My brothers are all warriors capable of taking on ten thousand men; I'll roam freely in the Thr

On the twelfth day of the first month of the first year of Zhongping, in Luoyang.

In the warm pavilion of Nangong West Garden, the charcoal fire burned brightly, dispelling the chill of the winter night.

The walls were draped with Shu brocade curtains, the floor was covered with camel hair carpets from the Western Regions, bronze crane lamps emitted wisps of smoke, and the air was filled with the luxurious scent of ambergris.

Emperor Ling, Liu Hong, leaned against a soft couch, wearing only a bright yellow nightgown, his long hair loose and draped over his shoulders.

He was only twenty-eight years old. His face was originally handsome, but now it was swollen from being tainted by wine and women. His eyes were dark and bluish-black. Only his eyes, in the dim light, occasionally flashed a sharp light that belonged to an emperor.

Although that light has gradually dimmed.

On the jade table in front of the couch, there were several scrolls of silk books piled up.

The top scroll, with its still-fresh ink, contains the poem "Inscribed on the Wall of the Zhaoxian Hall in Zhuoxian".

Liu Hong had been watching for a long time.

His finger unconsciously traced the line "The foolish woman of Kuaiji lightly bought Chen," then stopped at "Laughing loudly, I went out the door; how could we be mere commoners?" and remained motionless for a long time.

"Ji Xuanyuan... Ji Xuanyuan..."

He murmured the name softly, his voice echoing in the empty, warm room, carrying a hint of inexplicable melancholy.

This is the second time.

The first time was with the song "Bring in the Wine".

"Have you not seen the Yellow River's waters come from the sky?", "Heaven has endowed me with talents, which must be put to use", "Sages and worthies of the past have all been lonely".

At the time, he felt that this young man was exceptionally talented and had a magnificent poetic spirit. Although he was somewhat arrogant, he was still admirable.

At that time, he only regarded Ji Xuanyuan as a talented warrior, a young general who had made some military achievements in the border region.

But this time...

Liu Hong's gaze fell on the line, "I too left home and went west to Qin."

He left home and went to Qin.

Qin was strong because of its Legalist school of thought and used military merit to determine rank, regardless of one's background. Is Ji Xuanyuan going to follow Shang Yang's example and implement a new policy in Youzhou that "regardless of background, only talent matters"?

"Oh……"

Liu Hong suddenly laughed.

The laughter was soft, yet it carried an indescribable flavor—a mixture of desolation, mockery, and… a pity that even he himself was unaware of.

It was out of pity for Ji Xuanyuan.

Or is it pity for... his former self?

He closed his eyes.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

That was in the first year of Jianning. He was twelve years old when Dou Wu and Chen Fan welcomed him to the throne.

On the day of his ascension to the throne, all the officials paid homage in front of Weiyang Palace, shouting "Long live the Emperor!"

The young emperor sat on his high throne, looking down at the courtiers prostrate at his feet, and secretly made a vow in his heart.

He must become the leader of ZTE's revival.

We must be like Emperor Guangwu, turning the tide and saving the collapsing edifice.

He really tried.

In the third year of Jianning, a major epidemic broke out in Jizhou. He issued an edict to send imperial physicians to the epidemic area and to open granaries to distribute medicine.

In the first year of the Xiping era, the Sili region suffered a drought. He reduced taxes, abolished corvée labor, and personally went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to pray for rain.

In the fourth year of the Xiping era, he ordered the forging of the "Four Swords of Restoration" and bestowed them upon important officials. The swords were inscribed with the phrases "Suppressing the Bandits," "Pacifying the Borders," "Protecting the People," and "Supporting the Han," to inspire his officials to strive for excellence.

He even considered recreating the glory of Emperor Wu's reign.

In the sixth year of the Xiping era, Goguryeo invaded the border. He sent troops from Youzhou to fight against them, and they returned victorious.

At that time, he was full of vigor and thought that the Han army's iron cavalry was still there, and that the world could still support a dream of revival.

The first year of Guanghe.

The Xianbei chieftain Tanshihuai unified the various tribes and raided the border regions. He dispatched Xia Yu, Tian Yan, and Zang Min with 30,000 elite cavalry to cross the border in an attempt to quell the border troubles in one fell swoop.

The results of it?

completely annihilated.

The three generals barely escaped with their lives, while the Han army lay dead everywhere.

When the news reached Luoyang, it was the height of summer, but Liu Hong felt a chill run through his body.

It turns out... the Han army is no longer the same as it used to be.

It turns out that the era of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing had already passed a century ago.

That crushing defeat was just the beginning.

Last year, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out.

When Zhang Jiao raised his arm and called out, eight prefectures responded, gathering hundreds of thousands of people. The imperial army suffered repeated defeats, and in the end, the prefectures and counties had to be allowed to recruit their own troops in order to barely suppress the rebellion.

At that moment, Liu Hong's heart sank to the bottom.

He understood.

This big man was rotten to the core.

Land annexation led to widespread displacement of people, eunuchs wielded power, relatives of the emperor were domineering, powerful families monopolized official careers, and the border army was corrupt and easily defeated.

He can't save them alone.

So he started to "give up".

Selling official positions and titles to replenish the imperial treasury—after all, these positions would be monopolized by powerful families even without money, so I might as well sell them myself.

He favored eunuchs, built the West Garden and a nude swimming pool; since the world was about to fall, he might as well enjoy himself while he could.

Driving in the palace, setting up markets, and pretending to be merchants—I can't control this empire, so can't I at least play around in my own home?

The light in his eyes was gradually extinguished by his own incompetence, debauchery, and licentiousness.

but……

Are you really willing to accept this?

Liu Hong opened his eyes and his gaze fell on another pile of silk books on the table.

Those were more than a dozen memorials sent from the Imperial Secretariat today, all impeaching Ji Xuanyuan.

"The Prefect of Zhuojun, Ji Xuanyuan, arbitrarily established a recruitment hall, disregarding social status, thus violating ancestral laws and undermining the imperial order..."

"Ji Xuanyuan is gathering people from humble backgrounds and winning their hearts; his ambitions are far from small, and he may be plotting something akin to Wang Mang..."

"Once the recruitment order is issued, the poor and humble families in each state are eager to participate. If this continues, the path to officialdom will collapse, and the country will be on the verge of collapse..."

"Your Majesty, please issue an edict to remove Ji Xuanyuan from his official post and arrest him, bringing him to the capital for questioning..."

Every word is piercing to the heart, every sentence is like a knife.

As Liu Hong looked at these memorials, a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

He was all too familiar with these words and accusations.

Back then, he established the Hongdu Gate Academy, which recruited children from commoner families and taught them poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Graduates could be directly appointed to official positions, thus countering those scholarly families who controlled the recommendation system.

The results of it?

The same memorials came like snowflakes.

"The Hongdu School recruits petty scoundrels; its skills are mere trifles, utterly useless."

"Your Majesty's abandonment of classical studies in favor of practical skills is putting the cart before the horse and will bring chaos to the court!"

"If such a despicable person were to enter the halls of power, he would surely disrupt the government!"

The aristocratic officials rose up in protest.

Even He Jin, on whom he placed high hopes, the great general who rose step by step from a butcher in Nanyang, eventually succumbed to the embrace of powerful families.

All his efforts and struggles were like punching cotton.

No, it hit the iron plate.

He was hit on the head and bled profusely.

And now, what Ji Xuanyuan is doing in Zhuojun is so similar to what he did back then.

Even more radical, even more thorough.

At least the Hongdumen Academy taught poetry and calligraphy, so there was a "threshold".

Ji Xuanyuan's recruitment decree stated that "anyone with talent, regardless of their background, is welcome to join the academy." Even craftsmen, doctors, and farmers, as long as they have a skill, can be admitted.

This is to uproot the centuries-old monopoly of powerful families.

"Ji Xuanyuan, oh Ji Xuanyuan..."

Liu Hong muttered to himself, the faint light in his eyes flickering.

Do you know what you're facing right now?

"Do you know that the words on those memorials, the words spoken by those people, are enough to grind you to dust?"

"Do you know... that I, too, once laughed heartily at the heavens, just like you..."

He could almost see countless cold gazes from powerful families traversing mountains and rivers, focusing on the small recruitment hall in Zhuojun, intending to crush it into dust.

This Ji Xuanyuan probably never expected that simply opening a door and giving a poor family a sliver of hope would attract such a raging wave of malice, a desire to kill them.

tired.

Liu Hong suddenly felt incredibly tired, even more tired than after ten days of indulging in debauchery at the nude swimming center.

He was tired of these monotonous, calculated, and self-serving attacks, and tired of the endless bickering and infighting in the court.

He slowly stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window is the night view of West Garden. The artificial lake is covered with a thin layer of ice, lanterns hang on the pavilions and towers, and the rock formations reveal their rugged outlines in the snow.

All of this was built on his orders, and it was extremely luxurious and absurd.

But looking at it now, I only feel... emptiness.

He recalled the Xiping Stone Classics that he had carved outside the gate of the Imperial Academy, which was intended to standardize the interpretation of the classics and prevent cheating in the examinations.

He recalled Bi Lan's invention of the "Thirsty Crow," which could draw water to sprinkle roads and reduce dust.

He also did some small but specific good deeds.

"Zhang Rang," he suddenly said.

From the shadows, a middle-aged eunuch with a pale face, no beard, and slender eyes appeared silently, bowing and saying, "Your Majesty."

Liu Hong didn't turn around, but just stared at the night outside the window: "Burn all those memorials impeaching Ji Xuanyuan."

Zhang Rang was slightly taken aback, then looked up: "Your Majesty, these... these dozen or so memorials are all from the governors of various prefectures and counties, and ministers of the court. If we burn them all, I'm afraid..."

"Burn it." Liu Hong's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority.

"From now on, any memorials impeaching Ji Xuanyuan need not be presented; just burn them."

A look of surprise flashed in Zhang Rang's eyes, but he quickly lowered his head: "This old servant obeys the decree."

He paused, then tentatively asked, "Then... will Your Majesty issue a decree reprimanding Ji Xuanyuan? Or...?"

"No need."

Liu Hong turned around, the dim light illuminating his swollen face, but something was slowly reviving in his eyes.

"Furthermore, by my decree, such memorials need not be submitted any more times."

Zhang Rang was even more surprised.

His Majesty's attitude towards Ji Xuanyuan is too strange.

They neither support nor suppress him, but rather stand by and watch, letting him cause trouble in Zhuojun.

This is a blatant challenge to the authority of the aristocratic families!

Your Majesty used to fear political turmoil most, but now...

But he dared not ask any further questions, and simply bowed, saying, "This old servant understands."

"Go ahead," Liu Hong waved his hand.

Zhang Rang quietly withdrew, leaving Liu Hong alone in the warm pavilion once again.

He walked back to the couch and picked up the scroll of poems again.

"I'm so eager to find a worthy man, but it might be too late..." Liu Hong repeated softly, a hint of self-mockery flashing in his eyes.

Ji Xuanyuan was in a hurry.

What's the rush?

Is the world about to descend into chaos?

Time waits for no one.

But back then... wasn't I anxious too?

He murmured to himself, and suddenly, a very faint, very complex smile appeared on his lips.

But deep down, there was still a trace... an extremely faint trace, one that even he himself dared not admit...

look forward to.

"Ji Xuanyuan".

He stared into the void, as if conversing with a young man he had never met before, thousands of miles away.

"I can't save this great man."

"I've tried, and I've been battered and bruised. In the end... all I can do is stay in this deep palace, build the West Garden, play with women, sell official titles, and wait for this empire to collapse completely."

"But you are still young."

"You still have strength, ambition, and... that wild spirit of 'Laughing loudly, I go out the door'."

"I'd like to see..."

Watching how you "laugh loudly and go out the door," how you prove that "we are not mere commoners."

Looking at you, do you, like me, have your sharp edges gradually worn down and your flame extinguished by this world rife with deep-seated problems?

The almost extinguished light in his eyes suddenly brightened a little at this moment.

Though faint, though swaying.

But it really is lit up.

How far can you go?

"How far can you take this path of 'appointing people regardless of their background'?"

"Can you... do what I wanted to do back then, but couldn't?"

He put down the copy of poems and blew out the lamp on the table.

The warm room was plunged into darkness.

Only the snow light outside the window, filtering through the paper windowpane, casts a hazy, silvery-white glow in.

That night, Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, unusually did not summon his concubines, drink wine and make merry, or drive his carriage and play in the West Garden.

He simply sat quietly in the darkness, gazing out the window.

Looking north.

It's as if you can see through thousands of mountains and rivers the Hall of Recruiting Talents in Zhuojun, the poor scholars queuing in front of the hall, and that sickly, pale young man with clear eyes.

He waited a long time.

Waiting for someone who can turn the tide.

He is waiting for someone who can fulfill his unfulfilled dream.

Previously, he thought this person would be He Jin, Yuan Shao, or one of the "talented individuals" promoted by those aristocratic families.

but now……

"Ji Wenlie".

He uttered those three words softly in the darkness.

"I am in Luoyang..."

"waiting for you."

The snow fell silently, covering the palace.

The deep palaces of Luoyang locked away the young emperor's dream of restoring the dynasty.

The snow in Zhuojun was fierce, but a restless fire was ignited within it.

And he, the Night's Watchman of the Empire, decided to hold off on blowing it out for the time being.