SORRY, CAN YOU REPEAT THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF ALL THESE CANNONS I'M FIRING!!!

Oh hang on, it's in writing. CARRY ON MEN, I WANT TO SEE GALDAN'S HEAD ON A SPIKE!

Where was I? Ah yes, the Book of Changes. What a truly insightful document it is. You know, Chinese was never my first language. At times I still struggle with it. There is a certain economy to literary Chinese in terms of the number of words used to express an idea, whereas Manchu is a little more willing to spell itself out. I am surprised that he says that I meditated on each of these, for I can thank nobody but my teachers, most of all Kulena, for instructing me in the meanings of each of these glyphs. Most importantly of all, I was taught to understand that while each line has its meaning, it must be understood in the context of the whole. It was not three days of pure personal meditation, but three days of instruction, that provided the foundations for my understanding of the text.

In the many years since, I have come to understand it far better, even than many of those around me. Please do not tell Father Bouvet this, but I found his attempt at analysing the work to be most pitiful. So too was the attempt by my scholars to produce a version in Manchu.

But this truly is the basis of my rule, and all around you will find my praise for it. Did you know, for instance, that Western mathematics ultimately derives itself from the Yijing? For the principles of mathematics derive from this text, and the word algebra that they use to describe it means 'coming from the east'! Without this text, how would I interpret the many omens across the empire that present themselves? How–

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S RUN AWAY? PACK UP, MEN, WE'RE GOING AFTER HIM!