A mediocre emperor would bring decline to a dynasty; Emperor Xiaoding had proved that. An emperor who loved stirring things up would lead his country to destruction; Emperor Li had proved that.
What could an emperor of outstanding talent and grand vision bring to a dynasty?
He would tell everyone that talk of accumulated problems being impossible to reverse, of being powerless to turn back the heavens, was all excuses.
The three-hundred-year dynastic cycle?
Since the next dynasty would still be feudal, why couldn't the man at the helm of the old dynasty found the new one?
Since this world still needed an emperor, why couldn't the new emperor be the old emperor?
Heaven-sent great men did exist. So long as they were capable enough, so long as there was still room to maneuver, they could bring about a restoration!
Emperor Li's actions had wrought calamities like those of Tyrannical Qin. If the next emperor had been like him, the Han Dynasty would certainly have fallen. By then, everyone under heaven would probably have said that the Han Dynasty's accumulated problems were beyond reversal, that no one could have turned back the heavens.
But in truth, keeping a dynasty alive did not require its emperor to control All Under Heaven. He only needed a political base.
For an emperor as capable and resourceful as Liu Xun, finding a political base that could more or less remain loyal was easy. Restoration was by no means a dream.
The thirteenth year of Yuanfeng.
Liu Xun offered sacrifices to the Sage King Sovereign and the spirits of his ancestors.
"I, Xun, was originally a son of the imperial line of scant virtue and unremarkable talent. Yet by following Heaven's teachings, I was able to wield authority over All Xia and inherit the Altars