My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

Old Zhu and the others went back, and Liu Che also went back, taking Huo Qubing back to figure out how to fight the Xiongnu.

The last rays of the setting sun sank completely into the distant mountains, casting a deep blue twilight over the hotel courtyard.

After the meal, everyone sat scattered on stone benches and rattan chairs, enjoying a rare moment of peace. The chirping of insects was faint, and a gentle evening breeze blew.

Li Lizhi put down her teacup and spoke softly to Xiao Sizi, who was nestled beside her and fiddling with the Nine Linked Rings.

"Let's go, Sizi. It's getting late; it's time to take a bath and go to bed."

"No way! Sister—"

The little ox drew out its tune, shaking its head like a rattle drum, and said in a spoiled tone.

"Just a little longer, just a little bit!"

"No!"

Li Lizhi, however, would not soften her heart because of Xiao Sizi's coquettishness, and said sternly.

"That's what you said last night, but in the end you didn't even get to shower!"

"Sister..."

Little Sizi still wanted to struggle a bit more.

"No means no! Nothing I say will do today!"

Li Lizhi rarely had a stern look on her face.

Little Sizi puffed out her cheeks, pouted, rolled her little eyes, and turned to look at Chen Mo.

"I haven't unwrapped the fungus yet, I don't want to wash it!"

Chen Mo turned his head upon hearing the sound.

Those dry, little eyes looked at him, then at the toy in his hand that he couldn't untangle, his face full of reluctance.

Chen Mo glanced at Li Lizhi beside him and immediately understood the reason.

He waved to the little ox.

The little girl immediately grabbed the nine-linked rings and ran over.

Chen Mo took the exquisite copper rings and casually fiddled with them a few times.

With a soft click, the clasp that had been bothering her for half a day came undone.

"Wow!"

Little Sizi opened his eyes wide, filled with admiration.

Chen Mo placed the untied nine-linked rings back into her palm and gently patted the top of her head.

"Listen to me, go take a shower first. Make yourself clean and smell nice so you can have sweet dreams."

He looked at the reluctant expression on Xiao Sizi's face, pondered for a moment, and then smiled.

"After Sizi finishes washing up, how about I take her to the night market?"

Little Sizi's eyes lit up instantly, and she tilted her head up, her face full of surprise.

"Really?! The little cystic fungus isn't lying?"

"Of course I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, we can pinky swear."

"Pinky promise!"

Little Sizi immediately stretched out her chubby little finger and hooked it with Chen Mo's finger earnestly.

The contract is formed!

Only then, satisfied, did he reluctantly let Li Lizhi lead him into the house, turning back every few steps.

Seeing Si Zi leave, the gentle smile on Chen Mo's face faded away like the tide.

He turned around, his gaze slowly sweeping over the Fourth Prince in the courtyard.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Biao and the others immediately sat up straight.

They all knew that Chen Mo was going to give a lecture again.

Only Li Chengqian looked surprised.

"Have you lost your mind? You were smiling just now, how did your expression suddenly change? I still prefer your previous smiling face!"

Fuck you!

Chen Mo chuckled and scolded, instantly brightening the previously serious atmosphere.

He coughed lightly.

"We've talked about the unity of knowledge and action, the theory of practice, and contradictions before. So today, let's talk about... the historical cycle law of dynastic lifespan."

"Historical cycle?"

Upon hearing this, all the princes' expressions changed.

Even Li Chengqian put away his smile and sat up straight.

Chen Mo chuckled and picked up a stick to draw on the ground.

"This is a dynasty."

After saying that, he drew a slowly rising arc from the circle. After the arc reached the top, it paused briefly and then began to slide down more steeply until it fell back to the vicinity of the starting point.

Then... he drew a second similar, seemingly cyclical wavy line, followed by a third.

"Arise,"

His pen tip touched the rising section.

"Rise to prominence, then decline, and even collapse. Then, a new dynasty rises from the ruins, repeating a similar process."

"Although the details vary and the time spans differ, this curve of rise-peak-decline seems like a curse, enveloping every era you live in."

Chen Mo then wrote the existence dates of each dynasty on the ground.

Looking at the duration of each dynasty, the princes fell silent.

Chen Mo smiled slightly.

"Have you found the problem?"

The group exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

"Throughout history, from ancient times to the present, regardless of whether it is divided into East and West, almost every dynasty lasted no more than three hundred years."

Have you ever thought about why?

The group exchanged another glance.

"The decline of a nation may be due to a foolish ruler, the presence of treacherous officials, frequent natural disasters, or constant border troubles... all of which are specific problems."

Zhu Biao spoke, but soon his brows furrowed.

"But if it is said that no dynasty has ever been able to break the three-hundred-year limit, it seems... there is indeed an invisible hand manipulating things behind the scenes."

"What exactly is this hand?"

Liu Ju also frowned.

"The Qin Dynasty's laws were harsh, and it perished after only two generations, which could be attributed to its draconian policies. However, our Han Dynasty allowed its people to rest and recuperate in its early years, and reached its zenith under my father. Why then did it ultimately last only a century...?"

Li Chengqian pondered for a moment, then let out a cold laugh.

Why overcomplicate things? It's all about people's hearts. When conquering the world, everyone will naturally work together.

"When you've ruled the world for too long, who remembers why you even rose to power in the first place?"

"Fathers and sons distrust each other, brothers kill each other, rulers and subjects are wary of each other, and people are blinded by lust for power... They're rotten to the core!"

"Three hundred years? Maintaining a glamorous appearance for three hundred years is already quite an achievement!"

Chen Mo sat to the side listening, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

They've already started to touch the edge of the problem.

He picked up the stick.

"What you said is all right, and all of it is not entirely right."

Chen Mo looked at Zhu Biao.

"Whether the ruler is wise or foolish, whether the officials are corrupt or honest, whether there are natural disasters or foreign invasions... these are all symptoms, the abscesses that appear when the body of a dynasty is rotting."

"The real lesion is something deeper and more stubborn."

"We can think of a dynasty as a big house."

Chen Mo thought for a moment and then drew a house.

"At the founding of the country, the houses were newly built, there were few people living there, and the layout was simple and practical."

"The land and resources allocated to everyone are relatively fair, and the money for maintaining the houses is just enough from taxes."

Chen Mo pointed out several small dots inside the house, each dot being very small, making the huge house seem exceptionally spacious.

But he soon expanded some of the smaller points and connected them to each other, eventually filling almost the entire interior space.

Meanwhile, his voice continued to ring out.

"But as time went on, more and more people lived in the house."

"More importantly, some residents in the house take advantage of rules, power, or by trickery to continuously expand their own cubicles, encroaching on public areas and the space of their weaker neighbors."

"This is the annexation of land and wealth, the erosion of the foundation of the empire."

Next, Chen Mo drew several thick lines on the outside of the house, pointing towards it.

"As houses get bigger and older, they naturally require more maintenance—the funds needed to defend against external enemies, the engineering costs required to control river floods, and the increasing number of managers undoubtedly require more money."

"The basis for tax revenue is ordinary people, but their space is constantly shrinking because it has been encroached upon."

"The imperial court is getting poorer and poorer, but there are more and more places to spend money."

"What should we do?"

Chen Mo tapped heavily on the walls and beams of the house.

"The only solution is to raise taxes, or raise taxes in a disguised form, to rob Peter to pay Paul."

"This further crushed ordinary residents who could still pay their bills, forcing more people to go bankrupt, flee, and become homeless."

"The structure of houses is becoming increasingly fragile. At the same time, those responsible for maintaining the houses may also become corrupt, enriching themselves and accelerating the decay of the houses."

The wooden stick finally came to rest on the load-bearing beam of the house.

"When mergers reach a certain point, the finances are on the verge of collapse, there are refugees everywhere, and internal corruption is rampant. The main beam of this house has already been hollowed out by worms."

"At this point, just a spark—perhaps a severe drought, a setback at the border, or a failed reform—could cause the whole house to collapse."

Chen Mo raised his head and looked at the princes who were deep in thought.

"Three hundred years is roughly the timescale of this cycle of erosion, decay, and collapse."

"It's not absolute, but that's roughly how it is. A wise ruler can delay it, while a foolish ruler can accelerate it."

"But without addressing the fundamental rules of building and space allocation, it seems difficult to break out of this cycle."

Chen Mo smiled slightly.

"Now, think about it again."

"Can the anxieties your parents had about border troubles, the national treasury, factional strife... all find their inevitable place within the grand scheme of this house slowly decaying?"

"And what you'll be doing in the future, is it merely being diligent repairmen, trying your best to slow down the house's collapse? Or...?"