Chapter 779: The Southern Tang Offers Tribute; Wuyue Surrenders Its Land

In the fourth year of Shaoming, 949 AD, on the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month, Zhang Zhao arrived at the Southern Tang's eastern capital, Jiangdu Prefecture — that is, Yangzhou.

Li Jing first sent the Minister of Rites Han Xizai across the river, presenting three hundred pigs, two hundred sheep, and one hundred fifty dan of fine wine as provisions for the army.

He also sent the posthumous honors for Liu Renzhan: the Southern Tang court posthumously appointed Liu Renzhan as Grand Commandant, Secretariat Director, and Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Prince of Pengcheng Commandery, with the posthumous name Wujie.

Zhang Zhao was quite satisfied with Li Jing's tact. Had Li Jing given Liu Renzhan a posthumous name beginning with the character "loyal," that would have signaled hidden resentment.

After all, though Liu Renzhan was a loyal subject, the one he had opposed was Zhang Zhao. Zhang Zhao could call Liu Renzhan loyal, but Li Jing could not.

On the first day of the eleventh month, Li Jing again sent the Chief Minister Sun Sheng; even Feng Yansi, who was in mourning at home after his stepmother's death, was dragged out. After the two arrived in Yangzhou, they presented to Zhang Zhao the surrender memorial drafted by Feng Yansi.

After Zhang Zhao read it, he immediately issued an edict: the Southern Tang ruler Li Jing was demoted to Prince of Wu, granted a fief of three thousand households, and appointed Grand Tutor, Secretariat Director, and Senior General of the Right Yulin Guard.

Li Jing's second brother Li Jingsui was enfeoffed as Prince of Jian'an Commandery, and his fourth brother Li Jingda as Prince of Hongdu Commandery.

Also, on the grounds that Li Jing's wife, Lady Zhong, was deeply righteous and principled, Lady Zhong was permitted to be called Queen of Wu, with all ceremonial regalia and stipends modeled on the example of a crown princess.

At the same time, Li Jing's concubine Lady Ling was enfeoffed as Lady of the State of Wu.

Li Jing's second son Li Hongmao was enfeoffed as Duke of Xinghua Commandery, and his sixth son Li Congjia as Duke of Jiangning Commandery, with Li Congjia ordered to enter the palace as a study companion to the imperial princes.

The Southern Tang ancestral temple was demoted to a family shrine, and the spirit tablet of the Southern Tang's founding emperor Li Bian was permitted to enter the Temple of the Twenty-Four Emperors of the Great Tang in Chang'an, making it the Temple of the Twenty-Five Emperors.

Of the Li family's property in the Southern Tang, the wealth and goods in the Ziwei Palace were all permitted to be taken away, and of the more than three million mu of farmland in various regions, three hundred thousand mu were allowed to be retained.

In addition, Zhang Zhao granted three hundred rooms of housing in the divine capital Luoyang and one hundred rooms in the eastern capital Kaifeng Prefecture as the Prince of Wu's residence, to serve as the living quarters for Li Jing's family of more than sixty members in the two capitals.

On the third day of the eleventh month, after Li Jing received Zhang Zhao's edict, he was immediately greatly relieved. The terms Zhang Zhao had offered were far more generous than he had imagined.

In the Ziwei Palace alone, the wealth and goods left by Li Bian and accumulated by Li Jing himself amounted to more than five hundred thousand strings of cash, and he was also left three hundred thousand mu of land.

Although he could no longer live as extravagantly as when he was the ruler of the Southern Tang, he would still count as a wealthy magnate.

And there was the title of Prince of Wu. Even if he himself could not rise in rank in this lifetime, his descendants could still rise through this princely title — even after three generations, there would still be a commandery prince title.

After receiving such generous terms, Li Jing urged Lady Zhong and the other palace women to pack up the wealth and goods, while ordering his second brother Li Jingsui to go to Runzhou (Zhenjiang) and order the Runzhou Zhenhai Army to lift the river blockade, so that the Wuyue warships could sail upstream and reach Jiangdu Prefecture.

As early as the twentieth of the tenth month, Ma Zhaoyuan, stationed at Jiangling, took Zhao Yanjin and Zhao Kuangyin as vanguard and led seventy thousand naval and land troops from Jiangling and Yueyang, setting out from Yueyang to fiercely attack the Southern Tang's Ezhou Wuchang Army.

On the twenty-seventh of the tenth month, the great army broke through Ezhou city, then arrived at Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), preparing to attack the Southern Tang's Jiangzhou Fenghua Military Governor's forces.

After Zhang Zhao summoned Li Jingda, he immediately appointed him Surveillance Commissioner of the Jiangnan West Circuit, ordering him to bear the imperial tally and ride at full speed to Jiangzhou.

He also sent envoys to pacify the former Jiangnan West Circuit's Hongzhou Zhenwu Military Governor, Fuzhou Zhaowu Military Governor, Qianzhou Baisheng Military Governor, and other territories.

Subsequently, Zhang Zhao appointed Lin Renzhao as Pacification Commissioner of Jian and Jian Prefectures and Commissioner of the Yong'an Army, sending him to his hometown of Jianzhou to pacify the local Yong'an Army troops.

Jianzhou had a fierce and hardy local culture, producing many tough soldiers, and was one of the main gateways into Min — extremely important and had to be controlled. Although Lin Renzhao was young, his ability was beyond question, and he was loyal enough.

On the sixth day of the eleventh month, the Wuyue fleet, under the command of Qian Hongchu, arrived at Guabu Harbor in Jiangdu Prefecture.

Zhang Zhao personally received Qian Hongchu, Hu Jinsi, Yuan Dezhao, and others, and hosted a banquet for the Wuyue naval officers — that is, captains of small warships — and above, more than three hundred officers in total.

At the same time, Zhang Zhao also met the Prince of Yue, Qian Hongchu. At this time Qian Hongchu was only nineteen years old; though still somewhat callow, he was full of spirited vigor.

Historically, among the last kings of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Qian Hongchu's ability ranked at the very top, and the man had one advantage: he could "turn the corner" faster than most.

For example, when he had just set out from Hangzhou, he had been inwardly quite resistant. But by the time he reached Yangzhou, seeing that the Southern Tang navy had all surrendered, and seeing the imperial court's army so mighty and imposing, and Zhang Zhao so extraordinary in bearing and even more genial toward him, he felt that offering his land in submission was not, after all, unacceptable.

During the banquet, Zhang Zhao took Qian Hongchu's hand and asked: "Since An Shenqi of the Feng'an Commandery in the Jiaodong Province returned to court to take up office, that province has lacked a weighty minister to hold it. Would the Prince of Yue be willing to share my burdens?"

Qian Hongchu also clasped Zhang Zhao's hand and said: "My Qian family, since the time of Prince Wusu, has been subjects of the court. Now that Your Majesty has given the order, your subject will of course obey. It is only a pity that I am young and lacking in virtue, and fear I cannot hold the lands of the Central Plains."

"Ah! Five generations of Qian kings have all been loyal subjects, guarding the Two Zhes for the state for fifty years — how can that be called lacking in virtue? I intend to promote you to Prince of Lu, guarding Jiaodong. What does the Prince of Yue think?"

The festive banquet suddenly fell silent. Qian Hongchu took two deep breaths, feeling only that behind the screens there were shadowy figures, as if axemen were holding their breath waiting for orders. The hand held by Zhang Zhao was instantly covered in sweat.

In fact, Qian Hongchu had already prepared himself mentally before coming. After all, since such highly respected ministers as Hu Jinsi, Yuan Dezhao, and Pei Jian had all decided to offer the land in submission, what could he — a king with little real power — do?

Therefore, Qian Hongchu looked at Zhang Zhao and said: "Your subject has not rendered even an inch of merit, and truly feels unworthy of such reward!"

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily three times, and holding Qian Hongchu's hand, said with a smile to Hu Jinsi, Pei Jian, Li Fang, and the other ministers: "The Prince of Yue is a true and pure subject — he should be my younger brother!"

Yuan Dezhao, Pei Jian, and the others' eyes lit up. "Since the Sage so favors the Prince of Yue, why not let the Prince of Yue acknowledge the Sage as his elder brother!"

'Pfft!'

Before Zhang Zhao could say anything, Li Cunhui and Yelu Xiuge, who had been eating and drinking alongside, were instantly dumbfounded. Li Cunhui couldn't hold back and sprayed out a mouthful of wine.

Qian Hongchu's heart stirred. This... actually doesn't sound bad!

If he became the Sage's sworn younger brother, then wouldn't heroes famed throughout the realm like Murong Baipao, Prince of Liaoyang Commandery, and Li Cunhui, Duke of Wei, have to call him "uncle"?

Immediately, Qian Hongchu joyfully prostrated himself. "Elder sworn brother above, please accept Hongchu's bow."

Damn. A few drops of cold sweat appeared on Qian Hongchu's forehead — his brain had just short-circuited and he'd almost shouted "sworn father above."

Zhang Zhao reached out and pulled Qian Hongchu up. He had finally completed the move of the Qian family offering their land in submission, and had not let the Qian family's good name vanish from history.

He looked at Qian Hongchu and smiled: "This 'elder brother' cannot be called for nothing. By edict: the Prince of Yue, Hongchu, led twenty thousand elite guards to the rescue with merit — appoint him Grand Commandant and Secretariat Director, promote his title to Prince of Lu, open a hegemonic headquarters, transfer his garrison to Jiaodong, and grant four thousand households in Qizhou as the Prince of Lu's fief."

"Your subject and younger brother bows in thanks to the Son of Heaven, my elder brother." Qian Hongchu bowed in great joy. He felt it was acceptable enough.

Lu was a great state of the Spring and Autumn period, a land of culture and ritual. To go from Prince of Yue in a remote and desolate place to Prince of Lu in the Central Plains' land of ritual and propriety was a step up, and he had also gained four thousand households in Qizhou as his fief.

Although by now, the fief system had lost most of its practical significance.

Because a fief of four thousand households in Qizhou did not mean the taxes of those four thousand households were handed directly to you; rather, the common people paid the government, and the government then forwarded it to the enfeoffed lord.

With that extra step, it depended entirely on the mood of the emperor or even the local officials. If the locality had a surplus, or if you yourself were somewhat assertive, you might get twenty or thirty percent of the original standard.

If you were not so assertive, or the locality suffered a disaster, then the four thousand households' fief might end up yielding less than a hundred strings' worth of grain and cloth in a year.

But it was another kind of honor. A fief of four thousand households was, in the current Great Zhou court, absolutely unique — the only one of its kind.

Having accepted Qian Hongchu's obeisance, Zhang Zhao asked again: "I have heard that your elder brother Qian Hongcheng has a daughter, virtuous and refined. Could she serve as a consort to the Prince of Liaoyang Commandery?"

For Murong Xinzhang's sake, Sage Zhang as a sworn father truly went all out.

In order to let his good lord drive the maritime talents of the Wuyue region into his service, he had not only taken Hu Jinsi's daughter as a wife for Murong Xinzhang, but was also seeking Qian Hongchu's niece for him.

Of course, there was another reason: Qian Hongchu's elder brother Qian Hongcheng was the Zhangwu Military Governor of Fuzhou.

After the former Min kingdom was destroyed by the Southern Tang, the Wuyue king Qian Zuo sent troops to contest Fuzhou with the Southern Tang and seized it, later also putting down the rebellion of the local power-holder Li Renda.

Thereafter, on the advice of the Wuyue southern Pacification Commissioner Bao Xiurang, Wuyue sent Qian Yuanguan's second son by a concubine, Qian Hongcheng, to serve as Zhangwu Army Military Governor of Fuzhou.

Now, after Wuyue offered its land, the Qingyuan Army Military Governor of Zhang and Quan Prefectures, Liu Congxiao, had also long since submitted.

Zhang Zhao was just hoping that Liu Congxiao and Qian Hongcheng could also come to Jiangning Prefecture for an audience, and this matter could conveniently be used to summon Qian Hongcheng back.

Over on the other side, as soon as Li Cunhui heard that Murong Xinzhang had gotten another beauty from the Qian family, he immediately sidled over to Zhang Zhao's side with a sly look.

Zhang Zhao couldn't help rolling his eyes. You're not even going to expand overseas, and you already have a dozen wives and concubines — who would be willing to marry their daughter off to you as a concubine!

Qian Hongchu, seeing that the world-famous Li Weigong of the new dynasty was going to call him uncle, was so pleased his eyebrows nearly flew off, and he deliberately looked at Li Cunhui as he spoke.

"Third Brother, don't be impatient. I have raised a dance and music troupe in Hangzhou, and among them are more than ten dancing girls with first-rate figures and singing skills. They will be sent to the Eastern Capital residence in a few days, for Third Brother to take back to the Eastern Capital."

Li Cunhui's mouth split into a grin of delight, but then he seemed to think of something. After hemming and hawing for a long while, he reluctantly clasped his hands toward Qian Hongchu, who was seven or eight years his junior.

"In that case, your servant thanks Uncle, Prince of Lu."

"Hahaha!" Waves of laughter rang out, and the air was filled with a merry atmosphere.

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