After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1284: Chapter 1251: Public Opinion

They believe in Buddha, believe in the Dao, believe in themselves, and of course believe in gods and ghosts. "You say Guo Pu is just putting on a show, pretending to be a mystic? That’s your own ignorance talking—you’re not qualified to glimpse Heaven’s secrets. He can annotate the Book of Changes, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, The Chronicle of King Mu, Songs of Chu, and Dialects. People like you probably aren’t even qualified to look at the covers, are you?"

"He eats by his real skills, he’s not like those charlatan fangshi outside who mess around doing nonsense!"

"Y-you don’t insult people. Who says we haven’t read the Book of Changes?"

"You’ve read it, but can you understand it?"

The other man choked; he really couldn’t understand it. Precisely because he didn’t understand, he didn’t believe it!

Although the "solar eclipse prediction" was just a tiny article wedged in a corner, eclipses were so frightening, and there were so many people talking about it, that even commoners who couldn’t read the paper and didn’t go to teahouses for tea heard about it. The streets buzzed with debate.

Zhao Hanzhang then wrote quite a few little popular-science notes on eclipses and had them sent to the official gazette, one a day. They didn’t take up much space, but were eye-catching enough.

Of course, she couldn’t explain things in too much detail, so after two brief science pieces, she started throwing in historical records.

The eclipse records from the Han Dynasty were particularly complete. In later generations, many records were lost to time and war, but now it had only been a little over a hundred years since the Han had fallen.

Although many of the books and records preserved in the Imperial Court had already been lost, it was a coincidence that all the records concerning eclipses had survived.

Zhao Hanzhang had Zhao Yunxin copy them out and sent them straight to be printed in the gazette.

So the commoners who went to teahouses to listen to storytellers read the gazette would let out a cry from time to time. Curious scholars began counting. By the time they reached the twenty‑eighth day of the first month, the gazette finally finished publishing the Han Dynasty eclipse records. "Just in the Han alone there are a hundred and thirty‑two eclipse records—are these real or fake?"

"It was over a hundred years ago. Even the oldest among us couldn’t have lived that long. How could we possibly know?"

As for the court’s documents and records, only relevant officials could see them. Never mind illiterate commoners—even literate scholars rarely had the chance to lay eyes on them.

Information had always been controlled by only a few people.

"I just don’t know when this eclipse is supposed to happen. Since they’ve put a notice in the paper, it must be soon, right?"

"But it’s been over twenty days, and we haven’t seen any eclipse. Maybe the prediction is wrong?"

"Stop talking nonsense. I can tell from one sentence your studies aren’t solid. Eclipses only happen on the first day of the month. How could there be one in these twenty‑odd days?" That man said, "If there is really going to be an eclipse, it’ll be either on the first of the second month or the first of the third month. Any further than that, even if Guo Shenxian is that skilled, he still wouldn’t be able to calculate it, right?"

These words spread, and so everyone began waiting for the first of the second month to see if an eclipse would really occur.

Guo Pu was waiting too.

The entire civil and military bureaucracy was waiting. They had opposed Zhao Hanzhang publishing such news in the paper from the start—first, for fear of stirring up rebellion, and second, out of worry that if the prediction was inaccurate, it would damage the court’s prestige.

But their opposition was useless; Zhao Hanzhang persisted anyway.

The Little Emperor was also waiting, and waiting in great apprehension at that.

His coursework had been reduced, and his involvement in state affairs too, but the pressure he’d felt over these twenty‑odd days was the greatest he had ever known.

He was terrified—terrified that an eclipse would really appear, terrified that Zhao Hanzhang and the people under Heaven would pin the blame for the eclipse upon him.

Still, he was an emperor in name only. Could it be that all the bizarre moves his ancestors had pulled, all the chaos they caused—was it really that too many people had died, and Heaven couldn’t stand it anymore, so it sent an eclipse to wipe out the Sima Family?

The Little Emperor hid in the inner palace not daring to utter a sound, but he didn’t miss a single issue of the gazette.

For some reason, seeing seven or eight eclipse records freshly printed every day, the Little Emperor gradually grew less afraid.

Well, he was still afraid—just not to the point where his hands and feet trembled and his face turned pale.

But the eclipse was still a sword hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment.

On the first day of the second month, as on every first and fifteenth, there was a grand court assembly, and the officials entered the Imperial Palace as usual to attend.

Only today the great hall was especially quiet. Zhao Hanzhang had been sitting in her place for quite a while, yet no one opened their mouth to speak.

Zhao Hanzhang lifted her head and swept a glance downward, then turned to look at the Little Emperor seated on the upper right. After a moment’s thought, she said, "Everyone seems to have no mind for government today. In that case, why don’t we all go to the Observatory and enjoy the sun?"

Ji Yuan coughed twice, casting Zhao Hanzhang a warning look.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled, rose first, then turned to face the emperor. "Let’s go, Your Majesty."

The Little Emperor’s face was a shade pale. His legs shaking, he stood up.

Seeing that he could barely stand steady, Zhao Hanzhang reached out a hand to him.

The Little Emperor stole a cautious glance at her expression, then carefully placed his hand in her palm. Zhao Hanzhang supported him as they walked down the steps.

The Little Emperor felt a bit more at ease and took the lead toward the Observatory.

Guo Pu was monopolizing the Observatory, watching the sun in the sky. When he saw Zhao Hanzhang suddenly leading the civil and military officials over, he got to his feet, not entirely pleased.

By habit he started to bow to Zhao Hanzhang, but halfway down he noticed the Little Emperor standing beside her. He quickly shifted his body slightly and changed his address. "This subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

The Little Emperor’s mind was entirely on the sky at this point, so he didn’t pay it any heed. He waved his hand and walked up onto the Observatory, lifting his head to look at the sun. With just one glance he felt it sting his eyes, so he turned away. "Will there really be an eclipse today?"

Guo Pu looked toward Zhao Hanzhang.

It was Fu Tinghan who had done the calculations; asking Zhao Hanzhang would be more appropriate, right?

Still, Guo Pu trusted Fu Tinghan’s methods, so he lowered his head and replied, "There should be."

The Little Emperor very much wanted to question him in front of the whole court, yet he was afraid an eclipse would really appear, so he could only keep silent.

Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand, and Soldiers immediately spread out mats. She invited the Little Emperor to sit and wait.

"Give the ministers seats as well. We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting."

The Soldiers answered and quickly brought out mat after mat for the ministers to sit on.

At this time the Observatory was surrounded entirely by Soldiers. Counting carefully, there were no more than twenty Palace Attendants present. Even though an eclipse—full or not—wouldn’t make it that dark, she still had to guard against accidents. So the security in the Imperial Palace today was stricter than usual.

Zeng Yue, clad in full armor, stood in a corner, his sharp gaze sweeping over each face. Only after he found nothing unusual did he lower his head, occasionally lifting it to take another look.

They sat for a long time. The sun climbed higher and higher, almost reaching the midpoint of the sky, when suddenly a shadow fell, blocking the sunlight that had been shining down on them.

Zhao Hanzhang heard a collective intake of breath; some ministers could no longer hold back their exclamations. "Th-the sun, the sun has a missing piece."

Zhao Hanzhang lifted her head. She didn’t look straight at the sun, only at its edge, and saw that a corner of the noonday sun had gone dark...

Zhao Hanzhang turned and asked Guo Pu, "What time is it now?"

Guo Pu had already leapt to his feet in excitement, his fists clenched. "Noon, a quarter past Noon!"

Eleven fifteen.

Zhao Hanzhang raised her head toward the sun. At this time, a lot of people must be seeing it, right?