[Lightscreen]
[While Kuchlug fled west, Western Liao was already in decline.
The Central Asian empire founded by Yelu Dashi had a fairly simple history.
Dashi died.
His young son Yelu Yilie took the throne, while Empress Dowager Xiao Tabuyan ruled as regent.
When Yelie came of age, she returned power to him.
Mother and son governed competently, state strength steadily rose, and their relationship remained harmonious.
After that, things stopped being harmonious.
When Yelu Yilie died, the Grand Princess Yelu Pusuwan took control as regent.
Pusuwan. Even the name sounded like trouble.
Some later historians call her a miniature youthful version of Wu Zetian. She carried a faint echo of High Tang grandeur. Military affairs and administration were handled with reasonable stability. She even crushed the Khwarazm rebellion and kept Western Liao's power from declining.
Her private life, however, was far less admirable.
She became entangled with her brother-in-law and fabricated charges to execute her own husband.
This enraged her father-in-law Xiao Wolila.
The old general had followed Yelu Dashi west in the wars against Jin in his youth, fought bravely at the Battle of Qatwan, and was truly a pillar of the state, the emperor's left hand in every sense. His influence was enormous.
With his son murdered, the old man did not hesitate.
He gathered troops, surrounded the palace, and had Yelu Pusuwan shot to death inside with a rain of arrows. He then enthroned Yelu Yilie's young son, Yelu Zhilugu.
Zhilugu essentially proved the saying:
A heroic father may have a worthy son, but the grandson can still be useless.
Externally, he failed to deal with the rise of the Ghurid state.
Internally, he indulged in pleasure and neglected governance.
Under his rule, Western Liao drifted along like a broken cart.
The vassal states once subdued by Yelu Dashi fifty years earlier began to waver.
So when Zhilugu encountered the westward-fleeing Kuchlug, he immediately saw an opportunity.
If handled well, the presence of this refugee prince could make the empire look respectable again.
Zhilugu believed Kuchlug had potential.
His daughter, Princess Hunhu, believed Kuchlug was handsome.
A charming fallen prince who spoke well was devastating to a sheltered young woman.
Eventually, with Kuchlug's agreement, he was granted the imperial Liao surname Xiao, converted from Christianity to Buddhism, married into the royal family, and became Xiao Kuchlug, the imperial son-in-law of Great Liao.
But once I am the son-in-law, how could I not devour the host?
Two years later, Kuchlug, holding the old Yelu family's daughter in his arms, eating their grain and using their kitchens, smashed their pot.
He summoned the old Naiman remnants who resisted Mongol rule.
He coordinated internally with Khwarazm.
Then he launched a surprise attack on the Western Liao capital with eight thousand cavalry.
Yelu Zhilugu was forced into the position of retired emperor.
Kuchlug became the new ruler of Western Liao.
The Persian Chronicle Compendium describes the speed of the coup as "like lightning within clouds."
Now that the son-in-law had turned the tables, Kuchlug was elated.
Once chased across the steppe by the Mongols, he now believed himself master of the world.
But the vassals who had already been loosely attached to Western Liao fled even faster.
Kuchlug panicked.
The Mongols still watched from the east. Without subjects, what kind of empire could he rule?
So this brilliant mind came up with a solution.
He ordered everyone under his rule to convert to Buddhism.
He also permitted troops to legally plunder, assault, and enslave Christians and Muslims.
Ironically, one reason Yelu Dashi had earned universal respect when founding the state was precisely because he declared freedom of religion. The Liao royal house followed Buddhism, but never forced it on the population.
Xiao Kuchlug's policy was like throwing a firecracker into a latrine.
Public fury exploded.
Three years later, in 1217, the Mongols launched their first western campaign.
Jebe, one of the Four Hounds of the Mongol army, led twenty thousand troops westward under the banner of religious freedom, arriving in what had once been Genghis Khan's loyal Western Liao.
The Mongols had not even arrived yet when mutiny broke out in the capital.
Princess Hunhu was assassinated and her head presented to the Mongols.
Kuchlug managed to escape, fleeing into the forests of the Wakhan Valley.
This time his luck ran out.
The following year, local hunters captured him and handed him over to Jebe, who had him executed.
Later generations gave him the posthumous title Minwen Emperor.
Thus Western Liao came to an end, after ninety-four years.]
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Zhu Yuanzhang circled behind the screen again, unwilling to accept it. He even ran his hand across the surface, confirming there were no hidden mechanisms.
Yet the images kept changing, and he could clearly hear the young narrator's voice continuing to explain things. Everyone inside and outside Kunning Palace was trusted… and besides…
He looked upward.
Surely no one was hiding above the screen?
In the end he could only accept what the Empress had said.
A screen he had seen every day had somehow turned into something supernatural once it arrived here.
Maybe… he should send two more to Kunning Palace?
The thought drifted through his mind for a moment before being abandoned, because the images drew his attention again.
A man dressed in mixed steppe and Han clothing.
A young woman glittering with unfamiliar ornaments.
An old man with no trace of imperial dignity.
Buildings and halls in completely foreign styles.
Looking closely, he even noticed small text in the corner and read it aloud:
"Excerpt from Genghis Khan… this…"
Everything before him was something he had never imagined.
What he felt was six parts confusion, three parts curiosity, and one part helplessness.
Before today, the thing occupying his mind most had been his birthday banquet. Now he had entirely forgotten it.
On the screen, those strangely dressed foreigners rapidly completed the stages of meeting, marriage, and drawing blades against one another. After that, the spectacle felt less surprising.
"That horse is decent," Zhu Yuanzhang muttered, "but these riders are clumsy. Their cavalry looks weak."
"The soldiers are all so pale and clean. Can they really fight?"
"They claim eight thousand for the surprise attack. I do not even see eight hundred."
Just as Empress Ma was about to tell him to calm down, the emperor suddenly let out a long "Oh…" and fell silent.
She looked up and immediately understood.
The bright scene of brightly dressed steppe people had vanished. In its place appeared the map they had seen several times before in the narration.
Western Liao, Western Xia, the Uyghurs of Gaochang, the Tibetan tribes, the Mongol Empire. Each was marked in a different color across the map.
Zhu Yuanzhang quickly found familiar terrain in the lower right corner.
"Qilian Mountains… Kunlun… Qinghai… that should be the Western Sea. Further northwest must be Beshbalik. North of that lies what remains of the Yuan."
He frowned.
"These rivers and lakes are drawn too small. The place names are tiny. No prefectures or counties marked. This map…"
He shook his head, clearly dissatisfied.
Empress Ma immediately shot him a look.
"This map is excellent."
"I have seen the Ministry of War's world maps before. They record the thirteen regions clearly, yet the rivers of Jianghuai do not resemble what one sees with the eyes."
"Earlier that young man spoke of Song and Jin fighting. From this map alone, the distance from Yingtian Prefecture to Suzhou is plainly visible.