to tremble. As he spoke, he suddenly swept his hand through the air.

"Open the doors — open all the doors. Your brothers, sons, and nephews, your sons and grandsons, are all here at my side. Come, say it before their faces — what is all this for?

Today I am no emperor, just your kinsman. Come, tell me — where exactly has my family wronged you?"

Crash — the doors of the left-hall meditation chamber were all thrown open, and a wave of clamor poured in.

It turned out Zhang Zhao had summoned every young man of Guiyi Army origin who served at his side, and many of their grandfathers and fathers were right here in this meditation chamber.

What was this called? This was called seizing the initiative, pulling the firewood from under the cauldron, using their own spear against their own shield.

These people had originally intended to use kinship ties — a mighty crowd of thirty or forty — to come weeping and pleading before Zhang Zhao, striving to minimize the impact of the rebellion of Cao Renzun, Yin Yuande, and the rest.

They had already sensed that Zhang Zhao might use this opportunity to make them leave Hexi, to leave the positions where they could act as local tyrants.

They were of course also frightened by Cao Renzun's audacity and stupidity, but they still wanted to see if they could minimize their losses and use familial affection to bind Zhang Zhao.

But Zhang Zhao had long since thought it through. Sixteen or seventeen years since transmigrating here, I, Sage Zhang, have long since applied the schemes I saw in the history books of later ages with perfect mastery in the real world.

You want to use moral blackmail? Then I'll blackmail you first!

"Father! How could you be so muddled? Cao Renzun stirred up such a commotion — can it be that you were with him day after day and knew nothing at all?

We warriors of the Guiyi Army finally achieved the wish of our ancestors, and you actually wanted to shatter it?"

"Father, I told you long ago to come to the Eastern Capital and enjoy yourself, but you refused — so it turns out you were busy being a worm gnawing at the nation.

Are you worthy of Grandfather, who fought the Ganzhou Uyghurs in bloody battle and even in death kept his eyes fixed toward Chang'an, refusing to close them?"

"Elder Brother, how muddled you are. This is our own Shazhou warriors' own country — if we ourselves will not look after it, what will the realm think of us?

If you remain obstinate, then this bond of brotherhood and blood ends here!"

Grief, rebuke, furious scolding, even outright renunciation.

These new-generation — or rather second-generation — sons of the Guiyi Army did not carry the baggage of their fathers' generation. They had watched Zhang Zhao's miraculous rise with their own eyes from boyhood.

What they heard in their ears was Zhang Zhao's fantastical record of achievements soaring to the heavens — the loyalty of the Zhang family ancestor Zhang Yichao, who rose in Lingwu in the east and reached Yiwu in the west, winning more than four thousand li of land and bringing a million households back to the nation.

It was the great deed of a hundred years of barbarian dress restored to proper robes, the surviving people of ten commanderies all delivered from fire and water, the salvation of all the sons of Tang.

Their grandfathers' generation had witnessed the Zhang family slaughtering one another, and the humiliation of Zhang Chengfeng being forced to acknowledge the Ganzhou Uyghur Khagan as his father — and so they concluded that the Zhang family was nothing special and the Guiyi Army had no particular glory.

But this new generation, and even the generation after them, chose to ignore the sordid affairs within the Guiyi Army that they had never seen — or rather, they regarded them as the darkness before the dawn.

They truly took pride in the Guiyi Army and were of one heart with Zhang Zhao. These people — these were the Guiyi Army.

As for the older generation, they could no longer bear that glorious name. It was time for them to withdraw from the stage of history.

The elders were shamed speechless by the younger generation. Many of them saw that although they had participated in the rebellion to greater or lesser degree, their sons and grandsons had been entirely unaffected, and recalling the straits they had been in before Zhang Zhao came, any of them with even a shred of conscience were overcome with shame.

Chen Minzhi, Earl of Changcheng, was the first to come forward. He knelt on the ground and performed a grand ceremonial bow to Zhang Zhao.

"Sage, my family's ancestors were banished to Shazhou and Dunhuang in the early Sui, nearly four hundred years ago. That homeland of which my forefathers spoke — where at sunrise the river flowers blaze redder than fire, and in spring the river waters run greener than indigo — I truly long to see it."

As he spoke, Chen Minzhi produced one silver-note deposit slip after another. "My second son is skilled in trade, and these three years, relying on the Sage's grace, he has earned a fair amount of silver.

I have heard that the Southern Tang still holds out in stubborn resistance, and the Wuyue Kingdom has not yet submitted. Your subject wishes to return home early. I beg the Sage to accept these fifty thousand strings in silver notes, that the golden vessel may soon be made whole again."

Zhang Zhao was overjoyed. He truly had not expected that Chen Minzhi, who normally kept a low profile, would be so tactful.

The Chen family was not as populous as the other families, nor had it participated much in the Hexi merchant guild's monopoly of the trade routes. Fifty thousand strings was at least seventy or eighty percent of their entire fortune.

"Grand-Uncle's profound understanding of righteousness moves your grandnephew deeply. If the Empress Shengcidechun's spirit is aware, she will surely rejoice for Grand-Uncle."

Zhang Zhao hurriedly helped Chen Minzhi to his feet. After all, the blood of the Chen family flowed in his own veins too — Empress Shengcidechun referred to Zhang Yichao's first wife, Lady Chen.

He accepted the fifty thousand strings without the slightest hesitation — free money was free money. But since Chen Minzhi had been the first to come forward, he naturally had to be given a reward.

"By decree: Chen Minzhi, Earl of Changcheng, of profound understanding and merit to the nation, is hereby specially promoted to Duke of Yuanling Commandery, with the additional title of Honorary Grand Preceptor, a fief of two hundred households, and a residence in the Divine Capital. His second son, Chen Boqun, is to be promoted at once into the Hanlin Academy as a Hanlin Secretary."

Chen Minzhi's ancestor was Chen Shuxing, the twenty-sixth younger brother of Chen Shubao, the last ruler of the Southern Chen — and his title had been Prince of Yuanling. Zhang Zhao was returning the ancestral title to him.

Serving as a Hanlin Secretary meant being kept in reserve at the emperor's side. The trusted civil officials Zhang Zhao promoted all basically had to pass through this procedure.

It was somewhat similar to the Hanlin Academy probationers of the Ming dynasty, only not as prestigious — but still quite a fine post.

With Chen Minzhi's move, a huge breach had instantly been torn in this old Guiyi Army clique. Zhang Zhao's gaze blazed like fire as he fixed it on Third Uncle Song Shanyuan and Second Cousin-Uncle Yin Yuanting.

The meaning was clear: even a distant relative like Chen Minzhi has come forward — do you two still dare to stand there frozen?

Song Shanyuan was drenched in sweat. Remembering his father Song Tongyi's instructions, he hurriedly shuffled out, huffing and puffing.

Yin Yuanting had wanted to maintain a bit of "reserve," but when he suddenly caught the displeased look in his second son Yin Zhengying's eyes, he immediately shuddered.

One must remember that back then, Yin Yuanting had been utterly spineless. Cao Yijin had originally sent him, as Zhang Zhao's own cousin-uncle, to look after Zhang Zhao — but Yin Yuanting did not dare go, so he sent his eldest son by a maidservant, the ten-year-old Yin Yaozi, to fob him off.

This had led to Yin Yaozi breaking completely with the family once he came of age. It was only through Empress Cao Yanxi's earnest persuasion that he had acknowledged his father again. And his title of Earl of Fuyuan had been granted by Zhang Zhao for Yin Yaozi's sake.

The so-called "Fuyuan" — "fortune's affinity" — carried an inner meaning. If you were tactful, then fortune's affinity was yours; if you were not, Zhang Zhao and Yin Yaozi would settle accounts with you together — and then it might well be a case of fortune being where misfortune lurks.

"The Song family of Shazhou is willing to offer fifty thousand strings to aid the Sage in unifying the realm."

"The Yin family has some modest assets and is willing to contribute two hundred thousand strings of cash." Yin Yuanting was utterly heartbroken. He had meant to say one hundred thousand, but his second son Yin Zhengying had quietly flashed him a two.

At this, the old fellows in the meditation room of the left hall were completely dumbfounded.

They had come here with Song Shanyuan, Yin Yuanting, and Chen Minzhi as their leaders, and now all three had rushed to surrender their weapons. How was this game supposed to go on?

In the awkward silence, Zhang Lieming walked in with more than ten Brocade Guard personal officers in silver-white flying-fish robes.

"Cao Yuanshun, Zhang Wentong, did you think that just because Cao Renzun has been brought to justice, no one would know what you two have done?"

Zhang Lieming gave a cold snort. "Investigate: on the seventh day of the seventh month of the third year of Shaoming, Cao Yuanshun attended a banquet at Cao Renzun's residence.

Cao Renzun spoke resentfully of the Sage, saying Hexi should have been bestowed upon meritorious officials like them. Cao Yuanshun agreed wholeheartedly and helped Cao Renzun go to Lintao to recruit Tibetan horse bandits as his claws and teeth.

Zhang Wentong, from the ninth month of the second year of Shaoming onward, made donations to Cao Renzun more than ten times, totaling over fifty thousand strings of cash.

And through the convenience of his son Zhang Qu's posts in the Ministry of War and the Bureau of Military Affairs, he purchased thirty sets of cloth-faced iron armor, fifteen sets of iron lamellar armor, and several hundred other spears, lances, hammers, and shields."

As he spoke, Zhang Lieming looked at Zhang Wentong and laughed coldly. "Fourth Grand-Uncle, you really are a fine father. Sixth Uncle did not want to go along, but you used Father's name to force him.

And now, three days ago, Sixth Uncle was beheaded in public in the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, by order of the Duke of Zhao!"

"My son! My son!" Zhang Wentong could not help crying out in anguish. Only now did he learn that his son had already taken a blade by the Bian River.

He staggered to his feet like a madman. Two Brocade Guard personal officers stepped forward, and with a series of cracks and pops, they dislocated Zhang Wentong's jaw and the joints of his hands and feet, then dragged him away like a dead dog.

Cao Yuanshun collapsed to the ground at once, and a rank, fishy stench instantly rose from between his legs.

I, Sage Zhang, watched these disgraceful scenes and sighed deeply once more. In his reddened eyes, tears seemed to be welling again, and he said in a mournful voice.

"The state has its laws, and the family has its rules. Though these are my closest kin, the law allows no favor. Let each be granted three zhang of white silk. As for the family members who truly committed crimes, let them still be punished lightly."

"The Sage must not!" The words had barely left Zhang Zhao's mouth when a thunderous roar rang out.

The old general Luo Tongda, his hair and beard all white, stepped forward and said: "This time, the rebels Cao Renzun, Yin Yuande, and the rest came to this precisely because the Sage was too lenient with them, so that these people lost all sense of awe.

Now Cao Yuanshun, Zhang Wentong, and the others have committed the crime of high treason. If they are still pardoned like this, what becomes of the law? What becomes of the world?"

Zhang Zhao of course had no intention of letting Cao Yuanshun and Zhang Wentong off lightly. He had only been putting on a show just now, and Luo Tongda's jumping out to demand severe punishment was exactly what Zhang Zhao wanted.

And no sooner had Luo Tongda finished than Cao Yijin's eldest grandson, Cao Yuande's eldest son Cao Yanjing, whom Zhang Zhao had arranged in advance, also leaped out and shouted.

"Sage, General Luo's words are correct. Your servant knows the Sage treats us kinsmen well, but this is the crime of high treason. To still pardon it — would that not make the whole world think the Sage cannot handle affairs impartially?

We sons of the Guiyi Army should set an example for the world. How can we shield our own kin like this?

I beg the Sage to behead these two villains in public. All who took part — those who deserve beheading shall be beheaded, and those who deserve exile shall be exiled!"

"Right! Sage, the crime of high treason must never be pardoned!"

"Your servant kowtows in thanks for the Sage's protection, but we cannot let the law of the land be cast aside for this!"

The new generation of Guiyi Army officers all shouted out. As for the generation below them, those sixteen- and seventeen-year-old sons of the Guiyi Army, they were even more filled with righteous indignation.

Seeing that Zhang Zhao still wore an expression of unbearable reluctance, Cao Yanjing stepped forward and roared at Zhang Lieming: "Zhang Liu, go summon the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, the Censor of the Hexi Circuit, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Handle the case according to law."

Then he shouted at the young eunuch director behind Zhang Zhao: "Eunuch, the Sage cannot bear to kill his own kin — that is the Sage's mercy. Please escort the Sage back to his carriage. Here, we, the Three Judicial Offices, will conduct the joint trial!"

Only now did the old fellows in the hall realize how serious things had become. Their own sons and grandsons not only refused to shield them, but regarded them as enemies.

At once, every one of them scrambled and threw themselves forward, clutching Zhang Zhao's legs to keep him from leaving, weeping and wailing that they would disgorge their ill-gotten gains.

Seeing that the moment had ripened, Zhang Zhao stopped Cao Yanjing's arrangement and said with a sigh: "If I made sons judge their fathers, would that not violate filial piety? That is not something a sovereign can do.

You are all the pillars of my house. I cannot let you bear such an infamous name.

Now that things have come to this, let me, the Emperor, bear it all. If later generations curse me, then let them curse me, Zhang Erlang, alone."

Having said this, Zhang Zhao looked at these old fellows and said: "Honored elders, if you can sincerely repent today, I can still let bygones be bygones.

And I am willing to bring all your blood kin to the Divine Capital, Luoyang, to settle them, granting you spacious mansions and farmland for your retirement.

Cao Yuanshun and Zhang Wentong are guilty beyond pardon, so they shall be beheaded as a warning to others. All family members who took part shall be handed over to the Three Judicial Offices for trial."

"Your servants kowtow in thanks for the Sage's grace!" At this, everyone in the meditation room of the left hall was immensely grateful, all feeling that Zhang Zhao had done everything humanly possible.

At once, several more people confirmed to have joined the rebellion were directly sold out by those beside them. The old fellows who had only committed minor offenses hurried to disgorge their illicit funds.

The second and third generation sons of the Guiyi Army were all the more won over by Zhang Zhao, understanding that the Sage had pardoned their fathers and grandfathers only for their sake.

A surge of pride rose up within them!

We are different from them after all. We are the Sage's blood kin, the valiant men of the Great Zhou!

Amid the weeping and the cheers, the spirit and sense of glory of the Guiyi Army — sunken for decades since the killing of Zhang Huaishen — was finally, at this moment, passed on!

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