By now, everyone present could be said to be thoroughly familiar with the light screen's routine.
Generally speaking, once an image of a gifted artifact appeared, it meant the session was nearing its end.
Liu Bei rose to his feet, preparing, as usual, to call for the servants to set a banquet. This habit had taken root back when he was still in Yizhou.
Taking advantage of the afterglow of the light screen to drink and chat was, after all, a refined pleasure.
Besides, the number of matters demanding their attention had been steadily increasing. Opportunities like this, where they could all gather together and ignore worldly affairs for a moment, were becoming fewer and fewer. Naturally, such a chance could not be wasted.
Yet just as Liu Bei stood up, he suddenly realized that something was off.
Today's light screen was not behaving the way it usually did.
The vivid images and the later generations' commentary slowly faded away. As expected, the familiar notice appeared, announcing that the next video would be released three months later.
But the light screen itself did not disperse.
Instead, a line of text that none of them had ever seen before surfaced, as if waiting for their response.
[Backend upgrade completed…
Replay function authorized…
Would you like to enable replay for this session?]
The sudden change instantly froze the hall.
The relaxed atmosphere from moments earlier vanished without a trace, replaced by utter silence.
Lu Su noticed the brief flicker of confusion on Lord Xuande's face. Almost immediately, Liu Bei's gaze locked firmly onto Zhuge Kongming.
It was clear enough. Even for Lord Xuande and Kongming, the light screen was not something they fully understood.
Lu Su reached his conclusion at once.
Pang Tong unconsciously stroked the beard at his lips and spoke after a moment's thought.
"The later generations call this a broadcast. If so, this so-called replay should mean watching a broadcast again."
Zhuge Kongming nodded in agreement. After a short pause, he tore a sheet of paper from his stack, swiftly wrote the two characters "Enable," and tossed it straight into the light screen.
The slip of paper vanished like mud sinking into water. The text faded with it. What appeared next made Kongming and the others exchange smiles.
[Please select replay content:
"Analyzing Shu-Han's Chances of Unification from a Strategic Perspective"
"Cao Wei: A State Doomed by Birth Defects"
"The Hanzhong All-Star Lineup That Ignited the Flame of Ji-Han"
…
"Plagues, Climate, and Heroes: The Three Elements That Shape History"
"A Dream of Red Makeup: The Dilemmas of the Female Emperor"]
Seeing these titles, Zhuge Kongming could not help feeling a surge of emotion.
He still remembered clearly that before he ever laid eyes on the light screen, he had been in Gong'an County, casually discussing dinner plans with Zilong.
Now Zilong had ridden thousands of li, guarding Jiangxia and checking Jiangdong. He himself was stationed in Chang'an, rebuilding Guanzhong.
Thinking back on it all, it truly felt like a dream.
That said, none of the listed topics were unfamiliar to him. He clasped his hands lightly.
"I leave the decision to my lord."
Liu Bei did not hesitate.
"Since this change came about because of Zijing's arrival, and since we will all be watching together, let Zijing choose."
Lu Su did not demur. He was not the sort to feign modesty. Lord Xuande's invitation to share in such a heaven-peering wonder was already a tremendous kindness.
Choosing one more item to watch hardly counted as anything. When you already owed a hundred debts, what difference did one more make?
Looking over the titles, Lu Su fixed on one almost immediately.
"The Prelude to White-Clad Crossing the River: Eight Hundred Tiger Guards Shatter Wu's Dream."
Jiangdong lay in the lands of Wu-Yue. Lu Su knew this all too well.
His thoughts also drifted back to Zhang Fei's earlier remark about eight hundred tiger guards crossing the river.
It was just a pity that whatever followed the words "one hundred thousand" had been cut off by Lord Xuande. He had not heard the rest.
But if one considered the structure of the sentence, then one hundred thousand must correspond to eight hundred. And tiger guards must correspond to… Wu troops?
Lu Su let out a silent laugh and shook his head.
Impossible. How could eight hundred stand against one hundred thousand?
Even if the Overlord of Chu and the Champion Marquis were reborn together, it would still be a stretch.
After all, Lu Su understood the Battle of Red Cliffs better than most. Zhou Gongjin's victory over Cao's army had relied on far more than just a river set ablaze.
The sons of Jiangdong could be called brave as well.
Shaking his head, Lu Su stopped overthinking it. Mimicking what Kongming and Zhang Fei had done earlier, he picked up his brush, wrote the title, tore it carefully from the page, and cast it into the light screen.
As the screen's contents shifted once more, Zhang Fei suddenly jumped to his feet.
"I will be right back."
For the servants of the General's Residence, today was actually a relatively easy day.
First, the Imperial Uncle had ordered trusted retainers to guard the main hall, strictly forbidding anyone from approaching.
Then they had personally watched Zhuge the Military Adviser, Third General, Adviser Pang, Physician Zhang, and others enter one by one, before the doors were firmly shut.
No one found this strange. After all, something similar had happened three months earlier.
Lord Xuande's reputation was impeccable. The servants all assumed that he and the advisers and generals were discussing strategies to destroy the enemy.
So when Zhang Yide suddenly came out, claiming hunger and demanding food from the kitchen, the servants sprang into action without hesitation.
The only pity was that the food ultimately ended up in the General Zhang hands. They were still not allowed to step into the main hall.
As for Lu Su, seated inside, his attention was seized the instant the light screen lit up again.
Compared to talk of a female emperor of the Wu Zhou, this topic felt much closer to home.
And the very opening line, "A general fights a hundred battles yet gains no title, while a mere clerk wins Liangzhou with a single bout," was enough to make Lu Su bristle with indignation.
"Eunuchs like Zhang Rang," he said bitterly, "stealing favor, manipulating wealth, seizing court authority, persecuting the loyal and empowering villains. That is how chaos was born."
"And Meng Da's father, Meng Tuo," he continued, "bribing Zhang Rang with riches to seize public office. Using plunder and extortion to cut off the people's livelihoods. How could such times not fall into disorder?"
Thinking back, it was precisely the chaos of the Ten Attendants that had driven him, in his youth, to aspire toward pacifying the realm.
Only now…
Reflecting on his experiences over the past half year, Lu Su could not help but feel a wave of melancholy. Zhuge Kongming was about to offer a few words of comfort when Zhang Fei's voice rang out.
"Chicken soup is here."
"Zijing has not eaten yet. Have some soup first, then an oil cake."
The surge of emotion Lu Su had just felt was instantly shattered into pieces. And as the aroma reached his nose, his stomach promptly began to protest.
Liu Bei and the others were no different. Although the timing felt less than ideal for a meal, seeing his third brother bustling in and out, laying out every dish himself, Liu Bei truly could not bring himself to scold him.
"All right," he said. "Zijing, eat with us."
Lu Su did not stand on ceremony, though he still added politely,
"Many thanks for the hospitality, General Zhang."
Zhang Fei replied darkly, "Just eat quickly. I am worried you might not be able to later."
Lu Su's heart skipped a beat. Before he could ask what that meant, the light screen launched into a rapid, multi-threaded depiction of battle plans, leaving him no room to dwell on Zhang Fei's words.
The advance of Liu Bei's forces after taking Jiangling gave Lu Su pause.
Zhou Yu's strategy of driving Liu Bei forward as a vanguard to seize the realm drew a quiet sigh from him.
Without anyone prompting, Lu Su explained why he and Zhou Yu had diverged on this point.
"If one forms an alliance, one must treat others with sincerity. Lord Xuande commands the valor of Guan and Zhang and the wisdom of Kongming. How could a scheme of driving a tiger to devour a wolf ever fully succeed?"
"If anything goes wrong, Cao Cao would reap the fisherman's gain. It could easily lead to our own destruction."
Beside him, Zhang Fei, in the midst of devouring a roast chicken, wiped the grease from his lips and puffed out his chest.
Zhuge Kongming merely waved his feather fan with a smile. "Zijing, just keep watching."
Lu Su's reasoning was sound. But by that point, Zhou Yu likely already knew his days were numbered and had chosen to gamble. And as Sun Ce's old friend, he may also have long understood the limits of Marquis Sun's ambition.
"Attending the meeting alone to fix the Xiang River agreement?"
Seeing the version of himself on the light screen, calmly matching wits with the imposing Guan Yu, Lu Su could only shake his head with a sigh.
"No wonder Yunlong seemed so different back then."
The negotiations on the sandbar in the river remained vivid in his memory.
At the time, he had praised Guan Yu's heroic bearing more than once. Looking back now, perhaps Guan Yu had likewise admired Lu Su's lone attendance, and a sense of mutual respect had been born.
There was also something wry about it. Back then, Guan Yu had questioned him into silence, leaving Lu Su full of admiration for his eloquence and restraint.
Who could have imagined it was simply a case of one side being fully prepared?
What truly weighed on Lu Su's heart, however, was the account of Hefei.
As he watched Sun Quan muster an army of one hundred thousand, the implications were impossible to miss.
"Could it be," Lu Su murmured, "that these hundred thousand truly fell to Zhang Liao's eight hundred tiger guards?"