Chapter 676 — The Legacy
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Mei Hengpernia's words made Gao Yang raise an eyebrow despite himself. "The Age of Empires... that's a rather incisive way to put it."
"To witness this turning point in history is one of the greatest rewards of my coming to this continent," the agent said with a smile. "A most extraordinary 'coronation'—it lacked the opulence and grandeur I had imagined, yet it left a deeper impression than I could have expected. Your ceremony will be remembered by many, of that I am certain."
Gao Yang set his sword down properly and came to sit at the desk. "Things like coronations are meant for other people's eyes to begin with, so naturally they need to leave an impression."
Mei Heng gave no assent or dissent; she merely stepped forward twice and laid a stack of manuscripts on Gao Song's desk.
"You've read it?" Gao Yang glanced at the manuscripts. "It seems... you have something you want to say?"
"Frankly, I underestimated this 'knowledge' you spoke of," Mei Heng said evenly. "I find it hard to put a price on it, and... I am not certain I truly ought to accept this 'commission' of yours."
Gao Yang looked at her quietly for two seconds, then spoke. "You don't understand why I want to leave this thing behind?"
"You attempt to teach people how to tell whether your empire is running as it should, and advise them to overthrow it once it has rotted—you even leave behind a detailed procedure and method of operation," Mei Heng said, meeting Gao Song's gaze, those pale violet eyes profound as a bottomless well. "No one in their right mind would do such a thing, yet no one out of their mind could have written these things. So I am curious... what is your reason for doing this?"
"First, let me correct one point. I have merely written down the knowledge I possess; there is nothing commanding or prescriptive in it. Even if a person, after reading the chapter 'The Nature of the State and Class,' begins to question the structure of the Cecil Empire, that stems from their own awakening, not from any emperor's decree," Gao Xi said slowly. "Second, my reason is simple enough—to give myself an accounting."
Mei Heng blinked. "To give yourself an accounting?"
Gao Yang did not answer at once. Instead he laid a hand on the stack of manuscripts and idly turned the pages.
Between the turning leaves, several chapter titles surfaced: *The Emergence of the Nobility and the Changes They Must Inevitably Undergo*; *How the Means of Production Are Seized*; *The Nature of the State and Class*; *Why You Go Hungry*; *Empire, Bread, Guns*...
His finger stopped at the final section, where large handwritten letters formed a sentence whose grammar might seem somewhat strange to the people of this world: *Are kings and nobles and generals born to their station?*
"As you said, the Age of Empires has begun," he said at last, lifting his head to look at Mei Heng. "And I began it with my own hands.
"True, it was civil war and the crystal cluster monsters that buried the old kingdom. But as a long-time observer, you must have seen clearly by now that civil war and monsters buried only the skin of the old kingdom. What will truly bury that society of royal power is Cecil's industrial society and imperial order. War can scatter an army, but armies can be rebuilt. Only a wholly new social order and more advanced productive forces can thoroughly supplant the old order at the fundamental level of social structure and relations of production—and the result is the Age of Empires.
"The Age of Empires is superior to the Age of Kingdoms; of that there is no doubt. But I am well aware—and surely you are too—that in the end it will go bad...