novelAbuy Chapter 34: Waiting for the Right Opportunity
Chapter 34: Waiting for the Right Opportunity
The night wind carried the chill of Kaifeng, causing the lanterns at the alley entrance to sway incessantly. The dim yellow light fell on Zhao Guangmei's red-rimmed eyes, which were filled with stubbornness.
The three of them did not stay outside for long, but returned to the Li residence. However, Zhao Guangmei still refused to let him go back to his room to hug the bed warmer that Li Chuyun had assigned to him. Instead, she and Li Jilong crawled into Wang Lu's bed together.
He went from being a bed warmer to a bed warmer.
He kept asking him, "Explain yourself clearly, what opportunity is my elder brother waiting for, and under what circumstances, to restore military discipline?"
Wang Lu had no choice but to explain to him, saying, "It's already quite an achievement that the government can restrain the army from massacring cities and raiding markets. At least they only dare to act so recklessly at night. After all, there's a curfew at night, and no witnesses. It's hard to avoid these small-scale extortions and robberies."
"I don't want to hear any of that. I want you to tell me the timing. You've told me the timing, but what exactly is the timing? When is it time to reorganize the army?"
Wang Lu countered by asking Zhao Guangmei, "Do you know what promises the Emperor made to the army on the day of the Chenqiao Mutiny?"
"It's nothing more than strictly forbidding them from robbing the people, and promising them generous rewards afterward."
"Has the Emperor rewarded the soldiers handsomely?"
"Of course he'll reward me..." she said, sounding a little guilty.
"In the past, Li Congke, in order to reward his soldiers, stripped the Empress and Empress Dowager of their clothes and jewelry, and kidnapped wealthy households in Luoyang, torturing them to extract money. The soldiers were still not satisfied, and in the end, they had no choice but to let him do as he pleased."
Before Li Congke was Li Siyuan, whose reign was marked by a period of recuperation and rejuvenation for the Tang Dynasty, known as the "Restoration."
"The late emperor... Emperor Shizong, I suppose. During his reign, which lasted a little over six years, there was war almost every year, and all of them were major wars, national wars. Incidentally, he also repaired the Yellow River, expanded Kaifeng, and before his death, he launched a large-scale campaign against the Khitan."
Although the battle didn't succeed, military supplies were still depleted. The Third Prince thinks that between the treasury Emperor Shizong left to the Emperor and that of Li Siyuan, whose treasury was thicker?
"Your Majesty, you didn't strip the Empress and Empress Dowager of their clothes and jewelry, did you? And as far as I know, Your Majesty hasn't even emptied the national treasury."
They definitely didn't move everything. They still had to conquer Li Jun and Li Chongjin, and there were two more rounds of the "releasing military power over a cup of wine" ceremony.
From this perspective, Wang Lu truly admired Zhao Kuangyin; it's likely that Zhao Kuangyin barely paid his soldiers anything after changing the dynasty.
In this context of the Five Dynasties period, the fact that he was able to restrain his soldiers from raiding cities and massacring entire populations demonstrates that his control over the army far surpassed that of other monarchs since the Five Dynasties.
Zhao Guangmei sighed and said, "Actually, it's difficult. Just yesterday, my sister-in-law, who is now the Empress, was severely reprimanded by my elder brother because her carriage had gilded decorations. He then ordered that all the gilding be removed and put into the national treasury."
"But you're right, there really isn't much money in the national treasury. Since the late Tang Dynasty, the military has been like this, with soldiers being arrogant and generals being fierce. Compared to them, my elder brother really can't be described as giving them a generous reward."
"So, some soldiers inevitably feel unbalanced and unsatisfied, so they extort and plunder at night. Even if the officials find out, it's not easy to control them. It's better than massacring the city, right?"
"If we really kill these few ruffians today to uphold military law, what if the soldiers riot and demand generous rewards from the officials? What then?"
"Therefore, Your Majesty must wait until the Imperial Guards have vented their anger, have finished their looting and reaped some rewards, and have even robbed those they shouldn't have, before punishing one of your own confidants. Only in this way can you legitimately establish the authority of the Imperial Guards and rectify their discipline."
What Wang Lu was referring to was, of course, the historically famous case of Wang Yansheng extorting Wang Pu.
One night, Wang Yansheng, the inspector of Kaifeng, broke down the door of Prime Minister Wang Pu's house in the middle of the night, saying that his brothers were cold and hungry while on patrol and wanted to find Wang Pu to relieve themselves.
Instead of giving him money, Wang Pu had his cook prepare a good meal and drinks for Wang Yansheng and his companions, and even treated them to drinks. He then pretended to be confused and sent them away.
The next day, Wang Pu complained to Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Kuangyin was furious when he heard this and wanted to kill Wang Yansheng. However, after many people pleaded for him, he took into consideration Wang Yansheng's bravery and demoted him to the position of militia commander.
Generally, this incident is used to prove that Zhao Kuangyin was extremely strict in governing his army, but there is a problem: this incident occurred in mid-April, while the Chenqiao Mutiny took place on the fourth day of the first lunar month.
In other words, when Wang Yansheng extorted Wang Pu, the Song Dynasty had already been established for more than four months. Li Jun rebelled in April. When Zhao Kuangyin dealt with this matter, news of Li Jun's rebellion had already reached Kaifeng. Zhao Kuangyin dealt with Wang Yansheng and then immediately led his troops to personally lead an expedition against Li Jun.
So, during those four months, did Wang Yansheng and the Kaifeng Imperial Guards remain completely undisturbed until just before the expedition began?
He even dared to extort money from Wang Pu, the prime minister, by knocking on doors in the middle of the night. What about other officials? What about ordinary people?
To put it bluntly, when news of Li Jun's rebellion reached the capital, the people were in a state of panic. At the time, rumors were circulating that Li Jun had secretly colluded with the Khitans to repeat the stories of Shi Jingtang and Du Chongwei, which is why Zhao Kuangyin orchestrated this event to stabilize public sentiment.
And that is the opportune moment.
Wang Yansheng was originally his confidant, and with four months already passed since the founding of the country, they should have had enough looting. Coupled with Li Yun's rebellion and the country's crisis, this was the perfect opportunity for him to use the pretext of dealing with Wang Yansheng to rectify military discipline. This was a top-notch strategy that achieved twice the result with half the effort.
Wang Lu even suspected that this was not the first time Wang Yansheng had extorted the prime minister, and that Wang Pu had been instructed by Zhao Kuangyin to step forward and stage a charade.
Wang Lu didn't want to explain in too much detail to Zhao Guangmei, but he got the gist of it. Zhao Guangmei wasn't stupid, and she understood.
"Go to sleep, stop thinking about it. Everything is under the Emperor's control. You're just a younger brother, with an older brother above you and the eldest prince below you. Just be a carefree and leisurely prince. You don't need to worry about national affairs."
"Your Majesty is wise and powerful; everything is under his control. Rest assured, the Song Dynasty has a long lifespan. Go to sleep; I'm tired."
As he spoke, Wang Lu turned over, embraced Li Jilong, and fell asleep.
These two guys sandwiched him in the middle.
Throughout the night, Wang Lu and Li Jilong snored softly, but their snores rose and fell intermittently. Zhao Guangmei, however, had red eyes and couldn't fall asleep.
Since then, Zhao Guangmei has not mentioned the night patrol for several days. Instead, she spends more and more time learning to cook with Wang Lu and less and less time reading classical texts. She also stops playing with falcons and doesn't explain why.
Wang Lu didn't care what he thought. Anyway, learning to cook wouldn't cause any trouble and wouldn't affect him.
...............
Meanwhile, in Tongjifang, the number of people exchanging mud for food was increasing every noon. The clay needed to make red bricks had been scraped away from the foundation near Bianliang City, which was a kind of "sky-high" situation, and there was simply not enough time to make them.
Wang Jun wasn't strict with the rules. He had initially promised to treat him to a meal if he sold him 100 jin of clay, but now he didn't care anymore. He just took 10 or 2 jin at random, and no one recorded it. He could just take the meal directly.
Wang Jun could not and dared not accept this prestige. He always told the outside world that it was the Second King who was hosting the banquet. In a short time, Zhao Guangyi's prestige in Kaifeng City soared and reached its zenith.