Chapter 129: The Prophecy of the Golden Knife: Yang Jian!

This was a brilliant age.

After years of chaos, the Nine Provinces finally saw a measure of peace.

The two Liu clans stood in opposition—

Whether it was Liu Yu or Liu He.

To emerge victorious from so many warlords was proof enough of their extraordinary nature.

But precisely because of this;

Completely unifying the entire realm was a daunting task for both.

Heaven permits no two suns, let alone two warlords bearing the Liu surname.

This conflict will not end.

And compared to the past, this struggle will be far longer.

The first year of Yongchu.

Liu Yu ascended the throne in Jiankang, retaining the state name Han, and changed the era name to "Yongchu."

Though the realm had been in chaos since then.

The name "Han" still rang loud—this alone was evident from the fact that for years, all rulers had been Liu clan warlords.

Six hundred years of actual rule.

The impact this had on the Nine Provinces was something no one could erase.

At the same time, Liu He also declared himself emperor, changing the era name to "Changjing."

Compared to Liu Yu,

As a descendant of Liu Shan, he held even greater advantages.

Both sides sent invitations to the Gu clan simultaneously—given the current state of the realm,

If either side could win the Gu clan's support,

They could claim to possess the power to unify the entire realm!

Though the Gu clan had grown increasingly weak,

The golden age their rule once brought still lived in people's hearts.

This was the importance of the Gu clan.

But would the Gu clan emerge from seclusion?

From the moment the Gu clan chose this path, they were destined to remain hidden.

Gu Yi would not let the Gu clan intervene now.

He had observed both Liu Yu and Liu He.

Liu Yu, let it pass.

Liu He was equally extraordinary—a true hero of the age.

With the Gu clan's aid, both had the chance to unify the realm and even recreate a golden age.

But what of it?

Even if he once again guided technological innovation for this era, raising productivity once more,

It would still be merely superficial.

The fundamental nature of the feudal dynasty would not change; another era of chaos would arise in time.

And as the Liu clan's hold on power grew longer,

The Chinese people would lose the most precious resilience in their bones, and the entire Nine Provinces would develop along entirely different paths.

And the Gu clan would bear the weight of it all.

Not only would their descendants become more ordinary, but even their most basic prestige would shift.

If it truly came to that—

What could he, having exhausted all his achievement points, change?

The Gu clan's only fate was utter ruin!

The Nine Provinces needed change.

History likewise needed different heroes to rise, to forge their own myths upon this land steeped in legend.

This was the core of historical development.

Gu Yi did not need to act; the ancestral precepts and clan righteousness he had repaired through Gu Ye would suffice.

The clan's descendants would follow them.

They would not choose sides during this sensitive period.

This move further hardened the stalemate between the two.

Liu Yu was indeed extraordinary.

Compared to Liu He, his bloodline was far superior, yet his rise to this point proved his ability.

Public support was especially critical at this time.

Gaining greater popular backing meant stronger armies and more grain supplies.

He spared no effort in reviving past policies, using them to declare his stance toward the Gu clan.

But Liu He was no fool.

On the contrary, holding the north gave him greater advantages.

—The Gu clan's ancestral lands lay in Julu!

This gave him even more opportunity for performative gestures; the two now competed under these conditions.

At the same time, their friction never ceased.

But that is the nature of chaotic times.

When heroes rise together in great numbers, wiping out a single feudal lord is not all that difficult.

But now the north-south balance of power has already taken shape.

Moreover, the talents of the two rulers on each side do not differ by much, so to decide a victor outright under such circumstances is no easy matter.

Gradually, Liu Yu and Liu He both came to realize this point.

Once they knew that unification could not be achieved in the short term,

they immediately carried out a series of reforms revolving around national strength and state policy.

They straightened out the administration of officials and curbed the powerful clans;

what the Gu clan had once done found excellent expression in them.

Beyond that, the two men each displayed their own methods.

Competition spurs progress.

This holds true in any age.

The two Hans of north and south, each according to its own geographical conditions, continuously developed their respective industries.

Even Gu Yi had to admit it.

These two men could absolutely be counted as overlords of their era, but precisely because of that, the difficulty of their unification was all the greater.

The road to becoming emperor has always been a solitary path, allowing only one to walk it.

Time hurried on.

Liu Yu and Liu He waged war against each other through these chaotic times, each winning and losing in turn.

Disputes never ceased across the land.

No matter how extraordinary these two emperors were, they ultimately fell beneath the weight of years, departing this world one after another, each cradling boundless Shan Xiongxin.

Time is heartless—

No matter how great a hero, no matter how extraordinary his ambition, all shall dissolve within the passage of years.

And with their successive passing,

the realm at last welcomed a brief period of peace.

Whether Liu Yu or Liu He,

both men placed great importance on Ziside Sect; their heirs were all capable men who fully carried on the state policies they had laid down for the nation.

Yet they were also different from them.

These two men did not possess such a burning desire for unification.

They focused more on domestic development; in their own words, even if war broke out it would only drain the nation's strength.

Now that the two sides' strength was close, it was better to wait.

Precisely because of this,

—an age of good governance descended upon the Nine Provinces.

But how long could this last?

Not every Emperor can inherit the ambitions of his forebears; this has nothing to do with education and everything to do with temperament.

Especially under the current situation of the realm split in two,

there will always arise an Emperor of grand ambition who launches anew this war of unification.

The great war began once more.

But under the present circumstances, unless one were an unparalleled overlord, how could the realm be pacified?

As time continued to slip away, the ills of the feudal dynasty once again revealed themselves in full.

The two sides gradually shifted into a contest of which could rot the faster.

With the passing of a host of wise rulers and worthy ministers, history seemed once more to return to that anchor point.

Only—

this time, no figure like Gu Chen had appeared, one capable of suppressing an entire age.

The whole realm, as the Gu clan gradually withdrew, returned to the course it ought originally to have followed.

Though the influence brought by the Gu clan still lingered within it,

it was only in small matters.

In great matters, history was slowly converging.

The dynasties of Liu Yu and Liu He did not last long.

Foolish emperors, corrupt administration;

the serious problems that ought to appear only in a dynasty's final years descended upon their dynasties far too early.

The realm once again shifted from a north-south contest into internal exhaustion.

The lesson of history is that it never learns its lesson.

Feudal lords on all sides contested the throne within the Northern and Southern Courts, and storms rose anew across every region.

If there was any difference, it was that they all bore the surname Liu.

Whether lords who rose on their own, or puppets manipulated by others,

bearing the surname "Liu" seemed to have become an entry ticket.

Only with this entry ticket could one take part in this struggle and forge a legend of one's own.

Yet the chaos across the realm still showed no sign of ending.

Gu Yi never once made a move, silently watching over the Gu clan, silently watching over the realm.

From countless traces and clues, they sensed the shifts in the hearts of men.

As the realm remained in constant turmoil.

A question buried deep in people's hearts was, at last, gradually raised once more.

"Why must only those surnamed Liu rule the realm?"

This was unquestionably a momentous breakthrough.

Faced with a realm in perpetual chaos, the era's overlords finally produced those unwilling to be controlled, who arrived at this very thought.

The realm had been in turmoil for years, and the Liu-surnamed lords were as plentiful as carp crossing the river.

If the Liu clan truly still enjoyed Heaven's mandate, why did the realm never settle?

One rumor after another emerged in succession.

Naturally, this brought up the Gu clan, as the various rumors fermented.

At last, someone spoke of how the Liu clan had cast aside the Gu and lost Heaven's favor.

Some were deliberately spreading this matter, yet no one ever took that step.

Even when men of other surnames arose.

They would drape themselves in the Liu surname's cloak — everything still required time.

Dynasties rose and fell without cease.

Though this whole line of dynasties upheld the name "Han."

Yet amid the continuing chaos, a complete unification of the realm seemed to grow ever more distant.

But where there is chaos, there will be order.

At last, amid the shifting tides of the era, someone stepped forward.

The second year of Daxiang.

Northern Han.

Yang Jian looked at the Emperor, who was amusing himself with palace maids within the palace, and a flash of disgust crossed his piercing gaze.

"Wretch!"

Though the man inside was the Emperor of Northern Han, he still made no effort to conceal his disgust for him.

As Northern Han's entrusted minister and the most powerful Left Chancellor in court, he had also repeatedly earned great military merit over the years.

Yang Jian's authority within Northern Han was beyond what any other could match.

This little Emperor who knew only play — naturally, he paid him no heed.

Yang Jian was truly furious.

He no longer even had the mind to see the Emperor; after cursing once, he turned and left the palace directly.

He had his men summon his group of trusted followers.

As an entrusted chancellor, he possessed the right to maintain his own office.

And his charisma and ability had directly drawn a band of loyal confidants to him.

In truth, Yang Jian had long harbored great resentment.

His father Yang Zhong had rendered Great Merit to Northern Han — utterly beyond comparison with those few foolish rulers.

In this era of great upheaval, he still had to take orders from others.

All that was lacking was a surname.

The Chancellor's residence.

The trusted followers arrived one after another; the moment Fang Fu entered the hall, he sensed something amiss in Yang Jian's expression.

"What has so angered the Chancellor?"

They were all Yang Jian's confidants, with no need for concealment, and asked outright.

"I just came from the palace!"

Yang Jian did not hide it either, and at once fixed his gaze upon them as he spoke: "Your Majesty knew I was coming, yet still went on playing with the palace maids."

"This is a foolish ruler, nothing more!"

The atmosphere in the hall instantly shifted.

Yang Jian's words, heard suddenly, would make anyone tremble with fright.

But after all, these men were his confidants.

Especially those generals who had fought great victories alongside him — they asked outright: "What does the Chancellor intend?"

"Hmph!" Yang Jian snorted coldly, his gaze sweeping over the men, his voice like iron: "The realm has been in great turmoil for years."

"Since the Li Emperor, the various Lius have taken the stage."

"Yet how fares the realm?"

His expression did not waver in the slightest, as though he had pondered this question for an age: "To this day, the clash of arms has not ceased!"

"It is my ambition to sweep the realm clean within my lifetime, and rebuild the realm anew."

"But if this foolish ruler remains upon the throne———"

He did not continue, but the meaning behind his words was perfectly clear.

"Does the Chancellor mean to do as Huo Guang did?" someone immediately asked.

Depose the Emperor!

This was something only a great power-holder like Yang Jian could carry out.

Yet a flicker of disappointment crossed Yang Jian's eyes, though he still nodded:

"For the realm's sake, it ought to be so!"

Hearing this, the men merely fell silent for a moment, then immediately nodded in turn.

Yang Jian then promptly laid out his plan to the assembled men.

When the discussion ended, he waved his hand, signaling the others to leave, but kept behind his most valued strategist Gao Jiong.

"Is there something else the Chancellor has not yet said?" Gao Jiong seemed to have anticipated this long ago, though he did not call it out.

To see through it without saying it through — that is what a wise man does.

Yang Jian did not conceal it either. Staring fixedly at Gao Jiong, he said directly: "Zhaoxuan."

"I don't understand."

"Why must the throne of the Emperor be occupied by a man of the Liu clan?"

He spoke with great directness.

Although Gao Jiong had long since had his suspicions, he could not help his expression shifting slightly.

"Since the world fell into great chaos until now, has there been a single Son of Heaven of the Liu clan with the ability to sweep the realm clean?"

"Does this not simply mean that the Liu clan has already lost the Mandate of Heaven?"

"Hmph!"

Yang Jian gave a cold snort and slowly rose to his feet: "Cast your mind back to the time of the early Qin — among the myriad states of the realm, were there any marquises of the Liu surname?"

"Gao Zu Liu Bang was no ordinary man, able to rise to power from such a humble origin."

"But looking across the realm down to today, at the many heroes of the Liu clan—"

"How many of them possess the spirit and bearing of Gao Zu and Emperor Guangwu of former years?"

His tone paused slightly. At that moment he had just walked up to Gao Jiong, and beneath Gao Jiong's startled expression, continued to speak a few words:

"I have often thought—"

"Without the ability of Marquis Zhaolie, even if one had Emperor Zhaowu of the middle ancestor, could one truly sweep the realm clean once more?"

"Since the Li Emperor refused Gu—"

"Where in this realm can it still be seen that the Liu clan are the people chosen by Heaven?"

"Surveyed from north to south, they are all petty men!"

———A thunderbolt from a clear sky!

Although the hearts of men had gradually grown restless over these years, Gao Jiong was hearing such words — which even mentioned Liu Bei — for the first time.

His expression was exceedingly complex.

Even though he had long since made every preparation, at this moment his heart still could not be calmed.

But Gao Jiong was no ordinary man either.

He was silent for a while, then immediately bowed deeply to Yang Jian. Without asking what Yang Jian intended to do, he simply made a firm pledge:

"No matter what the Chancellor wishes to do, I am willing to be driven in your service."

"Even if the enterprise cannot succeed, I do not fear the disaster of extermination."

His voice, too, rang out firm and resonant.

Yang Jian's eyes suddenly lit up. He at once grasped Gao Jiong's hand and, laughing heartily, uttered:

"Good!"

(End of this chapter)