Kongming copied in silence, yet the more he wrote, the more his horizons expanded.
The methods of ridicule and mockery used by later generations were truly unheard of. Some of the phrasing even made Kongming want to laugh out loud, though he felt it would be somewhat improper to do so.
Still, on the pristine white paper, the ink marks were crooked and uneven, already betraying how difficult it had been for the writer to keep a straight face.
Beside him, Pang Tong was already muttering in a low voice,
"So this Li Shimin… how does he end up with so many nicknames?"
He said it that way, yet for a moment, Pang Tong actually felt a trace of envy.
After all, the more people joked like this, the more it proved how much later generations acknowledged that Tang emperor.
It was just unclear how those same descendants would nickname Pang Tong himself.
But when he thought about his early death in the original course of history, Pang Tong instead felt a surge of ambition.
He was absolutely not satisfied with remaining the Fengchu who stood behind Wolong.
The text on the light screen had still not ended. Pang Tong pinched his fingers together and continued copying.
[Server Chat Log]
FinalPhalanx: Putting ability aside for a moment, if we speak fairly, Yingzong and Taizong actually have quite a few similarities. Both personally led campaigns. Both fought their brothers for the throne. Both profoundly changed the course of history.
WarArchivist: What a "putting ability aside." What a "changed the course of history." Even the Young Lord of Taiyuan would be fuming if he saw this.
How could they be the same thing? Both led armies personally, sure. One beat others senseless. The other got beaten senseless. One watched barbarians dance. The other danced for barbarians. One stopped enemies thousands of miles away. The other knocked personally on the enemy's gate.
AshenCommand: Not the same at all plus one. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, even old retainers of Li Jiancheng like Wei Zheng were reused and left their names in history. After the Duomen Incident, Yu Shaobao was sacrificed in blood immediately, and it took ten years before the grass on his grave grew three meters high before he was finally vindicated.
This kind of debate was already made clear in the Qing dynasty's History of Ming: "Tang Gaozu gained the realm through Taizong."
Li Shimin shook his head. His greatest feeling was this:
They would not even call him "Your Majesty."
No, to be precise, why was it so hard to just directly call his name? From Prince of Tiance to Li Family Second Son, no one seemed willing to properly call him Li Shimin.
Still, these were all trivial matters. At most he could laugh and curse a bit. They were not worth dwelling on.
He paced behind Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, watching as every floating word on the light screen was copied down without missing a single character. Only then did Li Shimin let out a quiet breath.
To be honest, he did not care much about this Zhu Qizhen at all. The later generations had already said it plainly. Leading a massive army, suffering disastrous defeat, being captured and laughed at for a thousand years. That alone meant there was no common ground with someone who captured two kings in a single battle.
In fact, Li Shimin felt a faint disappointment. What he was truly curious about was the founding sage of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang.
Born a beggar, sweeping away the Mongols and restoring unity. Later generations praised his military talent as second only to Li Shimin himself. Now that was a heroic figure worth discussing.
As for this so-called Yingzong, to borrow a phrase from later generations,
If Li Shimin so much as spared him a proper glance, that would count as Li Shimin losing.
As the final line of text drifted past on the light screen, the judgment of later generations made the Tang emperor smile briefly. That was all.
Now, at the beginning of the Zhenguan era, the ministers competed in diligence, all wishing to ride the changing winds of the times and create a flourishing age surpassing Qin and Han and shining for a thousand years to come. Compared to that, such posthumous fame was not especially important.
What followed was already familiar territory.
Du Ruhui carefully and neatly put away the copied records. Compared to these things spanning a thousand years, all the rare treasures of early Tang now seemed dull and colorless.
After storing them, Du Ruhui, just like the previous times, reverently lifted a small box and silently placed it beneath the light screen before stepping back.
And as that small box vanished in an instant, Ma Zhou's eyes went wide in shock. His expression immediately drew loud laughter from the Zhenguan ministers.
At last they had caught the top scholar losing his composure.
…
In the warm chamber of Bianjing, Zhao Pu wrote for a while, paused, then wrote again, his interest growing by the moment. The various arguments opened his eyes. He reminisced over the grandeur of the Former Tang's cultured emperor and sighed at the foolishness of the Ming emperor.
An emperor taken captive? When reading history, seeing that Tang emperor flee again and again already felt humiliating enough. Who would have thought the Ming emperor was even worse?
Still, this so-called "exchange" theory was rather amusing. He cautiously raised his head and glanced at the two brothers across the stone table, their atmosphere faintly tense, swords seemingly drawn in silence. Bored, Zhao Pu began arranging thoughts for himself.
If he could exchange with Yang Su… no, that would not do. Maybe better to look at the Prince of Qin's residence. Whether surnamed Hou or surnamed Zhangsun, both seemed fine.
If all else failed, Wei Zheng would do. After all, being able to chase after Tang Taizong and remonstrate directly was no small thing.
As he thought on, Zhao Pu's lips curled upward unconsciously, and his mood lightened considerably.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the light screen that had already faded slowly lit up once more.
The lines of the chessboard that had just been revealed were again covered by a layer of dazzling light.
This time, however, the content was somewhat different from before.
Zhao Pu furrowed his brows and could only try to memorize it forcefully.
[Lightscreen]
[As always, it's time for the unboxing segment. This time, what the big shot sent over is honestly overflowing with cultural flavor. One is pseudo-antique, one is an entirely fictional pseudo-antique. You could say it covers everything. And the craftsmanship goes without saying. Full marks.
That said, since it's almost New Year's, we have to add one thing. The "Imperial Uncle Enters Chang'an" illustration really should have included a calendar. What a pity.
Also, this pseudo-antique book is technically a calendar, but it's way too ancient to actually use. No more words. Let's just enjoy it.]
Zhao Pu felt faintly puzzled. This sounded like someone talking to himself.
His gaze moved downward, and the first image that appeared was a painted scroll.
Zhao Pu was broadly learned and recognized at a glance that the mounting style resembled early Tang. As for the painting style itself, he could not identify it. It did not resemble any known school.
The content was simple. A group of people stood atop a city tower, pointing into the city below. A crescent moon hung in the sky. Lights filled the city. Soldiers could be seen holding torches and cheering. In the distance, the ruined remnants of the imperial palace were faintly visible. On the city tower, the two characters "Chang'an" clearly indicated the location.
The second image was the inscription of the painting. The handwriting was elegant and clear:
"In the year 212 AD, Yong and Liang captured Xiahou Yuan. Liu Bei entered Chang'an under cover of night. By Zhuge Liang."
So the one standing at the front of the tower was Liu Bei? Zhao Pu felt both amused and bewildered, shook his head, and continued reading.
The next few images were even simpler. They showed a calendar, displaying both its cover and its interior. Its title was The Huangji Calendar.
Zhao Pu found this particularly fresh. After all, by his time this Huangji Calendar had already been abandoned for several hundred years. Without deliberate effort, it would be hard to even see a copy.
He shook his head and sighed, then continued downward, where lines of text appeared beneath the lifelike images.
[Server Chat Log]
Heavencleave:"Imperial Uncle Recovers Chang'an"? One glance and I can certify it as authentic. I've already reported it. The uploader is hiding national treasures. Just wait to go to jail.
DragonOath: In that case, it looks like my "Lord Guan Rides a Bicycle for a Thousand Miles" painting can't stay hidden either. Please report me as well.
Hahahaha. All I can say is the imagination is impressive. After all, Xiahou Yuan really did lose to Imperial Uncle Liu. They just changed the battlefield.
CrimsonDynast: Sigh, if only it were real. If Imperial Uncle seized Guanzhong, even in ruins it would still be fertile land. With proper management, maybe he really could have gone head to head with Cao Wei.
WarLordXia: What's the background of this Huangji Calendar? Any handsome guys want to explain?
NinefoldWar: This calendar has a very special status. I won't go into the dense technical terms. Simply put, it was independently compiled by Liu Zhuo, a mathematician of the late Sui. It broke through many limitations but was ultimately not adopted by the authorities. Later, in the Tang dynasty, during Gaozong's reign, the mathematician Li Chunfeng improved upon it and produced the Linde Calendar, achieving fame and success.
To go into more detail, Liu Zhuo was truly born at the wrong time. He was the first person in our history to strongly advocate measuring the Earth's meridian through actual observation. Unfortunately, constrained by the chaos of the era, he could not accomplish it. If Emperor Yang of Sui had really supported him back then, diverted just a bit of the budget used for building pleasure barges to measuring it, maybe today the prime meridian would not be in Britain but in Chang'an. We could add another achievement to Emperor Yang's résumé online. What a pity.
SteelEdict: Mathematician Li Chunfeng? Wasn't he a mystic?
NinefoldWar: Not really. Li Chunfeng was a legitimate member of the Prince of Qin's circle, personally promoted by Erfeng himself. Early Tang mathematician, astronomer, climatologist. He just happened to dabble in the Book of Changes. As a result, fortune-telling ended up becoming what people remember him for. If the great man knew this in the underworld, he would probably not know whether to laugh or cry.
One more thing about Liu Zhuo. His reforms of the twenty-four solar terms were extremely ahead of their time, so much so that no one understood them back then. They were not adopted until a thousand years later during the Qing dynasty's calendar reforms. The precession values he calculated alone were used continuously in Song dynasty calendars, until the Yuan dynasty incorporated Arabic calendars and algorithms and finally surpassed Liu Zhuo's accuracy. This man was a true genius of the Sui and Tang era.
Put like that, it really does feel tragic. A genius born into chaos is no different from a pearl cast into darkness.