If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!
______________________________
(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
...
The couriers were summoned. The wax seals were melted. The mobilization orders, detailed, terrifyingly precise directives demanding the immediate assembly of hundreds of thousands of veteran soldiers, the requisition of endless warhorses, and the movement of the massive Cannons, were rapidly drafted, stamped, and sent flying out of the capital on the fastest relay horses the empire possessed.
The colossal, unstoppable war machine of the Hengyuan Dynasty was shifting its monstrous weight directly toward the north.
Meanwhile, completely removed from the blood and iron being meticulously planned in the strategy rooms, the next several days in the capital passed by with an incredibly serene, almost surreal peacefulness.
Everything across the sprawling empire was operating flawlessly, moving exactly according to the grand designs and the sweeping visions that Lie Fan had set into motion.
The soap and shampoo monopolies were aggressively hauling in mountains of aristocratic gold while simultaneously cleansing the common markets of disease. The Wagonways Department was rapidly expanding, tearing through the countryside to lay the iron veins of commerce.
True to his highly effective, modern ruling style, Lie Fan categorically refused to micromanage his officials. He had appointed the absolute smartest, most capable people in the world to head his ministries, Zhuge Liang, Mi Zhu, Jia Xu, Lu Su, Chen Gong, and the others, he allowed them the freedom to actually do their jobs. He did not hover over their desks or second-guess their daily ledgers.
However, this lack of micromanagement did not equate to a lack of control. Far from it.
Lie Fan maintained a terrifying, absolute bird's-eye view over the entire realm. He was the ultimate panopticon. Through the vast, incredibly disciplined, and deeply embedded network of the Oriole Agents, Lie Fan saw everything.
The daily intelligence reports filed into his study kept him perfectly informed of the exact moods, the minor corruptions, and the administrative efficiencies down to the absolute lowest provincial levels.
If a magistrate in a distant southern village was taking bribes, Lie Fan knew about it before the local governor did. He ruled with a loose grip, but a gaze that pierced through stone.
Because he had streamlined his bureaucracy so efficiently, aggressively approving or rejecting the mountain of daily documents and petitions with ruthless, decisive speed during his morning hours, Lie Fan found that his daily workload had lessened considerably.
For the first time in his two lives, he had the luxury of time.
He chose to spend it exactly where his heart resided. The afternoons were dedicated entirely to his family.
The terrifying warlord who was currently orchestrating the genocide of the northern nomadic war capacity could be found sitting on the sun drenched grass of the Harem Palace gardens, his heavy imperial crown discarded on a nearby table.
He spent hours playing with Crown Prince Muchen, guiding the boy through the philosophical intricacies of history while simultaneously teaching him the ruthless pragmatism of martial arts. He chased his younger toddlers through the blooming lotus pavilions, his deep, booming laughter echoing alongside the musical giggles of his children.
He drank warm tea with Diao Chan and Cai Wenji, listening to their poetry, and he walked hand in hand with Ying Yue and Zhen Ji along the polished stone paths, simply enjoying the profound, quiet beauty of the world they had bled to secure.
It was a beautiful, idyllic peace.
But Lie Fan knew that human nature, particularly bureaucratic human nature, was a fragile, inherently corruptible thing. Peace bred complacency, and complacency in a newly unified empire bred the kind of systemic rot that had ultimately destroyed the Han Dynasty.
He could not allow his ministers and his bureaucrats to grow too comfortable in the shadows of his delegation.
On the morning of the fifth day following the banquet, Lie Fan shifted seamlessly back into his imperial duties. He sat in his private study, dressed in crisp, formal robes of deep black and gold, and issued a direct summons to a specific, highly feared official.
Within minutes, the heavy doors of the study opened, and Pang Tong entered the room.
Pang Tong, the Fledgling Phoenix, possessed a brilliant, eccentric mind that rivaled Zhuge Liang's, but it was housed in a famously unconventional, somewhat unkempt physical appearance.
He lacked the ethereal, divine grace of the Sleeping Dragon, but he possessed a cynical, razor sharp understanding of human failing that made him the absolute perfect man for his current role.
That's why Pang Tong was made by him to become the Head of Censors.
He is the Supreme Inquisitor of the Hengyuan bureaucracy, the man tasked with hunting down corruption, laziness, and treason within the ranks of the government itself.
Pang Tong stepped before the mahogany desk, his dark, calculating eyes immediately assessing the Emperor's mood. He brought his hands together, offering a respectful, if slightly stiff, bow.
"Your Imperial Majesty summoned me," Pang Tong said, his voice carrying a dry, pragmatic edge. "I trust the empire has not run out of ink, or you would have called for the Ministry of Work. Who has earned the ire of the throne today?"
Lie Fan chuckled, leaning back in his chair. He appreciated Pang Tong's direct, unvarnished nature.
"No one in particular, Shiyuan," Lie Fan replied smoothly, lacing his fingers together over his stomach. "And that, precisely, is the issue. The capital has been too quiet. The ministries are operating smoothly, the gold is flowing, and the bureaucrats are growing comfortable in their routines."
Pang Tong's eyes narrowed slightly, a cynical smirk touching the corner of his mouth. "Comfort in a bureaucrat is the first stage of embezzlement, Your Majesty. When the cat sleeps, the mice begin to evaluate the quality of the cheese."
"Exactly," Lie Fan smiled, his eyes glinting with a cold, predatory light. "I do not micromanage them. I allow them the freedom to operate. And I know, because the Orioles agents network tell me, that the vast majority of them are operating cleanly out of pure terror of the shadows. They know the spies are watching."
Lie Fan leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk.
"But the fear of the invisible shadow is only one half of the equation of absolute power," Lie Fan explained, diving into the deep psychology of governance.
"If they only fear the spies they cannot see, they begin to view the official, daylight hierarchy, your Censors, and the Emperor himself, as distant, abstract concepts. They begin to think they can outsmart the system if they just hide their ledgers well enough. I need to shatter that illusion."
"You wish to remind them that the sun burns just as hotly as the dark is cold," Pang Tong deduced, his brilliant mind instantly grasping the Emperor's intent.
"I want you to accompany me, right now," Lie Fan commanded, standing up from his desk. "We are going to conduct a sudden, entirely unannounced, surprise official inspection into the various departments and ministries within the administrative rings of the capital."
Pang Tong's cynical smirk widened into a genuinely delighted, somewhat wicked smile. As the Head of Censors, there was nothing he enjoyed more than watching arrogant bureaucrats sweat through their expensive silk robes.
"I want to make a personal appearance," Lie Fan continued, stepping out from behind the desk. "I need to show them my dread. I need to maintain the heavy, suffocating pressure of the Emperor directly over their heads. But more importantly, Shiyuan, I am bringing you by my side to publicly, undeniably legitimize the absolute power and authority of the Censorate."
Lie Fan began walking toward the heavy oak doors, the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards outside immediately snapping to attention at the sound of his approaching footsteps.
"I want to prove to every scribe, every magistrate, and every minister in this capital that even though I have the Orioles watching their every move from the shadows..." Lie Fan's voice dropped into a register of terrifying, majestic authority, "...my official, imperial gaze in the broad daylight is just as terrifying, and utterly absolute. Are you ready to hunt, Fledgling Phoenix?"
"I was born ready, Your Majesty," Pang Tong chuckled darkly, falling into step just half a pace behind his sovereign. "Let us go and rattle the cages."
The imperial procession did not use the grand, highly announced palanquins, nor did they send heralds ahead to warn the ministries of their arrival. Lie Fan, flanked by Pang Tong and a tightly packed, heavily armed diamond of the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards, simply walked out of the inner palace and marched directly toward the sprawling administrative district of Xiapi.
Their first target was the Ministry of Personnel, a massive, bustling complex responsible for the promotions, demotions, and assignments of tens of thousands of government officials across the empire. It was a place of immense political power, and therefore, highly susceptible to nepotism and bribery.
The mid morning sun was shining brightly as the Emperor's boots struck the stone steps of the Ministry.
Inside the grand entry hall, hundreds of scribes, low level magistrates, and archive clerks were bustling about, carrying towering stacks of bamboo scrolls and silk ledgers.
The air was filled with the mundane, rhythmic sounds of stamping seals, scratching brushes, and the low, droning hum of bureaucratic arguments.
Suddenly, the massive front doors were pushed open.
The heavily armored Yellow Ghost Bodyguards flooded into the entryway, their hands resting on the pommels of their broadswords, their eyes scanning the room with lethal intent.
The bureaucratic hum did not slowly fade; it was instantly, violently severed as if someone had cut a vocal cord.
A clerk, carrying a stack of ledgers near the door, looked up. His eyes bulged, his jaw went entirely slack, and the heavy bamboo scrolls slipped from his numb fingers, crashing loudly against the stone floor.
Lie Fan stepped into the Ministry of Personnel. He wore his formal black and gold robes, his aura projecting an oppressive, suffocating weight that seemed to physically press the air out of the room. He did not smile. He did not offer a warm greeting. He simply stood there, a god of war and law evaluating the mortals who managed his paperwork.
Right beside him, holding a blank ledger and a writing brush, stood Pang Tong, scanning the paralyzed room with the predatory gaze of a hawk assessing a field of mice.
For a terrifying, agonizing ten seconds, nobody moved. The clerks were utterly paralyzed by the shock of the Emperor manifesting in their mundane workspace without a shred of warning.
Finally, a senior director of the archives, a man whose face had drained of all color, threw himself to his knees, his forehead cracking audibly against the stone.
"T-The Son of Heaven!" the director shrieked, his voice cracking with sheer terror.
The spell was broken. The entire, massive hall of hundreds of bureaucrats simultaneously collapsed to their knees, a chaotic wave of rustling silk and panicked prostrations.
They pressed their faces to the floor, terrified to even breathe too loudly, their minds racing in a frantic panic. Are the ledgers balanced? Did I arrive late today? Did the Emperor find the minor discrepancy in the Ji Province appointments?!
Lie Fan did not immediately tell them to rise. He let them marinate in the sheer, unadulterated dread of his presence for a long, agonizing minute. He let the sweat form on the backs of their necks.
He slowly walked down the central aisle, his heavy boots clicking rhythmically on the stone. Pang Tong followed closely, deliberately opening his ledger and making a slow, dramatic notation with his brush, a sound that made the kneeling bureaucrats tremble.
Lie Fan stopped in the center of the hall.
"The empire functions on precision," Lie Fan's voice boomed, completely devoid of the warmth he showed his family, cold and absolute. "It functions on honesty. It functions on the understanding that the authority granted to you by this throne is a privilege, not a right."
He looked down at the sea of trembling backs.
"I have commanded Master Pang Tong, the Head of Censors, to evaluate the integrity of this Ministry today," Lie Fan declared, his words falling like heavy iron chains. "You will open every vault. You will provide every ledger. You will hide nothing. If Master Pang Tong finds a single discrepancy, a single promotion granted through favor rather than merit, the punishment will not be an administrative demotion. The punishment will be absolute."
Lie Fan turned his head, his dark eyes sweeping over the room, searing his omnipotent presence into their very souls.
"The shadows watch you," Lie Fan whispered, though his voice carried to the farthest corners of the hall. "But do not ever forget... that the sun sees everything else. Master Pang, the Ministry is yours to audit."
"With pleasure, Your Majesty," Pang Tong smiled, stepping forward to begin the most terrifyingly thorough bureaucratic dissection the Ministry of Personnel had ever experienced.
Lie Fan watched for a moment as the Fledgling Phoenix began snapping out orders, forcing the terrified senior directors to scramble for their master keys.
The Emperor turned and walked back out into the bright, crisp autumn sunlight. He had delivered his message. The rumors of this surprise inspection would spread through the capital like wildfire by noon.
Every single ministry, every department, and every clerk would be furiously double checking their work, terrified that the Emperor and his Head of Censors would walk through their doors next. The balance was maintained. The Orioles ruled the night, and Lie Fan ruled the day. The Hengyuan Dynasty was a machine of perfect, inescapable obedience, and He, the Emperor and the Black Dragon, held every single string.
______________________________
Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0