Chapter 664 - 105: When Prosperity Peaks, Decline Follows; After My Flowers Bloom, All Others Wither!
In the silent room, Gu Yi quietly watched everything.
Only after a long time did he return to the bed and picked up the game console once more.
At the instant his pupils aligned with the screen.
The familiar scene before him rippled like the surface of water, then turned to darkness.
The next moment—
As his vision restored, the familiar top-down view unfolded before his eyes.
And myriad memories in that instant merged into Gu Yi’s mind.
....
The great currents of the world, long divided must unite, long united must divide.
In reality, it was merely a momentary flicker of time.
Yet within this game, nearly twenty years had passed since Gu Xuan’s passing.
For the Gu Clan, twenty years was but a blink of an eye, hardly worth mentioning.
But for an individual, and even for the entire Great Tang Dynasty, these twenty years marked the end of an era.
Li Yu had long since passed away.
As a ruler who preserved rather than expanded, he ultimately restrained his true desires.
Even after Gu Xuan’s passing, he did not, like many emperors, chase after elusive feats but did his utmost to maintain the court dynamics, leveraging the Gu Clan’s influence to affect the entire Great Tang.
—Indeed, it was by leveraging the Gu Clan’s influence.
Though Gu Xuan was gone, the impact he left behind would not vanish suddenly.
Especially with Li Yu’s intention of heavily utilizing the talents of the Gu Clan’s descendants.
Even if the Gu Clan’s talents were lacking, the position of Grand Tutor remained steady.
Relying on the prestige left behind by Gu Xuan, the deficiencies in the Gu Clan’s talents were gradually overshadowed, thus bringing the Great Tang to a true zenith.
Alas, things don’t always go as people wish.
Gu Xuan would leave the world, and Li Yu was no exception.
Despite Li Yu’s efforts to pave the way for the future, attempting to foster good relations between the Crown Prince and the Gu Clan to avoid repeating history, this was ultimately unavoidable.
At its core—
The Gu Clan wielding power would inevitably infringe upon imperial authority; and imperial authority, by nature, is indivisible.
Even knowing the Gu Clan held no rebellious intentions, many emperors found it difficult to fully embrace them.
This is the inevitability of history and human nature.
Although the historical outcomes are laid plain.
These individuals would still see themselves as the most exceptional.
And when this begins to occur... coupled with the severe lack of talent within the Gu Clan, there would be no turning back.
In response, Gu Yi did not show much reaction, merely opening the "family information," looking carefully at the attributes of each generation, and then gently sighed.
—Indeed, the family constraints remained.
In that moment, Gu Yi suppressed his desire to control once more, and could only silently watch everything unfold from the void.
....
Time flies, years change.
In Luoyang, before the palace gates.
The twenty-fourth Patriarch of the Gu Clan, Gu Jian, stood resolutely, his face full of determination.
"Grand Tutor..." An eunuch anxiously persuaded in front of him, "Why put yourself through this?"
"The Emperor intends to establish achievement and this is indeed a blessing for our Great Tang."
"Why must you obstruct and provoke the Emperor’s displeasure?"
Gu Jian turned a deaf ear, merely clutching tightly the memorial in his hand, his figure unmoving.
Now, the Emperor’s mantle of the Great Tang had passed to Li Yu’s grandson, Li Song.
The estrangement between the imperial family and the Gu Clan was increasingly evident.
Li Shu in his time would still have considerations for the Gu Clan, but now Li Song, ever since ascending the throne, showed no favorable disposition at all and made it clear he intended to reclaim all authority.
It was now evident.
The ongoing development of maritime trade was destined to breed many pirates, a problem past emperors addressed with rigorous oversight and collaborated with the Ryukyu navy in suppression efforts.
Yet Li Song intended to mobilize the military in grand style this time.
Anyone could see what he was aiming at.
He was eyeing Ryukyu.
Actually, the relationship between Ryukyu and the Great Tang was extremely complex; Li Chengqian’s past refusal to declare himself Emperor ensured that Ryukyu always remained within Tang Territory.
But separated by an expanse of ocean from Kyushu, many issues inevitably surfaced.
Of course—
The most critical among them was still the Gu Clan.
Do not forget, now within Ryukyu the influence of the Gu Clan was at its zenith.
Li Song making such a decisive move at this juncture was clearly targeting the Gu Clan.
The reason Gu Jian advised against this was equally simple, as the current days of the Great Tang were no better, and one absolutely could not proceed in such an ostentatious manner.
Yes, they were indeed difficult.
Gu Xuan did secure a century of peace for the Great Tang, shielding it from external threats.
But unavoidable issues still existed in plenty.
For instance... changes in bureaucratic governance.
The lack of talent would eventually show, and when the court kept changing with even the attitude of the Emperor shifting dramatically.
There would be those who would test the Gu Clan.
And once everyone realized that the Gu Clan was not as invulnerable as imagined.
The Gu Clan’s status in court would quickly be affected, even implicating the entire Imperial Censorate, further spreading to the entire Tang Territory.
But this was just the foundation.
The most crucial issue still lay in natural disasters....
This is something no era could ever evade.
No matter how powerful the Great Tang was, under years of consecutive natural disasters, it would all become an apparent strength, but filled with crises in reality.
The Gu Clan indeed had influence.
But the Ryukyu navy was not under the Gu Clan’s control.
Li Song making this decision now was highly likely to bring about uncontrollable consequences.
How could Gu Jian not urge restraint?
Yet such actions were ultimately futile.