Late in the seventh month of the nineteenth year of Jian'an, Luoyang.
To the common people of Luoyang, the new Imperial Uncle was, overall, a good man.
Kind to civilians, careful with grain, strict with soldiers, and not the sort who squeezed taxes until the last copper screamed.
Yet some of the things he did simply made no sense.
For example, the war.
Everyone knew war was coming, yet instead of endless recruitment or citywide conscription, the order was oddly calm.
Farming first.
Repair houses second.
Clear ruins only during spare time.
It sounded reasonable. Sensible, even.
But then the Imperial Uncle personally led men into the ruined inner city, cleared a road with his own hands, and built a simple residence among the rubble.
A residence. In the ruins.
The people stared at it every day and could not understand.
Street-side chatter
At a tofu stall near the eastern road, an old man shook his head.
"Tell me, what sort of noble chooses to live in broken walls when there are mansions still standing?"
The vendor snorted.
"A good one, maybe. Or a strange one."
A woman buying bean curd lowered her voice.
"I heard he said the palace can wait, but the people cannot."
"That sounds nice," the old man muttered, "but nice words don't stop armies."
Another man leaned in conspiratorially.
"They say he eats the same millet porridge as the soldiers."
"Then either he's sincere," the vendor replied, "or he's terrifyingly good at pretending."
No one answered that.
Because in troubled times, sincerity and performance often looked exactly the same.
Inside the ruined residence
Dust still hung in the beams.
Wind slipped through unfinished woodwork.
Yet inside the courtyard, Liu Bei, Kongming, and Lu Su sat together as if this were the most natural hall in the empire.
Zhang Fei had just returned, cloak still stained from travel, eyes roaming the place with blunt disbelief.
After a long look around, he sighed.
"This time, far fewer people came to watch the light curtain."
That was unavoidable.
The army's eastern campaign stretched across too many fronts.
Some commanders were guarding passes, others managing supply lines, and some simply could not leave their posts.
Zhang Fei himself had only returned because Fa Zheng temporarily replaced him at Yique Pass. Even then, his real purpose was to discuss troop rotation with Chen Shi and future operations toward Taigu and Huanyuan.
Liu Bei listened to his brother's lament, fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly.
"Better to build merit now than listen to stories of others."
Zhang Fei studied his elder brother's expression, then remembered what the future histories had said. He cleared his throat and tried, with great seriousness, to reassure him.
"Brother, do not worry. The defeat of Cao the thief and the forging of the great enterprise are close at hand."
He hesitated, then added firmly,
"And that fire at Yiling… it will never happen."
Liu Bei slowly turned and looked at him.
Zhang Fei returned the gaze with heroic sincerity.
A moment later Liu Bei surrendered first, turning away with a sigh and shifting the topic.
"Mengqi sent good news from Dongyuan. Du Ji of Hedong has surrendered. The entire commandery returned without battle."
Zhang Fei's mood sharpened immediately.
"And now?"
"He has already advanced north to fight at Pingyang. Once Pingyang and its three surrounding counties are secured, he will move east toward Shangdang."
Zhang Fei nodded slowly.
"That will not be easy."
He spoke more seriously now.
"Pingyang northward is practically half a frontier zone. Cities there are built for war, not comfort. Even before reaching the northern passes, every wall is meant to bleed attackers dry."
He imagined trying to assault such a place in his younger days and snorted.
"If it were the old me before Red Cliffs, I would come back empty-handed."
Liu Bei nodded in agreement, then shifted to Jingbei.
"Yunchang has been fighting Cao's forces there for nearly a year. The intensity always depends on their grain supply."
Originally the Cao army had nearly broken the Jingbei line.
Near Zhi County's eastern approaches, Guan Yu's cavalry crushed Cao Ren's main force.
"With Zhao Yun and Gan Ning reinforcing earlier, and now ten thousand elite troops from Wu Yi, the situation has stabilized. Duyang is still contested, but near Wuyin, Zhao Yun already has spare strength to push repeatedly toward Runan."
Zhang Fei let out a long breath.
"We still lack troops."
Then, with a frustrated laugh:
"If we had another fifty or sixty thousand soldiers, we wouldn't need risky schemes at all. Just plant them around Xingyang and Guandu and Cao Cao would panic on the spot."
Kongming knew this was true.
Leaving Guanzhong for Luoyang was significant, but the true fertile heartlands of Yu, Yan, and Ji were still firmly in Cao hands.
Even if Ma Chao took Pingyang and combined Hongnong, Hedong, Henei, and Henan, it barely formed a workable Sizhou.
At present:
Liu Bei held Jing, Yi, Yong, Liang, and possibly Sizhou.
Cao controlled Yu, Yan, Ji, Qing, Xu, You, and Bing.
Sun Quan held Yangzhou, though Jiangdong's great clans secretly leaned toward Cao.
Shi Xie ruled Jiaozhou, friendly but poor, more decorative than decisive.
Kongming reviewed the map again in his mind.
Then, unexpectedly, a trace of excitement stirred.
At least the so-called future situation of "one mine fighting nine" would never happen now.
Perhaps it was time to try the opposite.
Nine mines fighting one.
No.
If they truly meant to revive the Han, there was no need to leave even one to the enemy.
Let the thirteen provinces return to unity.
Let songs of Han be heard from Liaodong to the Southern Sea, from the Western Regions to the Eastern Ocean.
Only then would Han truly rise again.
The thought made his heart restless.
And at that exact moment, the air above the courtyard began to twist.
Zhang Fei's eyes lit up.
"It's here!"
Modern world
After checking the edited video one last time, Wen Mang finally clicked upload.
There would still be a wait for review, but curiosity had already started gnawing at him.
Not because he was obsessed with the mysterious big shot.
It was just that the guy had an uncanny ability to pull off absurd ideas that somehow turned into perfect results.
Like the last "imperial edict" prop, or that copy of the Lanting Preface. Even Professor Dongfang Ye, who usually looked permanently carved from ice, had called just to talk about it, sighing over how many authentic relics had vanished through history.
That conversation had planted a dangerous idea in Wen Mang's head.
Should he ask whether the big shot accepted commissions?
After all, the exhibition hall they were preparing still lacked a few proper show-stoppers.
He imagined possibilities.
"Zhuge Liang Leading One Hundred Thousand O'Neals on the Northern Expedition."
"Zhuge Liang Negotiating with Rommel."
"Graduating Senior Interns to Restore the Han."
"Sun Quan's Hundred Thousand O'Neals vs Three-Star Kongming."
He scratched his head.
…Yeah, maybe that would be a bit rude.
Since he was bored anyway, he opened the small red notification on the corner of his screen and launched the H5 idle game he had recently discovered.
On phone it looked crude.
On PC, surprisingly polished.
Perfect time killer while editing.
The game loaded.
Achievements popped up one after another.
[Return to the Old Capital] achieved
[Eastern Expedition to Japan, Southern Voyage Overseas] achieved
[Abdicated Mid-Reign to Become a Monk] achieved
Three chubby little chibi emperors in ceremonial robes began marching around his browser window, and Wen Mang felt a deep, salty satisfaction fill his soul.
Then a new prompt appeared.
Historical deviation value full. Add audience?
"Audience?" he muttered. "New unit? New operator?"
"Then sure. Add one."
For the first time, he watched the full summon animation.
The stored value in the corner drained completely.
A cracked bowl appeared in the center of the screen.
Then a plump little robed chibi bent down, picked it up, and stuffed it into his sleeve like it was priceless treasure.
Wen Mang stared.
"Where's the star rating?"
"Rarity?"
"Anything?"
He leaned back in disbelief.
"What kind of gacha pool doesn't even tell you what you pulled?"