"Wild ambition…"
Du Ruhui rolled the phrase around in his mouth, then nodded slowly. "An apt description. We have heard of Japanese invasions in later ages, yet only now do we see the root of it. The eastern barbarians developed no complete civilization of their own; their institutions and learning were drawn, in full, from the Central Plains."
He let out a cold snort. "To turn around and bare their fangs at the hand that raised them—how is that any different from an ungrateful wolf?
Zhangsun Wuji, however, offered a measured counterpoint. "Our Great Tang can, of course, awe the four seas by force of arms. But what of the later dynasties? The Song emperors lacked martial virtue; they couldn't even recover the Yan–Yun Sixteen Prefectures, let alone control the Western Regions. As for the Yuan, their governance was muddled at best. Even their own songs lamented that a man in chaos is worth less than a dog in peace—a dynasty steeped in turmoil."
He paused, then concluded calmly, "If those later emperors had possessed even half the martial spirit of our Great Tang, would Japan ever have dared to rebel?"
Du Ruhui felt a flicker of amusement—and mild contempt.
Well played. Taking the scenic route just to flatter His Majesty again.
Li Shimin merely smiled faintly, neither pleased nor displeased. He shifted the topic with ease.
"Then what of this title—Son of Heaven of the Land of the Rising Sun?"
The ministers exchanged glances. For a moment, no one spoke.
Finally, Wei Zheng stepped forward. "On this matter, I know a little."
He raised his eyes to the light screen, where a detailed map of the eastern seas was displayed. The outline of the Japanese archipelago was unmistakable—no mere 'mountain island,' but a vast chain of lands scattered across the ocean.
"Japan lies southeast of Baekje and Silla," Wei Zheng said. "Three thousand li by sea. In the Han records, it is said that their territory required five months to traverse from south to north, and three months from east to west. At the time, it consisted of more than thirty small states, each ruled by its own king."
Li Shimin nodded thoughtfully. "Fragmented rule invites internal strife. And after that?"
Wei Zheng continued, "In the twentieth year of Kaihuang, the King of Wa sent an envoy to the Sui court. The envoy claimed that the King of Wa regarded Heaven as his elder brother and the Sun as his younger brother."
Li Shimin raised an eyebrow.
"Emperor Wen of Sui found this claim irrational and rebuked them, ordering that such language not be used again."
"Well said," Li Shimin laughed. "And well judged. If a minor king calls Heaven his brother, then what is the Son of Heaven of China to him—his nephew?"
Wei Zheng inclined his head. "Later, in the third year of Daye, the King of Wa sent another embassy. This time, they claimed to have heard of a 'Bodhisattva Son of Heaven' west of the sea who revered the Buddhist Law, and so they dispatched dozens of monks to study."
"The title shown on the screen comes from the diplomatic letter they sent then."
Li Shimin shook his head in amusement. "Bodhisattva Son of Heaven… quite a grand title."
Then his expression sharpened. "A barbarian state sending monks to study Buddhism—does that not sound… convenient?"
A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. "If we were to send clever men disguised as monks, could we not walk openly into their court as honored guests?"
For a brief moment, Li Shimin felt an almost mischievous thrill. Then he reassured himself: surely the Buddha would not mind. Even if the Buddha did not recognize a Peerless Emperor, he would surely listen to a relative of the Bodhisattva Son of Heaven—Emperor Yang of Sui.
Emperor Yang failed three times against Goguryeo.
Let us see what a Peerless Emperor might accomplish.
[Lightscreen]
[ Regarding the second-generation rulers of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou's final evaluations are largely fair. However, there is one major point of contention: Lu Xun.
Chen Shou granted Lu Xun a full biography, praising him as a "minister who died for his country." Pei Songzhi vehemently disagreed. In his annotations, he condemned Lu Xun as a "deceitful schemer" whose military actions inflicted needless suffering upon the common people, declaring him vastly inferior to Zhuge Liang.
This was not personal animosity—it was ideological. Chen Shou lived through the Han, Wei, and Jin, and his view aligned with the mainstream narrative of stability above all. To understand Pei Songzhi, one must understand the man he served: Liu Yu (Liu Jinu), Emperor Wu of Song.
Liu Yu—known as the Dragon Slayer, the Ender of Six Emperors, the Grave-Digger of the Great Clans, and the Invincible God of War. Born in abject poverty, selling straw sandals for a living, addicted to gambling, and possessed of boundless ambition. From the age of thirty-six onward, he never lost a single battle. He exterminated the Sima clan and seized the throne by force.
Pei Songzhi lived through the collapse of the Eastern Jin, watching the north and south tear each other apart. His sole dream was a Northern Expedition. Liu Yu shared that dream. When Liu Yu fell ill and died at sixty, the expedition died with him. Two years later, Pei Songzhi was ordered to annotate the Records of the Three Kingdoms.
From that perspective, Pei Songzhi despised Lu Xun's so-called "Northern Expeditions." In his eyes, Lu Xun's raid on the Shiyang market—slaughtering civilians to inflate military merit—was not warfare but disgrace.
You butchered commoners, claimed victory, then played the zither and chess to look elegant while retreating? I, Pei Songzhi, look down on you.
Pei Songzhi respected Sun Quan more than Lu Xun; at least Sun Quan dared to hurl one hundred thousand men at Hefei. Moreover, the Lu clan were accommodationists who thrived under Jin rule—never the allies of a man who sought to reclaim the north.
This is why Pei Songzhi wrote over two hundred words praising Zhuge Liang. Because, to him:
A true man must go north.
This is also why the later Song Dynasty praised Sun Quan but ignored Liu Yu. The Song itself was an "accommodationist" dynasty that fled south—why would they talk about a hero who fought to reclaim the north?
There is one more thing. Even the later nation of Vietnam once used the Northern Expedition as a slogan when plotting against the Song Dynasty:
"The Great Tang's Jinghai Army Jiedushi, Grand Protector of Annam... carrying out the mandate of Heaven to punish the treacherous rebels who betrayed the Tang!"]
Liu Bei felt both exhilaration and unease.
Another descendant of the Liu clan had risen to take the throne—one who carried the same ferocity as the Founder himself.
But… was the world truly destined to descend into such endless chaos?
"Invincible God of War?" Zhang Fei muttered. "God of War might be pushing it, but invincible…"
His shoulders slumped slightly. Once, he had taken great pride in holding Changban Bridge alone. Now, history kept throwing monsters at him.
Pang Tong, ever practical, focused on the implications. "My Lord, it seems this Emperor Wu of Song found another method to deal with the great clans."
He made a swift, cutting motion with his hand.
Liu Bei swallowed. "Surely… it didn't have to come to that."
Zhuge Liang shook his head. "By Liu Yu's era, the Lu clan were no longer mere local powers. They had become entrenched gentry clans. The screen's wording is precise. After the Jin, these clans undermined the state from within while barbarians pressed from without."
His gaze hardened. "The Jiangdong clans care only for their own survival. That is why we call them short-sighted rats. If Jin was ruled by such men, then the entire court must have been a nest of rats."
He bowed slightly toward Liu Bei. "My Lord, take this as a warning. Destroy the rogue Cao to break the culture of arrogance. Suppress the clans so the people may breathe."
Liu Bei nodded gravely.
He felt an inexplicable kinship with Liu Yu. "Liu Yu was called Jinu—'Slave of the House.' His origins were even humbler than mine. He faced the great clans at their peak, yet became Emperor and never lost a battle…"
He sighed deeply. "Had he not died of illness, perhaps the Han legacy might have endured another age."
Zhang Fei scratched his head. "Then… his son didn't finish the Northern Expedition either? Another waste?"
Liu Bei blinked. "…Too?"
Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang's thoughts drifted elsewhere. "This Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned earlier—he must be the same man as Zhu 'Eight-Eight'."
"Almost certainly," Pang Tong confirmed. "The screen says he unified the realm through a Northern Expedition and possessed the most legitimate claim. That can only be him."
Mi Zhu snorted. "This Jiangdong lot—first they dress in white robes to disguise themselves as merchants and steal Jingzhou, then Lu Xun raids a market to pad his achievements. Do they have a vendetta against merchants or something?"
Li Shimin observed the screen with one eye and the eastern seas map with the other. Ideas for a navy were quietly taking shape.
He knew Liu Yu well—peerless on the battlefield, lacking in administration. As for Pei Songzhi's obsession with the north? Li Shimin felt little sympathy. He had already unified the realm.
Then a single line on the screen caught his attention.
His expression shifted.
"…Rebels against the Tang?"