Compared to the imperial palace of Tai’an City, which resembled the celestial palace in the ninth heaven, the palace of the Beiman Kingdom seemed like a child’s playhouse, unable to withstand even a few casual strolls by nimble eunuchs. Whenever the great eunuch Sun Dingsheng stood at a slightly higher vantage point overlooking the palace, he felt a sense of regret. His status was roughly equivalent to Han Diaosi’s, yet the Beiman royal court did not favor eunuchs. There were barely over three thousand in the entire palace, not even as many as in the southern court, which greatly frustrated Sun Dingsheng. The female emperor’s sudden change of itinerary, canceling her planned imperial inspection tour to the southern court, further irritated him, for he had finally managed to leave the palace for a breath of fresh air. However, when he secretly waited at the palace gate that day and saw the elderly scholar carrying a bundle of books and the sword-bearing man, he guessed their identities and could not help but draw in a sharp breath. He felt an immense sense of honor and his smile became even more respectful and sincere. He dared not speak another word and silently led the two into the palace.
Unexpectedly, the esteemed guest himself spoke first, breaking the silence warmly: “Master Sun, how is your health?”
Sun Dingsheng was flattered. He had only met the old man once over a decade ago, when he himself was still a newcomer to the eunuch bureaucracy, and at that time, eunuchs in the Beiman court held no real power. He never expected to be remembered by the old man, let alone his name and face. Walking cautiously ahead, maintaining a half-step distance, Sun Dingsheng bowed even lower and softly replied with a smile: “Thank you, Master Taiping. I am well; my life belongs to Her Majesty, and I dare not fall ill carelessly. Master Taiping, you look well too, which is a great fortune for Beiman.”
The elderly scholar laughed heartily: “Master Sun, I appreciate your kind words.”
Sun Dingsheng, still bowing, replied with a smile: “No, no, it is I who should be grateful.”
The old scholar stopped there, no longer engaging in polite pleasantries. He slipped his hands into his sleeves, squinting at the somewhat unfamiliar palace complex as he climbed the steps. Passing through the vermilion gate and descending the staircase, they reached the jade courtyard before the main hall. Ascending and descending these steps was like the rise and fall of life itself. The old scholar turned and looked at the younger man five paces behind him, with a hint of guilt, he said: “I’m sorry you couldn’t have that duel with Deng Tai’a.”
The middle-aged swordsman shook his head and hesitated before saying: “The Master has nine questions. I have only one, the question of the Dao.”
“The Dao of the sword?”
“The Dao itself.”
“One character less, yet a world apart. Well said, Deng Tai’a underestimated you.”
The middle-aged swordsman bearing the sword was well known in the Beiman royal court. “Jian Qi Jin” (Sword Aura Approaching) was a name that truly lived up to its reputation. Li Mibi, a powerful minister who was deeply trusted by the female emperor, was a bloody executioner who practically controlled all the dark forces of the kingdom. Over the past decade, he had been repeatedly ambushed and assassinated by the head of the Sword Mansion. Some nobles in the royal court joked that the Zhu Wang organization had been able to continuously improve because of Jian Qi Jin’s talent for finding vulnerabilities. Jian Qi Jin was a very dull man. His appearance was unremarkable, and his personality was equally unremarkable. His ordinary name had long been replaced by his poetic name. His only interest was swordsmanship. He had no interest in women, power, or idle gossip. He was only close to the aura of the sword. However, even Li Mibi, who was repeatedly infuriated by him and even angered the female emperor, held him in high regard. He said that Jian Qi Jin had only revealed six or seven tenths of his sword aura, because he only allowed himself to retreat after failing, without any interest in killing to settle scores. When Li Chun Gang was young, he said there was no sword in Beiman. After Deng Tai’a achieved the realm of a sword immortal, he also said there was indeed no sword in Beiman. Beiman had hoped that the head of the Sword Mansion would intercept the Peach Blossom Sword God. Although they didn’t expect him to defeat Deng Tai’a, they at least hoped he would make him retract that statement. However, Jian Qi Jin disappointed everyone by never showing his face. It seemed that, in his eyes, escorting the old scholar to the north and into the palace was more important than anything else.
Sun Dingsheng slightly quickened his pace.
Before the main hall of the Beiman royal court, there were nine steps made of jade. A stern-faced woman stood high atop the steps.
She wore bright yellow, the imperial dragon robe.
The old scholar smiled and said: “We’re almost there.”
Just about to face the emperor, about to meet the most renowned woman in the world, the old man still had the leisure to turn his head and ask: “Huang Qing, after today, you should go to the Liyang Kingdom. We cannot let the Liyang Kingdom only know of Li Chun Gang and Deng Tai’a, while remaining ignorant of Huang Qing and his sword.”
Jian Qi Jin nodded slightly, almost in unison with the great eunuch Sun Dingsheng, and stopped advancing.
The old scholar continued forward, not bowing to the emperor. The female emperor, known for her great talent and bold strategies, did not reprimand him for this, but she did not descend the steps either, not even a single step.
The old scholar raised his head and looked at her.
The empress’s face was aged, but her eyebrows and eyes still faintly showed that she had once been a peerless beauty. She stood alone on the steps without anyone to support or serve her, coldly watching the old Taiping Commandant who had left Beiman in anger all those years ago. After a long silence, she finally smiled and said: “Everything you requested has been arranged in the palace. Shall we begin?”
The old scholar did not hesitate. He stepped onto the first step, took off his book chest, and waved his hand.
Nearly two hundred eunuchs and palace maids, each carrying silk scrolls like paintings, entered one by one. On both sides of the courtyard, they knelt and placed the silk scrolls, retreating backward with their heads lowered, each pulling out a long scroll, all of which met back-to-back at the center of the courtyard.
The empress’s eyes suddenly narrowed as she looked at the courtyard.
Hundreds of scrolls formed a massive painting.
It was a map of the territories of both the Beiman and Liyang kingdoms, detailed down to every military town, every major river, and every mountain range.
The world lay beneath her feet.
Thus, the empress instinctively took her first step forward, reaching the eighth step. Standing higher, she could see further, but her ambition had always been more than just watching from afar since the day she entered the palace.
The splendor of the two kingdoms’ landscapes.
Magnificent and grand.
The Beiman kingdom’s geography was marked in black on a white background, while the Liyang kingdom’s territory was marked in white on a black background.
A chessboard, a game of chess.
Black and white faced off.
The empress smiled and said: “Master Taiping has always been skilled in chess. Is this today a demonstration game for me? Will you and I walk together on this landscape?”
The old scholar did not answer. He waited until all the palace maids and eunuchs had quietly withdrawn from the courtyard, sweating and meticulous in their duties. He opened his book chest, took out a bamboo pole and a few pieces of charcoal, sat down, and looked up, saying: “Your Majesty does not need to come down from the steps today. Allow me first to explain the timing, geography, and human factors. Tomorrow, I will elaborate on the geography, people, military strength, and customs I have witnessed in the Central Plains during my years in the Spring and Autumn Periods. On the third day, I will discuss the border areas of the two kingdoms, addressing only the urgent matters. On the fourth day, I will talk about specific matters of our kingdom, how to gain the support of scholars and the people. On the fifth day, I will discuss how to conquer Beiliang, occupy Xishu, swallow Nanzhao, and on the sixth day, set our sights directly on Tai’an City, ultimately unifying the world. On the seventh day, I will talk about how to govern the world.”
Even the empress, who had weathered storms and upheavals, was momentarily stunned upon hearing such bold and ambitious words.
She descended one step and sat on the ground, mimicking the old Taiping Commandant.
The old scholar first set aside the charcoal he would later use to bring the dragon to life, leaning on the bamboo pole he had always used for mountain climbing and river crossings, now polished smooth from years of handling. He looked at the courtyard and calmly said: “Huang Longshi once said that under the great trends of the world, after a long division there must be a union, and after a long union there must be a division. I deeply resonate with this. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Liyang Kingdom destroyed eight other kingdoms and, riding on its accumulated victories, marched north to attack our kingdom. It seemed unstoppable, but what they did not know was that after one great surge, human strength eventually reaches its limit. The Liyang army, exhausted from its northern campaign, faced the Beiman kingdom, which, although well-rested, was at a disadvantage at the time because Your Majesty had just ascended the throne and the court was unstable. You risked your life to secure a hard-won stalemate. In fact, the timing was still in Liyang’s favor then, but the geographical conditions of Beiman were vastly different from those of the Central Plains, causing forty thousand armored soldiers to suffer from water and soil incompatibility. Additionally, the late emperor of Liyang had long been wary of Xu Xiao of Beiliang, fearing that after the destruction of Beiman, the Beiliang cavalry would dominate like a tiger swallowing a wolf. At that time, Xu Xiao could not establish a division between north and south, but now he could succeed, especially since Beiman valued martial prowess over literary cultivation. If Beiliang occupied the rich and fertile Heliang Corridor, which was sufficient for self-sufficiency, and then captured the entire northern region, such a north-south confrontation would be stable. Thus, the late emperor of Liyang issued a secret decree, forcing Xu Xiao to retreat under favorable circumstances and signing a treaty with Beiman. It was neither a brilliant move nor a foolish one. This created the current situation of a three-way balance between Liyang, Beiliang, and Beiman. This is the first principle I wish to discuss with Your Majesty: timing is ultimately inferior to geography, and geography must yield to human harmony.”
“A nation’s strength does not lie in natural barriers but in the hearts of its people. The hearts of the people are not simply about public sentiment; the common people have always followed the majority, and while they should be valued, they should not be blindly followed. The scholars of the Spring and Autumn Period who attached themselves to Beiman are a mixed blessing for Beiman, and this must be carefully considered.”
“I traveled through the various states of the Central Plains and memorized 2,643 different individuals, each with their own rough sketch. I request that Your Majesty have female officials record them.”
“One farmer can cultivate thirty mu of land, yielding two or three shi of rice per mu, with two shi being average. One shi is returned to the landlord, and a family of five consumes one sheng per person per day, totaling eighteen shi per year, leaving about twelve shi remaining. In addition, expenses for clothing, marriage, sacrifices, birth, old age, illness, and death must be considered. If there is a drought, flood, or locust plague, the situation becomes dire. What I have described is still the situation in the areas of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiahu, and Xishu, the granaries of the empire. In other regions, it is common for families to be unable to raise their children, resulting in a large number of rootless and wandering people. The so-called peace and prosperity of the Liyang Kingdom is quite exaggerated.”
“The Liyang Kingdom has already shown signs of having officials without feudal ties but officials with local ties. Officials cannot be locals, but the clerks are different. They have been local clerks for generations. Within a hundred years, there will be local tyrants everywhere. Zhang Julu is in a hurry, and many of his hasty policies are out of necessity.”
“I will select three types of merchants—sea merchants, salt merchants, and tea merchants—to explain the finances and taxation of the Liyang Kingdom.”
“The Liyang Kingdom has recently established a new position, the Shangyi Lang, who records military and state affairs each month, compiling them into the Shizheng Ji. It is divided into twenty-one categories: the imperial lineage, empresses, five types of rituals, carriages and clothing, Daoism and Buddhism, auspicious signs and anomalies, and foreign tribes. I will explain each one in detail, and Your Majesty can understand the overall situation from a single leaf, and twenty-one leaves will reveal the entire Liyang Kingdom.”
“The Longhu Mountains are complacent and do not think of danger. Your Majesty should take this opportunity to instruct the national master to compile the “Daozang” in ten thousand volumes, making the Daode Sect the leader of Daoism in the world.”
“The conflict between the Red and Yellow sects in the Western Regions is not something Your Majesty should merely watch as a spectator. Our kingdom’s destruction of Buddhism can destroy the great Buddha of the Chan sect, but we must establish the small Buddha of the Esoteric sect.”
On matters of the world, no detail was too small for the old scholar Taiping Commandant to discuss. By day, he spoke, and the empress, except for the first day when she sat on the steps, walked behind the old man, stopping and starting as he did, stepping on the embroidered splendor. By night, the discussions continued without pause, lanterns were hung high, and the courtyard was illuminated as brightly as day. No one else was allowed to enter the courtyard, so the empress herself held the lamp to light the old man’s way. Another day, they ate their meals casually, squatting or sitting on the silk scrolls. The empress even hung a cloth bag from her waist, filled with warm water and food. When the old man felt thirsty or hungry, he did not even need to speak; he could reach out and take it from her. The Taiping Commandant, who had to draw circles and lines on the ground as he moved from one topic to another, had used countless pieces of charcoal, his ten fingers blackened. Each time he washed his hands in haste, the basin of water turned ink-black.
The empress’s dragon robe, with its wide sleeves and long hem, eventually became cumbersome, so she casually tied it up with a piece of silk thread, making it easier to move around, disregarding all formalities and etiquette.
On the fifth night of candlelit conversation, the empress still showed no sign of fatigue, her spirit radiant.
After seven days of pouring out all his knowledge, the old man stepped off the largest map in the world, standing at the foot of the steps. The empress took his hand, her back to the slightly wrinkled splendor of the world, and together they ascended the steps. She said calmly: “May you be my imperial teacher.”
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