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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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Lie Fan had never shared this matter with a single soul. Not with Jia Xu, not with Zhuge Liang, and not even with Ying Yue. As the staggering, unprecedented reality of the Emperor's true endgame washed over the room, they realized that the man sitting across from them was not just the greatest conqueror in history. He was the only man in history strong enough to build the world, and wise enough to know exactly when to let it go.
The suffocating silence holding the room captive was finally broken by the soft, rustling sweep of crimson silk.
Ying Yue, recovering from the initial, breathless shock of her husband's declaration, stepped away from the sunlit corner of the hall. She completely ignored the shards of her shattered porcelain teacup scattered across the polished stone floor. Moving with a quiet, profound grace, she crossed the room and came to stand directly beside Lie Fan's chair.
She reached out, her delicate fingers wrapping gently but firmly around his large, calloused hand. The physical contact seemed to ground the overwhelming energy in the room.
Ying Yue looked down into his dark eyes, her own reflecting a complex storm of emotion, overwhelming love, profound relief that he actually intended to rest, but also a lingering, gentle hurt.
"My love," Ying Yue murmured, her voice trembling slightly, entirely abandoning her formal imperial titles in the presence of their closest friends. "Why have you never shared such a monumental matter with me? With any of your sisters? We have laid awake with you through the darkest nights of this empire. We have shared every burden, every victory. Why keep the dream of your own peace hidden from us in the shadows?"
Lie Fan looked up at the woman who had anchored his soul since the very beginning of his perilous journey. The hardened, terrifying conqueror melted away completely, leaving only a deeply devoted husband. He smiled, lifting his free hand to gently cup her cheek, his thumb brushing against her porcelain skin.
"I never said a word, my beautiful Empress, because until this very morning, I had not fully made up my own mind," Lie Fan confessed, his voice carrying the honest, vulnerable truth. "A dream spoken aloud before its time is a fragile thing. I could not promise you a peaceful twilight while the world was still burning. But now... now, the blood has finally stopped flowing. The land is definitively united under our banner and our law."
Lie Fan gently squeezed her hand, looking around the table at his most trusted generals. He needed them to understand the sheer, unprecedented scale of what they had just accomplished, and why his timeline for abdication was set a decade into the future.
"Look at the maps we now draw," Lie Fan said, his voice swelling with visionary passion. "The domain we currently hold is staggeringly vast. It is much, much larger than the Han Dynasty at the absolute height of its power. It eclipses the borders of the Qin and the Zhou. The lands we have conquered, the oceans we now police, and the deserts we now patrol... such an expanse of territory has never been unified under a single, centralized throne in the recorded history of this world. We have achieved what the ancient philosophers deemed impossible."
He leaned forward, his eyes locking onto Sun Jian, then Sun Ce, and finally Ma Chao.
"But conquest is merely the opening act of an empire," Lie Fan explained, shifting into the brilliant, pragmatic mindset of the supreme architect. "Consolidation is the true, grueling labor, and that is the hard work we are undertaking right now. The lands to the far west, the deep south, and the eastern peninsulas... they are all still entirely new to our laws. They are utterly foreign to our culture, our language, and our bureaucratic systems. Make no mistake, they bow to us now because they fear our heavy cavalry and our cannons, but they could and would revolt at any given moment if the chance presented itself."
Sun Jian nodded slowly, the veteran commander intimately familiar with the volatile nature of newly occupied territories. "A blade at the throat breeds obedience, but it also breeds resentment. Resentment is the kindling of rebellion."
"Exactly, Brother," Lie Fan agreed, his eyes shining with tactical brilliance. "And that is precisely why we have allowed the vassal kingdoms, the tribal chieftains, and the local lords to remain in power for now. If we marched in and immediately stripped them of every single title, erased their laws, and forced our magistrates down their throats, they would fight us to the death in the mountains and the jungles. It would be a never ending, bleeding sore on the edges of the empire."
Lie Fan raised his hand, tracing the invisible lines of his socio political strategy in the air.
"Instead, we allow them the illusion of their autonomy. We let the kings keep their crowns, and the chieftains keep their tents," Lie Fan smiled, a cold, calculated masterpiece of statecraft revealing itself. "But we integrate our economy with theirs. We build the wagonways through their lands, making them completely reliant on our trade. We introduce our culture, our literature, our currency, and our luxuries."
"We invite their heirs to study in Xiapi. Slowly, but with absolute certainty, we weaken their independent rule from the inside out. We make the Hengyuan way of life so undeniably prosperous and pervasive that by the time we finally dismantle their local ruling systems and replace them with our own imperial magistrates, their own people will not even notice, let alone raise a sword to stop it."
Lie Fan looked back up at his wife. "That cultural overwriting, that slow, methodical replacement of their very identity... that will take a decade. And I must be the one sitting on the Dragon Throne to ensure the roots take hold. Once the soil is secure, my work is done."
Hearing the sheer depth and the flawless logic of the Emperor's grand design, Sun Jian let out a long, heavy exhale. The shock that had frozen Sun Jian slowly thawed, replaced by a profound, unparalleled respect.
Sun Jian leaned back in his heavy wooden chair, stroking his graying beard. A warm, remarkably understanding smile spread across his scarred face.
"I did not expect you to harbor such thoughts, Your Majesty," Sun Jian rumbled, his voice rich with camaraderie. "An Emperor willingly handing over the heavens... it defies all logic of power. But, having heard your reasoning, I find that I cannot argue with it. In fact, I support it wholeheartedly."
Sun Jian gestured broadly with a calloused hand toward his eldest son sitting beside him.
"Look at me," the aging Tiger of Jiangdong chuckled, a deep, self deprecating sound. "I stepped down as the supreme leader of the Sun Clan. I handed the reigns of Jiangdong and the southern fleets to Bofu here. And I must tell you, Brother Lie Fan, I have immensely enjoyed my retirement. To wake up and know that the survival of the clan does not solely rest upon my shoulders... it is a peace I cannot describe. I allow Sun Ce to take over the daily burdens, and I simply give him advice when he requires the wisdom of an old man."
Sun Jian puffed his chest out slightly, looking incredibly pleased with his own arrangement. "Of course, I still involve myself in the clan's matters when the situation truly demands a heavy hand, but for the most part, I am content to watch the next generation flourish."
At this, Sun Ce, the Little Conqueror, let out a loud, highly exaggerated snort. He crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head with a wide, fond, and utterly exasperated smile as he looked at his father.
"You 'only give advice,' Father?" Sun Ce laughed, rolling his eyes in a display of familial warmth that completely ignored the imperial setting. "Last month, you personally marched down to the naval shipyards and spent three hours screaming at the chief shipwrights because you didn't like the curvature of the new galleon hulls! You practically threatened to throw my quartermaster into the Yangtze over a ledger discrepancy! If that is you 'enjoying a peaceful retirement,' I pray to the heavens I never see you actually stressed again."
The room erupted into genuine, hearty laughter. The crushing, monumental weight of Lie Fan's abdication revelation had been perfectly diffused by the grounded, familiar banter of the Sun family. Ma Chao and Sun Shangxiang joined in the laughter, the tension completely draining from their shoulders.
Ying Yue looked down at her husband, the last remnants of her hurt completely washed away by the beauty of his vision. He wasn't abandoning his duty, he was securing the world so that he could finally be fully hers.
She nodded her head, a fierce, protective light returning to her beautiful eyes. She patted the back of Lie Fan's hand, her touch conveying a thousand unspoken vows.
"We understand, my Emperor," Ying Yue said softly, her voice filled with an absolute, unbreakable devotion. "Diao Chan, Cai Wenji, Lu Lingqi, Zhen Ji, and I... we have followed you from the ashes of the old world to the golden throne of the new one. We will always support whatever decision you make for this empire, and for our family. If stepping down to watch the sunsets of a peaceful world is your ultimate decision, then that is the path we shall happily walk with you to the end of our days."
Lie Fan's heart swelled with an emotion that rivaled the triumph of any military victory. He lifted her hand, pressing a gentle, lingering kiss to her knuckles.
He then turned his gaze back to the table, his expression shifting from a loving husband back to the calculating sovereign. The warmth remained, but the eyes were sharp.
"I thank you all for your understanding and your support," Lie Fan said, his voice dropping into a low, deadly serious register. "But I must issue a direct, absolute command to every soul currently breathing in this room."
He looked directly into the eyes of Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Ma Chao, and Sun Shangxiang.
"You are not to breathe a single word of this plan outside these walls," Lie Fan ordered, the weight of the mandate crashing down upon them. "Not to your lieutenants, not to your scribes, and not to the rest of the court. I do not plan to tell anyone else until I feel the exact right moment has arrived. If the vassal kings or the ambitious nobles believe they are dealing with an Emperor who has one foot out the door, they will begin plotting for the succession. They will try to manipulate Muchen before he is ready. I must remain the absolute, terrifying, permanent fixture of their reality until the day the crown passes."
"Our lips are sealed, Your Majesty," Sun Jian promised instantly, placing a hand over his heart.
"The secret goes to the grave, Imperial Father," Sun Ce added, bowing his head respectfully, using the familiar honorific. Ma Chao and Sun Shangxiang murmured their absolute, immediate agreement. The vault was closed; the secret of the dynasty's endgame was locked away.
With the monumental burden of the future firmly secured, the atmosphere in the private receiving hall shifted naturally into much smoother, lighter waters. The heavy, world altering topics of abdications and cultural assimilation were packed away, replaced by the warm, miscellaneous chatter of day to day activities and the joyous realities of the ongoing holiday.
Fresh tea was brought in by a discreet, silent line of palace eunuchs, alongside platters of sweet, glazed fruits.
The conversation effortlessly transitioned. Sun Jian, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, brought up the one topic that had utterly consumed the nobility since the night before.
"Now, setting aside the future of the world for a moment," Sun Jian grinned, a roguish twinkle in his eye. "We must discuss this 'Soap and Shampoo' witchcraft you unleashed upon the banquet last night. Lie Fan, I have marched through swamps, I have slept in the mud for weeks on end, and I have smelled things that would make a demon weep. But the scent inside that cedar box..."
Sun Ce threw his hands up in the air, laughing loudly. "It is madness! Absolute madness! My wives opened their boxes this morning. By noon, they were threatening to lock me out of the Jiangdong manor if I did not immediately secure ten crates of the jasmine variant for our household! The women are treating it like it is powdered gold!"
"It is better than gold, Bofu," Ma Chao chimed in, smiling softly as he glanced at Sun Shangxiang. "Shangxiang used the mint shampoo this morning. It is... remarkable. The physicians are already buzzing about its medicinal properties. The entire capital is practically vibrating with anticipation for the state monopolies to open."
Lie Fan chuckled, leaning back in his chair and sharing a knowing, triumphant look with Ying Yue. "Tell your wife to be patient, Sun Ce. The Ministry of Revenue is fully prepared to handle the demand. Though, I suggest you send your best stewards early. The queue will be... substantial."
The day drifted away in a haze of comfortable laughter, shared stories, and the easy camaraderie of a family forged in the fires of history.
Two days passed.
For forty eight hours, the capital city of Xiapi reveled in a state of unprecedented, ecstatic joy. The streets were filled with music, the skies were painted with fireworks, and the common people celebrated the death of the Warlord Era.
The foreign dignitaries walked the magnificent avenues, their eyes wide with awe at the towering architecture, the flawless infrastructure, and the undeniable, suffocating prosperity of the Hengyuan Dynasty. Lie Fan's cultural trap was working to perfection, the vassals were falling in love with their own subjugation.
But as the sun set on the final evening of the holidays, a different kind of energy began to build in the shadows of the capital. It was not the joyous energy of a festival; it was the frantic, ruthless, and desperate energy of extreme commerce.
Dawn broke on the fourth day, casting a pale, gray light over the sprawling administrative districts of the inner city. The imperial holidays were officially over. The bureaucracy was mandated to awaken. But long before the great bronze bells of the city tolled to signal the opening of the government ministries, a massive, unprecedented human tide had already formed in the grand plaza directly before the Ministry of Revenue.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0