Within the majestic Ganlu Hall, Zhangsun Wuji and the other ministers watched in stunned silence as the Emperor of the Great Tang paced in circles, entirely barefoot.
His imperial soles slapped against the polished floor as he marched back and forth, eyebrows slanted sharply like drawn daggers. His face was a mask of stormy indignation, and every few seconds, he would cast a venomous glare toward the Light Screen, letting out a huff of pure, unadulterated resentment.
Fang Xuanling kept his head down, his brush scratching furiously across the paper as he recorded the scene in silence.
"Your Majesty," Du Ruhui spoke up, his voice brimming with admiration, "the Divine Machine refers to you as the 'Emperor of the Ages.' Such a title has been rare since the dawn of time."
Li Shimin's eyebrows eased by the slightest fraction.
Catching that tiny opening, Zhangsun Wuji gently guided the Emperor back toward his padded couch.
"If it is meant as praise," Li Shimin grumbled as he sat, "then why in the heavens must they use such a ridiculous nickname?"
Deep down, another thought grumbled even louder.
Even if they did not wish to use my given name, "General Tiance" sounds infinitely more dignified than "Li Erfeng."
Xuanling finished a section of his notes and offered a diplomatic smile.
"Perhaps the Light Screen holds Your Majesty in especially high affection, comparing you to a phoenix to show your rarity. Furthermore, since Your Majesty was known as the Second Son of the Li Family, the Light Screen likely uses the name 'Erfeng' as a term of endearment, a sign of intimacy from future generations."
Li Shimin begrudgingly accepted the explanation, though his scowl returned almost at once.
"And what of this claim? That I shall issue a Great Amnesty in the future?"
Du Ruhui lowered his eyes respectfully.
"Only last month, Your Majesty remarked that a general amnesty is a blessing to the wicked but a tragedy for the virtuous. You said that when the state pardons twice in a single year, the good people are silenced by despair."
He stopped there and let the implication linger.
Fang Xuanling remembered it clearly.
Last month, the Emperor had issued an edict stripping the former partisans of the Yuwen clan of their ranks and titles, exiling them to the harsh frontiers of Lingnan. When critics at court argued that the punishment was too severe, the Emperor had rebuked them with those exact words.
Xuanling could already see where Keming was leading this.
If the Emperor wished to preserve his image as the "Emperor of the Ages," there was only one path forward.
"The abolition of the Great Amnesty," Li Shimin declared, his voice ringing with iron authority. "It shall begin with me."
To protect his legacy as the greatest sovereign in history, Li Shimin was more than willing to double down on his own principles.
---
"Is this Li Shimin truly that 'Emperor of the Ages, Li Erfeng'?" Liu Bei asked, his brow furrowed in genuine confusion.
He had every reason to be skeptical.
From the tone of the Light Screen, the narrator Wen Mang sounded like a contemporary, almost a peer. Yet this modern youth spoke of a Tang emperor with such casual reverence.
Ma Jichang nodded in agreement.
"We have too little information. It is difficult to determine whether these comments are forged or genuine."
Zhuge Kongming remained silent, his mind already spinning.
He made a mental note to have Gongyan compile every mention of this "Li Shimin" for further study.
Liu Bei, however, could not help feeling a slight pang of imperial jealousy.
"How can he be called the Emperor of the Ages?" he muttered, his tone faintly sour.
The unspoken meaning was obvious to everyone present.
What of Emperor Gaozu?
What of Emperor Wu?
Are the Han emperors chopped liver?
Why does a Tang ruler receive the title?
"Perhaps because of his 'Great Governance of Zhenguan'?" Pang Shiyuan speculated.
"Or perhaps because his technological advancements brought unprecedented wealth to the people?" Kongming pondered aloud.
"Maybe because he conquered the barbarian tribes and expanded the borders by ten thousand miles?" Yunchang added, one hand stroking his beard as he imagined the martial glory.
The discussion gradually died away as they realized they were merely guessing in the dark.
The Light Screen had revealed too little of the Tang.
They could only speculate.
Yide, ever the blunt instrument of comfort, patted Liu Bei's shoulder.
"Big Brother, look on the bright side. At least Adou seems better than that Liu Jiyu. Liu Jiyu issued a general amnesty every year. Adou only does it every two."
Liu Bei stared at his brother in speechless disbelief, his heart sinking at the so-called comfort.
---
[Lightscreen]
[With a stable environment born from a strict legal system, the Prime Minister finally began his grand project of civil governance: hunting for talent.
There was a hermit named Du Wei who feigned deafness to avoid entering government service. The Prime Minister did not take the hint and sent a carriage to fetch him. When Du Wei arrived, Kongming did not argue. He simply handed the man two brilliantly written, heartfelt essays to read.
Then he sat down with paper and brush, engaging Du Wei in a written conversation for half a day. They hit it off so well that Du Wei eventually agreed to serve as a Counselor Remonstrant.
The Prime Minister's eye for talent was legendary. During the Southern Campaign, he learned from the rebel Yong Kai that a capable man named Zhang Yi had been captured and sent to Sun Quan as a gift.
The moment the alliance between Shu Han and Wu was restored, the Prime Minister's very first demand was not territory or gold, but the return of Zhang Yi. Sun Quan agreed, and Zhang Yi fled back to Shu that very night.
These stories are endless. Historians estimate that roughly seventy percent of the talent within the Shu Han regime was personally scouted and promoted by the Prime Minister. He exhausted his heart and soul to build a government of merit.
To streamline this administration, he ignored the whispers of his peers. He stripped the Three Ducal Ministers of their practical power, centralizing everything within the Prime Minister's Office.
Because of this, the saying went: 'In the lands of Shu, all matters great and small are decided by Liang.' Even Liu Shan admitted it himself: 'The administration belongs to the Zhuge clan; the ritual sacrifices belong to me.' The Prime Minister had truly become the 'Imperial Father' to the young Emperor.]
"This rebel Yong Kai... he had ties to Sun Quan?"
Liu Bei's political instincts flared at once, and the irritation on his face was plain to see.
His dear brother-in-law in the Jiandong might not be much of a battlefield general, but he was a grandmaster at court intrigue, and clearly had no shame in meddling with a neighbor's rebellion.
"What is so difficult about this?" Yide roared. "When the time comes, give me eight hundred elite riders. I will personally take that dog Yong Kai's head and gift-wrap it for our ten-thousand-man brother-in-law."
Liu Bei ignored the outburst, but silently committed the names Zhang Yi and Du Wei to memory.
He looked toward Kongming, a heavy weight settling in his chest.
"The Han Dynasty owes you far too much, Kongming."
"How can there be any debt?" Kongming laughed softly, gesturing toward the screen. "Any fame I possess belongs to the Han. Do not let it trouble you, My Lord."
Shiyuan leaned closer, whispering mischievously.
"Aren't you afraid, Kongming? The historians might rank you alongside usurpers such as Yi Yin or Huo Guang for wielding such power."
Kongming flicked his sleeve, utterly unfazed.
"Shiyuan, you are being silly again. I am Military Advisor Zhuge Liang. How would I know what a historian's brush says a thousand years from now?"
Shiyuan stared at him for a moment, then let out a sharp huff through his teeth and turned away.
[Lightscreen]
[The Prime Minister's dedication to Liu Shan's education was nothing short of heroic.
The historian Chen Shou once compared Liu Shan to a strand of white silk: 'White silk has no fixed nature; its color depends entirely on the dye it is dipped in.' In essence, Adou would become whatever the people around him were.
The Prime Minister understood this perfectly, which is why his Memorial on the Expedition urged the Emperor to 'be close to virtuous officials and distant from petty men.'
To ensure Liu Shan took his studies seriously, the Prime Minister, despite being buried beneath mountains of state papers, personally hand-copied the works of Shen Buhai, Han Fei, Guan Zhong, and the Six Secret Teachings for the boy.
When Liu Bei died, Cao Pi actually believed the Prime Minister would surrender. He had all the grand ministers of Wei write collective letters to Kongming, urging him to lay down his arms and defect.
The Prime Minister did not simply ignore them. He took the letters to the palace, showed them to Liu Shan, and then picked up his brush to write 'A Just Discussion' in response.
His reply was, by his standards, remarkably polite. He called Wang Lang and the others 'old men with little integrity,' and described Cao Cao as a poison and Cao Pi as a hedonist. It was a subtle burn.
In the popular legends, however, the Prime Minister's verbal takedown of Wang Lang was far more explosive. Let us take a look at the fictionalized version from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.]
Liu Bei was moved.
Then, almost immediately, he was overcome with shame.
It was exactly as he had feared.
He would die too early, leave behind a crumbling nation for Kongming to repair, and a child for Kongming to raise.
At once, a desperate "Save Adou" education plan began to take shape in his mind.
The other officials were still praising the Military Advisor's extraordinary skill in education when the Light Screen shifted to the "Romance" version.
The entire hall fell silent.
Kongming's face flushed a brilliant shade of crimson.
He sat as stiff as a wooden board, every line of his posture screaming restraint as he struggled to maintain his composure.
The loudest praise, unsurprisingly, came from Yide.
"Well said, Military Advisor! I did not know you could curse better than the rest of us!"
His eyes gleaming with delight, Yide began quoting line after line.
"You gray-bearded old thief!"
"You hoary-headed ruffian!"
"You thick-skinned, spineless cur!"
"A barking dog of a man!"
Then Yide cleared his throat, rose to his full height, and let out a thunderous roar that perfectly mimicked the Prime Minister on the screen.
"I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MAN WITH SUCH SHAMELESS AUDACITY!"
Dust rained down from the rafters in thick clouds.
Kongming looked as if he wished the floorboards would split open and swallow him whole.
Shiyuan was nearly dying of laughter, slapping Kongming on the shoulder hard enough to dislocate it.
"Only today," he wheezed between laughs, "do I truly understand the lethality of the Hidden Dragon's tongue!"
---
[Lightscreen]
[After Liu Bei's death, the treasury was empty, enemies stood at the gates, and internal rebellions ran rampant. Shu Han was teetering on the edge of a precipice.
In that desperate hour, the Prime Minister single-handedly pulled the state back from the brink.
In just two and a half years, he filled the granaries, scouted new talent, pacified the South, purged corruption from the bureaucracy, forged a powerful army, revolutionized the salt and silk industries, and even dredged the Dujiangyan irrigation system.
The chronicles of the time recorded: 'The fields were cleared, the granaries were full, the weapons were sharp, and the wealth was abundant.'
Having finished all of this at breakneck speed, the Prime Minister submitted his Memorial on the Expedition. It was time for the Northern Expedition.
In the end, Zhuge Kongming died at Wuzhang Plains. Later generations said he died for his ideals, his faith, and his promise.
He was born during the chaos of the Ten Eunuchs. The Yellow Turban Rebellion swept across the world when he was only three. He was a child born in the twilight of an age.
Yet he possessed an ambition as bright as the morning sun.
He had never seen the glory days of the Han Dynasty, yet he was willing to burn away his entire life to protect a dream as fragile as morning dew.
He did not wish to prolong the chaos of Emperor Ling's reign. He wished to personally forge a new 'Blazing Han,' as brilliant as the rise of Emperor Guangwu.]
Shiyuan, who had been laughing only moments ago, was now sobbing without restraint.
Kongming had never seen the Han in its prime.
But then again, who in this room truly had?
As he watched the screen depict Kongming's death, a hollow ache suddenly opened in Shiyuan's chest.
Only a mind as brilliant as his could truly understand the crushing weight of such a swan's ambition.
For Shiyuan, surviving in this world had never been difficult.
He was clever enough, sharp enough, and shrewd enough to secure a place in any court.
He had always taken a certain pride in that.
But never, not once, had he imagined that the Hidden Dragon, a man easily his equal in intellect, would willingly choose such a grueling, lonely, and seemingly foolish path.
Kongming let out a long sigh.
With quiet resignation, he extended his silk sleeve toward Shiyuan so the man could wipe away his tears.
"Kongming," Shiyuan choked out, his voice thick with emotion, "I will help you. I will help the Lord. We will fulfill this ambition. We will remake the Han."
Kongming said nothing.
He merely lowered his gaze to the particularly large and glistening smear now staining his expensive sleeve and felt a sudden, painfully real pang of regret.
The others tactfully looked away.
"Two and a half years..." Ma Jichang whispered in awe. "To bring Yi Province back from the dead and prepare an invasion. Director Pang is right. If Guan Zhong or Yue Yi knew of this, they would be the ones comparing themselves to our Military Advisor."
Gongyan gazed at the screen, lost in thought.
Was Kongming guiding him toward this very same road?
This time, he silently vowed, the destination would be different.
---
[Lightscreen]
[Though the Prime Minister's journey came to an end, and Shu Han eventually followed him into history, the legacy he left upon the land endured for millennia.
His establishment of the Dam Officials ensured that Dujiangyan would keep the region fertile for two thousand years.
His promotion of the Silk Officials and Shu Brocade gave Chengdu its eternal nickname, the City of Brocade.
The Fire Well salt-making techniques he improved remained in use for over a thousand years. Some of those wells are still operational even today.
Thirty years after the fall of Shu Han, the famous writer Zuo Si arrived in Chengdu. He wrote the Rhapsody of the Shu Capital, describing the Land of Abundance the Prime Minister had built with his own hands:
'A hub of markets, a whirlpool of ten thousand merchants. A thousand rows of stalls, mountains of wealth, a constellation of fine goods. Merchants crisscross in a maze of trade. The sound of looms echoes from every house, weaving patterns as beautiful as the river's waves.'
Four hundred and sixty years later, the Poet Immortal-Li Bai departed the mountains of Shu, carrying his sword as he left his homeland and bid farewell to his kin.
Thirty years after that, the An Lushan Rebellion shattered the peace of the Tang. While Li Bai was in exile, he heard that the Emperor had fled south to Chengdu, his own hometown. He lifted his brush and wrote of the splendor that so often appeared in his dreams:
'The nine heavens opened to create Chengdu, ten thousand gates and houses enter the painting. Grass, trees, clouds, and mountains are like silk embroidery; can even the Qin River compare to this?'
'The water is green, the sky is clear, no dust rises. The scenery is warm, surpassing the Three Qin. The lights and flowers of ten thousand nations follow the Imperial Carriage, coming west to add spring to the Brocade River.'
'The Jiange Pass is the northern gate of Shu, the Emperor's returning horses gather like clouds. The young Emperor opens the purple palace in Chang'an, while two suns and moons hang together, illuminating the universe.']