Last night, September the 15, 960 at the Emperor's Palace in Kaifeng, there was a huge banquet held in honor of China's top generals. A long, elegantly set table awaited the men, covered with food from the best cooks in the empire, while the finest wine was being poured into the most expensive glasses the empire had to offer. This was definitely meant to be an extravagant evening.
Taizu invited them with intentions of retiring them. Once they showed up at the gate, they were escorted directly into the dining hall. They were seated and at once, the Emperor engaged them in conversation. He requested that they all boast about their acts of valor on the battle filed and would then pick his favorite. The better the story, the more wine you received.
Well into the evening, every single general was intoxicated and Taizu, after sharing a few anecdotes of his own, felt now would be the best time to officially retire them. He announced that they would all receive large pensions at their new houses, right outside the Palace. On their way out, I managed to catch up with Long Feng to inquire about the evenings activities. He informed me,
"The food was delicious, and the wine was exquisite! The Emperor had us share our war stories, and gave the most wine to the best story teller. At one point or another, everyone was the best story teller. Then he told us our pensions were waiting at our new houses, a few blocks from the palace."
It has not been confirmed, but it is believed that the real reason the Emperor retired the generals is to prevent a coup d'etat preformed by ambitious generals at the beginning of a new dynasty. Taizu wants to prevent this, so he nips it at the bud, and keeps them around the palace so he can keep an eye on them.
Above is a picture of Taizu and his generals at the banquet.
