The Tang Dynasty in the Sand Table: Starting by Feeding a Small Rhinoceros

The heavy vermilion doors of the side hall of the Lizheng Hall were tightly shut by several burly eunuchs.

With a muffled thud, the massive bolt slammed down, completely shutting out the morning light.

The doors and windows inside the hall were tightly closed, with only a dozen or so thick tallow candles lit at the same time, illuminating the side hall as bright as day.

The atmosphere was extremely tense.

Empress Zhangsun stood before the large rosewood table, her face solemn and serene.

"Go and fetch water. Everyone, wash your hands."

She didn't rush to read the words on the paper, but instead used almost harsh rules to suppress the fear in the hearts of everyone in the hall.

Qinglan personally carried the copper basin forward.

Empress Zhangsun carefully washed the grease off her hands with soap, then dried her fingers with a clean silk handkerchief until they were completely dry.

"Remove all tea, ink, and cinnabar from the hall. No one is allowed to bring anything wet near this long table."

What we are preventing is the destruction of this original gift from heaven.

After everything was arranged, Empress Zhangsun took a deep breath and very slowly pulled out the A4 paper from her sleeve.

The moment the sheet of white paper was laid flat on the long sandalwood table under the candlelight, a suppressed gasp of cold air rose from the surrounding area.

Empress Zhangsun carefully twirled the edge of the paper, her face suddenly darkening.

There are no burrs.

Even the finest rattan and hemp paper from the Tang Dynasty, even after being rolled a hundred times with a stone mill, will still have fine, rough edges.

But the edges of this thing were incredibly smooth, as if... it had been cut out in one go by a god with an invisible blade.

"Shangyi, come here."

Empress Zhangsun's voice was hoarse as she summoned an elderly female official. This was a seasoned veteran in charge of the imperial workshops, possessing the greatest knowledge of all kinds of silk fabrics in the land.

"Look at this, what exactly is it?"

The lady-in-waiting crawled on her knees to the table, not daring to touch it, only daring to get closer to look.

She tried to lift the paper from the side to see through it by candlelight.

"Your Majesty..." The Lady-in-Waiting's voice trembled like an autumn leaf in the wind, "This thing is as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it's completely opaque. And the edges are so neat... even the best craftsmen in the Imperial Workshop, using the sharpest gold-inlaid knife, couldn't cut such perfectly uniform corners!"

Empress Zhangsun frowned: "I ask you, who in the palace can replicate something like this?"

"Thump!"

The lady-in-waiting kowtowed directly onto the gold brick, her voice trembling with sobs: "Your Majesty, spare me! Forget about imitations! I've been in this palace for thirty years, and I can't even tell if this thing is made of wood or jade!"

Even the top craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty couldn't recognize the material!

This answer made the phrase "not a creation of humankind" weigh heavily on everyone's hearts like a mountain.

Empress Zhangsun dismissed the female officials and looked at Qinglan.

"You have the best nose, smell this and see if there's any strange odor?"

Qinglan carefully brought her hands close to the paper and took a deep sniff.

"Your Majesty, there is only a very faint scent of wood pulp and a strange fragrance of ink. There is no earthy smell of cinnabar, no bitterness of mugwort ash, and certainly no sulfurous odor from Taoist alchemy."

It is neither related to witchcraft nor to the mystical arts.

Empress Zhangsun's heart was beating faster and faster.

At this moment, the side door of the side hall was quietly pushed open, and Physician Wang, carrying his medicine chest and covered in sweat, was brought in.

"Your humble servant kowtows..."

"No need, come and examine it." Empress Zhangsun interrupted him directly.

Physician Wang thought it was another food test and was about to use his silver needles again when he walked to the table and his eyes fell on the paper. He froze instantly.

That previously composed expression vanished completely in an instant.

"This...this word..."

Imperial Physician Wang took two steps back, his knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, please forgive me... I cannot examine him!"

"Why?" Empress Zhangsun asked sternly.

The imperial physician, Wang, pointed to the black marker writing on the paper, his tongue stammering, "Your Majesty, look at that ink! Whether it's Xuan paper or rattan paper, ink will always bleed. But this writing, this ink... it's like it's taken root, firmly gripping the paper, without even the slightest trace of spreading!"

He swallowed hard, his voice filled with despair.

"Moreover, the thickness of each and every stroke is perfectly consistent! The black is so even and so deep! This is something that no human brush could possibly produce!"

The Imperial Medical Academy's decades of diagnostic methods—observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation—have been utterly shattered by the modern industrial A4 paper and markers, even in their most basic common sense.

Physician Wang was essentially admitting that their experience was no match for that of a three-year-old child when faced with this book of divination.

Empress Zhangsun ignored the Imperial Physician Wang, who was lying limp on the ground.

The material and ink stains are all beyond verification.

That could only be the work of a deity from the highest heavens.

She slowly straightened her back and focused her gaze completely on the eight large characters in the center of the paper.

These are indeed Chinese characters, only the strokes are slightly simplified, but they are not difficult to recognize even with a bit of guesswork.

The hall was deathly silent.

Empress Zhangsun parted her red lips slightly and pronounced the first four words, one by one:

"I am the Supreme One."

The four words were uttered.

The palace maids, imperial physicians, and female officials all bowed their heads in unison, not daring to even breathe. "Emperor Emeritus!" What a terrifying title!

However, Empress Zhangsun's voice abruptly stopped before the fifth word.

Her gaze was fixed on those four words at the end.

Those four words had a ten thousand times greater impact on her than the previous four words.

Her lips moved violently, but she dared not utter the second half of the divine decree, which could shatter half of the Tang Dynasty, in front of these people.