Jiang Wan's brush paused for the briefest moment as he wrote his own name.
Then, slowly and carefully, he continued copying—right up to the last word he had just heard.
The star has fallen.
A general's star.
Gone.
For a moment, Jiang Wan felt strangely disoriented.
Of course he knew Zhuge Liang.
Some matters the Chancellor handled personally—
the establishment of Jin'guan, reforms to salt production, pacifying Nanzhong, the grand strategy of the Northern Expeditions.
Other matters he delegated—
iron smelting improvements, Shu brocade refinement, repairing alliances, securing the southern frontier.
It always felt as though he were forever planning within a tent, strategy following strategy, his footsteps spread across all of Shu—
dragging a nation back from the edge of collapse.
And yet it also felt as though he were always one step short—
with no one able to walk beside him, only gazing toward Chang'an in quiet regret, giving everything he had to Han before dying with unfinished hopes.
At times, Zhuge Liang felt distant even to Jiang Wan.
When the Tiangong Kaiwu rice-cultivation method finally succeeded, the strategist had kicked off his shoes and run barefoot around the paddies three full laps, laughing like a child.
Jiang Wan had seen him locked out of his own office by Chen Dao's guards for working too late, forced to go home and rest.
He had seen him strolling the straight road at Gong'an County with his adopted son and biological daughter, buying toys and sweets.
Now, before Jiang Wan's eyes, the images overlapped.
Strategist and Chancellor—
Both cradled a small flame called Han, shielding it carefully, nursing it with all their strength, and only at the very end—reluctantly—passing it on to the next pair of hands.
"Kongming," Liu Bei said quietly, gripping Zhuge Liang's left hand and giving it a shake, "you have borne far too much."
Zhuge Liang's right hand had already been tightly held by Huang Yueying.
"I once thought you inferior to me," Pang Tong said, with surprisingly little sorrow on his face.
"Now I know—I was wrong."
"Still," he added lightly, "since the light-screen spared me from death… whether I end up inferior to you or not remains to be seen."
At that moment, the words on the light-screen slowly faded, and the music softened.
[Light-Screen]
[ The old Three Kingdoms dramas handled the Chancellor's death beautifully.
Strung together, the scenes could nearly move one to tears.
On the sickbed at Wuzhang Plains, the Chancellor closed his eyes, retreating from all worldly noise.
He seemed to see Ah Dou smiling confidently as he strode into Luoyang, ascending the throne.
Cao Rui and Sun Quan bowed as subject.
The Chancellor bowed as well.
This was the day he had waited for far too long.
With the Han restored, he could finally go home—
spend time with his children.
He had accompanied Zhuge Zhan far too little.
He still had land in Nanyang—
would the villagers remember him?
Should he live in Nanyang?
In Shu?
Or in Luoyang?
But when he raised his head—
There was no old capital.
No restoration of Han.
Only a fleeting dream, born of fading consciousness.]
Liu Bei tightened his grip on Zhuge Liang and refused to let go.
"Kongming… with you, the Han was blessed."
Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's eyes were already red.
The strategist's dying dream—
was it not theirs as well?
Zhang Fei wondered if he too would die full of regret.
Regret not avenging Second Brother?
Guan Yu wondered—
Regret never riding straight into Xudu to face Cao the bandit again?
Ma Liang murmured softly,
"If only I'd survived Yiling… I could have served the Strategist in the Northern Expeditions…"
Jiang Wan patted his arm.
"Ma Jichang is already the Strategist's right hand now."
"Cherish the present. Don't look back."
Zhuge Liang raised his voice to reassure everyone:
"I ask you all—help me make this dream real!"
[Light-Screen]
[ After Zhao Yun's death, the Chancellor once saw Zilong in a dream.
His unwilling words still echoed.
"Chancellor… Zilong is old. I will not live to see the Central Plains restored.
I can no longer fulfill the late Emperor's will."
"The great cause of restoring Han—
now rests on you alone."
"Zilong dies… unfulfilled."
Facing Sima Yi, the Chancellor would sometimes stare at the banner reading
'Recover the Central Plains' late into the night.
"Second General… Third General…
I pray you lend me strength from beyond."
"So that I may defeat Sima Yi, advance north, and complete the great work—
to console your spirits in Heaven."
And even at the very end, amid cries of
"Chancellor, take care!"
What he thought was—
"I… can no longer personally lead troops against the enemy."
"Vast Heaven—why are you so cruel to me?"
The banner still fluttered in the wind.
But the Chancellor could no longer lift it and march north.]
Three simple scenes.
No fierce battles.
No dazzling stratagems.
Yet—
"My eyes… feel itchy," Zhang Fei muttered, rubbing them hard.
"Why does it itch more the more I wipe… Second Brother, lend me your handkerchief…"
Turning his head, through tear-blurred vision, he saw Guan Yu stride forward like a dragon.
He knelt on one knee and clasped his fists.
"Strategist!"
"This time, Yu will not go first—leaving you alone to gaze toward Chang'an!"
"If the Strategist leaves Mount Qi, Yu will lead the vanguard, bearing the banner of Han's restoration, slaying enemies at your side!"
"So that your long-held wish—and my brother's—may finally be fulfilled!"
Zhang Fei rushed forward as well.
"Me too! Strategist—me too!"
"My death was my own fault, yet it dragged you down with me!"
He raised his head, eyes round and red.
"I've had Big Brother write 'Restrain Anger' and hang it in my hall—
I read it every day!"
"I swear I won't repeat past disasters!
I won't let Second Brother steal the vanguard position again!"
Huang Zhong knelt as well.
"Strategist, though General Zilong is gone, I am old too—and I understand his intent."
"My years are few.
While I live, I am yours to command—only let my lord's cause succeed, and your wish be fulfilled!"
Wei Yan knelt and spoke plainly:
"Wherever the Strategist points, Yan will always be the vanguard."
Zhuge Liang carefully helped each of them up.
Then he bowed deeply—to the generals, to Liu Bei, to Pang Tong.
"Kongming… is not alone."
"Vast Heaven was harsh to Chancellor Zhuge Liang—
but generous to Strategist Zhuge Liang."
[Light-Screen]
[ "Vast Heaven, why are you so cruel to me?"
This line became the Chancellor's finest epitaph.
Even today, if you open Zhihu,
'How can we help Zhuge Liang win the Northern Expeditions?'
is still a top question.
Netizens brainstorm wildly.
From semi-reasonable answers—
instant noodles, canned herring, tea eggs, Hotpot, spicy strips—
To baffling ones—
hair dryers, car jacks, Li Yunlong, Zhuge Liang himself, LeBron James, Paimon—
To outright unhinged—
Dongfeng-41 missiles, Uranium-235, nuclear bombs, modern armored divisions, rocket infantry, Protoss carriers, Doraemon, Sun Wukong—
And finally, philosophical—
ICU wards, political exam prep materials, unlimited toilet paper, i9 chips, a box of Three Kingdoms Kill.
Some even suggest sending Li Shimin back in time to possess Liu Shan and beat Sima Yi senseless.
All of this proves one thing:
Even a thousand years later,
the Chancellor's death in the Northern Expeditions remains an unbearable regret.
But in truth—
He needed none of that.
Because he was already crushing Wei.
A master who learned politics through politics and warfare through warfare,
his record was this:
First expedition—flawed command, regretful loss of Jieting.
Second—free advance and withdrawal, ambush and slaying of Wang Shuang.
Third—defeated Guo Huai, seized two commanderies, shook Liangzhou.
Fourth—defeated Sima Yi head-on, killed Zhang He, ending the Five Elite Generals.
Fifth—threatened Luoyang; Yong and Liang never disarmed, the Central Plains never unsaddled.
Sima Yi had no answer—only a battle of lifespans—ending in the falling star at Wuzhang Plains.
Each expedition gained more ground.
Wei held nine mines—yet was beaten into a defensive shell.
Sima Yi, once famed for "swift as fire" during the Meng Da rebellion,
was forced into "immovable as a mountain" by the Chancellor.
Wei went from sending Zhang He alone,
to panicking—needing Guo Huai's regional forces, Sima Yi's Guanzhong army, and Cao Rui's central reinforcements just to hold on.
Wu envoy Zhang Yan wrote:
"Zhongda holds land ten times greater, commands vast armies…
yet Kongming comes and goes freely.
If this man had not died young—
persisting year after year—
the outcome would already be decided."
To contemporaries, if the Chancellor had lived, Wei's fall was inevitable.
One could even speculate—
Sun Quan's lack of effort was strategic foresight, preserving strength for a future Han–Wu division of the realm.
As the strategic balance shifted, Wei became internally and externally strained.
Thus came Du Fu's lament:
The expedition failed; the hero died—The expedition failed; the hero died—
forever soaking heroes' robes with tears.
These five expeditions could have been a third great revival of Shu.
But Heaven begrudged the Chancellor his years.
And so all was lost at the final step.]
"Thieving Heaven—unjust beyond measure!" Zhang Fei cursed.
"Villains live a hundred years and steal kingdoms!"
"A loyal minister dies before fifty—why does Heaven favor traitors?!"
"Third Brother…" Guan Yu held him tightly.
He agreed—
but what if the light-screen itself was Heaven's work?
Better not risk it.
Liu Bei gazed at the record with pride.
So what if Han lacked strategists?
Kongming alone outweighed Wei and Wu combined.
Jiang Wan whispered to Ma Liang:
"We couldn't read foreign scripts before—now even Han characters confuse us."
"What's a Protoss carrier? A future super warship?"
"And Li Shimin possessing Ah Dou…" Jiang Wan hesitated.
"Was this thousand-year emperor truly that terrifying?"
Pang Tong answered calmly:
"No doubt."
"If Kongming had not died early, Sima Yi would fall."
"Within two years, Guanzhong would fall, Yong and Liang pacified."
"Beyond the passes—barbarians stir, Jiangdong watches. No natural defenses remain."
"Wait calmly—Wei would collapse on its own."