Translator: Lordbluefire
Xia Taikang and Jiang Yuzhen stepped forth at the same time. Their characters were the type that’d dauntlessly compete to be first. They’d want to be in first place no matter what they did.
“The guest should go first!”
As a princess from the host family, Jiang Yuzhen showed her sincerity.
“Thank you!”
Xia Taikang accepted it,
Very soon, a eunuch received Xia Taikang’s article and placed it on the projecting device. The article was then projected in the air.
Those words looked strong and magnificent, looking like ancient ferocious beasts.
“He must have put in a lot of hard work to be able to write the seal script to this level!”
“Why did he practice the seal script? Is there something wrong with his head?”
“Weird!”
Seal script was an ancient writing style. Its structure was too complicated with a lot of strokes and had more curves and fewer straight lines. It took a lot of time to write and was also difficult to master. As a result, the Nine Provinces’ countries stopped using this writing style.
Only when forging ceremonial items, during the countries’ great event, as well as when making offerings to heaven would it then be used.
But soon, no one cared about Xia Taikang’s seal script anymore. Instead, they were astonished by his content.
What did this guy write?
Unify the Nine Provinces?
Was he crazy?
Just as everyone was reading the article, Xia Taikang also took the sound amplification stone. He should have been reading out the article, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he started an impromptu speech.
“It’s easy to break one chopstick, but it’s hard to break one bunch of it. I’m sure that everyone has heard about this before. This is what parents use to teach children the importance of harmony and unity between siblings. The truth is, this rationale works even between countries.”
Xia Taikang said very firmly and smoothly.
“There are a total of over 200 countries of varying sizes in the Nine Provinces, with over 100 types of languages and writings, as well as countless dialects. Everyone lives in their small world, possibly not even leaving 50 lis away from their homeland from the moment they were born until they died of old age. Don’t you think that such a life is very boring?
“Our food, mines, and lands are limited. Every country would extract a portion of it and use it for their sustainability. I feel that this is a waste. Take for example how the Qi Emperor likes beauties and enjoys good songs and dances. However, he doesn’t have many achievements in the area of politics and martial arts. He has been on the throne for 30 years. Although Qi Country is at peace, not advancing is a form of retrogressing.”
Xia Taikang’s words were without any mercy, making the Qi Emperor look awkward. However, they were in the midst of the Five Empires War Discussion and he mustn’t stop him.
“I want to unify all the countries in the Nine Provinces, unify the writing, language, all measurements, size of ruts made by vehicles, and build a massive road network. With that, even ordinary people will be able to see the sunrise in Western Jing, as well as enjoy the company of women and wine in Jinling along the Qinhuai River at night
“I want to gather the powers of all countries and see how far this unified country can go when that happens!”
Xia Taikang’s words astonished everyone.
It wasn’t in recognition, but that no one had thought before that the world could be like this too.
“Gibberish! No matter how he puts it, he just wants to become the ruler of the Nine Provinces!”
Li Xiu felt worried.
Due to the existence of the Darkness Continent, the countries in the Nine Provinces stopped engaging in large-scale wars. As a result, there was no competition and each country was just idling their lives away.
This was why the Nine Provinces’ feudal slave system still existed after so many years and also why capitalism couldn’t grow.
If Xia Taikang were to become the Xia Emperor, he’d definitely incur a great war in the Nine Provinces.
“I hope that in the future, there won’t be citizens from the Xia Country, Qi Country, or Chu Country. Everyone would just be a citizen of the Nine Provinces. With that, there’d be no discrimination, conflicts, or massacres!”
Xia Taikang concluded his speech.
His main thought was that the Darkness Continent’s resources weren’t endless either. What would happen after everything had been excavated?
A war would definitely break out amongst the various countries.
When that happened, his descendants might not necessarily be able to let the Xia Country continue to rise in the war. Therefore, he might as well do it himself.
After all, the strongest country in the Nine Provinces right now was the Xia Country. Anyone in his shoes would want to bet on this!
“A person like this is just a tyrannical ruler!”
Sun Mo heard someone in the crowd say this. However, he didn’t comment but instead felt that Xia Taikang had great foresight.
The second to head up was Jiang Yuzhen.
She wrote in the clerical script, her handwriting looking very steady and regular.
“Strong starting strokes and light ending strokes that keep on changing. Princess Yuzhen’s clerical script has the glamor of a great master!”
“But what does this article mean?”
“I don’t understand!”
Even the well-learned great teachers were stunned, let alone ordinary people.
What were Jiang Yuzhen’s political ideals?
She felt that there’d definitely be contradictions between different countries. To live in harmony, one must first build a powerful military power that surpassed that of the other countries.
Each time disputes and wars broke out between countries, this military power would intervene and perform arbitration.
Martial prowess was both a form of defense as well as a way to instill awe and fear!
“Zhen`er, this is…”
The Qi Emperor was stunned.
(Why would a tranquil and apathetic ruler like me have such a daughter?)
“Princess Yuzhen, how would you uphold this military power’s fairness and justice? Absolute authority would lead to absolute corruption. Allowing this military group to perform arbitration to all countries would definitely lead to corruption.”
Sun Mo felt curious.
Jiang Yuzhen’s way of doing things shouldn’t be possible no matter the era.
“Great Teacher Sun, you think too badly of human nature!”
Jiang Yuzhen retorted, but a hint of gleam flashed in her eyes.
Absolute fairness leading to absolute corruption?
This was really well said.
“This means that you can only pray that this military group is fair and just?”
Sun Mo sighed.
“I’d like to seek Great Teacher Sun’s guidance!”
Jiang Yuzhen requested humbly.
“Offering high salaries to discourage corruption, or let great teachers who are at secondary saints or higher train them in turns. Even if the great teachers have selfish motives, there’d still be some kind of suppression as they would be unable to teach these soldiers for very long.”
Sun Mo casually brought up two solutions. “But these methods will only deal with the problem on the superficial level. When time passes, they’d become useless.”
“I understand!”
Jiang Yuzhen looked disappointed.
“It’s good that you can have such thoughts. Time is developing. There might be a solution when the time comes.”
Sun Mo encouraged her.
Jiang Yuzhen was an idealist. If a person like her were to become a ruler, she’d at least not be too harsh to the citizens.
Other crown princes and princesses also presented their articles in succession. Although their handwriting wasn’t bad, the content was very mediocre and didn’t stand out.
Finally, it was Xiang Zhao’s turn.
This guy wrote in cursive script that was filled with his personal charm. Even a grandmaster calligrapher like Sun Mo couldn’t recognize a lot of the words he wrote.
The first feeling Sun Mo had when reading this was the horror he felt from reading the doctor’s writings when he went to the hospital to seek treatment and get medicine.
At that moment, Sun Mo, who had received nine years of compulsory education, suspected that he was illiterate.
“Fighting and killings are really bad. I feel that art has no national boundaries and can let people forget their troubles as well as cultivate the mind. Therefore, we must put more effort into developing the arts. When everyone has indiscriminate love for others, the world will become a happy place.”
Xiang Zhao scratched his head while he introduced his ideals. He wore a smile that looked a little awkward.
He had never thought of where he wanted to lead his country to.
As he was an only son, there was no running away from the throne for him.
“Pffft!”
Li Xiu didn’t manage to hold it in and laughed.
The Chu Country’s crown prince was so naive that it was adorable.
The Qi Emperor looked at Xiang Zhao, feeling consoled and comfortable. After this guy became the Chu Emperor, he’d definitely become someone even more incapable than he was.
“Seeing one’s words is like looking at a person. The Chu Crown Prince is really unbridled!”
Qin Yaoguang chuckled.
“Great… Great Teacher Sun, what do you think of my idea?”
Xiang Zhao couldn’t stand the gazes other people were looking at him—as if they were looking at trash. Therefore, he looked toward Sun Mo for help. He felt that Sun Mo was an amazing great teacher and his mindset would be at a higher level. Sun Mo would definitely be able to understand him.
“There are no national boundaries to art, but there are to artists!”
Sun Mo consoled him, “You might not be able to become the most amazing emperor, but you’ll be an amazing artist. I feel that you can consider letting go of the throne and follow your heart to pursue arts to the greatest heights.”
Xiang Zhao fell silent. He hadn’t expected that Sun Mo would say this.
Give up on the throne?
He had thought about this before but didn’t dare to do that. Otherwise, he’d be deemed an unfilial descendant of the Xiang Clan if he were to lose the thousand years of hard work his ancestors had devoted to build.
The article assessment continued until Wei Wu`an and Li Ziqi were left in the end.
“Royal Sister, please!”
Wei Wu`an was older and had the right to address Li Ziqi as his royal sister.
“Royal Brother can go first!”
Li Ziqi said modestly.
In the end, Wei Wu`an was the one who gave in.
His beautiful regular script that looked impressive and elegant was presented in front of everyone.
“Some of my ideals are the same as Prince Taikang. I also feel that the countries in the Nine Provinces should be unified!”
Wei Wu`an said indignantly, “There are western countries far away and the Darkness Continent closer to us. The civilization they nurture will definitely be different from ours. I believe that one day, there’d be a clash. For us to be able to survive at that moment and become the strongest country, I feel that we need to go through a great unification.
“However, I don’t agree to unify through war. It’s because the people will be plunged into misery and suffering. As for how we should do that, I haven’t thought of an idea yet!”
Wei Wu`an was only saying this to earn himself a favorable impression. After all, no one would like a tyrannical ruler. He actually knew that war was the only means of resolving the problem.
Some great teachers started discussing amongst themselves.
Out of all these people, Wei Wu`an was the most reasonable one. After all, it was true that these dangers did exist.
“Last but not least, it’s our participant with the greatest popularity, Princess Ziqi!”
After the ceremonial officer announced this, many people looked over with great anticipation, hoping that she’d get another first place.
It wasn’t because they liked Li Ziqi, but because they had placed bets that the Great Tang would come in first place.
When the device projected her words in the air, many people immediately let out surprised gasps.
Regardless of whether it was the rarely seen seal script or the cursive script that no one could read, they were at least writing styles that everyone had seen before. However, Li Ziqi’s calligraphy style was a brand new one and it was extremely beautiful.
“What calligraphy style is this?”
“It’s the thin gold body style. I have seen Li Ziqi’s test paper for her one-star examination. It was astonishing!”
“Isn’t this too pretty?”
Li Ziqi’s words were nimble and quick, thin but still substantial, having great power. It had a unique charm of its own.
A top-notch beauty, regardless of whether it was one from within or beyond the country, would attract men regardless. The same went for calligraphy.
Many people were unable to write well, but they could tell a good piece of writing when they saw one, feeling pleased.
“What did Eldest Martial Sister write?”
Qin Yaoguang was surprised.. (Why don’t I understand it?)
