I am not Ximen Qing.

Song of Climbing Youzhou Terrace

"I see no ancients before me, nor any successors after me. Contemplating the vastness of heaven and earth, I am overwhelmed with sorrow and tears stream down my face!"

Chen Zi'ang regrettably only ascended the Youzhou Terrace; the true greatness of Youzhou lies in the Liaodong land beyond Shanhaiguan Pass. The Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River nurtured all living things born and raised here. The black soil is fertile and nourishing. The nobles of the Shang Dynasty experienced a journey of exile, only briefly mentioned in historical records, perhaps out of reverence for the Zhou Dynasty. These exiled Shang nobles began a new political life on the Korean Peninsula. It's worth emphasizing the importance of this land; through war, life has endured. Emperors Li Shimin and Li Zhi, through the strategies of two emperors, finally consolidated their rule over the strategically vital Liaodong. The Tang Dynasty was glorious, defeating the ambitions of all foreign tribes that coveted Liaodong. History is replete with names like Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, Buyeo, and the Wa people of Japan, their interests and wars intertwined. From Japan to the Korean Peninsula, the great Liaodong was an immense temptation.

Emperor Chongzhen's decision to guard the nation's borders was an inevitable choice of the times, because Nanjing held too many emotions he didn't want to revisit. It was a unique imperial sentiment towards his country. The wheels of history turned, with the Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties rising and falling. Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to choose the most decisive path: to die for the nation, to live as a hero, and to die a valiant ghost. This emperor possessed some of the national integrity of Wen Tianxiang. The Han people had lost the martial spirit of Emperor Wu of Han in his campaigns against the Xiongnu. Zhukov was a Soviet war hero, but Huo Qubing was more deserving of the title of true war god. Emperor Chongzhen must have harbored deep hatred and anger towards Zuo Liangyu. In the Ming Dynasty's time of crisis, the army seemed to selectively disappear; no heroes emerged.

Helen Keller and Chen Yuanyuan in China altered the course of history. Wu Sangui's rage for his beloved Chen Yuanyuan made the emperor's suicide on Coal Hill irrelevant. Wu Sangui became the enraged Menelaus; whether the rebel leader Li Zicheng abducted Chen Yuanyuan or Niu Jinxing tricked her remains a historical mystery. Wu Sangui chose to open the gates of Shanhaiguan, allowing the Later Jin cavalry and Wu Sangui's guards to cooperate and completely crush Li Zicheng's ambitions. Empress Xiaozhuang changed Chinese history; a great Mongol woman who knew how to use her charms, her son Shunzhi became the Chinese emperor after entering the Central Plains. The three brothers Dorgon, Dodo, and Ajige contributed to the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. That period of Chinese humiliation is written in Kong Shangren's "The Peach Blossom Fan," a play that Emperor Kangxi despised. Actors misled the country; a group of scholars, feigning high-mindedness, harmed and humiliated the nation—this historical limitation created the tragedy of the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless, China has never lacked Catherine the Great, nor has it lacked queens like Elizabeth. Consider Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, who made countless men bow down; she deserved to have a blank stele erected—she was China's female emperor. The Tang Dynasty's problem was the problem of Youzhou, the Song Dynasty's problem was also the problem of Youzhou, and the Ming Dynasty's problem was Liaodong. History repeats itself; the Mongol Khanate not only swept across Eurasia, like a great flood destroying the Jin Dynasty, but also the Southern Song Dynasty, which was then relegated to a remote corner. The Later Jin Dynasty later rose again and became the masters of the Forbidden City once more. The Mongol problem that the Ming Dynasty couldn't solve was solved by the Qing Dynasty—a strange irony for the legitimate Ming Empire. The Yan and You regions were strategic locations that even Qin Shi Huang found troublesome; Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin was the final blow by Prince Dan of Yan.

When Chen Zi'ang arrived at Youzhou Terrace, he already sensed a mysterious force. The poet's intuition is sensitive; was this due to the limitations of history? The direction of the Tang Dynasty was outlined in Xuanzang's *Great Tang Records on the Western Regions*, the great Silk Road, where trade determined the direction of foreign development. The problem was that Emperor Xuanzong preferred the Pear Garden (a type of opera troupe) to Qin Shi Huang's tours of Cangwu, Langya, and the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. If Li Longji (Emperor Xuanzong), the ancestor of the Pear Garden, had possessed some ambition and joined Li Bai and Chen Zi'ang in exploring Youzhou, history might have unfolded differently. History has no "what ifs," which is part of its mystery. Qin Shi Huang may have been overconfident; the final glory of his empire after his death was the Terracotta Army buried with him. The martial spirit of the Qin Dynasty could only be embodied in the Terracotta Army. This martial spirit disappeared with the burial of the Terracotta Army; at least Qin Shi Huang preserved a 'reference point' for the material existence of this martial spirit for the Chinese empire. Qin Shi Huang was indeed great; Han Feizi was not to be feared; the burning of books and burying of scholars was merely a facet of history, a matter of historical record. Tyrannical rule is not necessarily terrible. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up in rebellion, proclaiming, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?" The Qin Dynasty collapsed in an instant. Xiang Yu burned down the Epang Palace; the eternal theme of war is not peace but destruction, as Tolstoy reflected in *War and Peace*. The Mongol cavalry brought only physical destruction; the spirit and thought remained. This kind of destruction is not terrible; it can even promote the progress of civilization. The Yuan Dynasty, with its capital city of Dadu, the center of the world, and Marco Polo's voyages a magnificent ode to the west, embodies the glory of the Yuan Empire.

Emperor Yang of Sui's greatness lay in his willingness to risk the fall of his kingdom to wage war against Goguryeo. Emperor Taizong of Tang's greatness lay in his personal campaigns against Goguryeo. Emperor Gaozong of Tang's greatness lay in his conquest of Goguryeo, including the entire Korean Peninsula, ultimately bringing it under the control of the central empire. Empress Wu Zetian's greatness lay in bestowing the surname Wa (倭) upon Japan, a strategically vital region connecting Liaodong to the Korean Peninsula, which had always been a target of Japanese ambitions. The Battle of Baekgang shattered all of Japan's illusions, marking the beginning of friendly relations and submission to the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, completely resolved the Liaodong issue. The strategic vision of the Tang emperors was absolutely far-sighted. The final problem arose with An Lushan and Shi Siming, the military governors of Fanyang in Youzhou. This was an internal systemic issue, a minor flaw that did not overshadow the overall merits. However, the Tang Dynasty's handling of the Liaodong issue was undoubtedly the most brilliant, far surpassing the Ming Dynasty's.