"Our descendant from the future… does not seem to think much of tower ships at all," Guan Yu said, still finding it really hard to believe.
Back at Red Cliffs those towering vessels on both sides — Cao Cao's and Sun Wu's — had left him utterly stunned. They were literally floating fortresses on the water. Each one could carry enough supplies to feed an army for months. And when they came riding downstream with the current, even the fastest warhorse could not keep up.
He and the other generals had spent many quiet moments talking about how on earth they could ever fight something like that. No matter how they looked at it, a straight up battle against those giants felt impossible to win.
Tower ships had already made Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and the rest of the old guard feel totally outmatched. Yet in the eyes of future generations, these terrifying floating monsters got summed up in just two words: useless. They did not even bother to explain why.
"Is that not actually a good sign though?" Zhuge Liang offered, flipping the whole perspective around.
"Tower ships are weapons built for fighting on rivers. If our descendants look down on them so completely, it means either they have come up with something far better, or it means one other thing."
Zhao Yun caught on right away and finished the thought. "Or it means the land has finally been brought back together. Every river and every lake is Han territory once again. And tower ships built only for river battles would serve no purpose at all."
The three men sat there thinking for a moment, each one wearing a look of quiet longing.
Every river and every lake part of Han territory. Was that not exactly the glory of the great Han in its prime? No, it sounded even better than that.
From the casual way Wen Mang discussed history on the light screen, to the meals he showed off, to the way other people responded to him, everything pointed to the same conclusion: life in the future was genuinely good.
Zhuge Liang spoke in a low voice. "Five hundred years before us was the Spring and Autumn period. One thousand six hundred years after that came the Ming dynasty. Add another six hundred years, and you reach the era of our descendants. That means the person speaking through the light screen lives one thousand seven hundred years after us."
"Emperor Gaozu slew the white serpent only four hundred years ago."
The three men said nothing for a long while. Then Zhao Yun spoke, his voice rough. "One thousand seven hundred years from now. They say they have aircraft carriers. I cannot even begin to imagine what such a thing looks like."
Anyone who had seen a tower ship at Red Cliffs would tell you how enormous it was, like a palace sailing across the water.
But the descendants described their aircraft carriers as floating territory and the pinnacle of human military power. No matter how hard these three men stretched their imaginations, they could not picture it.
"Aircraft carrier. Let me break down the characters," Zhuge Liang attempted a literal interpretation. "The mother of ships? So this floating territory can dock other vessels on it? Would that not make it something like the Kunpeng?"
The three of them tried their best to picture it. People of the future using some incredible power to make a whole piece of land drift across the ocean. On that floating island people grew crops and raised cattle. Along its edges dozens of vessels bigger than any tower ship ever seen sat anchored in place.
It was completely beyond their ability to imagine!
"But our descendant said they also possess this kind of power," Guan Yu pointed out the key detail. "That means our descendants were not the first ones to have it."
"Then who did it belong to before?"
"Maybe Japan. Maybe the lands across the great ocean," Zhuge Liang said, waving his feather fan slowly. "Or maybe nations lying west of the Kunlun Mountains, south of the southern ridges, east of the Eastern Sea, or north of the vast grasslands. There could be powerful kingdoms in places we have never set foot in or even heard of. Our descendants might have traded with them or perhaps fought against them."
Zhuge Liang pushed the window open and gazed up at the bright moon hanging in the sky.
"But all of that is far beyond what we can figure out right now. Our most urgent task is to restore the Han dynasty and keep history from following the old path where the Three Kingdoms fell to Jin and the Five Barbarians brought chaos to the land. That is the most real and meaningful thing we can do for the future generations."
With those words hanging heavy in the air the small gathering came to an end.
The revelations had shaken Zhao Yun and Guan Yu to their core, yet all those wonders felt impossibly distant from the world they lived in right now.
Both men understood perfectly. Just as Kongming had said, working with everything they had to restore the Han was the greatest service they could offer to the future.
Four days later Liu Bei finally came back.
The results were obvious right away. A-Dou had once been as round and plump as a little white dumpling. Now he looked like a sun baked mud monkey and had lost a good amount of his baby fat.
People said the moment the boy saw Zhang Fei he clamped onto his leg and cried so hard and so sadly that anyone who heard him could not help but feel their heart ache.
Zhuge Liang told Liu Bei everything they had talked about that evening and the news moved him deeply.
A few days later in the same familiar side hall the room felt just a little more crowded than usual.
This time six people sat waiting for the Lightscreen.
One of them was an old general dressed in plain robes. His hair and beard were both snow white. His palms were thick with calluses from decades of wielding weapons. And his eyes remained sharp and bright from a lifetime of battle experience.
Clearly a truly remarkable man of this era.
Yet this sharp eyed veteran was currently shifting in his seat like a nervous schoolboy.
There was no helping it. Of everyone gathered here Huang Zhong was the oldest by many years and the one with the least achievements to his name.
He had only been made a General of Zhonglang by Liu Biao when he was already in his forties. Eighteen long years of stagnation with not a single notable victory to show for it. Sitting among these legendary figures he did not even dare speak above a whisper.
Huang Zhong had only arrived in Gong'an County the day before. Today he was told an urgent meeting had been called. He walked in and saw…
Guan Yunchang, the hero who had cut down Hua Xiong before the wine even cooled and beheaded Yan Liang right in the middle of ten thousand enemy soldiers.
Zhang Yide, the fierce warrior whose roar alone had sent Cao Cao's whole army running in terror at Dangyang Bridge.
Zhao Zilong, the brave champion who had charged seven times into and out of Cao Cao's ranks at Changban to save the young heir.
Strategist Zhuge Kongming, the genius who had burned Cao Cao's supply lines at Bowang Slope and single handedly debated every scholar in Jiangdong into supporting the Sun Liu alliance.
What possible place did Huang Zhong have sitting among men like these?
Liu Bei gave a gentle smile to put the old veteran at ease.
"Hansheng, you made it. I saved a place right here for you. Just sit tight and wait with us."
Wait? Wait for what exactly? Huang Zhong was full of questions but he quietly moved to his spot and knelt down without a word of complaint.
Barely enough time had passed to finish a cup of tea when the whole side hall suddenly blazed with light.
The Lightscreen unfolded right there in midair.
Huang Zhong's jaw dropped so far it nearly hit the floor.' I thought we were gathering to meet some envoy from Cao Cao or Sun Quan. You are telling me we are actually waiting for a divine sign?'
Zhang Fei waved his hand like it was no big deal. "Old Huang, no need to look so shocked! It is just the Lightscreen, plain and simple. Hey while we are at it, do you know why Sun Quan never stood a chance at unifying the land?"
Huang Zhong said nothing. In fact, nobody said anything. The entire Gong'an county office had gone completely mute today.
Zhang Fei just kept rambling on. "Listen, keep this strictly between us alright? Sun Quan is a total two faced traitor. He never had the guts to act like his brother did. So his subordinates run wild and do whatever they want. They fight each other every single day. Nasty stuff, really nasty."
Even Zhao Yun, usually the most composed man anywhere, could not help watching Huang Zhong with a wide amused grin. Yide had clearly found a brand new hobby these days: watching other people's jaws hit the floor in shock.
Liu Bei finally stepped in to save the old man from any more confusion. "Yide sit down and pay attention to what the Lightscreen is about to say!"
Then he turned back to Huang Zhong with a warm look. "Old Huang, by any chance do you know what an aircraft carrier is?"
Huang Zhong: Good heavens, are you people ever going to stop?
The light screen operated as always. Music first, then images and text.
[Lightscreen]
[Dun dun dun dun! Hey everyone welcome back! Today we are picking right up where we left off in our Three Kingdoms series!
After the last episode went live some viewers said I seemed too biased in Liu Bei's favor. They think I just copied the novel's usual tone where Liu gets all the glory and Cao gets all the shame.
But honestly if you actually sit down and read the novel closely the so called praise for Liu mostly just plays up his loyalty to the rightful Emperor. In many places the story even mixes up or leaves out key facts entirely.
Take this example. Volume fourteen of the Records of the Three Kingdoms clearly states that Cheng Yu once resorted to using human flesh to feed Cao Cao's army:
When supplies ran low Cheng Yu raided his own home county to gather enough food for three days and a large part of what he brought back was dried human meat.
That takes a truly ruthless kind of person. He turned against his own neighbors and countrymen just to keep Cao Cao's troops fed. Most people could never bring themselves to do something so terrible.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms completely erased this ugly incident from the story. Instead it made up a fictional scene where a peasant named Liu An kills his own wife to serve meat to Liu Bei.
So yeah does the novel glorify Liu? You could say that. But does it unfairly drag Cao down? I honestly do not see it at all.]