They had only just reached the dangerous part of the discussion when the door guard hurried inside, his breathing controlled but his urgency impossible to hide.
The man looked like an ordinary servant, but in truth he was a disguised border soldier from Guyuan, one of the many unseen layers of protection surrounding the house.
"Lu Xiangsheng requests an audience."
Sun Chuanting smiled immediately, as if he had been expecting this all along.
"So he came again."
Liang Shixian leaned back casually, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp, always calculating, always observing the movement of people rather than their words.
"He is probably here to talk about border matters, or more precisely, to look for answers he cannot find on the court floor."
Sun Chuanting nodded slowly.
"He should be confused right now, not the kind of confusion that comes from ignorance, but the kind that comes from seeing too much and understanding too little of the structure behind it."
Moments later, Lu Xiangsheng was escorted inside.
His face carried a clear trace of frustration, not anger, not fear, but something heavier, the discomfort of a man who had won a war yet could not explain how that victory had truly been achieved.
The moment he saw Sun Chuanting, he stepped forward and saluted, then gave a respectful nod toward Chen Qianhu, who sat quietly behind.
His gaze lingered for a fraction longer than necessary.
Not suspicion.
Something closer to unease.
"Liang Shixian, I did not expect to see you here."
Liang Shixian smiled faintly.
"I am an old acquaintance of Sun Chuanting, I came merely to talk."
Lu Xiangsheng let out a slow breath, as if organizing his thoughts.
"At court today, you spoke in support of my position regarding military funding, you said the funds are sufficient, I appreciate that."
Liang Shixian did not hesitate.
"I simply stated a fact, resources exist, therefore they should be acknowledged, whether they are used or not is a different matter."
Lu Xiangsheng nodded, but his expression remained heavy.
"If more officials could speak like that, the court would not be in such a state, but Gao Qiqian is not a man who forgets, those who opposed him today will be remembered, and later they will pay for it, you should be careful."
Liang Shixian let out a soft chuckle, completely unconcerned.
"I do not fear him."
Lu Xiangsheng studied him for a moment, then slowly turned toward Sun Chuanting.
"I came today because I have questions."
Sun Chuanting gestured lightly.
"Ask."
Lu Xiangsheng paused briefly, as if choosing where to begin.
"This campaign to Jinzhou, the pursuit of Dorgon, along the way I saw too many things that I cannot explain."
As he spoke, his eyes flicked once more toward Chen Qianhu.
He knew.
He was not a fool.
Chen Qianhu had personally killed Zu Dashou, yet took no credit and returned silently to this house as if nothing had happened.
The credit had fallen onto him instead.
The same pattern repeated during the pursuit of Dorgon.
He had been the one chasing.
Yet Dorgon had been crushed again and again by forces he never truly saw.
By the time the final result appeared, all that remained was a head placed neatly into his hands.
Victory had been delivered to him.
That feeling was deeply uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
Sun Chuanting smiled calmly.
"What exactly did you find strange?"
Lu Xiangsheng did not hesitate this time.
"The ships."
His tone shifted, becoming serious.
"The fleet under Cao Wenzhao, ships without sails, without oars, yet moving faster than anything I have ever seen, I have only recently taken the position at the Ministry of War, I do not even know what kind of weapon this is, I hope you can explain."
Sun Chuanting did not answer with words.
He stood up, walked to the bookshelf, and casually pulled out a magazine before tossing it toward Lu Xiangsheng.
"Read."
Lu Xiangsheng caught it instinctively, glanced at the cover, then began flipping through.
"Naval Knowledge, Issue Twenty Four."
The first pages described Dutch sailing ships, their role in European waters, their dominance during the age of ocean expansion, the explanations were detailed and strangely structured, far beyond traditional military texts.
He read with interest for a moment before suddenly freezing.
"…Wait, this is not what I came here for."
He quickly flipped forward, skipping pages until he found what he was looking for.
There it was.
"River Sea Dual Use Vessel, Pingliao Class, length sixty two meters, minimum crew twenty, full capacity nine hundred personnel, capable of navigating both the Yellow River and the Yangtze, draft depth eight meters…"
His eyes widened.
"This is it, this is the one I rode."
He continued flipping, absorbing the descriptions, operational scenarios, deployment methods.
Everything was explained.
And yet, nothing was truly revealed.
It felt as though he understood everything.
And at the same time, understood nothing.
He looked up, still processing.
"I see, so that is how it works, then there is also another thing, the Shanxi troops used a strange small cannon, what exactly is that?"
Sun Chuanting stood again without hesitation, pulled out another magazine, flipped it open, and handed it over.
"Modern Weapons, Issue Seventeen."
Lu Xiangsheng looked down.
"Tianzun Demon Suppression Cannon, PJ 03 Model."
Below it were rows of specifications, length, width, ammunition type, firing range, logistical requirements, deployment notes.
Numbers, terms, systems.
He read everything.
And once again, the same feeling emerged.
He understood.
Yet he did not.
"So the range is this far, no wonder the artillery on Jinzhou's walls never had a chance to respond."
He exhaled slowly, then looked at the bookshelf behind Sun Chuanting.
"This collection… it is beyond anything I have seen."
Sun Chuanting spread his hands slightly, a faint smile on his face.
"You may read anything here if you wish."
Then his tone changed.
Completely.
"But these alone cannot save the Ming."
Lu Xiangsheng froze.
"…What?"
Sun Chuanting's gaze sharpened, no longer casual, no longer conversational.
"Lu Xiangsheng, you have already felt it, have you not, victory in battle does not fix the foundation of a nation, the decay of this empire runs from the top downward, and from the bottom upward at the same time."
Those words struck directly into Lu Xiangsheng's mind.
The scene at court resurfaced instantly.
The argument with Gao Qiqian.
The emperor's hesitation.
The endless cycle of indecision.
He went silent.
Then finally let out a long breath.
"The emperor is being misled by eunuchs."
Liang Shixian spoke before Sun Chuanting could respond.
"So you believe the fault lies with the eunuchs, not the emperor."
Lu Xiangsheng frowned.
"Is that not the case?"
Sun Chuanting smiled.
A slow, deliberate smile.
"If the emperor does not make mistakes, who gives the eunuchs the authority to act?"
That sentence landed like a hammer.
Lu Xiangsheng's expression changed instantly.
For generations, blame had always been shifted.
A tyrant king would be excused by blaming a concubine.
A weak emperor would be excused by blaming corrupt officials.
Now the same pattern repeated.
But if the ruler did not allow it, who could act?
If the ruler were truly capable, who would dare?
The answer formed in his mind before he could stop it.
The root of the problem was the throne itself.
His body stiffened.
"You… that is a dangerous line of thought."
His gaze swept across Sun Chuanting, Liang Shixian, and Chen Qianhu.
For the first time, suspicion fully surfaced.
"What exactly are you discussing here, this sounds dangerously close to treason."
Sun Chuanting did not flinch.
He smiled as calmly as before.
"Nothing of the sort."
He paused, then added with quiet certainty.
"We are discussing how to save the country."