Empress Ma saw everything clearly.
From the moment the light screen began explaining again, the man beside her could no longer sit still. He practically sprang up and rushed to the screen.
On it was displayed a map dividing Song, Jin, Mongolia, and Western Xia with sharp clarity. Zhu Yuanzhang almost pressed himself against it, studying every detail.
She understood why.
On one hand, he still harbored doubts about this supernatural object, so he wanted to compare it with what he knew firsthand. When it came to the geography of Jianghuai and Liangzhe, who could rival the current Son of Heaven of Ming?
On the other hand, what truly worried him was the north.
The remnants of Yuan still occupied the steppe. From Liaodong they could connect with Goryeo, and that alone made them a lingering threat.
She still remembered how earlier this year Goryeo had sent envoys with a thousand taels of gold and ten thousand of silver in tribute. Yet because they still maintained ties with the Mongols, Zhu Yuanzhang had rejected it outright.
And in Yunnan, the Liang Prince of the former Yuan still resisted stubbornly, sending envoys north every year to pay respects to the puppet emperor of the steppe.
So although the map labeled the regions as Song, Jin, Mongols, and so on, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes he was probably staring at the Yanshan region and thinking about how to deal with the Northern Yuan.
Then she heard her husband, the man who had crushed all rivals and unified the Central Plains, mutter softly:
"So big."
He shook his head again, half in admiration, half in disbelief.
"How's it still this big?"
From Yingtian Prefecture to Beiping Prefecture was roughly two thousand li. But from Beiping north to the edge of the light screen was at least five or six thousand more. Westward was the same. From Hexi to Beshbalik stretched four or five thousand li. Even Goryeo, that peninsula surrounded by sea on three sides, was nearly two thousand li from north to south.
Before, such distances had only come from ministers' reports, the empress's stories, or books read by lamplight.
Now, for the first time, he grasped them in a concrete way.
"Goryeo… nearly the size of Hebei… Ryukyu…"
He studied the right side of the screen, then shook his head.
"How's this one so tiny? Looks like an ant. That country's really small."
Empress Ma watched, speechless, as her husband crouched again to peer at the southern edge of the map. His voice sounded slightly muffled.
"Can only see Qiongzhou in the far south. No idea what Siam, Champa, Srivijaya, Baihua, or Pahang look like."
She knew why he was curious.
Earlier this year, besides the ill-mannered Goryeo envoys, tribute missions from those southern states had also arrived. They all claimed to come from lands far to the south, and the rare treasures they presented had astonished everyone. If Zhu Yuanzhang was curious, she was too.
But right now…
She cleared her throat and deliberately imitated his tone.
"If you ask me, as long as we've got elite troops and scouts, that's enough. Why bother with such detailed maps of the whole world…"
Before she finished, she actually coughed for real.
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately jumped up to support her, his face full of concern and helplessness.
"The Western Liao state we just saw lies around Beshbalik now, so naturally…"
"So you're saying you never personally marched there, so you're not familiar with it, right?"
After settling his wife back into her seat, Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the teasing and spoke quietly.
"I looked carefully just now. Xuzhou, Suzhou, Dengzhou, those places all match what I've seen myself."
"The course of the Yangtze, the positions of cities along it, all roughly correct. This… this is truly a treasure."
After catching her breath, Empress Ma did not answer immediately. She simply looked at her husband.
Inside Kunning Palace, the windows remained closed so she could rest. But under the glow of the screen, Zhu Yuanzhang saw her bright eyes and heard her voice, full of delight:
"Then doesn't that mean our Ba Ba is just like Tang Taizong, a truly great ruler?"
The Ming emperor shifted awkwardly.
It was praise, yes, but something about it made him uncomfortable.
Especially remembering her earlier reasoning. Because the screen had shown a written conversation between someone named Zhang Fei and Li Shimin, she had deduced Li Shimin's courtesy title, then reasoned that Ba Ba must refer to Chongba.
And because of the irreverent tone in that conversation, something about both him and Tang Taizong getting slapped across the face…
Better not think about that.
"When you first chose me despite my humble birth," Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I had to accomplish something so the world would see what sharp eyes you had."
He paused, and a trace of melancholy crept into his voice.
"I once hoped to become a ruler like Han Gaozu. Yet now… I feel I've become more like Han Wudi."
So this time it was Empress Ma's turn to comfort him.
They had been husband and wife for over twenty years and spoke freely about everything. One sentence was enough to understand the other's thoughts.
She remembered when he first ascended the throne. Back then he had enthusiastically discussed the emperors of old. He had admired Han Gaozu's achievements, praising how his legacy endured for ages.
Tang Taizong's accomplishments might have been slightly less, but his magnanimity surpassed Gaozu's. Zhu Yuanzhang had used both as mirrors, hoping to surpass them.
But earlier this year Hu Weiyong had died. Though many political considerations were involved, what Zhu Yuanzhang lamented now was likely this: even Tang Taizong had preserved many old ministers, and in that regard, he himself had fallen short.
Still, Empress Ma's comfort only made him wave his hand. Whether he did not want to think further or simply wished to change the subject, he turned back to the screen.
Suddenly his eyes lit up.
"This method of simulated warfare is excellent!"
As the young voice on the screen explained, he saw a line drawn by Mongolia, followed by small rider icons moving along it from the steppe southward to strike Western Xia. Then symbols of coins and gold shifted from Western Xia back toward the steppe.
At the same time, arrows appeared along the Liangzhe front, drawn from both Song and Jin sides. The death of a commander, the shifting battle line, changes at the front, all depicted in just a few strokes, yet perfectly clear.
Having personally led armies, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the first requirement in wartime councils was ensuring the command staff understood the situation clearly. Only then could strategy be decided.
This simple drawing method captured battlefield essentials with astonishing clarity.
"Later I must write to Xu Da. He could really use this method!"
When the screen described the Kaixi Northern Expedition, Zhu Yuanzhang laughed aloud.
"It was Southern Song that marched north first, yet the Mongol records say Emperor Zhangzong of Jin attacked Song. Interesting, very interesting!"
Then, hearing the explanation about Professor Li, he turned to his wife in surprise.
"They founded their own country? That voice isn't one of our Ming subjects?"
Empress Ma hesitated, unsure whether to mention the later disgrace of the Ming Zhengtong Emperor.
She had studied history since childhood and had witnessed the fall of Yuan herself. She knew it was normal for states to rise and fall over centuries.
So… she privately suspected that the Ming her husband founded would probably also fail to escape that fate. Ming becoming Southern Ming, Southern Ming becoming extinction.
Fortunately, before she had to respond, Zhu Yuanzhang was distracted again.
"Vietnamese? French? But in war, if you've got strategy, you march rain or shine. Who delays because of bad weather?"
"Wait… Great Ming… bearing of a great power… the Son of Heaven guarding the gates of the state?"