Li Xiong was now thirty-seven years old, in his prime years. His ancestral home was Baxi, and he was of the Di ethnic group. His father was called Li Te. During Emperor Hui’s time, he followed the displaced people migrating back to the Bashu region. Due to his merit in killing enemies, he was enfeathered as General Xuancheng and Marquis of Changle Township.
However, at that time the common people of Bashu truly had difficult lives, and the displaced people had it even harder. Perhaps because all the people he brought couldn’t survive while he alone held office felt very meaningless, so he raised his arms in a cry and led everyone in yet another uprising.
That’s right—Zhao Hanzhang classified their father and son’s rebellion as an uprising. Later, Li Te was killed, and Li Te’s eldest son Li Dang also died in battle. Li Xiong then took up his father’s burden, leading the rebel army in charging left and right through Bashu. At one point Li Xiong was scattered and nearly killed, but he persisted in not surrendering. In the end, he carved out a territory for himself.
Seven years ago, he declared himself King of Chengdu. Five years ago, he simply proclaimed himself emperor. However, Bashu as a region wasn’t unified—there were still Jin officials persisting within.
As the Grand Commandant and Grand General of the Great Jin, she naturally couldn’t publicly say that Li Xiong’s uprising—no, rebellion—was good, praise it as wonderful, right?
But standing from the position of the Shu people, after Li Xiong unified his territory, the people’s lives were indeed somewhat better than under Jin rule.
Putting herself in their shoes, Zhao Hanzhang felt that if she were a Shu person, she would definitely welcome Li Xiong too, not the Jin state.
The Sima family had only unified Shu for a few years, hadn’t they?
Among the common people, there were still many who missed the Seasonal Han Dynasty.
So toward Shu, Zhao Hanzhang had always adopted an attitude of conciliation and cooperation.
When she was in Yuzhou, she encouraged civilian merchants to trade with Shu. She was delighted with the grain and cloth that Shu sent out. Zhao Hanzhang even had Zhu Chuan establish a glass workshop in Shu.
Because of this, Li Xiong’s impression of Zhao Hanzhang was quite good.
However, impressions were private feelings. Though important, at the national level, they actually weren’t that important.
Li Xiong met with Zhao Xin. Before seeing him, he had already discussed with his ministers the conditions they wanted to propose.
So he was fairly straightforward. He had always treated Princess Hongnong and the Prince Consort with courtesy. Now that Zhao Hanzhang wanted to bring them back, that was fine, but she must agree to several conditions.
One: Acknowledge Bashu’s independence and recognize the State of Cheng.
Two: Transfer all Jin officials from Hanjia Commandery and other regions out of Bashu, and no longer interfere in Bashu’s internal affairs.
Three: Establish diplomatic relations between the two nations as brother states, open tea and horse markets, and engage in mutual trade.
Zhao Xin: …The wishful thinking is quite beautiful. Is this in a dream? Just thinking it makes it so?
Zhao Xin directly refused Li Xiong and moreover demanded to see Princess Hongnong and the Prince Consort.
Li Xiong naturally also refused him and had someone lead him away.
Zhao Xin moved into the guest house. His people had already toured the vicinity and reported, “There are people from the Cheng court all around. I bought things all around the area and already spread the word that we’re staying in the guest house, but I don’t know when people will come find us.”
Zhao Xin lifted his robe to kneel on the mat, poured himself a cup of water, and said, “Now we wait.”
The personal guard was very puzzled. “Envoy Zhao, why didn’t we just bring a radio? Then we wouldn’t need to wait for them.”
Zhao Xin glanced at him. “Can you control this person Li Xiong?”
The personal guard’s face flushed red as he lowered his head. “This subordinate naturally lacks that ability.”
“I don’t have it either,” Zhao Xin said. “Even the Grand General doesn’t have it. Since we can’t predict what this person will do, how dare we carry such an important thing with us?”
What if they were captured as soon as they entered Shu, or directly beheaded? The equipment would fall into Li Xiong’s hands.
Although he might not be able to use it, such treasures should absolutely prevent any risk of exposure. So Zhao Hanzhang simply didn’t give them any, and Zhao Xin hadn’t thought to ask for one. They could contact Luoyang through agents in Shu—oh no, scouts.
Ahem, one’s own side calls them scouts; the enemy side calls them spies. Not a problem at all.
The next day, Zhao Xin handed the letter he had written the previous night to two soldiers to send out, then went to the main street for breakfast. After finishing breakfast, he had made contact with the intelligence operatives in Shu.
Strolling back to the guest house, shutting the door and turning his back, Zhao Xin immediately took out the paper slip from his palm to look at it.
On it was their contact method and time. The corners of Zhao Xin’s mouth couldn’t help but curve upward. He tossed the paper slip into his teacup to soak. After the characters dissolved and the paper softened, he held up the teacup with a disgusted expression. He brought it to his lips several times but ultimately handed it to his personal guard. “You eat it.”
Personal guard: …
He took it expressionlessly, drank all the water in the cup in one gulp, and chewed and swallowed the paper as well.
Zhao Xin sat cross-legged and told him, “Tomorrow we need to go out for another round.”
The personal guard bowed in acknowledgment. “Yes.”
They were about to start transmitting messages.
Zhao Xin: “Send people to investigate Princess Hongnong’s residence and circumstances, using both covert and overt methods.”
Two days later, when Li Xiong, who had ignored him for three days, asked about Zhao Xin, the official monitoring him gave a detailed report of his movements over the past three days. “After the audience, he sent people to Luoyang with a letter, presumably to consult Zhao Hanzhang. After that, he wandered around the city investigating our situation and secretly sent people to inquire about Princess Hongnong’s residence.”
The official paused before asking, “Your Majesty, should we restrict his movements and forbid him from leaving the guest house?”
Li Xiong’s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, “He only did these things, nothing else?”
Official: “Nothing else.”
Li Xiong looked at Fan Changsheng and asked, “What does the Prime Minister think?”
Fan Changsheng lowered his eyes in thought for a moment before saying, “Investigate everyone he’s been in contact with and every shop he’s entered over these three days.”
He told Li Xiong, “Zhao Xin is a member of Zhao Hanzhang’s clan and has represented Zhao Hanzhang in diplomatic missions to the front lines. If he had to consult Zhao Hanzhang on everything before making decisions, his head would have been chopped off long ago.”
“As an envoy, he must have discretionary authority. Even if he cannot agree to all three conditions Your Majesty proposed, he must have points he can negotiate on. Yet he hasn’t made any clear statement, obviously trying to stall for time.”
Fan Changsheng continued, “The Zhao family used various families’ influence to establish glass workshops in Shu. They certainly didn’t do it just for our Shu grain and cloth. I’ve always suspected they have spies here. Zhao Xin’s actions may be to contact them.”
“Even if he contacts them, it takes time for messages to get out. Could Zhao Xin actually dare to secretly abduct people?” A general said, “The Shu roads are difficult to travel. If they dare to secretly take Princess Hongnong away, we will make sure they have no way out.”
“And then have Zhao Hanzhang send troops to attack Cheng?” Fan Changsheng said coldly, “Right now our relationship with Zhao Hanzhang is even better than Zhao Hanzhang’s relationship with the Prince of Langya. Why would we foolishly antagonize her?”
Li Xiong deeply agreed and nodded.
But others had different opinions. “General, the Shu roads are difficult to travel—easy to defend, hard to attack. Even if we antagonize her, as long as we control Hanzhong, even if she had wings, she couldn’t fly in. What is there to fear?”
“But right now Hanzhong is in Fu Zhi’s hands.”
“That’s just a facade. Hanzhong has suffered famine for years. In these past years alone, nearly seventy to eighty thousand have starved to death. The displaced people there will sell their lives for a handful of rice. No matter how prestigious Fu Zhi is, that’s only among the aristocratic families. The common people don’t buy that. If you ask me, we should hang Princess Hongnong in front, force the Jin army to retreat, then we seize Hanzhong. Only then will Zhao Hanzhang truly have no way to deal with us.”