A gifted youth born to a poor family.
Both parents dead, raised by his grandfather alone.
Hu Du's story was not complicated, yet it was more than enough to draw Li Shu's attention. In order to pursue his studies, Hu Du and his grandfather had traveled all the way from Langzhong to Chengdu. One old man, one young boy—neither able to take up official labor nor owning fertile land to farm—survived solely on the money Hu Du's grandfather had brought with him from Langzhong.
But as Chengdu grew ever more prosperous, those funds were gradually becoming insufficient.
Because of this, Li Shu often helped them out, and her relationship with Hu Du grew steadily closer.
Today, however, Hu Du seemed weighed down by worries. He did not even mock Li Shu for the clumsy excuse she used to give him meat buns.
"I heard someone saw General Zhang at Wanli Bridge," Hu Du said. "They say he won a great victory against Cao's army in Jingxiang."
Wanli Bridge lay east of the city—a newly built bridge this very year, broad and imposing. Its name had been personally inscribed by Lord Xuande himself, it was said, in the hope that Chengdu's talented youths would depart from this bridge to travel ten thousand li across Han lands, roaming the breadth of China.
Thus, whether entering or leaving Shu, many people made a point of crossing it. Even Zhang Fei and Pang Tong were no exception.
Hu Du's face shone with longing. Youths, after all, could hardly resist dreams of winning merit on horseback and being enfeoffed at the palace steps.
Li Shu also smiled with delight.
"If Father hears of this, he'll surely be happy."
Looking at the girl's clear, unblemished face, Hu Du suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of unease. Lowering his voice, he said,
"If Lord Xuande drives the Cao bandits out of Yanzhou… Li Shu, would that mean you could… go home?"
Li Shu tilted her head, thought for a moment, then laughed softly.
"So you want my father to settle in Chengdu and never leave?"
Hu Du blinked, turned back to his book, and focused intently on the page—yet his ears quietly grew hot.
"I was just asking casually…"
He then forced a change of subject.
"Today there's Master Zhuge's lesson. I wonder what he'll show us this time?"
Li Shu pressed her lips into a smile and did not pursue the question, instead happily recounting some of the amusing moments from previous lessons.
Master Zhuge only had time to teach once every ten days, but every lesson was extraordinarily interesting.
The first time, he had brought an enormous seesaw—except that one side was long and the other short. What should have been a solemn classroom turned into a playground, and amid the laughter and play, Master Zhuge explained the concepts of root, branch, leverage, and weight from the Mozi.
The second lesson featured a precious piece of tortoiseshell. Master Zhuge first told the story of tortoiseshell attracting objects, piquing the students' curiosity. Then he had them take turns rubbing it with silk, letting them watch with their own eyes as their hair was drawn toward it.
The third lesson moved outright into the night: lit candles, paper pierced with small holes, inverted shadows cast by candlelight—all left the students wide-eyed with amazement.
Sometimes Master Zhuge explained matters clearly; more often, he frankly admitted that even he did not fully understand them. He only told the students that learning had no end: one must respect the sages of old, but also make up for what the sages had left incomplete.
To some, these lessons were merely fun. To a few sharper minds, however, they hinted at a far broader world:
Learning was not limited to the Confucian classics alone.
Unfortunately, just as the students eagerly awaited what surprise Master Zhuge would produce next, they were regretfully informed:
Master Zhuge had no time today. The lesson would be arithmetic instead.
The classroom instantly filled with wails of despair.
But Master Zhuge was destined not to hear their broken hearts.
In the Chengdu prefectural hall before the Lesser Imperial Academy, Sima Yi felt slightly ill at ease. He raised his head and met the hall full of gazes—each laden with inscrutable meaning—and decided to strike first.
"I am Sima Zhongda of the Sima clan of Henei. I pay my respects to the Left General."
Liu Bei nodded slightly, stroking his beard, inwardly troubled.
When he had first learned it was Sima Yi, Liu Bei had been startled. A thought had immediately risen in his mind—only to be dispersed by Liu Bei himself just as quickly.
He was not Cao Cao. And this Sima Yi was barely past thirty, still far removed from the future Jin Xuandi.
Yet letting him go was out of the question as well. For a moment, Liu Bei felt deeply conflicted and, by habit, turned his gaze toward Kongming.
Seeing the smile in Kongming's eyes, Liu Bei suddenly realized: he now held the knife, and Sima Yi was the fish on the chopping block. What was there to hesitate over?
Relaxing somewhat, Liu Bei casually asked,
"Zhongda, from what you've seen along the way, how is Yizhou?"
Sima Yi spoke half in truth, half in flattery.
"Yizhou truly deserves its reputation as the Land of Abundance. Along my journey, I saw people prosperous and loyal, soldiers daring to fight and ready to die."
"And now that you have taken Hanzhong and driven back the Han bandits in Jingxiang, General, this is truly the will of the people."
Hearing praise from the future Jin Xuandi, Liu Bei felt he could listen to a bit more.
But Sima Yi's next words made Liu Bei's eyes widen.
"Though I served Cao, it was only under coercion by bandit blades. My body was in Ye City, but my heart was in Xu."
"Today, meeting you, I finally understand that the Han mandate is not extinguished and that great enterprise may rise again. I cannot contain my joy. I seek only the revival of the Han, and I am willing to serve at your saddle, obeying any command."
From Hanzhong to Chengdu, the perilous Shu roads had given Sima Yi ample time to think things through.
Even if Liu Bei were to idle away his days in Shu like Liu Yan or Liu Zhang, Cao Cao would need at least ten years to fight his way to Chengdu.
And even if Sima Yi somehow escaped while Zhang Fei was inattentive, returning to Guanzhong would be nearly impossible—far more likely, he would end up as food for beasts.
Since neither path of retreat was viable, he might as well submit openly, make himself useful early, and avoid living in constant fear.
So long as he secured even a minor post, regardless of whether Liu Bei or Cao Cao ultimately won, the Sima clan would at least stand undefeated.
Kneeling on the ground, Sima Yi calculated gains and losses with perfect clarity. But beside him, Cai Mao—also a captive—gradually flushed red.
Bow to Liu Bei? He would rather… no, at the very least Liu Bei ought to say a few soft words first, shouldn't he?
Liu Bei paid Cai Mao no mind. Feeling caught completely off guard, he forced himself to say,
"Zhongda has only just arrived in Chengdu. It would be better to rest and consider matters first. There is no need to decide in haste."
Still kneeling, Sima Yi felt this script was not unfolding as expected, but he could only persist.
"From Hanzhong to here, I have thought it through thoroughly. My family has long eaten Han stipends; we should be Han ministers. I seek only to be driven by the General, to rectify the Sima clan's honor."
The honor of the Sima clan…
Liu Bei felt a chill at the back of his neck and refused.
"I understand Zhongda's heart, yet I fear the criticisms of the world against your name. Why not reside as a guest for three to five years to preserve your reputation, and then serve the Han thereafter?"
Three to five years? By then, you'll likely have dealt with Cao Cao already!
Sima Yi knocked his head to the ground.
"The world praises the General's benevolence—can it be that even a Han minister finds no place here?"
With no alternative, Liu Bei helped Sima Yi to his feet.
"Zhongda's loyalty is evident to sun, moon, and history. I ask that you devote your full efforts to the restoration of the Han."
Sima Yi clasped Liu Bei's hand. For a moment, he felt it truly was not easy. Wasn't Liu Huangshu famed for seeking talent widely? Why was he playing three refusals and three entreaties with him?
And why were the other ministers struggling so hard to suppress their laughter?
Shortly after, Sima Yi and Cai Mao were led away by Zhang Song to arrange lodgings.
The hall finally erupted in laughter, while Liu Bei stood there helpless.
This Sima Yi—too important to trust with a great charge, too wasteful to confine to a small one. With his flourishing clan, sending him to the front might invite cunning reversals; keeping him in the rear felt like a cold draft forever brushing one's neck. How to deal with him truly required careful consultation with Kongming.
Setting that matter aside, Liu Bei had already known of the great victory in Jingxiang. Yet reading the detailed battle reports written by his second brother and Xu Shu, he could not help but sigh with emotion.
"Fortunate indeed to have Shiyuan—and now Yuanzhi as well."
"The gain of Jingxiang came from Yun Chang, Yi De, and Han Sheng's valor; from the two strategists' planning; from Kongming and Madam Huang's engineering."
"And still more from Gongyan holding the rear, and Hou Yin, Marquis of Wancheng, for his righteous deed."
Kongming, reading the section mentioning Lu Su, sighed for his old friend.
Talented and virtuous though he was, relying on those alone to help Marquis Sun take Hefei was still as hard as climbing to heaven.
Pang Tong was more direct, pointing at the memorial.
"Lu Su and Sun Quan attacked Hefei together, yet Lü Meng was sent back to Jiangxia to replace the commandant."
"And after the battle, Lu Su did not return. I fear changes in Jiangdong—Sun Quan may already harbor other intentions."
Despite the great victory, Kongming and Pang Tong both understood that Cao Cao had not been struck at the root.
Of the thirteen provinces under Heaven, the Cao bandit still firmly held Qing, Xu, Yan, Yu, Ji, and Bing, and controlled parts of Yang and Si as well.
What later generations jokingly called "nine mines versus one mine" had, at best, become "eight mines versus two."
And if Jiangdong were to fall to Cao Cao…
Zhang Fei, however, was utterly unconcerned.
"What's there to worry about? If that ten-thousand-cousin could stab us in the back, then when the time's right, he can stab Cao Cao in the back just as well."
With that, the weary Zhang Fei and Pang Tong were sent off by Liu Bei to rest.
As for rewards and postwar deployments—those would require careful discussion with Kongming.
Tang Dynasty, Chang'an.
Mounted on horseback, Wang Xuance looked up at the towering city gates. They felt somehow different from when he had left—though he could not quite say how.
A native of Luoyang, he had had little in the way of connections after entering officialdom. A single court order had transferred him to Rongzhou.
Rongzhou lay in Lingnan, rife with miasma and disease. His family had urged him not to go, but Wang Xuance traveled light and went without hesitation, determined to accomplish something.
Yet less than a year later, another order arrived, summoning him back to the capital.
For a moment, Wang Xuance felt the Ministry of Personnel was simply toying with him. Chang'an to Luoyang to Rongzhou—there and back again, nearly ten thousand li. Almost half a year wasted for nothing.
And precisely because of this, he could clearly feel that the Great Tang was indeed different from two years ago.
More precisely, the common people seemed… more confident.
Which was only natural. Just last year, the Turks had been destroyed and Jieli Khan captured. Proclamations boasting of the victory had been posted all the way to Lingnan.
The southern people might not know who Jieli was, but they knew that Great Tang had defeated a powerful enemy.
There were also changes in daily life: medical offices established in the prefectures—far from miraculous cures, but at least common folk now had somewhere to turn when ill. Disaster relief granaries expanded, miscellaneous taxes reduced—all allowing people a bit more room to breathe.
As an official, Wang Xuance knew even more clearly. The central court had sent inquiries to the provinces regarding maritime affairs, Hexi, Tubo, and had relaxed the requirements for the imperial examinations.
He could sense that the current Son of Heaven was far from satisfied with merely defeating a Jieli Khan.
But less than half a day after returning to Chang'an, Wang Xuance's reflections turned into bewilderment.
"His Majesty wishes to see me?