Zhao Kuangyin rose early the next morning.
By the time the imperial procession reached the side hall, he saw that Liu Han, Attending Physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau, was already waiting there.
Inviting capable ministers to view the Light Screen together had been Zhao Pu's suggestion.
During the previous viewing, it had been clear enough. The Tang era had its famed Zhenguan ministers. Even the Shu-Han side had shown no lack of capable men. Compared to them, Bianliang's presence on the Light Screen appeared noticeably thinner.
After arranging a new residence for his younger brother, Zhao Kuangyin had privately discussed the matter with Zhao Pu. Who should be summoned this time?
Yet the more they considered it, the fewer suitable candidates there seemed to be.
Cao Bin was still campaigning on the front lines. Guo Jin, the Defense Commissioner of Mingzhou whose fate later generations would lament, was facing Northern Han and the Khitan head-on and could not be spared.
That left only former close retainers.
Lü Yuqing had a reputation for virtue and impartiality, but had fallen ill the previous year and was frequently unable to handle affairs. Wang Renzhan was loyal and brave, but during the conquest of Shu he had privately embezzled untold wealth and let military discipline slacken, which Zhao Kuangyin deeply resented.
Shen Yilun was upright and capable in both civil and military matters, but he was now in the south, overseeing river and land transport for Jingnan and Jiannan, providing logistics for Cao Bin's campaign against Li Yu.
As for Chu Zhaofu, Mi Xin, Cui Han, Tian Chongjin and the rest, all held critical posts and could not move lightly.
In the end, after much deliberation, Zhao Kuangyin added only one person to this viewing of the Light Screen: Liu Han.
The Emperor's reasoning was simple enough. If the Light Screen began diagnosing illnesses across time, and he himself failed to understand it, what then? Better to have a physician present.
Liu Han had already been investigated. His family had practiced medicine for generations, and he himself was wholly devoted to medical studies. His background was clean.
As for Liu Han himself, he had no idea what was going on.
First came a secret imperial order summoning him to the palace on the fourth day of the New Year. Then he passed through layers of Forbidden Army guards, verifying his identity and tally tokens at every step. Once inside, the Emperor solemnly opened the doors to this mysterious side hall and then showed an almost childlike fondness for an ordinary stone table.
"If Your Majesty has no further commands," Liu Han ventured cautiously, "this humble servant requests leave. The revision of the Newly Codified Materia Medica of the Kaibao era still requires additions and deletions."
Zhao Kuangyin's satisfaction only deepened.
See that? Even while on holiday, he still thought of medical affairs. Truly a sincere and loyal minister.
His tone grew gentler as he asked an entirely baffling question.
"Does Minister Liu know Zhang Zhongjing and Sun Simiao?"
Liu Han was completely puzzled.
"Zhang Zhongjing is the Sage of Medicine. Immortal Sun's prescriptions are peerless. The Treatise on Cold Damage and Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold are required reading for any physician. How could this servant not know them?"
The Emperor's reply only made things stranger.
"Then wait here for half an hour."
With the Emperor having spoken, Liu Han could only bow and comply.
Before long, Zhao Pu entered the hall with a smile. Seeing the Grand Councillor only deepened Liu Han's confusion.
This, in turn, reminded him of an unusual rumor. Three months earlier, the Emperor had summoned several Hanlin physicians in private, one by one. It was said he had been dissatisfied with their diagnoses.
Yet all the physicians had unanimously insisted that the Emperor was in excellent health.
Liu Han was busy with medical texts, but he was not foolish. The implication was easy enough to grasp.
The Emperor was dissatisfied with being told he was healthy.
Which meant…
Did His Majesty believe he had some hidden ailment?
Then came rumors of the Emperor's fondness for leaving the palace incognito, and the well-known entertainment quarters along the Imperial Street west of the palace.
Liu Han's expression slowly began to crumble.
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu, however, paid no attention to the silent physician. They were checking the time.
"Was it always at a quarter past the Hour of Si?" the Emperor asked.
"Indeed," Zhao Pu replied. "When this servant entered the palace, the time calls on the Imperial Street marked seven quarters. There should be one quarter left."
Before he finished speaking, a shrill voice rang out from outside.
"The Hour of Si has arrived."
Zhao Pu nodded. "Then one quarter remains."
That quarter passed quickly.
From where he stood, Liu Han saw clearly. The once unremarkable stone table suddenly bloomed with light. The radiance writhed like living things, surging upward and tearing open a vast curtain of light beneath the ceiling.
Such a sight defied imagination. Liu Han's composure shattered at once.
The Emperor's earlier question about Zhang Zhongjing and Sun Simiao now led him, quite naturally, to a conclusion.
"Your Majesty… has already entered the mysteries and summoned spirits?"
At that moment, Liu Han felt a flicker of shame. At least he had not voiced his earlier suspicions aloud.
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu stared upward, brows furrowed, as lines of text scrolled across the Light Screen. Every character was familiar, yet strung together they were almost impossible to grasp.
[Client updating… Update complete
Bullet comments repairing… Repair complete
Directed rewards updated
Playback function optimized
We wish you an enjoyable experience]
In Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin and his Zhenguan ministers showed mild surprise. Behind them, Empress Zhangsun held the cat named Xianchan, her eyes full of curiosity.
Chu Suiliang's face was blank. Though he understood nothing of the meaning, his hand moved faster than his mind. By sheer habit, he had already copied down every line.
The text faded quickly, and the Light Screen fell back into darkness. Then a familiar voice rang out.
[Lightscreen]
["Hello, hello, friends. This is Wen Mang, still trying not to be illiterate.
A week has passed, and it is time for our never-delayed update. As always, straight to the topic. The romance of the Two Songs.
When people hear 'the Two Songs,' names tend to leap to mind. Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Su Shi, Li Qingzhao, Wen Tianxiang. Names you have seen again and again in school texts, usually followed by the dreaded words 'recite the entire passage.'
But today, I want to be illiterate for once. Let us set aside the poets and scholars, and speak of romance from another angle."]
In the Han-era general's residence at Chang'an, the atmosphere was relaxed. Compared to talk of the Song dynasty, Kongming and the others were far more curious about this so-called upgrade.
They soon learned what 'bullet comments' meant.
Text poured forth like a waterfall, overwhelming the eye. Fa Zheng and Lu Su, who were copying as fast as they could, were thrown into disarray.
[Server Chat Log]
[LazyXia: "I'm first!"
NoobOfWulin: "As expected, if we're talking about the romance of the Two Songs, Yue Fei comes first!"
SectlessHero: "Romance? More like a blood-pressure monitor. Zhao Gou will never understand what his twelve gold tablets erased!"
CloudJiang: "The preview all but said it outright. Rivers as paper, iron spines as the brush. Grinding years into ink to write a lifetime's resolve."
XiaoFeng: "You could add two more lines. One poem outweighs two dynasties. One man stands against ten thousand."
NightSaber: "Do you even understand the weight of only leaving Yue Fei's tomb by West Lake after relocating the graves?"
HeiYing: "A long rant deleted at the end. Heaven sees all. Heaven sees all. Zhao Gou is unreal. Like the teammates the system gives me in a promotion match."
MoonVyre: "If Chinese history were a single person, Yue Fei would be its longest sigh."]
Zhuge Liang paused mid-writing. The slip of paper in his hand was half-filled. He had planned to ask about better iron-smelting methods, but seeing this, he decided it could wait.
Zhang Fei smacked his lips openly.
"This Yue Wumu… makes me envious."
Having read more over time, Zhang Fei now understood certain strange later sentiments. Fame carved in stone, enshrined in temples, or etched among the stars, all fell short of having one's name written in books and passed from mouth to mouth among the people.
He glanced at his own strategist, prompting Zhuge Liang to smile wryly.
Liu Bei shot him an annoyed look. "Yide, tell me. Would Kongming rather die at Wuzhang Plains and be praised for ages, or restore the Han and return quietly to obscurity?"
The answer was obvious.
Zhang Fei shook his head hard. "Put that way… now I'm starting to feel sorry for Yue Wumu."
Back in Bianliang, Zhao Kuangyin's expression was complicated.
"Wumu," he murmured.
Zhao Pu spoke softly. "Martial and resolute is Wu. Spreading virtue and upholding righteousness is Mu."
He said no more.
For Song to produce such a general was a point of pride for him as a founding minister. Yet the disdain for Zhao Gou in those words, and the sorrow in the poems, made one thing clear.
Yue Wumu's ending had not been a good one.
Coupled with later accounts of Song's emphasis on civil over military authority, an emphasis Zhao Pu himself had helped shape, the hall fell into silence.
Only Liu Han stood to the side, utterly bewildered.
What was happening?
Should not the Emperor or the Grand Councillor explain something to him?
The voice continued.
[Lightscreen]
["When people speak of Song history, there is a common saying. Northern Song had no generals. Southern Song had no ministers.
It is a simple and crude summary, and it collapses under scrutiny. If Northern Song had no generals, where do Di Qing, Zhang Kang, Zhong Shiheng, and Zong Ze belong?
In truth, Di Qing's rise can, in a sense, be called the realization of a 'Great Song Dream.'
Di Qing, styled Hancheng, was born in Fenyang of Hedong, where customs were fierce. As a youth, he joined the army and entered the Forbidden Forces.
A few years later, Li Yuanhao declared himself emperor, and war erupted between Song and Western Xia. Di Qing followed the court's orders to the front lines.
It was in that war that his talent finally found its stage.
With no background to speak of, a general like Di Qing could only fight for his life. Fortunately, he was very good at doing exactly that.
Over four years of fighting Western Xia, he fought twenty-five battles, was struck by arrows eight times, and once nearly died of grave wounds.
Victory paid well. In four years, he rose through posts such as Deputy Commander of Jingyuan Circuit and Deputy Pacification Commissioner, gaining additional ranks as Commander of the Four Divisions of the Palace Guard and Training Commissioner of Huizhou.
His ferocity reached Emperor Renzong's ears. Renzong wished to summon him, but the war was pressing, so only a portrait was sent to the capital. Still, Di Hancheng's name began to circulate in Bianliang.
When Li Yuanhao finally submitted and the first Song-Xia war ended, Di Qing was already headed to the Hebei front, promoted to Deputy Commander of the Cavalry and granted acting authority of a regional military governor.
After six more years of merit on the northern frontier, Di Qing was elevated to Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, entering the ranks of the chief ministers.
That same year, Nong Zhigao rebelled, founding the Kingdom of Great South and ravaging the Lingnan regions. Song armies fled at the mere sound of his name.
By then, Song had adopted the principle of governing the military through civil officials. The commanders sent to suppress the rebellion were all civil officials, and all failed.
Di Qing could not sit still. He volunteered.
The outcome was as expected. After restoring discipline, Di Qing crushed Nong Zhigao in a single campaign and pacified the rebellion. Heads taken and prisoners captured need not be counted.
Because of this, his position as Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs was confirmed in full. He had reached the peak of his career.
From a tattooed commoner entering the Forbidden Forces, to securing the first great frontier victory since the founding of Song, Di Qing spent fourteen years climbing to the summit of military power.
Seen from afar, his life appears a smooth road.
But pry that road open, and everywhere lie the irreconcilable tensions between civil and military authority."]
Zhao Pu thought that next time, a few more lamps should be lit in the hall.
The Emperor's face was already dark. In dim light, it was impossible to tell whether he was seething or merely solemn.
At this moment, Zhao Pu suspected the words 'governing the military through civil officials' had struck a nerve, yet Zhao Kuangyin's breathing remained even.
After some thought, Zhao Pu ventured, "Should this servant go and rebuke the Prince of Jin?"
Zhao Kuangyin stopped him at once.
"That would be unnecessary."
He paused, then sighed, as though giving up on finding better words.
"To pacify a southern barbarian route, the Forbidden Army flees at the sight."
"To pacify a southern barbarian route, it is hailed as the greatest victory since Song's founding."
"So Song truly is weak, after all. Not an empty saying."