Jinting Han people

Chapter 51: Farewell Again (4k, plus more)
The next morning, Li Mi woke up. A crested ibis flew past the window, startling him. He began coughing, and his phlegm began to tinge with blood. He had a premonition that his time might be shorter than he thought. If he stayed any longer, he might not have enough time to make final arrangements.

"If I die now, I wonder how future generations will judge me." In public, Li Mi always appeared to be a free-spirited, elegant gentleman, but at this moment, he seemed a completely different person, deeply gloomy. "Am I just a villain who runs around here and there, accomplishing nothing, and only thinking about his own career?"

"Of course not," Li Mi replied. "Future generations might say this person wrote such good articles that even the emperor could not help crying after reading them."

But this is not the evaluation I want, Li Mi thought to himself.

But a person's destiny not only depends on personal struggle, but sometimes also on the course of history.

If Prime Minister Zhuge Liang hadn't met Emperor Zhaolie, he wouldn't have received the legendary tale of three visits to his thatched cottage and the trust of the entire nation, nor would he have earned the reputation of being the greatest prime minister of all time. He wanted to be a loyal minister to his homeland, but he didn't die alongside the general. He'd already missed that chance. Now, to make amends, he could only create another one, but time was running out...

So when Liu Xian came into the house to visit him, Li Mi decided not to hide anything and said to him directly: "Huai Chong, please prepare an ox cart for me."

"What do you want a car for, sir?"

"I'm sick, so of course I'll go back to my hometown."

"Hometown... Is the teacher talking about Bashu?"

"You've already guessed it... You're indeed a smart child. Yes, I am indeed from Bashu. My hometown is Wuyang County, Qianwei Commandery, about a hundred miles away from Chengdu."

Li Mi struggled to sit up. Liu Xian hurried over to support him, patting his back to help him breathe. After a long while, Li Mi asked him, "What else did you guess?"

Liu Xian said truthfully, "You are an old minister of my grandfather. At this age and in this state of health, you still come to me. I'm afraid it's related to the restoration of the country."

Li Mi was stunned when he heard this, then smiled bitterly and said, "You even guessed this... I'm really too smart... Then do you know who I am?"

"If the teacher doesn't tell me, I naturally don't know."

Li Mi said frankly: "I am Li Mi, have you heard of me?"

"Teacher, are you talking about Li Mi, who wrote the "Petition to the Emperor" by hand and was praised by the emperor as "The scholar's reputation is not in vain!"

"Hahaha, that was a long time ago... cough! cough!" Li Mi couldn't help but laugh when he heard that Liu Xian had heard of his reputation a long time ago. But after laughing twice, he started coughing again. After finally stopping, he said, "So what do you think of this article?"

Liu Xian thought for a moment and commented, "This piece is filled with sincerity and is written naturally. It's a first-rate piece of writing of the time. With this one piece alone, you'll be remembered for eternity."

But when Li Mi heard this, his expression wasn't one of pride, but bitterness. He said, "You're too kind. An article is just an article. People in later generations remember it mostly because they recall the person who wrote it. The emotions I expressed in my article, though sincere, are also ordinary. It's only because of the emperor's decree that they stand out. So, Huai Chong, if this article is immortalized, it's not because of me, but because of the current emperor."

He closed his eyes and fell into reverie and contemplation for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Huai Chong, what do you think of the current emperor?"

For ordinary people to criticize the emperor would be an act of treason, but at this time, only Li Mi and Liu Xian were there, and Liu Xian had nothing to hide. He said directly: "The current emperor has pacified the four seas and ensured the peace and prosperity of the nine provinces. He must have made great contributions to the world."

"But he's so proud of his achievements and so obsessed with fame that he's too indulgent towards the powerful and the wealthy, while neglecting the common people. As a result, officials across the prefectures and counties are united in their pursuit of wealth, rampant corruption and destitution. The people are left with no hope of survival, and the common people are practically like firewood at the bottom of a cauldron, waiting to be slaughtered. This is absolutely not a long-term solution!"

When Liu Xian said these words, what he saw and heard in the Jingu Garden was in his mind. He still felt incredible about Shi Chong's actions.

"You put it very well," Li Mi sighed. "But doesn't the emperor know? It's not that he's unaware of what you're talking about, but he simply doesn't want to cause trouble. Just to maintain his position as crown prince, he fought the King of Qi for two years, ultimately leaving both sides devastated and in shambles. And as for the powerful, who in the court isn't filled with them? If the emperor were to punish even one of them, the chaos in the court wouldn't be resolved in a day or two."

"How messy can it be?"

"The lessons of Emperors Huan and Ling are not far away. It will only be another round of the Factional Persecution! Ah, but if we really want to persecute the Factional Persecution now, it will be ten times more severe than during the Huan and Ling eras, and it will take decades to resolve. If the emperor had a good crown prince, perhaps he would make an effort. But now the crown prince is incompetent. He has no way to rectify the government. Can he rely on his ministers? Impossible. So the emperor would rather not get involved."

The Party and Faction Persecution refers to two major persecutions launched by Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty over a century ago to control government. The emperors promoted eunuchs, demoted scholar-officials, promoted private schools, and confined large numbers of scholars to their homes, preventing them from taking up positions. The scholars responded with a harsh political counterattack, forming cliques and attacking the government. This led to the loss of prestige at the court and a loss of control among the lower classes. This ultimately led to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which swept across the Central Plains and Hebei Province. Emperor Ling was forced to lift the Party and Faction Persecution and concede defeat to the scholar-officials.

Li Mi said this, then glanced at Liu Xian and asked, "Do you know how I resigned from my post?"

Apart from that article, Li Mi held mostly obscure official positions. How did Liu Xian know about this? He shook his head slightly and said, "I don't know."

Li Mi reminisced, "When the emperor recruited me, he spoke kindly to me and appointed me the magistrate of Wen County. Wen County is the birthplace of the Jin dynasty. I was so grateful at the time, I thought my career would be smooth sailing. I reformed the civil service in Wen County, protected the people, cut off the supply lines from the various princes, and cracked down on the county's many powerful families. What do you think was the result?"

"Having offended so many people...I'm afraid the teacher won't be able to use him again."

"Ha! Of course I won't be given a high position!" Li Mi had obviously let it go long ago, patting his couch and laughing. "But I didn't think so at the time. I thought I was governing the imperial city, and I must have the emperor's support! As long as the emperor paid attention to me, it didn't matter how many people I offended. So I always adhered to the way of a gentleman and served as the magistrate of Wen County for ten years."

"Ten years..." Liu Xian was dumbfounded. He had read a lot of history books and naturally knew a lot of strange stories in history, but the number of people who could serve as a county magistrate for ten years was very small, even less than the number of solar eclipses in the past two hundred years. His teacher was truly a strange person.

"After ten years of enduring, the court finally gave up and appointed me the governor of Hanzhong. But my health has also failed, so I plan to decline this position and return home to retire. But before I leave, I want to give the emperor some last words of advice, as a way of concluding our tenure as ruler and subject for over a decade."

"It happened that during the banquet before the ceremony, the emperor asked me to compose a poem in the East Hall." "Logically, I should have said something auspicious, but I didn't know how. So I said to him: 'People also say that there are reasons and fates. If you have no one in office, you might as well return to the countryside. You are clearly in power, how can you say such words?'"

Having said that, Li Mi paused and smiled at Liu Xian, "Then, I came to find you."

Liu Xian, listening nearby, couldn't help but smile bitterly. This poem was a complete satire on the emperor, accusing him of indulging the powerful and employing the wrong people. It was practically treason. Yet, the emperor's willingness to spare his life was a sign of magnanimity.

After explaining his reasons for resigning, Li Mi let out a long sigh and offered his own conclusion: "Politics is the art of compromise, but as an emperor, I cannot always compromise. If a dignified emperor is always lenient, he will lose his dignity, and if he is always harsh, he will lose the people's support. But the current emperor is lenient in his upper strata and harsh in his lower strata, and he has no successor. After his death, the country will inevitably fall into chaos."

"So the teacher came to me to see if there was any hope of restoring the country?"

Li Mi's breath paused as Liu Xian spoke. He looked at the young master, with whom he had been acquainted for over six months, and saw his eyes gleaming and his expression solemn. This inevitably gave him a feeling of delight: he had not misjudged him.

"I originally thought so, but now I am hesitant."

"Why are you hesitating? If I hesitate, will I not be able to accomplish anything?"

"No matter who you are, the chances of success are slim. I'm already very satisfied with you." Li Mi smiled, then said seriously, "I'm just thinking about my plan. It's not mature yet. Many things are still uncertain. We still need to wait."

"wait?"

"Yes, wait." Li Mi nodded, recalling his promise. "I won't live more than a year. Even if I go back now to make preparations, it would be very hasty. The emperor has not yet passed away. Even if a major rebellion breaks out, it may sweep across the country, but it may also be like the Lü Rebellion, which only affects the court and not the counties. Therefore, whether we can launch an uprising and how to restore the country will require waiting."

"How long is the wait?"

"If we're lucky, five or six years might be enough, but if we're unlucky, it could take ten or even twenty years." Li Mi said this, looking at Liu Xian cautiously. "No one can be sure of this kind of thing, let alone someone like me who is about to die. So I'm really hesitant. To put it bluntly, this matter doesn't depend on me, but on you."

"I?"

"You are young, possessing limitless potential. My plan, however, may be too conservative, too outdated, and inappropriate. It may even cost you and the people of Xichuan an unbearable price. No matter which outcome, I will be a sinner in history. Do you understand?"

Li Mi's words were so resolute that Liu Xian seemed to hear the sound of metal and iron, and vaguely saw a bloody storm coming towards him, which made him feel suffocated for a moment: "I understand..."

Li Mi nodded and said, "So my thoughts have changed. I've decided to let you make your own judgment and decision. If you think restoring the country is feasible, then you can do it according to your ideas. If you think it's not feasible, then just pretend you've never met me. This is also the agreement between Cheng Zuo and me."

Liu Xian hesitated a bit and asked, "What about the teacher's original plan?"

Li Mi said, "There will be someone waiting for you in Shu. Huai Chong, you may never see him again, but Huai Chong, you must remember, no matter if it's ten, twenty, or thirty years, there will always be someone waiting for you in Shu."

At this point, both of them fell silent. Li Mi smiled and pointed to a wooden box under the bed and said to Liu Xian, "Open the box."

Liu Xian did not dare to delay and quickly dragged out the box and opened the lid. Inside, he saw some clothes and a pile of books under the clothes. Liu Xian took out the books and was immediately attracted by the name on the cover: "The Collected Works of Zhuge Liang".

Li Mi smiled and said, "The statecraft I teach you comes from this set of books. I compiled it privately. You must keep it safe and don't let anyone know until the time comes. This is the most complete set of Zhuge Liang's Collected Works in the world. Cheng Zuo presented the current emperor with a copy that contained only about a third of the contents of this set."

Liu Xian laughed upon hearing this. It turned out that even someone as devoted to officialdom as Chen Shou could play such a trick on the emperor. He also knew that this set of books must have held extraordinary significance for Li Mi, Chen Shou, and indeed for all the former officials of Shu Han. Li Mi's handing of these books to him clearly showed his high expectations.

But he still had a question that required Li Mi's personal answer, so he asked, "Teacher, why have you asked me to farm the land myself for the past six months? I never understand. Is it just to make me suffer?"

Faced with this question, Li Mi laughed again. After laughing, he clasped Liu Xian's hand tightly with trembling fingers, showing a relieved expression and said: "Yes, I want you to suffer!"

"what?!"

"Huai Chong, life's difficulties are far beyond your imagination, let alone something as monumental as restoring a nation. Emperor Zhaolie once feigned death within a corpse, and Emperor Gaozu, despite being ill, went on to quell Ying Bu's rebellion. These all required extreme endurance. I must be certain that you can endure hardship and endure what ordinary people cannot! Goujian endured hardships and slept on firewood to avenge the destruction of his nation! Do you understand?"

"The most frightening thing in life is suffering without knowing why, enduring without knowing why, and living through life with a bewildered attitude. Such suffering will never end. But if you want to achieve extraordinary success and build an immortal foundation, you must possess a will and mind unmatched by ordinary people to overcome and embrace suffering! This is the true meaning of what Mencius called the Way of the Gentleman!"

Hearing Li Mi's heartfelt and inspiring words, Liu Xian felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He shook his teacher's hand and said, "Teacher, I understand your painstaking efforts..."

At the same time, he thought to himself: How many people in the world are willing to speak like this to the current emperor?
Faced with these unrepayable expectations and hopes, Liu Xian's heart was so excited that he almost shed tears, but he remembered the oath he made to his mother, quickly turned his face away, and covered up his tears with laughter.

Three days later, Li Mi's health improved slightly, and he sat on the ox cart back home with a hunched back.

Liu Xian escorted him for ten miles until they reached Qilijian. Willows swayed along the way and the rain fell. He finally said goodbye to his teacher whom he had known for only a short time. This was also the last time the master and disciple saw each other in their lifetime.

(End of the Sun-Chasing Volume)
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