"How many worthy talents has Huaxia produced?"
Within the prefectural office at Xuchang, Cao Cao listened to the handsome man beside Liu Bei sigh in admiration and found himself in agreement.
Though he did not know the melody of Yuan qu, one only needed to read Autumn Thoughts twice to understand what was meant by a folk tune.
It was not vulgar enough to sink into alley filth, nor refined enough to stand aloof beyond reach.
A scholar composing the song of the marketplace.
A gifted man lamenting the sorrow of common folk.
And Lament at Tong Pass pushed this folk tune into the realm of great elegance.
Cao Cao understood poetry. When he had read Wen Tianxiang's Crossing the Lingding Ocean earlier, he had admired the firmness of will and purity of aspiration. As for the piece titled Qin Yuan Chun by Wang Yanwu, though he disliked its tone just as the light screen had said, he still admitted its diction was intricate and splendid.
Yet Tang poetry, Song ci, and Han verse still bore resemblance to one another.
This Yuan qu before him was freer.
Lament at Tong Pass contained only forty-four characters. Cao Cao recited it repeatedly in his heart and still found not a single word that could be altered. The concision of language and the depth of mood were worthy of a master.
Only the later praise gave him some complaint.
"Rise and fall, rise and fall. In chaos, none avoid ruin. The people suffer thereby."
"If aligned with order, none fail to prosper. In times of order, how do the people suffer?"
"If in both rise and fall there is suffering, then what difference lies between order and chaos?"
Zhang Fei's brows immediately shot upward.
Liu Bei gestured lightly, cutting him off before the fierce general could erupt. Zhang Fei snorted and turned his face aside.
"Mengde, what do you figure counts as 'the people'?"
It should have been a simple question. Yet asked thus, Cao Cao fell silent for a moment. Recalling Zhang Yanghao's life, he began to understand.
"All the masses, every last commoner?"
Liu Bei nodded, though his face held a trace of melancholy.
"In later histories, Sun, Cao, and Liu all pass away. All return to the Sima clan."
"The Sima inherited the extravagance of your descendants. Though the realm was unified, compared to our present, it could be called prosperous. Yet the people suffered even more. The Sima did not cultivate virtue. Internal and external troubles arose together and continued for centuries."
Cao Cao listened quietly.
Liu Bei's expression shifted, now holding faint relief.
"And Mengde surely does not know this. In later generations, uprisings never ceased."
"After thousands advanced and fell, the later people finally established a dynasty without an emperor."
Cao Cao's face showed confusion.
"Uprisings?"
"Like the Yellow Turbans. Later generations call them peasant uprisings."
"Are they not rebellion?"
"The people are human. You are human. You avenged your father and flogged Xuzhou. If the people have no road to live, why can they not raise the banner?"
Cao Cao fell deeper into silence.
In his understanding, officials and powerful clans were the people, not the masses under heaven.
If Liu Bei's words were true, then no wonder the light screen praised anything that concerned the welfare of the common folk.
And the Yellow Turban Rebellion had become the Yellow Turban Uprising.
His thoughts wandered far.
In Huagai Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer felt at ease.
He wished the young narrator would hurry and finish, so he could question Sun Simiao in detail about preventing disaster for Meizi.
He wished the three months would pass quickly, so that Zhang Zhongjing might arrive and advise on preventing Biao's exhaustion.
There was also the matter of abolishing the chancellorship and the burden of governance.
He himself felt the volume of state affairs was not excessive.
Yet from the narrator's tone, was he the exceptional one?
The Son of Heaven would never strike his own face by restoring the chancellor.
Then how to establish posts, divide authority, and assist his descendants steadily became another difficulty.
And all previous conjectures about Ming history had now been overturned. His mind grew restless. His comments on the light screen were blunt.
"This Zhang Yanghao could write well and reopen examinations. He may be called the foremost in Yuan's literary way. Yet he did not enjoy Yuan's favor and died because of Yuan."
"How did those scholars forget Hu Yuan's chaos, forget Zhang Yanghao's death, forget decades without examinations, forget that advancement required serving the Hu as dogs?"
"I do not make them dogs. I measure talent by examinations and grant office to display ability. Why then are they unwilling?"
The words were harsh, but those present knew their emperor's temper.
Empress Ma rose gently.
"To mend a century of harm requires more than ten years of effort."
"If it were easy, this young narrator would not emphasize Chongba's achievements."
"Emperor Hongwu is no ordinary man. His accomplishments are no ordinary affairs."
Zhu Yuanzhang sat down at once.
Zhu Biao looked at his mother with admiration.
Only she could restrain his father.
Because of this, he found it difficult to imagine what the Hongwu court would be without her.
He silently resolved that she must not suffer calamity.
As for Lament at Tong Pass, he too had read it before.
Was this piece truly so revered in later ages?
[Though the Yuan Crown Prince had died, such a vast empire still required an heir. Kublai ultimately designated across a generation. Zhenjin's son Temür was raised as successor of Great Yuan.
After Zhu Biao's death, Old Zhu would do much the same. In this regard, the logic of the two founding rulers was identical.
Old Zhu valued Han ritual. Kublai spent his life promoting sinicization and likewise valued Han ritual. The system of legitimate eldest-son succession fit Han ritual best.
Kublai's good fortune was that he was slightly luckier than Old Zhu.
His misfortune was that it was not much luckier.
After Kublai's death, Temür ascended smoothly. This was Emperor Chengzong of Yuan. His reign resembled that of Zhao Guangyi. Simply put, the predecessor left too thick a foundation.
Chengzong rewarded lavishly whenever pleased. Sometimes he needed no reason. Upon accession he granted three sons-in-law one hundred twenty thousand taels of silver without cause.
Such things were common. In ten short years he exhausted the wealth accumulated by Kublai. According to the History of Yuan, even routine festival rewards were several times those of Kublai's era.
Later generations speculate that Chengzong's poor health and lack of authority led him to buy loyalty with wealth.
Beyond this, if domestic matters were unclear he consulted the empress. If external matters were unclear he asked ministers. When Kublai's treasury was empty, Chengzong did something decisive.
He died.
Because Kublai promoted Han law, his sons and grandsons studied Han history. This included Chengzong's wife Buluhan.
For this empress, her husband gravely ill, state affairs in hand, no crown prince established, a vast realm before her.
Was this the script of Wu Zetian?]