"Ha! Looks like you haven't let go of everything after all. That great enlightenment of yours is a sham."
"Why? I want to know."
The others all pricked up their ears, clearly wanting to hear the answer as well.
"Let me ask you something first. Is there anyone in this world who never grows old and dies?"
"I suppose not."
"Exactly. A dynasty is like a person. There are no immortal people in this world, and so there are no eternal dynasties."
"A dynasty's fall is rarely caused by a single thing—there are many factors, but they carry different weights."
"First, most dynasties begin with a reasonably capable founding emperor, and under his rule the dynasty tends to grow prosperous and strong."
"But from the second generation onward, things become unpredictable. There's no shortage of dynasties that collapsed by the second reign."
"We can think of it as a kind of ledger—adding and subtracting."
"Say a dynasty falls when its negative factors reach a score of ten. Land consolidation is usually a major contributor—worth three points, sometimes even five."
"Natural disasters, man-made calamities, foreign invasions, incompetent emperors—these are all variable contributors, large or small."
"Any single one of them, on its own, is rarely enough to bring down a kingdom."
"But they trigger chain reactions. Take a foolish emperor: he invites corrupt ministers, which accelerates land consolidation. Let several such emperors reign in succession and the chain reaction multiplies into a whole tangle of crises—and then collapse comes easily."
"So let's start by going through the negative factors your dynasty is currently dealing with, and then weigh their significance."
"To begin with: the population of this realm, according to the court's official figures, stands at roughly fifty million. But I don't buy that. The true population is probably over a hundred million—I'd even put it at around a hundred and fifty million."
"Which means you're trying to run an empire of three times the recorded population on the tax revenue from fifty million."
…
Zhao Baihui talked for a full half hour, barely managing to cover everything that these people could reasonably be expected to follow.
"So, to sum up why your empire fell: first and foremost, land consolidation had grown severe and the number of unregistered households was enormous, which meant the tax burden on the registered population was nowhere near enough to sustain such a vast empire. It was like a man who can't eat enough to stay alive—one who could drop dead of hunger at any moment."
"That alone was already crossing the red line."
"Then there was the relentless pressure from the north, steadily draining the country's strength. Natural disasters did occur, but they weren't actually that severe in themselves—yet they became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Well, more like the last log, to avoid being too extreme with the metaphor."
"So you're saying the fall of my empire was not my fault?"
"In my view, that's right. At most you were ineffectual—I wouldn't call you muddleheaded. You don't even need to count as a negative factor."
Lao Wen and Lao Lin both drew sharp breaths. To point at the emperor's nose and call him ineffectual—this man was...
Li Xuanji rose to his feet and bowed deeply to Zhao Baihui. "Thank you, sir, for clearing my mind today. Xuanji is deeply grateful."
"Don't mention it. In my eyes you're just an ordinary person—an unlucky soul who happened to be pushed into that position at the wrong moment. I've lost interest now. Off I go, off I go."
Zhao Baihui stood up as well, then paused in thought. "However you look at it, you were once an emperor. Spending the rest of your days as a monk does seem a waste."
"Why not stay here and work for me? Get a taste of what ordinary life is like—you've never experienced that, have you?"
"Mind you, the experience won't mean all that much. Things here are rather different from other places. Elsewhere the common people live in real hardship, but here life is comparatively comfortable—so even if you tried, you wouldn't be getting a true sense of how ordinary folk suffer."
"I just feel it would be a shame. It's entirely up to you whether you want to stay. And of course you'd only be coming in as a commoner. Giving you any position of real authority wouldn't work—I suspect your abilities wouldn't be up to it."
Li Xuanji thought it over. He had already sunk into a state of utter despondency, his heart as dead as ash. But hearing Zhao Baihui's explanation, he now understood that the outcome had been inevitable.
And suddenly he found himself wanting to see firsthand the difference between the people who lived here and those who lived elsewhere.
"Then Xuanji thanks you for the kindness, sir."
Zhao Baihui gave a nod and called out, "Jinyi, find him something small to do and get him started."
"Yes, Master."
Zhao Baihui nodded again—then suddenly stepped in front of Governor Lin and landed two brisk punches, not too hard, not too soft, and bolted.
"I'm a man of my word! I said I'd give him a couple of thumps, and a couple of thumps he got!"
Jinyi pressed her hand to her forehead as she watched Zhao Baihui vanish into the distance.
Li Xuanji stood there dumbstruck. That sage—that great man of wisdom—had just punched some old fellow twice and run away?
Something that had only just taken shape inside him quietly collapsed.
…
"Brothers, this is Li Xuanji—new addition to the team. Look after him, yeah?"
"Captain, leave it to us."
"Brother, just arrived?"
"That's right. Got a relative here who spoke highly of the place, so I came."
"Straight into the security patrol on your first day, brother—not bad at all. That relative of yours must hold some kind of position, eh?"
"These days, getting into the patrol is cutthroat—fresh graduates are lining up and still can't get in!"
"It's, well... not bad, I suppose." Li Xuanji turned it over in his mind. He'd gotten in through that young woman called Jinyi's connections, hadn't he?
"I get it, I get it—you don't want to cause trouble for your relative. No worries, we've got plenty of time to get acquainted."
"Come on then, brother. Our assignment today is patrol duty."
"Easy work. There's almost no trouble around here—just hard on the legs."
Li Xuanji followed him out onto the street.
The streets were lively with people coming and going. Some moved with hurried purpose; others strolled about with easy smiles.
"Our job is simple—mainly keeping the streets and alleyways clean and orderly."
"No relieving yourself in public, obviously."
"No vendors encroaching beyond their boundaries. No stalls on the main thoroughfare, no tables set outside."
"Side streets and alleyways are fine, but only within the permitted distance—go beyond that and you're blocking foot traffic and carts."
"And if someone does?"
"Fine them."
Li Xuanji frowned. He had always heard that excessive taxes and levies were fierce as tigers, pressing the people down until they couldn't lift their heads. Did this count? Would these ground-level officers pocket bribes and shake people down? If an ordinary person got caught up with them, would they ever recover?
Had that man been deceiving him?
"Stop! Don't run!"
Li Xuanji was still lost in thought when his companion had already sprinted off. He rushed to follow.
A man in worn, tattered clothes had been relieving himself into a crate. He didn't even have time to pull up his trousers before he was caught.
"Urinating in public. That'll be fifty fen."
"Please, sir, I'm new here—I didn't know the rules."
"Hand over your identity card."
"Sir, have mercy on me." The man's face was a picture of misery, and Li Xuanji felt a pang of sympathy.
But he said nothing and did nothing. He was just an ordinary person now.
What right did he have to speak up for anyone?
"If you don't hand it over, I'll blow my whistle!"
"No, no, I'll get it, I'll get it." The man reluctantly produced his identity card and passed it over.
"Hmph. A registered resident, and you try to tell me you're new here!"
"Sir, I only earn a yuan-twenty a day—fifty fen is a real hit."
"If it hurts that much, why relieve yourself in public?"
"I couldn't hold it any longer!"
"Then go see a doctor and find out if there's something wrong with your kidneys!"
The man's expression shifted like a mask changing in a play—the earlier anguish was gone, replaced by nothing more than mild annoyance.
Li Xuanji took a slow, deep breath. He'd been taken in. He had braced himself for something harsh, but it was only half a morning's wages. Not nearly enough to ruin a person's life—and the man had been in the wrong to begin with.
His companion was writing something in a small notebook with the man's identity card in hand, then tore out one half and passed it over.
"Pay the fine within three days. Or if you'd rather not make the trip, you can pay me directly right now."
"I'll pay you now, save the trouble." The man handed over fifty fen and shuffled off looking thoroughly sorry for himself.
His companion cheerfully flipped the coin. "Nice—we turn this fifty fen in, and each of us gets ten fen back."
"Sometimes I actually hope for more public urinators so I could get rich! Ha—fat chance though, there are fewer and fewer of them these days."
Li Xuanji asked, "Why not twenty-five fen each?"
"Hey, Lao Li, don't go down that road. Careful you end up with nothing—not the twenty-five fen, not this uniform, not even the two yuan a day you're making now."