Chapter Ninety-Six: The Far Western Lands

“So impressive!”

Everyone gazed at Mo Dun in awe, as if staring at some kind of monster.

“I want to learn! I want to learn the Lightning Mental Calculation!” The little boy Li Zhi’s eyes sparkled. With such swift calculations, wouldn’t his homework become effortless? He could save so much time to play!

“Ninth Prince, don’t be hasty. Lightning Mental Calculation demands extensive practice and a solid foundation in mathematics. I trained for three years before achieving minor mastery,” Mo Dun’s words cruelly shattered Li Zhi’s dreams.

“Three years to reach minor mastery?” Several princes immediately lost interest in learning it. Even Li Shimin looked somewhat disappointed. Unlike others, princes had too much to study; ordinary calculation methods sufficed, and there was no need to devote so much time to this.

“Alas!”

Li Zhi was instantly crestfallen; his little face drooped. He was the youngest and had the weakest grasp of mathematics, and now even the shortcut was blocked.

Mo Dun, seeing Li Zhi’s disappointed expression, felt a pang of sympathy. Suddenly, he caught sight of the counting rods in Wei Zheng’s hands and had an idea: “Actually, besides Lightning Mental Calculation, there are simpler methods, such as Abacus Mental Calculation using counting rods, and the most basic Finger Calculation.”

“Abacus Mental Calculation, Finger Calculation!” Li Shimin frowned, casting a suspicious look at Mo Dun.

He could understand Abacus Mental Calculation, but what was Finger Calculation? Was Mo Dun trying to turn all the princes into fortune-tellers? Although the royal family claimed descent from the great sages, they had no intention of becoming charlatans.

What prince would do his homework by counting on his fingers? Who could tell if he was actually calculating or just guessing?

Mo Dun hurried to explain, “When young children first encounter mathematics, they often count with their fingers. Finger Calculation builds upon that, improving both accuracy and speed. It’s most suitable for beginners.”

Mo Dun demonstrated a few techniques for Finger Calculation, and after Li Zhi tried it, he easily solved several problems he had thought difficult. His face instantly lit up with joy—this method suited him, and those tricky questions could now be solved in a breeze.

As for Li Ke and the other princes, they chose Abacus Mental Calculation. Unexpectedly, Li Chengqian and Li Tai opted for the most difficult Lightning Mental Calculation.

At this moment, Mo Dun finally noticed something about the two and, recalling the rumors about them in later generations, wisely kept silent.

Everyone had gained what they wanted. With a wave of Li Shimin’s hand, the princes dispersed like birds and beasts, Li Zhi running the fastest.

Mo Dun also wished to leave, but Li Shimin hadn’t dismissed him, clearly not ready to let him go. As Li Chengqian departed, he gave Mo Dun a helpless expression, leaving without a trace of loyalty.

“You’re quite capable of stirring things up, aren’t you? Just a visit to a brothel, and you’ve managed to cause a citywide sensation! Now all of Chang’an is singing your praises, Mo Dun.” Li Shimin’s face remained emotionless, but Mo Dun’s heart skipped a beat. Wasn’t it agreed that winning meant no further reckoning? Why the sudden change of heart? Was there no integrity left between people?

“Mo Dun the Decathlete. I’ve heard tales myself!” Wei Zheng, ever unkind, chose this moment to add fuel to the fire.

“Decathlete?” Mo Dun frowned. Who had bestowed him such a title? That was setting him up for failure.

“Well… actually, I have many shortcomings!” Mo Dun muttered, trying to play it down.

“Hmph! At least you know how to be modest!” Li Shimin snorted, gazing at Mo Dun with a mixture of helplessness and exasperation. The boy had talent and ability, but never stayed quiet; wherever he went, he caused a stir.

“The Mo family lay dormant for a thousand years, and all they produced was you, a slacker!” Li Shimin said with displeasure.

“Your Majesty, the Mo family’s thousand-year dormancy was merely a period of scholarly devotion. What I’ve learned is but the surface.” Mo Dun replied solemnly.

Li Shimin nodded, seemingly casually, “I hear these numerals originated in India. So the Mo family sages must have traveled there. Our dynasty also sent a high monk to India for the true scriptures. Reports from the frontier say that Master Xuanzang has already passed through the Western Regions. I wonder if the Mo family sages experienced the same and recorded anything about those lands?” Li Shimin asked.

Mo Dun finally understood Li Shimin’s intent—he was aiming for the Western Regions!

Mo Dun shook his head, replying, “Your Majesty, the journey through the Western Regions is long. Master Xuanzang may need four years to reach India, but the Mo family sages entered via the Tibetan Plateau and took only one year. On their return, to avoid high-altitude sickness among their followers, they chose the sea route, reaching Lingnan in just over half a year.”

“They took a different route!” Li Shimin and Wei Zheng exchanged glances.

“Perhaps Master Xuanzang chose the most arduous path to demonstrate his sincerity,” Mo Dun, influenced by tales of the monk’s eighty-one tribulations, offered his own answer.

Buddhist tradition holds hardship in high regard, so Li Shimin wasn’t suspicious and nodded in agreement.

“Could it be that the new painting technique which captivated Yan Liben also comes from India?” Wei Zheng asked.

Mo Dun shook his head. “Sir Wei, you may not know, but this new painting technique does not originate from India, but from the far west, beyond India.”

“The far west? Persia?” Li Shimin searched his memory for the great nations to the west.

Mo Dun shook his head. “It comes from a region west of Persia, an empire whose territory rivals that of our Tang dynasty.”

“Impossible!” Li Shimin and Wei Zheng exclaimed.

In their understanding, China had always been the center of the world, the greatest nation on earth. And now Mo Dun was claiming there was another empire as mighty as the Tang?

Mo Dun steeled himself, “I too could scarcely believe such a powerful state existed, but according to the Mo family sages, China’s civilization is merely one among several. There are three other cultural hearths as ancient as ours: India is one, Persia another, and the empire in the far west is the third.”

Li Shimin and Wei Zheng struggled to accept this. With Persia and India’s cultures well known, the appearance of another was surprising.

“Unlike China, India, and Persia, where wars and dynastic changes are frequent, the empire in the far west has lasted fifteen hundred years since its founding. Its flourishing culture, intact and rich, is unimaginable, and the new painting technique is just a trivial part of it,” Mo Dun painted a vast world for Li Shimin and Wei Zheng, overturning their perceptions.

“Fifteen hundred years!” Li Shimin was astonished.

Chinese dynasties changed often; the longest, the Han, lasted only four centuries. Li Shimin was confident he could match any emperor, but he had no assurance that the Tang would outlast the Han.

If he could obtain the secret of the far western empire’s fifteen-hundred-year endurance, the significance for the Li dynasty would be monumental.