Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 38: Position and Status Cannot Last Long
After handing his biggest problem to Consort Wu Huifei, Zhang Luo was also busy. He hoped to have a direct meeting with Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji. However, what he said and did after meeting the emperor would directly determine whether the outcome was good or bad.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had very obvious characteristics in his character and style. When he was young, he was heroic, dashing and ambitious. When he was in his prime, he was brave, courageous and shrewd. When he reached middle age, he became complacent and stubborn, but he still retained his wisdom and ambition.

The older he gets, the more obvious his character flaws become. He is sensitive, suspicious, envious, cold-hearted, cruel, self-indulgent, and lazy. All these ugly aspects of human nature, coupled with the unrestrained and wanton use of imperial authority, eventually lead to a prosperous era of disaster with all five poisons!

Zhang Luo was fortunate to be living in the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan reign. Having just completed the Fengshan Ceremony, the Tang Empire was at the peak of its power, and everything was flourishing. Especially since Emperor Xuanzong, the most crucial figure, had not yet begun to transform into a source of disaster, his toxicity was still mild.

While there were some problems, most were common to feudal society and not irreparable. While some structural contradictions were perhaps more difficult to address, society as a whole was remarkably resilient; otherwise, it would not have been able to withstand the chaotic turmoil of the late Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods.

Correcting the Kaiyuan Prosperity and resolving the Anshi Rebellion was a huge task for Zhang Luo.

Right now, he only hopes to perform well in this crisis of the Zhang family, to help Zhou Liang's family eliminate the disaster, and to gain enough political capital for himself. After returning to the Zhang family, he can rescue Yingniang and others and retaliate against the mistress Zheng.

Well, achieving these goals is not easy, but there is still hope. The key to his hope is that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is still able to have a normal conversation and has not yet taken pleasure in such unethical practices as adultery and child abuse.

Combating Zhang Shuo and his forces was Tang Xuanzong's established goal. Before this goal was achieved, any attempt at resistance would risk the emperor's wrath. In other words, if no such attempt at resistance was made, this greatest risk could be avoided.

Using the Zhou Liang incident to frame Cui Yinfu and rescue Zhang Shuo was just a pretext Zhang Luo used to attract Consort Wu Huifei to help introduce him. After achieving this goal, Zhang Luo naturally would not do so, so he needed to use another set of logic to impress Emperor Xuanzong in exchange for what he wanted.

Zhang Luo's initial plan was to offer good advice to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang after meeting him. The good advice he prepared was the grain transport reform presided over by Pei Yaoqing during the Kaiyuan period, as well as a series of tax and economic adjustments around the grain transport reform.

The reason why he chose this strategy was because he was inspired by his previous conversation with Zhou Liang and Wang Yuanbao's failed investment in Nanshi.

For a vast empire like the Tang Dynasty, the cost of moving resources and personnel across regions was extremely high, and the current state of grain transport was highly inefficient. For example, the recent drought in the south of the Yangtze River stranded grain ships, not only causing heavy losses for wealthy merchants like Wang Yuanbao, but also significantly impacting the Tang Dynasty's own financial plans.

It should be noted that a grand national ceremony like Fengshan consumes a huge amount of money and materials. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage, a huge number of people and horses, set out from Chang'an and went down the Yellow River. Even if they did not hold those grand ceremonies, the food and necessities for the people and horses alone would have eaten up all the bird eggs in the treasuries of the counties and prefectures along the Yellow River.

Therefore, after the Eastern Envoy ended, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not return to Chang'an directly, but stayed in the eastern capital Luoyang. The reason was very simple. If he went back, he would starve!
Under such circumstances, the storage of rented goods from Jiangnan can greatly alleviate the current dry financial situation, but now it is about to be overdue due to unreasonable and inefficient water transport, which will inevitably increase the financial pressure.

Zhang Luo chose to offer suggestions and plans for reforming the grain transport system at this juncture, which was exactly what he needed and had a great chance of gaining the favor of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

However, this is not just a copy of poetry or prose, and the value of Pei Yaoqing's canal transport reform does not lie in these four words, but in the entire set of detailed, meticulous and effective plans it contains.

This is a set of solutions that Pei Yaoqing came up with after conducting in-depth observation and analysis of the problems of canal transportation during his long-term local administration. It is by no means a sudden idea that he came up with.

Zhang Luo had a senior sister who wore glasses in later generations. She once took the evolution of the canal transportation in the Tang and Song dynasties as her research topic. Out of admiration for knowledge, Zhang Luo also enthusiastically and proactively helped collect some relevant information, including the canal transportation reform during the Kaiyuan period.

Therefore, he was relatively familiar with Pei Yaoqing's overall ideas and specific plans for the canal transport reform.

However, such a comprehensive plan was clearly beyond the capabilities of someone like Zhang Luo. Even his grandfather, Zhang Shuo, despite his many years in power, likely didn't possess such a profound understanding of the canal. Simply presenting it would inevitably arouse suspicion. Therefore, Zhang Luo intended to write this plan using Zhou Liang's identity and perspective, submitting it as Zhou Liang's own concept.

Zhou Liang used to be a gatekeeper of the Bian Canal. This position was originally responsible for managing the canal transportation affairs. Later, he went to Henan Prefecture as a recorder and dealt with water-related matters for a long time. With such an identity and resume, it was natural that he had a deep understanding of canal transportation matters.

Of course, this idea is not without loopholes. Zhou Liang has served as a lowly official for a long time, and it is difficult for him to have the broad vision and pattern of a senior official like Pei Yaoqing.

And this is exactly what is regrettable. Sun Shuao was raised in the sea, and Baili Xi was raised in the market. There must be wise men among the common people, but now this wise man who is capable of planning for the country has been stifled and discredited by the jealous officials of Henan Prefecture!
What Zhang Luo has to do now is to try every possible way and overcome all difficulties to present the national policy left by Zhou Liang, a rare talent in the world, to the king, to clear the grievances of the loyal and upright people and to promote the deeds of the virtuous people!
Of course, he did not do this purely out of justice, but also harbored some selfish motives. If His Majesty the Emperor appreciated and adopted this strategy, then he could, in recognition of his courage in offering advice to the country, be able to give his grandfather a lighter sentence, perhaps reducing it from the original 100 strokes to 99.

He was just an unknown boy, but he was loyal in offering advice to the country and filial in rescuing his relatives. He didn't need to expect any reward. After experiencing this incident, loyalty and filial piety were the treasures he had gained!
Of course, these are just polite words. Loyalty and filial piety are indeed the most precious things to me, but if you don't appreciate them at all, then these two things are nothing in your eyes! Then the Tang Dynasty would not be full of upright people, but would be filled with disloyal and unfilial ministers!
This was the plan, but to implement it, he still had to rely on Wu Huifei introducing him to the emperor. This was beyond Zhang Luo's ability, so he stopped thinking about it and just prepared as much as possible for his part of the plan, ensuring that he could perform perfectly when the opportunity arose.

So Zhang Luo then immersed himself in his writing in the guest house of the Qinghuafang restaurant, compiling the content of his mind about the canal transport reform into a memorial suitable for presenting to the emperor.

Since Zhou Liang himself was a minor official, his articles did not need to be particularly ornate. As long as the sentences were fluent, the words were simple, and the ideas could be made clear, it would not be difficult to write.

A few days passed quickly. During this period, on April 8th, which was Buddha's Birthday, the city was extremely lively. People paraded through the streets, chanted sutras and worshipped Buddha. It was said that there was also a parade of Buddha statues on the streets. The huge procession extended from the city to the Longmen Grottoes. All major temples also held grand Dharma assemblies on this day.

However, because Zhang Luo was busy with his creative work, he did not have the time and leisure to go to the streets to feel the festive atmosphere. His memorial was basically completed, but the details still needed to be polished and revised, especially some taboo words and sentences that needed to be carefully checked. He must not make things worse because of carelessness in details.

The day after Buddha's Birthday, Niu Gui'er came to meet Zhang Luo again and brought him both good news and bad news: "Mr. Zhang Ling has been interrogated in the provincial capital for many days. Today, the interrogation has finally been suspended and he has been escorted back to his residence by the Jinwu Guards.

But today, the court has appointed Li Yuanhong, the Minister of Revenue, as the Minister of the Secretariat and the Co-Prime Minister. Concubine Hui is asking, "Sir, why don't you go home and ask Lord Zhang Ling for advice on what to do?"

Zhang Shuo was sent home, indicating that his interrogation had concluded, but the specific verdict would depend on the other aspects of the case. The court appointed Li Yuanhong as Zhongshu Shilang and Tongpingzhangshi, effectively Prime Minister, strongly implying that he was replacing Zhang Shuo.

Zhang Luo knew that Concubine Wu Huifei was having second thoughts, fearing that Zhang Shuo's power as prime minister had been taken away and his future influence would be limited. Even if he offered his help, he would probably not get a substantial return.

Such indecisive teammates are really annoying, but Zhang Luo can't find any other more reliable helpers at the moment. Fortunately, fanning the flames and building the team's ideology is also one of his strengths.

So after listening to Niu Gui'er's retelling, he sighed and said, "My great-grandfather left office a few days ago, and Li Yuanhong was appointed to the position of Secretary of State. Doesn't this serve as a warning to us? When positions are vacant, changes are bound to happen sooner or later!"

Niu Guier hurried back to the inner palace and relayed these words to Concubine Wu Hui. After hearing this, Concubine Wu Hui's expression suddenly became serious. She said in a deep voice: "That's right, the emperor and the prince have been gone for nearly two years. How can the harem be without a master for so long?

"Now I am unwilling to strive for it, but others may not necessarily stick to their duties! Lord Zhang Yan is in dire straits now, and he has given me such a blessing, how can I not be grateful? Even if he is not in charge of the Southern Province, he still has many relatives and friends, which is a great help."

At this point, she added in a deep voice, "If you tell that kid again, I'm certainly willing to help him, but this ultimately depends on his courage. Tell him about our previous plan. If he dares to act, I will provide him with safe support in the inner courtyard!"

(End of this chapter)