Chapter 781: When the Water Is Too Clear, There Are No Fish

On the twenty-seventh day of the eleventh month, Qian Hongcheng, Military Governor of Zhangwu Army in Fuzhou; Liu Congxiao, Military Governor of Qingyuan Army in Quanzhou; and the former Southern Tang Military Governor of Yong'an Army in Jianzhou and Military Governor of Zhaowu Army in Fuzhou arrived together.

At this point, all the separatist forces in the entire southeast, apart from the Southern Han, had been swept away.

The unification of the realm now lacked only the Southern Han, the Duan clan of Dali, and the territory of the Military Governor of Jinghai Army, which had by now fallen into a free-for-all among themselves.

On the first day of the twelfth month, Zhang Zhao proclaimed in Jiangning City the formal abolition of the titles of the two vassal states, the Southern Tang and Wuyue.

The ten great prefectures of Xu, Hao, Si, Shou, Su, Ying, Hai, Yang, Tai, and Huaiyin Prefecture were formed into the new Jiangbei Province.

The designation Jiangdu Prefecture was abolished, and the old Tang name of Yangzhou was restored, with Yangzhou Prefecture serving as the provincial seat of the new Jiangbei Province.

This was essentially equivalent to combining the later Subei and Wanbei, along with Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, and other places, into a new province.

There were reasons of the times for doing this.

In the later Republic—well, no need to go as far as the Republic—from the Southern Song period onward, Huainan and Huaibei, that is, the Republic's Wanbei, Subei, southeastern Henan, and southwestern Shandong region, were famously poor and bitter lands, a Yellow River flood zone that suffered repeated calamities.

Their character was marked by fierce folkways and a tendency to produce horse bandits; even the common people were known for their loud voices, capacity for drink, and love of brawling.

But at present, Huainan and Huaibei were fine lands indeed!

Fertile fields stretched for a thousand li, produce was abundant, and the crisscrossing waterways made transport convenient in all directions.

The people of the Two Huai had both the mercantile shrewdness of southerners and the forthright, open-handed spirit of northerners, so they prospered on both sides, producing emperors, kings, generals, and ministers in droves.

Moreover, since the capital at this time was at Kaifeng and Luoyang, the rich produce and tax revenues of the Jiangnan region all had to be shipped via the Grand Canal, the Huai River, the Bian River, the Si River, and other waterways to the Eastern Capital and the Divine Capital, thereby creating an extremely prosperous transport economy.

It could be said that at this time, Huainan and Huaibei were absolutely a treasured land.

Historically, the decline of the Two Huai had two causes.

The first was due to the Yellow River. After the late Northern Song, this mother river breached its banks several times and even seized the Huai's course to enter the sea.

Its floodwaters washed away the precious topsoil of the Two Huai region that was suited to farming, leaving behind yellow sand from the great northwest, creating countless stagnant marshes, dealing a devastating blow to the transport environment of the Two Huai, and bringing grave disaster to the local people.

The other cause was the Southern Song court's deliberate indulgence. They intentionally allowed floodwaters to inundate the Two Huai, forming a desolate, uninhabited marsh belt to block the Jin cavalry from advancing south, just as the Northern Song had once turned Hebei into a land of lakes on the same principle.

Damn it, just how many wicked deeds did those two Song dynasties commit!

Therefore, to preserve the prosperity of Huainan and Huaibei, the first necessity was to control the Yellow River.

For Zhang Zhou, still in the year 949 CE, the timing was also just right.

Historically, the Yellow River's problems became intractable by the time of Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Shenzong of the Song, still over a hundred years away, so beginning to manage it now was barely in time.

Zhang Zhao planned that once the political situation had stabilized somewhat, he would migrate more of the people of Ningxia, southern Shuofang, and northwestern Hedong to the Central Plains, keeping only a small amount of pastoralism in those places, while also planting trees and forests to control desertification on the Loess Plateau and in the Mu Us and other areas.

In the middle and lower reaches in Henan and Jiaodong, especially in Henan, he would dig many artificial lakes along the Yellow River's banks to store water in times of flood and release it in times of drought.

At court, the authority of the Waterways Directorate was to be expanded, with its highest official renamed from Waterways Commissioner to Waterways Grand Commissioner, to be held concurrently by the Minister of Personnel or even by such high officials as the Vice Grand Councilor or Vice Commissioner of Military Affairs; the first step of the Crown Prince's study of governance would also be to go to the Waterways Directorate.

Although in this era it was impossible to achieve water and sediment regulation on the scale of Xiaolangdi, still, by doing a little more now while there was still time, later generations would have it a little easier.

South of the Yangtze, Zhang Zhao formed Jiangning Prefecture, Hezhou, Xuanzhou, Changzhou, Runzhou, and all of the Wuyue state's territory except Fuzhou into Jiangnan Province, renaming Jiangning Prefecture to Jinling Prefecture as the provincial seat.

Its rough extent was the later Zhejiang, Shanghai, plus Jiangsu south of the Yangtze, and Xuancheng, Ma'anshan, Wuhu, and other places in Anhui.

Then the greater part of the later Jiangxi, plus Luzhou, Shuzhou, Chizhou, and other places, was formed into Jiangxi Province—roughly the great majority of Jiangxi plus Hefei, Anqing, Tongling, and other places in Anhui making up Jiangxi Province.

Jianzhou and Jianzhou's two prefectures, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou's two prefectures, Tingzhou, and Fuzhou were formed into Fujian Province.

The remaining Ezhou, Guangzhou, and Huangzhou—that is, the area around Wuhan, Huanggang, Macheng, and Huangchuan—were returned to Hubei Province.

In this way, the Southern Tang, Wuyue, and part of the court's own territory were formed into the four provinces of Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Fujian.

The original Jianghuai Province was abolished; after Xuzhou had been ravaged by the Wuning garrison, it could not for the time being serve as a provincial seat.

Yet the drawback of dividing it this way was also obvious: it was divided entirely by custom rather than by terrain, which very easily led to a region closing ranks, becoming conservative and exclusionary.

So this was only a temporary expedient. The reason for dividing it this way now was that Jiangbei was needed to keep the water transport from Jiangnan to the Eastern Capital unobstructed, using the wealth of the prosperous Jiangbei lands to bear the cost of the Yellow River control works.

The division of Jiangnan Province was to erase the two old geographical concepts of the Southern Tang and Wuyue.

Jiangxi Province was because at this time southern Jiangxi—even Hongzhou, where Nanchang was located—was still very backward; for balanced development, the wealthy Luzhou, Jiangzhou, and other places would be used to pull along the development of the south.

Once the national political structure was fully stabilized, it would certainly still have to be split up; otherwise, a province with identical customs, similar language, and formidable strength could very easily give rise to regional separatism in ancient society.

Zhang Zhao looked at Ma Yaoyuan with a smile. After several years in Jiangling, Ma Yaoyuan's bearing had changed greatly, and his ability to command troops had also been enormously strengthened.

Like the historical Lord Guan, this Shanxi man had spent his whole life with little experience of water, yet once he reached Jingzhou he could lead a naval force.

Ma Yaozi was the same. Originally a fierce mounted warrior skilled in archery and horsemanship, his mastery of naval warfare had now actually surpassed that of Du Chixin and the others.

From this, Zhang Zhao thought again of Pei Yuan. In the more than a year since Zhang Zhao had left, Pei Yuan had carried out the tasks Zhang Zhao had assigned him very well, yet at the same time he had also made a great host of enemies.

By now, open memorials impeaching him and secret reports delivered through various channels to Zhang Zhao came in an endless stream.

This was inevitable, because Zhang Zhao had not given Pei Yuan the time to govern a great state as one cooks a small fish; what he wanted was for him to solve problems crudely and quickly. He had also long since made clear to Pei Yuan that this time he was definitely going to be the scapegoat.

Under such circumstances, it was already quite good that Pei Yuan could restrain his inner impulses and not become a cruel official like Zhi Du or Lai Junchen.

At the same time, these memorials accusing Pei Yuan were not entirely slander; the great majority of them were factual.

In officialdom, it has always been the case that the higher one's position, the more impossible it is to accomplish things while offending few people or even no one.

You have your ideas, he has his opinions; although both of your strategies may be correct, in the end only one approach can be implemented, and this requires resolute, autocratic decision-making.

For Pei Yuan to accomplish Zhang Zhao's tasks, and to be able to mobilize capable people to work for him, he had to give benefits; otherwise, relying on himself alone, he could not get anything done.

For example, an official like Hai Rui is excellent for serving as Censor-in-Chief or Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, but if you use him as Grand Secretary or merely as a provincial governor, he cannot get things done. When the water is too clear, there are no fish!

So Pei Yuan's current situation was that he had done his work quite well, but the mistakes he had made were also not few.

Although the root cause lay with Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao was the sovereign and he was the subject; the blame could not possibly be shifted onto Zhang Zhao's head.

Even if Pei Yuan wanted to shift it, those whose interests he had harmed would not accept it.

By seizing on Pei Yuan's mistakes now, they might even get Zhang Zhao to take pity on them and placate them a little; but if they came straight at Zhang Zhao—did they really think I, the Shaoming Son of Heaven, do not kill people?

Therefore, after Zhang Zhao returned to the capital, the best course—and the one that could preserve Pei Yuan—was to demote and banish him, giving certain large factions a chance to vent their anger, while the great majority of the policies Pei Yuan had implemented would not be changed.

As for Pei Yuan himself, appointing him as Chief Administrator of Jiangnan Province and Defense Commissioner of Jiangxi Province, with imperial warrant to supervise and govern the two provinces of Jiangnan and Jiangxi, was the best position for him.

First, it would keep Pei Yuan far from the center of power. Second, in Jiangnan he would hold high rank and great authority without being vulnerable to attack.

Third, his fearsome reputation could be used to bring the local strongmen of the Two Jiang to heel. After all, since these places had not been conquered by force, these people did not yet know the court's might—it was just the time to let Pei Yuan give them a little taste of the Great Zhou's shock and awe.

In the fourth year of Shaoming, on the fifth day of the twelfth month, Zhang Zhao formally issued an edict transferring the Defender of Tongguan and Duke of Long, Luo Yu'er, to Jiangling, to serve as Chief Administrator of Hubei Province, Hubei Provincial Administrator, and Defense Commissioner of Hubei.

He transferred Ma Zhaoyuan, Duke of Chen and formerly Chief Minister of the Huguang Branch Secretariat, to be Grand Defense Commissioner of the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Branch Secretariats, and additionally appointed Ma Yaozi as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, keeping his main army of fifteen thousand in Jiangnan.

In this way he could not only command the guard-post armies of both Jiangnan and Jiangbei provinces, but also control the imperial armies of those two provinces.

Zhang Zhao ordered Ma Yaozi, Ma Zhaoyuan, to disband the inner yabing guards of the Southern Tang and Wuyue in the two provinces, especially in the Jiangnan Branch Secretariat, and to begin at once establishing eleven guard-post armies and seven imperial army garrisons.

He ordered Liu Zaisheng, Duke of Tian, to lead three thousand men of the Left Crane-Control Guard of the personal army into Fujian, to serve as Chief Minister of the Fujian Branch Secretariat, Administration Commissioner of Fujian, Defense Commissioner of Fujian, and Commander of the Left Crane-Control Guard, and to prepare to establish the Fuzhou Zhaowu Garrison of the imperial army, concurrently serving as Regional Commander of the Zhaowu Garrison.

The former Military Governor of the Fuzhou Zhangwu Garrison, Qian Hongcheng, was transferred to the Jiangbei Branch Secretariat to serve as Chief Minister.

Liu Congxiao, Military Governor of the Qingyuan Army, was additionally enfeoffed as Duke of Zhang, and the two prefectures of Zhang and Quan were reorganized into Quanzhou Prefecture, with Liu Congxiao appointed Surveillance Commissioner of the Fujian Branch Secretariat, Prefect of Quanzhou, and Military Supervisor of the Quanzhou Prefecture troops.

This Liu Congxiao was quite sensible, and moreover loyal and righteous at heart, and knew his own limits. At the same time, Li Shengtian's granddaughter, Zhang Zhao's niece Li Wan'er, had already agreed to marry Liu Congxiao's eldest son and heir, Liu Shaoji.

Zhang Zhao did not believe that under these circumstances Liu Congxiao would lose his head, and letting him continue to hold Zhang and Quan prefectures would cause no problems.

And even if problems did arise, this Qingyuan Army could not even defeat the Southern Tang, so was there any fear it could not be pacified?

As for the administration of the Jiangxi Branch Secretariat, Zhang Zhao continued to keep Li Jingda, Prince of Jiangning Commandery, as Chief Minister of the Jiangxi Branch Secretariat.

However, he transferred Lu Yin — the elder brother of the historically famous Lu Duan, who never muddled great matters — to be Administration Commissioner of the Jiangxi Branch Secretariat. It was called assistance, but basically Li Jingda was left with only a nominal title while Lu Yin actually governed the Jiangxi Branch Secretariat.

With this whole set of combination blows, it would take at most two or three months to basically digest the two states of Southern Tang and Wuyue.

Once Pei Yuan, bearing the imperial staff as Viceroy of the Two Jiangs, arrived, the matters of land equalization, punishing local strongmen, and striking at law-breaking Buddhist establishments could be put on the agenda.

And during these few months before Pei Yuan arrived, Zhang Zhao decided to personally oversee and pacify the region. He would spend the New Year in Jinling Prefecture, and only return to the eastern capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, in the spring of the following year.

(End of Chapter)

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