What kind of soldiers truly deserve the title of a mighty army?
Guan Yu had always believed that the foundation of such a force was a total lack of fear regarding death.
He looked to history for his benchmarks. Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion, whose lightning raids pursued the Xiongnu across a thousand li.
Or Zhang Wenyuan, who led eight hundred brave souls to shatter a force of a hundred thousand.
Yet in those cases, the men were lured by fame or driven by profit.
Their desire for glory and wealth simply outweighed their natural terror of the grave.
But as he watched the scenes from the future, that logic seemed to crumble.
Fighting a flood to save commoners. Could that be traded for titles?
Would it bring immortal fame to the individual soldier?
The only remaining explanation was that these men truly valued the lives of the people more than their own.
But why? Guan Yu found himself sinking into a profound, uncharacteristic silence.
[Lightscreen]
[And in these critical moments, it is not just the People's Liberation Army that earns the title of the most beloved.
The Shandong Fire and Rescue Detachment dispatched seven branches and search-and-rescue dogs to support Zhuozhou.
Furthermore, nearly a hundred private rescue organizations, such as Blue Sky Rescue and Ram Rescue, arrived on the scene.]
The backdrop of the light screen shifted as the perspective pulled back.
The army in green was not alone in facing the disaster. Behind the emerald wall of the PLA came a sea of orange uniforms. And behind them, a kaleidoscope of colors. Civilians in every type of dress, driving iron carriages adorned with slogans.
"When one side is in trouble, support comes from all eight directions!"
Liu Bei read the words aloud, his voice thick with emotion. "What a magnificent sentiment," he whispered.
"Hang in there, family of Zhuozhou! Your compatriots are coming!"
Zhang Fei roared the words out, then quickly turned away, rubbing his eyes with a violent intensity. The flood in the images was still raging, but a tide of heroes had already stepped onto the drowning soil of Zhuozhou.
"True men..." Guan Yu muttered, unable to find any higher praise.
[Lightscreen]
[As of now, though the rain in Zhuozhou has stopped, forecasts suggest that another three to four hundred million cubic meters of water are still set to pass through the area. Fortunately, a nationwide surge of supplies has begun. We believe the people of Zhuozhou will overcome this crisis together.]
The screen began to fill with scrolling messages from the future.
[Server Chat Log]
[WifiBroken: Salute to the frontline flood fighters! Stay safe and come back whole!
HeavenPatch: United as one! We will prevail!
ScrollLoading: Life is paramount. Rescue is our duty!
ChronicleBreaker: There are no gods descending from the heavens. Only heroes stepping forward from the crowd!
DaoAfterPatch: Thank you to everyone involved. May you all be safe!
JianghuLag: Thank you, travelers against the wind. Salutes to every hero brave enough to charge into the torrent!]
Liu Bei and Zhang Fei looked at each other. They were thinking the exact same thing, and they both became agitated at the same moment.
"Supplies? How do we send supplies?"
"I have a considerable family fortune!" Zhang Fei yelled.
"I have ten thousand stones of grain ready!" Liu Bei added, his voice urgent.
But it all came back to the same impossible wall. "How do we get it to them?"
It took the combined efforts of Kongming and Pang Tong to talk their lord down from his ledge of desperation.
"The future has an army that truly loves its people."
"The future has means that border on the divine."
Liu Bei finally calmed himself, realizing that the light screen broadcast was not over. Even if there were a way to send aid, he would have to wait for the message to finish.
---
Inside the Ganlu Palace in Chang'an, a heavy silence had fallen.
When it came to natural disasters, Li Shimin and his inner circle had far too much to say. Du Ruhui knew the statistics by heart. "In the first year of Zhenguan, we faced drought, frost, and snow. In the second year, it was locusts, floods, hail, more locusts, and more frost. This year, the drought is already apparent, and officials fear another locust plague will follow."
Eight disasters in two years. For the Great Tang, no one was more qualified to speak on suffering.
"But we have nothing like the rescue methods of the future," Li Shimin sighed.
As a master of war, he understood better than anyone how formidable an army of that caliber must be. He desperately wanted his Tang soldiers to possess that same spirit and capability, but...
The Emperor shook his head, pushing the thought aside. The sight of the military and civilians mobilizing together as one had struck a deep chord within him. Though they had never met, they called each other compatriots and family.
Are the people of the future truly one single family?
In his understanding, you could force a soldier through orders.
But how could you compel thousands of commoners to ignore their own safety and travel a thousand li just to save a stranger?
Not for fame,
not for gold,
but simply for the sake of life.
For the sake of a kinsman. This was a concept Li Shimin struggled to grasp.
[Lightscreen]
[I plan to do a special feature on natural disasters when I have the time, so let us set that aside for now.
Next, we continue where we left off. The Six Expeditions from Mount Qi!]
For once, Liu Bei wished the unlearned descendant would stop talking about history and go back to the present.
Zhang Fei was already looking around the room, restless. "Everyone knows how the story ends. What is there left to say?"
Li Shimin was even more frustrated. "I have read of the expeditions from Mount Qi dozens of times in the annals! When will I see this special feature on natural disasters?"
[Lightscreen]
[As we have mentioned many times, the Prime Minister's strength did not come from being born omniscient. It came from his terrifying learning ability.
During the first expedition, he was still somewhat green.
By the second, he was a master commander. After the retreat from Chencang, he moved like a phantom, coordinating with Chen Shi to effortlessly seize the commanderies of Wudu and Yinping.
This was an undeniable victory. Chengdu was jubilant, and Liu Shan took the opportunity to officially restore the Prime Minister to his full rank.
But when someone is happy, someone else is bound to be miserable.
The young Emperor Cao Rui felt he was losing face. In a single year, on the Western front, the Prime Minister had struck three times. One win, one draw, and one loss for Wei.
The Prime Minister had lost almost nothing, while the Guanzhong region of Cao Wei was jumping at shadows. Most importantly, Wudu and Yinping were well and truly gone.
On the Eastern front, Sun Quan was acting high and mighty after his crushing victory at the Battle of Shiting.
Not only had he annihilated tens of thousands of Wei troops, but he had almost driven Cao Xiu to an early grave from sheer frustration.
To Cao Wei, Sun Wu was at least understandable.
But Shu Han? How dare you? You are one province fighting against nine!
Why are you so arrogant? Enough. We must invade Shu!]
Guan Yu was the first to snap out of the trance of the flood images.
He mulled over the narrative. "The light screen mentioned before that Cao Zhen led troops through the Ziwu Valley to ambush Hanzhong. Is this the time?"
Huang Zhong found it hard to believe. "This Cao Zhen was able to predict Kongming move at Chencang.
He clearly knows his craft. How could he make a mistake like Wei Yan and..."
Huang Zhong wanted to say talk like a paper general, but he caught himself and fell silent. Wei Yan had nothing to say.
He had not even been to Shu yet. Zhang Fei glanced at Wei Yan, then back at the Cao Zhen on the screen.
"So Wenchang is at the same level as a regent of the Cao dogs?"
Wei Yan's face flushed slightly. That does not exactly feel like a compliment.
Pang Tong, however, understood Cao Rui's motivations perfectly. "A boy emperor is always like this. He needs to display his might and extinguish any thoughts of rebellion."
[Lightscreen]
[The debate over invading Shu ignited a massive conflict in the Cao Wei court.
The regent Chen Qun voiced his opposition with unprecedented vehemence, submitting a formal memorial to Cao Rui.
His logic boiled down to three points.
Transporting grain is impossible.
The distance is too great.
We do not have enough men.
Cao Rui remained expressionless and handed the memorial directly to Cao Zhen.
His message was clear. Attack!
Who was Chen Qun? The creator of the Nine-Rank System and the undisputed leader of the Ru-Ying faction.
And Cao Zhen? The adopted son of Cao Cao, treated like his own flesh and blood. The ultimate heavyweight of the Qiao-Pei military clique.
Because the Emperor sided with Cao Zhen, the general won the debate and set off happily to crush the Prime Minister. He opened with a king bomb.
A four-pronged invasion involving one hundred fifty thousand men. He was determined to win!
Guo Huai and Fei Yao took the Mount Qi route to attack Hanzhong.
Zhang He took the Baoxie Road.
Sima Yi led the Jingzhou forces from Shangyong, sailing upstream against the Han River.
And Cao Zhen himself? He led the main force through the Ziwu Valley.]
The familiar map appeared on the light screen, showing four bright arrows pointing directly at the tiny pocket of Hanzhong. The tension in the room rose.
Wei Yan could not help but ask, "Zhang He and Sima Yi were the defenders of Xiangyang and Fancheng. If they were pulled away to attack Hanzhong, would that not give Sun Wu a golden opportunity?"
Zhang Fei burst out laughing. "Wenchang, I will bet you anything that Sun Shinwan-ge went to attack Hefei again!"
Zhang Fei was cackling now. "And I will bet you he either returned in a crushing defeat or just gave up and went home."
Wei Yan was stunned. He simply could not fathom such a thing.
Pang Tong did not care about the east. He studied the map intensely. "Kongming's style is cautious. He must have predicted the bandits would counterattack. I suspect he was already fully prepared for an invasion."
Kongming felt a surge of novelty. "Shiyuan, you have that much faith in me?"
Pang Tong curled his lip. "I am just making an objective guess based on your personality. Furthermore, I would bet that double-city Jiangling mentioned earlier was your suggestion to Yunchang."
Kongming remained silent, but in his heart, he found the idea of a double-city structure quite appealing. And based on the timeline, he would have been handling the logistics for Yunchang at that point. Was it actually true?
[Lightscreen]
[As the saying goes, the Prime Minister's military movements were always steady. Even more so after he executed Ma Su.
He had actually been waiting for this Cao Wei offensive for five or six years.
After Liu Bei's death, the Prime Minister had given specific defensive orders to Wei Yan, the Governor of Hanzhong.
The Tangluo Road was guarded by the Xingshi Fortification. The Baoxie Road was defended by the fortified city of Baocheng. The Ziwu Valley was blocked by the Huangjin Fortification.
After retreating from Mount Qi, the Prime Minister had even predicted Sima Yi's route, building the Pingxi, Hancheng, and Lecheng forts along the eastern side of Hanzhong.
Wei Yan himself proved to be a capable commander, reinforcing the natural barrier of Yangping Pass to guard against any Cao forces coming from the Chencang or Mount Qi roads.
At the time, Liu Bei had left two regents. The other, Li Yan, had been stationed at Jiangzhou.
Facing a four-pronged invasion, the Prime Minister still felt uneasy and ordered Li Yan to bring twenty thousand men to reinforce Hanzhong.
This was effectively stripping Li Yan of his independent command, and though the Prime Minister recommended Li Yan's son to take his place in Jiangzhou, it was not exactly a happy transition.
The great battle was poised to explode, but in the end, it was extinguished by a single rainstorm.
In August of 230 AD, the Qinling Mountains were battered by thirty days of relentless rain. The Han River surged, washing away a massive number of Sima Yi's warships.
He was defeated by the flood before he even reached the battlefield and was forced back to Xiangyang.
The rain destroyed the wooden plank roads along Mount Qi, Chencang, and the Xie Valley.
Wei Yan took the initiative to strike out, forcing Zhang He and Fei Yao to retreat. As for the main force under Cao Zhen? They were not so lucky.
The vanguard, Xiahou Ba, and a small elite force managed to make it out of the Ziwu Valley, only to be greeted by the fresh, dry soldiers of the Shu Han stationed at Xingshi, Chiban, and Huangjin.
Cao Zhen's main army was completely soaked through, trapped in the literal mud pits of the Ziwu Valley. Eventually, Cao Rui was forced to order a retreat.
And so, the four-pronged invasion was a total failure. Shortly after returning to Chang'an, Cao Zhen died in a state of deep depression. This defeat dealt a fatal blow to the Cao clan.
The complete loss of power for the Qiao-Pei clique. Of the four regents appointed by Cao Pi, Chen Qun, Sima Yi, Cao Xiu, and Cao Zhen, only the two from the Ru-Ying faction remained.
As for what Sun Quan was doing while Cao Zhen was invading Shu? In 230 AD, Sun Quan attacked Hefei.
He returned home without capturing it.]