“Though Wang Jun is crafty and treacherous, he’s more suitable to be a provincial governor than Gou Chun. So for the sake of Dajin, for our future development and stability, Gou Chun cannot hold the position of governor.”
Zhao Hanzhang continued, “Grand General, out of brotherly affection, you’ve been lenient with him many times. I know you wouldn’t let him relinquish the position of Governor of Qingzhou, so I could only persuade Wang Jun to seize it himself.”
Gou Xi sneered. “Such high-sounding words—isn’t it all to weaken my influence? What, do you want to be the next regent?”
The current Zhao Hanzhang was equivalent to what he had been two years ago. Two years ago, he had been single-mindedly determined to eliminate treacherous officials around the throne, to kill the Prince of Donghai and rescue the Emperor. Now, was Zhao Hanzhang also single-mindedly planning to eliminate him and take his place?
Meeting his sharp, probing gaze, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help smiling slightly. “I can promise the Grand General that unless you harm His Majesty, I will absolutely not become the first person beside His Majesty.”
Gou Xi stared at her eyes carefully, confirming she wasn’t lying, before slowly asking, “Then why does His Majesty want to move the capital back to Luoyang? Governor Zhao, you may want to be a regional commander, but your great-uncle grandfather may not be willing to remain a hostage forever. Holding the Emperor to command the lords—Magistrate Zhao’s ambitions are far greater.”
Zhao Hanzhang narrowed her eyes before saying, “The Grand General misunderstands. My great-uncle grandfather is a very good person.”
The two locked gazes, both inwardly snorting.
Gou Xi raised his chin toward the Buddha statue and asked, “This is your apology gift?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “This is the apology gift.”
Gou Xi didn’t believe it at all. “If you feel guilty toward Gou Chun, why did you confront him when entering the city?”
He thought this gift was a bribe.
Zhao Hanzhang blinked and said, “Who said I feel guilty toward Gou Chun? I never felt guilty toward him. I just don’t want him to damage the friendship between the Grand General and me. If I truly feel guilty toward anyone, it’s toward the Grand General.”
Zhao Hanzhang made no attempt to hide her disgust for Gou Chun, even turning around to sow discord between the brothers. “Grand General, I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you, but Minor General Gou Chun is really too foolish and domineering in his conduct. If he doesn’t change his character, he’ll likely cause you great trouble in the future.”
This time, Gou Xi said nothing.
Gou Xi’s advisors and subordinates had long been dissatisfied with Gou Chun. They were sitting behind a wooden screen near Gou Xi at that moment. Hearing Zhao Hanzhang’s advice, they all nodded in agreement.
Of course, with Zhao Hanzhang present, they couldn’t come out, nor was it appropriate to advise about Gou Chun in front of an outsider. They could only bring up other issues.
Zhao Hanzhang casually picked up a tea bowl to drink some water, nearly spitting it out from the burning sensation. She swallowed it down as calmly as possible, but being completely unprepared, and the liquor being quite strong, her eyes still reddened slightly.
Gou Xi noticed and couldn’t help smiling. He picked up his bowl and drank half of it in large gulps, putting it down and looking at her smugly.
Zhao Hanzhang instead raised the tea bowl to smell it carefully, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “How is this liquor brewed? It has almost no fragrance.”
Gou Xi said proudly, “The most wonderful thing about this liquor is precisely this—the fragrance is subtle yet the liquor is strong. If you let it sit a while longer, you can’t smell the liquor fragrance at all.”
He was about to introduce this liquor in detail when a servant approached to pour more liquor for Gou Xi. Zhao Hanzhang’s sharp eyes noticed him pull a slip of paper from his sleeve and give it to Gou Xi.
Zhao Hanzhang’s gaze seemed to land casually on the large screen behind him.
Her hearing was acute. Though she wasn’t skilled enough to hear people’s breathing, she could hear the sounds of grinding ink, arranging an inkstone, pulling out and arranging paper, and a brush tip moving across paper, even when their movements were very quiet.
Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes to sip the liquor, this time much more cautiously, taking only small sips without choking.
Gou Xi looked down to scan the words on the slip of paper, quickly crumpling it into a ball and holding it in his hand. He looked up at Zhao Hanzhang. “Two months ago, a force emerged in Jizhou, taking over a dozen cities in succession. Youzhou and Jizhou suffered severe drought, with rebellions everywhere, yet within his jurisdiction, there wasn’t a single uprising. Even neighboring counties submitted to join him. Does Governor Zhao know who their leader is?”
Zhao Hanzhang’s heart skipped a beat, but her expression remained unchanged as she nodded. “I know. Speaking of which, the Grand General should also know him. The leader is called Zu Ti. I’ve heard he was once an Imperial Prince Attendant, and when the Prince of Donghai was in power, he was even recruited as a staff officer, but he declined due to mourning his mother.”
Gou Xi said, “Zu Ti is also a renowned scholar. He and Liu Kun are good friends. I thought he was a loyal and righteous man. I didn’t expect that instead of accepting the court’s recruitment, he would privately gather refugees in Jizhou. Governor Zhao, what do you think his intentions are?”
Zhao Hanzhang set down her bowl and sat up straight. “Grand General, Zu Ti is currently seizing territory from Shi Lei and Liu Yuan, recovering lost lands.”
Gou Xi replied, “I fear his ambitions will grow larger and larger until they become uncontrollable.”
Zhao Hanzhang thought she wanted to curse inwardly, but said with a sigh, “Who could say otherwise? The great trends of the realm—today they favor your house, tomorrow they favor mine, the day after they favor his. Division and unity, unpredictable.”
Hearing this, Gou Xi was stunned for a moment, narrowing his eyes to ask, “Since you know the great trend will favor his house in the future, why not strangle him before he rises, preventing the trend from ever favoring his house?”
This wasn’t about wanting to eliminate Zu Ti—it was clearly about wanting to eliminate her.
After all, given the current situation, very likely his today was her tomorrow.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “If you kill one Zu Ti, there will still be Zhang Ti, Wang Ti, and Zhou Ti. When we focus all our energy on eliminating dissidents, those dissidents are very likely right beside us. So I don’t think it’s necessary to invest too heavily in this.”
“I became a provincial governor to protect my family and relatives, and to ensure the common people under my jurisdiction can live and work in peace. If I only focus on the power in my hands, what difference is there between me and those I once despised?” Zhao Hanzhang paused, then couldn’t help advising again, “Grand General, you are just and incorruptible. In earlier years, commoners praised you as a paragon of justice. At that time, your virtue in distinguishing right from wrong and judging impartially was praised even by my grandfather. I believe you can certainly distinguish what’s urgent from what’s important.”
“For us, the greatest enemy is still Liu Yuan and Shi Lei. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. In my view, for Dajin to recover all its lost territory, we must unite all forces that can be united. Never mind that Zu Ti is from an aristocratic family and quite the renowned scholar—even if he were an ordinary bandit or robber, as long as he can resist Liu Yuan and Shi Lei, I’d be willing to engage in friendly exchanges with him.”
Gou Xi frowned disapprovingly. “Bandits and robbers have no regard for law, low character—how can we cooperate with them?”
“As long as it benefits the overall situation and benefits the common people of Dajin, that’s enough. Some mistakes we can correct, and we can even temporarily set them aside, seeking only common goals and interests.”
Gou Xi said firmly, “No, I don’t agree!”
He looked at Zhao Hanzhang with displeasure. “Is this why Governor Zhao sold weapons to Zu Ti?”
So he even knew about this. Zhao Hanzhang suppressed her rapidly beating heart but smiled without speaking.
She didn’t know how much he had learned. If she panicked, the best approach was to smile first and not speak.
—