Regarding Yan Shang’s private affair, Lord Liu made two comments about his “boldness” without saying whether it was good or bad.

After all, Yan Shang first caught Lord Liu’s eye because of how he publicly executed the head of the Zheng family. During that three-way tribunal, Yan Shang had refuted all three parties, leaving a deep impression on Lord Liu.

Lord Liu had always known that his youngest student, despite his outward courtesy and humility, was bold at his core.

Having a private relationship with Princess Danyang alone… wasn’t enough to shock Lord Liu.

Though a mere eighth-rank official daring to have a private relationship with Princess Danyang, a princess who had been promised in marriage, would be shocking anywhere else.

But then again, when was Princess Danyang ever someone timid and fearful?

After the grand ceremony, when the Emperor had the court officials and foreign envoys discuss the princess’s marriage alliance, the officials split into two factions. Those who supported the princess and strongly opposed her marriage alliance were not few. Among these officials, the highest ranking was the Vice Minister of Revenue.

As a fourth-rank official, the Vice Minister of Revenue only had a few positions above him – the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Chief Censor. At the rank of Vice Minister, one could usually influence many matters in court.

Having someone of this rank support Mu Wanyao put great pressure on the officials who hoped for her marriage alliance.

However, besides the Vice Minister of Revenue, the officials supporting Mu Wanyao were not few.

This was all accumulated from Mu Wanyao’s year of involvement in government affairs. After all, with the Crown Prince’s backing and the support of the Li family from the south, she had managed to win over quite a few people when trying to gather support.

This left Lord Liu both impressed and troubled by such a princess.

After Lord Liu sent Yan Shang off to handle official duties, two days later, Yan Shang returned to the Secretariat courtyard with many historical documents to discuss the princess’s marriage alliance with Lord Liu.

Lord Liu continued walking with his student under the locust trees outside the courtyard, discussing these matters.

Yan Shang said: “…I’ve reviewed records from various sources about the events of that year and understand the general situation. It was a power struggle between His Majesty and the Li family clan of the late Empress, while the Wu Man was pressing hard from the outside, declaring they would only sign a peace treaty with Great Wei if they could marry a legitimate princess.

“According to records, the Wu Man had occupied almost all of Jiannan Circuit at the time and only withdrew their troops after the court agreed to the marriage alliance. To deal with external threats, one must first secure internal stability. Both His Majesty and the late Empress needed to ensure there were no foreign wars then, so they could focus entirely on their power struggle. Thus, the Princess became the sacrifice.”

Lord Liu stroked his beard and nodded.

What Yan Shang spoke of could never be recorded in official documents. For Yan Shang to deduce the internal truth through various materials – for a young man who neither participated in those events nor had any background to piece together the real story from mere fragments of recorded information – was truly remarkable.

Seeing his teacher’s tacit agreement, Yan Shang sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat lost.

Once again, it was political infighting.

The deeper he waded into court politics, the more he witnessed these cruel truths… all going against human nature, purely for self-interest.

Yan Shang said softly: “The partisan struggles at court have nothing to do with the people’s livelihood. Yet they fight until they’re bleeding and broken – it seems quite ridiculous.”

Lord Liu glanced at him and said: “You can look at this issue from a different angle.”

Yan Shang clasped his sleeves and asked his teacher for guidance.

Lord Liu said leisurely: “You can understand it as having two different voices in court makes it difficult to implement policies efficiently. Only by eliminating opposition and having just your voice in court can you have the space to promote what you call people’s livelihood.”

Yan Shang was stunned for a moment.

Then he said: “Even so, for His Majesty and the late Empress to tacitly agree to sacrifice the Princess as a pawn, sending her off in marriage – it was thoroughly, thoroughly… cold-blooded.”

Lord Liu countered: “What else could be done?”

Yan Shang was taken aback.

Lord Liu said: “You haven’t experienced the period when the Li family of Jinling was oppressive, so naturally you don’t know the pressure His Majesty endured then. In the Li family’s most prominent days, having eight-tenths of the court’s voices wasn’t even worth mentioning – they could even decide matters of deposing and enthroning emperors.

“This was a struggle between imperial power and noble families. His Majesty’s authority was constantly threatened by the Li family and other noble houses – what emperor could endure being reduced to such a puppet? Especially our Emperor, who was never one to suffer bullying.

“He married a Li family daughter as Empress and used the various noble houses of Chang’an to deal with the Li family, step by step sowing discord and suppressing them. He established the imperial examinations, letting commoners enter court, cutting off the noble families’ monopoly. The Second Prince’s death cut off the Li family’s path to control imperial power through blood ties. Sending the young Princess to marriage left the Li family with no one to use in the imperial family.

“He took back military power, stripping the Li family’s control over southern military and political affairs. Constantly rotating military commanders… and finally, the late Empress’s passing.

“Over twenty years, he finally forced the Li family back to Jinling. Though the Li family remains the leader of southern noble houses, they must now recover their strength, with even their family head banished to Lingnan. The Li family’s future has been cut off… serving as a warning to noble houses across the empire. Noble families are much more docile now than before – this is all our Emperor’s achievement.”

Lord Liu gave Yan Shang a mocking look: “Even you – if it wasn’t to let commoners join the game, if it wasn’t to add another force to counter the noble houses, do you think you could have entered court? Do you perhaps think the imperial examination topics are trivial and flowery, useless for selecting officials, only choosing scholars who can compose poetry?

“Yet even this much was won by His Majesty’s struggle against the noble houses.”

Yan Shang was speechless.

He heard Lord Liu say with something like a sigh: “Do you think His Majesty was wrong?”

After a long while, Yan Shang said softly: “I pity the Princess’s hardship, but speaking from the bigger picture, His Majesty was correct. The noble houses have been prominent for too long… if left unchecked, I fear it would lead to partisan disasters and national destruction like the Party Prohibition.”

Lord Liu remained silent for a long time.

Because he too came from a great noble house.

After a good while, Lord Liu said: “The noble houses must fail. If they don’t fail, this situation would be a dead end.”

Yan Shang looked at his teacher: “Teacher also comes from a noble house… yet doesn’t stand with them?”

Lord Liu stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the dense trees overhead, smiling sardonically: “Yan Suchen, do you think all noble houses are fools who can’t see the situation? Do you think all noble houses exploit the common people without distinguishing right from wrong? Have you heard of what true gentlemen are? Have you seen truly noble and pure families? Your understanding of noble houses is still shallow.”

Lord Liu paused for a moment and said: “You should interact more with your young friend Wei Juyuan. The Wei family of Luoyang has lasted hundreds of years, never producing any Prime Ministers, yet managing to maintain their position undefeated. In my view, the Wei family of Luoyang is more remarkable than the Li family of Jinling.”

Yan Shang said softly: “Student feels ashamed.”

Lord Liu said mildly: “His Majesty wants to accomplish in one reign what other emperors would take two or three generations to complete. Let’s watch… these noble houses, having stayed docile during His Majesty’s illness these past years, are gradually becoming aggressive again. His Majesty’s suppression isn’t over yet.

“You can say our Emperor is heartless, can say being an emperor doesn’t necessarily require being so ruthless… but sometimes being ruthless is best for the empire.”

Yan Shang said: “A ruler should first be benevolent…”

Lord Liu: “He’s only not benevolent to the Princess you care about.”

Yan Shang said flatly: “Yet I don’t see much benevolence in the empire, nor many common people living in peace and prosperity.”

Lord Liu looked at him with amusement: “Isn’t this precisely what we officials should help the ruler with? His Majesty is so ill now… expecting him to have energy for too much is rather demanding of a sick person.”

After a long while, Yan Shang couldn’t help but smile bitterly, admitting his teacher was right. An emperor must cut off emotions and love, doing what benefits the empire’s greater situation; even if he isn’t good to his children, he… isn’t an incapable ruler. On the contrary, the Emperor sees the empire’s situation very clearly.

The world may be in chaos, but the Son of Heaven isn’t confused.

The Son of Heaven isn’t confused, but rather ruthless.

This was a most helpless matter.

Yan Shang could only change the subject: “…But now the Li family has been suppressed back to Jinling, and it seems they won’t become too powerful in the near term. Yet we still maintain an alliance with Wu Man. Though many court officials don’t want the Princess to marry Wu Man, when it comes to actual war, eight out of ten officials oppose it.

“Why is this? Are Great Wei’s armies no match for a small country like Wu Man?”

Lord Liu said: “Indeed they’re no match.”

Yan Shang was shocked. Though from his days of reviewing documents, he vaguely felt Great Wei’s military might wasn’t as invincible as he imagined, saying Great Wei couldn’t defeat Wu Man was too absurd.

Lord Liu glanced at him, knowing what he was thinking, and said: “It’s not that we can’t win – if we committed the entire nation’s forces, what would a small Wu Man amount to? But if we can avoid war, why fight? Suchen, you must understand that once war begins, the pressure on various government departments is extraordinary. Moreover, once war begins, it’s the common people who suffer.”

Lord Liu said: “In a war, how many common people die compared to noble houses… Our Great Wei prioritizes agriculture, unlike Wu Man’s nomadic lifestyle. They need war to sustain their nation, but our Great Wei doesn’t. Alliance was the best choice at the time.”

But Yan Shang said: “I naturally understand what the Teacher says. But if we could defeat Wu Man, all these problems could be solved. What I’m surprised about is why we can’t defeat them, or rather, why it would require too great a sacrifice to defeat them?”

Lord Liu turned to look at him, smiling: “This answer, you tell your teacher.”

Yan Shang was startled, then clasped his hands and bowed, accepting his teacher’s test—

In the following days, Yan Shang constantly moved between the Ministry of War, the Court of State Ceremonial, and the Secretariat. The Ministry of War was managed by Prince Qin, who became very alert seeing the Crown Prince’s people frequently coming to search through documents, and worried the Crown Prince was trying to poach people.

Yan Shang’s questions all revolved around Wu Man’s military strength, making Prince Qin even more vigilant, unable to help overthinking: Why keep asking about fighting Wu Man? Could the Crown Prince want war? Has the Crown Prince gone mad, wanting war over Mu Wanyao?

Even the Crown Prince doubtfully questioned Yan Shang, who said it was his teacher’s test, leaving the Crown Prince half-believing.

The Crown Prince didn’t want Mu Wanyao to go through with the marriage alliance – once she left, they would lose the support of southern noble houses led by the Li family of Jinling… but if it meant war, the Crown Prince didn’t want that either.

Yan Shang hoped for the situation to become more chaotic, with the Crown Prince and Prince Qin suspecting each other, and various countries’ envoys sending people to pursue Mu Wanyao… Under such chaos, the marriage alliance couldn’t be achieved for now, buying him much time.

Meanwhile, Yan Shang himself kept returning to the Secretariat to answer his teacher’s question.

On the first day he said: “Our Great Wei’s military is weak because, in the struggle between noble houses and imperial power, both sides eliminated opposition and changed the border army system, constantly replacing commanders, causing commanders and soldiers to be unfamiliar with each other, with no cooperation. Naturally, their effectiveness in battle is greatly reduced. When they had to replace noble houses’ chosen commanders with their people, they found their side inferior to the noble houses, suffering defeat after defeat. But His Majesty couldn’t possibly let the noble houses’ commanders take the position again, so it remained in this deadlock, waiting for new commanders to grow.

“But with border armies rotating so frequently, how can commanders be cultivated?

“Yet if border armies don’t rotate frequently, commanders controlling their regions would cause another chaos. Under such multiple factors, our Great Wei’s military strength has become inferior to Wu Man.”

Lord Liu said: “What else?”

So Yan Shang went to investigate further.

After another day, he came to answer Lord Liu: “Our dynasty’s military service is extremely burdensome, yet border conflicts are frequent and our defense line is too long. Border garrison duty should be a good thing, but civilians are forcibly retained until they serve long terms without returning home. Over time, everyone tries to avoid service, unwilling to voluntarily join the army. Moreover, I asked a guard named Fang Tong, knowing he had served in the army before, his experience… well.”

Yan Shang recalled his conversation with Fang Tong, the head guard of Princess Mu Wanyao’s escort.

Fang Tong told him that before following the Princess, he too was a soldier. However, the military service was too heavy, and for his family’s sake, he had to avoid combat duty and seek a living in Chang’an. Once in Chang’an, due to soldiers’ low status from their military service, the people of Chang’an looked down on former soldiers like him, treating them like private servants to be beaten and humiliated at will. Throughout Great Wei, the social atmosphere had become such that military service was considered shameful.

Fang Tong had to repeatedly take the court’s military examinations and work through various connections before he could serve on the Princess’s side. Even then, to follow the Princess to Wu Man, he had to separate from his newly wedded wife for several years, only recently reuniting with his family.

Thinking of this, Yan Shang felt dejected, knowing this was another unsolvable problem. Because military strength was weak, service requirements were heavy. And because service was heavy and soldiers’ status low, it led to weak military strength.

The entire system was problematic.

Yet Lord Liu still asked him: “What else?”

What else could cause Great Wei’s military to be inferior to Wu Man?

Yan Shang rushed back and forth between the Secretariat and the Ministry of War, continuously answering Lord Liu’s test questions—

“Teacher, I’ve discovered that due to power struggles at court, veteran generals have died off while new commanders aren’t skilled in military affairs. If there were skilled commanders, even frequent rotations could be managed. It’s precisely because we can’t win battles that the rotations are so frequent.”

Lord Liu sighed: “Thus they say, a thousand troops are easy to obtain, but one general is hard to find.”

Lord Liu continued: “What else?”

Yan Shang was stunned and then continued his investigation.

He told Lord Liu again: “Because in warfare, cavalry rules all! As long as there’s cavalry, battles are almost one-sided. Our Great Wei’s cavalry is inferior to Wu Man’s. Wu Man fights on horseback year-round, their cavalry is more skilled than ours. They also wear chainmail armor. On the battlefield, as long as we can’t deal with cavalry, can’t force soldiers to dismount, we can hardly handle cavalry.

“I’ve asked at the Western Market, at the Court of State Ceremonial, and talked with various envoys. Our horse breeds could be further improved. We should learn horse-breeding techniques from some northern small countries, or simply hire them to breed horses for us…”

His thoughts became increasingly clear, as Great Wei and Wu Man’s years of problems laid out before his eyes.

The chaotic situation gradually cleared away its fog, becoming distinct.

Lord Liu stared at the young man standing in his study, silent for a long while, continuously amazed by Yan Shang.

Much of what Yan Shang said had been reported to him as Prime Minister before. However, that was the years of experience from so many people in the Ministry of War, yet Yan Shang had unraveled it thread by thread, relying on himself alone… and managed to reason it through.

Yan Shang was intelligent, thoughtful, humble, and gentle, with excellent interpersonal relationships…

Because he was intelligent and thoughtful, he could piece together the scattered puzzle pieces into a complete truth; because he was humble and gentle, he would seek guidance from the wise, and could lower himself to chat with illiterate commoners and foreigners in the barbarian markets; because his interpersonal relationships were good, he easily had friends in all six ministries, and whenever he needed help from any ministry, friends would open doors for him.

Such a person, only nineteen years old.

Lord Liu stared at the young Yan Shang, deeply moved, thinking this student of his would become remarkable.

Having covered various reasons to this point, Lord Liu felt Yan Shang had already explained all the causes thoroughly. But still, Lord Liu had to say—

“What else?”

He no longer knew what other reasons could cause Great Wei’s military to be inferior to Wu Man, yet he still had to ask Yan Shang “What else?”

He wanted to temper Yan Shang’s spirit, not wanting everything to develop as Yan Shang had reasoned. For a young, brilliantly talented person, if everything was within his expectations, this would not be good for Yan Shang’s growth.

The extremely rigid brakes easily.

Lord Liu deeply understood the helplessness of being caught in political situations. He wanted to use this opportunity to temper Yan Shang, not wanting his young student to be swept up by increasingly deep political affairs later, a precious sword broken forcefully.

Yan Shang was stunned—

Yan Shang didn’t know he had already explained all the reasons, thinking he must have overlooked something. He wracked his brains, trying harder to communicate with military officials, foreigners in the markets, and envoys at the Court of State Ceremonial, continuously searching through books and documents, but couldn’t find more reasons.

This was pure torture for him.

For someone like him with high self-expectations, being unable to think through something completely, unable to sort it out, unable to take the next step… was truly agonizing.

Another day, Yan Shang squatted in the barbarian market, chatting with several foreigners, asking when those foreigners he had sent to Wu Man would return to Chang’an.

As a court official who daily squatted without pretense in the Western Market chatting with foreigners, with his handsome, refined features and gentle way of speaking, he naturally won people’s favor. The foreign merchants all liked this court official who mixed daily in their market, telling him the merchants helping him would probably return in two days.

A foreigner, speaking the awkward official Wei language, patted his chest and guaranteed: “Young Master Yan needn’t worry! Although they couldn’t return before the new year, it won’t be long now. We, foreigners, do business honestly, having taken the young lord’s money, we won’t deceive you, we’ll handle this matter well for you!”

No matter how tormented he felt inside, Yan Shang always smiled amiably: “Then I’ll await good news. When they return, no matter what time, bring my token and find me. I really… understand too little about Wu Man.”

Everyone rushed to comfort Yan Shang.

After parting from the foreigners, Yan Shang wandered through the Western Market, staring at the foreigners doing business there, lost in thought, wondering what other reasons could cause Great Wei to be inferior to Wu Man?—

Mu Wanyao and Meng Zaishi were browsing in the Western Market.

Mu Wanyao maintained a cold expression, not wanting to interact much with Meng Zaishi at all. But since she had said people could pursue her, she couldn’t always refuse Meng Zaishi.

Moreover, she had plans and needed her relationship with Meng Zaishi to gradually improve.

Meng Zaishi and Mu Wanyao rode on horseback.

Mu Wanyao wore a veil, while Meng Zaishi wore a mask. The chaos of common people and vendors in the Western Market made way for the two because with one casual glance up, they could see the woman in the ankle-length veil wore fine silks, clearly of noble status; while the tall man riding beside her, even wearing a mask, gave off an imposing aura of strength.

Ahead, arguing foreigners blocked the road, preventing their horses from passing, making Mu Wanyao increasingly displeased.

Mu Wanyao said impatiently: “Look, look, the road’s blocked! Why invite me to browse the Western Market? It’s less lively than the Eastern Market, and so chaotic, foreigners like you everywhere, just annoying to look at.”

Meng Zaishi was dismounting, and hearing this, he laughed, giving her a sardonic look through their mask and veil, saying: “Your temper now is even worse than when I first knew you. Just a blocked road, yet you’re this irritated. Fine, let’s take another path.”

He gave his guard a look, and his man led his horse away. While Meng Zaishi came forward and took the reins of Mu Wanyao’s horse. Mu Wanyao watched coldly, seeing her mount growing restless, as Meng Zaishi whispered something in Wu Man language into the horse’s ear, and the horse obediently let him take its reins.

Mu Wanyao: “Such pretense! As if I can’t ride a horse myself, needing you to lead it. Where are you taking me? Are you up to no good?”

Meng Zaishi walked below, tall and long-legged, looking back at the white-veiled woman on horseback in the sunset, with an ambiguous smile: “Anyway, in your eyes nothing I do is good.”

The two took another less crowded path, and Meng Zaishi stopped at a mask vendor’s stall, gesturing for Mu Wanyao to dismount and look. Mu Wanyao hesitated for a long while, thinking she couldn’t completely defy Meng Zaishi, so she reluctantly dismounted. Yet she still tightly clutched her veil, not wanting to look at the world beyond her veil one bit, not wanting to look at Meng Zaishi one bit.

Meng Zaishi glanced at the white-veiled woman behind him, chuckling softly: “Little girl… I know what you’re thinking.”

Mu Wanyao maintained her cold expression, pretending not to hear.

Watching Meng Zaishi stand at the vendor’s stall, looking down at various masks, Mu Wanyao absent-mindedly looked on, thinking how nice it would be if she could stab him to death. Suddenly Meng Zaishi lifted the mask he was wearing, putting on a mask from the stall.

He turned back to look at Mu Wanyao, chuckling: “Little girl, does this look familiar?”

Mu Wanyao glanced over carelessly, then froze.

In a flash, she thought of the man who had insisted on giving her a clay figurine when she was sending Yan Shang to the Northern Quarter some time ago.

That man had worn the same mask Meng Zaishi wore now. That person’s figure in her memory… merged with Meng Zaishi’s current form.

Mu Wanyao couldn’t believe it, suddenly lifting her veil. Holding the veil to her chest, the white gauze floating gently, she stared blankly and hatefully at Meng Zaishi.

Realizing that the clay figurine that night… was from Meng Zaishi!

…She would smash that figurine when she got back.

Meng Zaishi lowered his eyes to look at Mu Wanyao, who felt afraid, worried he might do something to Yan Shang who had been with her then. Her eyes flickering, Mu Wanyao gave him a seemingly delighted smile: “So you were already in Chang’an then, yet you held back until several days later… truly like you.”

Meng Zaishi sneered.

He bent down, taking off his mask, revealing his true face. He leaned toward Mu Wanyao.

Mu Wanyao hugged her veil tightly, stepping back, but couldn’t escape his deeply mocking smile.

He bent down, reaching out to flick her forehead, mocking: “You’re not delighted at all, why pretend? In front of me, better show your true nature.”

The sunset glow shone on his face, on the fierce scar. Somewhat dazed, Mu Wanyao saw the smile in his eyes, momentarily stunned, thinking of back then… back when he had jumped through the window, reaching out his hand to her, telling her he would help her—

Behind her, the maid Xia Rong cried in shock: “Young- Young Master Yan?”

Mu Wanyao was startled, turning to look.

In the vast crowd behind them, Yan Shang was staring vacantly ahead. Mu Wanyao instantly felt guilty, wondering in her heart why Yan Shang would be there. Frightened, she suddenly grabbed Meng Zaishi, her other hand gesturing for Xia Rong to lead the horse and follow.

Mu Wanyao said urgently: “Quick, quick, let’s go browse somewhere else!”

In all her time in Chang’an, all her time by the young princess’s side, this was the first time Mu Wanyao was willing to reach out and pull him… though she only pulled his sleeve, she had finally touched him.

Being pulled along by the young princess, running as if fleeing for their lives, Meng Zaishi raised an eyebrow, looking back at the young man lost in thought behind the crowd, who was that official from the Court of State Ceremonial who had troubled him—

Yan Shang had seen Meng Zaishi and Mu Wanyao.

At first, he stared at the horse behind Mu Wanyao, thinking as if possessed: Wu Man cavalry is strong.

So Mu Wanyao also learned excellent horsemanship.

Then under what conditions would Wu Man cavalry’s power be strongest?

He had been thinking about this question so much these days he was nearly going mad, and seeing that horse, an answer vaguely inspired him, making his heart race.

Then the next moment, he saw Mu Wanyao hiding her face with her veil, and Meng Zaishi bent toward her, reaching out his hand. The white gauze of the veil floated up, the two standing like that as if hiding from people, secretly kissing.

The next instant, Mu Wanyao jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, grabbing Meng Zaishi and running away.

Yan Shang: “…”

Originally he hadn’t even reacted, but Mu Wanyao’s guilty thief-like reaction forcefully made him feel displeased.

Why did she run?

What was she guilty about?

Did she think he was a jealous husband, or had she done something to wrong him?