Seeing Feng Liao raise the crucial question, Gu Qian spoke directly without evasion:
“Our sovereign does indeed intend to entrust his posthumous affairs to Marquis Han, even ordering Prince Luo to remain in Shangluo and not return to Luoyang, but the officers and ministers of the He and Luo regions have disagreements and find it difficult to reach a decision…”
Ordering Prince Luo to remain in Shangluo and not return to Luoyang?
This wasn’t simply entrusting guardianship—it meant directly establishing Han Qian to enter and rule Luoyang!
Every single person seated—Feng Liao, Gao Shao, Guo Rong, and the rest—beyond their shock, now truly understood what the disagreements between Liang’s sovereign and ministers were, and understood how great those disagreements would be.
Feng Liao looked toward Han Qian. Seeing Han Qian’s expression dark and gloomy, he realized Gu Qian and the others had entered Lian Garden before them, and Han Qian and the two madams had already discussed this point. It was difficult to imagine how Han Qian and the two madams could maintain their composure.
If the situation were reversed with Tangyi—if Han Qian were unfortunately gravely ill at this moment and wished to entrust his affairs—Feng Liao thought that he and Tangyi’s other ministers and generals would first choose to establish the Heir Apparent Han Wenxin, whom Han Qian had clearly designated as successor, as the new lord, in order to continue consolidating the strength of the military and people and maintain Tangyi.
Though Heir Apparent Han Wenxin was currently only a seven-year-old child, the Tangyi people would still first choose to establish him as the new lord. Consider that Prince Luo of Liang, Zhu Zhen, would turn twenty after the New Year, and these past years had accompanied Emperor Liang Zhu Yu in campaigns north and south, accumulating considerable experience in military command and governance—at least in the eyes of Liang’s officers and ministers, he was absolutely a qualified candidate for sovereign.
If Emperor Liang Zhu Yu died, how could Gu Qian, Zhu Youtong, Jing Hao, Lei Jiuyuan, and other important Liang ministers and veteran generals be expected to abandon Zhu Zhen and willingly turn around to establish an outsider who had once opposed them as Liang’s new lord?
For such a momentous matter, even Emperor Liang Zhu Yu couldn’t act arbitrarily.
Even if Emperor Liang Zhu Yu left behind a testament, Lei Jiuyuan, Gu Qian, Chen Youtong, Zhu Juezhong, Jing Hao, and other officers and ministers could completely ignore the testament. When the time came, they could directly establish Zhu Zhen as the new lord, and neither the historical records nor future generations could call them traitorous ministers or rebellious subjects.
Absolute loyalty without any independent judgment had never existed!
Han Qian wielded such tremendous authority in Tangyi, yet when he ordered Empress Dowager Xu and Zhang Xinchun sent directly to Jinling for trial, Han Laoshan and others still came to block his door.
If Emperor Liang Zhu Yu didn’t pass the throne to his son but instead wanted his son and the ministers to establish an outsider unrelated to Liang State as lord, how could there be no opposing voices internally? How could Zhu Yu’s arbitrary decision completely quell them?
If Zhu Yu truly acted arbitrarily, it would likely trigger even greater, more irreparable chaos.
Emperor Liang Zhu Yu naturally couldn’t arbitrarily leave behind a single testament and consider the entire matter resolved. He had to settle many matters before his death. He had to see before dying that Lei Jiuyuan, Gu Qian, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, Zhu Juezhong, Han Yuanqi, Chen Kun, and other important Liang ministers and generals were willing to establish Han Qian as lord before he could peacefully let go of everything. Only this way could chaos be avoided to the maximum extent possible.
Gu Qian also didn’t avoid discussing where the main disagreements among Liang’s officers and ministers lay.
Beyond the deeply ingrained tradition or righteous principle of father-death-son-succession, beyond the various aspects of chaos that might be triggered by not establishing Prince Luo but instead establishing Han Qian, what Liang’s officers and ministers and the surviving clan members worried about even more was their future positions being insecure and their clan interests not being guaranteed. They even worried that if Emperor Liang Zhu Yu entrusted guardianship now, Zhu Zhen and other Zhu clan members would not meet good ends in the future.
Even though Tangyi’s assistance to Liang State over these years had been wholehearted enough, greatly eliminating the opposition between both sides, it still couldn’t completely eliminate such worries.
People all have selfish thoughts. Gu Qian and Lei Jiuyuan didn’t avoid making this clear. At this moment, without honest mutual visibility, trying to smoothly complete the fusion of Western Liang and Tangyi—two completely different forces—under the tremendous pressure of powerful enemies watching from all sides, and when this matter would provoke enormous backlash from Jinling, would be too difficult.
Gu Qian also explained why they had lingered outside Chaozhou city for these days before coming to Liyang to meet everyone.
Before the tenth month, Emperor Liang Zhu Yu, feeling his body could no longer hold out much longer, formally raised this matter with his close ministers. Gu Qian and the others strongly opposed it. In the end, Emperor Liang Zhu Yu made concessions and reached a compromise with Gu Qian and the others:
Emperor Liang Zhu Yu ordered Gu Qian and the others to secretly escort Empress Dowager Xu, Zhang Xinchun, and other rebels into Tangyi. If Han Qian could send Empress Dowager Xu, Zhang Xinchun, and Duke Chu Yang Fen together to Jinling for trial, it would demonstrate that Han Qian possessed the magnanimity of a sovereign ruler, and they need not worry that Zhu clan members and Liang’s officers and ministers would not be treated well in the future. He then wanted Gu Qian and the others to come to Liyang to secretly discuss the establishment.
But if Han Qian decided to poison or order the secret assassination of Empress Dowager Xu, Zhang Xinchun, and others, he would allow Gu Qian and the others to quietly return, and his posthumous affairs would be arranged according to Lei Jiuyuan, Gu Qian, Zhu Juezhong, Chen Youtong, Jing Hao, and the others’ proposals.
“We naturally considered that after His Majesty’s death, even if we established the First Prince, Prince Luo, to succeed, it would still be very difficult to withstand the Mengwu people’s offensive and truly hold the He and Luo regions. Initially we thought to follow Shu State’s example, proposing that after His Majesty’s death, the First Prince would claim the title of prince rather than emperor, submitting as vassal to Chu State in order to continue receiving sufficient support from Chu State and Tangyi. We initially even suggested to His Majesty that he marry Princess Yunhe to Marquis Han so that military affairs in the He and Luo regions could all be placed under Marquis Han’s unified command and coordination. But His Majesty said that if Marquis Han were not a Chu minister, he should be Liang’s lord—there is no logic in being both a Chu minister and a Liang minister. His Majesty also said that if Marquis Han did not become Liang’s lord, not only would the He and Luo regions not truly gain a chance to catch their breath, and various deeper hidden troubles would only bury themselves deeper until they ultimately couldn’t be eliminated, but in the short term it would also be difficult to resolve the Liangzhou problem…”
Gu Qian and the others candidly revealed the twists and turns behind the scenes, even disclosing their initial positions. Feng Liao, Gao Shao, and others held no resentment whatsoever. Speaking fairly, standing in Gu Qian and the others’ position, they too would feel that Gu Qian’s initial proposals were most realistic. They were far from imagining that Emperor Liang Zhu Yu would make such a decision!
Of course, not to mention Gu Qian and the others—even Feng Liao and his colleagues worried about how tremendous the trouble and chaos would be if they truly proceeded directly with the establishment. Just thinking about the whole matter gave them splitting headaches!
—
Emperor Yanyou was assassinated and died. The new emperor ascended the throne and changed the era name to Taihe. The anticipated great upheaval did not occur.
Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan abolished the vassal state in Huaidong, and the Pacification Army successfully dealt a heavy blow to the rebel forces in northern Xiang, recovering the various prefectures of Xiang, Ying, Sui, Deng, and Jun. Even though rebel forces still entrenched themselves in Jin and Liang prefectures stubbornly resisting without surrendering, these two prefectures had been seized from Shu State in recent years. Meanwhile, Zheng Hui led his great army to attack the Qingyuan Military Commissioner and had successfully seized the various prefectures and counties along the Western Jiang River.
If not for Tangyi standing out prominently between the Jiang and Huai rivers, impossible for anyone to ignore, Great Chu in the first year of Taihe could even be said to have achieved an era of great governance.
With only five days until the New Year festival, the imperial city was decorated with lanterns and streamers everywhere, the festive atmosphere thick.
Compared to traditional paper lantern shades, lampshades made from boiled sheep horn were becoming increasingly popular among wealthy families. These past two years, even within the palace precincts, they had gradually switched to horn lantern shades with better light transmission and wind resistance.
No one knew what was happening at this moment in Liyang city. Shen Yang walked out of the Ministry office compound. Seeing the horn lanterns hanging along the street emit pale yellow light, he breathed in several mouthfuls of cold air. His mind, made sluggish and swollen by documents, instantly cleared, but his chest was stimulated by the cold air and began coughing violently.
Qin Wen stepped forward to gently pat his back. Shen Yang waved his hand, indicating he wasn’t that fragile. After coughing for a while, once his breathing smoothed out, he drew a handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the spittle from the corners of his mouth.
“Although the Mengwu people seized Yongzhou with tremendous momentum, the two rebel forces under Wang Yuankui and Tian Weiye, driven by the Mengwu people to attack cities and seize territory, suffered extremely heavy casualties. As a result, when Zhao Mengji and Wang Xiaoxian submitted memorials pledging allegiance, the Mengwu people worried they might overshadow the host and dared not hastily accept them. Li Zhigao imprisoned Lu Qingxia and Zhou Yuan, who had colluded with the Mengwu people, at Jinchi Fortress—evidently he has no immediate intention of submitting to the Mengwu people either. In fact, even if Li Zhigao surrendered to the Mengwu people, the terrain along the Wuguan Road and upper Hanshui River is treacherous and easy to defend, difficult to attack—the Right Martial Guard Army and Right Martial Prowess Army stationed there are sufficient. Prince Shou’s meaning is also that the Tangyi army’s illustrious military achievements should be greatly rewarded by the court, but since the Tangyi army officers and soldiers have fought battle after battle, there is no need to trouble them with guarding the Wuguan Road—they should be ordered to swiftly return to their stationed territories to rest and recover. Minister Shen should also stop hesitating and decisively request that the Two Empress Dowagers issue an edict urging this. If time drags on and the Tangyi people firmly control the township offices and garrison forts of Deng and Jun prefectures, when the court wants to take these two prefectures back, it truly won’t be so easy…” said Zhang Xian standing to the side.
After the palace upheaval, Huang Hua did not return to the central government but continued to remain in Hunan. However, besides another important Huang family figure, Huang Huixiang, concurrently holding the position of Vice Grand Councilor and gaining qualification to participate in Political Affairs Hall and Privy Council deliberations, Huang Hua also recommended his client Zhou Qinian to serve as Palace Writer.
At the same time, Prince Shou Yang Zhitang also recommended his staff member Zhang Xian to concurrently serve as Palace Writer.
Though Palace Writer in the central government was merely a sixth-rank office, it wielded the powers of drafting edicts, participating in confidential matters, and reviewing memorials—extremely weighty authority.
In the mid-to-late former dynasty, the Secretariat controlled decision-making power. With the Director of the Secretariat rarely appointed or serving only as a nominal position, the Palace Writers, as close imperial ministers, actually held prime ministerial power.
Great Chu’s government orders all issued from the Ministry, with the Ministry as the political center. Shen Yang, as Vice Minister of the Left concurrently holding the title of Grand Councilor of the Secretariat, actually served as prime minister. But Palace Writers and Drafters of Edicts with opportunities to participate in confidential matters were still no ordinary appointments.
When Huang Hua and Yang Zhitang recommended Zhang Xian and Zhou Qinian to serve as officials in the central government, they actually wanted them to participate on their behalf in decision-making at the government’s core.
By comparison, though Qin Wen currently held the position of Erudite of the Chongwen Hall concurrently serving as Drafter of Edicts, with rank higher than Zhou Qinian and Zhang Xian, he operated under Shen Yang’s shadow, more as Shen Yang’s attendant official participating in confidential matters. He actually had no independent voice, his position in fact less prominent than Zhou Qinian and Zhang Xian.
Shen Yang felt physically unwell. Qin Wen showed careful concern, while Zhang Xian and Zhou Qinian merely stood to the side with hands in sleeves. Once Shen Yang caught his breath and his coughing wasn’t so severe, they continued the topic they hadn’t finished discussing in the office compound.
Qin Wen stood at Shen Yang’s side, listening as Zhang Xian again stated his firm position on recovering Deng and Jun prefectures from the Tangyi army’s hands, merely frowning slightly.
In many people’s view, the First Huai River Campaign had ended rather hastily, resulting in Kong Xirong leading twenty thousand troops to break through the defensive line from the north in early November and occupy Deng and Jun prefectures before the Pacification Army—a fait accompli that Jinling still hadn’t fully processed.
Over this past month, control over administrative jurisdiction of Deng and Jun prefectures—controlling the Nanyang Basin, the southeastern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, and the Wuguan Road—had become the focus of court debate.
For subsequent strikes against the northern Xiang rebel forces who had retreated to the upper Hanshui River region west of Yunyang and Fangling, or even taking ten thousand steps back, if Li Zhigao led his remnant forces to join the Mengwu people, quite a few princes and high ministers in court believed that the Pacification Army with the Right Martial Guard Army and Right Martial Prowess Army as main forces could fully handle subsequent combat and defensive tasks without needing Tangyi army participation.
Whether Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan or Prince Shou Yang Zhitang, both advocated sternly ordering the Tangyi army to withdraw from Deng and Jun prefectures back to Huaixi to rest and reorganize.
Zhang Xian’s words represented Prince Shou Yang Zhitang’s opinion. Qin Wen didn’t agree, and without Shen Yang’s permission, he wouldn’t rebut with fierce words, but that didn’t mean he had to disguise even his expression flawlessly.
In fact, at this time in court, those worried the western front situation would further deteriorate—besides Tangyi-affiliated ministers like Han Daoming, Chen Jingzhou, and Han Daochang—were not entirely absent…