[Dear Mr. Black, hello.]
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You were right. Grindelwald's outlook was too narrow.
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On the subject of the greatest emperors in world history, you scornfully tore into the four rulers I proposed: Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander, and Hannibal.
You also rejected Constantine and others who united religious and political authority.
You admired only the First Emperor of China in the East.
This past week, I read many English translations of Chinese history. I even had someone visit the British Museum to make rubbings of rare surviving texts passed down from China, containing things absent from China's official records.
After reading and studying them carefully, I discovered that you were right.
Europe never had a Qin Shi Huang.
Even though Napoleon once came close to unifying Europe's lands, he never united the hearts of its peoples.
Europe's many nations, large and small, do indeed reflect the absence of a visionary leader in its history who could fundamentally eliminate the cultural barriers in people's hearts.
Beyond that, I deeply admire the First Emperor's breadth of vision and magnanimity, even though he was a Muggle emperor.
And not merely for contributions such as standardizing writing and cart axle widths.
To keep the China he had forged united, the First Emperor stationed two hundred thousand elite troops against the Northern Xiongnu and five hundred thousand to defend Southern China. Yet the seat of power in the Central Plains had no troops available, allowing petty villains to usurp the nation and strut about. The fall of Qin was truly a pity.
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Lately, I have been struggling a little with the Discourse on the Six States you recommended, though I have still learned much from its uneven translation.
Forgive a lonely old man who has lived in isolation for too long and is slow to