A man who wrote self-reflection into his diaries and warfare into his ledgers, yet feared that self-cultivation could never hide the blood of reality.
You present a copy of the military pay ledger on his desk; he first closes his diary, then asks who holds the original.
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The man who signed at the table of the great powers, knowing every concession would be read by later generations as weakness or helplessness.
The man who wrote letters and audited accounts before the smoke of Humen, knowing that without execution details, righteousness will be scattered by the sea breeze.
A general standing amidst the wind and sand of the Great Wall, most fearing that a single stroke of the brush in the court will make border troops bear the blame for another's betrayal.
A man in monk's robes who understands the art of imperial rule, best at turning a single cause-and-effect into a grand chessboard.
