[Lightscreen]
[Looking at Cao Wei and Sun Wu as a whole, although each fell for different reasons, there was one point in common: both collapsed from internal rot. Once the roots are rotten, no matter how the branches bloom later, there is no saving it.
This is also why many people reading the Romance stop after the Chancellor fell at Wuzhang Plains. What is there to see after that? Competing to see who is worse?
At the end of Wu, internal chaos piled up six plus one, and its descendants rode in plain carts with white horses, stripped to the waist, bound with cords, offering jade while leading sheep?
Liu Shan was granted the title Duke of Anle, and said, "This place is so pleasant that I do not think of Shu"?
Or the Jin that replaced Wei, where the consumption of Five Stone Powder became widespread, followed by the War of the Eight Princes and the chaos of the Five Barbarians?
Yet there are some figures that the Romance hardly mentions at all, such as Shi Xie.
Whenever the Three Kingdoms are discussed, Shi Xie is almost invisible. But if one speaks of merit lasting through the ages, there are few in that era who could stand beside him.
During Shi Xie's forty years of rule over Jiaozhou, the region almost never experienced war. Its economy and culture developed rapidly, and Han culture took root deeply, integrating Jiaozhou with the Chinese heartland. Even today, the Vietnamese revere Shi Xie as an ancestor, and legends of him ascending to immortality still circulate.]
Along with the light screen, a pastoral scene appeared, idyllic and peaceful. Liu Bei glanced at it and immediately frowned.
"I have farmed before. Do not try to deceive me. Full cheeks, fair complexion, is that what a farmer looks like? And what wealthy household could have so many oxen? Their clothes are far too fine. And that plow pulled by the ox…"
He suddenly paused.
"Wait. Why is that plow curved?"
Liu Bei fell into thought. As a downfallen descendant of the Prince of Zhongshan, he was well-versed in farming. He had used both seed drills and straight plows before, but this curved plow seemed far more efficient.
Beside him, Kongming, who had once "tilled the fields of Longzhong," had already pulled out a piece of silk and begun sketching the curved-handled plow.
Zhao Yun also took out silk and began copying the round waterwheel in the irrigation canal. As he drew, he pondered:
"This looks similar in function to a chain pump, yet its form is completely different… Regardless, better copy it down first. Since future generations use it, there must be a reason."
The scene on the light screen continued to shift. The pastoral imagery faded, replaced by roads extending in all directions, people wearing pointed bamboo hats, and at the center of their gathering, a statue dressed in magnificent robes, surrounded by worshippers.
Below, the screen clearly labeled it in Chinese: Shi Xie's Tomb.
Huang Zhong frowned in confusion.
"If this is Shi Xie's tomb, why are the inscriptions on the pillars like tadpole-shaped characters?"
Guan Yu stroked his beard and spoke slowly:
"Vietnam… perhaps the light screen made an error. It should be Nanyue. In pre-Qin texts, among the Baiyue tribes of the Chinese realm, there was one called Nanyue. It seems their lineage has endured for centuries. Those tadpole-like scripts resemble the spirit-writing of ancient shamans…"
He trailed off. Even he found it difficult to justify. Who would inscribe such things on a tomb?
After dwelling on these trivialities, Liu Bei suddenly came back to himself.
"This place is pleasant? Not thinking of Shu? Good. Truly my good Ah Dou!"
"Big Brother, no need to be angry. Look at Sun Quan's descendants, they are even more disgraceful. Plain carts, white horses, stripped and bound, offering jade and leading sheep, not even as worthy as household servants. If Sun Jian and Sun Ce saw this, they would probably rise from their graves and smash their coffins apart!"
Liu Bei nodded instinctively, then turned and realized Zhang Fei had somehow returned. Leaning against the doorframe, wine in one hand and a roast chicken in the other, he was using the light screen as entertainment.
Seeing Liu Bei's murderous gaze, Zhang Fei hurried over step by step and raised the items.
"If it really will not do, Big Brother, eat and drink a bit to calm down. That way you will have strength when beating Ah Dou!"
Liu Bei did not know whether to laugh or be angry. His fury dissipated by half, and he waved Zhang Fei aside.
Still, he agreed verbally:
"Sun Jian's loyalty and fervor, Sun Ce's unmatched bravery and grand ambition, both were heroes of their age. They likely never imagined their descendants would become so…"
"Dogs," Zhang Fei interjected promptly, using a term he had just learned from the light screen.
He immediately received another glare from Liu Bei.
"The light screen also seems to treat Jin's widespread use of Five Stone Powder as a crime. Why is that?" Huang Zhong asked, puzzled. His former lord Liu Biao had taken it as well, and at banquets, guests would sometimes bring it for shared consumption.
No one could answer. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang exchanged glances.
We are all poor, none of us could afford such things. Why ask us?
Kongming then recalled some prior information and said hesitantly:
"Guo Jia died young. At the time, there were rumors that physicians in Xuchang believed his frailty was caused by the consumption of Five Stone Powder."
Liu Bei concluded decisively:
"In any case, do not touch it. If even people a thousand years later speak of it with such unease, it is most likely a sinister substance."
[Lightscreen]
[According to the archaeological data we have now, in the third year of Yongshou under Emperor Huan of Han, 157 AD, the population was 56.47 million. By 280 AD, when Western Jin unified the realm, it had dropped to 16.16 million.
In just over a century, the people were nearly wiped out by the warlords. Yet Jiaozhou was one of the few regions that still maintained population growth. No wonder the Vietnamese still remember him.
Of course, the Ming later lost Vietnam, but that is another story.
And in the Romance, after the Chancellor fell at Wuzhang Plains, the Three Kingdoms became no different from ordinary warlord conflicts.
Surrounded by ambitious predators, Jiang Wei, the only one to inherit the Chancellor's will, could only leave behind the words before his death: "My plans failed, this is the will of Heaven."
After this rather gloomy discussion of Cao Wei, next time we can finally talk about Shu Han.
Although there are still things that will make your blood pressure rise, at least there are also many interesting parts. Stay tuned.]
This time, without even needing Kongming to remind him, Liu Bei quickly gave a thumbs-up. Following his lead, the others also raised their thumbs, even Huang Zhong, who looked somewhat confused, copying the gesture.
Yet their spirits were low.
In a century, the population had fallen by forty million. Even if it were forty million cattle or sheep, it would be hard to imagine, let alone living people who spoke the same language.
And no one understood better than the generals present how those people had disappeared.
"That is precisely why we must restore the Han," Liu Bei said softly. "If a butcher like Cao Cao, whose hands are stained with blood, yet pretends to lament, 'White bones lie in the wilds, a thousand li without a cock's crow. Of a hundred people, one remains, and the thought breaks the heart,' were to take the realm, I would shame my ancestors. And the light screen speaks poorly of Jin, mentioning the War of the Eight Princes and the chaos of the Five Barbarians. Just hearing the words makes me uneasy. I dare not imagine the disaster."
"We are willing to die for you, my lord. We are willing to die for the restoration of the Han!"
The generals rose solemnly and answered in unison.
"The strategist has successors. With the guidance of this light screen, Heaven's mandate must still lie with Big Brother!"
Zhang Fei's eyes shone.
"Strategist, this Jiang Wei, whose descendant is he? I, Old Zhang, will bring him here right now so you can train him early!"
In truth, by the later period of the Three Kingdoms, there were fewer battles because they simply could not continue fighting. Too many had already died. The entire land had been ravaged, from Liaodong to Jiangdong, from Shandong to Fufeng, nowhere remained peaceful.
Even Shi Xie's domain was not spared. After his death, his son rebelled, and suppressing it cost many lives.
In the end, it can only be said: better to be a dog in times of peace than a man in times of chaos.