During the spring time of year thirteen, rain poured down upon a city

in the region of the Tang empire.

This city is the city of Wei located in the northwestern borderline of

the empire. Since the original purpose of the settlement was to

counter the invasion of barbarians from the Great Plain, the walls of

the fort have been reinforced to an extreme degree. As a result of

the enhancements, the walls protecting the city had a sturdy and

muddy external appearance.

When the wind started to blow during the dry seasons, the mud on

the walls will break off and swirl around in the air only to land on the

cheaply made military camps and on the soldiers themselves. The

mud invaded every part of the city painting the city brown from inside

out. When people went to sleep and shook their blankets, a mini-

sandstorm can form out of the dust.

It’s early spring and soldiers welcomed the rain cheerfully because it

would wash away all the dusts on the roof. More importantly, the

eyes of people seem to be cleansed by the long missing rain – At

least the eyes of Ma Shi Xiang are flashing under the rain.

As the highest rank officer in Wei City, Ma Shi Xiang’s current

attitude can be described as humble. Although he is unsatisfied

about the muddy foot prints on the luxurious carpets, he covered his

dissatisfaction up perfectly by acting surprised.

He bowed before an elderly dressed in a dirty robe. “ Well-

respected elder, although I’m not sure what other materials the nobleguest in the camp needs, I did prepare a hundred soldiers for escort

if she desperately wants to leave tomorrow.”

The elder smiled warmly and pointed at the shadows in the camp

while shaking his head to show no complains. Suddenly, a cold and

proud female voice came out of the camp. “There is no need, just

finish your own business.”

Ma Shi Xiang did not spent too much time to figure out the true

identity of the noble guest in the camp when their mass entered Wei

city this morning. He showed no sign of negative attitude or

complaints against her self-centered and harsh response.

The silence in the camp broke off when the guest suddenly spoke,

“The trip from Wei City to the capital has to go through Mount Min.

The roads in the mountain may collapse any minute due to this heavy

rain…… Get me a guide from the military so I can get through the

mountain safely.”

Ma Shi Xiang was stunned for a moment until he remembered a

hateful guy. He thought deeply for a few seconds and answered, “it

shall be done.”

Outside of the military camp, several military officers look at each

other with different facial expressions, some felt sorry, some felt

reluctant to let go, some felt rejoice while some felt surprised, but

none of them had expected that Ma Shi Xiang will actually choose

that person to serve as the noble’s guide.

“General, are you really ready to let him go that easily?” One officer

said surprisingly.

Wei Village is not big, even summing up all the officers and soldiers

the city won’t have more than three hundred soldiers. The military

camp far away from rich places sometimes seems more like a

bandit’s nest. The so called “general” is simply the lowest rank in the

army. However Ma Shi Xiang direct troops extremely strict, or we

can say this Wei Village “bandit” leader really liked others to call him

“general,” so even during daily conversation, his subordinates always addressed Ma Shi Xiang as general.

Ma Shi Xiang, wiped off the rain on his face, looks at the yellow

ponding near the military camp and took a deep breath.“We can’t

always keep him in a place that can’t support his talent. The

response of the recommendation letter had came on for more than

half of a year already. A bright future is ahead for that kid, and he

has to go to the Capital to take the test to get into a respectable

academy. Also, him going with the noble to the capital will bring him

favor when he go to the capital.”

“I doubt that noble will care…”The military officer answered

irritatedly.

The door behind opened and a pretty maid walked in, looked at Ma

Shi Xiang and the military officers “Let me see the guide.”

She did not hide her arrogance at all while facing the court’s general,

after all, she is the personal maid of the noble.

Prime Minister’s door guards, nobles’ maids, prince’s guests are the

most troublesome type of people to deal with. If you get close to

them, you will get complaints but if too far away, you will get trouble.

They are the most annoying to deal with. So naturally Ma Shi Xiang

really didn’t want to deal with these kind of people. He casually

talked for a bit and called one officer over to take this noble’s maid

to meet the kid.

When the rain had finally paused, the city of Wei was as clean as it

can be. Along the way, trees along the side started to show the

early signs of spring, yet the city is too small even though the

landscape is so beautiful. Not soon after, the officer already led the

maid to the destination, a shabby but lively room.

Hearing the noises from the room, the maid frowned slightly ‘Are

they really drinking wines in a military camp during the day?’ Wind

blew up the curtains, the sound inside suddenly got clear, as

expected, the people were playing the finger-guessing game(a

drinking game at feasts, kinda like rock paper scissor), but they are not playing the regular one — as the maid listened to the details

inside, a quick humiliation appeared on the maid’s pretty face, and

she secretly clenched up her fist.

“Let’s play a lustful finger guessing game, uh! Who is lustful? Uh, you

are lustful! Who is lustful? Uh, you are lustful! Who is lustful? Uh,

you are lustful!…. ”

The filthy sounds echoed back and forth and seem to never end,

actually, the game lasts for a really long time and there hasn’t been a

winner yet. The maid gets more and more angry as time passed.

She lifted the curtains and gave a furious look into the room, and

saw a kid at the first moment, who sat opposite to the desk.

That kid is about 15 or 16 year old, wearing a cotton-made jacket

that was commonly seen in the troop. His jacket was really dirty, his

hair was curled up, and a bit oily, but his face was really clean, which

makes his freckles really clear.

“Who is lustful? Uh, you are lustful!”

Completely different from the dirty words, the kid’s facial expression

is especially serious. Not only did he not look lustful, but also his

face suggested a sense of holiness. His right hand keeps playing this

finger guessing game, giving out his fist like the wind. It seems like

winning the game is more important than his life.

“I win!”

The long lasting game finally ended, the black hair kid waves his

right arm forcefully, declaring his victory, and smiled happily.

However, the kid’s opponent didn’t want to admit his loss, and

insisted that the kid changes his fist when he is yelling “Who is

lustful?”So the room becomes a mess as the people started to

argue. The audiences on the sides each had their own inclinations,

and no one is able to convince the others. At this time, someone

suddenly shouted out, “As usual, listen to Sang Sang!”

Everyone then puts his eyes toward a corner of the room, there was a 12 year old girl moving a bucket. She was really skinny, her

skin was dark, and she has a common face. The clothes she was

wearing seems to be way too big in comparison to her size, most

likely her master stole this clothes from somewhere. She was

moving a bucket that was probably heavier than her own weight, and

it’s obvious that she looked very tired.

The little maid whose name is “Sang Sang” puts down the bucket

and turns around, soldiers look at her nervously, they are just like the

gamblers waiting for the dealer to declare the result. Obviously,

people can tell that such situations happened more than once

already.

The little maid frowned as she looked at the kid, then looked

towards the angry soldier who sits opposite to the kid with a serious

expression, “At the 23rd turn, you gave out scissor, he gave out

rock, but you said ‘he is lustful,’ so you lost at that time already.”

The people all started to laugh, and spread out. That soldier scolded

as he pays the money, the kid accepted the money happily. He

taped the soldier’s shoulder to show honest console,

“Think optimistically, this entire Wei city…… no, this entire world,

who can win against me, Ning Que?”

The maid’s facial expression was filled with disappointment, so the

general who stood next to her was starting to worry as well. He

clinched the curtain with his fist, took a deep breath, and was about

to cough to warn Ning Que but the cold stare of the maid interpreted

his actions.

After stopping the general to warn the guy, the maid followed the

youngster and his servant out the camp to observe them carefully.

The general had no idea what the maid wanted to do, so he thought

it was an exotic habit of people from the upper class.

The youngster named Ning Que did not show any special routine on

his way home. He bought some food, chatted with the fat lady at the

maid was that the tiny servant following Ning Que was struggling to

carry a heavy water barrel while he showed no sign to help.

Even though the empire had a specific and strict social structure, the

culture was very simple and honest. Even in the capital, where

prosperity and immorality coexist, people could not just stand there

and see a little girl suffer without feeling sympathetic.

“They allowed servants in the military?” the beautiful maid asked the

general calmly, trying to suppress her anger.

The general scratched his head and answered,“There was a huge

drought and famine few years back, countless refugee poured into

the southern states and the border cities. There were dead bodies

everywhere on the sides of streets. I heard Ning Que dug Sang

Sang out of dead body piles and saved her. He was an orphan as

well. They lived and supported each other to this day.”

The general continued, “when he enlisted, his only request was to

bring the little girl into the Wei city,” he looked at the maid and

explained carefully, “we all know the rules of military does not allow

such situation, but their condition was quite special. It was hard to

push a little girl into her doom, so everyone just pretended……to

know nothing.”

After listening to the explanation, the maid started to feel better, but

after looking at Ning Que carrying the roast chicken around

cheerfully while the little servant struggled to move the water barrel,

her mood turned terrible again. “Is this living and supporting each

other? he clearly wanted to kill that little girl!”

Wei city truly was small, after a little while, the four man crew

arrived at a small house in the southern part of the city. There was a

tiny rock garden outside of the house, and around the garden there

was a simple fence where the maid and general were standing and

looked into the house.

The tiny maid pushed the water barrel next to a tank and stepped

onto a small wooden bench. She used all of her strength to pour the

tavern, and seemed to enjoy his life. The only thing that angered the water into the tank. Quickly, she started to wash the vegetable and

cleaned the rice. Waiting for the food to cook, she took a piece of

rag and started to wipe the desks, chairs, doors, and windows. Not

for long, steam rose from the stove and covered around her small

body.

Although it was raining last night, the water didn’t wash away the

dust on the windows, but rather left muddy watermarks on them.

These watermarks had been quickly erased by the wiping of Sang

Sang. The small house had suddenly became much brighter and

cleaner.

It was clear that she does these chores daily, her actions were swift

and experienced. It was easy to feel silly and sympathize for the girl

when she move around busily as sweat ran down her face.

Except the guy, Ning Que seemed to be lacking these two emotions.

He calmly sat on a bamboo chair with his left hand flipping through

an old book and his right hand holding a tree branch writing things on

the wet muddy floor. Sometimes when he started to ponder, he

throws the tree branch away and flipped his palm upward, and there

would be a cup of hot tea served right to him.

The soldier of Wei city got used to this frame for a while now, so

they didn’t see anything out of place. But the gaze of the noble guest

outside of the fence got colder and harsher by the moment.

Especially when she saw that the young maid had to check up on the

youngster and serve his needs while she did the hard chores, the

noble guest’s complexion frozen and was filled with hatred.

“Even if she is your servant, but didn’t you risk your life digging her

out of dead body piles? Didn’t people say you guys live and support

each other? Even if she is your maid, don’t you think she is a little

too young for the extreme physical labor? How did a man of young

age like you have such a lazy habit and not do anything yourself?”

Perhaps triggered by haunted child memory, the personal maid had

a bad impression of Ning Que using the maid to do physical labor.

The personal maid of the noble pushed open the fence’s entrance

and walk straight in. Landing her eyes on the old book Ning Que was

reading and scoffed, “I thought you are reading some ancient

philosophical work, making you lose sense of all your surroundings,

but it is just a regular meditation book that is overflowing throughout

the market. A lowlife like you wish to Xiu Xing?*”

Ning Que sat up from the chair and straighten his back, curiously

looking at the lady in fancy clothing and peeked at the embarrassed

general, stopped and explains, “Unfortunately only this book was

available on the market so I bought it out of curiosity, I have no

extravagant wishes to Xiu Xing..”

Clearly the maid did not expect the young man to answer so freely,

and couldn’t find a reply to his explanation. She turned and looked

toward the young girl who is dumping out the furnace ash, and spoke

unhappily, “How does the powerful Tang empire breed a man like

you.”

Ning Que wrinkled his eyebrows confusingly, and saw the maid’s

eyes were on Sang Sang, who is holding the rag cleaning the

windows. He realized the reason for the maid’s piercing speech and

smiled. “From the look of it, you are older than me. Well… you can treat me as a little boy instead of a man.“

Perhaps the maid hadn’t seen anyone who is as shameless as the

youngster in front of her. Her fists started to clinch together and her

anger was about to burst out, but when her eyes land on the writings

on the muddy earth next to the bamboo chair, she lost all of her

thoughts and forgot what she was about to say.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the best military camp of Wei city, the elder in the dirty rope is

resting with his eyes closed. The general is bowing while he was

talking to the noble guest in the camp. His humble attitudes contain

an expression of deep surprise.

“You are not satisfied with the guide I chose?” he asked confusingly,

“For what reason?”

The noble guest rebuked strongly, “I asked for a guide with

experience and ability, not a lazy youngster whose head is full of

wishful dreams Xiu Xing and has no strength to even catch a

chicken.”

Ma Shi Xiang coughed lightly and explained quietly, “To my

acknowledgement, although Ning Que is young as he is, he did

obtain some barbarians heads in the last few years, it should not be

a problem…….to catch a few chicken.

Tang Empire used strength and warfare to conquer and rose in

power. They treated military honor and achievements above all else.

Although the nobel guest in the camp is from an extremely high

background, she has shamed the honor of the military so Ma Shi

Xiang defended Ning Que by refuting the guest’s rebuke.

The cold voice behind the camp was silent for a moment, and spoke

again unhappily, “The ability to kill makes a good guide?”

Ma Shi Xiang’s replied even more humbly, “Out of three hundred

soldiers in Wei city, Ning Que is definitely not the one who killed the

harsh and extreme the situation or battle, the last person

standing….. Will be Ning Que.

Then Ma Shi Xiang rose his head, smiling, “Due to his contribution,

he was awarded a recommendation letter from the military. He

works hard himself, passed the first exam half a year ago. This trip

to the capital, he will be reporting to the Academy.“

After hearing the word ‘Academy’, the noble guest in the camp was

in a complete silence and never spoke again.

After Ma Shi Xiang left the camp, the elder in the old robe slowly

opened his eyes. The old and calm pupils shined with interest, he

looked at the camp and smiled warmly, “A soldier in a small and

isolated town like this got into the Academy? That’s quite surprising.

If so, then letting him be the guide is not a bad idea since his

characteristics and ability is probably the best of the best.”

“Even if I left the empire for a year, I would have never expected that

the Academy are accepting such brutes.”

Although her tone still showed distaste towards Ning Que, but her

actual attitude had changed. At least the noble guest didn’t reject

him to be the guide of the group anymore. Only needing a mention of

name to change the idea of a noble person, this simple placed

named Academy is for sure not simple at all.

The elder brought up another topic he was confused about, “Earlier I

went to see the words Ning Que wrote on the ground, he was

copying the third chapter of Extreme Sense. His penmanship was

simple yet lively, although he only used a tree branch, the words on

the muddy floor contains a sense of sharpness, piercing almost like

a blade. Clearly he mastered the Military Calligraphy…… I do

wonder how he practices, and who his teacher is.”

“That little soldier only had a small insight. It may seem unique at

first, but now thinking it through he was only writing in some weird

way. Mastered? at best he can only become a ghostwriter.” The

noble replied indifferently.

The elder shook his head, “The highlight is exactly what you said,

‘unique’. I’m not an expert at calligraphy, but looking at his strokes of

writing I can sense an element of metal and stone. This element

rarely exists among calligraphists, perhaps a charmist***.”

“Are you implying a Talisman of God?” The noble was stunned for a

second, but scoffed at her own idea, “There are billions of people in

the world, but only a few charmists living. Those expert are either

hiding in the palace or training in temples. They spend their own life

meditating to absorb the qi of nature, yet that youngster has no

wave of qi around his body – for sure he is just a regular person.

Even if he reads another fifty year of Extreme Sense he cannot enter

the primary stage, speaking less of comparing him to those experts.”

The elder smiled a bit, but did not speak another word. Although he

had the noble’s respect because he is a xiuxingist, their social status

differs greatly. The so-called respect was only due to his old age

and ability, so it is best not to argue with the noble any more.

However, the elder did not agree with the noble in the camp. He has

his own evaluation of the young man. In this world most people are

unable to Xiu Xing. It is common to see none out of ten thousand

people who entered the primary stage through meditating and

absorbing the qi of nature. But if Ning Que is able to enter the

Academy and study there, furthermore, if he was lucky enough to

step up and enter the second floor, the uniquely weird calligraphy of

his will help him for sure.

Even if that boy couldn’t Xiu Xing, just by using his calligraphy he can

shock and surprise the teachers in the Academy and temples, or at

least he can teach the famous calligraphists a thing or two.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ning Que put down the book, shook his head and walked out with

disappointment and unwillingness on his face.

The book called Extreme Sense, bought during his childhood on his

way to a fair in Kai Ping with the military supply group. As the noble’s maid said it was a common thing that anyone can get at

anywhere. He clearly understood that, but he still didn’t forget to

recite and study it daily, treating it like the legendary Seven Scrolls of

the Way that is being consecrated in one of the forbidden lands, the

Great Sky Way.

The book’s corner was already curled due to long time uses, if Sang

Sang didn’t use cotton thread to sew the back of the book, it would

fall aparts immediately. Unfortunately, after many years, the book’s

pages were badly thumbed, and its words and sentences were

printed in Ning’s memory, yet Ning Que still could not find the entry to

the Xiu Xing. Now, he could not even achieve Sensation, the simplest

part mentioned in the book.

At some point in the past he did feel disappointed and even

despaired until he knew that most people in the world could not

sense the Qi of nature. He felt much calmer knowing that he has this

talent — yes, those experts are not regular people, they are the

special ones, because only the extremely rare experts could sense

the Qi of nature, otherwise anyone could fly around Chang An, since

there are so many Extreme Sense’s** in the world.

Nonetheless Ning Que was really normal, or common. However, if

you suddenly discovered a mountain of treasures, but you can only

return with bare hands and if you suddenly discovered that Qi fully

filled the world around you yet you cannot not even use it, how would

you feel?

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“The Wei City is such a poor place. The barbarians on the Great

Plain were already scared of the Tang Emperor. They haven’t dared

to fight us for years so I could not earn military exploits that fast. It

would be perfect if I get to go to the Capital, why would I feel

unwilling?”

Inside the dark military camp, Ning Que gave a salute to show

respect to the general, then explained gratefully and honestly, “Yet

now it’s still far away from the registration date to the Academy, I think it’s not necessary for me to leave so early. In these years, even

though I did not evolve into a much better person under the

leadership of general, but I still learned a lot, otherwise now I would

not have the chance to enter the Academy. I sincerely want to stay

in Wei City and stay at your side for a few more days so I hear your

lectures. Even if it is only for a few more days, I would like to spend

my time with you.”

Ma Shi Xiang looked at the youngster, with beard slightly flowing, not

sure if it’s because of the wind or the result of his irritation, said,

“Ning Que, since when did you become such a shameless person?”

Ning Que replied seriously, “If the situation requires me to discard

my honor and reputation, I am willing to throw it away without

hesitation.”

“Speak the truth, ” Ma Shi Xiang’s facial expression became cold

and asked seriously, “why don’t you want to serve as their guide?”

Ning Que remained silently for a long time, then whispered,

“General, that noble probably doesn’t like me.”

“The noble doesn’t like you?” Ma Shi Xiang scolded loudly, “You

seemed to forget your status. Keep in mind that you are still not a

student of the Academy yet. As a soldier of the Empire, you have to

obey higher rank officials’ commands, obey my command! It’s none

of your business whether the noble likes you or not! You only need to

accept the command and then complete it!”

Ning Que did not reply, bowed slightly, looking down at a piece of

grass growing out from the soil between his shoes. Remaining silent

meant disagree.

Ma Shi Xiang did not know what to do with this kid. “What do you

want to do? Why don’t you follow their way to the Capital?”

Ning Que looked up to the general, spoke gratefully and seriously, “I

have seen their carriage. They must had encountered an assault on

the Great Plain. Recently there was a spring famine and the chief of

the Zuo Jing Tribe died last year. The skin of that noble’s maid is somewhat dark, so… I dare not to go with them.”

The carriage’s encounter of an assault, the famine of the Great

Plain, the death of the Chief, and the dark skin of the maid. These

details may seem unrelated, but as he linked them together, they

formed up his reason of not leaving the Wei City with the noble.

Ma Shi Xiang looked at him, sighed and asked, “You realized who

they are already?”

“Among the entire Wei City, who still didn’t realize who they are? ”

Ning Que could not help but shrugged his shoulders and looked

towards the dark side of the military camp, “Only the ignorant

princess highness herself, who grew up in the royal temple in Chang

An and married to the Chief in the Great Plain, would not know that

her husband had already died. Her identity is not that big of a

secret.”

* \= Xiu Xing – Like in Stellar Transformation the people is practice

to become immortals this is like the term for meditation to become

stronger by understanding the universe and the natural laws or

gather qi from nature*

** \= Low level books to teach and allow people to xiu xing to

become stronger and improve their abilities. (there are many

different paths )

*** \= Charmist- Fighters who specialize in the process of making

talismans and using them in combat.

The empire’s culture is rather open, plus it was discussion at night in

a military camp. But after hearing the words ‘ignorant princess’, Ma

Shi Xiang’s facial expression turned worrisome.

After the noble woman entered Wei city, he was so careful of his

words and actions. Ma Shi Xiang never thought Ning Que would give

such a harsh comment toward the noble guest so carelessly.

Moreover, he thought Ning Que’s evaluation of the guest was

inappropriate and unfair, which made him even angrier.

Everyone knew that the fourth princess of Tang Empire was not an

idiot and not arrogant, but in fact the opposite was true. She is a

wise and caring princess.

A vast empire like Tang, with its formidable military force, was not

afraid of anyone. Even when Tang was against numbers of other

central empires and the tribes of the Great Plain, it never thought of

diplomacy through marriage. Except during the early years of Tang,

some of the generals of the first emperor were from the Great Plain.

They married some daughters of the royal family to establish greater

bond and loyalty.

But three years ago the tribes of Great Tribe was in a turmoil, the

enemy of the Tang empire stirred up an invasion in the largest tribe in

the Great Plains to invade the Tang Empire. During such an

emergency, the youngest princess of Tang at the age of fourteen,

kneeled in front of the Royal Palace for days. She requested to

marry the chief of the tribe to achieve peace. Although the request

was against the will of the entire empire, she went her own way and forfeited the flourishment of Chang An and entered the Great Plain

for the peace treaty.

After the marriage was announced, the entire world was shocked

and people were discussing all over the streets. Old officials

requested meeting with the emperor during the night to discuss the

said matter. Emperor himself released his angers by smashing

countless luxurious jaded cups, and the queen was silent due to her

mixed feelings toward her daughter’s decisions. However, all the

protests couldn’t stop the girl’s determined mind. After knowing all

this, the chief of the tribe was astonished and took the princess for a

liking. He ordered five thousand lambs, cows, and horses as tribute

to the Tang empire to marry the young princess. In the end the Tang

emperor reluctantly decided to let his daughter marry far out into the

Great Plain.

After the young princess arrived the Great Plain and married the

chief, the couple was respectful and cared each other. The once

ambitious leader of the barbarian race became a calm lion of the

prairie. He defended the territory of the Great Plain but dare not to

invade an inch of Tang’s land.

Except the unexpected happened. The chief died suddenly during his

prime years, and his younger brother succeeded the position as the

head chief. The situation around the borders once again became

hostile.

Despite the current situation, there was a valuable period of peace

for five years between the Great Plain and Tang empire. From the

moment when the princess kneeled before the Royal Palace, there

was no war, and she had all the contribution for the achievement.

Rumors said that the reason for the determination of the princess to

go out to the Great Plain was to avoid the queen. If even this was

true, in the eyes of the military general and court officials, it was the

right thing to do. The fourth princess did not abuse the emperor’s

love and avoided problems with the queen, which helped to sustain

the stability of the upper class and the entire empire.

On the other hand, the princess’s actions was almost like a slap on

the face towards the military generals and soldiers who defended

the borderline. They were not afraid of barbarians nor warfare. They

felt they were ashamed by her actions of marrying their enemy for

diplomacy. However, no one will reject the god-send peace.

Therefore their feelings toward the princess was very complicated,

with some unreasonably anger, but also appreciation. All those

thoughts mixed together and became an emotion of indescribable

respect.

Ning Que was just a regular soldier, so it was hard to say if he

understands the mixed feelings of the general. However it did not

matter, his current situation will determine his future and safety, and

Ning Que took his life very seriously – perhaps more important than

anything else. He pretended not to noticed the gloomy face of the

general and continued, “I estimated the number of arrow holes, it

was clear that new chief was pretty determined on killing the entire

carriage. I bet half of the original group died on the Great Plain due

to ambushes and assassinations. “

“They said there was an encounter of some marauders ,” Ma Shi

Xiang showed some suspicion on his expression. Even he did not

believe the story.

“Even the chief of Great Plain himself dare not attack the princess of

Tang under broad daylight. So…..it can only be marauders, except

everyone knows who was behind them.” Ning Que continued, “But

something was off, if everyone knows that the marauders were the

cavalry from the Great Plain, why were the tribe so daring? Do they

not fear that the wrath of Tang will seek revenge and eliminate the

entire tribe?

Tang declared independence based on its strength. Its culture was

simple yet competitive. It’s known as the strongest nation on the

world, so it concerned the most about honor, yet if it really wanted to

completely destroy the barbarians on the Great Plain, it would

exhaust more than half of the nation’s wealth and power.Just to revenge for the assault of the princess, which would cause

the entire nation to suffer, may seem impossible to happen, but in

fact, such things were common in Tang’s history.

The most famous example happened when Tang’s first Emperor was

still in charge,

A tribe on the Great Plain massacred a small village called White

Sheep, one hundred and forty people were killed. Emperor’s

messenger went to the tribe to ask what happened, yet he was

expelled with one ear cut off by the tribe’s chief,. The first Emperor

felt extremely angry, immediately decided to invade the Great Plain.

As a result, the entire nation prepared for the war, supporting a

troop of 80,000 cavalries marching north. The tribe was frightened

and fleeted to the northern Great Plain under huge wind and snow,

yet Tang’s cavalry troop followed all the way without hesitation. The

battle lasted for several months, and the entire tribe was eventually

slaughtered.

Fighting battles for months, destroying the opponent tribe, these

results may seem simple, and these may seem glorious, yet they at

same time took Tang Empire a great amount of costs.

To afford such exhausting war, the court sent millions of farmers and

levied three provinces of livestocks. Because of this war, the tax in

the South quadrupled, the citizens all got angry, court officials had no

time and energy to take care of their work, and even worse, the

entire world was on the edge of collapsion.

Tang Empire’s most marvellous quality, was shown clearly from this

one of the most dangerous moment ever and the later evaluations

towards it.

When the Tang cavalry marched onto the Great Plain, the rebels in

the South, surprisingly, did not attack the empire at its weakest

moment, but rather returned to their bases. It looks like that they

didn’t want to hinder Tang’s march. Maybe the rebels wanted to grab

the opportunity to rebel when the Tang Empire was at its weakest.

Maybe they hadn’t felt connected to the “pride of the empire,” but in the end they didn’t attack. They had to face the reality that the poor

peasants who used to support them before, all remained silent to

show their opposition to the leaders of the rebellion party, at the

moment when Tang was in danger.

Tang’s first Emperor who won this battle did not have a high

historical status. He didn’t have a respectable status even within the

empire. Not even in historical records or in the travellers poets’

stories, there were no good evaluations of the Emperor. Many

considered him as totalitarian and harsh.

But even the most conservative scholar, the Academy professors

who didn’t care about the sovereign at all and the farmers and

merchants who hated taxations the most, they will find different kinds

of reasons to criticize this emperor. But none of the people think the

battle solely caused by the Emperor’s anger, which exhausted the

nation’s wealth, should not be fought.

Because since the establishment of country, the people on this land

insist to believe and defend a simple reason: I will not invade you,

but you cannot invade me, even if I invade you, but you…..shall not

invade me!

No matter who invades me, I will invade back.

This is Tang Empire’s basis to establish the nation.

This is Tang Empire’s road to strengthen the nation.

This is why the strongest nation in the world is called Tang.