From the son of a “cannibal” outside Luoyang to the founding emperor entombed among the imperial mausoleums of Mangshan, he spent his whole life making that journey. It began on the night his mother was sold, in a winter long ago. It began with a bowl of porridge a child never got to drink. And it ended the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. On the walls of Yunzhou, he burned the imperial edict and swore a bloody oath, driving back the Khitan cavalry. He took Hedong, seized the Hetao region, secured Guanzhong, pacified Bashu, established his capital at Luoyang, and founded the Great Xia. He created a cabinet, established garrisons, and founded the Embroidered Uniform Guard to keep officials in check. He introduced the single-whip tax reform, assessed land tax by household, and made officials and gentry pay taxes just like everyone else. He wanted more than to unite the realm. He wanted to tear up the roots of an age that devoured its own people. “I rose from among the cannibalized. I only hope there will never be another such victim under Heaven.”
