Looking back and briefly sorting through the many achievements of the Arab world, Kongming suddenly recalled something Confucius once said.
When three walk together, there is always one who can be my teacher.
These words could not have been more fitting for the Arabs.
Situated between East and West, they grasped the core of Roman scholarship and absorbed the techniques of China. Only then did they forge a powerful state that endured for several centuries.
If one wished to pursue science, valuing education and teaching was certainly important, but mutual exchange was just as crucial.
Take the later Ming dynasty lamented several times by the juniors. If it had not banned maritime trade, then even if it still could not have escaped eventual collapse, perhaps its mandate might at least have been extended by another hundred years.
Shaking his head to cast aside these impractical thoughts, Kongming carefully copied down the so called medical dogma.
Although it was called medical dogma, at a glance he could tell that its rigorous steps could just as easily be applied to engineering, scholarship, governance, and many other fields.
As for Zhang Zhongjing beside him, there was no need to say much. When Kongming looked over, he saw the old man smiling so broadly that his eyes had narrowed into slits.
Meeting Kongming's gaze, the divine physician spoke openly.
"Previously, I still lingered on the stability of Chengdu and feared the thousand li journey beyond Shu."
"Now it seems that even if leaving Shu means five thousand li, this road is still one that must be walked diligently."
The words caused laughter to ripple through the hall, and even Kongming could not help but smile.
In his heart, he understood clearly that before this, the Light Screen had spoken in broad strokes and rarely touched upon medicine.
And after a year of development, Chengdu could be said to have been transformed completely. The climate was also far more comfortable than the bitter cold of the north. It was only natural that the old physician had been reluctant to leave.
Who would have thought that on this very first Light Screen after leaving Shu, he would not only become one of the named protagonists, but that the discussion of medicine would surpass all previous instances.
This medical dogma was nothing short of timely rain after a long drought for Zhang Zhongjing as he compiled the Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases. No wonder he was smiling so hard he almost lost his eyes.
Amid the cheerful atmosphere, Jian Yong wore a slightly bitter expression.
He had once declared that after the world was pacified, he wished to travel to Rome. Yet according to the Light Screen, Rome's chaos was no less than that of the Han.
If he waited until the world was peaceful to depart, would that not mean abandoning stability only to plunge into turmoil?
But now that he knew of Rome, if he did not go at least once, Jian Yong found it hard to accept. For a moment, he was truly caught between two difficulties.
…
Within the Ganlu Hall, those who were well versed in the history from the late Han through the Sui watched the distant chaos of the Roman Empire with heavy sighs.
"Climate shifts in the blink of an eye, and empires collapse over centuries," Fang Xuanling said wistfully.
For Old Fang, the cosmic vistas of stars and galaxies he had glimpsed through later generations were images he would never forget for the rest of his life.
And the more he recalled them, the more he felt the insignificance of human existence. Now, this feeling deepened even further.
From the Han to the Two Jins, how much did the climate cool? There were no precise records, yet one could glimpse fragments of it through history and the lives of the people.
When the weather was warm, snow never ceased beyond the desert. When it was cold, Jiangdong did not freeze solid.
If the line of four distinct seasons shifted by merely a hundred li, a state could perish and an age of chaos could last a hundred years.
Du Ruhui saw Fang Xuanling's melancholy and gently patted his old friend's hand.
"If that is so, then all the more must we twist the fate of the Tang."
"To use human effort to overcome eternal climate. How magnificent is that."
How magnificent indeed. Those four short words stirred heroic spirit within Fang Xuanling.
All of them were veterans who had followed His Majesty to pacify a chaotic age. If they feared difficulty upon seeing hardship, they would never have stood where they did now.
Du Ruhui smiled calmly. After all, according to established history, he should already have been dead by this point. Since he still lived, then this unchanging world must be changed.
The ministers within the Ganlu Hall were much the same. Qin Qiong looked thoughtful. Hou Junji wore a look of yearning. Zhangsun Wuji licked his lips, regretting even more his earlier request to resign as chancellor.
Liu Rengui's eyes shone with eagerness, while Ma Zhou half understood, his expression solemn.
Li Shimin felt even deeper emotion and let out a soft sigh.
"Stones from other mountains may be flawed, yet they can polish jade."
Sun Simiao ignored everything else and wrote furiously with his brush.
[Lightscreen]
[In the year 249 AD, Sima Yi stood by the Luo River and delivered a piece of fantasy literature that altered the course of history.
Thus, in the era of tripartite balance, the state of Wei, strongest in national power, became the first to effectively exit the stage.
In the same year, within the Roman Empire, which was likewise trapped in the chaos of the so called Thirty Tyrants, a second great epidemic erupted with tremendous force and lasted for sixteen years, once again killing hundreds of thousands.
Because of the chaotic times, many bureaucratic institutions had effectively ceased to function. The most complete surviving records came from the writings of Cyprian, then bishop of Carthage, and so this epidemic came to be known as the Plague of Cyprian.
In the records, this plague also bore curious similarities to typhoid. It began in autumn, gradually subsided by the following summer, then surged again as the weather turned cold, repeating this cycle over and over.
It is speculated that this epidemic also originated from Central Asia and spread along with refugees fleeing the disease toward cities along the Mediterranean. After roughly three years, the epidemic once again conquered the Roman Empire and ran rampant.
The exact death toll is impossible to determine. One Athenian scholar asserted that at least five thousand people died from the plague every day across Rome. This number sounds more like hearsay, since in the same records he also solemnly claimed that the primary means of transmission were clothing and eyesight.
What provides indirect evidence of this Western tragedy is a report left by the contemporary bishop of Alexandria. He recorded changes in the number of people receiving public food rations in Alexandria before and after the plague.
A simple calculation based on his figures shows that after the epidemic, Alexandria's permanent population decreased by sixty two percent. Even accounting for those who fled, the figure of over five thousand deaths per day, even if exaggerated, was not exaggerated by much.
Western bishops also recorded in great detail the various symptoms caused by the plague, including high fever, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, esophageal lesions, vomiting blood, limb disorders, and in the late stages, deafness and blindness.
From these scattered clues, modern scholars have proposed two approximate guesses regarding the diseases that ravaged during the Plague of Cyprian.
The first is influenza, which even today still accompanies us and needs little explanation.
The second guess is filoviruses, the most well known of which is the Ebola virus.
Comparatively speaking, the second possibility is more likely, because filoviruses generally have an incubation period of five to ten days. This concept of incubation was extremely difficult for ancient people in both East and West to comprehend.
This Roman epidemic differed slightly from the previous one in that there was no medical pioneer like Galen who stepped forward to try to turn the tide. Everyone faced the plague helplessly.
In the end, the outcomes of Eastern and Western epidemics completed their first convergence through different paths.
The immense suffering inflicted upon ordinary people by chaotic times, combined with science's inability to respond, led to the flourishing of religion.
In fact, the fact that most of the primary records come from bishops across regions already reveals much.
Thus, it can also be said that epidemics became the best accelerator for the West to reach the outcome of church dominated rule.]