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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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After delivering those final instructions, Lie Fan finally left the war room, the heavy wooden doors sealing shut behind him.
With the military affairs properly delegated to the greatest minds in history, the Emperor's demeanor shifted entirely. As he walked through the opulent, sunlit corridors of the inner palace, he swiftly turned his sharp, visionary focus next onto grand academic and societal matters. The sword had unified the land, but the mind would have to govern it.
His main, burning priority for the afternoon was the "Nationalism" ideology that he had spent the last few days personally drafting. He urgently wanted to introduce and immediately implement this profound philosophical framework across the entire Hengyuan Domain.
Lie Fan knew deeply, with the foresight of a man who understood the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, that building a true, unifying spirit of ideology among millions of diverse people was not a task that could be accomplished with a simple decree.
It would take a massive amount of time, spanning generations of education, indoctrination, and cultural blending. If this psychological anchor was not planted properly at the very foundation of the empire, it simply couldn't last very long.
He refused to let Hengyuan become a fragile glass giant that would shatter into ethnic warlord states the moment his bloodline showed weakness.
So, skipping the royal palanquin, he decisively goes out of the palace on horseback, flanked by the intimidating column of his elite Yellow Ghost Bodyguards. He heads directly out into the bustling streets of Xiapi, steering his mount toward the cultural heart of the capital, the prestigious Xiapi Academy.
His destination was not chosen lightly. To alter the philosophy of an entire continent, he had to start with the men who wrote the curriculum. He was going to meet with the absolute greatest, most venerated scholarly minds of the era, Sima Hui, Pang Degong, Lu Zhi, Cai Yong, and Zhuge Xuan. These men were the State Elders, the intellectual titans whose writings, moral teachings, and philosophical doctrines dictated the morality of millions of scholars and magistrates across the land.
As Lie Fan rode through the city, he mentally reviewed his roster of State Elders. He noted with a slight, understanding smile that the brilliant inventor Huang Chengyan should technically be included in this meeting, as he is also formally recognized as one of the venerated State Elders. But Lie Fan knew exactly where Huang Chengyan currently was.
The elderly genius was likely covered in grease and soot deep within the imperial forges, currently heavily focused and burdened with the incredibly complex steam engine prototypes and the revolutionary new firearms technologies.
Lie Fan feels he absolutely can't dump any more heavy, abstract academic work on this specific State Elder. The man was already building the physical future; he would leave the philosophical future to the others.
Fortunately, the other five State Elders' current workloads, while consisting of managing the vast imperial educational systems, are much freer to engage in a world altering philosophical debate.
When Emperor Lie Fan and his imposing, terrifyingly silent Yellow Ghost Bodyguards arrived at the grand, ornate wooden gates of the Xiapi Academy, the atmosphere was one of vibrant, academic chaos. The massive, sprawling courtyard was filled with hundreds of scholars and young students coming and going, carrying heavy scrolls, passionately debating the works of Confucius under the shade of ancient pine trees, and practicing their calligraphy on the stone tables.
But the moment the heavy gates swung wide, that vibrant academic buzz was completely annihilated.
When the young students and the lecturing scholars suddenly saw the supreme Emperor, the man who had just bathed the northern steppes in fire and conquered the known world, casually walking through their academy grounds, surrounded by his elite, masked bodyguards, they were completely surprised and utterly terrified.
A wave of absolute, breathless silence washed over the massive courtyard. The debates died instantly in their throats. Bamboo scrolls slipped from trembling fingers, clattering loudly against the paving stones.
And then, acting on pure, ingrained instinct and overwhelming awe, they immediately dropped to their knees. Hundreds upon hundreds of scholars collapsed like a wave of grain before a storm, kowtowing deeply, pressing their foreheads hard against the stone paths.
"Long live His Imperial Majesty! Ten thousand years of boundless glory!" they loudly and respectfully greeted Lie Fan, their unified voices echoing off the wooden pillars of the academy halls.
Lie Fan did not stop his stride, but he did not ignore them either. Acknowledging them with a gentle, magnanimous wave of his hand, projecting the aura of a benevolent Sage King rather than a ruthless conqueror, Lie Fan then goes straight past the kneeling masses to enter the exclusive teachers' room located at the very back of the main academic compound.
The teachers' room was a sanctuary of profound peace, smelling richly of aged paper, premium ink, and boiling tea. Inside, the five venerable State Elders were currently present, seated around a low, massive wooden table, quietly discussing the integration of the newly surrendered Wei scholars into the imperial curriculum.
Upon seeing the heavy sliding doors open, and seeing the Emperor suddenly walk in without a single eunuch announcing his arrival, all five of them immediately stood up in profound shock. The suddenness of his appearance, entirely devoid of the usual massive imperial procession, caught them completely off guard.
"Your Imperial Majesty!" Cai Yong gasped, immediately moving to formally bow, followed closely by the ethereal Sima Hui, the stern martial scholar Lu Zhi, the insightful Pang Degong, and the grounded Zhuge Xuan.
They scrambled to formally greet him, preparing to drop to their knees to offer the full, rigid courtly obeisance required by imperial law.
But Lie Fan stepped forward quickly, a genuine, warm smile breaking across his face. He reached out and gently grasped Lu Zhi's arm, stopping the old master from kneeling.
"Please, there is absolutely no need for such strict formality between us in these halls," Lie Fan quickly told the respected scholars, his tone deeply respectful and warm. "In the throne room, I am the Emperor. But in this academy, I am merely a man seeking the wisdom of his most venerable teachers. Please, sit. Let us share tea as men of the mind."
The five elders, deeply touched by his profound display of humility and respect for their academic standing, slowly took their seats, their initial shock giving way to intense curiosity.
Before long, as a servant with shaking hands poured fresh tea for the sovereign, Lie Fan goes to begin to clearly state his profound, world altering purpose for why he had personally come here today, bypassing all standard imperial protocols.
He reached deep into his dark silk robes and took out the heavy, tightly bound scroll that he had spent the last several days agonizing over. It was already filled with his deeply written, meticulously structured Nationalism ideology.
He placed it on the wooden table. The thud of the heavy scroll seemed to carry the weight of the future. He unrolled it carefully, smoothing the edges, revealing columns of sharp, aggressive, yet deeply philosophical calligraphy.
Lie Fan looked at the five greatest minds of the era and passionately explained to them exactly what it is.
"My venerable elders, the sword has united our borders, but a sword cannot unite a man's heart," Lie Fan began, his voice resonating with an intense, burning conviction. "For centuries, the people of this continent have been fractured. They pledge their loyalty to their local warlords, to their specific province, to their ancient tribal bloodlines, or to their localized religious sects. A man from Jing Province sees a man from You Province not as a brother, but as a foreigner. The Xiongnu we have just assimilated see themselves as captives, not citizens."
He tapped the unrolled scroll. "This cannot stand. If we are to survive the coming centuries, if we are to expand across the oceans and build a civilization that defies the cycle of dynastic collapse, we must forge a new, unbreakable identity. This doctrine is Nationalism. It is a philosophy meant to place the Hengyuan state, and its unified people, above all local, tribal, and religious loyalties."
He passionately detailed the core tenets of his writings. He explained that a citizen's worth would no longer be defined by their aristocratic lineage or their provincial birthplace, but by their active contribution to the 'Nation.' He argued that the empire was not just the Emperor's personal property, but a shared, sacred sanctuary that belonged to every man, woman, and child who swore loyalty to its banner.
He was attempting to instill a fierce, burning pride in the very concept of being a citizen of Hengyuan, a pride so deep that a farmer in the south would willingly bleed to defend a border town in the freezing north simply because it was part of their shared 'Nation.'
As they listened to his impassioned speech and slowly leaned forward to read the profound contents of the scroll, the five wise elders were visibly surprised. Their eyes widened as they parsed the complex philosophical arguments Lie Fan had woven together.
Sima Hui, the famed Water Mirror, stroked his beard, his ethereal eyes gleaming as he read the text. Pang Degong leaned in close, his finger tracing the characters that elevated the common state over regional pride. They became deeply intrigued by this unprecedented, radical new ideology.
It completely changed the traditional Confucian mandates of strict familial hierarchy and directly linked the individual's soul to the survival of the macroscopic state.
With their vast historical and philosophical knowledge, having spent their entire lives studying the rise and fall of the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Han dynasties, they could immediately see the immense, world changing value it holds.
"This... this is a huge shift of the highest order, Your Majesty," Lu Zhi whispered, his martial mind instantly grasping the military implications. "If the common soldiers truly believe in this 'Nationalism', if they fight not just for pay or out of fear of their commanders, but because they believe they are defending the sacred soul of their unified people... they will become completely unbreakable. Their morale would be limitless."
Cai Yong nodded slowly, his traditionalist mind grappling with the sheer scale of the concept. "It replaces the abstract, distant 'Mandate of Heaven' with a tangible, fiercely guarded 'Mandate of the Nation.' It binds the peasant to the scholar, and the merchant to the soldier. We can clearly see this powerful doctrine becoming the ultimate, unbreakable unifier of the vast land. It will forge a society stronger than iron."
But the atmosphere in the teachers' room did not remain purely celebratory. These were not sycophants, they were the intellectual pillars of the empire. Because they are seasoned, incredibly wise scholars who deeply understand the darkest, most volatile aspects of human nature, they also astutely see the grave danger this radical new ideology could potentially have as well.
A heavy, cautious silence fell over the table. The five elders exchanged a series of meaningful, deeply concerned glances. Finally, Zhuge Xuan, known for his grounded, highly pragmatic understanding of the common folk, spoke up, his voice thick with profound caution.
"Your Majesty," Zhuge Xuan began slowly, bowing his head respectfully to soften the blow of his incoming critique. "Your vision is divine, and this doctrine could indeed elevate our empire to eternal glory. But we must respectfully warn you of the shadows cast by such a blinding light."
Pang Degong nodded, taking up the thread. "Nationalism is a fire, Your Majesty. And fire can warm a home, or it can burn it to the ground. If you teach the common people to elevate the 'Nation' to a sacred, almost religious status, you risk unleashing a beast that cannot be easily leashed. If they become far too fanatic and extreme in their beliefs, it could lead to blind zealotry. They may begin to violently persecute those within our own borders who they deem 'insufficiently loyal,' tearing society apart from the inside out in a paranoid hunt for traitors."
Sima Hui, the Water Mirror, leaned forward, his eyes locking onto Lie Fan's with a terrifying, piercing clarity. He voiced the ultimate, most dangerous flaw in the ideology, a flaw that directly threatened the throne itself.
"But the greatest danger, Your Majesty, lies in the very social contract you are creating," Sima Hui respectfully warned, his voice barely above a whisper, yet carrying the weight of a falling mountain. "You are telling the people that the Nation belongs to them, and that they must sacrifice everything to defend it. Under your peerless rule, this will bring absolute unity. But what of fifty years from now? What of a hundred years?"
Cai Yong swallowed hard, finishing the grim prophecy. "Or even worse, Your Majesty... this exact same unifying ideology could easily be manipulated by ambitious traitors to go against the empire itself. If a future Emperor grows weak, corrupt, or cruel, the people will no longer simply endure it as the will of heaven. Because you have taught them to revere the 'Nation,' if the people ever feel the imperial court has betrayed the 'nation,' ambitious demagogues will use your very own ideology to justify a bloody revolution. They will say they are not rebelling against the state, they will say they are overthrowing a corrupt court to save the Nation."
The room fell completely silent. The five State Elders held their breath, terrified that they had just overstepped their boundaries by daring to outline a scenario where the Hengyuan Dynasty could be overthrown by its own people.
Lie Fan sat perfectly still, his dark eyes locked on the scroll resting on the table. The flickering light of the afternoon sun cast long shadows across his face.
He did not fly into a rage. He did not order his Yellow Ghosts to execute them for treasonous speech.
Instead, a slow, profound, and incredibly complex smile spread across Lie Fan's face. He looked at the five trembling elders with absolute, boundless respect. They had seen the exact, terrifying double edged nature of the ideology that he himself had known all along.
"You are absolutely correct," Lie Fan stated quietly, his voice ringing with a cold, beautiful truth. "It is a dangerous fire. But a civilization cannot forge steel without risking the flames. If my descendants ever become so corrupt and so cruel that the people feel the imperial court has betrayed the Nation... then my descendants will deserve to be overthrown."
The elders stared at him in utter shock. An Emperor openly admitting that his own dynasty deserved to fall if it failed its people was a concept so alien, so utterly profound, that it left them speechless.
"I am not building this ideology to protect a weak, corrupt bloodline in the future," Lie Fan concluded, rising slowly from the table and rolling up the scroll. "I am building it to protect the people. If the threat of the Nation's wrath forces my heirs to rule with justice, strength, and benevolence, then the doctrine will have served its ultimate purpose."
He handed the heavy scroll to Cai Yong.
"Take this. Refine the language. Integrate it into the curriculum of every academy, every village school, and every military training camp from the northern snows to the southern jungles," Lie Fan commanded, his voice echoing with absolute finality. "Let the fire be lit. We will forge the people of Hengyuan, and we will trust them to carry the weight of the future."
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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