A Pawn's Passage

The evaluation of many historical figures must serve the needs and trends of the current political climate.

For example, when Zhang Yuelu wanted to implement her new policies, she looked through the history books and found that Zhang Suqing, the Chancellor of Jiangling during the previous Wei Dynasty, had also been a reformer. As a result, she had people promote Zhang Suqing’s legacy, downplaying his shortcomings and emphasizing his achievements, thereby building momentum for her own reforms and policies. Consequently, Zhang Suqing’s historical reputation improved significantly.

Even if the reputation of certain historical figures could not easily be changed, they could still be quietly shelved and mentioned as little as possible.

Empress Mingkong was the best example of this.

At the beginning, the Daoist Order highly praised this empress, as they wanted to emphasize equality to break the Confucian system of propriety and moral hierarchy. Although Empress Mingkong herself had not spoken much about equality, she at least had some connection to the idea. Thus, during this period, her reputation remained quite favorable, especially with the Daoist Order’s endorsement. This was when the Daoist Order and the Buddhist Sect were allies and had maintained relatively good relations.

Therefore, historical issues such as Empress Mingkong promoting Buddhism while suppressing Daoism, or forcing Daoist priests to shave their heads and become monks, were treated as minor matters and left unmentioned. Anyone who brought them up was accused of damaging Buddhist-Daoist relations and lacking a sense of the greater picture.

Later, the Confucian School submitted, and the Buddhist Sect became the Daoist Order’s principal enemy.

At that point, the conflict between the Daoist Order and the Confucian School became secondary, while the conflict between the Daoist Order and the Buddhist Sect became the principal contradiction. As a result, issues of equality no longer mattered much, while promoting Buddhism and suppressing Daoism became a matter of fundamental right and wrong.

Consequently, Empress Mingkong’s reputation took a sharp turn for the worse, transforming her from a champion of equality into an anti-Daoist figure.

Radicals within the Daoist Order, joined by radicals from the Confucian School, nearly dug up Empress Mingkong’s tomb. The Daoist Order condemned her for promoting Buddhism while suppressing Daoism, for disrespecting the Primordial Daoist Ancestor, and for being an enemy of Daoism. The Confucian School likewise joined in the reckoning, dredging up all the failures of her reign, like the fierce civil wars, more defeats than victories in foreign conflicts, and the loss of vast territories.

Even today, within the Daoist Order’s dominant system of historical evaluation, Empress Mingkong’s reputation was overall negative. This was because the Buddhist Sect remains one of the Daoist Order’s greatest concerns. As long as Buddhism continues to pose a threat, Empress Mingkong’s reputation would not recover.

Even though female Daoists wielded considerable influence within the Daoist Order, they still dared not touch the issue of Empress Mingkong too much. This was because the Daoist-Buddhist conflict remained one of the greatest political issues within the Daoist Order. Anyone who touched it would be courting disaster. Anyone who tried to use the smaller issue of gender equality to challenge the larger issue of Daoist-Buddhist rivalry was effectively cutting themselves off from the Daoist Order.

This is what it meant to grasp the principal contradiction.

The beginning of Empress Mingkong’s usurpation of the Li family’s throne started when a monk fabricated the four-volume Great Cloud Sutra, which proclaimed that the future Empress Mingkong was the incarnation of Maitreya.

In essence, this was an opportunistic move by the Buddhist Sect, catering to Empress Mingkong’s desire to seize the throne. Empress Mingkong relied upon Buddhist support to suppress the Daoist Order’s influence and ultimately succeeded in her usurpation.

On this point, the Li family would never support Empress Mingkong. Although the current Li family claimed descent from the imperial Li clan, Empress Mingkong’s direct descendants had long since died out.

Moreover, the Li family operated under one fundamental premise—they were the descendants of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor first and only secondarily descendants of the imperial Li clan.

The Li family also understood how to identify the principal contradiction. Their various claims to legitimacy derived from the Primordial Daoist Ancestor and the Holy Xuan, not from the imperial Li clan.

However, the Buddhist Sect was not some selfless benefactor. The price had been marked from the very beginning.

Immediately after ascending the throne, Empress Mingkong declared that the Buddhist teaching opened the path to revolution and stood above Daoism. She even donated imperial assets to Buddhism and continuously built Buddhist temples and pagodas that housed Buddhist statues. Due to this, thousands of laborers were employed daily, and expenses reached into the billions, exhausting the imperial treasury. She even forced Daoist priests to shave their heads and convert into monks.

In summary, Empress Mingkong and the Buddhist Sect each obtained what they wanted from the arrangement.

Thus, the moment Qi Xuansu heard this, he understood. The key issue was not that Unulatu wanted to add her last name to the royal family name. The real issue was that she had gained the support of the ancient gods.

Empress Mingkong allied herself with the Buddhist Sect, suppressed the Daoist Order, and successfully rose to power. She then repaid Buddhism by elevating it to the foremost position among the Three Religions.

Now it was merely the same story in a different setting. Unulatu was colluding with the ancient gods in order to seize power. If she succeeded, she would reward the ancient gods in exactly the same way that Empress Mingkong had rewarded the Buddhist Sect.

Naturally, Qi Xuansu could not remain indifferent. “Do you have any substantive evidence?”

Huangfu Ji said, “If there were evidence, there would be no need to trouble you.”

Qi Xuansu nodded. “Right. When dealing with internal matters involving certain insiders, one must always have proper justification and a legitimate basis. People must be convinced both in reason and in their hearts.”

Unulatu was plotting to seize power in Tawantin, not to stage a coup within the Western Daoist Order. It was much like internal strife breaking out within one of the Great Xuan Empire’s vassal states. As the suzerain state, the Great Xuan Court could choose to intervene or remain uninvolved, each option carrying its own advantages and drawbacks. Similarly, the Western Daoist Order had not yet reached the point where extraordinary circumstances required extraordinary measures. It preferred to resolve the matter through conventional means rather than resorting directly to violent suppression. After all, while violent suppression was simple, it often left many future troubles behind.

This was precisely where Huangfu Ji found himself in a difficult position.

Qi Xuansu then fell into brief contemplation.

For Qi Xuansu, the situation was gradually returning to a realm with which he was far more familiar—people pitting against each other. He much preferred this to unraveling mysteries involving supernatural forces and bizarre phenomena.

The current situation was that Unulatu had formidable power because of the backing of the ancient gods. This naturally linked her to the Shadow Tide and the Heron Society.

A vague outline gradually began to take shape.

Kukulkan should be a supporter of the Tawantin royal family. When the Western Daoist Order facilitated the merger of the three great empires, it specifically established that the current royal family had converted to the faith of Kukulkan rather than some vaguely defined Sun God. The Western Daoist Order’s position in this arrangement was similar to that of the Confucian School in earlier eras.

During Confucian rule, emperors could believe in Buddhism or Daoism as they pleased. The Confucian School did not interfere with the emperor’s personal faith. In the end, however, the empire was still governed through Confucian principles. As a beneficiary of the existing order, Kukulkan had no reason to replace the current emperor.

Now that certain ancient gods were supporting Unulatu’s attempt to seize power, those ancient gods were most likely opponents of Kukulkan.

The internal conflict among the ancient gods had expanded into the Tawantin Court.

Qi Xuansu could not help but consider a question. Could the Daoist Order take advantage of this opportunity and reap the benefits from this struggle? Could it deal with both factions of ancient gods at once?

During the earlier deliberations at the Golden Tower Council, the efforts of Sage Donghua’s faction had effectively established the Western Daoist Order’s leading role in the Southern Continent. However, in the subsequent discussions, that same faction had made concessions and explicitly endorsed strengthening the Daoist Order’s control over the Tawantin Court.

These two positions were not contradictory. The Western Daoist Order and the Tawantin Court were not one and the same. Their relationship resembled that between the Fenglin Daoist Mansion and Chancellor Toyotomi’s Office. In practice, the Western Daoist Order played the role of a Daoist Mansion, but of course, it was vastly more powerful than any other ordinary Daoist Mansion and possessed tremendous autonomy. It was not required to obey every command from the Golden Tower Council, and the Golden Tower likewise respected its views.

The Tawantin Court naturally filled the role of a local government, much like the Yu Kingdom, Funan Kingdom, and so on. When the Daoist Order called for greater control over the Tawantin Court, the Western Daoist Order had little reason to strongly object or support it. As always, there was still a distinction between them. The Western Daoist Order relied upon the Daoist Order for support and assistance and had spent years discussing the matter of formally rejoining the Daoist Order. When necessary, it had to make concessions. Even so, the Western Daoist Order was not particularly enthusiastic about the matter. After all, this was its own territory, and it had no desire for the Daoist Order to extend its reach too deeply into local affairs.

Qi Xuansu withdrew his thoughts. “Of course, we should resolve this issue through normal channels. However, while the chance may be small, we must prepare for the worst. If the situation develops beyond expectations and we are forced to employ certain necessary measures, we must know ourselves and our enemy.”

The implication behind those words was perfectly clear.

For the situation to develop beyond expectations, it meant that someone had decided to stop following the rules and intended to overturn the entire chessboard altogether. The necessary measures meant using force to suppress those who refused to play by the rules.

If force had to be employed, then it was no different from waging war. Only by knowing oneself and one’s enemy could one emerge victorious in every battle.

Huangfu Ji did not respond. He had never paid much attention to the Tawantin Court. He had a clear list of priorities. First came the Steam Evangelical Sect, then the ancient gods, and only afterward the Tawantin Court. Even within the Tawantin Court, the military ranked ahead of the royal family in terms of importance.

He neither knew much about Unulatu nor thought highly of her. It was evident from the way he addressed Huangfu Xi that he had always regarded her as a younger sister than a Tawantin princess. If Unulatu and Huangfu Xi were evenly matched, then how formidable could Unulatu really be? Thus, for quite some time, Huangfu Ji had viewed the rivalry between Unulatu and Huangfu Xi as little more than child’s play. Had Huangfu Xi not informed him that the ancient gods were involved, he would never have stepped forward to help.

Huangfu Xi said, “What I know is also quite limited. However, one thing is certain. The Heron Society supports Unulatu, and Unulatu secretly worships the Moon Goddess Ixchel.”

Qi Xuansu frowned. “The Western Daoist Order stipulates that members of the royal family must worship Kukulkan. Does the Emperor know about this?”

Huangfu Xi sighed. “The Emperor certainly knows. Unulatu simply persuaded him. She argued that the Central Plains emphasize the balance of yin and yang. Men are yang and women are yin. The sun is yang and the moon is yin. Likewise, the Emperor is yang and the Empress is yin. Therefore, the Emperor should worship the Sun God, while the Empress should worship the Moon Goddess. The Emperor thought it sounded quite reasonable and agreed.”

Qi Xuansu said, “In my opinion, the Emperor must have lost his senses.”