In the shaded seclusion of the palace's inner gardens, Li Shimin watched the boy's shoulders slump. A thought struck him.
Oh crap. I forgot.
This brat, Xue Li, was only sixteen. How the hell was he supposed to have a courtesy name already?
Sure, fancy nobles and imperial kids got their fancy names before they even hit puberty. But this Xue Li? Li Shimin had read the intelligence report. His father died when he was still in diapers. Family fortune? Gone. Family connections? Nonexistent. The poor kid probably didn't even know what a courtesy name was until five minutes ago.
Looking at the teenager now, Li Shimin felt a flicker of sympathy. The kid had spent his days breaking his back on a plow and his nights reading feng shui manuals, convinced his bad luck was because his father's grave was facing the wrong way.
The boy could wrestle a bull, and he was out there checking grave angles like some village fortune teller.
What a waste.
Well, not anymore. Under Li Shimin's watch, the boy wouldn't just focus on military formations. He would master both civil and martial arts. He was going to learn the classics, master the military arts, and become the most badass general history said he would be.
As for feng shui and geomancy? He was going to stay as far away from that mystical nonsense as possible. That stuff was for old ladies and desperate merchants, not future generals.
All of this, of course, stayed locked inside the Emperor's head. To everyone else standing around in the courtyard, the silence had stretched into something heavy, awkward, and seriously uncomfortable. You could practically hear the crickets chirping.
Xue Li kept his chin down, his brain doing backflips. Who the hell was this "Rengui" person? Why wasn't he answering the Emperor? How dare he? Xue Li had been looking forward to seeing this mysterious archer show off his skills.
Now he was just standing there like a statue, and the Emperor was staring at him like he'd grown a second head.
Then someone tugged at his sleeve. Hard.
A palace eunuch leaned in, his face pale enough to make a ghost jealous. "Xue langjun, His Majesty is addressing you. Why are you being silent? Say something! Anything! Compliment his pants if you have to!"
Xue Li blinked.
Wait. What?
The Emperor was talking to him? Not to some invisible Rengui guy?
Since when did my name change to Rengui? Why don't I know about this?
Oh crap. Oh double crap.
This was not how he'd imagined his first imperial audience going.
The palace attendants standing nearby were practically vibrating with jealousy. Why couldn't they have this kind of luck?
The Emperor's archery skills weren't up for debate. They were basically state protocol. You say something nice, you make the Emperor smile, and boom, your future's set. It was that simple. Office Politics 101.
And this country bumpkin was failing spectacularly.
But Xue Li was too busy having a full-on existential crisis to notice.
Wait. What? His Majesty? The actual Emperor? The legendary Prince of Qin himself?
He'd literally just walked through a side door and somehow stumbled right into the ruler of the entire civilized world. What were the odds? One in a million? One in a billion?
He didn't panic, though. Credit where it was due, the kid had nerves of steel.
Xue Li bowed properly and spoke with the respect he'd been taught since childhood.
"Your Majesty," he said, his voice cracking slightly, "my given name is Xue Li. I have never met anyone named Rengui."
Li Shimin didn't even blink. Smooth operator, this Emperor.
"Your given name is Li," he said. "Rites. Ritual. Proper conduct. These are the things that separate men from beasts."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"But a man who knows proper conduct without benevolence is nothing but an empty shell. Ritual without compassion is hollow. And compassion without proper conduct is chaos."
The Emperor smiled, and damn if that smile didn't carry the weight of an entire throne.
"Your parents gave you Li. I give you Ren. Benevolence. Humanity. And Gui. Noble. Valuable."
He looked at Xue Li like he was already seeing the man he would become.
"Together, Rengui. A man whose virtue makes him noble. From this day forward, that is who you are."
This time, no eunuch needed to remind him. Xue Rengui dropped into a deep bow, his forehead almost touching the ground. An imperial courtesy name wasn't just some fancy title.
This was a huge honor, the kind of thing people wrote about in family records for generations.
Xue Rengui's mind was spinning like a top, questions piling up faster than he could sort them. But Li Shimin didn't give him time to process. The Emperor leaned in slightly, a knowing glint in his eye.
"Now, Rengui," he said, like he'd been waiting for this exact moment. "Tell me honestly. What do you think of my archery?"
What nobody expected was that when faced with this simple question, Xue Rengui didn't just give some flattering answer like any sane person would.
Instead, he bowed, got permission to approach, and walked over to the shield like he was inspecting a piece of meat at the market. He grabbed the Emperor's arrow, gave it a firm tug, and tested its weight in his palm. Then, as if that wasn't already audacious enough, he strolled over to the bow rack and actually touched the Emperor's weapon. Running his fingers along its curve like he was appraising a horse.
The attendants watched in horrified. Several eunuchs had already started praying to whatever gods would listen.
Only after this thorough inspection did Xue Rengui finally step back and deliver his verdict.
"It's strong," he said, his voice calm and steady.
A pause.
"But I can do it too."
The palace attendants standing around suddenly felt like their talents were being wasted.
Why didn't the Emperor ask them? They had all these fancy phrases ready to go. "A hundred paces through the willow leaves." "Every shot hits the mark." "The string never releases in vain." "Every arrow finds its target." They'd been practicing these compliments in their heads for years.
They even had the names of legendary archers ready to drop for comparison. Ji Chang. Yang Youji. Zhangsun Sheng. Li Guang. All the greats. They were basically walking encyclopedias of archery flattery.
And this Xue Rengui, who'd just been granted a courtesy name by the Emperor himself, was giving answers like this? What a way to ruin the mood.
But then they saw the Emperor burst out laughing and hand the precious bow over to the kid.
"Rengui, why don't you give it a try?"
Xue Rengui licked his dry lips, gave a quick, messy bow of thanks, and practically snatched the bow out of the Emperor's hands. The kid was that eager. Like a starving man grabbing a roast chicken.
Next to the shooting line sat a gourd-shaped quiver filled with arrows. Their tips gleamed in the sunlight, sharp enough to make your eyes water just looking at them. Professional-grade iron. The kind of arrows that cost more than most farmers made in a year.
Xue Rengui's face lit up. Without wasting a second, he grabbed an arrow, nocked it, drew the bow, and let fly in one smooth motion. No hesitation. No careful aiming. Just instinct. One glance was all he needed.
The arrow shot out like thunder, slamming into the shield. Deep. Deeper than the Emperor's shot.
Throughout all this, Li Shimin had to use stern looks to keep the Jinwuwei soldiers in check. They'd been creeping closer, hands on their sword hilts, ready to turn this cocky country kid into mincemeat the second the Emperor gave the signal.
After glaring them back into position, Li Shimin turned back to watch Xue Rengui's face. The teenager was practically glowing with pride. A massive, self-satisfied smirk was spreading across his face like he'd just won the war all by himself.
Li Shimin couldn't help but smile.
Of course. He's still a kid. Give him a little success, and he wants to show everyone.
It was like watching a puppy wag its tail after learning a new trick.
But honestly? Breaking that kind of youthful arrogance was way more fun.
So Li Shimin immediately gave the order.
"Bring me the Tiance Shangjiang's bow and arrows."
What appeared before Xue Rengui was a massive set of archery equipment, at least thirty percent bigger than the precious bow he'd just used. The arrows were thicker and longer too, with four fletchings instead of the usual three. Each arrow was painted with four bold characters: Tiance Shangjiang — Heavenly Strategy Supreme General.
Damn. That was impressive. Xue Rengui's eyes widened.
This time, Li Shimin stood politely to the side and gestured for Xue Rengui to go ahead. Try his best. Show what he'd got.
The sixteen-year-old kid practically pounced on the giant bow. But the moment he picked it up, his expression changed. This wasn't going to be easy. The bow was huge, and drawing it required a different technique. Both the bow and arrows were heavier, which meant his usual form wouldn't cut it.
He gritted his teeth, threw his entire weight into the draw, aimed as best he could, and released. The recoil sent him stumbling backward half a step. He snapped his head up just in time to see the massive arrow punch clean through the shield.
"Not bad," Li Shimin murmured.
A pause. A smile.
"But still far from my level."
Xue Rengui's face twisted into an expression that clearly said, Yeah, right. I don't buy it.
The Emperor of Tang laughed heartily at that look. He took the giant bow from the kid's hands and signaled to the Jinwuwei guards. "Stack three shields together. Put them ten paces behind the one he just shot through."
The guards scrambled to obey.
With practiced ease, Li Shimin drew the bow at his waist. No fancy stance. No dramatic pause. Just a smooth, effortless pull. The giant arrow became a shooting star, punching through all three shields like they were made of paper and continuing its momentum to bury itself deep into the stone wall behind them.
Thunk.
Xue Rengui's mouth hung open. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Or maybe a god. Same difference.
Li Shimin looked completely relaxed, like he'd just taken out the trash.
"When I was suppressing Liu Heita," Li Shimin began casually, like he was telling a story about yesterday's hunt, "there was a fierce Turkic general under his command. During the battle at Feixiang, this Turkic general charged straight at me, thinking he could take me down."
"I used this bow and arrow. One shot. One kill."
"The Turkic barbarian fell the moment the arrow hit. The arrow pierced right through his body and out the other side."
Xue Rengui couldn't help himself. "And then?"
To him, military campaigns were still just stories from old history books. But this? This was a firsthand account from the Emperor himself. His curiosity got the better of him.
"And then?" Li Shimin smiled, a cold glint in his eyes. "His troops weren't convinced. Three generals came out together, thinking they could exploit the fact that I wasn't carrying a spear."
"I just shot three arrows in a row. One after another. The barbarians fell like dominoes. After that, they were so scared of my arrows that none of them dared to come out again for the rest of the day."
Xue Rengui's face was practically screaming admiration. His eyes were wide, his mouth still hanging open, his brain probably short-circuiting from the sheer awesomeness of the story.
"It wasn't the power of the arrows they feared," he said, his voice filled with genuine respect. "It was the might of Your Majesty."
Li Shimin laughed out loud. So this little future general knew how to give compliments too. Good to know.
After a moment, Li Shimin's expression turned serious.
"Next year, there will be an opportunity to strike against our enemies. Would Rengui like to join the campaign?"
Xue Rengui had never even considered a military career until a few days ago. But now? Now he knew exactly what to say. He dropped to one knee without hesitation.
"Li is willing to serve as a vanguard soldier, to repel our enemies for the Tang!"
Li Shimin laughed heartily and pulled him up with one hand.
"Rather than just repelling enemies," he said, his voice warm but firm, "I'd prefer Rengui to help the Tang expand our territory and spread our might to foreign lands."
Fifteen minutes later, Xue Rengui walked out of the palace gates with the precious bow cradled in his arms like a newborn baby. Or maybe like a man who'd just been handed a winning lottery ticket and was terrified someone would snatch it away.
He looked back at the majestic palace gates, his head spinning like he'd just woken up from a dream. All those thoughts he'd had when leaving Hedong about bringing glory to his family and restoring the Xue name? Gone. Completely wiped from his memory.
Now, Xue Rengui just kept touching the precious bow in his arms, then patting the matching quiver hanging from his waist. His brain had one single, overwhelming thought that refused to leave:
I really want to die for the Emperor.
When Xue Rengui got back to the relay station, the station master didn't even give him time to sit down.
"Xue Langjun, you're already enrolled as a student at the Guozijian. Pack your things and move over there. Tonight."
Xue Rengui blinked. Tonight?
He figured this was the Emperor's doing, and his heart swelled with even more gratitude. The man moved fast. Faster than a government bureaucracy had any right to.
His luggage and travel money were pathetically small. Honestly, the only things of real value he had were the imperial bow and that stubborn little horse tied up in the courtyard. The horse wasn't worth much. It was scrawny, ugly, and had the personality of a grumpy old man. But it had carried him across the Yellow River and the Wei River, eating up almost half his travel funds in ferry fees. After all that, Xue Rengui was determined to keep the stubborn little beast.
But considering it was already getting dark, Xue Rengui asked if he could stay one more night and report to the Guozijian tomorrow morning. The station master readily agreed. The city curfew was about to lock down anyway. The last thing anyone needed was some country kid getting arrested for wandering the streets after dark.
That night, lying on his thin mattress, Xue Rengui tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Today's events were more unbelievable than his entire sixteen years of life combined.
Family downfall. Summoned to the capital. Met the Emperor. Granted a courtesy name. Archery competition. Invited to join the military. Swore loyalty to the Tang.
His head was still spinning.
After the excitement wore off, anxiety crept in. And in the quiet of the night, people's conversations became impossibly clear.
Xue Rengui tiptoed out of bed, crouched by the door, and held his breath to listen.
"What's this Young Master Xue's background? How did he get an audience with the Emperor?"
"Could it be...?"
"Impossible! How could the Emperor's offspring be lost in Hedong?"
"Whoa, you're bold. I didn't say anything!"
"What? You didn't...?"
"I meant, could it be that this Young Master Xue's family has some favor with the Emperor."
"Hmph!"
The conversation outside ended on a sour note, and Xue Rengui quietly returned to bed.
My father had a favor with the Emperor?
That theory was just too ridiculous. His father had been a quiet, bookish man who died in obscurity. He could barely get a loan from the village moneylender, let alone do a favor for the Emperor.
But thinking back on today's events, Xue Rengui started to wonder if maybe it wasn't that ridiculous after all.
The next morning, after packing his meager belongings, Xue Rengui asked the station master for directions and headed straight for the Guozijian.
The morning air on Chang'an's streets was filled with the smell of breakfast foods that made Xue Rengui's empty stomach and empty coin purse fight an epic three-hundred-round battle.
His stomach won. Obviously.
After carefully checking the prices, Xue Rengui sat down at a stall. One dog leg. Two meatballs. A large bowl of steamed bun soup. He ate like a man who hadn't seen food in weeks, sweating profusely and letting out satisfied grunts between bites.
Then he paid. The satisfaction instantly turned into physical pain.
Worth it, he told himself, though his coin pouch strongly disagreed.
After burping contentedly, Xue Rengui arrived at the Guozijian and was greeted by a scene of absolute chaos.
"Master Yan is coming to teach about glass technology!" someone shouted, running past like their pants were on fire.
"Transparent glass is our Tang masterpiece!" another student yelled, waving a notebook. "Master Yan says it can benefit mankind for a thousand years! There's one missing technique! Whoever solves it will be famous for all eternity!"
Xue Rengui watched as students rushed in one direction like a tidal wave. He barely managed to grab someone by the shoulder, shove his credentials in the guy's face, and ask where he was supposed to go.
The room he was directed to was large but surprisingly empty. Only one boy, noticeably shorter than Xue Rengui, was crouched over a large sand table in the center of the room, his rear end pointing directly at the door.
This is the military class?
Xue Rengui decided to listen more and talk less. He focused on studying the sand table and quickly realized it was a terrain model of Longyou. The lower right corner had a prominent marker labeled "Chang'an."
West of Longyou... Xue Rengui dug through his memories. There was some group of barbarians out there. What were they called again... Tuyuhun?
Could this be where the military merit was to be found?
Before he could say anything, the boy crouching over the sand table noticed him. He immediately stood up, dusted off his hands, and started chattering like a squirrel on caffeine.
"Oh! I thought I was the only one in this new military class! I didn't expect another classmate!"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"May I ask for your honorable name? That bow is really impressive! Though unfortunately, I'm completely useless with that sort of thing. I'm actually quite skilled in calligraphy. Do you study calligraphy? No? That's fine. I can teach you if you want."
He extended a hand, a bright, confident smile on his face.
"Oh right, my name is Pei Xingjian."