Chapter 628: To Whom Should This Article Be Sent?
The Puppet Heavenly Lord crouched hidden in the tall grass, stealthily peeking out.
He saw Sun Chuanting bent over his desk, writing furiously.
From his low vantage point, he couldn't make out what Sun Chuanting was writing. He had no choice but to find a large tree nearby, stretching out his two wooden stick-like hands, to climb it!
Honestly, climbing that tree was no simple task.
For a modern urban youth, it would have been a five-star challenge. The Puppet Heavenly Lord climbed less than a meter when his hand slipped, sending him tumbling into the tall grass. A faint rustle betrayed his fall.
Fortunately, Sun Chuanting was too engrossed in his writing to hear it.
Feng Rong, however, heard it. He turned his head to glance over, and seeing the grass rustle, he mused it was probably a rabbit or a mouse, and paid it no mind, turning his gaze away.
Li Daoxuan waited a few seconds until the coast was clear, then resumed his climb.
This time, he finally found several knobby footholds on the tree and successfully scaled it. Perched on a high branch, looking down, he could finally see what Sun Chuanting was writing.
This short essay advised the imperial court to strengthen its oversight of merchants. It advocated for increased border patrols to prevent merchants from crossing the frontier to trade with the northern barbarians. Particular vigilance was urged against “official merchants” holding salt permits. Their authority was vast, their connections far-reaching, and the frontier garrisons had no defenses against them, making it all too easy for them to engage in illicit cross-border trade.
Upon finishing, Sun Chuanting carefully sealed the document, applied a wax seal, and handed it to a household retainer. “Take this to the Capitol,” he instructed.
The retainer looked a little awkward. “My lord, you no longer hold an official position at court. This letter cannot be sent directly to the Six Ministries. To whom should I deliver it?”
“This...”
Sun Chuanting was momentarily stunned. After a long pause, he finally said, “Deliver it to the residence of Grand Secretary Wen Tirenin. He is deeply trusted by the Emperor; if this essay catches the Grand Secretary’s eye, then the Emperor himself will surely see it.”
The retainer bowed respectfully and quickly departed.
Perched on the treetop, watching this unfold, Li Daoxuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly. *Wen Tirenin? Oh, it's over! This essay won't be worth a damn.*
Wen Tirenin’s greatest talent was doing absolutely nothing.
Alas!
Suddenly, an idea sparked in Li Daoxuan’s mind.
He reached out and plucked a large leaf from the tree. Using his wooden stick-hands, he traced a line across the leaf, leaving a shallow indentation.
Next, with a flurry of quick strokes, he inscribed the character “Hong.” He plucked another leaf, and with another flurry of strokes, wrote the character “Zhang.”
The two leaves were ready...
Li Daoxuan climbed and climbed, slowly ascending along the branches until he was directly above the stone table.
He gestured twice at the stone table below. Then, he released his grip, and the two leaves drifted slowly downwards. The Puppet Heavenly Lord, meanwhile, retreated deeper into the foliage, hiding himself.
The two leaves drifted slowly.
As luck would have it, they landed precisely on the stone table.
Sun Chuanting was still seated at the table at this moment, gazing idly into the distance.
Two leaves fluttering down from above, he didn’t pay them any particular attention.
It was the young Feng Rong beside him, who couldn't sit still, his eyes constantly scanning. Seeing the two leaves land on the table, obscuring things, he reached out to pick them up, intending to toss them aside. But the moment he held them, he noticed characters inscribed on them.
“Eh?”
Feng Rong was startled. He abruptly looked up, towards the canopy.
However, above him were only branches and leaves, nothing else.
He quickly called out, “Teacher, look at these two leaves!”
Sun Chuanting asked, “What is it?”
Feng Rong replied, “These two leaves actually have characters written on them!”
Sun Chuanting uttered a surprised “Eh?” and looked puzzled. He, too, looked up at the sky, but likewise only saw leaves and branches, nothing else.
“These two characters were just written,” Sun Chuanting declared. “Look, the marks on the leaves are still fresh. They don’t look like they were inscribed a long time ago.”
Feng Rong nodded. “They’re clearly fresh. But it’s just the two of us, master and disciple, in this courtyard, and above us, there’s nothing but a few branches—nowhere for anyone to hide. Who could have written these two characters on the leaves directly above us?”
Sun Chuanting mused, “Could it be... a divine hint from Heaven?”
This was the telling difference with ancient people!
A modern person would consider a thousand possibilities for such an event, including, but not limited to: drone delivery, someone in the tree wearing an optical-refraction invisibility cloak, a false ceiling, a mirage system, a virtual string repulsion field generator, and so on...
But ancient people, their first thought would immediately turn to the mystical—gods, ghosts, or the will of Heaven.
Sun Chuanting quickly picked up the leaves and scrutinized them. “A ‘Hong’ character, and a ‘Zhang’ character. What could this mean?”
Feng Rong confessed, “This student does not know.”
Sun Chuanting pondered, “They look like two surnames. However, Zhang and Hong are both common surnames. What could Heaven be trying to tell me by granting me these two characters?”
Feng Rong furrowed his brow, lost in thought.
Suddenly, Sun Chuanting’s eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh vigorously. “I’ve got it!”
Feng Rong exclaimed, “Ah? What have you thought of, Teacher?”
“I often discuss border affairs,” Sun Chuanting declared. “So a hint from Heaven must surely be related to the frontier. These ‘Zhang’ and ‘Hong’ characters must refer to individuals involved in border matters. That makes it easy to guess: one is the ‘Hong’ of Hong Chengchou, the Supreme Commander of the Three Borders, and the other is the ‘Zhang’ of Zhang Zongheng, the Supreme Commander of Xuan-Da.”
“Ah! Teacher’s insight is surely correct!” Feng Rong agreed.
Sun Chuanting quickly began to analyze. “That matter of the Shanxi border merchants we discussed earlier, it seems to have long provoked the wrath of Heaven and man. Even Heaven disapproves of the Shanxi merchants’ wickedness and has therefore enlightened me. The letter I just wrote should not be sent to Grand Secretary Wen Tirenin, but rather to Hong Chengchou, the Supreme Commander of the Three Borders, and Zhang Zongheng, the Supreme Commander of Xuan-Da. Both are knowledgeable in military affairs and will surely take this letter seriously.”
Feng Rong praised, “Teacher, your wisdom is profound. Does that mean we need to rewrite two more copies of that essay? I will help you transcribe one.”
And so, Sun Chuanting and his disciple once again took up their brushes. Each wrote a copy; their calligraphy was impeccable, and with swift strokes, they replicated the letter twice. One copy was dispatched to Shaanxi, for Hong Chengchou, the Supreme Commander of the Three Borders. As for the other, intended for Zhang Zongheng, the Supreme Commander of Xuan-Da, delivery would be simpler.
Zhang Zongheng himself was not currently in the Xuan-Da Command region at all, but rather at Yanmen Pass, twenty *li* north of Daizhou.
It turned out that for the past year or so, Zhang Zongheng had barely fought any battles against the Mongols in the north. Instead, he had been leading his troops to suppress bandits in northern Shanxi. He had clashed repeatedly with Zijing Liang, the Chuǎng Wang, the Dashing General, and others, resulting in many bloody encounters.
In recent days, the roaming bandits had fled into the Taihang Mountains and vanished.
So, for the time being, Zhang Zongheng no longer needed to suppress bandits. He was leading his army, preparing to return to Xuanfu and Datong, and passing through Yanmen Pass, where they were currently resting.
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