In an instant, Ma Liang felt every gaze in the small side hall shift toward him. Those looks quickly slid past him, landing squarely on the younger brother sitting cross-legged at his back.
Ma Su, styled Youchang.
Ma Su's face drained of color until it turned a sickly translucent white. He could not force a single word past his throat.
Now, finally, all the scattered pieces clicked into place. The unreadable glances from the veterans. His brother's strange funereal attitude these past weeks.
And the cryptic words Liu Bei had whispered before they left Jiangzhou. "Youchang, I only hope you know that from defeat comes courage, and from weakness one can plot strength."
At the time, Ma Su had been a whirlwind of confusion. We've been winning since Zigui all the way to Jiangzhou, he had thought. Where is this defeat and weakness coming from?
Now the truth hit him like a physical blow to the chest.
"Youchang!" Liu Bei called out, his voice gentle but firm. "Do not overthink this. What burden is there for you in the responsibilities of a future life?"
Ma Su nodded gratefully, his eyes stinging. Lord Liu is truly a saint, he thought, even as a colder dread coiled tight in his gut. Just how badly did I fail in that other life?
The others looked away after a moment, the crushing pressure easing just enough for Ma Su to shuffle forward on his knees, huddling closer to Ma Liang like a lost child.
"Why is your name not in the records, brother?" Ma Su whispered, so low only Ma Liang could hear.
"I am already dead," Ma Liang replied, his brush never stopping as he transcribed the Light Screen text. His voice was as flat and final as a tombstone.
Ma Su froze.
Zhang Fei, meanwhile, was mentally reconstructing the battlefield down to the last rock and stream.
"Holding the heights? Defending a choke point? How do you lose a place like that? If it were old Zhang... hell, if it were Fan Jiang or Zhang Da, even those two idiots could have held it for a month!"
"Perhaps the Cao army pressed them with overwhelming numbers," Huang Zhong suggested, offering a shred of professional doubt.
"Be still. Let us watch," Guan Yu commanded, though his own curiosity was plainly piqued.
Kongming's main army was right next door at Shanggui. The Cao army would not stay there to starve. They would have to push past and reinforce the city. How could such a position fall?
[Lightscreen]
[Regarding Ma Su's defense of Jieting, let's be clear: he had more than enough men.
When the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang later retreated to Hanzhong and began handing out punishments, the records confirm 4 generals under Ma Su's command: Zhang Xiu, Li Sheng, Huang Xi, and Wang Ping.
Commanding 4 generals means that even by the most conservative estimates, 1,000 men per general, he had at least 5,000 troops.
When the Prime Minister first set out from Hanzhong, his total force was several tens of thousands, meaning no more than 50,000. Those men had to be split as decoys for Zhao Yun, rear guards for the supply lines, and the siege force for Shanggui.
Ma Su was entrusted with at least a third of the available combat strength. It was an act of supreme, perhaps even blind faith.
He had a huge army. He held the strategic high ground. And how could he lose?
Ma Su essentially said, "Hold my wine, watch this maneuver."
First, he violated the Prime Minister's directives. Zhuge Liang had given him specific orders, which Ma Su promptly tossed out the window the second he took command.
His next move was to rely on the southern mountains instead of descending to hold the city.
When Zhang He arrived with his vanguard, he was actually baffled. "What is this guy doing?" he must have wondered.
But as a veteran of a hundred battles, Zhang He did not hesitate. He cut off their water supply. He surrounded the mountain and choked the springs. Ma Su's army crumbled. The only bright spot was Wang Ping, who took his 1,000 men and mimicked Zhang Fei's old trick at the Dangyang Bridge, beating the drums and creating a clamor to look like a huge ambush.
Zhang He's victory had been so suspiciously easy that he started second-guessing himself, fearing a trap, and he did not pursue.
The Prime Minister saw the disaster unfolding and moved his own troops to rescue them, but by the time he was halfway there, Ma Su had already lost.
In Shanggui, Guo Huai saw the besieging force dwindle as they turned to help Ma Su, so he lunged out of the city and turned the retreat into a rout. The entire campaign rotted from the inside out. The Prime Minister had no choice but to retreat.
Usually, a defeat like that earns a demotion or a fine. But according to multiple records, the reason Ma Su was executed was that Ma Su fled.
He abandoned his army and ran. That is a capital crime of the highest order. Furthermore, the Prime Minister was a strict disciplinarian, both in the army and in the administration of Shu. Execution was the only possible legal ending.
Before his death, Liu Bei had famously warned the Prime Minister that Ma Su was too fond of empty talk and should not be given heavy responsibility.
The Prime Minister did not listen to Liu Bei, and Ma Su did not listen to the Prime Minister. It was a tragic chain of stubbornness that ruined everyone involved.]
"Good grief!"
Zhang Fei shook his head so hard his ears wiggled.
"Abandoning the army and fleeing? That's a death sentence! No question about it!"
In that room, it was a universal truth carved in stone. A common soldier fleeing was one thing, but a commander abandoning his post was not just a crime. It was a stain on the soul that never washed clean.
Liu Bei's disappointment was so thick you could almost touch it. He could not even bring himself to look at Ma Su.
Previously, he thought it was merely a tactical failure, something that could be coached or corrected with time and experience. But this? This was a fundamental failure of character.
Ma Su stared at the screen, his spirit drifting like a leaf caught in a storm. Fleeing? Executed? That is my ending? The concept of death, something he had only read about in grand poems and heroic tales, suddenly gripped his throat, making it hard to draw breath.
Ma Liang let out a long shuddering sigh. He finished transcribing the last word, then slowly reached up, removed his official headpiece, and placed it gently on the floor.
He took two steps forward and prostrated himself before Liu Bei, his forehead pressing hard against the cold tiles.
"My Lord, I beg you. Strip Ma Su of his rank as Consultant and reduce him to a commoner."
Ma Su stared at his brother, his mouth hanging open, unable to find a single word.
Liu Bei remained still, his face a mask of thought. Zhuge Liang's expression was equally unreadable, his feather fan moving slowly in his hand as he thought through every angle.
Guan Yu stroked his long beard, looked at his sworn brothers, and finally shook his head. "Jichang, why do this? How can you punish a man for a crime he hasn't committed?"
Mi Zhu watched Ma Liang on the floor with a complicated expression.
He knew the pain of having a younger brother who did not measure up, and the heavy burden it placed on the elder brother's shoulders. He suspected Liu Bei would not punish Ma Su based solely on a future vision, but the Lord's distaste for such a cowardly personality was now permanent.
In the heavy pause, Zhang Fei's rough voice cut through the air like a blade.
"Bah! If you ask me, Youchang just lacks a bit of backbone!"
Ma Su's breath hitched, but he did not dare argue. A wave of self-loathing washed over him. The coward who abandons his troops was exactly the kind of man he had spent his whole life mocking in history books. And now he was that man.
"Since that's the case," Zhang Fei continued, leaning forward with a fierce glint in his eye, "let him be my personal guard. After all, the people of the future say Zhang Fei is violent and shows no mercy. Well, let's see it then."
Zhang Fei turned his fierce gaze on Ma Su, who shrank back slightly.
"I've heard Jichang talk about you. He says you think you're some grand strategist. Fine. Come to my camp. I'll teach you what it actually means to take responsibility. If you can actually look me in the eye after a month of training, I'll let you join the officer corps again."
Is that a viable path? Liu Bei wondered.
It was better than letting the talent rot or executing a man for a crime that had not happened yet.
He turned his eyes to Ma Su, but the young man looked hesitant, his face a map of indecision and shame.
Ma Liang straightened his back and shouted, his voice ringing with desperate hope, "My Lord, my brother accepts!"
Liu Bei took one last look at Ma Su, hiding a flash of lingering disappointment behind a calm nod. "Then let it be so."
Zhang Fei stood up, strode across the room in three long steps, and hoisted Ma Su up like a kitten by the scruff of his neck, plunking him down firmly behind his own seat. Ma Su looked up in a daze, only to meet Zhang Fei's terrifying toothy grin.
"Since you're my guard now, let's get one thing straight: if you run, I'll be the one to chop you down myself! No exceptions!"
Ma Su nodded dumbly, his whole world spinning.
Meanwhile, Liu Bei stepped forward to help Ma Liang back to his feet and straightened his rumpled robes.
"Jichang, do not do such a thing again. Ma Su is in Yide's hands now. Whatever sins Ma Su may or may not commit from this day forward, whatever failures or triumphs await him on the path ahead, they have nothing to do with you. You are released from this burden. Carry it no longer."
[Lightscreen]
[The First Northern Expedition was the Prime Minister's best chance.
When the news of the uprising first reached Luoyang, the Cao Wei court's reaction was panic and disbelief. No one could decide on a move.
In the end, it was the young Emperor Cao Rui who took charge, traveling to Chang'an to personally oversee the defense. He sent Cao Zhen to guard the West against Zhao Yun and dispatched Zhang He to Longyou.
There's not much to say about Zhao Yun's side of things. He had only a few thousand men. Even for the God of War from Changban Slope, facing the full weight of Cao Zhen's main army was an impossible task.
But he retreated beautifully. According to Deng Zhi's later accounts, Zhao Yun stayed at the rear and ensured that not only were there no losses of men, but even the supplies were salvaged almost entirely.
He embodied the Prime Minister's legendary frugality. Burning the plank roads while under pursuit by a huge army was a necessity, not a failure.
Once Zhao Yun was pushed back, Cao Zhen moved to Longyou to settle accounts. The governors who fled were severely punished, and the peasants who had welcomed the Prime Minister were shattered.
This likely meant the leaders were executed and the followers heavily fined. This was the true tragedy of the First Northern Expedition.
We often say Cao Wei had the Heavens and Sun Wu had the Earth, but Shu Han had the People. Under Cao Zhen's blade, the goodwill the Prime Minister had spent years cultivating in Longyou was wiped out almost overnight.
After the dust settled, Cao Zhen made a prediction: "The Zhuge Villager will attack Chencang next." He sent Hao Zhao ahead to fortify the city walls thick enough to withstand a year of siege.
Meanwhile, back in Shu Han, the local elite clans actually thought the expedition was a huge success! When the Prime Minister returned to Chengdu, even as he demoted himself and requested punishment, his door was mobbed by people coming to congratulate him on the campaign.
In the midst of this, the Prime Minister thought of the people in Longyou who had answered his call. He picked up his brush and wrote To Those Who Congratulate Me.
He wrote that all people under heaven were Han citizens, and that the death of even one man was his own sin. Personally, I believe this is the ultimate expression of the Prime Minister's character.
But the First Northern Expedition didn't end that cleanly. As we mentioned, Shu Han and Eastern Wu were allies again. They were supposed to support each other. So, where was Eastern Wu during all this?
Unsurprisingly, the Grand King of Wei's Wu failed to act again. This triggered the Prime Minister's hasty and ill-fated second expedition in the winter of that same year, a campaign launched largely just to get Sun Quan an imperial title.]
It wasn't until the Light Screen mentioned it that Zhang Fei roared so loud the windows rattled, "I almost forgot! Where was our Sun Shiwan brother-in-law?!"
The whole room seemed to wake from a heavy dream. The Northern Expedition was in 228 AD, 3 whole years after Zhuge Liang had sent Deng Zhi to repair the alliance with Wu!
Ma Liang felt a weight lift from his heart, the guilt of his brother's future failure softening just a little. Feeling emboldened, he remarked, "If Sun Wu could have tied down even one branch of the Cao army, or just kept Zhang He from moving so fast... if Shanggui had fallen, perhaps it wouldn't have ended so abruptly. At the very least, the people of Longyou wouldn't have suffered so much."
He felt a sharp pang of sympathy for the northern people. His own home was currently occupied by the Cao. He knew exactly what it felt like to wait for a liberator who never arrived.
Zhang Fei, remembering the host's earlier jokes about Sun Quan's terrible battle record, guessed, "I bet he led 100,000 men to Hefei again just to get chased around the city walls by Zhang Liao, didn't he?"
"To provide support, he wouldn't even have to take Hefei," Guan Yu mused, stroking his beard. "Simply surrounding it would have forced Cao Wei to divert reinforcements. But when it came to his brother-in-law, Guan Yu wouldn't bet a single copper on the man's common sense."
Zhuge Liang, still absorbing the emotional impact of the sin of one man line, looked at the final sentence on the Light Screen.
His eyes went so wide they almost popped out of his head, his feather fan freezing mid-motion. "I... I secured an imperial title for Sun Quan?!"