[Lightscreen]
[Zhang He died for exactly the reason you would expect. He was a loyal subject of Great Wei.
Let us be clear about one thing. Sima Yi was the commander of the Xiangyang-Fancheng Theater.
Sure, he lost at Lucheng.
Sure, he got humiliated by his own aggressive generals.
And sure, looking back, every single one of his tactical decisions was a complete disaster.
But in Sima Yi's eyes, Zhang He was the real problem.
Three undeniably excellent suggestions. A battle record of losing without actually losing his army. It was all a bit too impressive for comfort.
Sima Yi saw chasing the retreating Zhuge village bumpkin as his last shot at a win-win.
If Zhang He won, the Xiangyang-Fancheng Theater's stats would look a little better. Everyone wins.
If Zhang He lost, he would be in the exact same boat as Sima Yi, Guo Huai, and Jia Si. Everyone really wins.
Sima Yi just did not expect Zhang He to actually get turned into a pincushion by a storm of arrows.
As a side note, the Book of Jin claims Sima Yi took ten thousand heads at Lucheng and made a victorious retreat. If Zhang He saw that from the underworld, he would feel more wronged than Dou'E herself.
If you won such a glorious victory, why the hell did you make me chase after him?!]
"This Zhang He..."
Seeing the end of Zhang He's story, Zhang Fei actually felt a twinge of nostalgia. "His luck was absolute garbage and he struggled in actual combat, but his strategic planning was solid. To die because of a petty power struggle..."
Huang Zhong chuckled. "Is Yide thinking about your victory at Dangqu?
How you carved your name into the cliffside?"
Zhang Fei nodded back. "And Hansheng, your performance at Mount Dingjun absolutely terrified Zhang He.
That was legendary bravery right there."
Then both old veterans sighed in unison. Zhang He... what a good guy he was.
Liu Bei added a quiet thought. "After Yiling, Zhang He followed Cao Pi to attack Jiangling. Did that not just end up making Sun Wu look even better?"
As for the Battle of Jieting, everyone had the decency to leave it alone. Ma Liang was standing right there, after all.
But Liu Bei finally understood why Zhang He had not dared to push further after Jieting. When you spend half a lifetime fighting monsters like the Five Tiger Generals, a sudden easy victory feels wrong. You simply cannot trust it.
Jian Yong was curious. "If Shu had enough grain and they just kept staring each other down, who would have won?"
Pang Tong had no doubts about Kongming. "Sima Yi would have broken. Longyou would have fallen."
He pointed to the map behind them. "Heavy rain makes the Mount Qi waterways rise. Even with grain, you cannot move it. Sima Yi can pull supplies from three hundred li of Guanzhong plains, and Guo Huai can shake down the locals. Could Kongming ever do that?"
Kongming stayed silent. He was the kind of man who told his guests, If even one man dies, it is my fault. How could he ever strip grain from the common people?
Pang Tong shrugged and moved on. "Plus, our dear ally the Marquis of Sun failed at Hefei yet again. With the Hefei front completely secure, what happens when Cao Wei pulls their Jiandong elites to reinforce Longyou?"
Jian Yong understood. "Shu Han likely had no more troops left to send."
[Lightscreen]
[Now, Li Yan's role in all this... it is genuinely hard to describe.
Let us put it this way. He had too much time and absolutely zero sense.
When he saw Kongming return, Li Yan acted completely shocked and asked: The grain supplies were fine! Why did the Prime Minister come back?!
Then he doubled down, claiming the grain transport official Cen Shu must have been the saboteur.
Just wait, Chancellor! I will go execute that traitor Cen Shu right now!
Meanwhile, he sent a letter to Liu Shan.
Do not punish Prime Minister. I am certain this retreat is just a clever ruse to lure the enemy in.
In that moment, Li Yan was acting like a man holding all the cards.
The biggest joker in the deck.
The Prime Minister did not even bother arguing. He simply handed over the receipts.
Every letter Li Yan had sent him. Li Yan was left speechless. He bowed his head, accepted the verdict, and was stripped of all ranks and reduced to a commoner.
After Liu Bei's death, the regency was split. The Prime Minister was in charge. Li Yan was his deputy. The Prime Minister ran the government. Li Yan served as Central Protector, commanding the military and holding Yong'an. We all know what happened next.
The Prime Minister used Shu silk to raise funds, rally support, and slice through the Southern Campaign like a hot knife through butter.
Then the Northern Expeditions began. And Li Yan? He just sat in Yong'an, chewing on nothing but sour grapes.
From Liu Bei's death onward, Li Yan did roughly three things.
First, he wrote to the Prime Minister. I think Yizhou Province is too big. How about we carve out a Bashu Province from the eastern part? I would make a perfect governor.
The Prime Minister response. No.
Li Yan did not quit. He wrote again. You have worked so hard, Prime Minister. I believe you deserve the Nine Bestowments and a promotion to King.
The Prime Minister response was essentially this. Are you sick?
After Cao Zhen's invasion, the Prime Minister transferred Li Yan to Hanzhong. Stop obsessing over nonsense and actually serve the state.
Even though Li Yan's son took over his old post, Li Yan saw this as a naked power grab. He felt deeply humiliated.
Finally, after the victory at Lucheng, he launched his grand scheme to teach the Prime Minister a lesson.
The Prime Minister most likely just concluded Li Yan was genuinely sick in the head, stripped him of everything, and went back to planning the next expedition.
For a thousand years, everyone has looked at Li Yan's actions and asked the exact same question.
What in the hell were you thinking?!]
Zhang Fei stared, wide-eyed, nodding furiously. "Seriously! What was he thinking? Was his brain actually kicked by donkey?"
Kongming felt a deep wave of sympathy for his future self. Being Prime Minister is already hard enough. Why am I surrounded by such absolute lunatics?
Pang Tong was deep in thought when he sensed a very kind, very gentle gaze settle on him. He turned to find Kongming smiling at him.
"Shiyuan. Whatever you do in Yizhou Province, do not lead the army yourself."
Pang Tong found the warning a bit random but appreciated it. "Of course. Stray arrows have no eyes, and I still have to surpass your record." Even if I cannot match him, he added silently, I need my own temple.
Before they had entered service, he and Kongming had been equals. If he ended up as nothing but a footnote in Kongming's shrine, future generations would think he was all hype.
Zhang Fei stared at the screen and the tangled web of events. Then his face lit up with sudden clarity. "It is Big Brother's fault again!"
Liu Bei could not even muster the energy to be annoyed. "I was dying. How was I supposed to know things would turn out like this?"
"Third Brother!" Guan Yu shut Zhang Fei down before he could dig himself deeper. He looked at Kongming with genuine understanding. "Crushing a rebellion in the south, any general could do that. But truly pacifying the south? Only the military advisor could have pulled it off."
Zhang Fei recalled the business about economic interests he still did not fully grasp and sighed. "Fair enough. And that Li Yan was clearly out of his mind. If he had been running the army, the military advisor might have died before ever seeing a northern campaign."
Liu Bei could only silently thank the heavens that Li Yan was not here in this room. Otherwise Zhang Fei would be fighting for his life right now.
Mi Zhu, with his merchant's mind, simply could not comprehend it. "Urging the military advisor to accept the Nine Bestowments and become a King?
Did he think the military advisor was like the Cao thief?
Why even come to Yi Province then?"
Jian Yong felt Li Yan had simply gotten lost at every major crossroads. "He was originally under Liu Biao. When the Cao thief came, he surrendered straight to Cao Cao. He should have just stayed there. He might have become one of Cao Cao's trusted men by now."
Mi Zhu was skeptical. "With plans that full of holes? Even the Cao thief would not want him."
[Lightscreen]
[Some of the most revealing details hide in the cracks of the history books. Because of Li Yan's nonsense, the Prime Minister had to leave Hanzhong and return to Chengdu to explain everything to Liu Shan.
This was the last time Liu Shan would ever see his Xiangfu, his Imperial Father.
The Prime Minister's may have had just enough time to visit the young son he had so rarely been able to raise, and to see his wife, who always supported him and never complained.
The Prime Minister was a great statesman, but he was also trying to be a good father. Home in Chengdu gave him a brief, fleeting warmth.
When he returned to Hanzhong, he wrote to his brother about his son. He is bright and quick, but too mature for his age. I worry he will not make anything of himself.
We have a saying now. The children of the poor grow up fast. The Prime Minister's household was not poor, but for Zhuge Zhan, fatherly love was a rare and precious thing.
This boy, carrying all his father's hopes, could only learn about his father through the words of strangers. He was forced to mature quickly just to feel worthy of being the Prime Minister son.
But Zhuge Liang poured everything he had into this land.
He was going to organize one final, unprecedented Northern Expedition. He was going to give every last drop of himself to carve out a future for Shu Han.
Meanwhile, after the debacle at Lucheng, the entire Yongzhou-Liangzhou region was gripped by unrelenting anxiety.
Cao Rui wanted to scream, but he had to hand out titles and rewards just to keep his generals calm. The history books record his mood simply. The Emperor was deeply worried.
The era was captured in one perfect, devastating line. Armor stays on in Yongzhou-Liangzhou. Saddles stay on in the Central Plains.]
"Such overwhelming prestige!"
Zhang Fei was burning with envy. Second Brother had awed the entire realm.
Zilong had fought his way in and out seven times.
Even Big Brother had flipped the table at Yiling and forced Sun Quan to swallow that King of Wu title.
And now the military advisor was building this kind of legend through the Northern Expeditions alone.
In comparison, his own victory at Dangqu suddenly felt... small. Wait. He had only beaten Zhang He. And Zhang He had only beaten Ma Su. Did that put him just one level above Ma Su? Zhang Fei shook his head hard. After today, he was going to demand a real command. No more hiding in Linju.
But no one was paying attention to him. Everyone was staring at the screen, lost in their own thoughts.
The final battle was coming.
Knowing now that his name would echo through history, Huang Zhong felt a hunger for military glory he had not felt in years.
But as he looked at the solemn atmosphere around him, he began to despise his aging body for the very first time.
Guan Yu was adrift in memory. His arrogance at Xiangfan had killed him and left him draped in all the posthumous honor, while the burden of restoring the Han crashed down first on his brother, and then on the military advisor alone. Just as the light screen had said. Returning to the Lord of Mount Tai is, in truth, the easiest path of all.
Liu Bei's lips moved soundlessly. "Yiling..."
Everything had started at Yiling. Everything had been buried at Yiling. One desperate gamble. One final roll of the dice. And the board had been swept clean. Has the Han truly lost the Mandate of Heaven? For the very first time, Liu Bei allowed himself to doubt.
Kongming did not speak. Huang Yueying was leaning against his back, her shoulders shaking in silence. Their hearts had always been one. He knew no words were needed. He simply took her hands in his and held them tight.
[Lightscreen]
[Before the final Northern Expedition, while the Prime Minister was writing to his brother, he also sent a letter to Sun Quan. The message was, more or less, this. I am begging you. Please. Jiangdong. For once in your lives. Please, act like actual human beings.]