Top Scholar Ma Zhou had expected the court session to be intense.
What he had not expected was that His Majesty's performance in court would be no less fierce than on the battlefield.
For reasons unknown, the chief ministers and high officials all kept silent. Even Wei Zheng, the usually outspoken Secretary Wei, had lowered his banner and ceased speaking.
With no grand ministers backing them, the remaining officials were no match for His Majesty in open debate.
After all, although the Equal-Field System had been inherited from the Sui, the Tang dynasty had only begun implementing it in the seventh year of Wude. It had not even been eight full years yet.
Moreover, His Majesty had spoken gently, stating that the new Equal-Field measures in the Qinghai region were still only on a trial basis. If public resentment grew too strong, returning to the old system was not impossible.
In the midst of verbal sparring, His Majesty even dug up old history.
When I wanted to attack Tuyuhun back then, were you ministers not far more aggressive than you are today?
With His Majesty alternating between righteous severity and cold sarcasm, and with no prime ministers to support them, the officials could only helplessly beg His Majesty not to defy the will of the realm, to put the state and the altars of soil and grain first, and to remember the importance of permanent inheritance fields.
The court session ended hastily, yet the doubts in Ma Zhou's heart only deepened.
Relying on his past experience of having chatted freely with the chief ministers in the Ganlu Hall, he chose the most direct solution.
"I ask Minister Du to enlighten me."
The two found a quiet room in the Secretariat. As Du Ruhui methodically prepared tea, Ma Zhou could no longer hold back.
"Minister Du, the streets of Chang'an say His Majesty disregards the livelihood of the people. I do not agree with this, but still…"
Before he could finish, Du Ruhui shook his head and gave a faint, amused smile.
"The livelihood of the people? Or the livelihood of private households?"
Ma Zhou could not answer, but he faintly felt he had already glimpsed the core of the criticism.
Du Ruhui did not tease him further. While brewing the tea, he lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear.
"In the countryside, the people are weak and the powerful families are strong. The powerful seize land through a hundred clever methods. Thus, annexation never ceases."
"If one wishes for long-lasting stability of the state, there is only one path. Protect the people and restrain the powerful."
Ma Zhou fell silent. His parents had died early, and he had lived through chaotic times. Everything Du Ruhui said, he had seen with his own eyes. He understood it deeply.
Du Ruhui poured the tea, skimmed off the foam, and handed the cup to Ma Zhou.
With only a slight hint, Ma Zhou had already connected the key points.
The Qinghai trial policy was testing this. The people would become tenants of the Son of Heaven. If powerful families annexed peasant land, it would be the same as seizing the Emperor's land. They would no longer dare to act recklessly.
This experiment had obvious flaws.
If a foolish emperor ever ascended the throne, the harm could rival even Emperor Yang of Sui.
These hereditary fields, aside from being unsellable, were no different from permanent inheritance fields, and the common people would certainly dislike that.
And such policies would naturally make the great clans worry that His Majesty intended to seize their tens of thousands of mu of permanent land.
But that was thinking too far ahead.
When Ma Zhou came back to himself, Du Ruhui had already disappeared from the quiet room. Even the tea in his hand had gone cold.
With a self-mocking smile, Ma Zhou finished the cold tea, pressed his legs, and stood up again. He still had official duties to attend to.
The door opened, and the afternoon sunlight poured in without obstruction.
…
In a heavily guarded side hall within the Kaifeng imperial palace, Zhao Kuangyin arrived the earliest.
He ordered the eunuchs to light the lamps and spread out memorials brought from the Chui Gong Hall on a stone table that looked completely out of place in this hall.
Squinting, Zhao Kuangyin read each memorial word by word. After careful thought, he wrote what he considered appropriate instructions.
No one knew how much time passed.
A voice of congratulation pulled Zhao Kuangyin out of his focused state.
"Chizhou has fallen. This is worthy of congratulation to Your Majesty. With a bridge built at Caishi to cross the river, Jiangnan can be settled, and the ruler can be removed."
Zhao Kuangyin rubbed his eyes and realized that daylight had already broken. The speaker was Zhao Pu.
He waved for the eunuchs to extinguish the oil lamps, yawned, organized the memorials, and then smiled.
"Li Yu is obsessed with pleasure and Buddhism. He talks lofty words every day yet neglects state affairs. How could he possibly withstand a battle-hardened general like Cao Guohua."
Zhao Pu offered flattery.
"With Jiangnan now in sight, Your Majesty's unification of the realm advances another step. Perhaps this victory could be shared with Zhuge Wuhou."
Zhao Kuangyin refused without thinking.
To be honest, even if Li Yu were captured and brought before him right now, Zhao Kuangyin felt there was nothing to boast about.
Three years ago, after he captured Xingwang Prefecture and forced Liu Chang to surrender, Li Yu had submitted a memorial abandoning his royal title and calling himself the Ruler of Jiangnan.
At that time, Zhao Kuangyin already understood that pacifying Jiangnan was only a matter of time.
Now that Cao Bin and Cao Guohua were advancing like a raging fire, it only proved that his earlier judgment had been completely correct.
He signaled Zhao Pu to say no more, summoned a eunuch to bring water, washed up, and then asked,
"What time is it?"
Zhao Pu smiled. "It is close to the hour of Si. The Prince of Jin should arrive soon."
Zhao Kuangyin nodded. Previously, the light screen had always descended at a quarter past Si. Today should be no exception.
Zhao Pu's judgment proved correct.
Almost at the same moment the eunuch announced the hour of Si, Zhao Guangyi stepped into the hall.
Three months had passed, and Zhao Guangyi looked slightly more worn.
Zhao Pu compared them in his heart and felt that even in this state, the Prince of Jin still looked better than His Majesty.
He understood clearly. Although His Majesty looked down on Li Yu, ever since he had ordered Cao Bin and Pan Mei to lead a hundred thousand troops out of Jingnan last month, he had not slept a single peaceful night. He was constantly focused on the front-line situation.
But now that Chizhou had fallen, and once Caishi was taken and the bridge built to cross the river, the pacification of Jiangnan would be a certainty.
At that point, His Majesty should finally be able to relax and sleep properly, and his complexion would improve.
Zhao Pu thought of this because just last month, he had jokingly asked a colleague what Zhuge Wuhou, Emperor Taizong, and His Majesty had in common.
The colleague joked that they all worked themselves to illness.
What had been said casually had actually made Zhao Pu uneasy.
After all, his own honor and disgrace were entirely tied to His Majesty. That was beyond doubt.
Zhao Guangyi greeted his elder brother properly. Zhao Kuangyin's smile grew warmer as he pulled his brother close and asked after his health with genuine concern.
After Zhao Pu returned to court, with his assistance, the pruning of the younger brother's influence had achieved notable results.
And with last month's campaign serving as the final nail in the coffin, seeing his elder brother command the war from Kaifeng as if directing his own limbs, Zhao Guangyi temporarily set aside other thoughts and focused on playing the role of the good younger brother of the Great Song ruler.
From Zhao Pu's perspective, this truly could be called brotherly harmony.
Wait.
Zhao Pu scratched his cheek, feeling uneasy for no clear reason.
A few days ago, he had worried about His Majesty working himself to illness. Now he was thinking of this ominous phrase of brotherly harmony.
And it was happening while they were waiting for the light screen to descend.
Even though he did not really believe in ghosts or spirits, Zhao Pu could not help but feel suspicious.
At that very moment, light began to swirl above the stone table.
The eunuchs, showing keen awareness, closed the doors and windows. The dim environment made the light screen projected onto the roof even more striking, and the voice of the later generation even clearer.
[Hi hi hi, this is Wen Mang, trying hard to get back into rhythm after the Spring Festival!
Today's topic is the four simple words we previewed before: Candle Shadow and Axe Sound!
And this episode's key phrase is still those same four words: Brotherly Harmony.]