[Seeing that you did not believe him, Chen Jing explained the full course of this struggle over the rightful rule of the Central Plains.]
[To explain this matter clearly, one first had to understand one thing.]
[In truth, the Five Domains were unified in principle.]
[The two capitals and eighteen provinces of the Central Plains were directly governed by the imperial court.]
[The tribes of the Northern Territory, the Hundred Nations of the Southern Border, the three kingdoms of Western Liang, and even the sparsely populated Eastern Wilderness were theoretically all vassals or loosely governed territories of the Central Plains court.]
[During certain dynasties, these regions beyond the Central Plains had even been incorporated into the court's directly governed territory.]
[However, by the Yongcheng era, imperial authority had weakened, powerful ministers controlled the court, and the dynasty had essentially lost its ability to govern the lands beyond the borders of the Central Plains.]
[After Emperor Yongcheng died, Emperor Longzhi, who had newly ascended the throne, directly became a puppet emperor, utterly unable to interfere in state affairs.]
[The dynasty's power to intimidate the surrounding lands grew even weaker.]
[This was what led to Western Liang refusing tribute and the Southern Border rebelling.]
["The Northern Territory has still paid tribute every year. The five hundred thousand cattle and sheep required annually for the imperial clan's ancestral rites have never been short by a single head.]
[So Fourth Brother, the Northern Territory has been loyal to Dagan!"]
["Then why did Big Brother still send troops to attack the Central Plains?"]
["To purge the evil at the emperor's side!"]
[After those three words were spoken, both you and Big Brother could not help but laugh.]
[Yet the truth was always stranger than fiction. The Northern Territory really was purging the evil at the