Original subtitles

♫ Raising the wine cup, I toast to the boundless sky ♫

♫ In talks and laughters are vast mountains and rivers. ♫

♫ Love and hate, debt and feuds, have all dissolved. ♫

♫ Where's my soul's hometown and my kindred spirits? ♫

♫ Seasons rolling by, we dream for harvest. ♫

♫ Warriors and warhorses howl across the sky. ♫

♫ If only I could turn into the wind, ♫

♫ to blow away all the pain in mortal coil. ♫

♫ I toast to the blue sky, to courage in solitude, ♫

♫ to migrating gooses, to boats heading home. ♫

♫ With even three thousand days and nights, ♫

♫ Will it be enough to drain this cup I toast to peace? ♫

[Swords into Plowshares]

[Episode 40]

You are?

Another candidate who has failed in the regular examinations. Please take a seat, sir.

Have some wine.

You are no scholar candidate.

You are a military man.

How can you tell?

Your company's hands are calloused at the base of the thumb,

clearly they have practiced martial arts for years.

And look at you,

sitting in this street-side eatery,

yet you show not a trace of timidity.

Instead, you have the composure of one sitting in a central command tent.

Look at the waiter. He's too timid to come near,

because your aura of battle is too strong,

the stench of blood too thick.

Even if you've never held a commander's banner,

you must be a military commander who has fought for many years,

am I right?

Sir, though you failed the examinations,

you seem quite familiar with military matters.

Having repeatedly failed, twenty years ago,

I served as a secretary in a military governor's office.

Since you held such a post,

why not ask the governor to recommend you for an official position?

He became a traitor who preyed on the people, fled south to escape trouble, and I did not follow.

Which military governor was that?

Huangfu Hui.

[Huangfu Hui: a famous general, captured by Zhao Kuangyin in Chuzhou Battle]

That governor... he was

a fierce general who could challenge the present Emperor on the battlefield.

Isn't he also

an Emperor who rose from the army?

Can't one from a soldier's background become the Emperor?

He can.

Most certainly.

Zhu Wen was a soldier.

Li Cunxu was a soldier.

Shi Jingtang, Liu Zhiyuan, Guo Wei,

were they not all soldiers?

The late dynasty's Emperor Shizong was not a soldier.

A pity,

heaven did not grant him years.

In the end,

we got another soldier on the throne.

I have lived to this age, and in this world,

what I have seen most are soldier-emperors.

If that is so, sir,

why have you come to the capital for the examinations?

I seek office through the examinations to govern a prefecture or county, directly over the people.

I have no desire to be the Emperor's private servant.

All under heaven belongs to the sovereign;

all within the realm are his subjects.

Since you seek office through the regular examinations,

whether in the academies or in prefectures and counties,

you would still be a subject of the present Emperor.

What is the difference?

Let me ask you,

whose subject was Lord Feng?

The realm is in turmoil, great bandits rise everywhere.

He who has strong soldiers and sturdy horses becomes Emperor.

The way of the sages is lost.

To serve one man is to be his hound.

One should emulate Lord Feng Dao,

and serve the common people of the realm as the sovereign.

Am I wrong?

Come with me.

The Emperor has arrived!

We respectfully welcome Your Majesty.

Lord Xue.

I am here.

For this year's regular examination, those candidates not selected,

and those who have taken the regular exam fifteen times or more in past years without passing,

compile their names into a separate roster.

All are to be granted the jinshi title from this year's exam.

Your Majesty, there is no precedent, no established custom.

What happens today will be the precedent for future generations.

I am an Emperor unlearned in letters,

ignorant of old customs.

Therefore,

I shall set this precedent for the realm.

Your Majesty, selecting scholars through the regular exam,

with the Ministry of Rites submitting the roster,

is known to the world as the proper path.

Now that Your Majesty bestows this grace,

it should be distinguished and names rectified to demonstrate fairness to the world.

Selection through the regular exam is called the Regular List.

What happens today shall be called the Special List.

The regular exam candidate Sima Pu,

who for forty years never passed once,

is now selected through the Special List,

granted jinshi status, and specially appointed by decree as Secretariat of Privy Council.

We obey the decree.

Sir,

you have a heart that benevolently cares for the realm.

I

also have the will to benevolently rule the realm.

Though I am a soldier-Emperor,

I am not Zhang Yanze or Huangfu Hui.

I, Sima Pu,

humbly and thankfully receive the decree..

[Jiangning Prefecture]

Your Majesty is blessed by heaven!

The Song army is bogged down in Shu region,

its strength sapped.

They cannot seize Shu's wealth, population, or farmland,

nor can they recoup the provisions expended on the Shu campaign.

Supplies and military stores—

even if the rebellion is pacified and the army returns,

the rewards for conquering a kingdom will be enough to empty the treasury.

Add to that the need to exempt taxes to pacify the people of Shu,

this outflow and loss of revenue—

I suppose that,

that within ten years, the Song will find it hard to raise another large army to march south.

Your Majesty is safe,

the state is safe,

and the Great Tang is safe.

Your Majesty is blessed by heaven!

Will the Song Emperor

think this way?

Your Majesty,

you could test him by reducing the tribute.

Reduce tribute?

Yes.

Since summer began, seven prefectures and over twenty counties in Jiangnan have suffered floods.

We must aid the victims and also exempt grain taxes.

This year's tribute payment will be less than half of previous years'.

With his heaven-like virtue, the Song Emperor will surely not mind.

That is risky.

Risky?

Then, Your Majesty...

Test him instead by giving up

the privilege of not being referred to by name.

I have heard of the floods in Jiangnan.

How many prefectures and counties were affected?

Your Majesty,

a total of seven prefectures and twenty-eight counties.

How many people perished?

Those who drowned number twenty-three thousand five hundred and twenty-one.

More than eight thousand nine hundred houses were destroyed,

and farmland silted over amounts to nearly ten thousand qing.

It has been a difficult year.

Yes.

This year's two hundred thousand taels of silver and bolts of silk,

I will not take.

Xu Xuan,

take all those back,

and tell your master:

The world has been in chaos for nearly a century;

every household is having a hard time.

Since he is in charge of Jiangnan,

he should naturally cherish the common people.

Taxes that should be exempted must be exempted;

prefectures and counties that need relief must be relieved.

I

will not hinder him.

Only when poor and humble households live well

can the court and the government prosper in turn.

Your Majesty, your benevolence is vast as the heavens.

Not at all.

We have all survived these chaotic times; we should understand one another.

I am an Emperor who rose from the army;

I never speak falsehoods.

You and your master need not speculate and test.

The protocol of not using the name,

is a favor I granted to your master.

Since it is a favor,

if I do not permit you to decline it, you may not decline it.

Do you understand?

I...

I understand.

You and your master must govern well.

As long as the prefectures and counties of Jiangnan are prosperous and the people at peace,

even if the Li clan usurps a noble title and stands as my equal,

I may not necessarily be angered.

But if you mishandle the disaster relief,

causing the people of Jiangnan to suffer,

even if I must abandon my own peace,

I will still punish the guilty to succor the people.

Do you understand?

Yes.

The Emperor shows great confidence.

He regards the entire Southern Tang as already within his grasp.

This is a warning,

and more so a caution.

He is telling the Southern Tang ruler and his ministers

not to think the Song army in Shu is bogged down and unable to campaign south.

Emperor Zhao,

is the sovereign of the entire realm.

And this realm includes not only the Central Plains and Wuyue,

but also the Li family of Southern Tang.

Lords, you are overthinking this.

Whether he is the present Emperor of the Great Song,

or Emperor Zhao in Bianjing,

he should still be the same man,

the young and spirited Zhao Kuangyin who roamed Bianliang, should he not?

Please, Great King, enlighten us.

The Zhao Kuangyin I know

does not speak in roundabout ways,

nor does he use words to create mystery.

What he says,

is what he thinks,

and what he will do.

Our state has also suffered floods.

There are also commoners displaced from their homes.

Whether it is relief,

or tax exemption,

are they not

what should be done?

If it is not done,

or done poorly,

and the people cannot survive,

then even if the Emperor does not ask, the court does not ask,

would rebellion not arise within the state?

Whether a prefect or a county magistrate,

if they sit idle and watch the people under their rule suffer hunger and devastation,

should they not be held accountable?

Such a simple and clear principle,

when applied to state affairs, you all understand perfectly well.

Why is it that now,

when spoken from the Emperor's mouth,

you, my lords,

instead fail to understand?

My lords,

you must remember:

This realm has its people with hundreds of surnames.

Zhao, Qian, Li, Liu—

are but four surnames among them.

I have thought long on this.

This year's taxes and grain

still cannot be fully exempted.

What do mean, Your Majesty?

Now,

the Song court's desire to destroy us remains undiminished.

With the world as it is,

it is far from time to lay down arms and rest.

The Yangtze may be a natural moat,

but without a strong force to patrol it,

it cannot guarantee peace for a lifetime.

Your Majesty's concern is indeed worth considering.

But this year...

We must train a navy.

A navy... A navy...

Northerners excel with horses,

southerners excel with boats.

In land warfare,

our army and cavalry would find it hard to fight against the north's crack troops.

Only a navy can make the Yangtze a true moat.

Only a navy,

can secure the Great Tang's

lasting peace.

Your Majesty,

the navy proposal is indeed a fine strategy for the state.

However,

disaster relief

and resting the people's strength are the urgent tasks at hand.

Your Majesty,

perhaps next year...

My mind is made up.

Establish

the office of Navy Commander, based in Hongzhou.

Use Poyang Lake as the naval base.

Build warships,

recruit sailors.

Bestow the army name

"Longxiang".

[ZHu Lingzhi, Longxiang Army Commander] Appoint Zhu Lingyun as Commander.

Appoint Li Yuanqing as Deputy Commander.

Appoint Wang Hui as Army Inspector.

Appoint Sun Zhen as Army Commissioner.

Armor up and take up arms,

to resist the Song state.

what is the meaning

of His Majesty‘s decision?

[Li Yuanqing] The Song ruler is aggressive and overbearing.

No wonder Your Majesty is seeing shadows and jumping at every sound, frightened.

What I'm asking is,

this navy matter, what does it have to do with me?

A navy is different from a land army, where,

with food supplies, you can raise a banner

and gather thirty or fifty thousand troops in short order.

But a navy is not like that.

Without usable warships,

there is no navy to speak of.

Timber suitable for keels needs to be air-dried,

for two to three years.

To build them into warships, and for sailors to be properly trained,

a rough estimate...

It would still require,

five or six years.

Five or six years?

Why would it take so long?

This is already fast.

When Wang Jun attacked Wu, he began building ships in Yizhou in the eighth year of Taishi,

and it wasn't until eight years later, the first year of Taikang that he could finally dispatch troops.

The Central Plains has no warships,

but Wuyue has.

To transport Wuyue's warships to Jiangling,

would need to sail from the estuary up the Yangtze, against the current all the way.

How could the Southern Tang ruler and ministers just stand there watching?

Buy ships from Wuyue?

A hasty stopgap measure, that's all.

Your Majesty is being unrealistic.

Why are the ministers also unrealistic?

The Great Tang and Wuyue are century-old enemies.

Whether the Qian family have any surplus warships is one thing,

even if they did, why would they sell them to us?

Times are different now.

The Song state is powerful, its might overshadows the realm.

It's not just Your Majesty and our court who are fearful.

The principle of shared peril,

King Qian should understand it.

So,

His Majesty appointing me, this old fool as Deputy Navy Commander

is because he want me to go to that Qian's ninth boy,

and buy ships.

Back then, the peace agreement was something you

and the present King Qian worked hard to achieve.

You could be said to have some old ties.

Having you go to him,

is more fitting than sending someone else.

The proposal to buy ships from Wuyue is not advisable.

Brother!

if the court makes the request, Chu might not refuse me considering my dignity and old bonds.

That's not the issue.

I have no money.

Didn't Minister Zhao say

the Three Departments this year still have a surplus of a million in silver and silk?

That is what I indend

to use for shipbuilding in Jiangling.

It's not for buying ships.

Zhao Pu.

I am here.

Jing and Xiang suffered floods.

How many victims lost their harvest this year?

Three prefectures, twelve counties, roughly seven thousand adult males, twenty-three thousand people.

This surplus of a million in silver and silk,

I would rather spend it on these disaster victims.

Your Majesty means

to provide work for relief.

Pan Mei.

I am here.

I give you twenty-three thousand laborers.

In three years' time, can you build three hundred warships?

I will devote all loyalty and effort to live up to your trust.

Brother,

it will take five or six years.

How many years has the world been in chaos?

A century of turmoil, five dynasties in succession, continuous warfare.

Those who died by the roadside number in the tens of millions.

It's merely five or six more years.

I can wait.

Commissioner of the Yongxin Army of the Great Tang,

I,

Li Yuanqing,

pay respects to the Great King.

Sir, do you come here

for the state,

or for business?

For the state,

and also for business.

Great King, you must not sell!

The ancestral precepts of Wuyue command us to uphold our duty as subjects

and serve the Central Plains well.

Now,

Emperor Zhao has shown intent for a southern campaign.

Yet our state sells warships to Southern Tang.

This violates our duty as subjects and goes against the prevailing trend.

If the Emperor in Bianjing questions you, Great King,

how will you defend yourself?

Weijun, also share your opinion.

In reply, Father, our two states have been locked in conflict for a century.

Hatred runs deep as an abyss.

[Qian Weijun, Qian Chu's son] Upon the waves, warships determine victory or defeat,

[Qian Weijun, Qian Chu's son] the outcome, and even the fate of our state.

How can we possibly surrender the fate of our state to others?

What is your view, Weizhi?

In reply, Father,

I do not know.

Of course you wouldn't know.

Such a major matter doesn't require your understanding.

Just speak casually.

[Qian Weizhi, Qian Chu's adoptive son] May I ask that, what price,

[Qian Weizhi, Qian Chu's adoptive son] did that envoy offer?

Eldest Brother...

For a hundred-man swift boat, [swift boat: a kind of small warship]

one thousand pi of silver and silk. [swift boat: a kind of small warship]

For a hundred-man assault ships or oared warboats,

fifteen thousand.

As for the combat warships that can carry three hundred men or more,

one hundred thousand. [combat warships: the mainline warships]

May I ask, Minister,

how many newly built warships that have not yet been deployed do we have?

From last January until now,

we have built eight new combat warships, sixty-seven oared warboats.

As to the rest, the small swift boats, the exact count is unclear,

but there are certainly two to three hundred vessels.

Eldest Uncle,

those were built for our state's navy to replace old and worn-out warships.

The Heir is correct.

Father,

I wonder those replaced, old and worn-out warships, according to precedent, how are they handled?

What do you think should be done?

So, Eldest Brother, you mean,

to sell those replaced old ships at a discount to Southern Tang?

I believe we need not discount the price.

This...

Could old ships also be sold at the price of new ones?

Who said those are old ships?

Apply a fresh coat of paint, make the colors bright and vibrant,

and along with the Southern Tang navy's flags and signal drums,

provide them all together.

A splendidly decorated cassault ships or oared warboats,

let them pay thirty thousand in silver and silk for it.

Another brand-new fast shuttle or attack boat

is worth three thousand, which is not excessive.

As for the giant combat warships, they are unavailable on the market.

There's nowhere else to buy them.

A price of three hundred thousand is absolutely non-negotiable.

Father!

My son really knows how to manage a household.

It moved.

It didn't.

It moved.

Father.

Mother.

Sit down.

How are the preparations going?

Father, do you truly want me to go and negotiate with him?

Weizhi.

Your father is a bad man.

When he was young,

he tricked that guy once.

Now he's sending you

to trick him even more severely.

Do you know how to negotiate with him?

Could it be that,

I should really negotiate like that?

I was just talking nonsense in the court hall. It shouldn't be taken seriously.

Military and state affairs indeed should not be treated so frivolously.

It's your turn.

The price

shall be set as you said.

However,

I do not want silver or silk.

Let the Li family

pay with grain instead.

Understood.

These Wuyue rats are going too far!

Your Majesty,

I have a plan that can achieve both goals.

Moreover, it can make the Qian clan of Wuyue reap what they sow.

Speak.

Qian Ninth wants grain, because this time,

not only is our Great Tang suffering greatly from the floods,

but Wuyue is also affected by the disaster.

The affected prefectures and counties, their population is likely double that of our dynasty.

Therefore, not wanting gold or silk,

but grain, is truly because their country lacks food.

Corpses of the starved lie everywhere.

That's why they are using our purchase of ships to extort us greatly,

in order to solve their own crisis.

Since that is the case,

Your Majesty can turn their scheme against them.

First, give them the grain

and press them to deliver the warships.

In seven prefectures, over twenty counties,

tens of thousands of victims await relief.

If we exchanged all government's grain reserves for warships.

Are we going to watch the victims starve to death before our very eyes?

Your Majesty, you may issue an edict to the border prefectures and counties adjacent to Wuyue,

ordering them to open the checkpoints and allow the victims to head south for food.

Your Majesty, you must not!

Your Majesty,

the people,

are the foundation of the state!

The Liaogian Company garrison is located west of Taihu Lake.

We can set up a checkpoint nearby.

Able-bodied men entering the checkpoint can first be sent to dredge lake silt,

working for relief.

Dredging silt is strenuous labor.

Porridge alone will not be enough.

Just this one checkpoint can accommodate no less than ten thousand Southern Tang refugees.

Great King.

Sir, please rise.

Is everything prepared?

Suzhou, Huzhou, and Quzhou.

A total of sixteen checkpoints.

Along the route, we have set up two hundred and thirty-eight relief stations.

We have mobilized eight thousand garrison troops and two thousand eight hundred clerks.

From the central government down to the local, one hundred and twelve officials will lead and manage them.

From the Zhexi Land Office, we have allocated one hundred and fifty thousand hu of grain.

Each relief station is equipped with over ten porridge stoves.

Physicians and various medicinal supplies are also prepared.

It doesn't matter if we use a bit more grain.

Order must be maintained.

The Chancellor's Office has issued a directive.

This task will be included in this year's performance evaluation.

For each official's jurisdiction, if not a single person dies,

the grade will be 'Upper-Middle'.

Should be 'Upper-Upper'.

Great King, according to court precedent, the 'Upper-Upper' grade is typically not awarded.

'Upper-Middle' is already marvelous achievement.

I know.

If not a single person dies,

The performance shall be recorded as 'Upper-Upper'.

Those awaiting vacancies will be appointed locally,

and those already in substantive posts will be promoted one rank.

But...

We lack population, Yin.

I understand.

To put it plainly,

we have one army, thirteen prefectures, eighty-six counties,

but in terms of registered households,

we don't even match three or five large commanderies in the Central Plains.

Do you understand now?

So, Father, this deal aims

not just for Southern Tang’s grain.

Remember this.

The people,

are the foundation of the state.

Everyone,

form two lines!

Line up, line up!

Do not linger here!

[Roadside shelter in Suzhou at the border of Wuyue and Tang] Get your food,

[Roadside shelter in Suzhou at the border of Wuyue and Tang] then keep moving forward!

[Roadside shelter in Suzhou at the border of Wuyue and Tang] Do not linger here!

[Roadside shelter in Suzhou at the border of Wuyue and Tang] Get your food,

[Roadside shelter in Suzhou at the border of Wuyue and Tang] then keep moving forward!

Line up, line up!

The shelter is five li ahead!

The shelter is five li ahead!

Everyone,

form two lines!

Do not linger here!

Get your food and keep moving forward!

Come on, everyone, line up!

Get your food up ahead!

Let me tell you all,

one household gets one tally.

Only one per household.

Good. Thank you.

One household gets at most one tally.

Don’t take more.

One tally

is ten mu of land.

Ten mu of land!

Don’t push! Don’t push!

Once you reach Taizhou,

you’ll have land this year,

build a house next year!

King Qian has decreed:

For three years,

all taxes and grain levies are exempt!

The core heartland of Wuyue

has flat terrain, fertile soil, and ample rainfall.

It is highly suitable for fishing and farming, especially for growing rice.

This area is also far from the borders and conflict zones,

making it safe and stable.

Settling refugees here to open up land both solves their livelihood and aids their development,

and also accelerates the development of Wuyue’s core region.

It strengthens state power and consolidates the ruling foundation.

It can be said to kill multiple birds with one stone.

King Qian's action, providing Southern Tang with weapons and boats,

undermines the court's grand plan for unification!

He's measuring the nobility of unification with petty gains,

and divide the overall situation with partial, lowly actions!

What exactly are you trying to say?

I believe an imperial edict should be issued to reprimand them.

There are always some people who treat my words as wind past their ears.

Even if I wished to leave him with some dignity,

I'm afraid I hardly can.

Since the Han and Tang dynasties, capitals were established in Qin and Luo,

relying on their strategic locations.

Since the usurpation by the Zhu of Liang,

it was moved to Bianliang, a vulnerable strategic hub.

Powerful military governors have been everywhere.

The state has been repeatedly relocated. From Jin to Zhou, none of them lasted long.

Now that Shu region are pacified, the southern lands also secure, we have deliberated for a long time.

This is truly the opportunity to move the capital.

Where to?

Guanzhong is desolate, its royal aura has faded.

Luoyang commands Hulao to the east,

Tongguan to the west, Luo River to the north,

and has take advantage of Mang Mountain.

It is fit to be a foundation for ten thousand generations.

How much would it cost?

Luoyang originally had the Southern and Northern Palaces.

There is no need to build new palaces.

Moreover, it was an old capital, government offices are complete, and the outer city is vast.

It only requires some repairs

and will not be excessively wasteful.

The entire court's officials and nobles have lived in Bianliang for nearly forty years.

Their descendants, servants, family homes and properties

have branched out extensively, entangled in countless layers.

If we move the capital to Luoyang,

at least fifty or sixty thousand people will be involved.

The cost this time

may amount to the military expenses of the Shu campaign.

Furthermore,

in the relocation, and all related matters,

considerable manpower and laborers are required.

If it damages people's lives and shifts resentment onto the court,

I fear

it may shake the very foundation of the state.

What you all said just now

are not the major issues.

The major issue is,

I have no money.

The funds for the southern campaign cannot be touched.

The disaster-stricken areas have had their taxes waived and cannot have them reinstated.

And there's another major issue.

That great river to the north.

Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty built the Golden Dike,

so at least we're not faced every year with floods pressing against the city walls.

But the prefectures downstream still suffer from dike breaches and collapses year after year.

Farmland is abandoned, and people die or are injured.

Minister Zhao once explained history to me:

Since the Han Dynasty,

this great river

has shown the conscience of the court.

If one cannot control the Yellow River,

how can one claim to be the legitimate ruler?

So,

where do I have the money

to move the capital?

We can have

What... what did you say?

I said,

money can be had,

but not for moving the capital.

Your Majesty wishes to have riverbank garrison farmlands, and there's money.

Your Majesty wishes to control the great river, and there's money.

But if Your Majesty moves the capital, not a single coin will be available.

Sima Pu!

Mind your decorum when responding before His Majesty.

Does Your Majesty know why Shi Jingtang moved the capital to Bianliang?

It's because when the local transport grain to Luoyang,

compared to transporting it to Bianliang,

for every ten catties of grain, there's an extra three catties of loss.

Over the Five Dynasties,

the court has been poor and scared, unwilling to part with these three catties of grain.

Your enterprise is inherited from the Five Dynasties.

It cannot compare to the Great Tang's golden age.

We, a small household, must live frugally.

Thrift is better than extravagance.

We are poor.

We poor must live like the poor.

Sima Pu,

do not overstep!

Lord Xue.

You just said that if I want to have riverbank garrison farmlands,

there's money.

Yes.

Where can it come from?

If Your Majesty wishes so, you must issue an edict to the realm,

implementing the strategy of weakening the local and strengthening the center.

Sima Pu, do not speak recklessly!

The realm is not yet pacified and settled.

To implement that strategy is not the right time.

The malpractices have been there since the mid-Tang Dynasty

If changed abruptly, it would inevitably shake the foundations of the state.

We must proceed gradually.

Let him finish speaking.

You, continue.

All you ministers know this perfectly well.

It's just that no one will say it out loud.

Why are the court's finances so strained and impoverished?

Since then, military governors have sprung up everywhere,

with recklessly bestowed authority,

and local finances are all grasped in the hands of them.

The periphery is strong while the center is weak.

Thus, if the court wants to garrison fields,

to train troops, to control the river, it is all unsustainable.

If you let the Three Departments to survey the past local revenues and expenditures,

and from next year, we set fixed amounts.

Leave one portion in local government, and escort the remainder back to the capital.

In just three to five years, training troops, garrisoning fields,

controlling the river, campaigning, we can do these all.

Military governors hold financial power to enrich themselves.

This is a malady accumulated over two hundred years.

How could Your Majesty not know?

Now, the military governors are either veteran commanders over several dynasties,

or are old friends and former comrades who shared hardships with Your Majesty.

The court still relies on them to send troops and pacify the realm.

If we now seize their financial power,

enacting this strategy of weakening the periphery and strengthening the center,

I fear it will provoke turmoil across the realm.

Then, failing to collect even a single coin would be a small matter.

If they rebel or defy orders,

damaging the court's authority and bring chaos to the overall situation,

it will surely invite a terrible disaster.

The Khitan are still there.

Southern Tang and Northern Han refuse allegiance.

Wuyue has not submitted.

To weaken the military governors now is not the right time.

It is not the right time!

What a fine "it is not the right time"!

But isn't that exactly what everyone thinks?

Since the mid-Tang Dynasty,

every single emperor,

Zhu Quanzhong,

Li Cunxu,

Shi Jingtang, Liu Zhiyuan,

and the previous dynasty's Taizu and Shizong Emperors,

didn't they all think this way?

All let the military governors restrain and attack each other,

using the realm's bandits to pacify the realm's bandits.

So generation after generation, it has always been that the ruler is usurped by a bandit,

and the bandit then becomes the ruler.

The world turns in cycles, endlessly, without resolution.

Your Majesty, you speak of emulating Tang's Taizong Emperor,

yet you take bandits as your model, following in their footsteps.

And you still dare to speak extravagantly of achieving great peace?

How laughable!

Laughable!

Laughable!

This Sima Pu,

though his temper is bad

and his words not pleasant,

is rare in possessing sincere conviction.

What others dare not say,

he dares to say.

What others dare not do,

perhaps he would dare to do.

But knowing how to do something and truly setting about doing it

are not the same thing.

This man has no ties to any of the military governors at court.

Regarding the matter we two discussed, perhaps we can let him handle it.

He has no foundation in the army.

Such harsh and severe means...

I fear he is not capable.

Precisely because of that,

if he truly acts,

he will not hesitate or be constrained, held back by personal connections or power.

Elder Brother,

since you have doubts,

why not summon him for a private audience and discuss it with him face-to-face?

Prince,

Minister,

please wait a moment.

I'll go in and report it.

Prince, do you know

why His Majesty has summoned me here?

His Majesty wishes to create a new position below the Deputy Chief of the Privy Council, to await orders.

A new position?

Assistant Minister of the Privy Council.

From today,

Sir,

you will be ranked among the highest ministers.

Rank is awarded for merit, office is assigned for ability.

Since taking up my post,

I have achieved no merit and displayed no talent.

Why would His Majesty open the door of favoritism for me?

Extraordinary affairs require extraordinary men.

Prince, Minister, you may enter for discussions.

After you.

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles stretch towering mountains. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles run surging rivers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles cry warhorses. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles there are emotions unspoken. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, flowers are blooming along the road. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, gooses are returning to the north. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, we stand through storms. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, we hope for a safe return. ♫

♫ Tens of thousands of miles is not enough, ♫

♫ for a lifetime's sorrows and joys. ♫

♫ Tens of thousands of miles is not enough, ♫

♫ for the endless seas and rivers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ love will overcome all barriers. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ we are together in life and death. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ the moon shines in the boundless world. ♫

♫ My heart has its hometown to return. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ who is the one crossing the waves with me, ♫

♫ with our hearts unrepentant, through countless lifetimes. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ oceans and lands witness that♫

♫ the world will be safe and sound. ♫

♫ Across tens of thousands of miles, ♫

♫ my heart is unchanging. ♫