Although he was classed as a military man, Hou Junji had, up to this point, at best only served as a staff officer or aide.
As for commanding a grand army in open warfare—he had precisely zero experience.
And so, when he forced himself to imagine standing in Geshu Han's shoes, the conclusion he arrived at was bleak enough to make one laugh bitterly.
No matter which path you chose, the end seemed the same:
death.
There was only one possible way out.
That was for Cui Qianyou to kneel by the roadside the moment the army marched out of the pass—
and personally present his own head.
Which, of course, was pure fantasy.
Only at this moment did Hou Junji suddenly realize something profound.
"…It's still better to be us."
From the time he entered the Prince of Qin's household in his youth until now, his life could only be described as riding a smooth, favorable wind.
Never once had he encountered a deadlock like this—
a situation where the sovereign suspected you, colleagues framed you, and every choice led straight to the grave.
Seen from another angle, even his later conquest of Gaochang had, in truth, been a reward bestowed by His Majesty.
For the first time, Hou Junji felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
So what if you were a famous general?
So what if you were good at fighting?
Could any of that compare to serving under a once-in-a-thousand-years emperor?
Surely, later generations would envy him to death.
His thoughts drifted further.
When his descendants were inevitably swept into the An Lushan Rebellion…
what kind of fate would they meet?
But then he reassured himself.
It had only been a hundred years.
Surely the residual fortune he left behind wouldn't have been entirely squandered yet.
Li Shimin, meanwhile, remained unaware of Hou Junji's inner monologue.
Three slow, deliberate breaths.
That was all it took to force the raging fire in his chest back down.
Still, he couldn't help thinking grimly:
The family traditions of the Li-Tang clan need a serious correction.
Lack of ability was one thing.
But lack of responsibility?
That was how calamity was brought upon the people.
Li Shimin could see Xuanzong's little schemes clearly—and the clarity only deepened his disgust.
Why not inform the officials and the people?
Because the goal was obvious:
Because he wanted their bodies to clog the roads and distract the rebels, buying himself more time to escape.
…
"This 'imperial expedition' of Xuanzong's," Fa Zheng sneered, face full of mockery,
"was proclaimed three times—and each time, it drove another stellar general to death."
"For a moment," he added dryly,
"I truly can't tell who the real traitor is anymore."
Zhang Fei shook his head.
"To the common people," he said bluntly,
"An Lushan is a bandit. Xuanzong is also a bandit. What's the difference?"
"One takes your life," Zhang Fei continued,
"the other digs out your roots."
Then he turned to Zhuge Liang.
"Military Advisor, isn't the fall of Tong Pass exactly like what the light screen said before—
that fortresses are always first breached from within?"
Zhuge Liang nodded.
"Attacking cities is the lowest strategy," he replied calmly.
"Attacking hearts is the highest."
"And internal strife that allows outsiders to exploit it," he added,
"is something one can only stumble upon by chance."
The lesson on psychological warfare from the light screen had clearly been taken deeply to heart.
Zhao Yun sighed softly.
"Eight hundred thousand border soldiers… all buried here."
"You sigh too early," Zhuge Liang said, shaking his head, his expression heavy with the sorrow of an empire nearing its end.
"A century-long golden age," he said slowly,
"and the capital falls for the first time."
"The balance between offense and defense has reversed."
"The spectacle of Han and Hu serving Tang together—
that will never be seen again."
"Until the blood of the Great Tang runs dry," he concluded,
"this war will not end."
A chill ran through everyone in the Chengdu prefectural office.
[Light Screen]
[After Chang'an fell, the An Lushan Rebellion lost any possibility of ending quickly.
A situation that had once been promising plunged straight into an irreversible abyss.
Chang'an's massive population, wealth, and grain supplies gave the rebels a tremendous recovery boost.
More importantly—
This was the first time the Tang capital had ever fallen.
The symbolism alone was devastating.
The Hu troops plundered freely, looting a Chang'an that had been nourished for a century by the entire realm and the Silk Road alike.
And on the other side of history's scale, another major turning point arrived:
The Mutiny at Mawei Slope.
Xuanzong's flight contained a deeply strange point.
Did Xuanzong truly love Yang Guozhong that much?
After all, An Lushan's banner had been perfectly clear:
"Cleanse the emperor's side—kill Yang Guozhong."
Xuanzong had already shown he could ruthlessly abandon civil and military officials to draw enemy fire.
So why would he insist on bringing Yang Guozhong with him alone?
The Old Book of Tang records:
"The Emperor fled in panic, not knowing where he was headed, and encountered Su and Guozhong at Yanqiu Gate."
Two key details stand out here.
First—Xuanzong only wanted to flee.
An Lushan advanced from the east, so Xuanzong fled west.
That was it.
As for where he was going?
'Not knowing where he was headed.'
Second—the encounter at Yanqiu Gate.
Yanqiu Gate was the western gate of the imperial gardens.
For Yang Guozhong to "coincidentally" appear there in the middle of the night could only mean one thing:
He knew exactly how precarious his situation was
and had already bribed palace attendants to keep constant watch on his only lifeline.
Thus, Xuanzong's decision to flee to Shu becomes easy to understand.
Yang Guozhong had pushed for it with all his strength.
After all, the Yang clan originated in Shu,
Yang Guozhong himself concurrently held the post of Military Governor of Jiannan,
and the previous two governors there were also his confidants.
It can be reasonably inferred that from the moment they met,
Xuanzong was already considering how to kill Yang Guozhong.
Meanwhile—
Crown Prince Li Heng's heart was pounding wildly.
He had just realized something terrifying:
Of the three thousand imperial guards accompanying the flight,
two thousand were directly under his command.
The Li royal tradition could not be abandoned.
And so Li Heng made his decision instantly:
Kill the old man.
The next day, at Mawei Slope, Li Heng sent his confidant Li Fuguo to rally General Chen Xuanli against Yang Guozhong.
With Xuanzong's tacit approval, the mutiny began.
Yang Guozhong and his sons were hacked to death.
Yang Yuhuan was forced to hang herself.
Killing Yang Guozhong was to "eliminate the traitor."
Forcing Yang Yuhuan's death was to satisfy the troops and rub salt in the Emperor's eyes
and to drive a blade into Xuanzong's heart.
In Li Heng's plan, the next step should have been to force his father to abdicate.
But Chen Xuanli publicly declared loyalty to Xuanzong instead—
shattering Li Heng's deployment.
In truth, Chen Xuanli had followed Li Longji since youth.
During the Tanglong Coup launched by Princess Taiping and Li Longji,
Chen Xuanli had been one of the principal participants.
Without Xuanzong's silent consent,
Li Heng could never have commanded him.
Father and son, weapons drawn—
another preserved performance of the Li family.
Both sides hesitated.
And so, they parted ways.
Xuanzong went to Chengdu under Chen Xuanli's protection.
Li Heng continued west under his own guards,
eventually ascending the throne at Lingwu—
and honoring Li Longji as Taishang Huang, the Retired Emperor.]
Silence dominated the Ganlu Hall.
The Xuanwu Gate Incident lay hundreds of years away for later generations,
for Zhuge Liang,
for Li Longji and Li Heng.
But for those standing here in the Ganlu Hall—
it had only been four years ago.
Everyone else held their breath, waiting to gauge the emperor's reaction.
Only Wei Zheng's face had gone deathly pale.
His body swayed; sweat streamed down his face.
Though standing in the Ganlu Hall,
Wei Zheng remembered all too clearly each sovereign he had served.
Just as his legs began to give out,
a pair of powerful hands steadied him.
"This mirror of mine," Li Shimin said calmly,
"I still intend to use for another twenty years."
"You cannot collapse like this."
Wei Zheng turned and met the serene face of the Tang emperor.
Li Shimin's gentle tone finally allowed the fear in Wei Zheng's chest to settle.
Patting his shoulder, Li Shimin sighed softly.
"In the end… the calamity was passed on to later generations."
The Li family's traditions.
The royal pattern.
The preserved performances.
There was no longer any room for illusion.
Du Ruhui spoke quietly.
"Your Majesty, to mend it now… is not too late."
Of course it wasn't too late.
Li Shimin knew that better than anyone.
That was precisely why, days earlier, he had invited all the princes and princesses to celebrate the New Year together.
Yet as the architect of Xuanwu Gate himself,
he knew even more clearly—
there was no room for warmth in a struggle for power.
The only consolation was that Prince Zhi was only two years old.
Even if this future "Emperor Gaozong" wanted to scheme,
he would need at least a decade.
And perhaps—
that decade would be enough to find a workable solution.
Still, another question troubled Li Shimin.
Xuanzong had been formidable in his youth—
participating in coups, defeating Princess Taiping.
So why, in his later years, did he dote so blindly on An Lushan?
Li Shimin couldn't understand it.
At last, he recited a line of poetry whose meaning he now finally grasped:
"A young emperor opens Chang'an's purple gates;
Twin suns and moons illuminate heaven and earth."
"At the very least," he murmured,
"Chang'an can be reclaimed…"
"…This Li royal house…"
Liu Bei hesitated, searching for the right words.
"…truly has martial virtue in abundance?"
Zhuge Liang recalled the earlier discussion on the 'Generals of Zhenguan'
and Li Shimin's hidden wound.
"Fratricide and sororicide," he said plainly.
To Kongming, it was obvious.
Just as the Cao clan imitated Wang Mang,
and the Sima clan imitated the Cao—
Li Shimin had set the precedent.
He forged a golden age without suffering condemnation.
To later generations lacking legitimate succession,
imitating the former emperor became another road to the throne.
A road paved in blood.
Kongming then thought silently:
One coup per emperor?
After all, looking at Empress Lü—
if an empress ascended or stepped down without a coup,
Kongming wouldn't believe it even if beaten to death.
Which only deepened his curiosity:
Why, with coups so frequent,
did the Tang's early national strength remain so formidable?
Family matters of the Li house were not easy to criticize openly.
After all, the very people involved were likely watching somewhere—
with splitting headaches.
So attention returned to the rebellion.
"Isn't An Lushan about to die?"
"Guo Ziyi's in an awkward spot now, huh—who does he obey?"
"Chang'an should be retaken immediately, right?"
[Light Screen]
[Even with Chang'an's replenishment,
the rebel army remained at a disadvantage in total forces.
Xuanzong, now in Chengdu, had lost the ability to perform any further disastrous maneuvers.
But before reaching Chengdu,
he left his son—Emperor Suzong—with a hidden landmine.
The day after Xuanzong fled Chang'an,
Fang Guan, a leisurely court official, woke to find the emperor gone.
Without much thought,
he packed lightly, abandoned his family, and chased westward.
He caught up near Jiange.
Xuanzong, broken by the Mawei mutiny and with his chancellor already dead,
saw this "loyal minister" in his seventies—
and waved his hand.
"From today on, you are chancellor."
Yes.
Just like that.
Later, upon reaching Chengdu,
Li Longji quickly received word:
Congratulations! You've been promoted to Retired Emperor.
At this point, Xuanzong had no temper left.
Perhaps for the sake of Tang's survival,
he sent Wei Jiansu and Fang Guan to Lingwu to bolster his son's court.
Wei Jiansu was soon sidelined.
Fang Guan, however, relied on eloquence alone
to make the inexperienced Li Heng exclaim:
"You truly are my Zhuge Liang!"
Every time Li Heng remembered those words later,
he probably wanted to slap himself senseless.]