Chapter 810: Tang and Tibet United as One

In the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhang Zhao had finally returned to the imperial city after more than two years away. With him came the King of Wu, Li Jing, and his wife, along with the Southern Tang royal clans of the Li and Xu families.

Before this, after the Great King of Wuyue, Qian Hongchu, had surrendered his territory, he had already been assigned to Qizhou (Jinan), where, as King of Lu, he took over from An Shenqi in guarding the Jiaodong Province.

Only, Qian Hongchu's "guardianship" still had to carry an asterisk.

In the province of Jiaodong, An Shenqi had held the post of guardian for more than three years. As he himself had memorialized, many places were still operating according to the old Military Governor system, and neither high nor low regarded An Shenqi as a Chief Minister of the new dynasty, but rather as a large-scale Military Governor of the Later Jin.

So even though Qian Hongchu brought his own Wuyue staff with him to take up the post, he still could not get the region under control.

At this time, Zhang Zhao very slyly kept himself tucked away in the background. He waited until Qian Hongchu and the local powers had fallen into irreconcilable conflict, and memorials accusing each other flew like snowflakes toward the central government and even before him personally, before sending Li Gu as Plenipotentiary Envoy with Imperial Credentials to handle Jiaodong affairs.

Zhang Zhao believed that with Li Gu holding a mountain of leverage from both sides' mutual accusations, he would certainly be able to give the local strongmen of Jiaodong a thorough dressing-down.

At the very least, he could send Murong Xinzhang three or four thousand households of "lucky ones," and even Hu Guang of Suyab could probably get a small harvest of around a thousand households.

As for Qian Hongchu, he should come to a clearer understanding of the current situation. If he could not accept it, then he could come back and keep Li Jing company. The treatment due to a one-character king like King of Lu would not be shortchanged in the slightest.

If he could accept it, then he should properly serve as a Chief Minister without military authority. With Qian Hongchu's abilities, he could still manage a province well.

The current Zhang-Zhou dynasty was desperately short of people! In all previous dynasties, the fear was that the regions would be full of lawbreaking strongmen and bandits and water bandits, but in the Zhang-Zhou, they wished ten or a hundred thousand such talents would suddenly pour forth.

This was not sarcasm. These people really were talents. For outward colonization and migration, no one was more suitable than these thieving wretches.

Therefore, since the second year of Shaoming, the Zhang-Zhou Court of Judicial Review had not approved a single death-penalty case. In fact, the Ministry of Justice and the provincial, prefectural, and county governments had simply stopped reporting any.

The most extreme cases were last year and this year, when the four levels of government offices—province, prefecture, county, and district—were all empty, and many jailers had changed professions.

Now, when local county and prefectural offices tried cases, minor offenses got the cangue or a beating, and major offenses were all sentenced to exile of five thousand li and packed off without delay. Who needed jail cells anymore?

In a side room of the Chongwen Hall, Zhang Zhao was drinking with Pei Yuan. The two shared a jar of fine Puzhou wine.

This stuff was produced in Hezhong Prefecture. It had been famous since the Sui dynasty and had remained popular ever since.

The dishes accompanying the wine were no more than five small plates—three meat and two vegetable—but the two drank with great delight. It had been a long time since they had shared a drink like this.

The topic of conversation naturally could not avoid the arrival of the Tibetan Tsenpo, Chiwang Xuzan, and the smooth arrival in the Chang'an Prefecture of the capital of the captured Talibu and the others.

Pei Yuan naturally heaped on the praise, because the Tibetan Tsenpo personally coming to the Divine Capital to offer up his territory, just like Gao Baorong and Li Jing, was simply an enormous success.

No amount of praise was excessive. It could almost be compared to the capture of Jieli Khagan and his being brought to Chang'an in former years.

Although the current Tsenpo Chiwang Xuzan was nothing more than a puppet, steppe lords like Jieli had been crushed by dynasty after dynasty in considerable numbers. Only the Tsenpo on the high plateau had never been conquered by a Central Plains court.

Both had drunk quite a bit, and Zhang Zhao could not help but feel somewhat dazed, believing that he truly was the master ordained by Heaven. Because he had originally not paid much attention to the matter at all, merely instructing Lun Boren and Langjie Jiangcuo to do their utmost to take Nagqu and then wait for the court's next reinforcements.

In the end, before he had even figured out how to reinforce them, the Tsenpo in Lhasa had already set out for the Central Plains. To anyone, this was a rather surreal scene.

But after the flattery came the reality they had to face. Even someone as thick-skinned as Zhang Zhao could not help feeling a little embarrassed, and he gave an awkward laugh.

"Today's drinking has been most enjoyable. It is only a pity that before long, you and I, sovereign and minister, must part again. I have returned to this Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, and you, Yuying, must go to Jinling Prefecture."

To say that Pei Yuan felt no discomfort at all in his heart would be false.

His achievements, one could say, were not smaller than those of the late Zhang Xichong. But item by item, case by case, the great majority could not be laid out on the table for others to scrutinize, because among them was a great deal of Zhang Zhao's dark history.

What made Pei Yuan even more aggrieved was that this time, the Emperor was transferring him to the Jiangnan Province, and damn it, just like when he had seized full military and political authority before, it was still dirty work.

But at the same time, Pei Yuan was also very clear-headed. He knew full well that meeting an emperor like Zhang Zhao was the greatest fortune for a minister like him, who had the makings of a cruel official.

Because in every dynasty, many like him had been used by emperors and then discarded, or even made into scapegoats.

"I have reviewed the household registers and maps of the two provinces of Jiangnan and Jiangxi, and I have also familiarized myself with the temperaments of Sun Cheng, Han Xizai, Song Qiqiu, and the others.

I believe the Sage should still give me a standard. Within the territory of the former Southern Tang and Wuyue states, what standard should at least be reached? Only then can I tailor my approach to the people involved."

Zhang Zhao nodded in agreement. Pei Yuan's question was not haggling, but rather stating a fact: the local strongmen could not be completely eliminated.

Human beings as a species—well, one should say any creature with social attributes—will always have differences in ability among individuals, which in turn widens the gaps between them and produces classes.

Strongmen, in fact, are a manifestation of class.

Even farmers starting from the same starting line will divide into strong and weak because of farming skill, emotional intelligence and vision, mental agility, physical health, and even sheer luck.

Of course, there are also some people who become strongmen through unconventional means.

But on the whole, at least in this era, it is impossible to completely wipe out the species known as strongmen. And if they truly were wiped out completely, that would be a disaster.

Without order in the countryside, without strongmen whose word carries weight, the government's administrative capacity would face enormous challenges. Conscription, military levies, taxes, and other targets could not be met, and it might even cause a major regression in rural productivity.

Pei Yuan understood all this very well, which was why he asked for a limit—a standard for how far the strongmen should be struck down.

Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment. "In the former Southern Tang lands, I want seven million people. In the former Wuyue lands, I want four and a half million people. As for farmland, not one mu less!"

Pei Yuan slowly nodded. Based on Zhang Zhao's figures, Pei Yuan roughly calculated that the hidden households in the former Southern Tang lands could still number around four to five hundred thousand people, and in Wuyue around three hundred thousand.

As for farmland, naturally all of it would be subject to grain tax. But since the Sage had only mentioned this one point, it meant that on the question of fertile versus poor land, he could give the local strongmen a small sweetener—for example, registering some top-grade fields as low-grade fields.

Of course, Zhang Zhao would not ask Pei Yuan how he did it, nor would he worry about whether Pei Yuan took bribes.

These were unnecessary matters. What Zhang Zhao wanted was for things to be done solidly and well, without triggering large-scale unrest.

Pei Yuan would also not reveal Zhang Zhao's current stance to anyone. After all, the Emperor could never openly endorse such things.

And this also left a handle. If the strongmen of the former Southern Tang and Wuyue lands ever offended the court in the future, then their practice of paying taxes on top-grade fields as if they were low-grade would be an obvious and enormous sore point. How thoroughly the Emperor wanted to deal with them would depend entirely on his mood.

Politics, after all, is full of compromise and accommodation, and even more of tacit understanding.

Seeing that this topic was concluded, Zhang Zhao immediately asked about the affairs of Hezhong, and shared his own thoughts with Pei Yuan.

Although Pei Yuan now held high office and rarely discussed such matters with Zhang Zhao, his fundamentals were still intact.

The two of them, right there in Chongwen Hall, carefully and meticulously studied the Samanid Persians and, behind them, the Abbasid Caliphate of the Black Banner, which had not yet completely collapsed but existed only in name.

"In my view, the Black Banner Caliphate and Persia are not comparable to the steppe peoples beyond the borders or the various peoples of Andong in the pine deserts. They are even more difficult enemies than the Goguryeo and Tibetans of old.

This is not to say that the Caliphate and Persia are stronger than Goguryeo and Tibet in military combat power.

In terms of military strength alone, among all the nations of the world, none posed a greater threat to the Central Plains than the Tibetans of old. Goguryeo was also small but fierce, not something the Caliphate and Persia can compare to.

The difficulty of these two regions lies in their civilization. Their clothing, customs, diet, language, and political systems are all different from ours and form a self-contained whole, with the Heavenly Square faith binding them together. They are truly difficult to deal with.

In former days, the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the strength of the entire nation, struck at Goguryeo three times precisely so that no such civilization would appear beside our bed."

Pei Yuan nodded, then shook his head. "I believe the most critical point is still the sheer distance. It is nearly twenty thousand li away. If a great army goes to campaign there, sending ten thousand soldiers costs as much in attrition as sending a hundred thousand from the Central Plains.

Moreover, receiving news takes half a year or more, preparing to dispatch troops takes half a year, and the army's arrival takes eight or nine months. Once something happens, there is simply no time to respond.

Finally, there is the cultural matter the Sage mentioned. If we had one million Han people in Hezhong, then Hezhong and Persia would sooner or later be civilized into belonging to us."

But if we only have a hundred thousand or even fewer, then we are the ones who need to beware of being assimilated by them."

Zhang Zhao nodded in agreement. "That is exactly the point. Bai Congxin and the others at Shiguo City, counting all the myriarchs of the grasslands, have a core following of only fifty or sixty thousand.

The Samanid Persians across from them, however, have four or five million people, and they can also call on the holy warriors of the Arabs for support. All of this will depend on Old Bai's abilities."

But Pei Yuan had a different opinion. "Sage, your subject believes we cannot give the Guo woman in marriage to Emir Hamid, because the time span is too long.

Hamid's son Mansur is only six years old, and this woman was born in Suyab and grew up in Suyab, so she would also be easily accepted by the Samanid realm. But if the two of them truly developed a mother-son bond, I fear it would instead ruin things."

Zhang Zhao actually shared this worry, but since Pei Yuan was raising it on his own initiative, he surely had a solution. "Then in Yuying's view, how should it be resolved?"

"Have the Guo woman become sworn sisters with Consort Sai, and then, under the pretext that Consort Sai pities her nephew and that he has no one to care for him, send the Guo woman into the Forbidden City of Kangju to look after little Mansur in her aunt's place.

In this way, although the Guo woman will have the nominal authority to wield power, she will not have the honored position of Samanid queen, and without the trust of the Samanid realm, she will have no choice but to rely on us."

Zhang Zhao thought for a while longer. "If that is the case, how can we guarantee she will devote herself fully?"

This was also what I, Sage Zhang, worried about. When it came to human hearts, he never shied from making the most sinister assumptions. Those who carry out a task and never receive any benefit from it rarely last long.

"With Commissioner of Military Affairs Guo here, and with her little niece here, her diligent service for the first few years is still assured.

As for what comes after, your subject has heard that around the Small Sea there are hundreds of states and tribes, great and small. The Sage could very well promise to enfeoff her with a small state of a few tens of thousands of people.

You could also give her Hamid's son Mansur, whom the Guo woman has raised since childhood, as an adopted son. With the prospect of becoming queen of a state, that should be enough to reward her achievements."

This did seem somewhat better. Indeed, Guo Zhou'er's status could not be raised too high all at once.

However, benefits alone were still not enough. A bit of moral high ground was also needed as spiritual support.

People! Political figures especially — it is impossible for someone to have no conscience at all, or to grind their conscience down one hundred percent. At most, they are simply more skilled at deceiving themselves.

What Guo Zhou'er was going to do was, in name, to serve as adoptive mother and aunt raising a six-year-old child, while what she would actually be doing was destroying that six-year-old's realm and handing it over to others.

And this was not a single decisive blow, either. It would have to be done slowly over a period of ten years, cutting flesh with a dull blade.

For a normal person, this is a tormenting process in which the sense of guilt steadily grows.

Not everyone can be as utterly shameless as Sima Yi. Without some psychological groundwork, Zhang Zhao very much doubted whether Guo Zhou'er could hold out.

Fortunately, as a child of the eighties, I, Sage Zhang, had perfectly experienced on my way up just how formidable America's long-range animal husbandry could be, and he intended to imitate it.

Taking advantage of this brief window of a few months, he could let Guo Zhou'er fully experience how rich and great the country for which her ancestors gave their lives truly was.

Let her see how great her ancestor, Prince Guo Xin of the commandery, and the white-haired soldiers of Anxi truly were.

Then elevate her mission to the Samanid Persian court into one of expanding living space for the whole nation, preventing the bitter past of Anxi's white-haired soldiers from ever happening again, and morally bind her personal abilities and choices to the interests of the entire nation.

Sage Zhang's repeated brainwashing and suggestion was far stronger than the dry narrative of freedom and democracy that later America clung to. He believed Guo Zhou'er would quickly adapt to her new role.

Just after Pei Yuan left, Zhang Zhao immediately summoned Cao Sanniang Yannai, as well as the two sisters Saifiye and Pantaiya.

On the material side, the enjoyment Guo Zhou'er would remember for the rest of her life would be provided by these two sisters. Cao Sanniang Yannai would be mainly responsible for the spiritual construction.

In the fifth year of Shaoming, 950 CE by the common calendar, on the fifth day of the ninth month, Zhang Zhao returned to the eastern capital of Kaifeng. Before his backside had even warmed the seat, a blizzard of memorials nearly buried him.

They were all impeachments of Pei Yuan, charging him with dozens of major crimes during his two years in power: corruption and perversion of the law, cruelty and harshness, and indulging his subordinates.

Some of these were groundless speculation and exaggeration, but some were true. Zhang Zhao naturally paid them no mind and left them all on read.

When those below attacking Pei Yuan saw that the Emperor was not falling for this, they immediately adjusted their approach.

They argued that the Emperor had already returned to the capital, yet Pei Yuan still held full military authority over the inner and outer armies, and they seized on the corruption and lawbreaking of Pei Yuan's trusted followers to attack.

Only then did Zhang Zhao begin to pay attention, ordering the Court of Judicial Review, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate — the three judicial offices — to hold a joint trial.

Once the evidence was conclusive, he directly sent the dozen or so most outrageous trusted officials under Pei Yuan into exile in Andong, to Murong Xinzhang's territory.

Then, on the charge of failing to discipline his subordinates, he stripped Pei Yuan of his posts as Right Vice Director of the Secretariat and Vice Director of the Luan Terrace, Chief Commander of the Palace Guard Cavalry and Infantry, and Supervisor of the Prefectures and Counties of the Metropolitan Province, but retained his authority to wield the ceremonial axe.

When the news came out, those who did not know the truth had no time to congratulate themselves, for within a few days the Emperor sent Pei Yuan, Duke of Zhao, out with the ceremonial axe to supervise Jiangnan and Jiangxi provinces, concurrently serving as Administrator of Jiangnan Province and Defense Commissioner of Jiangxi Province.

Pei Yuan did not delay in the slightest. That very night he took his small core staff and, escorted by the elite cavalry of the Hanshan Capital, set out immediately for Jinling Prefecture in Jiangnan Province.

This left those who had been waiting to see Pei Yuan become a laughingstock, or even hoping to exact a little revenge, utterly dumbfounded.

Seeing that Zhang Zhao had not cast Pei Yuan aside as a scapegoat, they wisely chose to quiet down.

However, compared to the Tibetan Tsanpo Chiwang Xuzan arriving at the divine capital of Luoyang, Pei Yuan's being sent out to Jiangnan was a matter so small it could hardly be smaller.

This uncle and nephew, entangled in centuries of interests and grudges, these two mighty empires that both illuminated the annals of history, had finally become one family today. The significance could not be overstated.

And Sage Zhang's Zhang family had even deeper entanglements with the Tibetan Empire, making the significance all the greater.

On the tenth day of the ninth month, the Tibetan Tsanpo Chiwang Xuzan and his party traveled down the Yellow River and first took up temporary residence at Jinyong City outside Luoyang, without entering the city.

Because before that, Zhang Zhao first had to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth in the southern suburbs of the divine capital of Luoyang, to inform Heaven of the most glorious victory achieved by me, Sage Zhang, and the Great Zhou he had established.

Then Zhang Zhao ordered Feng Dao, Director of the Imperial Secretariat, to lead the civil and military officials, the imperial clan, and meritorious ministers out of the city to the place where the prisoners were held, to jointly conduct a public trial of the captured traitor Guo Guangyi, the barbarian Amir of Shiguo City who had offended the great dynasty, and the Yabghu of the Oghuz Yabghu State, Inal Talib, along with the four Inals of the Nine Clans of Oghuz.

The final judgment held that Guo Guangyi, as a Han and a son of Tang, and an official of the dynasty, had dared to commit rebellion. He was sentenced to death by being torn apart by chariots, and the executioners of the Ministry of Justice were ordered to immediately prepare the cruel punishment of chariot-tearing.

Originally the sentence was to be death by slow slicing, but because there were still ceremonies to be performed afterward, slow slicing would take too much time, so death by five horses was chosen instead.

The Amir of Shiguo City was sentenced for killing the people of Great Zhou, attacking Great Zhou's soldiers, and plotting to seize Great Zhou's territory, and was to be executed by being cut in two at the waist. The rest of his brothers, sons, nephews, subordinate generals, and nobles — more than fifty people — were all beheaded.

At this moment, Talib and the others who had come along were trembling all over with fright, and their wailing resounded outside Jinyong City. Even Tsanpo Chiwang Xuzan inside Jinyong City was so frightened that his face turned deathly pale.

But Talib and the other four Oghuz Inals were still rather fortunate. After Guo Guangyi and Amir's entire clan had been killed, the heads for the blood sacrifice were nearly all prepared, and Chiwang Xuzan had been thoroughly terrified as well. There was no need to kill any more people.

Besides, if they kept killing, wouldn't there be too few people left to dance later?

So these men were all sentenced to flogging and hard labor, but with suspended sentences, so they did not have to be carried out now.

After all, these men still had seventy or eighty thousand scattered clansmen in Transoxiana, and they were not stubborn followers of the Heavenly Square faith.

If they were sensible and willing to believe in the Six Dharma Sect, acknowledge that Tengri was one manifestation of the Supreme Heaven, and help recruit their people to Talas and Shiguo City to strengthen those regions, then their punishments could be avoided.

Talib and the others did not dare utter half a word of defiance. They and their families, over a hundred people, kowtowed outside Jinyong City like pestles pounding garlic, declaring on the spot their willingness to obey the Celestial Court's arrangements.

Only then did the officials of the Ministry of Rites notify Tsanpo Chiwang Xuzan and his Zhumeng, as well as the Tsanpo's younger brother Puti Rezha, to come for an audience.

In the Qianyuan Hall, Zhang Zhao wore the imperial dragon robes. Civil officials wore purple robes, and military officers wore red brocade flowered robes with the right arm bared, beneath which gleamed bright mingguang armor as they stood with hands on their swords.

Chiwang Xuzan held in both hands the golden seal of the Great Tibetan Tsanpo, the golden seal of the Cong King that Emperor Gaozong of Tang had bestowed upon the Tsanpo.

The Tsanpo's Zhumeng held the household registers and maps of the Tibetan Empire's five Ru and sixty-one Dongdai.

The Tsanpo's younger brother Puti Rezha, with great effort, carried forward a set of golden armor.

What rites to use had already been discussed back in Chang'an between the Tsenpo, Minister of Rites Zhang Yuan, and the palace eunuchs sent over.

Without the slightest hesitation, he raised the golden seal high, dropped to both knees, and cried out: "Your nephew, the Tibetan Tsenpo Chi Wangxu Tsan, pays homage to his maternal uncle, the Son of Heaven!

The Central Plains is the uncle, Tibet is the nephew; from ancient times we have been one family.

In the Great Tang era, Tang and Tibet fought battle after battle, above harming the bond of blood kin, below sending the common people into exile. Your nephew reflects on this and finds it deeply not worth it.

Therefore today I willingly offer the lands of Tibet's Five Ru and Sixty-One Dongdai, that the four seas may be unified, and between uncle and nephew there shall be no more strife."

This was also a grand-sounding pretext that the Zhang-Zhou dynasty had painstakingly found for Tsenpo Chi Wangxu Tsan, fully demonstrating that Tsenpo Chi Wangxu Tsan was not groveling and surrendering his land for wealth and rank, but so that no more strife would arise between Han and Tibetan, for the welfare of the myriad people and the peace of the world.

This was a great love for the world, it was "love and peace," it was very great!

Zhang Zhao personally descended from the dais, walked over to Chi Wangxu Tsan, and helped him to his feet. With reddened eyes he sighed: "That you possess such a great heart brings me deep comfort. May we, uncle and nephew, heal the Tang and Tibetan peoples and make the four seas one."

With that, Zhang Zhao accepted the golden seal of the Great Tibetan Tsenpo, the golden seal of the King of Tangbo, the household-register maps of Tibet's Five Ru and Sixty-One Dongdai, Songtsen Gampo's golden armor, and the other great treasures of the Tibetan state.

Then, taking Chi Wangxu Tsan by the hand, he went before the Zhang-Zhou ancestral temple. Zhang Zhao, dressed in imperial robes, entered the temple and, using the heads of Guo Guangyi and Amir as blood offerings, reported to the Zhang clan's ancestors.

Their descendant had made good — put down rebellions, won the great Battle of Talas, and even brought Tang and Tibet into one!

After this, the court orchestra struck up the Shule music from the Ten Court Musics. Within this piece there was a set dance called "The Distant Submit," and from the name one could tell what it was for.

As this music sounded, the civil and military officials parted to left and right, and a large group of people in silver-white, ochre-yellow, and other colors of bestowed robes came forward.

From front to back in order: King of Wu Li Jing, King of Lu Qian Hongchu, King of Jing Gao Baorong, Prince of Changsha Commandery Ma Xiguang, Marquis of Longgang Meng Chang, Marquis of Guiyuan Yelu Yaliguo, General-in-Chief of the Right Divine Martial Guard Liu Chengyou, and Commandant of the Xinzheng Gate Shi Chonggui.

Hmm, almost enough to make up a football team.

But they were not the main figures today. The main figures were Chief Talibu of the Kelike tribe, and the other four Oghuz Inals.

Now the drums turned fervent. Under the gaze of a crowd of fierce-looking civil and military officials, the five men, dressed in barbarian garb, performed the Whirling Barbarian Dance in the center of the hall.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Even Zhang Zhao could not help bursting into laughter at the somewhat comical sight.

But the comical Whirling Barbarian Dance did not last long, because the dancers were nearly scared out of their wits, thinking they would be beheaded once the dance ended, and so their movements were stiff beyond compare.

After a while of laughter, the familiar "Qin Wang Breaks the Formations" music struck up.

Li Jing, Qian Hongchu, Gao Baorong, and the others took the lead in entering the floor and dancing, followed by all the civil and military officials, who also entered the floor and danced.

Our Great Zhou ancestral-temple disco was just that unrestrained — a whole floor of big shots dancing like demons.

Chi Wangxu Tsan was also eager to try. Zhang Zhao had not originally intended to let him dance, but Chi Wangxu Tsan and Puti Rezha, the two brothers, insisted on showing off.

And they did know this "Qin Wang Breaks the Formations" dance. In the old days at the Changqing Alliance, the Tang court's dance and music troupe had performed it at Lhasa.

With the atmosphere before him so harmonious, I, Sage Zhang, also laughed three great laughs and staged a lord-and-vassal dance together.

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