"Martial arts of the dynasty, martial arts of mountains and rivers, martial arts of the Military School, martial arts of the individual..."
As he mulled over these rankings, delight spread ever more clearly across the Tang Household man's face.
"Then it seems the rumors were by no means without cause. If I can obtain the two Original Editions hidden within the Imperial Palace, as well as the one written by Qiu Residence, and combine the three into one, perhaps I may truly find that immense opportunity!"
The two Original Editions from the royal secret collection that he spoke of were precisely the first two parts of the Essentials of the Military Classics written by Qiu Yan. After returning to the Central Lands from the Northern Frontier Grasslands, they had been solemnly stored away by the imperial court as a show of their importance.
Strictly speaking, however, only the first part, The Discipline Section, had truly been collected in the royal secret archives. It was a proper book and naturally easy to store, whereas the following portion was a map recording the geography of the frontier. It was therefore hung in the air for the emperor's viewing.
This map possessed the standing of a Human Dao Canon. It was no less remarkable than the Ten-Thousand-Mile Rivers and Mountains Map kept in the Imperial Study. Moreover, as time passed, the emperor and several high-ranking ministers discovered that whenever news arrived from the borderlands—whether from the Northern Frontier or the Southern Border—once it entered this place, the information would be absorbed by the map and displayed through corresponding changes upon its surface. Its wondrous uses were inexhaustible. During this time, the imperial court had also mobilized its power to collect this portion's Original Edition. Yet unlike the first two parts, the third could