The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

"Your Majesty, this old minister has another matter to report."

Kong Yan suddenly spoke, taking out the memorial that he had been carrying in his sleeve for most of the morning court session. "Right now, yin energy is rising everywhere, and the court must send a prince to inspect it."

"We have to deploy retired Confucian scholars to oversee the situation and coordinate with local garrison troops. We have truly done our utmost."

"But I believe that one link is missing: a unified, professional government agency that can determine the source of the land's energy, monitor celestial phenomena, and formulate procedures for handling such situations."

"Your old minister is right, Imperial Observatory."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qian frowned slightly.

He had never had a good impression of the Imperial Observatory.

This wasn't directed at Kong Yan, but rather reflected the similar attitudes of successive emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty towards the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

When Emperor Taizu founded the country, the Imperial Observatory was an extremely important government office.

Specializing in astronomy, geomancy, and yin-yang numerology, Emperor Taizu himself placed great importance on feng shui and astrology, and once ordered the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to draw a map of the dragon veins of the world to determine the direction of the earth's veins.

However, as the world enjoyed peace for a long time, later emperors became increasingly impatient with these mystical and superstitious things.

Because officials in the Imperial Observatory always liked to talk about celestial phenomena. Today they would say that an unusual star had invaded the capital, and tomorrow they would say that the earth's energy had surged in a certain place. The subtext was often to allude to the emperor's political achievements or virtues.

Over time, the Imperial Observatory was demoted from a first-class government agency to a third-class one, and the teachings on Yin and Yang in various prefectures and counties were gradually abolished.

Kong Yan knew the Emperor's inner conflict and was not in a hurry to argue. He simply presented the memorial with both hands and said slowly, "This old minister knows that Your Majesty has never believed in celestial phenomena."

"But the situation is different now. Yin energy is rising everywhere, the earth's veins are trembling, and the seal on the dragon veins is loosening. These things cannot be solved by simply suppressing them with righteous energy."

"I heard that the prefect of Qingzhou specially invited three folk geomancers to deal with the several incidents involving evil spirits in Qingzhou. The leader of them was named Guo Pu, who only used 50% of his power to clear the earth veins of Cuiping Mountain."

"This Mr. Guo is a folk feng shui master. His knowledge can be traced back to the same source as the Imperial Observatory, which is the lineage of geomancers."

"A geomancer uses mountains and rivers as the warp and yin and yang and the five elements as the weft, specializing in the relationship between the direction of the earth's veins and the flow of qi. He runs parallel to the literary cultivation system but forms his own school."

"The righteous spirit of a scholar originates from what he cultivates in his heart, while the methods of a geomancer originate from his perception of the Qi of heaven and earth."

"There is no inherent superiority or inferiority between the two; they simply follow different paths."

"Literary cultivation is based on the classics, while geomancy is based on mountains and rivers, but the ultimate goal is to regulate the righteous energy between heaven and earth."

He paused, then turned the conversation to something more practical: "Right now, the various prefectures are dealing with incidents involving yin energy mostly by scholars like the old minister and martial artists like the Grand Commandant, but none of them are professional feng shui masters."

"If we can restore the duties of the Imperial Observatory and reassemble these geomancers..."

"Let them go to various prefectures to conduct on-site surveys of the earth's veins and formulate unified procedures for handling the situation, so that the imperial court can shift from passively responding to actively governing."

"Professional matters should be left to professionals."

Zhou Qian was silent for a moment, then looked up at Yuwen Lie: "Yuwen Taibao, what do you think?"

Yuwen Lie pondered for a moment and said, "This old minister believes that what the Grand Tutor said makes sense."

"The secret archives of the Taibao Mansion record that when Emperor Taizu founded the country, he established the Imperial Observatory with one Director, two Deputy Directors, and several Lingtai Lang (officials in charge of the five offices), who were in charge of three things."

"Observe the stars to predict changes in fortune, survey the earth's veins to ascertain the safety of the dragon veins, and establish regulations to quell the chaos caused by yin evil."

"At that time, the teachings of Yin and Yang were spread throughout the prefectures and counties. Whenever there was an unusual movement of Yin energy, the Imperial Observatory would send the Five Officials Lingtai Lang to deal with it."

"The five officials are the Spring Official, Summer Official, Autumn Official, Winter Official, and Central Official, each with their own duties."

"Although these techniques were later abolished several times, they were not lost. They were preserved in the secret archives of the Imperial Observatory and passed down from generation to generation in some ancient master-disciple families."

"The Chen family of Yingchuan and the Zheng family of Xingyang both possess copies of old documents from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau."

"If the Imperial Observatory can be reactivated, these old copies of the archives will have a purpose."

Zhou Qian leaned back on the dragon throne, his fingers slowly tapping on the armrests.

He certainly disliked those officials who used celestial phenomena as a pretext, but the current situation left him no room to make decisions based on personal likes or dislikes.

After a long silence, he finally spoke: "Very well, I grant permission for the duties of the Imperial Observatory."

"However, there is one condition: the Imperial Observatory shall only perform practical duties, not discuss celestial phenomena, and shall not use celestial phenomena to infer the politics of the court."

"Grand Tutor, you shall take the lead in this matter, and together with the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites, draft a set of regulations for the reconstruction of the Imperial Observatory."

"First, recall the geomancers that the court can call back. As for those folk geomancers, Guo Pu, Li Chunfeng, and Lai Buyi, temporarily appoint them as the Lingtai Lang of the Imperial Observatory and have them accompany the prince on his inspection tours of various prefectures."