Li Shimin offered no immediate comment on the title the Light Screen had bestowed upon An Lushan, the man who added soil to the coffin of the Prosperous Tang. His face gave nothing away.
But beneath that calm surface, his mind had never moved faster. The pieces locked together with terrifying clarity. A godson of the Tang Emperor. The chief architect of a catastrophe. A rebellion that had not come from the frontier but from inside the empire's.
Li Shimin stood in heavy silence, his sharp eyes fixed on the map transcribed from the future.
For a fleeting moment, a strange illusion seized him. The map seemed to stretch and swell, expanding until it swallowed the Ganlu Hall whole.
The borders of the empire lay shrouded under a thick and suffocating mist. North and south blurred together and became impossible to tell apart. He saw a magnificent Tang Empire rising from his own hands, but deep within its body, ugly and throbbing sores refused to heal.
Had these hidden sicknesses been left behind by the Sui Dynasty? By his own father? Had they lingered unresolved even now, under his own rule?
Across the hall, the ministers of the Zhenguan era had fixed on a different detail entirely. Not the metaphor. The traitor's surname. An.
Fang Xuanling, whose command of the old records ran deep, broke the silence first. His voice was steady and measured as he began pulling the threads of the past into the light.
"An Shigao. The Buddhist master of the Later Han Dynasty." Fang Xuanling spoke the name clearly.
"The ancient texts record that he was originally a prince of the Parthian Empire."
He paused, letting the weight of that lineage settle before he pressed on.
"His descendant, An Nanduo, was the first to settle the family in Liangzhou. From that point forward, they became a powerful and prominent clan rooted in the Wuwei region."
The pieces snapped together in Zhangsun Wuji's mind almost before Fang Xuanling had finished speaking. His eyes sharpened as the geographical and political connections wove themselves into a single thread.
"The Nine Surnames of the Sogdians. Liang Province." Zhangsun Wuji let the words hang. The implications needed no elaboration.
The An clan of Wuwei. They had turned on Li Gui and delivered his head to the Tang. After that, the former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng had personally ridden to Yuanzhou to accept their formal submission.
For a brief moment, the expressions on the faces of the ministers grew tangled, caught between suspicion and deeper calculation. Du Ruhui felt the thought flicker through his mind and dismissed it just as quickly. He shook his head and brought his focus back to the hard facts of military geography.
"The An clan has guarded the Hexi region for generations."
That single sentence was enough to make the picture painfully clear. If a massive rebellion had broken out, it made perfect sense that the Hexi Corridor would fall first.
Even if they had later surrendered to the Tibetans, they should have been a formidable obstacle in the path of the Guiyi Army. So why had their name barely appeared in any of those later struggles?
Li Shimin's face betrayed nothing. He waved his hand with a light and practiced motion, setting the heavy topic aside.
"File this matter away for now," the Emperor said, his voice smooth and steady.
[Lightscreen]
[As for why the Cao family had their empire stolen right out from under them, diabetes certainly played its part.
But compared to the sheer volume of bad karma Cao Pi racked up with his own two hands, the medical issues start to look almost trivial.
Cao Pi was a man of profound indulgence, and his lack of restraint went well beyond his diet.
When his old friend Wang Can died, Cao Pi attended the funeral.
Standing before the grave, he loudly declared to the assembled mourners that Wang Can had loved nothing in life so much as the sound of a donkey's bray.
Therefore, they should send him off properly. Without a moment of hesitation, Cao Pi led the entire gathering in a chorus of donkey brays right there in the cemetery.
Yet when the Rebellion of Wei Feng erupted, this same man did not pause for a single breath before exterminating Wang Can's entire clan. Friends forever, right ?
When it came to his treatment of women, later generations heavily criticized Cao Pi for being superficial and frivolous.
He frequently called his friends over to throw massive parties, using his beautiful wife and concubines to host what essentially amounted to a "wife-showing convention".
Both the legendary Lady Zhen and Empress Guo are officially recorded as having been paraded out for display in this fashion.
Like a true son of the Boss Cao, his absolute favorite woman was always the new one
The list of those who received his favor runs long enough to exhaust a scribe. Lady Zhen. Empress Guo. The three noble ladies Li, Yin, and Chai. Lady Ren. Lady Xu. The two beauties Pan and Zhu. Mo Qiongshu. Xue Yelai. Tian Shangyi. Duan Qiaoxiao. Those are only the names that survived the record.
In a certain twisted sense, Cao Pi was also ruthlessly pragmatic. It was Guo Nuwang, with her strategies and cunning, who had helped him secure his position as heir, and he rewarded that loyalty handsomely.
Once Guo entered his harem as a favored concubine, she quickly displaced Lady Ren, who lost his favor and was expelled without ceremony.
Driven by jealousy and ambition, Guo Nuwang then set her sights on Lady Zhen.
She whispered a relentless stream of slander into Cao Pi's ear, planting seeds of doubt about Lady Zhen and even her son's lineage.
Consumed by resentment and a growing sense of neglect, Lady Zhen made the fatal mistake of voicing her grievances aloud. Cao Pi's response was swift and merciless. "He bestowed death upon the Lady".
Only after Lady Zhen was gone did Guo Nuwang formally ascend to the throne as Empress.
The forced suicide of Lady Zhen fell directly upon her biological son, Cao Rui.
At fifteen, he was stripped of his title as Duke of Qi and knocked down to Marquis of Pingyuan. He was required to honor the woman who had engineered his mother's death as his legal mother.
Even Cao Pi himself was worried that such inhumane behavior would cause Cao Rui to harbor deep resentment.
It was not until he was severely ill and on the brink of death that he reluctantly named Cao Rui as the Crown Prince. Therefore, it is perfectly logical and reasonable that Cao Rui outright refused to attend his own father's deathbed to send him off.
His father's total absence of restraint and the state-sanctioned murder of his mother left wounds in Cao Rui that never closed.
Later histories record dryly that Emperor Ming of Wei loved women's accessories.
Combined with the descriptions of Cao Rui's striking natural beauty, some historians speculate that he developed a severe psychological illness due to desperately missing his mother.
Sitting before a mirror, draping himself in her ornaments just to remember her. Mourning Lady Zhen in the only way he could. When you sit with the image, Honestly, it's heartbreaking. And it makes perfect sense.
Later, after he had successfully outlasted the brilliant Marquis of Wu, Zhuge Liang, The same symptoms he'd watched destroy his father. And right here, his personality takes a hard left turn
In the Qinglong era, a spirit medium popped up, and Cao Rui went all in. He went so far as to share her magical water prescription with Bian Lan, who was also suffering from the diabetes.
When Liu Fang was spinning honeyed deceptions into his ear, Cao Rui simply fell asleep in the middle of the conversation. Unexplained daytime drowsiness is a textbook symptom of advancing diabetes.
From then on, Cao Rui became fixated on colossal construction projects and set about collecting concubines on a staggering scale. And, precisely like his father before him, he waited until the very day he died to formally name a Crown Prince.
Cao Rui essentially completed the three stages of a dysfunctional legacy: Hating Cao Pi, Understanding Cao Pi, and finally, Becoming Cao Pi.
In an ironic twist of fate, Cao Rui tried to balance his court by bringing back Wu Zhi, his father's old favorite, meaning to use him as a counterweight against his current courtiers.
Wu Zhi, being a loyal friend, vouched for Sima Yi while attacking the honest official Chen Qun. This led to Chen Qun being sidelined and Sima Yi slowly accumulating absolute power.
Wu Zhi accumulated enemies like a magnet during his lifetime. After his death, the ministers jointly proposed bestowing upon him the posthumous title of Ugly.
Cao Rui, remembering that Wu Zhi was a member of his father's "Wife-Showing Club" and had likely stared at both his mothers with inappropriate eyes, signed off on the title with a smirk
Funnily enough, Li Fuguo, the eunuch prime minister who was promoted by Emperor Xuanzong and his son, was also given the posthumous title of "Ugly" after he died.
You could say the Cao family and the Tang Emperors really do share a certain... vibe.]
"This. They really do deserve to be called one family."
Liu Bei let out a slow breath, genuinely stunned by the sheer dysfunction of the old Cao clan. The wasting disease. The psychological damage. Dying young. Refusing to name an heir until the final moment. All of it crashed together and left him with only one sentence that could possibly sum up the whole disaster.
"It is a miracle that this old Cao, that this thief's bloodline, managed to limp through three generations at all."
Zhang Fei leaned in close to Pang Tong, counting on his thick fingers.
"Thirteen favored concubines. This Cao Pi truly carried on his father's great traditions." He let out a scoff. "Looking at it that way, that Tang Emperor is actually far better than him. At least he focused his favor on one person."
Pang Tong gave a derisive snort.
"He carried a hidden illness, so he surrounded himself with women in the hope of producing a single healthy son. Was the thief Cao Cao any different? His children kept dying young, which is exactly why he favored widows. He wanted to increase his odds."
Zhang Fei's eyes widened. He had never once thought to interpret it that way. Now deeply curious, he turned straight to Pang Tong.
"Does the military counselor have any children, then?"
Pang Tong puffed out his chest, looking more proud than ever.
"I have a son named Hong. Before I departed for Yizhou, he was already received in Gong'an County to settle there. I imagine General Guan has long since brought him to Jiangling by now." He stroked his chin with open satisfaction. "In sixteen years, when he undergoes his coming of age ceremony. By then, he will be more than ready to carry on my name and my talents."
As he spoke, his eyes kept sliding toward Kongming. The meaning beneath the words was impossible to miss. If the Light Screen told the truth, Kongming's quality was lacking, and his own flesh and blood would not even appear for another sixteen years.
Kongming did not rise to the bait. His voice came out faint and perfectly even.
"Since Pang Hong is born of the Fengchu, I am certain his name will appear on the Light Screen soon enough. We will hear of his talents. We will see his great deeds."
Pang Tong choked at once. The smugness vanished from his face.
Kongming ignored the sputtering silence and turned his attention back to the record of Cao Rui. He found himself thinking that the young emperor's life had not been easy at all.
"To watch his own mother sentenced to death before his eyes. To be resented by his own father. He worked for good governance in his early years, only to be trapped by the wasting disease later on. And all the while, he had to contend with the disloyalty of the Sima clan."
Pang Tong gathered himself and studied the situation with cold detachment.
"Waiting until the very day of his death to name a Crown Prince. That must be exactly how the Sima clan found their opening."
Kongming quietly ran the numbers in his head. He vaguely recalled the Light Screen mentioning before that Cao Rui had reigned for fourteen years. If he calculated from that timeline.
"Then Cao Rui could not have been older than thirty-five when he died."
"No wonder," Zhang Fei muttered from the side. "He finally claws his way onto the throne, and then he drops dead in his thirties. What a waste."
By comparison, the group in Yizhou found themselves far more drawn to the mysteries of the Tang Dynasty.
"This Tang court. Did they not see what happened with Zhao Gao?" Zhang Song asked. He could not make sense of it at all.
"What does it matter?" Liu Bei let out a long and heavy sigh. "If the words of the Light Screen are correct, then when the Tang's national destiny was nearing its end, there were emperors who ascended the throne on nothing but forged decrees from eunuchs."
Zhang Song fell silent. He had raised the comparison to Zhao Gao precisely because he did not want to touch the raw wound of their own Han Dynasty and the Ten Regular Attendants. Yet it turned out the future had simply replayed the exact same catastrophe, beat for beat.
"Why even bring up the Tang?" Zhang Fei waved a dismissive hand. "Big Brother, have you forgotten Huang Hao? We watch the Light Screen and a hundred years flashes past in an instant. But fifty or sixty years is more than enough for people to forget which direction their own ancestral graves face."
Liu Bei was caught entirely off guard. He felt a flash of anger at the truth of it. A surge of surprise at the insight. And a deep and genuine delight at the source.
"Yide has such insight now?" Liu Bei praised him openly. "Once this gathering ends, you must remember to go personally oversee the dredging of the inner river channels in Chengdu."
Zhang Fei's face twisted into a bitter grimace. He agreed anyway. He still remembered far too clearly the unholy stench of those drainage ditches when they had first marched into the city.
Li Shimin's response to the eunuch who had been slapped with the posthumous title of Ugly was brutal, brief, and absolute.
"An ancestral decree must be established. Eunuchs are strictly forbidden from meddling in the affairs of the state."
Hou Junji spoke up, though his voice carried a note of hesitation.
"Your Majesty, the Light Screen referred to them as a father and son pair. That alone tells us this scoundrel held power across more than a single reign."
Li Shimin's brow furrowed deeply once more.
Hou Junji shot a beseeching glance toward Fang Xuanling.
"Xuanling, did the Light Screen reveal anything further about the situation after this Xuanzong fled to Sichuan?"
Fang Xuanling shook his head and offered a short summary of what they had gathered so far.
"We only know that the rebellion was eventually put down. But the strength of the nation was shattered. The Tibetans seized the moment, and the Hexi region was lost."
At that precise moment, Du Ruhui cut in.
"During the An Lushan Rebellion, the immortal poet of our Tang, Li Bai, composed a line of verse."
Du Ruhui swept his gaze across the hall. His voice dropped low.
"The young emperor opens the purple gate in Chang'an. Two suns and two moons hang together in the sky, casting their light across the realm."
Hou Junji's composure cracked. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
A young emperor. Two suns and two moons suspended side by side in the heavens. The implications were far too terrifying to speak aloud, yet they could no longer afford to look away.
The shadow of the An Lushan Rebellion stretched over every corner of the Late Tang. Could a catastrophe of that magnitude truly have been put down by a Xuanzong who had already abandoned his capital and run for the safety of Chengdu?
Li Shimin's expression flickered in the dim torchlight of the hall. At last, he spoke. A single heavy sentence.
"Let us simply keep watching."
[Lightscreen]
[Someone once compiled a statistical chart of ancient emperors. The average reign for 495 emperors was a mere five years.
Cao Pi just barely managed to cross the passing line. However, there are others who far exceeded this average
For example, Xuanzong, who ranks seventh in terms of the length of his reign. Or Liu Shan, who ranks eighth
Comparatively speaking, Liu Shan sat on the imperial throne with incredible calmness and stability. In the early years, he had the Marquis Wu, Zhuge Liang, to power-level him through the opening stages. After the Marquis Wu passed from illness, he still had the Chu Shi Biao to guide his hand.
In historical evaluations, the word 'mediocre' runs through his entire life from beginning to end. The assessment is relatively simple and clear
Of course, he absolutely counts as benevolent and kind. From the time of the Marquis Wu to the end of Adou's reign, the Shu Han Dynasty only issued the punishment of exterminating three generations during the rebellion of Wei Yan.
At all other times, major corporal punishments were exceedingly rare. It essentially stood in direct opposition to the 'nine generations wipeout' version favored by the Three Kingdoms' Wei and the Jin Dynasty
The only other notable executions were Li Miao and Liu Yan. Li Miao was put to death by Adou for slandering the Marquis Wu as a wolfish and ambitious traitor almost the moment Zhuge Liang's body was cold.
And Liu Yan, who suspected his wife of having an affair with Adou and privately punished her in a way that deeply insulted Adou, leading to his execution.
Liu Yan's case was a personal grudge, so we won't evaluate it.
As for Li Miao, he had already made a fool of himself when Liu Bei first entered Sichuan.
During a New Year's toast, he criticized Liu Bei, claiming taking Yizhou was a loss of moral integrity.
Liu Bei asked him in return, 'Then why didn't you help Liu Zhang?'
Li Miao shamelessly replied, 'I had the heart, but not the strength.'
At that time, people requested Li Miao be executed, but he was saved and protected by the Marquis Wu.
Adou probably took this history into account, which is why he was so disgusted by Li Miao: 'If not for the Prime Minister, you would have died long ago, and now you dare to turn around and bite him?
Aside from putting those individuals to death, right up until the nation itself collapsed, the most damning criticism of Adou's governance was that the common people had a malnourished look on their faces.
But none of that can erase the fact that Adou failed utterly in the matter of great moral integrity.
When the Marquis Wu died, it was a tragedy under the autumn wind of the Wuzhang Plains. He let out a long sigh to the endless heavens, asking why things had come to such an extreme end
When Adou surrendered, the generals and soldiers were completely furious, drawing their swords and hacking at the stones.
The sixty-two-year-old Jiang Wei sent a secret letter to Adou: 'I beg Your Majesty to endure a few days of humiliation. I intend to turn our endangered state back to safety, and bring the darkened sun and moon back to light.'
Jiang Wei's heart remained forever devoted to the Han. Even after a thousand years, his loyalty shines as brightly as vermilion.
In stark contrast, Adou's response was: 'I am happy here and do not think of Shu.'
Putting him alongside Jiang Wei makes the entire situation feel incredibly ironic. It makes it utterly impossible not to shift the blame and anger onto Adou.
It leaves one feeling that Jiang Boyue's boiling hot blood and half a wisp of a loyal soul were spoken to nothing but a wild dog.]