In the second year of Opening Peace, the King of Liang sent the chancellor to lead an army of thirty thousand north on campaign. They won a sweeping victory and slew the King of Gold.
In the third year of Opening Peace, the chancellor fell gravely ill and returned to Goldstone to recuperate.
That same year, King Xiao Liang of Liang ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, taking the title "Human Emperor." He did not offer sacrifices to Heaven and simultaneously abolished the title "Son of Heaven."
In the fourth year of Opening Peace, Chancellor Void Spirit Master gradually withdrew into seclusion, entrusting state affairs to Cao Man, Fan Jin, Tai Chong, Tai He, Tai Yin, and the others.
In the fifth year of Opening Peace, Tang Xun led the Liang army in capturing the Great Song capital. They campaigned north against the Kingdom of Gold, taking the young king, the Empress Dowager, and more than ten thousand royals and nobles captive, and presented the prisoners at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. A host of rising generals, such as Si Yunming and Zheng Fang, began to emerge, while civil officials like Zhang Jushi and Lu Xiaoyi likewise began to distinguish themselves.
In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth year of Opening Peace.
After more than a decade of great turmoil, the realm had finally been pacified once more. Its territory was several tenths larger than that of the former Great Song. The state remained known as "Liang," with its capital established at Goldstone.
Xiao Liang was eighteen as well, already an adult by ancient standards.
Chancellor Void Spirit Master therefore returned authority to His Majesty, and Xiao Liang began ruling personally. He granted Void Spirit Master the title of Imperial Preceptor. Following Xiao Liang's precedents, Cao