The Human Emperor

King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, and Yang Zhao were one thing. But even the Duke of Guo, the Duke of E, and other elder statesmen of the Great Tang had all been mobilized by Wang Chong into coming to the city gate to welcome Zhang Shougui.

The most surprising performance came from Yang Zhao. With his silver tongue, he had managed to convince several civil officials to come and welcome Zhang Shougui.

A moment ago, Zhang Shougui had been sighing about the shifting nature of human relationships and mourning his decline, but now, he was confronted with a grandiose welcome, the calls of ‘welcomes Protector-General Zhang’ ringing in his ear. He could not help but be moved.

“Everyone, my utmost gratitude!”

“Protector-General Zhang has had a hard journey. Please forgive Wang Chong for coming out late!”

Wang Chong stood tall on his horse as he urged it forward, and the crowd behind him followed.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

Zhang Shougui slowly trotted his horse forward and bowed. When he raised his head, his heart was a complicated mixture of emotions.

Zhang Shougui wasn’t a fool. He had many enemies in the court, and now that he had been demoted to a governor, it was good enough if people didn’t hit him while he was down. None of them would ever come out to welcome him in such a grand style.

Everything he was seeing was undoubtedly because of Wang Chong.

He thought of all the grudges he had with the Wang Clan, how Wang Chong’s very own grandfather, Wang Jiuling, had prevented him from becoming Prime Minister right when he was at the peak of his fame and power, and how, on his last visit to the capital, he had quarreled with this Wang Clan scion.

But in the end, just when he felt that life had become meaningless, the Wang Clan and this Wang Clan scion had given him the respect he deserved.

“Lord Protector-General is too kind. You devoted your entire life to campaigning on the battlefield, performing illustrious service for my Great Tang. Lord Protector-General is a model for the people of the Great Tang to follow, and Wang Chong has always respected you!”

Wang Chong spoke with humble words.

“Lord Protector-General, Wang Chong has a banquet prepared to welcome Lord Protector-General. Please!

“If Milord does not mind, please come and sit on my carriage!”

“My thanks!”

Zhang Shougui urged his horse forward, and as countless people looked on, he joined Wang Chong, King Song, and numerous high officials and nobles of the Great Tang in entering the city.

King of Foreign Lands Wang Chong and Andong Protector-General Zhang Shougui—the meeting of these two luminaries of the Great Tang Empire, one young and one old, caused a great stir in the capital and attracted the attention of almost the entirety of the realm.

Wang Chong was the generation’s new War God, someone who had risen to the highest ranks of the empire. At his young age, he had already created countless legends and defeated numerous opponents on the Great Tang’s border, winning the Sage Emperor’s favor. For some time, it had always been the people and nobles of the Great Tang coming out to welcome Wang Chong. Never had Wang Chong gone out to publicly welcome someone else.

This time, Wang Chong had made an exception and come out to welcome Zhang Shougui, giving the former Andong Protector-General the dignity and respect appropriate for a man in his twilight years who had spent his life serving the empire!

Those who knew the truth behind this welcome developed even greater respect for Wang Chong.

The banquet concluded, the party dispersed, and night fell.

Two tea cups and two armchairs were laid out. In the candlelit hall, Wang Chong and Zhang Shougui were seated next to each other.

Once, these two had been enemies, but now, they were separated by a single table, and the mood was no longer as tense.

Wang Chong put down his tea cup and asked, “Lord Protector-General, what are your plans for the future?”

After the banquet ended, with Wang Chong’s help, Zhang Shougui was able to obtain his governor documents from the Bureau of Personnel. Tomorrow, he was prepared to follow precedent and enter the palace to see the Sage Emperor.

In addition, Zhang Shougui was a proud man who rarely resided in the capital, so he did not have any businesses or property here. Thus, Wang Chong had invited him to stay at his own estate. A royal estate would be far more comfortable than an inn.

“What plans can there be?”

Zhang Shougui bitterly smiled and shook his head.

“The post of Governor of Kuo Province is enough to wipe away all of this old man’s efforts. I truly did not think that the Sage Emperor would treat me this way!”

Zhang Shougui dropped his head, bitterness in his eyes.

Zhang Shougui had always sneered and scoffed at defeated generals, never imagining that he would be in their shoes one day.

And all of this was the Sage Emperor’s decree. If the sovereign demanded the death of a subject, the subject could only die. As the matter had been announced to the entire realm, no matter how unwilling he was, he could only accept.

“There is no need for Lord Protector-General to be so discouraged. Defeat and victory are both commonplace for a soldier. I am confident that you will one day return to the seat of Andong Protector-General,” Wang Chong said.

“If only that were true!”

Zhang Shougui picked up his tea cup and drained it, the light tea tasting like bitterly strong alcohol to his tongue.

The flames in the room crackled in the silence.

Wang Chong examined Zhang Shougui with a complicated expression. He had no desire to see such a downcast Zhang Shougui.

“Right, Your Highness, you said you had something you wanted to discuss with me. What might that be?” Zhang Shougui suddenly said as he put down his tea cup.

“Does Milord still remember the letter I sent you?” Wang Chong directly said. He had been hesitant as to how to broach the subject, not expecting Zhang Shougui to bring it up himself.

Zhang Shougui raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Your Highness is speaking of my adopted son?

“I recall that I sent a reply to Your Highness. Zhang Shougui understands Your Highness’s good intentions, but Your Highness might have some misunderstanding of my adopted son. While that lowly son might be a Hu, his nature is not bad.”

Zhang Shougui couldn’t help but emotionally sigh when he thought about An Yaluoshan.

In this Youzhou war, if not for that child putting his life on the line, things might have turned out very differently. Rather than being demoted to governor, he might have lost his head, and all the Andong Protectorate army might have been wiped out instead of only his Roaring Tiger Army.

When he recalled how he had so harshly ordered him about, how quick he had been to use the whip, Zhang Shougui felt ashamed.

Wang Chong fell silent. Though he had predicted this, he was still somewhat astonished by Zhang Shougui’s attitude. It seemed that Zhang Shougui’s stance toward An Yaluoshan could not be described as one of simple trust.

“Your Highness, forgive this old man for speaking too much. This old man is proud, and the proudest feat of his life is that he took that Hu as his son.”

When talking about An Yaluoshan, Zhang Shougui no longer appeared dejected.

“I know that there were some quarrels between you, but a gentleman knows when to let things go. My child is also a meritorious subject of the Great Tang, one of the supporting pillars of the Great Tang, just like Your Highness. Moreover, I have already recommended him as temporary Andong Protector-General. In the future, Your Highness will be colleagues with my Hu son. If the two of you can work together, you will certainly be able to uphold the peace of the Great Tang for generations, a blessing for the realm.”

The sincere look on Zhang Shougui’s face made Wang Chong feel even more emotionally conflicted.

To think that beast would have fooled Zhang Shougui this badly, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

Zhang Shougui had always been proud, but he was now a tiger outside of its territory. Rather than caring about himself, he was still thinking about warming the relationship between Wang Chong and An Yaluoshan, paving the way for An Yaluoshan and his Andong Protectorate army.

For anyone else, Wang Chong would have let the matter go for the sake of Zhang Shougui, but for An Yaluoshan…

The strong conviction on Zhang Shougui’s face made Wang Chong feel both sympathetic and angry.

An Yaluoshan needed to be killed!

“Lord Protector-General, this one has something here. Please inspect it,” Wang Chong suddenly said.

He reached out with a hand and made a snatching motion. A secret compartment in a nearby wall opened, and a long, rolled-up scroll flew out and into Wang Chong’s hand.

“Your Highness, what is this?”

Zhang Shougui was flabbergasted as Wang Chong offered the white, rolled-up scroll to him.

He thought that Wang Chong had some other important matter to discuss with him, but it seemed that he had been invited to appreciate art.

“Milord need only look to understand!”

As if knowing what Zhang Shougui was thinking, Wang Chong shook his head.

Zhang Shougui frowned and wanted to refuse, but when he saw the unique symbol on the roller of white jade, his eyes widened like he had been jabbed by a needle.

“This is the ‘Birds Warbling in the Mountain Stream’ painting from the Western Han Dynasty! Why is it with you?”

Zhang Shougui took the rolled-up painting in surprise.

As the Protector-General of Youzhou, Zhang Shougui could recognize all the famous paintings of Youzhou’s collector world with one glance. Of course, the main reason was that he had once been the owner of this painting.

“I found this white jade roller when I was exploring Caliph Mutasim III’s treasury,” Wang Chong said.

“How could this be!?”

Zhang Shougui’s face was brimming with disbelief.

“How did a painting from my Youzhou end up there?”

Zhang Shougui wasn’t slow. The moment he recognized the white jade roller, he immediately sensed that Wang Chong wasn’t just having him appreciate some art.

“Lord Protector-General might not believe, but I also have a paper slip that came with this painting.”

Wang Chong was in no rush. He flicked that slip of paper over.

“Lord Protector-General might not be able to read. It is written in Arabic, and was written by the gifter of this painting to the Caliph of Arabia!

“It says, ‘The future master of the Central Plains greets the master of the Arabian Empire’!”

Wang Chong shot a glance at Zhang Shougui as he spoke.

As expected, Zhang Shougui trembled in shock at Wang Chong’s words.

“Lord Protector-General knows Youzhou like the back of his hand. Do you know anyone who might have offered this scroll painting as tribute?” Wang Chong indifferently said.

In Zhang Shougui’s mind, a great storm was raging.

“Impossible!”

This was the sole thought in Zhang Shougui’s mind!

An Yaluoshan!

He had obtained this painting from a renowned scholar, and later on, he had gifted it to An Yaluoshan.

Zhang Shougui would never believe that An Yaluoshan was colluding with the Arabs, but why would this painting appear in Arabia?

“Your Highness, could there be some misunderstanding?” Zhang Shougui asked.

His mind was still disbelieving.

His adopted son was not that capable.