Chapter 142: State Affairs, Family Affairs, All Come Down to Money

After an autumn rain, the weather turned chilly quite suddenly. The gloomy, damp air always found cracks to creep into people's bodies, and everyone throughout Chang'an began to hunch their shoulders, devoid of their usual haughtiness.

On his way back from work, Lu Liaoliao either teased his young son and daughter or worked hard with Qing'er to make another child. A faint smile hung on his face, making him look just like countless ordinary family men in the city of Chang'an. Yet his heart was cold, as if soaked to the core by the chill of late autumn.

The trees desire stillness, but the wind refuses to cease. As the contemporary heir of the Ghost Valley's Vertical and Horizontal schools, such a peaceful routine was destined not to belong to him. At night, when Li Sansui stared at him with a beaming smile, Lu Liaoliao silently got up and followed him.

After months apart, Li Linfu's health had grown much frailer. With his hair half-white and his figure hunched, that formidable spirit and vigor of the past were no longer to be seen.

"The Great Tang can afford to lose the Western Regions to the Abbasid Caliphate and the coalition of various barbarians; the Great Tang can afford to lose the North to the Khitans. Both of those defeats involved the unexpected betrayal of auxiliary armies, and the opponents were not much weaker than the Great Tang, so they could still be justified. But the Great Tang alone cannot afford to lose to Nanzhao. Nanzhao is merely a small southwestern state fostered by the Great Tang, yet the armies of the Great Tang face consecutive defeats when engaging Nanzhao. If this news were to spread, public indignation would surge, and the course of events would become impossible to control."

Li Linfu did not look at Lu Liaoliao's gloomy face, continuing to speak on his own.

"Then what is the point of this trip of mine to Nanzhao!" Lu Liaoliao finally failed to hold back.

"There is a point!" Li Linfu nodded affirmatively. "With consecutive defeats in the Western Regions and the North, Gao Xianzhi and An Lushan are both preparing to reorganize their armies and fight again, successively demanding military equipment and grain rations from the court. A massive fire at the Armory Bureau destroyed over 370,000 pieces of military equipment, and to replenish new equipment, one needs money.

Military equipment requires money, and grain rations require money. The soldiers who died in battle need compensation, and new soldiers must be recruited and trained, which also requires money. But now in the Southwest, Northwest, and North, trade routes are blocked because of war. Over the past year, our Great Tang has had no liquid cash. The silver reserves in the imperial treasury have been scattered out like water, yet there is no new revenue.

His Majesty the Emperor wanted to arm two hundred thousand northern troops to march against Nanzhao, but was rebuffed by Minister of Revenue Wang with a single sentence: the treasury has no money. This year's ten billion copper coins of annual revenue for the Daming Palace cannot be produced either.

His Majesty the Emperor flew into a rage. At the opportune moment, I produced General Wang Tianyun's blood-written petition along with those of several thousand soldiers, leaving His Majesty speechless. Then I presented the Nanzhao king's submissive state letter, giving him a face-saving way out. His Majesty can no longer bring up the matter of marching on Nanzhao."

At this point, Li Linfu's face flushed and he coughed repeatedly. Li Sansui hurriedly handed over a bowl of tea, letting him swallow a few mouthfuls before he finally recovered.

"That Xianyu Zhongtong suffered a disgraceful defeat, yet he can still enter the capital of Chang'an to receive rewards and titles. How can those tens of thousands of Great Tang soldiers who died in battle rest in peace, and how can the thousands of soldiers stranded in Nanzhao return home? Without Xianyu Zhongtong facing punishment, the resentment in my heart is hard to soothe."

Lu Liaoliao was filled with unappeased anger, thoroughly dissatisfied with such an outcome.

Li Linfu slowly set down his teacup and gazed at Lu Liaoliao with an admiring look.

"Ah! Everything you did in Nanzhao, Sansui has told me from beginning to end. You adapted to the situation and enabled our thousands of stranded Great Tang soldiers to take root in Nanzhao, take wives, and have children—you handled it very well, exceptionally well.

In a dozen years or so, countless of their descendants will speak the Tang language, revere Tang rituals, and regard our Great Tang as their motherland. Imperceptibly, this greatly strengthens our Great Tang's influence in Nanzhao. If Nanzhao wishes to lean toward Tibet, it will encounter unimaginable resistance. I am deeply gratified that you can think so far ahead in your actions."

"This disciple merely acted out of necessity under fortuitous circumstances." Lu Liaoliao shook his head modestly, still staring intently at Li Linfu.

Seeing that this method of changing the subject had no effect whatsoever on his fellow disciple's nephew Lu Liaoliao, Li Linfu sighed inwardly and shook his head helplessly.

"Acting out of necessity—it is precisely this phrase, acting out of necessity! You must understand that court politics and state affairs are actually about compromise and concession. You concede a step to me, and I concede a step to you, in order to achieve a balance. If we fall out and quibble over every little thing, nothing can be accomplished. Did you really think your uncle here, as the Chancellor of the Great Tang, could cover the sky with one hand?"

"So, for the sake of His Majesty's prestige, those Great Tang soldiers who died and were stranded in Nanzhao, and those innocent commoners displaced by war, have all become sacrifices to compromise?" A sarcastic smile appeared on Lu Liaoliao's face.

"It is not for His Majesty's prestige, but for the dignity of the Great Tang, that we have no choice but to sacrifice them." Li Linfu waved his hand.

"Is there any difference?" Lu Liaoliao appeared extremely unconvinced.

"His Majesty is the Emperor of the Great Tang, and in the Great Tang, he possesses supreme authority. But he is not the Great Tang. The Great Tang can be the hometown that bore and raised you, it can be your family and friends, it can be the language you speak and the food you eat. It can be the zither you play and the poetry you chant. It can be countless people in this world who are exactly like you, but the Great Tang is definitely not His Majesty the Emperor. Once you understand what you are truly fighting for, naturally you will no longer be filled with such towering resentment as you are now."

Li Linfu stood up, looking at the brilliantly lit Pingkang Ward in the distance, his body standing straight.

As if struck by a sudden enlightenment, Lu Liaoliao suddenly understood a great deal and remained silent for a long time.

"Aside from the Southern Garrison Jinwu Guards directly under the chancellor, the Northern Garrison Left and Right Yingwu Guards of the Imperial Army are also entirely controlled by my men. You must no longer pay formal visits to their commanders or associate too closely with them, lest you expose our connection. Governing a country and fighting wars relies on grain, rations, and logistics. You should stay in that logistics and supply camp and study diligently." Li Linfu waved his hand, signaling that Lu Liaoliao could leave.

As Duan Xiaohe had once said, the Imperial Army usually just put on a show in Chang'an. The task of putting on appearances was mostly taken up by the Yulin Guards and the Left and Right Shenwu Guards. The Left and Right Yingwu Guards spent most of their time idle. The logistics and supply camp, moreover, was a place almost no one paid attention to.

While laughing and drifting through the days with Cheng Changmu and others, Lu Liaoliao wholeheartedly studied the intricacies and rules of military logistics, and time unwittingly brought them to the eleventh year of Tianbao in the Great Tang.

Lying leisurely on Gu Xiuhua's bed, enjoying the dried fruits fed to him by the fair hands of the beauty, Lu Liaoliao closed his eyes slightly while his hands began to grow restless.

"With this winter passing, I wonder how my brother is doing over there. My little nephew, Gu Xitang, has been wandering about with him at such a tender age—I don't know how much hardship he has suffered."

Gu Xiuhua batted away Lu Liaoliao's restless claws with one hand, a trace of worry on her face.

"If you ask me, that monk brother of yours, Wuhua, has truly gone mad with obsession. If he isn't a stubborn, steadfast holy swindler, he must be a true saint. You have no idea—when he comes to me, his brother-in-law, to beg for alms, he never softens his heart. It's as if silver coins would drop straight from the sky the moment I, his brother-in-law, held out my hand. He goes around doing good deeds and giving charity everywhere, but the moment he runs out of money, he writes a letter straight to me. Tell me, how did I end up with such a brother-in-law?"

Lu Liaoliao sat up abruptly, looking at Gu Xiuhua with profound dissatisfaction.

How could Gu Xiuhua not understand that this fellow was fishing for credit and demanding benefits from her? With a graceful slide of her body, she snuggled into Lu Liaoliao's arms, letting his hands roam at will.

"My lord, silver coins naturally won't drop from the sky when you hold out your hand. However, our good sister, Young Mistress Wang Liuli, will naturally deliver the silver straight into your hands. I was the one who instigated you to marry her in the first place, so now you know to thank me, don't you?"

The smile on Lu Liaoliao's face instantly turned quite unnatural. The whole of Chang'an envied him as the number one lucky freeloader in the world, but who knew that Wang Liuli now relied on his decisions for many matters just to earn so much money?

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Even Qing'er has conceived a child for me now. You have been with me the longest, and the number of times we've been together is also the greatest—why has your body never shown any reaction? Tell me honestly, do you take those secret brothel concoctions to prevent pregnancy every single time afterwards?"

While his hands continued to wander, Lu Liaoliao looked at Gu Xiuhua suspiciously.

Gu Xiuhua's face turned pale for a fraction of a second, but she quickly put a smile back on as she looked at Lu Liaoliao. "If I say no, would you believe me? Matters of children depend on the will of the heavens. If it simply refuses to grant them to me, what can I do?"

"Hmm!" Lu Liaoliao covered his chin and pondered for a moment. "It's no solution for you to keep staying here at the Celestial Beauty Tower. I think I must find a way to get you out of here. Once that happens, children and the like will naturally come."

"No, I won't!" Gu Xiuhua tugged at Lu Liaoliao playfully. "I have no desire to stay cooped up in the inner courtyard of the Lu family with the front gates never opened and the back gates never crossed—it would suffocate me to death. Besides, staying here, absolutely no one dares to harbor evil intentions toward me, and I can help you snoop out plenty of confidential news. If you want to make it up to me, just write a poem or song exclusively for me."

Lu Liaoliao stared at Gu Xiuhua in astonishment, pointing at his own nose. "Although I bear the reputation of being the disciple of the Poet Immortal, I have never been able to compose a single poem or song. You know that as well as anyone, yet you still want me to give you poetry!"

"I don't care, you've given children to all those other sisters, but I want you to give me a poem—a poem written specifically for me alone." Gu Xiuhua grabbed Lu Liaoliao and shook him continuously.

"Flowers are not flowers, mist is not mist. Coming in the night, leaving at dawn. Arriving like a spring dream leaving no trace, departing like morning clouds with nowhere to be found." Racking his brains and stirred by emotion, Lu Liaoliao chanted these lines.

Gu Xiuhua softly recited them twice, then eagerly picked up paper and brush, insisting that Lu Liaoliao write them down while showering him with endless praise.

"The disciple of the Poet Immortal is truly the disciple of the Poet Immortal! Look at this poem of yours—it captures both of my identities, simply extraordinary. 'Arriving like a spring dream leaving no trace, departing like morning clouds with nowhere to be found.' This not only captures the style of my arrival by moonlight as the Night-Comer, but also reflects my mysterious nature as 'Night-Come'. I love it so much!"

Lu Liaoliao smiled somewhat smugly and handed the finished paper to Gu Xiuhua. Gu Xiuhua blew the ink dry, pulled out a brocade pouch, solemnly folded the slip of paper, and tucked it inside.

Lu Liaoliao touched his nose, his gaze sweeping unnaturally over the two lines of poetry embroidered on the pouch.

"'Fallen red is not a heartless thing, turned to spring mud it protects the flowers even more.' These two lines of poetry are not bad either. I wonder who gave them to you. You clearly left this with me originally, and later asked for it back. It seems the person who gave you this pouch is very important to you."

"Of course they're important! This is the only memento my mother left me back then, so tell me if it's important or not. You men! All you do all day is let your wild imaginations run riot." Gu Xiuhua carefully tucked the pouch away and gave Lu Liaoliao a massive rolling of her eyes.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Their door was pounded fiercely by Lan'er.

"Lan'er! What has happened for you to knock on the door with such panic?" Gu Xiuhua opened the door and saw Lan'er's anxious expression.

"Mistress, mistress, it's terrible! Sister Ping'er is crying so bitterly in her room, carrying on and trying to kill herself—you must go and take a look."

"I won't go on living, just let me die! Wuwu, wuwuwu!" Ping'er, who had accompanied Gu Xiuhua to Chang'an, was crying to the heavens in her room.

"What on earth has happened? Tell me, and I, your sister, will make things right for you!"

Gu Xiuhua grabbed Ping'er, her face cold and stern as she demanded an answer.