Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 122 The Emperor's Art of Controlling People

After returning to shore, Wang Shouzhen led his men away first, leaving only Wang Yuanbao there to assist and supervise Zhang Dai in withdrawing money and silk.

This was, after all, the eunuchs' territory. He had suddenly launched his attack upstairs, and if he lingered any longer, he feared being ambushed by Gao Chengxin's men. Even if there was no immediate danger to his life, a humiliation was inevitable.

Zhang Dai naturally had no such worries. He simply sent Wei Lin to the Wenluofang residence to inform Li Guang and others to bring men, horses, and carriages to transport the money and silk. He then returned to the pavilion at Gao Chengxin's invitation and sat down.

"Thank you for speaking up for justice, Liu Lang. Wang Shouzhen is a peculiar fellow. I took advantage of him before. If he continues to make a scene, I'm afraid I won't escape punishment either."

While it's impossible for Wang Shouzhen to kick the eunuch out immediately, if he were to seize upon the fact that Gao Chengxin had assaulted him and make a fuss about it, Gao Chengxin would certainly be in the wrong, and Gao Lishi would probably have to severely punish him to appease him.

Although the eunuchs ultimately won this contest, the Northern Imperial Guards still hold the advantage in the current situation.

If it weren't for the unbridled factionalism and corruption of Wang Maozhong and other generals of the Northern Army, which even aroused the emperor's vigilance and resentment, leading to his intervention, it would have been extremely difficult for the eunuchs to overthrow the Imperial Guards.

"Sixteenth Brother, there's no need to say more. You both know the truth. I have been kind to the Duke of Bohai, and I will never agree to the Crown Prince's plan!"

Zhang Dai first reiterated his stance before saying, "Just now, in order to keep the discussion going, I agreed to let the Crown Prince's servant take a larger share, but I also didn't want to be inferior to the Duke of Bohai."

"Today, Consort Hui has obtained five-tenths of the profit. I earnestly request that she set aside one-tenth as a gift to the Duke of Bohai. However, this is ultimately giving away other people's money. If it succeeds, all the better; if not, I hope you can find a way to compensate us elsewhere."

"Sixth Brother's words make me feel utterly ashamed! I was sent by Father to do this, but I was kidnapped by the bandit Wang first, and I relied on Sixth Brother's intervention for everything. Now I have to trouble Sixth Brother to put in even more effort. I am so ashamed!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Chengxin's face lit up with joy. He stood up from his seat, bowed to Zhang Dai, and said, "This matter concerns the food and clothing of many eunuchs, and I dare not pretend to be magnanimous and refuse. Whether or not it succeeds, I will remember the kindness of Sixth Brother and will repay it when I have the strength in the future!"

The scale of the money-making scheme is huge and the prospects are promising. Even a small gain or loss can involve an astonishing amount of money.

Currently, the benefits are being distributed among the three parties. Consort Hui, being the emperor's most favored concubine, receives 50% of the profits, and no one dares to question or object. However, the eunuchs are currently weaker than the Northern Imperial Guards, so it's impossible for them to take more.

Zhang Dai couldn't possibly help the eunuchs fight against the Imperial Guards. He could only advise them to give up a superficial advantage and try to gain more substantial benefits. At the same time, he could demonstrate the role he played in the matter, which was to genuinely help the eunuchs gain tens or even hundreds of thousands of strings of cash in additional income.

By relinquishing this portion of her benefits, Consort Hui could also gain the favor of the eunuchs, which was undoubtedly far more meaningful than a tedious numbers game. After all, compared to Gao Lishi and Wang Maozhong, who still had a large group of henchmen to support, Consort Hui really had nowhere to spend money.

Even this time, the idea to fund disaster relief was Zhang Dai's. This woman's ambition to become empress was strong, but she lacked concrete ideas and strategies. Zhang Dai's appearance undoubtedly helped her fill this gap.

"Liu Lang, although your plan for this flying money is very ambitious, the officials at the North Gate are always short-sighted and greedy, and I'm afraid they won't agree to your proposal."

After discussing this topic, Gao Chengxin continued, "Although Duke Huo seems to be powerful now, he has a flaw that is hard to hide and makes him a laughingstock: he is not a meritorious official of the Tang Dynasty..."

The so-called "Tang Yuan Gongchen" refers to those who, during the reign of Emperor Longzong of Tang, followed the current emperor in launching a coup and eliminating Empress Wei, Princess Anle, and other corrupt officials. They were called "Tang Yuan Gongchen" to avoid using the emperor's name.

These people were mainly Ge Fushun and other soldiers of the Northern Army's Ten Thousand Cavalry. After the current emperor ascended the throne, he appointed these people as Dragon Martial Officers. In the later period of the Kaiyuan era, the Northern Army's Ten Thousand Cavalry was officially reorganized into the Left and Right Dragon Martial Armies, which were mostly composed of meritorious officials of the Tang and Yuan dynasties and their sons.

Wang Maozhong was a servant in the former residence of the current emperor, and should have been among the meritorious officials of the Tang Dynasty. However, he was not. When the Tanglong Coup was about to happen, he was so frightened that he ran away and hid in the mountains for several days. He only returned after the coup succeeded.

However, the current emperor did not blame him too much. Instead, he regarded him as a confidant and entrusted him with important responsibilities. Over the years, he has been trusted and relied on him without doubt, which has allowed his power and official position to rise rapidly. Now he has become the number one person in the Northern Court.

The emperor's psychology is easy to understand. Firstly, Wang Maozhong was indeed shrewd and capable in managing the army and affairs, and he was a servant in the prince's residence rather than someone who later returned to the throne.

Secondly, it is better to use faults than merits. This person is inherently weak and easy to control. He is both a former prince and an unyielding outcast. Because of such a fatal flaw, he must rely even more on the emperor's grace.

This has always been the emperor's style of personnel selection; he is very willing to use people who have outstanding personal abilities but also have great shortcomings.

If someone is exceptionally capable and doesn't have any obvious flaws to exploit, he often doesn't like them. The most prominent example of this is Song Jing.

Song Jing was dismissed from his post as chancellor in the eighth year of the Kaiyuan era, but did not die until the twenty-fifth year of the Kaiyuan era. During the more than ten years in between, there was much infighting among the chancellors, which led to disharmony in government and unrest both inside and outside the country. However, the emperor never reinstated Song Jing to the government. Even in his later years, when he fled to Sichuan, the emperor still mocked him for "selling his integrity for fame".

If someone sells honesty their whole life, isn't that true honesty? What did people like Li Linfu and An Lushan sell that made them so open and trusting?
Because of his shameful deeds, despite being deeply favored by the emperor and possessing military skills, Wang Maozhong was still looked down upon by many of the meritorious officials of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Wang Maozhong also needed to use both kindness and severity, paying particular attention to bribing these meritorious officials of the Tang Dynasty in order to secure his position.

Therefore, his demand for money and silk was also extremely high. He not only recruited wealthy merchants like Wang Yuanbao to make money for him, but also recruited a large number of rich and powerful young men from the two capitals to serve as guards in the Northern Office and exempt them from taxes and corvée labor as a means of making money.

“The officials at the North Gate are greedy, despicable, and short-sighted. Although they are drawn by profit, if they do not reap sufficient rewards, they will inevitably harbor resentment and devise treacherous schemes. We must be wary of this!”

Gao Chengxin was revealing the secrets of the Northern Army's Imperial Guards, his aim being to continue winning over Zhang Dai and hoping to form a united front against the Northern Army.

Although Zhang Dai verbally agreed, he didn't take it to heart. With Consort Wu Hui behind him, as long as neither side crossed his bottom line, there was no need for him to get involved in their dispute.

He was able to withstand the pressure from the Northern Imperial Guards and insist on involving Gao Lishi's eunuch faction to share the profits. At the same time, he proposed a plan to not distribute dividends for five years and to focus on expansion. He had already exceeded his previous promises to Gao Lishi.

If the eunuchs want to plot further, or retaliate against the Northern Imperial Guards, then they will have to work on it themselves. This is not just Gao Lishi's responsibility, and Zhang Dai has no need to take on any more of the burden.

Moreover, making money isn't his priority right now. He's already arranged the profit distribution plan and operating model, so he doesn't need to worry about the specifics of the business afterward. At most, if other businesses need money, he can just withdraw some of his aunt's dividends.

As for how they argued and fought afterward, it had little to do with Zhang Dai. If things really turned into a mess and became unmanageable, he wouldn't mind being called back to clean up the mess, but of course, then things would have to be done according to his rules.

After chatting with Zhang Dai for a while, Gao Chengxin left first, leaving only some subordinates to cooperate. He was also acting under orders and did not have the same level of autonomy as Zhang Dai, so he naturally had to go back to report and seek instructions.

After Gao Chengxin left, Wang Yuanbao came up to Zhang Dai again and sighed helplessly, "If it weren't for Young Master Zhang's firm decision today, I'm afraid things would have been delayed for a long time."

These nobles, each relying on their power and fond of petty squabbles, are unwilling to make money through harmony. I, too, have had the privilege of visiting the powerful families of both capitals, and among them, only the young master, though noble, remains humble and does not abuse his power… In short, the young master's willingness to humble himself and lower himself to others has earned him respectful treatment, which truly pleases me.”

As he spoke, he realized he had gone too far with his flattery. Not long ago, Wei Jian had been forced to leave by force. He hadn't felt it himself, probably because he hadn't reached that level yet, and there hadn't been any conflict or dispute.

Zhang Dai didn't care that the guy changed his tune halfway through his flattery. After thinking for a moment, he asked Wang Yuanbao, "Wang Er often travels along the way, so he must know a lot about the scenery and people on both sides of the river. I want to arrange for people to leave the capital and collect some supplies along the way. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Trading goods is Wang Er's profession. May I ask what kinds of seasonal goods you wish to purchase, sir?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanbao immediately puffed out his chest and said with no small amount of pride.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai was delighted and immediately began to explain his plan to build weaving workshops along the Yellow River to provide relief to the disaster victims. This plan required not only the provision of weaving tools and materials, but also the supply of grain, food, and medical supplies.

Because we had no prior experience, we needed to prepare a thorough plan to ensure that every penny was spent effectively, so that the disaster relief efforts would not be ineffective despite the money being spent.

“Young master, you truly possess the heart of Buddha, benevolent and righteous. Such a good deed is truly moving! I have a servant who has just returned from Zizhou. I will inquire in detail about the disaster situation along the way and the details of the people’s suffering, so that I can prepare supplies!”

After hearing Zhang Dai's plan, Wang Yuanbao's expression immediately turned serious.

After a moment's thought, he continued, "Wang Er travels between the east and west to make a living by trading goods. Now that he has heard of your matter, young master, he should also do something to help. However, since most of his current wealth is tied to cash, and the matter is not yet settled, he dares not act rashly. He can only offer ten thousand strings of cash to help your righteous cause. I hope you will not find it too much!"

"Wang Er is also a righteous businessman, so I thank you in advance!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai couldn't help but look at Wang Yuanbao with new respect.

He did this with a grander plan and a more ambitious intention, and the money he provided was backed by his aunt, Consort Wu Hui. Wang Yuanbao was willing to take out tens of thousands of strings of cash to help the disaster victims just because he heard that he had this plan. It can indeed be called a heroic act!

(End of this chapter)