From the chaos of the Two Jin onward, for several hundred years, both Chang'an and Luoyang had been battlegrounds fought over again and again.
Thus, those who sought to survive either led their entire families south across the rivers with their belongings, or took their clans to remote frontier regions.
For the people of Guanzhong, the lush lands of Hexi were naturally the first choice.
As a result, over a century, Liangzhou gradually lost its image of bitter cold and instead showed signs of growing prosperity.
But no matter how prosperous it became, its food still could not compare to the refinement of Chang'an. Thus, while in Liangzhou, Pei Xingjian had already been talking about returning to the capital and eating a proper feast.
Yet now that he was actually seated at the banquet, Pei Xingjian found himself distracted.
Fine dishes and fine wine. Aged lamb and fermented brews. Cattle and pigs slaughtered and cooked for celebration.
Staple foods of every kind were present, and desserts were not neglected.
Jade Dew Dumplings, Seven Return Cakes, Consort Red, and Giant Sesame Treats were laid out in competition.
Flower Patterned Rice Cakes, Sweet Bingluo, Deer Cake Buns, and Lingsha Soup were all available for guests to take as they pleased.
Yet at this moment, none of these delicacies could truly catch Pei Xingjian's eye. He leaned close to Li Jing and whispered urgently.
"Xuebo… Master. That secret map in Ganlu Hall. Is it truly real?"
Then, unable to stop himself, he asked the more pressing question.
"Master, are you really going to take command of the navy?"
To Pei Xingjian, this was extremely hard to understand.
He knew the Eastern Sea well enough. Howling winds, unpredictable clouds, towering waves. Coastal people both revered and feared it.
And Master was already an old man. No, wait, he had just said he still had more than ten years of life left.
Pei Xingjian felt the questions in his head multiplying.
Li Jing did not mind in the slightest. At the opening of the banquet, he had accepted toasts and congratulations on the grounds of fatigue. Thus, he now enjoyed a rare moment of peace.
Under Pei Xingjian's anxious gaze, the old general lifted his chopsticks, opened the small steamer before him, and gently peeled back the thin bingluo wrapper inside.
With his left hand, he scooped several spoonfuls of cherry pulp from an opened ceramic jar and spread it evenly over the wrapper. Then he picked up a few grapes from a nearby plate.
After arranging them, he used his chopsticks to fold and gather the wrapper from several directions, neatly enclosing the filling. Finally, he lifted it and placed it into his mouth.
As fruit pulp and cane sugar rolled across his tongue, balanced by the thin wrapper that stretched the aftertaste, Li Jing narrowed his eyes in pleasure and sighed.
"If one wishes to taste true delicacies, Chang'an is unmatched."
Li Shimin heard this clearly. Surrounded by civil and military nobles, he could only raise his cup from afar and nod toward Li Jing.
The old general laughed and returned the gesture with a toast.
Setting down his cup, seeing Pei Xingjian so anxious he looked ready to jump onto the table, Li Jing shook his head.
"The map in the hall is real. Otherwise, where would the Qinghai sand table at the Imperial Academy come from? Where did the Qinghai maps used in Liangzhou military councils come from?"
Though Pei Xingjian had long suspected as much, hearing his master confirm it still left him momentarily dazed.
"Then the territory of Tang is only two or three parts of the world?"
To him, Tang inheriting Qin and Han, ruling the Central Plains and pacifying the four barbarians, was something he had grown up believing as natural truth.
But according to that map, the lands of the Xia lay only in the eastern corner of the world, completely different from what the classics described.
Li Jing looked at his disciple. He picked up another piece of flower patterned rice cake made from glutinous rice and red bean paste, ate it with enjoyment, then shook his head.
"Two or three parts? When you understand the appearance of the Earth, you will grasp the vastness of the universe. The land where we stand, and all that Tang rules, does not even make up one tenth."
Pei Xingjian felt his thoughts fall into unprecedented chaos. Yet instinctively, he still asked.
"Is this why Master wishes to command the navy and guard the Southern Seas?"
Li Jing nodded calmly, full of ease.
"With Tuyuhun destroyed, even though Tibet eyes us from the west, Tang's soldiers may now advance toward the Western Regions without worry."
"His Majesty erected a stele at Kaiyuan Gate, proclaiming the Western Extreme Road at nine thousand nine hundred li. Now, even three thousand li is not yet reached."
"The Thirty Six States gallop their horses. The Turkic Khaganate grazes its herds. Shouyue, you must strive."
Pei Xingjian felt he still had many questions, but what his master had said was already enough for him to digest for a long time.
In the Tuyuhun campaign, he had seen the might of gunpowder with his own eyes. A single cannon could match a fierce general charging into formation. With such power, holding the Western Regions was no longer difficult to imagine.
Perhaps for someone like his master, who used troops like a god, conquering the Western Regions truly felt like bullying.
As for the navy, Pei Xingjian shook his head and chose not to think about it for now.
He had a feeling that within this year, many of his doubts would be answered.
So he changed the question.
"Master, do you truly have seventeen years of life remaining?"
Li Jing looked with interest at the newly presented gourd chicken from the Imperial Kitchen. He stood up, tore off a piece, and tasted it, laughing as he scolded.
"What, do you fear your master will one day become an obstacle to your own command?"
But before he could finish, he heard a sniffing sound.
Turning around, he saw Pei Xingjian lowering his head. A drop of water fell from the tip of his nose and spread into a dark mark on the floor.
Li Jing could march in rain, storm strongholds, launch night assaults in snow, and chase enemies through pestilential lands without sleep.
But he had never faced a scene like this.
The famed God of War was suddenly at a loss. He hastily swallowed the hot piece of gourd chicken and pulled out a handkerchief in an attempt to remedy the situation.
"Hey, Shouyue. Master was only joking with you. Ordinary people at sixty would be lucky to beg for even ten more years. Look at His Majesty. No, that was wrong. Ah…"
"Why are you crying?"
Taking the still faintly bloody handkerchief, Pei Xingjian wiped his tears roughly, then said in a low voice.
"Mother died in childbirth, father and brothers gone. Now to lose Master before thirty. How can my heart bear it?"
Li Jing fell silent.
That Pei Xingjian was the posthumous son of Pei Renji was no secret.
A posthumous child does not know his father's face, does not dream of him, does not even have a clear image in his heart. To him, a biological father is almost like a stranger.
On the Qinghai campaign, because His Majesty promoted him early and he was young, and for fear of battlefield mishap, he had been given much protection.
Now, in their interactions, though they were master and disciple, they were closer to father and son.
Li Jing set aside his joking tone and spoke seriously.
"Seventeen years was what I knew before. Now that Sun the Medicine King is in the capital, and since I take better care of myself, it may not be limited to seventeen years."
Only then did Pei Xingjian finally suppress his grief.
Li Jing introduced him to two more dishes, and at last drew his attention back to the banquet.
After a whirlwind of eating, Pei Xingjian patted his small belly, his face full of satisfaction.
Liangzhou truly could not offer food like this.
With a full stomach and a good mood, bold thoughts once again took the upper hand.
He glanced carefully at His Majesty, still being flattered by the nobles, and asked quietly.
"Master, when you said in Ganlu Hall that you had seventeen years left, why did His Majesty seem displeased?"
With no other nobles nearby, perhaps a little drunk, Li Jing lost a bit of restraint and lowered his head with a chuckle.
"Perhaps because His Majesty thought of the fact that he also has seventeen years left."
Pei Xingjian instantly wanted to slap himself.
Why did I have to ask that?
He did not doubt the truth of it at all. This was his master, who had no reason and no ability to lie to him.
Though the Master said it might not be accurate, knowing such a thing brought no benefit, only needless worry.
And if he let such words slip to His Majesty's ears, the Pei family might truly end with his generation.
In a daze, he nearly tripped on the threshold. At the critical moment, an arm caught him.
Patting his chest, Pei Xingjian let out a breath, then turned to thank the person and saw a not unfamiliar face.
Without thinking, he blurted out.
"I didn't say anything about His Majesty…"
His hand moved faster than his brain. He clamped his lips shut and gave Li Chengqian an awkward smile.
Li Chengqian did not mind and smiled.
"It seems Shouyue celebrated quite thoroughly yesterday."
Pei Xingjian rubbed his face and went along with it.
"My name was announced before His Majesty due to Duke of Wei's victory. I was somewhat carried away and should reflect on myself."
Li Chengqian understood and gestured toward the covered corridor beside them.
"I have heard that Shouyue, at only thirteen, went to Qinghai to fight for the state. I regret that I could not go as well."
"Now that we have met, why not tell me a bit about it?"
Pei Xingjian was very familiar with Hongwen Hall. He knew there was a small garden where the noble youths often went to relax.
The Crown Prince was nominally also a student of Hongwen Hall and came from time to time. Because Pei Xingjian was known for his calligraphy, the two were not strangers.
Since the Crown Prince invited him, there was no reason to refuse.
Pei Xingjian nodded and accompanied Li Chengqian, speaking of the campaign.
He talked first about his suffering from Liangzhou's cold, then about how difficult the food was, then about Qinghai's scenery, the cunning of the mixed tribes, and the strength of the Tang army.
Li Chengqian listened seriously, nodding from time to time, occasionally asking how Tuyuhun differed from the Turks.
This made Pei Xingjian curious.
"Your Highness is so interested in the barbarians?"
Li Chengqian smiled and nodded, with pride and barely concealed anticipation.
"The Turks are Tang's enemies. To know both yourself and your enemy is to be victorious in a hundred battles."
Pei Xingjian nodded silently. After chatting a bit more, they parted.
Pei Xingjian headed to the Hongwen Hall library to search for ancient texts, hoping to find places corresponding to the map he had glimpsed in Ganlu Hall.
He also focused on searching for the term "Earth," to see if there were any records.
He had only remembered the word upon waking that morning. Unfortunately, his master had closed his doors in the name of fatigue. He would not be able to see him again for half a month.
Before turning away, Pei Xingjian could not help glancing at the young girl behind the Crown Prince.
Judging by her attire, she seemed to be a female companion of similar age from the Eastern Palace.
Though she had not spoken a word, Pei Xingjian felt that she had understood everything discussed and had thought deeply about it. She seemed quite clever.
After all, he himself had once been called a prodigy. On this point, he trusted his judgment.
Watching her walk away, she did not carry herself like a servant.
But what did that have to do with him?
Shaking his head, he walked on, thinking out of habit.
The Crown Prince's questions. The barely hidden excitement on his face. His undisguised curiosity about the Western Regions. And his master's sudden decision.
"Thirty Six States galloping their horses. The Turkic Khaganate grazing its herds."
Pei Xingjian shook his head and formed a bold guess.
"Does His Majesty intend for the Crown Prince to lead an army and campaign in the Western Regions?"
Startled by his own thought, yet the more he thought, the more plausible it seemed.
Veteran generals pacify the seas. Young generals open the frontiers. This was an obvious trend.
Now Tang had elite cavalry, fierce infantry, and invincible gunpowder weapons, along with fierce generals like Xue and Su. In the Western Regions, only the Western Turks could truly be considered an enemy.
On the Qinghai battlefield, Pei Xingjian had not fought personally, but from soldiers' accounts he knew clearly.
Xue Rengui's archery and horsemanship resembled His Majesty's, and he even carried a bestowed divine bow.
Su Dingfang's surprise assaults were ghostlike, and his command of elite cavalry resembled his master's.
No wonder his master, after destroying Tuyuhun, requested to study naval warfare and guard the Southern Seas. Perhaps he felt the Western Regions were no longer interesting.
In such circumstances, treating the Western Regions like an imperial hunting ground was not excessive. Letting the Emperor's own son ride a small horse and kill a few enemies might even be a method of training the heir.
The biggest problem was that the Crown Prince was the same age as him. His Majesty's move seemed somewhat too hasty.
Could it be because he feared his own remaining years were truly limited to seventeen? No, no, no.
Pei Xingjian forcefully cast that thought out of his mind.
Then he remembered that the Crown Prince was the same age as him.
Wait. He himself had done something unprecedented in Tang, joining a campaign at twelve or thirteen. Could that also be part of training the Crown Prince?
Pei Xingjian suddenly felt like reporting to his master and volunteering to go to Zhuya and guard the Southern Seas as well.
With Xue, Su, and the Crown Prince all crowded into the Western Regions, for the first time in his life, Pei Xingjian felt that the Western Regions were a little too small.
After parting with Pei Xingjian, Li Chengqian walked with a slightly lighter step.
Once inside the Palace City, the maid behind him stepped forward, moving from two paces behind to just half a shoulder back. The eunuch beside them found nothing strange.
The young girl asked in a crisp voice.
"Your Highness truly plans to go to the Western Regions?"
Li Chengqian tried to suppress the smile on his face.
"That is for His Majesty to decide, but…"
As he spoke, his face filled with longing.
"My father is right. He established the realm on horseback. Now, to forge a glorious Tang, how can a ruler fear battle and seek comfort?"
"Father is the ruler of all under heaven. I, too, must be the youthful ruler of all under heaven."
The young girl looked conflicted.
"But… if you go to the Western Regions, many will die. Your Highness will also be in danger."
Now speaking seriously of this uncertain matter, Li Chengqian lost some excitement and gained firmness.
"How can one pacify the realm without bloodshed?"
"Danger is nothing to speak of. Tang has great generals like my father. It must also have a courageous Crown Prince!"