Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 177 Three Treasures
As Zhao Huai'an led his entourage of loyal followers, preparing to enter the city like country bumpkins, one of his men looked blankly at the city of Kaifeng and the endless military camps outside.

Zhao Huai'an noticed this and asked with a smile:
"Old Yao, what's wrong? You're from Xuzhou, after all. Xuzhou isn't that much worse than Bianzhou, so why do you act so ignorant compared to us? Don't be like that, or the people of Bianzhou will look down on us!"

This man was Yao Xingzhong, a former general of Pang Xun. After being saved by Zhao Huai'an, he stayed with the Baoyi Army to repay the debt of gratitude. At this time, he was a junior officer under the command of the general.

The armored soldiers from Xuzhou who went into battle with Yao Xingzhong at the time asked him why he had joined Zhao Huai'an. This is what they said:
“In the past, Xu Ying took us in, giving us, these homeless dogs, a place to rely on. So we fought to the death to repay him. On that day, we put our lives on the line to repay his kindness. Now, Lord Zhao has saved us, which is a life-saving grace for us. So of course we should give our lives to repay Lord Zhao’s kindness.”

These words persuaded the thirty-odd armored soldiers, and they all surrendered to Zhao Huai'an. Thus, the five commanders of the Baoyi Army gained more than thirty armored soldiers, and their commanders gained a fierce general.

After hearing Yao Xingzhong's words, Zhao Huai'an sighed to the generals, saying that Old Yao was a man who clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment.

Upon hearing Zhao Huai'an's question, Yao Xingzhong quickly bowed and explained:

"My lord, it's not that I'm ignorant, but this place reminds me of six years ago."

Zhao Huai'an was puzzled:
"Six years ago? Pang Xun started a rebellion? What does that have to do with Bianzhou?"

Yao Xingzhong replied:
"My lord, six years ago, Kang Chengxun of the imperial court convened a grand meeting of all the vassal states in Bianzhou to confront us. Our army's attack on Song and Bo was aimed at opening up the route to Bianzhou, so as to completely destroy this lifeline of the imperial court. That's why I am moved to see such a large army gathered outside Bianzhou today."

Zhao Huai'an then understood, and asked Zhang Guinian beside him:
"Old Zhang, the imperial court gathered troops in Kaifeng before attacking Pang Xun, and now it's gathering troops in Kaifeng again to sweep through Cao and Pu prefectures. Is there any reason for this?"

Zhang Guinian explained:

"My lord, Bianzhou is a vital strategic location, controlling the flow of boats and carriages, the throat of Hebei, and the transportation route between Huaihe and Huzhou. Moreover, only here can we store rice for an army of over 100,000. This place is comparable to Xingyang in the Former Han Dynasty. Whenever we wage war against Guandong, Bianzhou is the place to gather troops."

Zhao Huai'an suddenly realized, patted Yao Xingzhong on the shoulder, and joked:

"It's alright. Once we get to Kaifeng, we'll see the elegance of Bianzhou. Hahaha."

With that one sentence, Zhao Liu and Fatty Dou chuckled, especially Fatty Dou, whose eyes widened in surprise as he shouted:
"No, no, it can't be too plain."

The crowd burst into laughter, until a group of knights came galloping up from the long dike on the shore, their leader shouting:

"But when the Huainan army arrived, I was Pei Di, the military commander, who was ordered by the governor to guide your army to set up camp."

……

After Zhao Huai'an disembarked, he saw a small, middle-aged man with a round face smiling at him.

Zhao Huai'an knew then that Pei Di must be related to Old Pei from Rongzhou. Sure enough, when Pei Di saw Zhao Huai'an's parasols, flags, and ceremonial guards descend, he ran over with a smile and bowed.

"I am Pei Di, the Transport Commissioner, and I have come to meet my son-in-law, haha!"

Zhao Huai'an felt a little awkward. He felt overwhelmed by Pei Di's inexplicable familiarity and coughed.
"I don't know how to address Mr. Pei?"

Pei Di then introduced Zhao Huai'an to his relationship with Pei Ke, the governor of Rongzhou. The two were cousins ​​from the same branch of the family. He was the thirteenth son, and his family called him Thirteenth Brother.

Meanwhile, after Pei Di finished his introduction, Pei Desheng, the judge of the shogunate behind Zhao Huai'an, also came out to bow to Pei Di and called him "Uncle Thirteen".

Pei Di laughed heartily and joked in front of everyone:

"I never imagined that the little Bao who used to play in the park would look like a grown-up. Not bad, not bad, keep up the good work."

Pei Desheng also felt embarrassed for his uncle, who was still calling him by his childhood nickname at this time.

Sure enough, when the Gwangju shogunate's entourage heard that Pei Desheng's nickname was Pei Xiaobao, they all covered their mouths and chuckled.

After Pei Di finished speaking, he turned to Zhao Huai'an and said:

"Zhao Da, we know about your situation and support you. A hero like you is worthy of our Pei family's daughter. Stay in Bianzhou for a few more days; my Yunniang is already on her way, haha!"

As he spoke, Pei Di punched Zhao Huai'an, implying that he had struck gold.

Zhao Huai'an thought of Cui Shijun's imposing figure and then looked at the Pei brothers' distinctively large faces. He felt uneasy and could only chuckle foolishly.

Then Pei Di laughed even more heartily, truly treating Zhao Da as one of his own.

Then, guided by Pei Di, Zhao Huai'an led his army into a wide-open camp.

This place is located on the south bank of the Bian River, already in the eastern part of the city. Then, the Xuanwu military commissioner began to arrange for the two armies of Huainan to set up camp.

These matters were to be arranged by Wang Jin and the others, while Zhao Huai'an and Pei Di chatted idly outside the Bian River.

At this moment, Zhao Huai'an looked at the Bian River not far away, where ships lined up one after another for thousands of miles, with official vessels and merchant ships coming and going in an endless stream.

sighed:
"Your Bianzhou is so prosperous!"

Meanwhile, the man standing next to him, Pei Di Shisanlang, chuckled and said:

“Our Bian River, which connects rivers and lakes and benefits the South China Sea, brings half the wealth of the world, as well as all kinds of goods from the mountains and lakes. It is prosperous, of course. If it were to become less prosperous, that would be a time of great chaos in the world.”

Zhao Huai'an was taken aback, feeling that the officials of Bianzhou were indeed arrogant, but they certainly had the means to do so. In the short time he stood there, tribute ships from Fujian and the Jianghuai region arrived in an endless stream, and there were even many seagoing vessels that went directly into the Bian River. Just the taxes levied on these ships could probably support an army of ten thousand.

So rich!

Zhao Huai'an asked:
"Thirteenth Uncle, what wonderful sights does our Bianzhou have?"

At this moment, in the crowd behind Zhao Huai'an, an armored warrior holding a lance listened attentively to Zhao Huai'an's address and suddenly realized what was going on.

Our magistrate has quite the smooth tongue. Pei Di must have just met the magistrate for the first time, yet he casually uttered the title "Thirteenth Uncle." Furthermore, just now, in front of that former general of Pang Xun, the magistrate referred to Pang Xun's rebellion as "starting an uprising."

Ah, no wonder this governor of Guangzhou has so many talented civil and military officials under his command. I, Yang, am no match for them. I should just honestly work under his command to make contributions.

The person harboring these resentments was none other than Yang Yanqing, the eldest son of the Yang family of Yinshan Pass, who had been captured by Gao Renhou earlier.

When Gao Renhou first captured him, this man was full of resentment and cursed Gao Renhou for not being a hero. But when Zhao Huai'an led three hundred elite cavalry to charge down a mountain stronghold of nearly ten thousand bandits, he fell silent.

Later, his younger brother came to persuade him to surrender, and Yang Yanqing obediently surrendered and became a warrior under Zhao Huai'an.

As soon as this man entered the camp, he immediately defeated all the generals without being able to defeat him. Later, Sun Tai wrestled with him and subdued him on the ground.

This shows Yang Yanqing's courage! No wonder he also has a strong desire to achieve great things.

As Yang Yanqing was inwardly grumbling, a warrior of similar height beside him, also clad in armor and wielding a spear, with a feathered helmet on his head, nudged him with his elbow and whispered:
"Old Yang, didn't the magistrate just say he'd take us to the city for some fun? We're in for it!"

Yang Yanqing looked at the boy with disdain and said:
"Wang Yanzhang, you brat, are you even fully grown yet? You're already thinking about women? Focus on honing your skills in the camp! You're at the perfect age to hone your martial arts. Look at Liu Zhijun from Flying Tiger Capital, ask him if he's going!"

"If you still want to become a peerless warrior who can defeat ten thousand men, then listen to your brother's advice and stay away from women."

Wang Yanzhang was a little discouraged. He had just asked a few of Zhao Wenzhong's peers, and they all gave the same answer: if any of them dared to go, their godfather would break their legs.

With a sigh, Wang Yanzhang gazed at the bustling city of Bianzhou in the distance, feeling a pang of sadness.

"Hey, we've come all this way, it's a shame not to go to the city."

Then he heard Yang Yanqing looking at him strangely and say:
"Who's talking to you and us? I, Old Yang, am going to the city to have some fun. If we don't go, who will protect the magistrate's safety?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yanzhang was incredulous and trembled with anger as he said:

"Didn't you just say that to become a hero capable of defeating ten thousand men, you have to stay away from women?"

Yang Yanqing grinned, puffed out his chest, revealing an explosively muscular physique beneath his heavy armor, and laughed:
"Yes, but I'm already invincible! Aren't you going to enjoy yourself?"

At this moment, Wang Yanzhang gritted his teeth, wanting only to grow up quickly so that he could teach this old Yang a lesson!
Damn it! ...

"Thirteenth Uncle, what wonderful sights does our Bianzhou have?"

When Pei Di heard this address, he was overjoyed and quickly replied with a smile:

"Zhao Da, our Bianzhou has three treasures. Do you know what they are?"

Zhao Huai'an shook his head. He knew about the three treasures of Northeast China, but what three treasures did Bianzhou have?
Then Pei Di appeared, half sighing and half proud:
"The three treasures of Bianzhou are three jade belts, one golden Buddha statue, and 100,000 soldiers."

Zhao Huai'an didn't understand, then he heard Pei Di point to the Bian River in front of him and proudly say:
"These three jade belts are the Bian River before us, the Pipa Canal you came from, and the Zhan Canal to the north, which leads directly to Cao Yan and is also the main waterway for your subsequent military campaigns. Zhao Da, tell me, are these three jade belts a treasure of Bianzhou?"

Zhao Huai'an admitted that he had been tricked by Pei Di and nodded honestly.

Then Pei Di said:
"Of these three jade belts, the Bian River before us is the most precious! Every year, seven million shi of grain are transported from the Jianghuai, Huzhou, and Zhejiang regions to the capital. Apart from the six hundred thousand shi transported from Pipa Canal, almost all of the rest comes from this Bian River. It can be said that this river has supported our Tang Dynasty and kept it from collapsing!"

Zhao Huai'an clearly heard Pei Di's words, "The great building will not collapse," because the other meaning of these words was obvious: the Tang Dynasty was already beginning to crumble, and it was only because the Bian River held it up that it did not collapse completely.

This one sentence alone gave Zhao Huai'an a completely different perspective on the round-faced, overly friendly man in front of him.

Clearly, Pei Di didn't realize what he had blurted out and continued speaking:

"And the second scenic spot in Kaifeng is our Xiangguo Temple."

Zhao Huai'an was clearly stunned when he heard this. He knew about Xiangguo Temple. Wasn't it the place where Lu Zhishen uprooted the willow tree?
But wasn't that during the Northern Song Dynasty? There's already a Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng now.
Then he heard Pei Di talk about the situation at Xiangguo Temple.

It turns out that Xiangguo Temple was originally just an ordinary temple, but its location was exceptionally good, said to be a feng shui treasure land for Buddhism. It is said that it was once the residence of Lord Xinling.

When this temple was first built, it wasn't called Daxiangguo Temple; it was called Jianguo Temple.

However, due to societal aversion to Buddhist temples, which were seen as corrupt practices of robbing the people of their food to feed the greedy and stripping thousands of people of their clothes to fund construction, Emperor Ruizong later decreed that each prefecture in the empire could only have one temple, and all others were considered illegal.

At that time, there was another large temple in Bianzhou called Anye Temple, which was officially owned, while Jianguo Temple was a self-organized temple. Therefore, Jianguo Temple was to be demolished and merged into Anye Temple.

Then a miracle occurred.

When the Maitreya Buddha was being moved, no fewer than ten thousand people were mobilized. But just as the Buddha statue was about to be moved, golden light suddenly appeared, illuminating the heavens and the earth. The people of the whole city were amazed by this rare sight. Hearing this story from far and near, they flocked to pay their respects and made donations as plentiful as mountains.

This matter also reached Emperor Ruizong, who, in view of such a Buddhist site, ordered the temple to be preserved and instead incorporated the government's Anye Temple into it.

Finally, Emperor Ruizong renamed the temple, and because he himself was the Prince Xiang when he was a prince, he bestowed upon the temple the name "Da Xiangguo Temple".

After that, Daxiangguo Temple was transformed into a royal temple, and as Bianzhou became more and more prosperous, people from all over the country came to visit, making the temple even more prosperous.

Finally, Pei Di said one more thing to Zhao Da:
"The Qinglian Hermit also visited the Great Xiangguo Temple back then. Today is the night before New Year's Eve. The temple is already lit up for three days and is very lively. I'll take you into the city later so you can see for yourself."

Zhao Huai'an nodded. It's cruel to say, but having been in the Tang Dynasty for so long, all he's ever known is fighting on the battlefield. He's never seen the prosperity and splendor of his ancestors.

However, what Zhao Huai'an cared about most was the third treasure of Bianzhou that Pei Di mentioned: 100,000 victorious soldiers.

He asked Pei Di somewhat uncertainly:

“Thirteenth Uncle, you just said that the third treasure of Bianzhou is 100,000 victorious soldiers. That should just be a figure of speech, right?”

Pei Di shook his head and said to Zhao Huai'an:

"Of course not, because my Bianzhou really has 100,000 victorious soldiers. Since the An Lushan Rebellion, my Bianzhou has been the most important place in Henan, governing thirteen prefectures in the Central Plains. It has successively absorbed 93,000 soldiers from the western part of the capital to defend against the autumn floods. Since then, the number of soldiers in my Xuanwu Army has been the same."

Upon hearing Pei Di's words, Zhao Huai'an gasped and couldn't help but look towards the north of the camp, where there was also a large area of ​​densely packed barracks.

At first, he thought these were troops from outside the capital region, but he didn't expect them to be their own troops.

One hundred thousand, my God.

With money, soldiers, the benefits of the Grand Canal, and a central location, Zhao Huai'an was tempted.

Zhao Huai'an wanted to continue asking about the Xuanwu Army, but it was clear that Pei Di didn't have much affection for these 100,000 soldiers and was unwilling to say more.

So Zhao Huai'an gave up and decided to ask more questions at the banquet later.

The camps in Huainan and the other two prefectures were quickly set up. After the military officers of the two prefectures arranged the personnel to stay in the camp according to the duty roster, the others gathered over.

They all planned to go to the city with Zhao Huai'an to broaden their horizons.

Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Pei Di clapped his hands and said to Zhao Huai'an:

"Listen to my arrangements today. Let's go to the Profit Building for a banquet first. There, you'll find delicacies like braised bear paws, seafood, and salty crab claws. There are also dancers from all over the country, with all kinds of beauties, from plump to slender."

"Then later we'll go to the Daxiangguo Temple to visit the lantern festival. We can just browse around there. It mainly features women from wealthy families in the city. If you find someone you like, it might just lead to a good match."

"Finally, let's go to the Golden Powder Pavilion. That's where the three true treasures of Bianzhou are located, hehehe."

Seeing Pei Di's dissolute appearance, the group of Bao Yi chuckled, their hearts itching with envy.

But Zhao Huai'an still had to keep up the act for a while, after all, he was going on a blind date with that girl's niece later, and he couldn't reveal his true colors so early.

So he made a hypocritical statement:

"Just have a drink and watch the dance, that's enough. My brothers aren't those kinds of people."

His words left all the Bao Yi generals present speechless.

My lord, could you have misjudged our brothers?

But Pei Di, a man from all corners of the world, laughed heartily:
"Zhao Da, there's no need for this. A true hero is naturally unrestrained. Go away, are you saying that a hero who fought for his country is afraid to even visit a brothel?"

Having said that, what else could Zhao Huai'an say? He patted his chest and called out to his newly-met Uncle Thirteen:

"Don't worry, I, Zhao Dahaojie, dare not claim to be a hero, but I am certainly a romantic."

But he asked another question:
"Shouldn't we go to the shogunate to see the military governor of Xuanwu first?"

Then Pei Di burst into laughter and said:
"Heroes are naturally romantic, but officials like Wang Jiedushi are romantic by nature. You won't even see anyone at the shogunate if you go there now."

Zhao Huai'an looked up. It was only afternoon, and he was already going out for drinks and entertainment?
He muttered a curse about corruption under his breath, then turned to the crowd and said:

"Let's go and enjoy ourselves today, and see how the flavors of Bianzhou differ from those of Yangzhou!"

The group of righteous men howled like wolves.

Zhao Huai'an suddenly noticed a few people in the crowd and immediately cursed:
"Zhao Wenzhong, do you guys want to die? Go back and practice a few more laps. And you, Wang Yanzhang, I'll tell your Uncle Geng in a bit, and see if he doesn't skin you alive when he comes back from his patrol!"

After shooing the younger generation away, Zhao Huai'an extended his hand and invited them to join him, smiling:
"Then please let Uncle Thirteen take us brothers to taste the dishes from both the North and South, and see what makes these three treasures so wonderful."

Pei Di laughed heartily and raised his hand:
"Let's go! Enter the city!"

So, seventy or eighty people followed Pei Di and Zhao Huai'an toward Cao Gate, the east gate of Bianzhou.

Tonight will be another night of fierce fighting!
(End of this chapter)