"Outrageous!"
The roar rolled out from inside the hall, loud enough to startle a few crows into flapping off the palace eaves and onto an old tree nearby, where they tilted their heads and stared down curiously.
Outside the Guangzheng Hall, the imperial guards on duty exchanged looks. None of them dared speak, but all were clearly wondering what on earth had happened inside.
The Son of Heaven was famous for keeping his emotions hidden. Even last time, when Prince Jin… no, when he should now be called Master Kongjiong… had been carried out of the hall half-dead, the emperor had merely lost a trace of his smile.
But this time?
With that kind of fury… who knew how long Master Kongjiong would need to recover afterward?
---
Master Kongjiong himself, of course, knew nothing of these outside speculations.
At this moment, he was lying flat on the floor in an impressively smooth and practiced posture, not even wanting to raise his head a fraction.
Footsteps echoed sharply inside the hall as Zhao Kuangyin paced back and forth in a storm of rage. One string of extremely un-courtly language after another burst out of his mouth, landing loud and clear in Zhao Guangyi's ears.
"Damned thieves! Born without proper breeding! Starving sour scholars playing filthy tricks!"
"Preposterous!"
"Scum the heavens should not cover and the earth should not bear! No wonder that Zhu fellow wiped their realm out!"
"Studied the classics for nothing. A monkey in a hat pretending to be a prime minister, doing work like this!"
"Cloud-perched rats, born vermin!"
Only after the shouting finally slowed did Zhao Guangyi cautiously lift his head.
Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was the emperor staring straight at him in silence, as if calculating something. Zhao Guangyi instantly pointed at the light screen.
"These old thieves deserve Your Majesty's personal campaign. Capture their leader and set the realm right—"
He did not finish.
Zhao Kuangyin cut him off with a sharp shake of the head.
"You bird-brained ape. No schemes where it matters, yet endless scheming in the shadows. Following me around like a salt peddler trailing a radish cart, nothing but noise and trouble."
The words were harsh, but Master Kongjiong secretly felt relieved. At least it meant he had avoided another beating.
Still, something stirred faintly in his heart.
He had always wanted that throne. That had never changed.
But the later history shown on the screen…
That really did look troublesome.
He had never calculated carefully, but between the two Song dynasties there must have been nearly three hundred years. During that time the Western Xia and Liao dynasty alone would already have been hard enough to deal with, not to mention the Jin and then the Mongols watching from the north, all eager to ride south.
Without thinking, he rubbed his eye socket, which still throbbed faintly.
For the first time, he asked himself:
Could it really have been held back?
---
Zhao Kuangyin, in a thoroughly foul mood, did not bother with such reflections.
At this moment, he almost wished the Mongols would rise immediately, just so they could avenge this blood debt for his descendants.
Then again, remembering that the Hongwu Emperor who destroyed the Yuan supposedly descended from Song imperial guards did make him feel a bit better.
Still, whenever he thought of the place where the Song truly ended…
He could not help sighing.
"Yashan… ah…"
He had not even finished sighing when Zhao Pu called out to him.
"Your Majesty… it seems the Hongwu Emperor can also see this screen."
Zhao Kuangyin jerked his head up.
Sure enough, a line of text drifted across from right to left:
---
[Zhu Yuanzhang: Absurd! When did the Tang histories ever record Li Shimin campaigning against Wa?]
Zhao Kuangyin muttered, "Real?"
"Does not look fake."
Before they could think further, more text followed:
---
[Zhang Fei]: WHOA! A living Hongwu Emperor!
[Zhu Yuanzhang]: ...The Marquis of Huan
(Zhang Fei) is also alive, it seems.
[Zhang Fei]: This is creepy to hear... but never mind that! Is it true what the future says, that you conquered the world starting with nothing but a broken alms bowl?
[Zhang Fei]: And they say your military skill is inferior to Taizong of Tang. What do you think about that, Hongwu?
[Zhang Fei]: Hongwu? You still there?
---
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Pu exchanged a look.
Definitely real.
Without hesitation, Zhao Kuangyin immediately carved a few characters onto the stone table and added his own message:
---
[Zhao Kuangyin: The Founder of Ming has my profound gratitude for his kindness.]
---
Inside Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin raised his brush, hesitated, then watched Zhang Fei continue talking on the screen and laughed softly. In the end he simply put the brush down and leaned back onto his couch.
"You will not defend yourself?" Empress Zhangsun asked curiously. She knew how competitive the second son of the Li clan could be. Most matters, he would not rest until clearly settled.
Li Shimin smiled and shook his head.
"The sea route from Wa to Deng-Lai is long, and from there to Guanzhong is another thousand li."
"I believe the battle report must already be on the road. Once it arrives, letting that Hongwu Zhu Bābā see it will not be too late."
Ah.
Now that sounded like the husband she knew.
"And besides," Li Shimin added, "the Marquis Huan's homeland was, in the end, recovered by this Ming emperor. It is only natural he feels some closeness."
Empress Zhangsun was not entirely convinced.
But she quickly suggested something else.
"The report can wait. But since Ming descends from the same lineage as our Tang, we ought to warn him about Wa."
Li Shimin considered this and nodded.
"Very well. Wuji, write for me."
There was no deeper reason for choosing him.
Zhangsun Wuji simply happened to be standing closest.
---
Inside the Kunning Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang set down his brush and shook his head.
"This Marquis Huan…"
In theory, the man counted as one of the ancestors of the realm and should be treated solemnly. But this particular ancestor was… somewhat unreliable.
What truly concerned him, however, was another implication in the conversation.
"The Marquis said the things about Bābā were judgments from later generations."
Empress Ma spoke methodically.
"So does that mean everything the screen shows about Ming comes from the future?"
"Or does it mean the young storyteller himself is from the future?"
The distinction mattered greatly.
If the storyteller truly came from later generations, then there was one question above all others:
If the northern barbarians returned again, were they driven out once more?
Empress Ma thought it over carefully.
"When he spoke of Xin Qiji's frustrations and Cao Youwen's heroic death, his tone sounded deeply emotional, almost like someone remembering his own ancestors. I believe… this young man is most likely a descendant of later Huaxia."
Zhu Yuanzhang agreed.
Which naturally led him to mutter the question weighing most heavily on him:
"That World War…"
"Surely Huaxia won?"
No answer would come anytime soon.
Just then more text drifted across the screen. Seeing her husband still staring blankly, Empress Ma simply began reading and writing it down herself.
"This one is signed Zhangsun Wuji… let's see…"
She read aloud:
---
Zhangsun Wuji: "'The Wa are shameless and without honor. They fear power but do not cherish virtue. In the age of sea power, they plundered Huaxia as a nation, committing crimes too many to record. Together with eight Western barbarian states, they preyed upon us for failing to guard our seas.
Therefore the Wa islands should serve as a maritime gate to secure the Eastern Sea. In doing so, their disasters may be ended, and their gold and silver mountains taken for use…'"
---
Zhu Yuanzhang felt like he half understood.
But for every question that cleared up, three new ones appeared.
"Sea frontiers? Eight Western states? Maritime gate?"
"And that miserable Wa island… actually has mountains of gold and silver?"