Chapter 1035: Troublemakers at Court! II (1/2)
Chapter 1035: Troublemakers at Court! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”In the sixth month of the twenty-third year of the Sage Emperor's reign, the Beiting Protectorate employed soldiers against the Western Turks and lost seventy-nine thousand men. In the third month of the twenty-fourth year of the Sage Emperor's reign, the Andong Protectorate employed soldiers against the Xi and Khitans and lost thirty-five thousand men. In the seventh month of the same year, it lost sixty thousand men against the Goguryeo Empire. In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of the Sage Emperor's reign, the Qixi Protectorate employed soldiers against Ü-Tsang and lost twenty-four thousand men. In the same year, it was resupplied with forty thousand soldiers. In the ninth month, it was raided by Dusong Mangpoje and lost around fifty thousand men. In the twenty-sixth year of the Sage Emperor, the then-Annan Protector-General Zhangchou Jianqiong employed troops against Ü-Tsang's Ngari Royal Lineage and lost forty-nine thousand men. Sixty thousand commoners were conscripted as labor, and they suffered seven thousand casualties.
”This year, in the war of the southwest, the total casualties amount to one hundred and forty-three thousand people, and now, after not even a year has passed, another battle is beginning at Talas.
”In these few short decades, battles have never ceased! Your Majesty, now is the time to bring this to a stop!
”Talas is not the territory of the Great Tang, but a land outside the borders of our civilization, a barren land. Fighting on the borders is understandable, but should we also send our soldiers to perish on foreign soil as well? Moreover, the Western Regions is populated entirely by Hu. To maintain the Great Tang's rule over the Western Regions, countless soldiers, money, and grain are sent each year. This is nothing more than a bottomless hole. But in contrast, the Western Regions offers barely any benefit to the Great Tang. Is it the grapes? The pomegranates? Or is it the Hu merchants that throng the capital?
”Your Majesty, this lowly subject should not have spoken, but this battle at Talas truly must be put to a stop!”
With these last words, the white-bearded old official standing by a cinnabar pillar clasped his ceremonial tablet and bowed. Half the hall was serene, all the civil officials staring at this elder with great respect.
Grand Scribe Yan Wenzhang was responsible for recording historical events and writing state histories, and was also one of the individuals who took part in drafting the court's documents. All the nobles and officials, even the Imperial Princes, had their words recorded and entered into historical record by Yan Wenzhang. Amongst the numerous civil and military officials of the Great Tang, Yan Wenzhang occupied a most unique position.
This was because anyone who spoke inappropriately, whether civil or military, might have their words recorded by the Grand Scribe to be scorned at for generations. No one wanted this fate.
Similarly, if an official wanted to leave a good reputation in history, no matter how well they did, they could not record their own deeds. Only the Grand Scribe's brush could do this.
The Grand Scribe was the recorder of history, a spectator, not a participant, so he rarely offered his opinion in court debates of his own volition. But the Grand Scribe was still an official. For certain important matters, the Grand Scribe would also step forward and carry out his duty as an official of the court.
A Grand Scribe was only allowed to volunteer his opinion three times over his career. If he exceeded this count, he would have to immediately resign and hand his position over to his successor. This was to ensure that the Grand Scribe was fair and objective, so that the historical records could remain as unaffected by emotion as possible.
This was only the second time Yan Wenzhang had spoken up in court. The first time was when the late Emperor had died of illness.
Quarrels between civil and military officials were not unusual throughout history, but rarely were they this intense. It was clear that even the Grand Scribe had been alarmed into action.
The Grand Scribe was from the Confucian school, and everyone knew that the Confucian school emphasized ruling the country and pacifying the world through cultivating oneself. At its very root, it emphasized peace. Yan Wenzhang was naturally a firm supporter of the anti-war faction. With his approval, the words of the civil officials instantly held more weight. And as could be expected, when Grand Scribe Yan Wenzhang had begun to speak, the entire hall had fallen silent and all the military officials clearly became much more apprehensive.
'With a single brush, a civil official can kill and leave no trace.' If one offended the Grand Scribe, one was highly likely to end up recorded in the annals of history as an 'illustrious' general who misled the country. This was a consequence that everyone had to consider carefully.
”Hahaha…”
At this moment, loud laughter broke the silence. From the center of the ranks, an old general of fifty-some years stepped forward.
”Minister Yan, this old man must press his luck. Record it if you want. This old man doesn't even fear death, so why should he fear your cinnabar brush and eternal infamy?
”For matters of previous governments, we military officials can't compare to you brush-holders, but for matters of this government, this old man still remembers them well. In the twenty-third year of the Sage Emperor's reign, the Western Turks had raided the border repeatedly, plundering and slaughtering innocents, even managing to reach as far as the Guannei and Hedong Circuits. The war of that period was precisely to stop them. Although we lost seventy-nine thousand soldiers in that war, the Western Turkic Khaganate lost one hundred and eleven thousand elite soldiers. More importantly, after this war, the Western Turkic Khaganate finally became too fearful to advance southward.
”The deaths of seventy-nine thousand men were exchanged for twenty-some years of peace for the Guannei and Hedong Circuits. Did the number of civilians saved amount to only a mere seventy-nine thousand? This old man remembers that battle clearly because this old man took part in it!” Beacon General Jiang Yunrang sternly said.