Peace Order

Qibi Li said, "Prime Minister knows my heart, why test me?"

Wen Qingyu smiled without answering.

However, the Emperor Qin’s chariot did not proceed directly to the Duke Mansion, but instead traveled across the vast city-states of the Western Regions, where the people celebrated and the soldiers displayed valor, bringing great stability to the Western Regions.

The Historian could see that this was centered around the Duke Mansion in the Western Regions, with the large cities of the Western Regions as waypoints, proceeding gradually. The Historian had met the Emperor Qin when he was still very young, and thereafter spent most of his time following the main force of Emperor Qin, fulfilling the duty of recording the daily activities of the Emperor, with whom he was quite close.

The matters concerning Emperor Qin and Duke Li, who was later known as the foremost among dukes of successive generations and the Imperial Jade Wall of the Empire’s Western Regions, were recorded with caution by the Historian in the Emperor’s daily journal, which involved queries to Emperor Qin.

At that time, Emperor Qin was twenty-eight years old, with a body of martial legend destined for longevity, and having consumed Hou Zhongyu’s elixir, his appearance remained unchanged.

But the experiences on that journey, the battles, the governance, were far from fictitious.

The twenty-eight-year-old ruler, clad in loose garments, sat cross-legged in front of a square table. On the table was an incense burner emitting a faint fragrance, while the Emperor Qin slowly adjusted the strings of a zither, his eyes like gemstones with an internal glow, handsome and steady, his hands stable as he adjusted the strings, with the sound of the strings resonating deep and far.

The white smoke drifted gently from a dark yellow bronze burner on the table, without wavering.

The Historian sat quietly opposite the Emperor, inquiring:

"Why do you not go directly to see Duke Li?"

Emperor Qin smiled slightly and said, "...You, child, are becoming more direct when speaking."

Saatanati replied, "Because I know Your Majesty’s character, hence the inquiry; if you were a tyrannical ruler, I would remain silent, and if insincere, I would speak circumspectly."

Emperor Qin fell silent, even pausing in the act of adjusting the strings, then sighed with a smile:

"I truly do not know whether it’s your diligence or Mr. Wen He’s thorough teaching that allowed you to learn some of his divine charm."

"As for the reason, it is quite simple."

"She and I met in our youth, during chaotic times, I wielded a Battle Halberd, and she wielded a bow and arrow. We even fought side by side on battlefields confronting the military god, the Great Khan of the Turkic. I personally lead the chariot and the guard here to tell her, I have come."

Saatanati thus voiced his doubt:

"The love of the Human Emperor should indeed be domineering, but since you have come, why not see her?"

"Human Emperor..."

Emperor Qin stated, "She and I first met in our youth by the side of the Guan Yi City’s road, not as an emperor. Now, the one meeting her is also not an emperor."

"I want to see her, but I will not force her to come to see me."

"I merely tell her."

"I have come."

The Emperor rose and walked out. The freshly tuned strings made a faint sound in the winds of the Western Regions, like the streets of Guan Yi City that he ran on in his youth, where he heard the iron bells under the upturned eaves, carrying the scent of moisture.

The Historian lowered her gaze for a long time.

"I see."

She snuffed out the wick, cradled the guqin, and stood to exit the room.

In the area outside Anxi City in the Western Regions, there were hundreds of variously sized cities and towns. The Emperor led the guard to visit one by one, inspecting the local administrations wherever he went, rewarding those with accomplishments and penalizing those with offenses, without burdening the populace.

Someone presented an auspicious creature, claiming that a multicolored great bird had descended from the sky and danced a celestial prayer dance in the woods, extraordinarily magnificent. The emperor laughed and told those around him, "I once heard Chen Dingye’s boast about auspicious signs; he would often confer titles to those presenting them."

"Alas, I have no gold or silver to give you."

"For a nation, talent is the true auspicious sign."

"What need have I for such auspicious signs?"

Thus, the brilliant multicolored bird was released back to the sky, and the person who brought the auspicious sign was warned and then sent back, calming the ambitions of those seeking favor across the lands. Consequently, the populace ceased following previous practices of creating auspicious signs to curry favor with the emperor, elevating public morale.

Similar events and news were reported from everywhere the Emperor Qin’s procession passed.

These reports were delivered to the Duke Mansion in the Western Regions by the feathered cavalry from the Anxi Protectorate, day after day. The cavalry delivering the news and those returning to report their duties were nearly always within sight of each other, occurring without end, termed as "relay riding."

In the Duke Mansion, a middle-aged man with graying temples watched the heroic and gallant cavalrymen, dressed in black armor and adorned with the Western Regions’ hard eagle feathers, leave, listening to the thunderous sound of hooves, his expression conflicted.

A gentle voice inquired, "Brother, why make such a face?"

Changsun Wuchou looked at the person, raised his hand to his forehead, and said, "What else could it be?"

"The Emperor and the Lord of the Duke, those two..."

"Alas, alas!"

"My stomach, it hurts."

The Emperor did not come directly to the Duke Mansion in the Western Regions, but that day, after Changsun Wuchou informed Li Zhaowen about the Emperor’s tour, Li Zhaowen did not greet him with the crowd as expected.

When Changsun Wuchou was thirty-three, he traveled as Li Zhaowen’s envoy, witnessing the changing relationship between fourteen-year-old Li Zhaowen and Li Guanyi. Now, fourteen years have passed, and that relationship has yet to progress.

Every time he thought of it, Changsun Wuchou, who had just entered the Sixth Layer Heaven, would feel a stomachache.

It felt as if Yue Qianfeng was stirring up a storm in his stomach.

Changsun Wu Gou was equally helpless, but her understanding was clearer than Changsun Wuchou’s. Although the emperor himself did not come here, the events that have transpired since his arrival in the Western Regions, those messages carried on the winds, conveyed an indescribable grand aura that was gradually approaching.