The victory banquet lasted deep into the night and grew even livelier the moment Ma Chao arrived to steal the show. It was his first time meeting Liu Bei in person, yet he acted as if they had been drinking together for years.
He sat right down, grabbed a roasted chicken leg, and launched straight into his story with his mouth still half full.
"I caught him, my lord. That Zhang rabbit. Zhang He."
Liu Bei blinked. Looked at Ma Chao. Looked at the chicken leg. Looked back at Ma Chao.
"Mengqi, welcome. You must be weary. Please, eat properly and take your time."
"I captured Zhang He, my lord," Ma Chao repeated, raising his voice like extra volume would make the news any more impressive.
"Yes, I know. It is a splendid feat. Well done. Now please, have something to eat."
"You do not understand, my lord." Ma Chao took a huge bite of chicken. Chewed. Swallowed. Then went right on talking." You do not understand what it took. The man is a rabbit. A rat with long legs. Damn, he can run."
Liu Bei set down his wine cup, folded his hands neatly, and settled in.
"Tell me everything then. It sounds like quite a tale."
"Of course it is! I will tell you every last detail!" Ma Chao tore another chunk off the chicken. "At Jieting, I smashed his formation. I beat him fair and square, my lord. Then he ran. My men burned with fury and gave chase. You know why, my lord? Every last one of those Cao dogs deserves a good beating. We had scores to settle for what they did to us at Tong Pass."
Liu Bei nodded slowly. "That is perfectly understandable."
"Then we clashed again at Chencang. Good heavens, my lord, that Zhang He is so slippery. I crushed him, took the city, and still he slipped away. I swear the man must have been blessed by some rabbit spirit."
"Rabbit spirit?" Liu Bei asked.
"Exactly! What else could give legs like that to a human man?"
Jian Yong, seated nearby, refilled his cup and leaned back to listen.
Ma Chao kept right on talking. "After Chencang, we seized all his supply trains. He got away with nothing but the clothes on his back and the troops standing at his side. No food, no baggage, nothing. You know what that means, my lord?"
"He would be hungry," Liu Bei said.
"Exactly! Starving hungry, my lord!"
Ma Chao stared at him, his expression that of a man who had just been told his life's work was only a minor incident.
"That is... technically correct, my lord. But you are missing the important parts."
"Which parts?"
"All of them. A story is always better with details, right?"
"True. Some stories do need detail," Liu Bei admitted.
Ma Chao seized another chicken leg and went on. "After Chencang, he headed north. I expected him to make for Anding, so I raced ahead to cut him off at Yongxian. But he doubled back and slipped east through Duyang. Do you know Duyang, my lord? The roads are garbage. Absolute trash. My horses broke three shoes on those rocks."
Liu Bei nodded. "Then what happened?"
"Then he made for Yinmi. I stayed on his heels. He turned toward Chungu. I followed. He pushed on to Linjing. I kept right after him. All this time he had nothing to live on. No grain, no meat. His men were reduced to stripping bark off the trees to fill their bellies. I saw the trees myself. Stripped bare. It looked like a swarm of locusts had chewed their way through the forest."
Jian Yong spoke up. "And what were your men eating during all this?"
Ma Chao paused mid-chew. He swallowed quickly and looked faintly sheepish.
"We were also making do with tree bark, Master Jian. I ordered all our supply wagons left behind so we could move fast enough to run him down."
Jian Yong leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "Let me make sure I understand this, Mengqi. You spent an entire month hunting down one man until he starved into submission?"
Ma Chao's smile never faltered. "Not just one man. His whole army. And I did not merely chase him, Master Jian. I hunted him. Like a wolf. A very patient wolf."
"A wolf that survives on tree bark," Jian Yong remarked.
"Actually it was not all that bad. You just have to know how to pick the right kind," Ma Chao said with perfect seriousness. "I could show you the trick someday. But even the best bark is still dry and tough and stringy. My Qiang riders spat it out the first time they tried. Yet we had no choice but to eat it. And since I lead them, I had to be the first to swallow it down."
Liu Bei filled a cup with wine and passed it to him. "Here. Drink. You have more than earned this."
Ma Chao drained the cup, wiped his mouth, and picked up the story right where he left off.
"So we reached Linjing. I told myself, surely this is where he stops. He has to turn and fight. There is nowhere else for him to run. And what does he do?"
"What did he do?" Liu Bei asked.
"He kept running! Where is the pride of a Cao general, damn it!" Ma Chao's voice rose in pure, offended disbelief. "His army was gone. No food left. No proper shoes on their feet. Half his men were limping along. Still he ran. Like a dog with a pot tied to its tail!"
Liu Bei tried again. "So essentially, Zhang He kept running. You kept the chase going. Finally you cornered him at Yuezhi City. Is that not the end of it?"
Ma Chao fixed him with a long, wounded look.
"You are doing it again, my lord."
"Doing what?"
"Making it sound so simple," Ma Chao said, clearly aggrieved.
"My apologies, Mengqi. Please go on."
Ma Chao glanced around the table, hoping for support. He found none. Jian Yong was hiding a grin behind his wine cup.
"Bring a map. I need a map," Ma Chao said.
Liu Bei blinked. "A map? For what?"
"A map. Bring me a map. I will show you. Then you will truly understand, my lord."
Liu Bei signaled an attendant. A map was brought and spread across the table, held flat at the corners by heavy wine cups.
Ma Chao leaned over it. His finger touched Jieting. Then Chencang. Then he traced the full path. Yongxian. Duyang. Yinmi. Chungu. Linjing. Yuezhi.
His finger moved across the page. And kept moving. And kept moving.
Liu Bei and Jian Yong leaned in closer, following the line, and saw the trail stretch across nearly half the province.
Jian Yong let out a long breath. "That is… quite a distance."
"That is the road," Ma Chao declared with the grim pride of a man showing off a battle scar. "Every single step of it. On horseback. Across mountains. Through rushing rivers. Through two thunderstorms and one very unruly herd of goats."
"Goats?" Liu Bei asked.
"Ah yes, the goats. That was Zhang He's fault as well. He rode straight through a village and scattered the entire herd. The goats stampeded right into my path. I had to gallop full speed through four hundred panicked goats. My horse kicked three of them. I lost an hour rounding up the rest because the villagers were convinced we had come to steal their livestock."
Zhuge Liang, who had been listening all along, finally spoke up. "Mengqi, that must have been incredibly demanding for you."
"Kongming, you truly understand," Ma Chao said with a grateful nod.
Liu Bei stared at the map. Then at the route traced across it. Then at Ma Chao.
Jian Yong was also studying the path. "Mengqi, this was no ordinary chase. This was a full tour of the entire region."
"A necessary tour," Ma Chao replied in perfect seriousness.
Liu Bei looked again at the map, then at Ma Chao, then at the chicken leg that was now little more than bone. "You covered all this ground in a single month?"
"And I captured Zhang He, my lord. That is the part that matters most."
"Did it never occur to you to simply wait for him at one of these towns along the way?" Jian Yong asked.
"And give him time to rest? Never! If I had slowed down, he might have found food. He might have slipped back into Cao Cao's territory. He might have…" Ma Chao broke off, searching for the worst possible outcome he could imagine. "He might have slept soundly and regained his full strength!"
Jian Yong nodded slowly. "A truly dreadful prospect."
"Finally someone sees sense!" Ma Chao beamed.
Liu Bei let out a long breath and motioned to a nearby guard. "See that Zhang He is given proper food and care. Treat him well."
The guard bowed and departed.
Ma Chao took another bite of chicken, chewed slowly, then set the bone down. He remembered the lesson Jian Yong had gently taught him earlier. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he straightened his posture and spoke with greater care.
"Chang'an is truly a great city, my Lord. Yet you took it in only a few days. Such power is nothing short of divine."
He meant every word sincerely. For the Qiang and Hu riders who fought beside him, capturing a city by siege had always been a slow, painful headache. The great coalition that once faced Cao Cao had not even attempted to seize Chang'an at all. They had chosen to meet him at Tong Pass instead.
Liu Bei smiled, raised his cup, and drank in fellowship with him.
Even so, his mind drifted quietly to the northeast. He wondered how Zhang Fei and Pang Tong were faring in Hedong.
In relation to Guanzhong, Hedong was like an armpit. Close enough to matter, yet tucked away and easy to overlook. It was not the kind of ground people fought over. The terrain held no decisive advantage, and no ruler had ever bothered to govern it with firm attention. Some of the troops who had joined the coalition at Tong Pass had come from those very lands. After the coalition crumbled, the local generals had apparently surrendered to Cao Cao.
Now, Liu Bei suspected, they were simply waiting to see which way the wind would blow next.
Now that Liu Bei controlled Guanzhong, it was time for a proper conversation with those Hedong commanders.
"I heard you also took Xiahou Yuan, my Lord," Ma Chao said, his face filled with genuine respect.
Liu Bei shook his head. "His own officers wanted to surrender, so they bound him and handed him over. I have already sent word to Cao Cao proposing an exchange. I wish to return Xiahou Yuan in trade for the men from Yizhou."
"Men from Yizhou?" Ma Chao looked confused.
Liu Bei let out a sigh and spoke plainly. "Years ago, Liu Zhang sent a garrison of Yizhou soldiers to serve Cao Cao. They were sent far from home and have never been able to return. Back in Chengdu, their parents still wait and hold onto hope that their sons will one day come walking home."
Ma Chao held his peace for a good while. Then the very man who had chased Zhang He across half the province for a full month, who had borne dust, hardship, and meager fare without a word of complaint, slowly sank to his knees.
"I beg you, my Lord. Please save my father."
Before the battle against Cao Cao at Tong Pass, Ma Chao had received several letters from Liu Bei.
Back then he had burned with fierce ambition, eager for the whole realm to know the name Ma Chao. The only counsel he had taken was the warning not to address Han Sui as his adoptive father in public. Reality, of course, beat the arrogance out of him. The coalition fell apart, shattered and driven back by Cao Cao's forces. Han Sui ran one way. Ma Chao ran another.
It was then that Jian Yong arrived, bringing steady words and thoughtful guidance. He laid out the tragic example of Lu Bu, whose name had become synonymous with treachery and disloyalty. Through those lessons, Ma Chao finally understood the truth of his own situation. A man might turn his back on his own father, but the shame of such a choice would cling to him forever. No amount of glory could ever wash it clean.
So now Ma Chao saw only one true path forward. He must ask Lord Liu Bei to intervene and save his father.
Jian Yong and Liu Bei shared a look.
Ma Chao was a finely honed blade. Held well, he would strike down every foe. Held poorly, he would cut the hand that wielded him. By good fortune, he had been tempered and shaped into exactly the right condition.
Ma Chao had sworn loyalty and brought real achievements with him. Han Sui was long gone, and the Yongzhou-Liangzhou region was solid. If Cao Cao killed Ma Teng now, it would bring him nothing but trouble. Combine that with the hostage exchange, and saving Ma Teng's life looked very possible.
So Liu Bei's expression warmed even further.
"Rise, Mengqi. You have just delivered great merit. This matter is my responsibility."
Ma Chao let out a long breath.
He shot a quick glance at Master Jian and caught Jian Yong flashing him a thumbs-up. His heart lifted, and the heavy weight he had been carrying for so long finally loosened.
Soon after, Liu Bei gave Ma Chao a new charge. He was to oversee the raising and breeding of horses.
The eight hundred li of the Qinchuan plains offered rich pasture and abundant water. The lands closer to the city were perfect for farming, while the outer stretches provided ideal grazing ground. The Qiang and Hu people possessed unmatched knowledge of horses, so it made perfect sense to place Ma Chao in command. He would select the most skilled breeders from among them and establish proper horse farms across the region.
In time, officials would record their methods, practices, and secrets in detail so the knowledge could be preserved and shared far and wide.
To Ma Chao, the assignment was no punishment.
He had grown up among horses, and within days he was already inspecting breeding stock with the enthusiasm of a man who had finally been given a battlefield he actually understood.
---
In Hedong, Zhang Fei and Pang Tong had another problem on their hands: how to handle the local commanders, who were basically bandits in official uniforms.
The Hedong commanders had lined up in the courtyard of the regional garrison, kneeling in neat rows, foreheads pressed to the stone. They swore loyalty to Liu Bei with the fervent, slightly desperate enthusiasm of men who had just watched their previous employer lose an entire war. Of course, what truly frightened them was Liu Bei's army. That army had beaten Cao Cao. It had smashed Sun Quan. Who were they to stand against Liu Huangshu?
"Our submission to Cao Cao was merely a matter of survival," the first commander declared, his voice cracking with sincerity. "Forced upon us by circumstance! We always knew the Mandate of Heaven rested with the Liu clan!"
"Naturally," Pang Tong said smoothly.
"We have always respected the Han."
"Of course."
"We had no choice."
"Of course."
"We are honest men, forced into difficult choices. But our hearts have always been with the Han!"
Pang Tong let the words hang in the air. Then he tilted his head, as if weighing their honesty on an invisible scale.
"Honest men," he repeated, as if tasting the words. "Forced into difficult choices. Yes. I understand perfectly."
The commanders glanced at one another. Some of them managed to smile.
"Since your loyalty is so firmly established," Pang Tong continued, "I am certain you will have no objection to a small request, right?"
The first commander swallowed. "What request?"
"Send your wives and children to Chang'an."
The hope in the courtyard turned brittle.
"Our families?" the first commander asked.
"Yes."
"As... prisoners?"
Pang Tong looked wounded. "Prisoners? Of course not, that would be too cruel. They will be our honored guests."
"Guests?"
"Honored guests." Pang Tong smiled. "They will live in comfort. Your children will receive proper education. Your wives will want for nothing. It is, frankly, a better life than they have now."
The first commander stared at him. "And how long will our families be honored guests?"
Pang Tong tilted his head, as if the question were absurd. "Until we are certain you remain loyal, I suppose."
The silence that followed was heavy enough to press the air out of the courtyard.
Pang Tong let it stretch. Then he added, "Of course, if you are truly loyal, this should not be a problem at all. After all, what honest man would object to his family living in comfort in the capital? Think about it. Free food, free education. Great, right?"
The commanders exchanged glances again. The kind of glances that said, there is no way out of this.
"Honored guests," the first commander managed. "What an honor."
"Truly," Pang Tong agreed.
Zhang Fei, standing behind him, let out a small grunt. It might have been amusement.
Later, on the road back to camp, Zhang Fei rode alongside Pang Tong.
"That was impressive," Zhang Fei admitted. "You did not even raise your voice."
"I did not need to," Pang Tong said.
"You made them think surrendering their families was a reward."
"It is a reward. Their children will be educated. Their wives will be fed. The fact that they also serve as leverage is merely a happy coincidence."
Zhang Fei laughed. "I could learn from you, Shiyuan."
"Do not," Pang Tong said. "The next time a commander refuses, I want you there. Your face does half the work."
Zhang Fei grinned. "I have been told I have a very expressive face."
"Among other things."
The Hedong commanders' families followed in carts behind them. The children were crying. The wives were not crying, which was somehow worse. The commanders rode at the front, very upright, very still, staring straight ahead with the rigid posture of men who had just realized that the phrase "honored guest" was doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
---
By late April, Liu Bei and his inner circle had gathered in the government offices of Chang'an. Watching the Lightscreen had become their favorite way to relax between matters of state and war.
Ma Chao sat among them, looking around with undisguised curiosity. He had long known Liu Bei's camp was filled with exceptional talent. Naturally, he now counted himself among their number.
Compared to the rigid formality of Cao Cao's court, the atmosphere here felt almost unsettlingly loose and easy. Yet everyone seemed to be waiting for something. And whenever their eyes drifted from Zhuge Liang to himself, Ma Chao could not help but feel a rising sense of suspicion.
---
Chang'an City. November. The era of the Great Tang.
After seeing Li Jing off, Li Shimin felt a twinge of unease.
He did not lose sleep over Tuyuhun. They were paper tigers. Bold and reckless, yet hollow at the core. With superior maps, gunpowder held in reserve as his ace, and battle-hardened generals leading the charge, Li Shimin saw no way the enemy could withstand the coming blow.
Even so, he understood the deeper truth. The defeat of Illig Qaghan had only shifted by half a year compared to what the Lightscreen had shown. A minor divergence, nothing more. Yet the campaign against Tuyuhun had been launched nearly five years ahead of schedule. From this point onward, the Great Tang would walk a path no history book had ever recorded.
It was already November, and not a single snowflake had fallen. The climate warnings from future generations flashed through his mind.
Then he thought of the one who would benefit most from such weather.
"Tibet..."