The Imperial Tutor's Prisoner

Shen Yan, tutor to the deposed crown prince, has spent three years in exile at the frontier. Shackled and waiting to die.

On the night rebel forces breach the city, General Huo Changfeng holds a knife to his throat, intending to kill him as a sacrifice to rally the troops. Shen Yan looks up. “General, you misquoted ‘When Qin lost the deer’ in your proclamation. You've been in rebellion for three months and still haven't even spotted the deer.”

Huo Changfeng lowers his blade. “You taught the crown prince for fifteen years, and he turned out a dead man. Teach me how to stay alive, and you live. Fail, and you die.”

Three years later, Huo Changfeng stands outside the capital's walls. The gray-black gates are shut, and there is no banner above them. He reins in his horse and looks back along the road. “I've seen enough. Let's go back.”

A thousand miles away, Shen Yan sits in an empty camp, clutching a piece of grass rope. He winds it twice without tying a knot, waiting for someone who can see those walls to return and tell him the color of the road.

One copy of Zizhi Tongjian teaches two generations of emperors. One ledger brings down a dynasty. One imperial tutor, half a volume of unofficial history.

Note: Set in a purely fictional historical world, with no transmigration and no System. All classical texts are adapted to the setting of this fictional world.