Wei Yan's face was clouded with gloom, and Kongming saw it clearly.
Yet Kongming himself took it far more calmly.
"Wenchang, why put on such airs?" he said.
"Even without me, the Sima clan would still have deserved their fate. The aristocratic families would still have been shattered, and their infamy would still echo for a thousand years."
"Chancellor Zhuge has already done everything he could. What remains for us now is simply to follow that example."
Wei Yan felt a storm of emotions surge in his chest. In the end, he could only cup his hands toward Kongming and accept the lesson.
At last, Kongming cast a long, thoughtful glance at that lengthy list of entries labeled 'XX Rebellion', engraving it firmly into his memory.
Once, he had wished to assist his lord in unifying the realm and restoring the glory of a mighty Han.
But now, what he wished to create was a new Han, one that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the splendor of the Great Tang.
And in that endeavor, the very first task was clear:
To exterminate the calamity of the great clans,
so that the common people would never again be forced to endure such an age of chaos.
…
Li Shimin, meanwhile, burst into laughter once more.
"Farting in the Luo River?"
"These later generations really do have some wild ideas!"
"That flip-flopping of Sima Yi — isn't that just farting?!"
The language was crude. The ministers could only sigh helplessly.
But no one objected — in fact, more than a few faces showed clear agreement.
After all, the Light Screen had already said it:
His Majesty was Sima Jin's biggest hater.
And since they were ministers of the Zhenguan era, they naturally had to keep pace with His Majesty and become Sima Jin's loyal anti-fans as well.
As for Li Erfeng himself, his hatred of Sima Jin was entirely justified.
As the Light Screen put it: When a Son of Heaven speaks, his word is law.
You swore an oath and then went back on it — isn't that slandering imperial authority?
And it's dragged me down with you, damn it!
As for the later discussion of aristocratic extravagance during times of chaos, Li Shimin only glanced at it briefly before losing interest.
Extravagance — what use was it?
All it earned was eternal infamy.
And if one were to talk about extravagance, who could possibly outdo Emperor Yang of Sui?
Just as Li Shimin was thinking this, the Light Screen obligingly turned its attention to Emperor Yang.
As the Light Screen shifted its focus, it began to speak of Emperor Yang of Sui with uncanny timing.
[ Lightscreen]
[The extravagant ethos of the great aristocratic clans didn't just rot society — it even dragged the Sui dynasty down with it.
The Xu Shishuo records such a story:
During the Tang dynasty, one night, Li Erfeng had the palace decorated with lanterns and blazing lights, and then invited Empress Xiao to attend. He asked her, "Compared to the Sui court of old, how does my Tang court measure up?"
This Empress Xiao is not the one who reformed the Liao state — she was Yang Guang's empress.
Faced with Erfeng's self-satisfied question, Empress Xiao merely smiled, saying nothing.
Li Shimin grew anxious and pressed her repeatedly.
Only then did Empress Xiao reply:
"Yang Guang was a ruler who lost his state. Your Majesty is a founder of an empire. To compare extravagance with frugality between the two holds little meaning."
But Li Shimin remained unconvinced.
Then what about Yang Guang himself?
Where am I inferior to him?
Only then did Empress Xiao paint the picture for him:
"On New Year's Eve, in front of the palace, dozens of bonfires would be lit, each one piled as high as a mountain. Each fire burned cartloads of aloeswood, and into them was also thrown jiaojian incense. The flames rose several zhang high, and their fragrance carried for tens of li."
"In a single night, two hundred carts of aloeswood would be consumed, along with two hundred shi of jiaojian. Inside the palace, no fires were lit at all — instead, jeweled pearls were hung outside, refracting their light inward."
"Your Majesty burns firewood before the hall and oil within. To be frank, the smoke is rather stinging to the eyes."
Li Erfeng was left speechless.
Outwardly, he condemned Yang Guang's extravagance.
Yet inwardly… he could not help but feel a trace of envy.
But this story itself was clearly carrying some private bias.
First of all, Yang Guang's extravagance was certainly real.
But to claim that even Li Erfeng's innermost thoughts had been faithfully recorded?
That was a bit too much of a stretch.
To be reasonable about it, Empress Xiao had endured years of war, had fallen into the hands of the Turks, and had only been rescued thanks to Li Erfeng.
Calling him her savior would not have been an exaggeration.
It was unlikely she would have spoken to him in such a confrontational manner.
So, once one traced the background, the truth became clearer.
The Xu Shishuo was compiled during the Northern Song.
Its author, Kong Pingzhong, was a legitimate descendant of the Kong family — one of the foremost figures among the "Three Kongs" of his era, enjoying great renown.
Li Erfeng himself was famously biased against the Shandong region.
So for a Shandong man to write flattering things about Li Erfeng?
That was… rather unlikely.
Setting aside these grudges and returning to Yang Guang himself, one would find that many of his governing habits were, in fact, no different from those of the aristocratic clans.
To Yang Guang, ruling the empire was still nothing more than the mindset of a strongman managing his private estate.
The common people were not people — merely resources.
And Emperor Yang, Yang Guang, was not even the eldest son.
So how did he ascend the throne?
By pretending not to like extravagance, currying favor with his father.
And how was the original crown prince, Yang Yong, deposed?
Aside from false accusations, the main reason was Yang Yong's own nature — lecherous and extravagant — which greatly displeased Yang Jian.
Linking this back to the lingering atmosphere of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yang Guang and Yang Yong were, in fact, more "normal" than most.
After all, for imperial scions, indulgence in luxury and desire was hardly unusual.
The real anomaly was Yang Jian himself.
He took only a single wife, lived frugally, allowed the people to recover, focused on agriculture, and stabilized the economy.
Yet in the end, Yang Guang lacked the iron hand of Emperor Wu of Han, while inheriting all of Emperor Wu's worst tendencies.
High ambition, low ability.
And thus, he single-handedly ruined a Sui dynasty that had begun with nearly perfect conditions.]
"Your Majesty,"
Zhangsun Wuji ventured,
"Shall this humble servant arrange for Lady Xiao to be escorted out of Chang'an, and settled elsewhere?"
Li Shimin fell silent, then shook his head.
"Why should I feel guilty over such absurd words?"
And inwardly, his distaste for the Song dynasty deepened.
It's bad enough when the emperors are incompetent, he thought.
Must the scholars be serpents and rats as well?
"The words of petty men — later generations can see through their falsity. Why pay them any heed?"
Zhangsun Wuji said no more.
"And that Kong clan descendant's insight,"
Li Shimin sneered,
"is no better than that of a rustic idler."
He accepted the title of 'Shandong regional bigot' with open satisfaction.
"What could I possibly envy about Emperor Yang?"
"Envy him for destroying Sui's realm?"
"Envy him for imitating Huhai and sending Sui to its second-generation doom?"
"That the Shandong Kong clan could produce such mediocrity and still be ranked among the 'Three Kongs' — truly a laughingstock."
As for the Light Screen's appraisal, Li Shimin found it deeply gratifying.
Emperor Yang imitating Emperor Wu of Han was nothing more than Dong Shi mimicking Xi Shi.
As for himself?
Tang Taizong was an emperor who truly could stand shoulder to shoulder with Emperor Wu.
Which meant — Emperor Yang was a full two levels beneath him.
With his spirits high, Li Shimin grew even more magnanimous, issuing an edict on the spot:
"Lady Xiao has long been absent from Chang'an. Grant her palace entry tokens and gold and silver. When idle, she may enter the palace to visit Consort Yang, to ease her loneliness."
Consort Yang had been taken in the second year of Wude.
She was Lady Xiao's daughter, and had borne him two sons, Ke and Yin.
With such familial ties, Li Shimin regarded the earlier record with even greater contempt.
Confucius could be called the Sage of Culture.
So how was it that his later descendants were all such rigid, pedantic sorts?
…
At the Chengdu prefectural office, the people present pieced together the implications between the lines.
Liu Bei rubbed his temples.
"Even Sui fell after just two generations?"
"Were the Northern and Southern Dynasties really this chaotic?"
For the first time, he sincerely hoped the Light Screen would, as it often did, wander off-topic — just so they could straighten out this mess of an era before continuing.
Zhang Fei, on the other hand, was full of excitement.
"When emperors ruin a state, they really do it differently."
"Even more extravagant than the great clans."
Then he turned to Pang Tong.
"Strategist, do you think the Li-Tang rose up because they saw Emperor Yang and envied him — so they took the realm for themselves?"
Kongming shook his head.
"To defy Heaven and abuse the people, to indulge in grand but reckless policies, to be faithless and loveless, to abandon virtue and ruin the state — only then may one be called Yang."
"Moreover, posthumous titles in later ages tend toward praise. For Yang Guang to be given Yang, he must truly have provoked the anger of Heaven and mankind alike. It could not have been for mere trifles."
Even Kongming found himself genuinely curious:
The deeds of Duke Yang of Lu and Duke Yang of Song from the Spring and Autumn period were poorly documented.
So what exactly had Emperor Yang done, to earn such a rare and damning posthumous title?
Liu Bei nodded in agreement.
Whatever else might be said of Li Erfeng, his skill in warfare was something Liu Bei truly envied.
If I had his ability to command armies,
would I really have lost at Yiling?
The brief fantasy passed.
Liu Bei frowned once more.
"These later Kong descendants — how can they write books slandering heroic rulers like this?"
"Perhaps there truly are old grudges,"
Kongming replied,
able only to speculate.
After all, the Light Screen had said that Li Erfeng was a Shandong regional bigot.
The prejudice of an emperor could bring calamity for decades.
The prejudice of a great and ambitious emperor?
Calamity for a century was hardly surprising.
[ Lightscreen]
[Boundless extravagance was only one manifestation of the aristocracy's degeneration.
On another front lay a collective collapse among the cultural elite.
Confucianism, which ran counter to the spirit of the age, was cast aside.
These cultural elites turned instead to Laozi and Zhuangzi.
The Commentary on the Zhuangzi by Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang elevated Zhuangzi's philosophy to a peak in the history of Chinese thought.
Yet many scholars believe it also marked a regression — for it held that the world existed on its own, and that humanity itself was superfluous.
Thus was Wei–Jin metaphysics born.
What is "metaphysics"?
'To elaborate upon the myriad categories, yet reveal nothing of form.'
In plain terms: it encompasses everything — and contains nothing.
More bluntly: as long as you feel like it, do whatever you want.
One of the most famous examples was Liu Ling of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
When guests came to visit, Liu Ling would receive them completely naked.
The visitors, never having witnessed such a spectacle, were shocked and utterly confused — why greet people with such "candor"?
Liu Ling, stark naked and utterly righteous, would reply:
"I take Heaven and Earth as my house, and this room as my trousers.
Gentlemen — why have you barged into my crotch?"]
At the Chengdu prefectural office, Zhang Fei's eyes widened.
"By the gods," he muttered,
"these later scholars… are they even human anymore?"
Guan Yu frowned deeply.
"Shamelessness elevated into doctrine,"
he said coldly.
"And yet they call it elegance."
Kongming remained silent for a moment longer than usual.
Wei–Jin "style," he now understood, was not merely indulgence —
it was an ideology built to excuse collapse.
[ Lightscreen]
[Another highly representative figure was Wang Yan.
From birth alone, Wang Yan was practically guaranteed to become one of the Three Excellencies — his lineage saw to that.
Unfortunately, his mind did not keep pace with his pedigree.
In his youth, Wang Yan was famous for despising money.
So much so that his family piled coins along the edge of his bed.
When Wang Yan rolled over in his sleep and touched the money, he would scream and tumble out of bed —
as though he had suffered a critical hit plus true damage.
The performance was so abstract that, had he lived in later ages,
a short-video platform would have handed him millions of followers without hesitation.]
Zhang Fei burst out laughing.
"This fellow wouldn't last one day in a camp,"
he said.
"Let alone run a state."
Even Liu Bei couldn't help shaking his head.
"To despise money,"
he sighed,
"while standing atop it… that itself is a kind of luxury."
[ Lightscreen]
[During the War of the Eight Princes, Wang Yan fled alongside Sima Yue.
Officially, it was a campaign to suppress the Xiongnu Liu clan.
In reality, they abandoned the emperor and ran for their lives.
Utterly farcical.
After Sima Yue died, Wang Yan — being fundamentally useless — was casually captured by Shi Le.
Shi Le was fond of learning, and had long heard of Wang Yan's reputation.
At first, he treated him with great respect.
But within just a few days, Wang Yan began behaving exactly as expected.
First, he shirked responsibility, claiming:
'My current predicament is entirely due to Sima Yue leading me astray.'
Then he piled on the flattery:
'A heroic ruler such as yourself ought to proclaim yourself emperor!'
Shi Le was stunned.
He was still nominally a guest general under the Liu clan.
This man, barely acquainted, was already urging him to rebel.
Shi Le replied bluntly:
"You entered court as a youth, served for decades, and now your hair is white —
yet you still understand nothing of the world."
"The realm has fallen into this state because of people like you."
The verdict was merciless.
Scholars often say:
'A gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall.'
Thus, Shi Le had Wang Yan buried alive behind an earthen wall.
A grimly literal response —
and a final piece of satire aimed squarely at Wei–Jin 'elegance.']
Silence fell.
No one laughed this time.
Because the joke had ended.
Kongming exhaled slowly.
"So this,"
he said quietly,
"is what remains when responsibility is stripped from culture."
Liu Bei felt a chill.
This was not merely decadence.
It was a ruling class that had philosophized itself out of accountability.
They spoke of freedom,
but meant immunity.
They spoke of transcendence,
but meant escape.