Chapter 851: Sage Zhang's Dream Team

Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) climbed up out of the canal with his feet covered in mud. Before him lay an extremely broad stretch of river, its surface glittering with light.

And as Zhang Zhaojun came ashore, thunderous cheers erupted from both banks.

If a drone could have filmed from the sky at that moment, it would have revealed this stretch of the channel packed densely with people.

There were garrison troops from the Left, Center, and Right Guards of Guilin, patrol and arrest troops from the constabulary offices of Guilin Prefecture's nine counties, and corvée laborers conscripted from the nine counties of Guilin Prefecture, from Quanzhou Prefecture in the Hunan Province to the north, and from Rongzhou to the west.

Regardless of how they were dressed, whether officials or commoners, all of them were cheering to their hearts' content.

And the thing that made them so happy was that the restoration of the Great Balance and Small Balance, the most important parts of the Lingqu Canal, had finally been completed.

This meant the Lingqu Canal's northern and southern channels could at last be opened to navigation, marking the moment when the Lingqu Canal could once again serve its purpose.

The Lingqu Canal was first built in the Qin dynasty. It is a canal project of immense importance in Chinese history. Although its entire length is less than forty kilometers, it bore the weighty task of linking Lingnan with the Central Plains.

For what the Lingqu Canal connects is the Xiang River of the Yangtze river system and the Li River of the Pearl River system.

With it in existence, a vessel sailing on the Yangtze could in theory travel all the way to Guangzhou Bay using only the inland waterway system.

In ancient times, when water transport offered the advantages of convenience, time savings, labor savings, and cost savings, this could hardly be praised enough.

One could say that without the Lingqu Canal, the Great Qin could not have conquered the Baiyue so quickly, and Emperor Wu of Han might have deemed Lingnan worthless and never attacked and destroyed the Nanyue kingdom.

Jiaozhi, precisely because it lacked a river like the Lingqu Canal to connect it with the Central Plains, was extremely prone to fostering separatist tendencies.

For any court that wished to pacify Lingnan, the Lingqu Canal was a waterworks project that had to be repaired. Without the Lingqu Canal, there could be no talk of stabilizing Lingnan.

Amid the cheers, soldiers, officers, officials, and commoners crowded around Zhang Zhaojun as they made their way toward the Shrine of the Four Worthies.

The so-called Shrine of the Four Worthies was dedicated to four men who had made outstanding contributions to the Lingqu Canal.

The first was Shi Lu, the Supervising Censor of the Qin state. This man is said to have been a Baiyue person with no surname, who rose to the office of Supervising Censor, so later generations mostly called him Shi Lu.

It was he who designed and directed the construction of the Lingqu Canal, pioneering the design of a lock-style canal that allowed vessels to pass freely between the Li River and Xiang River systems despite a drop of several dozen meters.

The second was the Han dynasty General Who Subdues the Waves, Ma Yuan; the third was Li Bo, Surveillance Commissioner of Gui Circuit in the Tang; and the fourth was Yu Mengwei, Prefect of Guizhou in the Tang.

Of these four men, Lu was responsible for building the Lingqu Canal, while the other three all made tremendous contributions to maintaining, expanding, and perfecting it.

Originally, this Shrine of the Four Worthies was simply a spontaneous place of worship built by the common people living around the Lingqu Canal who had benefited from it. As can be seen from its nature as a shrine, this was not an official memorial, but one built by the people of a single county or a few counties.

At the present time, without official recognition, such worship was called an unorthodox sacrifice.

Fortunately, the four men the common people worshipped were all figures of official standing and benefactors of the locality, and in particular General Who Subdues the Waves Ma Yuan was among them, so it barely managed to escape the category of unorthodox sacrifice, though it still could not be brought out into the open.

After Zhang Zhaojun took office, he immediately realized that resolving the status of the Shrine of the Four Worthies was the best means of winning the hearts of the people of Guilin Prefecture's nine counties.

So as soon as he arrived, he made a special trip to worship at the Shrine of the Four Worthies, which was little more than a thatched hut, and promised the surrounding commoners that if they would help dredge the Lingqu Canal, he would report to the court and have the shrine "made official."

Before Zhang Zhaojun arrived, the Lingqu Canal had been out of use for nearly thirty years.

The most recent repair had been in the ninth year of Xiantong of the Tang, 868 CE, when Yu Mengwei, Prefect of Guizhou, dredged and expanded it.

This man was not only a water conservancy expert, but through some unknown means had persuaded the Tang court, whose finances were already far from ample, along with the surrounding Military Governors, to pool funds to repair the Lingqu Canal.

This restoration was conducted on a grand scale. Yu Mengwei conscripted more than fifty thousand commoners, spent over a year, and expended the astronomical sum of more than 5.3 million strings of cash, carrying out the largest repair and widening of the Lingqu Canal since the Qin dynasty.

Historical records state that after Yu Mengwei repaired and widened the Lingqu Canal, not only could vessels of several dozen tons navigate it, but the channel surged with such abundant water that even a great barge of a hundred hu could be handled by a single man.

That is to say, a large vessel carrying six or seven tons could be steered with ease by just one boatman, which shows how abundant the water flow was.

And after Zhang Zhaojun arrived in Guilin, in roughly five years he did only three things.

The first was to set about establishing the three Guards of Guilin and restoring the livelihood of Guilin Prefecture, where six or seven households out of every ten stood empty because of the constant fighting between Ma Chu and the Southern Han.

The second was to transform the Left Shenwei Guard, his personal army that had followed him south to Guilin Prefecture, into an inland river navy that could not only fight on land but also adapt to the rivers of Lingnan.

The backbone of the Left Shenwei Guard was a small portion of Helong armored soldiers plus former Later Jin imperial guards.

When they marched south, Zhang Zhao had also stuffed several thousand surrendered Ma Chu troops into Zhang Zhaojun's command, and in addition there were several thousand yabing guards of the Ma Chu Military Governor of Jingjiang who were originally in Guilin Prefecture. With few trusted men and many outsiders, the situation was extremely complex.

But Zhang Zhaojun did not disappoint expectations. In five years, relying on only a little over two thousand trusted men, and through personal ability and prestige alone, he won over the remaining ten thousand-plus soldiers of complicated origins.

By now it had formed into a formidable armed force centered on the personal Left Shenwei Guard and the two imperial guard garrisons of Jingjiang and Wulue, supplemented by the three Guards of the garrison system, the patrol and arrest troops of the constabulary offices, and the spear-staff and archery societies.

At present, without the court having to send troops, Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai), working miracles within a snail shell amid extremely limited resources, had already developed ten thousand elite troops and seventeen thousand local forces, a total of twenty-seven thousand water and land infantry and cavalry.

And as of now, Zhang Zhaojun had already captured Rongzhou (Rongshui), Pingle, and other prefectures and counties belonging to the Southern Han, sending two columns of troops straight at the Southern Han's important major cities of Liuzhou and Wuzhou.

This had in fact already posed an enormous threat to the Southern Han regime, forcing Liu Sheng of the Southern Han to station large armies in these two places, consuming astronomical sums of money and grain every year.

And the third thing was the repair of the Lingqu Canal.

At this point, although only eighty or ninety years had passed since Yu Mengwei last repaired and widened the Lingqu Canal, the situation during those eighty or ninety years had been exceptionally chaotic, so the Lingqu Canal had not received proper maintenance.

Especially after Zhu Wen usurped the Tang, the situation grew even more serious. Ma Chu and the Southern Han fought fiercely in the Guilin Prefecture area many times, and this strategic town of Lingnan repeatedly suffered intense seesaw battles between the two sides.

By the time of Ma Xifan, this heavyweight, in order to prevent Guilin Prefecture from being captured again by the Southern Han and thereby threatening the Ma Chu heartland of Hunan via the Xiang River, actually ordered the destruction of the Lingqu Canal, directly causing the already poorly maintained canal to lose most of its navigational capacity.

When Zhang Zhaojun arrived, this was the scene he faced: the Lingqu Canal ruined and unusable, Guilin Prefecture itself in ruins, and a territory of one prefecture and nine counties with only a little over two hundred thousand commoners.

And of the entire financial resources of Hunan Province, one third had to be used by Guo Wei to restore the livelihood of Changsha, Changde, and other places, and to subdue the Xidong Man barbarians west of Dongting Lake.

Another third or more had to be used to build the Yangtze navy. At that time the Southern Tang had not yet been taken, so forming and training a navy was the top priority and required large sums of money.

The remaining less than one third still had to cover the salaries of civil and military officials everywhere.

Under these circumstances, even counting the money and grain the court allocated from Hubei each year, what reached Zhang Zhaojun's hands amounted to a pittance.

But it was precisely under these circumstances that Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) equalized land and reduced grain taxes in Guilin Prefecture, attracted commoners who had fled into the mountains to come back down, punished local powerful clans, struck at bandits and brigands, and used his connections to obtain plow oxen, iron farming tools, and the like to restore production.

In only five years, he established two imperial guard garrisons and three garrison-system Guards, perfected the local constabulary system, set up dozens of spear-staff societies and archery societies, and stabilized public order.

He also restored the prefectural and county schools that had been closed for decades, provided relief to impoverished local Confucian scholars, and rewarded commoners who were filial, benevolent, righteous, and fraternal toward their brothers, causing the customs of Guilin Prefecture to grow more virtuous and greatly restoring moral instruction within his territory.

At the same time, he struck south and sent the Southern Han border troops fleeing in panic, using only a few thousand or ten thousand troops to keep the Southern Han suppressed.

Most astonishing of all, Ma Shacai, a bandit from the Hexi mountains, a rough northwestern man who could not recognize a full basket of characters, after arriving in Lingnan had quickly become a water conservancy expert, completing the restoration of the Lingqu Canal with only the 210,000 strings of cash specially approved by Zhang Zhao.

He conscripted 130,000 commoners from sixteen nearby prefectures and counties for corvée labor, and not only did this not cause major unrest, but the number of commoners lost over five years was kept below five hundred.

One must understand that in this era, for commoners to perform such corvée labor was roughly equivalent to taking a trip through the gates of hell.

Take Yu Mengwei as an example. He was considered one who loved the people, yet he conscripted more than fifty thousand people to repair the Lingqu Canal, and the final death toll given was beyond counting.

It is estimated that at the very least several thousand died, with the death rate likely approaching ten percent, whereas under Zhang Zhaojun it was less than 0.4 percent.

Therefore, although Zhang Zhaojun had conscripted corvée labor on a massive scale, far from being seen as cruel, he was regarded by the common people as a living bodhisattva.

You have to admit it — whenever a great emperor in history rose from humble beginnings, there was almost always a dream team around him.

For example, Emperor Gaozu of Han had his Pei County brothers, and Zhu Hongwu had his old Huaixi brothers.

Zhang Zhao had his own as well. Of the one hundred and eight followers he led westward back then, more than a dozen turned out to be all-round talents like Yan Jin, Ma Yaozi, Ma Shacai, Fan Quan, and Yin Yaozi — and as for famous generals and brave commanders, they were too many to count.

Even when Zhang Zhao sent Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) to garrison Guilin Prefecture, he never expected him to do this well.

Who could have imagined that an illiterate northwest bandit, once he reached Lingnan, would not only excel at commanding troops on horseback and governing the people once dismounted, but would also become a water-conservancy expert in a short time — and, even more astonishingly, be skilled at doing great things with little money.

This is also why Zhang Zhao would not accept the Southern Han offering up their territory: Zhang Zhaojun had sacrificed so much in Guilin Prefecture, staying there for five whole years as a founding general and the Son of Heaven's sworn brother.

Even after the next generation — Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui — and even the generation after that, Zhao Kuangyin and the rest, had begun winning kingdom-destroying merits, Zhang Zhaojun still had no complaint and completed his task perfectly.

If even this did not earn him a kingdom-destroying merit, that truly could not be justified.

In front of the Shrine of the Four Worthies, the moment Zhang Zhaojun arrived, lions danced in groups before the shrine, dragon boats raced across the river, gongs and drums thundered to the heavens, and crisp, thick firecrackers crackled and popped in the flames.

Zhang Zhaojun grew wildly excited along with the officials, soldiers, and common people. He even stripped off his robe and, bare-chested, personally beat the drum to cheer on the dragon-boat athletes in the river.

Everyone played until shenzheng (four in the afternoon), when the aroma of the food prepared for the open banquet began to drift over. Only then did the relay rider from the Guilin Prefecture central garrison arrive at a gallop.

The officials from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had finally arrived.

Along with the Court of Imperial Sacrifices officials came a palace eunuch and an official from the Ministry of Rites.

The arrival of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices officials brought an edict from the court office that oversaw all religions under heaven, permitting the establishment of a temple by the Ling Canal for sacrifices and elevating the Shrine of the Four Worthies to the Temple of the Four Worthies.

The Ministry of Rites official had come specifically for the posthumous honors. Lu, who had overseen the construction of the Ling Canal in the Qin era, had rendered great service, but because the Qin dynasty fell too quickly, his merit never received the attention of the court of his time or of later courts.

Even now, Lu was mostly called Jian Lu or Shi Lu — he did not even have a proper surname.

Therefore Zhang Zhao had specially issued an edict granting Lu the imperial surname Zhang, calling him Zhang Lu, posthumously enfeoffing him as Duke of Ling, and bestowing the posthumous name Hui, taking the meaning of "grace extending to ten thousand generations is called Hui."

What the palace eunuch brought was a gold (bronze) statue of the Pure-Source Wondrous Dao, Erlang the Manifest Sage and True Lord. Whom this divine image resembled, and whom it stood for, everyone naturally knew perfectly well.

Zhang Zhao did not wish the Six Dharmas Sect to spread in the Central Plains, and he also had an agreement with the iron-shoed old Daoist Ma Xizhen that in Hunan, Lingnan, and other places, Daoism should be greatly promoted.

That was of course no problem. Anyway, I, Sage Zhang, have already locked down the great position of Erlang Shen, so following the Daoist narrative costs Zhang Zhao nothing.

Having received the court edict permitting the establishment of the Temple of the Four Worthies, and seeing the Emperor grant a surname, posthumous enfeoffment, and a posthumous name, the people of Guilin Prefecture were extraordinarily jubilant.

The four men in the Shrine of the Four Worthies — especially Lu, who was very likely a native of Guilin — had received such praise from the Emperor, and in an instant, their bond with the court was drawn close.

Afterward the palace eunuch also announced that the Emperor knew the people of Guilin Prefecture's nine counties, as well as Rongzhou and Quanzhou Prefectures, had worked hard, and therefore had decided to remit all the accumulated arrears these two prefectures and one subprefecture had owed since the time of the Ma Chu regime.

He also exempted them from five years of corvée and forced labor, and today's celebratory banquet was likewise given by the Emperor from his privy purse to feast them.

The moment the news came out, cheers of "Long live!" resounded through heaven and earth. The common people, thinking that the Emperor was treating them to wine, were so stirred they nearly started trembling on the spot.

Hmm, my Emperor Zhang is still the same as ever — best at winning hearts with small favors.

During the banquet, Zhang Liecheng glanced several times at the palace eunuch in the distance. This one he knew — the supervisor of the Seals Office, surnamed Zhou.

Back when he was in the Eastern Capital, this supervisor had not exactly fawned on him, but he had been thoroughly deferential, calling out "Lord Zhang" from far away.

But now, although the man had clearly seen him, he did not even come over to say hello.

"It seems Your Excellency is still angry with me!" Zhang Liecheng, who had suffered much hardship these past few years and grown dark and thin, sighed, then carried his wine bowl over to Zhang Zhaojun.

"Fifth Uncle, now that the people's hearts have turned to us, Murong Erlang's eastern campaign is basically over, and money and grain are no longer lacking — shouldn't we prepare to march south on Xingwang Prefecture?"

Zhang Zhaojun glanced at Zhang Liecheng. He knew in his heart that Zhang Liecheng was anxious to win merit and earn Zhang Zhao's forgiveness, but clearly this nephew of his had not yet been tempered enough — his spirit was still too restless.

Taking a small sip from the bowl, Zhang Zhaojun shook his head. "The time is not yet right. Although the Han state's military is not strong, its interior is still fairly stable. Liu Sheng may be cruel, but he rules his subordinates well — he killed his brothers and enemies, yet never slaughtered the common people indiscriminately.

Our army is strong, but we have just dredged the Ling Canal, and the whole force is exhausted. The court's troops have come from afar and cannot yet adapt to the heat and damp here, so it is still not the time to attack them."

Zhang Zhaojun was not making excuses — this was simply the truth.

In history, the Northern Song's conquest of the Southern Han was effortless because Liu Chang, who succeeded after Liu Sheng's death, was a heavyweight even among the worst tyrants in thousands of years of history — among a flock of bastards, he was that one exceptionally dazzling humanoid ape.

This gentleman's most bizarre policy was his belief that ministers with families would develop selfish motives, far less reliable than eunuchs with no children and no ability to reproduce.

So he decreed that anyone who wished to hold office at court must first be castrated into a eunuch. The famous eunuch dynasty was formed under his hand.

As for his other cruelties and wanton killings — his fondness for dressing up as a pirate and raiding at sea, or, when robbing merchants failed, personally leading troops to rob his own subjects — all of that was mere child's play compared to the bullheaded brainwave of his eunuch dynasty.

It was precisely under this heavyweight's rule that the Southern Han fell apart from top to bottom, and the people within its borders could barely survive.

The Southern Han, which at this time still had two hundred thousand households and more than 1.3 million people, by the end of Liu Chang's reign had instead dwindled to only one hundred seventy thousand households and fewer than one million people.

Under such circumstances, when the Northern Song attacked the Southern Han, nearly the whole country scrambled to be collaborators. Pan Mei needed only a single battle to easily shatter the Southern Han's imperial guard — six armies and twelve guards.

At present, however, Liu Sheng, though cruel, was by no means incompetent. Under his governance, the people of the Southern Han could still get by.

One could even say that, thanks to the flourishing maritime trade, at least the people of the Pearl River Delta region were living quite well.

To think of destroying such a state with only twenty or thirty thousand men — that truly is nothing but a dream.

Zhang Liecheng left in disappointment, while Zhang Zhaojun watched his retreating figure and sighed.

Zhang Liecheng still had not figured life out, still had not understood why he had ended up in this situation. It was not a matter of how much merit he had earned, but of his heart.

If by the time the Han state was conquered and destroyed Zhang Liecheng still had not understood, then he would never in his life obtain the Son of Heaven's forgiveness.

I've been on a business trip lately, so I only have time to write after getting off work in the evening.

(End of chapter)

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