The Great Evolution Demon Tome

Readers of history often pause in surprise when they come across this passage. The triumphant return from the Northern Campaign in the twenty-seventh year of Dayan’s Yong’an reign was more magnificent than anything seen since the dynasty was founded. Later historians filled three whole volumes of the Daily Records with the event, yet in the end left only this cold appraisal: “War is a weapon of ill omen, which a sage uses only when there is no other choice. His Majesty has squandered the people’s strength for one man’s pleasure and the Grand Canal to accommodate one ship’s excess. The treasury lies empty, while troubles on the frontier persist.” It was autumn in the twenty-seventh year of Dayan’s Yong’an reign.