The Human Emperor

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“Ever since he was a child, Hou Junji could remember anything that he saw and was able to learn anything just by watching. He didn’t know how to draw or paint, but when he still served in the Heavenly Tactics Residence, someone tried to make trouble and asked Hou Junji how many restaurants, alleys, meat sellers, cloth sellers, tea houses, oil sellers… and such and such the western part of the capital had. This was because Taizong often talked about how his learning capability was unequaled in the realm, and no one in the Heavenly Tactics Residence could compare.

“But in the end, Hou Junji began unrolling sheets of paper, and with a total of five hundred and thirty-seven sheets of paper, he was able to draw out all the restaurants, inns, meat sellers, book stalls, and every other store in the western part of the city. Not only that, he even drew out the insides of the two hundred and eighty-nine taverns, inns, and hostels, down the details on the roof beams and the damage to the legs of the tables and chairs. Everyone was struck dumb.

“When they took these drawings and went to compare, they found that there wasn’t a single mistake! It was truly incredible! This incident left a deep impression on everyone’s mind and earned him their admiration!”

Even Wang Chong couldn’t help but be taken aback. The capital was simply immense, as it had always been in both Taizong’s time and in the Sage Emperor’s reign.

But to draw, or remember, the entirety of the western part of the city was not something that even Wang Chong dared to think about. The western part of the city was home to so many residences, restaurants, tea houses, inns, money houses… and he had even drawn out the internal structure, recording even the smallest blemish. Wang Chong asked himself and knew that he was incapable of such a feat.

If the man telling Wang Chong this hadn’t been Su Zhengchen, and if Wang Chong didn’t know that Su Zhengchen had always been a grim soul who didn’t crack jokes, Wang Chong would have believed this entire story to be a fabrication.

But Wang Chong knew that this was not just a story, and that the main character of this story was living in the Imperial Palace and was probably making his next plan.

Wang Chong’s heart became incredibly heavy.

“In addition, Hou Junji was a military man, but the Imperial Court needed civil officials to administer the country. Thus, in a short amount of time, he learned the art of composing poetry and attained an extremely high level of mastery.

“Emperor Taizong said at the time that Hou Junji’s talent in the art of war was not the strongest in the Great Tang, but with his powerful learning ability, he was certain to surpass everyone in the future, and in the art of war, he was certain to become the Great Tang’s most outstanding War God.”

Su Zhengchen paused for a moment as he immersed himself in his memories. After a long while, Su Zhengchen began to speak again.

“I never interacted much with Hou Junji, but at the time, I had just rendered many military achievements and was hailed as the Great Tang War God. Hou Junji was known as the Army-Shattering War God, and his status was just beneath mine.

“In truth, I also don’t understand Hou Junji very much. When I truly came to interact with him, it was after all the campaigns were over and the realm had been at peace for ten-some years. At the time, I was viewed with much apprehension by those both inside and outside the court, many people claiming that since I came from the House of Sui and had illustrious achievements in battle, if I started a rebellion, the realm would be thrown into chaos! In order to avoid suspicion and disaster, the Imperial Court decided to send a general to learn the art of war from me, one that I would personally instruct and pass on all my learning to. In this way, the sovereign would have a proper subject, and when there was a war, this general would be able to go out in my place and campaign, thus resolving both problems.”

This was the first time Su Zhengchen had ever talked about the past, particularly that period in which he had been regarded with suspicion. And while he kept the details light and swept past them, Wang Chong understood that this was a case of ‘the subordinate’s achievements alarming the sovereign’.

Wang Chong had some understanding of Su Zhengchen’s past. Counted amongst his dazzling achievements was the feat of taking eight thousand soldiers and defeating an army of more than one hundred thousand of the strongest cavalry the Turks could muster, right when the Turks were at their peak. In the end, he was able to chase them all the way to the north, dealing the Turks a major blow.

Not only did he inflict heavy losses on them, he even captured a Khagan, thus bringing an abrupt end to the resurgent threat of the Turks. He had singlehandedly ended the future of an empire and its people.

Later on, Su Zhengchen rendered even more astonishing feats, until he was so highly ranked and rewarded that there was nothing else to reward him with. For a sovereign, being unable to reward a valued official for their contributions was a major blow to their prestige.

Merit was rewarded and mistakes were punished. This was a fundamental principle for a sovereign and the basis of their prestige. After all, a sovereign’s every move was being watched by their subjects.

Wang Chong internally sighed with emotion. He had yet to reach the status of Su Zhengchen in Taizong’s era, nor did he have as suspicious a background. In fact, the Wang Clan was an extremely strong point in his favor.

But all generals shared a similar origin. As the King of Foreign Lands, after the war of the southwest and the Battle of Talas, Wang Chong was probably soon about to encounter the same situation. All generals faced the same destiny, and at this moment, Wang Chong and Su Zhengchen resonated with each other.

These thoughts remained in his mind for just a few moments, and Wang Chong soon turned his attention back to Su Zhengchen.

“The calls from the Imperial Court at the time were extremely strong, and His Majesty Taizong was compelled to listen. Although the Imperial Court was brimming with discussion, I didn’t have that many objections. From that day, Hou Junji began to learn the art of war from me.

“Hou Junji and I had never interacted much before, and the two of us had a completely different style of warfare. At the time, Hou Junji was thirty-some years old, but as the Imperial Court had already made its decision, I decided to sincerely teach him everything I had learned and comprehended about the art of war. But as we interacted more and more, I began to gradually realize that there was a very large problem with his personality,” Su Zhengchen said.

“Oh?”

Wang Chong’s eyebrows trembled. That Hou Junji had learned the art of war from Su Zhengchen was astonishing enough, but even more surprising was Su Zhengchen’s assessment of Hou Junji. It was extremely rare for one military strategist to hold this kind of opinion of a colleague.

“Three months after Hou Junji had started studying from me, Emperor Taizong wanted to see how his studies were doing. On that day, everything went normally, and we both passed Emperor Taizong’s inspection. But when we came out from our audience, an incident took place that completely changed my views of Hou Junji. As our carriage was passing by a residential alley in the western part of the city, a vicious dog charged out and began to bark at us.

“Emperor Taizong’s love of horse archery at the time had made hunting and riding popular throughout the Great Tang, and many people raised dogs for hunting. This hobby was the most popular within the capital, and being barked at was very commonplace. At the time, Hou Junji shouted at the hunting dog and drove it away, and I paid the matter no mind. But not long afterward, I came to learn of a certain incident.

“After we returned to the residence, Hou Junji had sent men to investigate that vicious dog. After the incident, not only had he disciplined the dog’s owner, he had beaten the dog to death, even killing the pups that it had just given birth to. That dog had barked so viciously because it had just given birth, and the passing of the carriage had disturbed its pups.

“At that moment, I sensed that there was a major problem with Hou Junji’s personality. Beating the dog to death was one thing, but to transfer his anger to the pups it had just given birth to, beating them to death as well, was very wrong. In addition, when I was discussing the art of war with him, I asked him, ‘How should a campaigning general deal with captives?’ Without even thinking, he replied that they should all be executed and their bodies buried! I knew then that his personality was too cruel and that he was unfit to inherit my art of war.

“The art of war is focused on achieving the strategic objective through victory, suppression, and subjugation, not about just killing people. I feared that if someone of Hou Junji’s personality inherited my art of war, it would be sowing the seeds of a disaster. Thus, from that moment, I changed my mind. While I still taught him the art of war, I left out many core parts.

“Hou Junji resented me for this. The more unwilling I was to teach him something, the more he wanted to learn it.

“In addition, I noticed at the time that Hou Junji was extremely close with the Crown Prince. Besides that, the entire world was at peace and the Great Tang was at its strongest. The Turks to the north, Goguryeo to the east, and Ü-Tsang to the west had all been subjugated by me, and the Great Tang had defeated all the other countries and earned their submission. The realm and its people were now focused on peace. But Hou Junji, after learning ninety percent of my art of war, still found it insufficient and wanted to study its core principles. Moreover, he seemed extremely impatient.

“At the time, I sensed that Hou Junji was harboring other intentions, that he had another goal in mind in his impatience to learn the art of war.”

Su Zhengchen fell quiet for a few moments, as did the entire courtyard. A large scholar tree leaf drifted between the two of them. Finally, Su Zhengchen began to speak once more, with a sigh in his voice that slightly pitied Hou Junji.

“Although I had sensed the disloyalty in Hou Junji’s heart, we were subjects of the same sovereign, and it had been a long time since I had withdrawn from the court, so I did not make known my suspicions. But to my surprise, Hou Junji seemed to suspect something and got ahead of me, exploiting the suspicion the court and society held of me to report to Emperor Taizong that I harbored disloyal intentions. In addition, he reported that when I was teaching him the art of war, I had chosen to keep the essence of my art of war from him1.

“After this incident, I became even more sure of Hou Junji’s disloyal intentions. As expected, later on, Hou Junji started a rebellion. Hou Junji was one of the twenty-four meritorious officials of Lingyan Pavilion, one of His Majesty’s most trusted aides, and a general originating from the Heavenly Tactics Residence, so this rebellion left the entire empire stunned.”

Su Zhengchen stopped here, pausing as he recalled those dusty memories.

Seeing that Su Zhengchen had fallen silent for some time, Wang Chong finally couldn’t help but speak.

“And after that?”

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1.Hou Junji was a general of the Great Tang who led the military campaigns against Gaochang and the Tuyuhun kingdoms. However, he became involved in the then-Crown Prince Li Chengqian’s plans to overthrow his father Emperor Taizong. Li Chengqian had feared that he was losing favor with his father and was about to be replaced as Crown Prince, so he began to plot a rebellion, but he was exposed by one of his personal guards. For this, Li Chengqian was demoted to a commoner and exiled. Hou Junji, for his complicity, was executed, but his wife and children were spared and exiled to the Lingnan Circuit. At some point, the general Li Jing was ordered to teach Hou Junji his military strategy, but Hou Junji complained that Li Jing was only teaching him the basics. Li Jing defended himself by saying that what he taught Hou Junji was enough to deal with barbarians, and if Hou Junji was desiring to learn more, it meant that he had treasonous intentions, though Taizong did not heed this warning at the time.↩