第二天，国会按预定时间开始，议员们再次遭到更多统计数字的轰炸。尽管如此，由于演讲者涉及的主题引起了大家浓厚的兴趣，会议气氛并不单调。会议结束时，人们满怀期待地等待着主席的讲话。电视台又一次进行了现场直播，收视率非常高。主席入场引起了热烈的掌声，起立鼓掌的声音远超平时。这一次，电视台在脚注（实时）中加入了国家元首的讲话，从而更加强调了他的演讲，在此转载：”我要感谢的不是你们的问候，因为它是属于整个国家的，我要感谢你们给了我为国家服务的机会。这个国家由慷慨勤劳的人民组成，致力于建设人类有尊严的幸福生活。今天，我们有理由微笑着分享文明演进的重要时刻，特别是近年来取得的成就，这在前面发言者们的统计数字提到了充分的体现。“为天地立心、为生民立命、为往圣继绝学、为万世开太平”。一个国家的建设，需要高瞻远瞩，坚定的决心，和每日的努力，要拓宽视野，要相信永远有可能做得更多、更好！感谢大家！”主席的演讲短小精悍，让在场的人们回味无穷…...！在随后的几秒钟里，会议室一片寂静，很快就响起了热烈而长久的掌声。正在直播的电视机暂时中断了画面，穿插了从国外收集其他镜头，通过安装在国内一些主要城市广场上的巨型屏幕，可以看到会后许多观众的反应，镜头很快又回到了大会内部，主席缓缓地离开了大厅，礼堂里所有参会人员站立鼓掌，热烈地欢送他。电视台的播音员和评论员们一致表示，现任主席在简单的演讲中表达了一种不同寻常的为国家服务的高尚情操，他已经远远走在了时代的前列。
大会结束时，各电视台就国家继续发展伟大经济的重要性进行辩论和报道。在批准用公共债务换取具有长期特许权的领土之后，预计国家将开始一个新的扩张阶段，不仅是领土扩张，更是全世界商业和政治影响的扩张。
回家后，斯努回顾了大会最重要的时刻，特别是她每天为之工作的那个人的最后演讲，毕竟她并不那么了解他。主席用言行证实自己是一个伟大的政治家，也是一个简单敏感亲和的人！那段日子，斯努的日常作息发生了很大变化，但她并没有感到疲惫。这天，她比平常早一些到家，发现母亲还没有开始准备晚餐，于是去了内园，在那里稍微放松一下。黄昏时，她被邀请去看书。她已经很久没有这样的机会了，于是拿起一本书，搬起扶手椅（这是她年轻时经常使用的），到她最喜欢的树旁坐下来，准备阅读本书的大部分内容，但半个小时后，她抵挡不住困意，睡着了。片刻后，她感觉自己沉浸在梦中… …
公园里绿树成荫，斯努独自走着。路两边开满了鲜花，散发着柔和的花香，她辨别出玫瑰和康乃馨的香味。令她迷惑不解的是，路边没有这些花。路一侧的不远处蜿蜒着一条小河。她走近，发现河水朝着她要去的方向流去，河水清澈见底，在阳光的照耀下波光粼粼。斯努看到路的远处有一片空地，然后，她感到身体越来越轻，最终从地面升起，仿佛在漂浮。当她来到那片空地的时候，发现那是一片被精心打理过的花园，空气中弥漫着花园温柔的香气。真是难得的美景！远处，斯努看到一群孩子在玩耍，身边还有几个成年人。当斯努经过的时候，他们微笑着，散发出一种自发的、熟悉的喜悦，好像已经认识了很久。斯努在那愉快而永恒的地方，被巨大的幸福感包围着！这时，她望向地平线，看到一位骑着闪亮白马的年轻人，正朝她策马奔来。他来到她的身边，微笑着伸出手，仿佛要她上马。那一瞬间，斯努呆呆地看着那个年轻人。随后，她就被白马王子迷人的目光所吸引，任由他将自己扶上坐骑。然后一起前往森林。就在这时，她感觉到一只手搭在自己的肩膀上，她醒了过来—是母亲在叫她吃饭呢。斯努沉浸在那巨大的幸福感之中，脸上洋溢着难以抑制的喜悦，而母亲发现了她的异样。
- 怎么笑得这么开心？
- 我做了一个美丽的梦！
- 想谈谈吗？
斯努还沉浸在那个奇怪的梦境里，她沉默了一会儿，仿佛没有听到母亲说的话—不是因为她没有在听，而是她感觉到自己内心的声音要求延续刚刚经历的情感。
- 不想说吗？
- 对不起，妈妈，我无法用言语来表达刚才梦中的幸福感！
- 可能我的直觉不准，但我觉得空气中充满了浪漫！
- 希望您是对的！不过，我相信这只是一个美丽的梦罢了！
- 上帝有时会以多种方式对我们说话！他会通过梦启示我们要发生或失去的东西。重要的是要聆听他的声音！
- 这就是问题所在！我们并不总是知道如何正确地解释他要告诉我们的东西。
- 办法总比问题多，找出来就好了。
两年后…
斯努被王子求婚，而实际上，王子就是那个伟大国家的主席！
结束。
笔者乐于接受读者对该作品内容的建议。
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Prologue
The hero of our book reveals himself as a singular being, who becomes a legend of timeless evolution, in memory of his ancestors who wrote unique passages of history and helped him achieve his great goal. Those, by their particularities, distinguished themselves from their fellow countrymen. They became gregarious, intelligent and odd, producing profound transformations around them. In their epic contradictions and grandiose deeds they were, simultaneously, strong and fragile, because of the achievement of their dreams in their attachment to possess and to dominate. Their stories, full of singular and collective accounts, led our man to find, in these roots, the distant horizons of his ambition.
His legend invites us to go through his struggles for the conquest of an Empire on a planetary scale. This time, without the need to resort to weapons of mass destruction or the slavery of conquered peoples.
It thus fulfills an old dream, passed down from generation to generation, where prosperity and brotherhood among men is placed within the reach of all, fostering, for a long period of time, peace among peoples.
The author sought nothing more than to provide a pleasant reading about the journey through three centuries for the search of his world.
PART I
The Curse
19th century
In the palace and for how long the horizon stretched, that morning had awakened different from all the others. It was not every day that in a giant country like that, its people woke up with the news of their Emperor’s death! For all those who accompanied him in life and also watched his last moments, that night, dark as it may have been, could not reproduce the darkness that was in their hearts, not only because the sun of their lives had passed away, but above all because of the outcome that awaited them. Secular habits imposed that, with the death of the Emperor, those who shared his very close life were buried with him: wives and concubines; not because they had to serve him in the afterlife, but rather because they were an extension of his powerful and majestic person. The ancestral traditions were still very strongly rooted in the people of that nation and had the strength to remain alive, in memory of the footsteps of their ancestors. For the Emperor, that last moment of life represented nothing more than a final journey, even without a return. For wives and concubines, everything was quite different. They knew that with the arrival of this last hour, they would have to leave too. This acceptance of secular habits, admirable for all, did not admit different results. To defect at the time of the death of their Emperor was an unworthy idea with a great loss of social prestige, both for themselves and for the rest of one’s family. On the contrary, leaving this life in the company of one’s Emperor was a triumph over death that no one at that time dared to question!
The Emperor had left a will clearly and unequivocally written: “His will was above any previous tra
dition or law, so everyone had to fulfill it. Through that document he ordered that “his successor would be his youngest son and, if by his tender age he could not exercise it, Empress Xi would take his place, as regent, until he came of age”. In his will he also praised the achievements of several noblemen who, in the service of the nation, exercised high positions of State, attributing to them material benefits that he listed; he also emphasized the affective value of his wives and concubines who, throughout their lives, gave him particular attention; He made it clear in the document that “he was to be buried alone, thus revoking all the laws and traditions of his ancestors regarding this matter”; he attributed particular privileges and material benefits to one of his concubines named Li and left a great material legacy to Empress Xi. In the private life of the Emperor these two women exercised a great influence on his affections. To understand all this, we have to go back in time many years and assess how much they represented in his life.6
At that time there was another Empress named Zizi. Li was the first to arrive at the palace. She came from the countryside, accustomed to harsh winters, and had in her blood the strength to withstand adversity. Her youth was spent among rice paddies that extended as far as the eye can see. Perhaps because of this, from a very early age, she had had an exuberant relationship with nature, especially in the rice harvests with which she had always been fascinated. At that time she was ecstatic with the poultry fauna that joined her, from grebes to herons, passing by insects, like the friendly dragonfly, lending the whole diversity and beauty. It was there that Li realized how much weeds can destroy. She knew that it was not enough to prepare the soil and take care of the quality of the seeds or create the adequate and necessary water medium for the rice to grow, it was necessary to prevent so that the weeds did not prevail. This was achieved by preparing the ground properly before sowing the seeds. The secret was to make it difficult for these weeds to germinate and grow, which was achieved with work, time and patience, but the results were always frankly rewarding. Li was a girl made of “good spices” and very early on learned to handle the defense shield with skill and knowledge. Her greatest asset was, without a shadow of a doubt, her great ability to anticipate the low and dirty blows of her opponents, handling like no one else a skillful, strong and determined power of mind. Li preferred that the opponents to have the initiative of the attack and, when this happened, she would returned the projectiles or poisons thrown, adding to them an incredible strength (so much so that the effect of these, on arrival, was much greater than when they left the emitting sources).
With the entry of another girl named Xi, came the friction, intrigue and other poisons. She had a great capacity to awaken minor feelings among the others (where and whenever she appeared, Xi put everything in a state of siege) - when she passed by, touched or mentioned, she always had a few drops of poison to leave behind. It would be said that this behavior was a total contrast to her sweet face. Xi very early on proved to be ambitious, manipulative, cunning and cruel. In just two years, she destroyed Empress Zizi and ascended to the supreme authority of chief wife. Xi’s childhood had been very difficult. Her parents, austere and cold, possessed great calculating skills in everything they did, particularly in human relationships. Her father, an old general, had climbed the hierarchy at the expense of a sheath and sword, which he always used when necessary to clear the way and thus pass to the next step. Xi’s mother, a wasp, who did not mind sticking her sting whenever she found material or social advantage in it. In this “healthy” environment, it is natural that Xi, our rose, was used to a breathable air of carbonic anhydride. The poison therefore run in her veins as naturally as oxygen run in anyone else’s.
In the palace the life of the girls and the concubines was admirable, doing everything to attract the good graces of the Emperor. For Li and Xi it represented an art. They had, however, a different way of doing it. Li brought a fragrant and refreshing atmosphere, yet developed feelings of envy in the group. The Emperor, with Li’s arrival, began to prefer this one more often, to the detriment of all the others, creating an unpleasant climate of almost rejection among the others. Li seduced, seeking to win the Emperor’s heart through good moments, beauty, personal charms and naturalness. Later, with the arrival of Xi, the social life among the concubines became more agitated, because at certain moments the air was unbreathable, there was so much tension one could cut it with a knife. Xi awakened the fascination through perfumes, provocative nudity, flattery and much, much intrigue to the mixture, loaded with tricks and seduction. With these two, the other girls thus appeared to the eyes of the Emperor like a flower bed, who from time to time lent variety to his garden, without however attracting his particular attention. Almost all of them sighed, with some longing, for the times before the coming of Li and Xi, particularly the latter, to whom they gave the nickname of snake. In the good old days palace life was more monotonous, but always preferable to the present day, laden with intrigue and poisons. The later arrival of Xi to the group had a favorable initial reception, since the Emperor’s preference began to alternate, which did not fail to please the ego of the other concubines who had feelings of envy for Li. However, it was a short-lived sun, and Xi made it very clear very early on that she was the one who marked the territory there, and would not allow anyone to disturb her path.
In the palace, everyday life, outside the intrigues of the corridors, took place in the secularity of time. The Emperor’s residence was a place of magnificence; both for the luxury of its buildings and for the sweet life lived in its rooms. More than two thousand workers worked in its construction and for more than a decade. Altogether, the palace represented a space of more than seven hundred thousand square meters, distributed over more than nine thousand rooms. It was not restricted to a single building, but rather to a vast cluster of others, separated by monumental enclosures and fortifications. It was fitted with parks and imperial temples. The doors and atria of the buildings were oriented from south to north, thus reaping the blessings and favorable looks of the gods. The sumptuous and vast buildings, mostly built in marble, were given names of significance. The Supreme Harmony was the site of the imperial throne which, together with two others, created a grand setting. A complex of three avenues formed the South/North axis of access, the central one being reserved exclusively for the Emperor. The residential wing was initiated by the palace of Earthly Tranquility followed by that of Celestial Purity, Tranquility Longevity, Increased Elegance, Food of the Spirit and many others. Around the palace, better said the imperial city, there was another one where the administrative services of the State and the people were located. In the administrations of the State, the Servants were recruited among the most literate of the empire, both for political and religious service. In the latter a great moral improvement was required, where goodness, justice, respect for rituals, wisdom and trust were determining factors. The Imperial House, which administered the Emperor’s goods, palaces and other sources of income, constituted a separate structure. The people, that myriad of faceless souls and future, at the time represented only the guarantor and support of the existence of their Emperor. The two cities were separated by high walls for the necessary protection of the royal family. If during the day the imperial city was full of life, at night the Emperor was the only man within the walls, with his wives, concubines and eunuchs7.
For the Emperor his immediate family was not limited to the Empress and her children, but extended to his concubines and their descendants. In the palace complex twelve buildings were dedicated to the Emperor’s family, six to the west and six to the east, followed by a vastness of other minor ones where young children and their caretakers were housed. The Empress, the main wife, had a special status and enjoyed great prestige, while the secondary wives and concubines had minor rights. The imperial family therefore had its own hierarchy, with the use of high rights and proportional servants. The Emperor thus had a gynaeceum, formed by women from all provinces and strongly hierarchical, which had
eight categories: the Empress, as the main wife; the secondary wives; the superior concubines and the simple ones; the court ladies; the ladies-in-waiting and finally two categories of maids: the officers and apprentices. The concubines, according to their hierarchy, lived surrounded by court ladies and eunuchs, many of them devoted part of their time to embroidery and silk weaving. In their annual recruitment, the girls, over three thousand, were chosen from among the provincial beauties and were aged between thirteen and sixteen. When the Emperor elected a new secondary wife from among the girls and the concubines, wedding ceremonies were held, replicas of those held with the Empress, but with less magnificence. These events, however, represented a tiny part of his occupations.
In daily life the Emperor had an intense life - he would get up very early, at three o’clock in the morning, followed by religious rituals. At six he took his first meal, after which he occupied himself with empire business. At noon he had a second meal, where a large number of dishes were served of which he would eat only a minimal part. A period of rest followed. In the afternoon he was devoted to official hearings and reading reports. In the late afternoon he would have an informal supper followed by erudite and other activities.
In the summer, the Emperor moved with part of his court to a second imperial residence built for this purpose. Taking advantage of the riverbed, at the foot of a mountain, a lake was built there and, on its banks, several palaces were built which, together, formed the imperial summer complex, which due to its landscape, layout of the buildings and natural beauty, allowed a unique closeness between people. Outside the daily pressure of commitments and protocols that the Emperor was subject to in the imperial city, here he was able to devote a little more attention to those closest to him. The wives and concubines knew this, so in these periods the relations between them were always boiling and the attention given to the Emperor was redoubled. In the past, some marriages performed promoted moments of proximity precisely in the summer complex. It was also here that everything had begun for Li and Xi. The serenity of the lake, in contrast to the green slope, gave the girls, especially those recently incorporated in the service of the palace, a pleasant feeling of happiness. The beauty of the landscape, adorned here and there by the palace buildings, led them to think that the best in the world was there at their feet. They dreamed that one day they too would have the supreme happiness of being married to the Emperor. Those sweet initial moments, however, hid the arduous climb to that mountain of dreamed happiness. The winding roads, traps and lethal poisons, built by the other competitors, quickly shattered the dream of the inexperienced.
The Great Empire--Bilingual Edition Page 17
