Taiheiki

Chapter 313 Doubt

"This—" Liu He hesitated for a moment, then carefully replied, "General, the manpower of the surrounding counties has already been exhausted. If we were to—"

"You don't need to worry about that. I don't plan to conscript laborers to build it!" Wei Cong said. "Instead, I plan to hire people with money and grain, or use the army to build it. Wouldn't that be better?"

"That's good, but where will the money and supplies come from?" Liu He asked.

"You don't need to worry about that!" Wei Cong laughed. "I'll use my own salary to make up for the shortfall!"

"Yes, sir!" Liu He responded, bowed, and withdrew. Wei Cong smiled. His salary was considerable, but far from enough to cover the tasks at hand. Of course, given his position, there were countless ways to raise money. The simplest was collecting taxes, followed by lending, and then various business ventures. For Wei Cong, the best method was undoubtedly a combination of tax collection and lending—first lending his own money to the state, then using the state's tax revenue to repay the principal and interest. This was the prototype of national debt, and the true secret to how Western European countries conquered the world.

"Send down the order to first take stock of how much gold, silver, and copper is in the Emperor's treasury!" Wei Cong said to the clerk beside him. "Give me an accurate report as soon as possible! Also, prepare the carriage; I am going to the palace to pay homage to the Empress Dowager!"

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West Palace, Hehuan Hall.

The palace was deep and spacious, with layers of gloom accumulating beneath the thick, gilded nanmu wood bases. Although it was daytime, palace lanterns were lit one by one, casting long, distorted shadows of the palace servants on either side of the smooth, mirror-like lacquered wooden floor, like question marks.

Wei Cong's eyes were slightly closed. The iron rims on the outer sides of the carriage wheels pressed against the bluestone floor, making a crisp sound. The carriage only stopped in front of the Forbidden City Gate. Wei Cong stepped down, and the palace gate slowly slid open before him, the creaking of the hinges making his ears ache. He slowly crossed the square in front of the Hehuan Hall, the hem of his robe brushing against the steps. Compared to his own small figure, the palace before him seemed far too magnificent. At this moment, Wei Cong suddenly recalled Xiao He's answer when Liu Bang questioned him about building the Changle Palace: "The emperor considers the four seas as his home; without magnificence, there is no way to project authority!" He now seemed to understand the meaning of those words.

Ascending the steps, the familiar Hehuan Hall came into view. The palace maids and eunuchs by the pillars had already bowed their heads and held their breath. They seemed to have become one with the shadows at their feet, and that kind of awe had seeped into their bones.

Wei Cong finally stopped. The imperial steps were right in front of him. Behind two layers of silk curtains, Dou Miao's voice was faint and uncertain, with only a general outline. The faint light of the pearls and jade on her head occasionally flickered in the shadows.

"Your subject pays respects to the Empress Dowager!" Wei Cong gave a symbolic bow to the figure behind the curtain. After a long day, he was already quite tired.

"General, please rise and take a seat!" Dou Miao's voice came from behind the curtain. A palace maid brought over a brocade cushion, and Wei Cong sat down with his back straight and his eyes level. He was a little surprised. What was wrong with the Empress Dowager today? Why did she suddenly seem so aloof? She was different from usual.

"The affairs of state are numerous and complicated, I am grateful for your help, General!" Dou Miao's voice came from behind the curtain, sounding somewhat distorted. Wei Cong frowned: "I dare not, it is only my duty!"

The hall fell silent again, with only the occasional soft crackling of the candlelight in the palace lanterns startling the palace maids standing nearby with their hands at their sides.

"What kind of trick is this woman playing?" Wei Cong frowned, but he was too lazy to speak, so he simply sat there calmly, as if he were on a stone bench under a tree in his own courtyard, rather than in the Hehuan Hall of the West Palace. Although he was only sitting on a brocade cushion, he was like a boulder thrown into the pool of water called "Palace," changing the pattern of every ripple, and forcing everything around him, even the person on the steps, to adapt to Wei Cong's presence.

"That damned bastard!" The woman behind the curtain bit her lip, her brows furrowed in resentment, the fragrance in the air unable to mask her silent tension. She could sense the man's rigidity beneath the surface of etiquette; such courtly audiences were never about the specific content of the conversation, but rather about everything else—the posture, the pauses, the forms of address, and all the subtle details.

"A-Yun just came to the palace!" Dou Miao's voice held a hint of liveliness: "It's about Runan!"

"Oh?" Wei Cong frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Let me lay it all out!" Dou Miao's patience was running out. She gestured for a palace maid to lift the curtain and said directly, "Is this how the matter in Runan ends? A-Yun is very dissatisfied? I am very dissatisfied too!"

"You're not satisfied either?" Wei Cong was stunned. He looked at Dou Miao with some surprise, thinking to himself, "Didn't you promise to help me persuade Dou Yun?"

"That's right!" Dou Miao waved her hand anxiously. "I did promise you before that I would persuade A-Yun, but times have changed!"

"Oh!" Wei Cong nodded, but in his heart he was wondering what had happened to make Dou Miao's attitude change so much.

"So, Your Majesty's meaning is—?"

“Ah Xuan is a member of our Dou family. Yuan Gonglu is nothing but a stray dog. His life alone is not enough!”

“Besides Yuan Shu, there was another person named Wu Jing who attempted to assassinate Ah Xuan, but he was away when the county soldiers were guarding the stronghold, so he escaped!” Wei Cong said in a deep voice, “However, Kuai Sheng has intensified his efforts to capture him, and it should only be a matter of time before he is caught!”

"Wu Jing isn't enough either!"

"So what you mean is?" Wei Cong frowned. "According to the facts that Kuai Sheng found out, the masterminds behind the assassination of Ah Xuan were only Yuan Shu and Wu Jing, and there were no others. These two only fled Luoyang because of the incident at Lugu. At most, they would execute all those involved in the assassination!"

"How can that be enough?" Dou Miao said angrily, "Yuan Shu was already a wanted criminal by the court after the Lugu case, but he was still able to gather a crowd to assassinate someone in Runan. He must have been protected by a local powerful family. How can these people be innocent!"

“Your Majesty!” Wei Cong stood up: “You clearly said before that the scholars of Guandong have always been stubborn and have only just been brought to peace. We must not allow them to descend into chaos again!”

"Does the General mean that executing a few traitors will restore peace to the land?" Dou Miao sneered. "I don't think so. Perhaps the General feels he is beyond his capabilities? That's fine, he can simply abdicate and pass the throne to a more capable person!" "Damn it, is this woman trying to kick me while I'm down?" Wei Cong felt a surge of anger rising to his head, and he almost cursed. He barely managed to suppress his rage. "I am not one to covet power. If you think there is a better candidate, you can choose someone else!" With that, Wei Cong flicked his sleeves and strode out of the hall.

As soon as he boarded the carriage, Wei Cong said coldly, "Someone, send a message to Asheng, tell him to come to my house immediately!"

"Here!"

Back at his residence, Wei Cong stormed into the inner chambers and said to Dou Yun, who had just come to greet him, "What did you say to His Majesty in the palace today? Why is she a completely different person?"

"I didn't say anything!" Dou Yun sneered. "I just reminded her that no matter what, she still has the surname Dou, and so does Ah Xuan!"

"What does this have to do with her surname?" Wei Cong said angrily. "The Dou family has already seized power over the world. Isn't it most beneficial for the Dou family to have a stable and peaceful world? No matter how important Dou Xuan is, he is still just an individual. He can't compare to an entire family, can he?"

"The power of the world is not in the hands of the Dou family!" Dou Yun pointed at Wei Cong: "Peace and tranquility in the world are not in the best interest of the Dou family!"

"You mean me?" Wei Cong smiled bitterly. "That's right, I do hold the power in the world, but aren't I the son-in-law of the Dou family?"

“You might not think that way!” Dou Yun said, pointing to a document on the table: “Take a look at what’s written on it.”

Wei Cong picked up the document and glanced at it. It was an imperial edict issued by the Ministry of Personnel a few days ago, which conferred the title of Lord of Poyang upon Lu Ping, with his fiefdom roughly encompassing Yuzhang Commandery. This edict had been rejected twice, but was ultimately forced to be issued.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?" Dou Yun sneered, "A mere woman, yet she receives the salary of an entire prefecture. Even the Empress and the Empress Dowager don't have that much. She was rejected once, then rejected a second time, and then she was forced to suppress it. How deeply affectionate you are. Is that female Taoist your legal wife or me?"

Now Wei Cong finally understood the sudden change in the Dou sisters' attitude towards him, and couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself: "Women, oh women!"

"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you feeling guilty?" Dou Yun's anger grew even stronger when she saw that Wei Cong remained silent.

“I have nothing to hide!” Wei Cong said, “You are indeed my legal wife, but my bestowal of the title of Lord of Poyang upon Daoist Lu and his fiefdom of a prefecture was not out of personal favoritism!”

"Why is that?" Dou Yun sneered. "Everyone knows that you and that female Taoist priest were inseparable before, like husband and wife, but you say it wasn't an affair. Who would believe that?"

“I did indeed spend a lot of time with Daoist Lu, and we were very close,” Wei Cong said in a deep voice. “But I am not the kind of person who can’t distinguish between what is important and what is not. That was before my marriage alliance with your Dou family. The reason I bestowed upon her the title of Lady of Poyang and granted her the fief of a prefecture was not out of personal affection, but because it was to better settle the hundreds of thousands of surrendered bandits and avoid endless troubles in the future!” After saying that, he revealed a little about Lu Ping’s identity.

"Is that woman the leader of the Moth Thieves?"

"She was only the leader of the Five Pecks of Rice sect, not the leader of the Moth Bandits. After all, Taoist arts were widely spread, and not all Taoists participated in the Moth Bandits!"

"No matter what, that woman is deeply involved with the Moth Thieves, yet you let her mingle with so many of them. Isn't this like raising a tiger to cause future trouble?"

"This isn't about raising tigers or not!" Wei Cong argued vehemently. "There are over a million refugees in the world today. They have no means of livelihood, which is why they worship Taoist magic and are misled by Taoist thieves, leading to the Moth Bandit Rebellion. Even if I quell the rebellion, these hundreds of thousands of Moth Bandits will still be there. There are many wolves and jackals among the prefects of the country today. If we hand them over to the prefects, they will rebel again in less than two years. Lu Ping, on the other hand, was originally in charge of dealing with these Moth Bandits in Yuzhang. She already has land leaders and farm leaders. Let her manage them, and let them farm for themselves. Isn't that a win-win situation?"

"Nonsense!" Dou Yun shook his head: "The court appointed you as a general to suppress the bandits. After you defeat them, you should have executed all the ringleaders and the most incorrigible ones. The rest should either be exiled to malarial lands or convicted of hard labor in cities or mines, as a warning to future generations. How can you take those who surrender to fertile lands and make them farm for themselves? If everyone acted like you, how could the unruly people of the world have any respect for the court? Wouldn't they just gather to attack and kill each other whenever they had the chance, and kneel down and beg for surrender when the government troops arrived? Who would want to be a good citizen?"

Upon hearing Dou Yun's words, Wei Cong felt a chill in his heart: "Ayun, those thieves may be thieves, but they are thieves because they have no other way out. How can we kill them all and send them to be forced into labor in the city and mines?"

"My lord, don't pretend to be merciful!" Dou Yun sneered. "Since you raised your army, how many hundreds of thousands have you killed? In my opinion, you're so kind to those bandits because you were in a hurry to seize power in Luoyang and were afraid of being held back by them. You value that female Taoist priest so much not because of her beauty, but more because you want to use her to control those bandits and make them your external allies, right? In your eyes, our Dou family is just like that woman, someone to be used temporarily. Once you're done with her, you'll step on her and rise to the top, is that it?"

Upon hearing Dou Yun's words, Wei Cong turned ashen-faced. He wanted to defend himself, but he felt he was at a loss for words. Perhaps he didn't think that way, but who could say she was wrong? Since transmigrating, he had been participating in the game of power, constantly devouring, killing, deceiving, and betraying. While constantly winning, the depths of his heart had long since degenerated into a true beast.

In many instances, he made decisions based on subconscious instinct rather than wisdom. For example, his decision not to massacre the surrendered bandits but instead to settle them in Yuzhang County could be interpreted as sympathy for the resistance of displaced peasants, or it could be interpreted as his intention to annex Zhang Huan and Feng Kun's armies and march on Luoyang to seize supreme power.

In this situation, settling the bandits was indeed a better option than massacring them. After all, apart from the main force that surrendered, there were still many remnants of the bandits stationed in Yuzhang, Danyang, Wujun, Lujiang, Jiujiang and other counties. After learning that the main force had surrendered and been massacred, they would certainly not dare to surrender to Wei Cong again. The ensuing war would inevitably become protracted, which was indeed very unfavorable for Wei Cong, who was already planning to march north to Luoyang.

In this situation, any explanation would be weak and ineffective, since even Wei Cong himself would find it difficult to be sure what he was thinking deep down at the time.

"Why are you arguing with me about this now?" Wei Cong sighed. "No matter what, those are all things of the past. She's in Yuzhang now, thousands of miles away from Luoyang. We're already husband and wife, what else could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"

"To become husband and wife?" Dou Yun sneered. "What does marriage mean to someone like you? After what happened with Ah Xuan, I've already seen through you. In your eyes, our Dou family is nothing more than a stepping stone for you to climb higher. Now you're using the lives of our Dou family to curry favor with the scholars of Runan. Who knows if you'll change your wife to another woman and wipe out our Dou family when you've grown powerful enough?"

"These are all just your own imagination!" Wei Cong sighed. "Why don't you tell me what I would do to make you believe me?"

(End of this chapter)