Kongming hastily set down his brush.
He had barely finished recording his sudden revelations about the laws of science and the limits of imperial power when he looked up again. To his astonishment, the very words he had just scribbled onto parchment now appeared within the shimmering void of the light screen itself.
They drifted slowly across the projection beneath another line of glowing characters.
[Server Chat Log]
[Zhuge Liang: To His Majesty Li Erfeng, promote the new imperial examinations and abolish the old system of local recommendation. Only by leaving a path open for poor and common-born scholars can the Great Tang build a lasting foundation for prosperity.
Li Shimin: The chaos of the Wei and Jin was a calamity rarely seen in history. When the common people are uprooted, scarcely one in ten survives. Never allow the noble clans to grow into giant rats feeding upon the empire.]
The scrolling comments from later generations exploded instantly, a flood of modern amusement crashing into the solemn words of the ancients.
---
[Server Chat Log]
[Chronicles of the Ant: What kind of hardcore historical roleplay is this? Are we all just NPCs in your elaborate theatrical production? Also, wait a minute, was not Zhuge Liang technically from a noble clan himself?
Wandering in the Rain: What even counts as a noble clan back then? You needed massive estates and a private army of retainers. Zhuge Xuan might have qualified when he was alive, but by the time it got to Zhuge Liang, he was literally farming his own fields in Nanyang. What kind of powerful local strongman pulls his own plow?
Tree Observer: I highly recommend the Prime Minister take some time to study quantum physics. Just build us a warp gate, yeah? That way, the two timelines can cross over. Guan Yu fighting Qin Qiong! The visual is too beautiful, I cannot even imagine it.
Dreamer of the Grand Tang: Guan Yu charging through a million-man army to chop off the Tibetan King's head? Li Shimin personally leading a cavalry charge to capture Cao Cao alive? Yes, please!
Lightsaber Wanderer: Warriors of the Great Tang, ignite your lightsabers! Charge the traitor Cao and the rats of Jiangdong! For the Heavenly Khan, charge!]
---
In Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin leaned back against his dragon throne, stroking his beard with an expression of supreme satisfaction.
The title "Li Erfeng" was a bit bizarre, utterly lacking in classical elegance, but the underlying truth was intoxicating.
They had actually established contact. The legendary Prime Minister of Shu was actually reaching across the centuries to offer him advice, that alone was a miracle worthy of the history books.
He glanced to his side. Li Jing, the God of War, was practically vibrating out of his seat, his eyes glued to the screen with naked envy.
Li Shimin chuckled, a magnanimous sound. "Next time, my good General, I shall let you hold the brush."
Li Jing's face lit up with the radiance of a thousand suns, and he immediately bowed in fervent gratitude.
However, Li Shimin's mind quickly pivoted to the more fantastical suggestions scrolling past. He tapped his fingers rhythmically against the armrest.
"This quantum physics they speak of," the Emperor mused, his eyes narrowing in calculation. "What manner of arcane art is it that allows men to step across the river of time? And why do the future generations specifically demand that the Marquis Wu research it?"
Within a single heartbeat, an astonishing fantasy took shape in Li Shimin's mind.
If such a warp gate truly existed, he would immediately drag Kongming into Ganlu Hall and appoint him Chancellor of the Great Tang.
The division of labor would be perfect.
He, Li Erfeng, would lead the invincible Tang cavalry beyond the borders, crushing kingdoms and forcing every defiant barbarian ruler beneath the might of Tang.
Meanwhile, Kongming would remain in Chang'an to govern the empire, calm the people, and personally guide the Crown Prince in the art of rulership.
With the two of them working together, who under heaven could possibly resist the Great Tang?
The thought was so intoxicating that Li Shimin actually felt a trace of regret.
If only this mysterious creator from the future taught quantum physics instead of merely recording history.
But the mention of his generals accomplishing impossible feats pulled Li Shimin back to reality, more specifically, to the comment about Qin Qiong.
A faint ache stirred in his chest.
Throughout their campaigns, Qin Qiong had never spared his own body. His scars were countless, each one earned while charging enemy lines for the sake of Tang's victories.
Now the once-mighty general lay bedridden, weakened by illness while the empire he helped forge continued to prosper.
Li Shimin closed his eyes briefly and offered a silent prayer, hoping the divine physician Sun Simiao would arrive as soon as possible.
Pushing aside the melancholy, he turned toward his master painter.
"My loyal subject, is the task I entrusted to you complete?"
Yan Liben, his hands stained with ink and pigments, finally stopped sketching. With great care, he lifted a beautifully mounted scroll from beside his desk and presented it with a respectful bow.
Li Shimin unrolled it slightly to inspect the brushwork.
A slow smile spread across his face.
Rolling the scroll back up with deliberate care, he stepped down from the dais and walked directly toward the massive light screen.
Then he hesitated.
The Marquis Wu had spoken of sacrificial offerings, yet no one understood how objects could pass across time itself.
After a brief pause, Li Shimin treated the moment as though he stood before the Altar of Heaven. He gently placed the scroll upon the polished floorboards, stepped back three paces, closed his eyes, and silently conveyed his intent.
When he opened them again, the scroll was gone.
Zhangsun Wuji immediately abandoned all decorum and rushed forward, sweeping his hand across the empty floor.
There was nothing there.
Li Shimin slowly let out the breath he had unconsciously been holding.
For the first time in many years, the Emperor of Tang felt a rare flicker of nervous anticipation.
"Now," he said quietly, "we wait."
---
Thousands of miles away and hundreds of years in the past, within the Chengdu government office, Kongming let out a quiet sigh of relief.
It was a stroke of incredible fortune that the items he had prepared perfectly aligned with the topics discussed. It saved them the impossible task of rushing to find a suitable artifact while the connection remained open.
Liu Bei, however, was staring at the light screen comments with a complicated mixture of awe and professional jealousy.
"This Li Erfeng of the Tang must be a warrior of unparalleled merit," Liu Bei murmured, tracing the edge of his cup. "For the future to believe that his mere presence in our era could sweep the board clean... his martial prowess must be terrifying."
Zhang Fei, currently picking at a loose thread on his sleeve, muttered without looking up, "Brother, they literally just said that even if this guy possessed the body of Adou, he could still carry the entire kingdom to victory."
Liu Bei's head snapped toward his sworn brother, his eyes practically shooting daggers.
He had almost managed to forget the traumatic phrase "the unsupportable Adou," and here was his own flesh and blood reminding him of his son's future uselessness.
Pang Tong wisely ignored the family drama, his mind entirely captured by the cosmic implications of the screen.
"This quantum physics possesses such miraculous utility? If we truly grasped it, does that mean we could step through a doorway and visit their era?"
The very thought plunged the room into a stunned silence.
The bizarre, towering glass buildings, the mechanical carriages, the endless array of colorful goods, the bizarre but mouth-watering food they had glimpsed in the videos, it all rushed into their minds.
"Forget the food," Wei Yan growled, his eyes shining with bloodlust. "If we had their Dongfeng Express, we would not need a warp gate. We could just launch one from the courtyard right now and turn Cao Cao's palace in Ye City into a smoking crater."
Slowly, unanimously, every single pair of eyes in the room turned to lock onto Kongming.
The pressure was physical.
The Prime Minister raised his feather fan defensively, looking unusually cornered.
"Gentlemen, please. I have only just begun to grasp the fundamental concepts of basic physics. To demand quantum mechanics from me at this stage is... highly unreasonable."
Fortunately for his sanity, the light screen above them shimmered, unrolling a new sequence and saving him from the unreasonable demands of his colleagues.
---
[Lightscreen]
[Hello, hello everyone! We are already in September. The weather is turning cold, so make sure to wear an extra layer. Do not catch a cold now!
Our mysterious big boss have been incredibly efficient as always. I do not even know what to say anymore. All I can promise is that I will pour my absolute soul into these videos to repay their immense generosity!]
---
Following the cheerful greeting, a series of high-definition photographs slowly appeared on the screen.
Both the Chengdu office and Ganlu Hall fell completely silent as everyone stared at the artifacts they had sent, now displayed in a world more than a thousand years in the future.
The first image showed a bolt of exquisite silk.
Its beauty was subtle yet breathtaking, the fabric woven with delicate petal patterns that seemed to drift weightlessly across the surface.
The second image revealed a fully unrolled painting.
It was a masterpiece of imperial grandeur, richly mounted in gold and silver. At the center stood an imposing emperor atop a towering city gate, surrounded by rows of civil and military officials.
Below him, a barbarian ruler knelt flat upon the ground, his disheveled hair hanging low as two towering generals stood guard beside him.
The borders of the painting teemed with life, victorious soldiers raising spears, commoners cheering in the streets, merchants shouting from crowded stalls, and noblewomen leaning from balconies to scatter flowers below.
"My gift," Li Shimin declared proudly, puffing out his chest as he glanced toward his ministers, "is clearly the superior offering, is it not?"
Zhangsun Wuji immediately nodded in agreement.
"The Scroll of Surrendered Captives displays Your Majesty's overwhelming might. It reflects the glory of Great Tang and the prosperity of its people. How could a mere roll of patterned silk possibly compare?"
It was a perfectly reasonable conclusion.
Tang stood at the dawn of its golden age, while Kongming had struggled through an era drowned in war and ruin. In Zhangsun Wuji's eyes, there was simply no comparison.
Then the scrolling comments from the future began flooding across the screen.
And little by little, Zhangsun Wuji's confident smile stiffened.
---
[Server Chat Log]
[Threadbare Scholar: I am on my knees once again. I know nothing about paintings, but that roll of Scattered Flower Silk is insane! The recreation is so authentic it hurts. The only flaw is that it looks completely brand new. It lacks the patina of a thousand years of aging. One star deducted for being too fresh.
Keeper of the Light: I got curious and searched up Scattered Flower Silk. Turns out, the jacquard machine improved by Chen Baoguang's wife, which the creator mentioned a few videos ago, was specifically designed to weave this exact pattern!
Silk Road Merchant: It is a beautiful relay race of civilization. During the Tang dynasty, anonymous craftsmen took that jacquard machine and upgraded it into the Hualou loom, which is basically the peak of ancient weaving technology. It breaks my heart that neither Chen's wife, nor the Tang craftsmen, nor any of the workers in between ever got their names recorded in history.
Jade Weaver's Ghost: That Hualou loom and the Scattered Flower Silk we still use today are their greatest monuments. They do not need a gravestone.
Skeptical In Rain: Alright, I do not know much about silk or fine art, but I do know mounting. Look at the edges of that painting. Wooden rollers inlaid with massive chunks of gold and jade? That is standard nouveau riche oil baron aesthetic. It screams cheap luxury. Definitely a modern replica from Yiwu.
Morning Charge: Speaking of mounting, it reminds me of Emperor Wu of Liang, the absolute clown of our last episode. One of the very few good things that idiot actually did was standardize the methods for mounting calligraphy and paintings. If it were not for him, we would have even fewer ancient masterpieces surviving today.
I am Detective: Wait, you need to look at the mounting to tell it is a fake? Bro, the counterfeiter did not even do his basic research! It depicts the capture of Illig Qaghan, right? The history books clearly state Illig Qaghan was brought to Chang'an in the fourth year of Zhenguan. The inscription on this painting says Year Three. Who are they trying to fool with this timeline error?
Tired Of Brush and Paper: I bet the date error is intentional to avoid being classified as a real antiquity. Because look at the paper! It is pi paper made from mulberry bark, not Xuan paper! Xuan paper did not become standard until the Song dynasty. The counterfeiter did his homework on materials. And look at the brushwork! It is pure Tang dynasty fine-line painting, none of the plain-drawing style of the Song or the outline-and-fill methods of the Ming. It is a stunning, incredibly faithful early-Tang imitation.
Midlane Afk: Seeing the signature "Yan Liben" makes me sigh. The man was a literal god of the brush in the Tang dynasty. But because the Emperor ordered him around like a servant a few times, he felt deeply humiliated. He even warned his sons never to learn how to paint, saying there is no greater shame than doing the work of a menial servant. We look back and see him as the only artist who could rival Wu Daozi, yet the man himself thought his art was a lowly, pathetic trade. It makes me want to cry.
Wifi Lag: Hey, speaking of Illig Qaghan, did not someone blame Li Shimin's son, Li Chengqian, going completely native and acting like a barbarian on Illig Qaghan? Like, Illig Qaghan could not get used to sleeping in a palace, so he pitched a literal tent in the imperial courtyard, and the young Crown Prince saw it and thought it was cool?
March If Get Paid: The Li Chengqian tragedy is way too complicated to unpack here. Illig Qaghan is a convenient scapegoat, but he absolutely cannot carry the blame for the Crown Prince's rebellion.]
---
Ganlu Hall was so quiet that even the faintest sound seemed deafening.
Li Shimin's face had frozen completely.
The first thought that surfaced in the chaos of his mind was painfully clear. The moment this court session ended, he would have his guards drag Sun Simiao to Chang'an if necessary, even at sword point.
His second thought sent him frantically searching through his own memories.
When had he ever treated Yan Liben like a dog? When had he ever humiliated his master painter?
He replayed every interaction he could remember and found nothing.
Completely bewildered, the Emperor slowly turned toward the artist himself.
Yan Liben looked as though he were about to collapse. His eyes were wide with terror.
"Your... Your Majesty..."
The painter could barely speak.
He had pursued art in order to enter government service, hoping to establish himself as an official. Yet now he had learned that both he and his brother would be remembered above all for their paintings, and that their work would one day be hailed as the finest art of the Tang Dynasty.
Suddenly, his political ambitions felt strangely hollow.
What affected him even more were the casual references hidden within the comments. Xuan paper. Song-style plain drawing. Ming-style outline-and-fill techniques.
His mind was blazing with inspiration.
He no longer wished merely to become a master painter. He wanted to create Xuan paper itself and leave behind a legacy that would endure for a thousand years.
Unfortunately, none of those ambitions mattered if the Emperor decided to execute him for "future disrespect."
Would His Majesty punish him for words he had not even spoken yet?
Li Shimin took a slow breath and raised a hand, cutting off Yan Liben's growing panic.
His voice was calm and solemn.
"Liben. The future calls you a divine painter. They call me the Emperor of a Thousand Years."
He looked directly into Yan Liben's eyes.
"You use your brush to preserve the glory of Great Tang, while I built the age worthy of being painted. Are we not perfect partners in securing our legacy?"
Yan Liben immediately dropped to his knees. Tears of relief nearly spilled from his eyes.
Those words were exactly what he had hoped to hear.
At the same time, a dangerous thought quietly surfaced in the back of his mind.
I really need to burn those private caricatures of His Majesty laughing drunkenly at banquets.
After reassuring the painter, Li Shimin turned back toward the screen.
His gaze lingered on the name Li Chengqian until the characters nearly blurred together.
A Crown Prince whose future was "too complicated to unpack." A son destined to rebel. And another son, still a toddler, who would apparently become an excellent emperor.
How was a father supposed to choose?
Especially now.
This very year, Li Chengqian's tutor, Li Gang, was suffering from a severe foot ailment. Every day, the young Crown Prince personally went to the palace gates to receive his teacher and support the elderly man as he walked.
If Li Shimin knew nothing of the future, he would have been overwhelmed with pride at his son's humility and virtue.
But now everything felt different.
Li Shimin let out a long sigh.
Turning slightly, he noticed Empress Zhangsun watching him silently, concern already visible within her eyes.
Then another realization struck him like a hammer.
Somewhere in the empire, there was currently a ten-year-old girl destined to enter this palace, serve the Empress before him, and one day seize the entire Tang Dynasty for herself.
At that moment, the Emperor of Great Tang suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to leave the palace and walk alone for a very long time.