Pan Yu knew his own shortcomings and decided to train diligently in martial arts, study military texts, and drill deployments.
The Ming Dynasty and the Oirats were bound to fight a war someday. Only then could they wash away their humiliation, intimidate the four directions once more, and establish their position as the suzerain state.
For military officers, advancement could only come through military merit.
Pan Yu was like this, and Pan Yue worked even harder than he did, immersing himself in all manner of books and case files every day.
The case files were all old cases and could be read as historical materials.
There was no helping it. He had not yet entered the Hanlin Academy and could not borrow this Dynasty's historical records, so he could only glimpse the events of the past through case files.
The case files contained a great deal of information. Unlike historical materials that had already reached conclusions, they required him to uncover and summarize things himself.
Struggles of interest, factions, shifts in the imperial will, and the benefits or shortcomings of national policies—all were laid bare within them.
Unfortunately, his father could no longer obtain more confidential case files. He was actually more interested in the major cases from the Hongwu era. He had a premonition that many of the diseased roots were hidden within them.
Though he had never seen those case files, his father's accounts had told him that the Ming Dynasty had many diseased roots. The largest had been buried at the very beginning of the dynasty's founding.
Younger Sister wanted reform. Some diseased roots could be healed with medicine, while others had to be cut away with a blade so they could never grow again.
Medicine could no longer heal them.
All Pan Yue could do was