Guan Yu's eye twitched. For the first time, he felt that his third brother's blunt judgment had struck uncomfortably close to the truth.
"After the victory at Yiling, Sun-Wu's morale soared," Guan Yu said gravely. "Then Cao Zihuan launched his failed invasion, and it rose yet again. A capable commander avoids the enemy at the height of their spirit and strikes when they are spent. If you cannot break the general's will, how can you hope to face the sharpened edge of an entire army?"
Liu Bei, however, was filled with a single, overwhelming sensation—
Satisfaction.
He had long worried that his son, Adou, might lack the qualities needed to rule. Yet according to the light-screen, that failure was due in no small part to the shortage of capable ministers left in the Shu-Han court. But what of Cao Cao's son? The man who had clawed his way to the throne through ruthless struggles and wrapped himself in the mantle of a hero?
He commanded hundreds of thousands of troops. He had Liu Ye and Jia Xu at his side. And yet he ignored one and rejected the other, calmly handing victory to Sun Quan as if it were a gift on a silver platter.
A grin spread across Liu Bei's face before he could stop it. For a fleeting moment, he felt an impish urge to write a letter to Cao Cao. And perhaps, he thought indulgently, I should excuse Adou from his lessons tonight.
Catching Kongming's knowing, half-mocking glance, Liu Bei quickly reined in his expression. "Jia Wenhe is renowned for the precision of his calculations," he said evenly. "What do you two think of his advice?"
Though the screen used peculiar phrases like "building the economy" and "seizing production," the intent was unmistakable. The policy resonated deeply with Kongming, who considered it carefully before answering. "It is a plan to secure the state and stabilize the people. The idea of 'capturing production and developing it' contains profound truth."
Pang Tong shook his head after a moment's reflection. "Jia Wenhe plans for the state, but not for the man. He understands 'measuring the ruler and employing the general,' yet counsel itself must be measured to the one who receives it. Given Cao Zihuan's capacity, Jia Wenhe should have simply advised him to station elite troops at Xiangfan and allow the local commanders to act on their own initiative."
The implication was unmistakable: why waste refined statecraft on a man like Cao Pi? Distract him, and let professionals do the real work.
[Light-Screen]
From Cao Pi's perspective, his reasons for invading Wu were always "sound," and they all traced back to Liu Bei.
After the defeat at Yiling, Liu Bei did not return to Chengdu. Instead, he remained at Baidi City. The reason was simple: a catastrophic defeat inevitably breeds instability, and Liu Bei's greatest strength lay in his unparalleled resilience.
He needed to organize defenses at Baidi to rally the remnants of his army and steady the hearts of the people. He renamed the city Yong'an—"Everlasting Peace." The Records of Wu even suggest he was preparing a counteroffensive.
His character would not permit retreat. At that moment, he was a banner that had to remain planted at the front—a living embodiment of the principle: "The Son of Heaven guards the gates of the realm."
But by the following year, his health deteriorated rapidly. Sensing his end, he summoned Kongming and Li Yan to receive his final testament. He commanded Liu Shan to treat Kongming as a father and left behind his famous admonition:
"Do not commit an evil because it is small; do not neglect a good because it is small."
In June, the old soldier—who had spent a lifetime fighting, failing, and rising again, a man who never once surrendered—passed away in the Palace of Yong'an. He was sixty-three.
Cao Cao called him a hero. Zhou Yu called him a great hegemon. Kongming believed his talent peerless, and the historian Chen Shou judged him to possess the spirit of the Great Ancestor, Gaozu.
This old soldier, who gave the Three Kingdoms its very soul, had labored his entire life. At last, it was time for him to rest beside his second and third brothers. One wonders—within the Peach Garden of his memory, do the blossoms still bloom in full?
"Big Brother!" Zhang Fei had already broken down, tears streaming freely.
Though they had glimpsed fragments of the final testament before, witnessing the full account of Liu Bei's end struck them with renewed, raw anguish.
"Brother…" Guan Yu's eyes glistened red. "This time, I will remain by your side until the very end."
Zhang Fei lifted his head, his face soaked with tears. "So will I!"
Pang Tong listened to the future's lofty praise of Liu Bei and Kongming, feeling a stir of professional jealousy mingled with genuine admiration. "Kongming—did you truly see such peerless talent back in Nanyang?"
Kongming was silent for a long while. At last, he spoke softly. "Shiyuan, that was our greatest disagreement in those days. I always believed the Han could be restored. Lord Xuande merely showed me that I was not alone on that road."
Pang Tong said nothing more. Kongming had once told him the screen came from eighteen centuries in the future—an expanse of time almost beyond comprehension. Yet hearing the reverence with which the future spoke of Liu Bei and Kongming filled him with envy.
This time, the Fledgling Phoenix would not die young. He would stand shoulder to shoulder with Kongming and compete to restore the Han. He wanted future generations to speak of Pang Tong not with regret, but with the same deep respect they granted his lord and his rival.
Mi Zhu, meanwhile, was sinking into guilt. The maps displayed on the screen made Jiangling's importance painfully clear—even Cao Pi's invasion had shattered itself there. The more he saw, the heavier the blame weighed on his heart. "If only Jiangling had not been lost…"
Jian Yong cut him off with an easy shrug. "Zizhong, why torment yourself like this? To the screen, Jiangling's fall occurred nearly two thousand years ago. It is nothing more than history—a topic for idle discussion. But for us, Jiangling is still firmly in the Lord's hands. General Guan is raising its walls even as we speak."
"Shi Ren has been sent to train with the navy, and Mi Fang is confined safely at home. What is there to fear? Even in that other timeline, when Mi Fang betrayed us, the Lord never blamed you. Why should you bear this shame alone?"
Mi Zhu murmured, "I only hate to see the Lord die with such regret. If not for Mi Fang's betrayal, it would not have ended this way."
"And what does that have to do with you?" Jian Yong tapped Mi Zhu lightly on the head. "I told you—the past is gone. Instead of drowning in it, do more for the Lord now."
Mi Zhu nodded slowly, the weight finally lifting from his expression.
[Light-Screen]
In the year following Liu Bei's death, under Prime Minister Kongming's leadership, the alliance between Shu-Han and Sun-Wu was restored. Cao Pi promptly lost his composure once again.
After Yiling, Cao Pi's invasion had achieved nothing, yet Sun Quan sent tributes to purchase peace—and a good night's sleep. Cao Pi halted only because his vanity had been appeased.
But Shu and Wei were irreconcilable. Sun-Wu's reconciliation with Shu amounted to a second betrayal of the North. Cao Pi felt the sting of humiliation anew. This was when he sought Jia Xu's counsel, only to be told to stay home and farm.
Enraged, he launched a second invasion. But as Jia Xu had warned, the timing was disastrous. While Cao Pi lacked martial talent, he excelled at internal purges. His crackdowns on the Wei Feng rebellion and on his own brothers, Cao Zhi and Cao Zhang, left the court trembling.
Moreover, just as Wu triumphed at Yiling, a massive locust plague swept the North, affecting one hundred thousand households. Cao Pi's brilliant solution was to relocate them all to Henan to farm.
His ministers were horrified. Xin Pi and others physically seized his sleeves and begged him to stop. The Emperor compromised only by moving fifty thousand households. The cost of this forced migration plunged the realm into instability.
We have covered both the prelude to Yiling and its aftermath. Cao Pi is, in truth, a fascinating figure. Perhaps one day we will devote a special episode to comparing the second-generation rulers of the Three Kingdoms.
But for now, our next episode:
"The Collapse of Shu? Watch the Prime Minister Work His Magic!"