[The Chancellor's maneuver sparked no small amount of debate.
Some accused him of breaking his word. Others claimed he was acting out of a desire to avenge Guan Yu. Back and forth the arguments went, endlessly.
But realistically speaking—how could a statesman remembered for a thousand years possibly design a plan around a single objective?
First: Meng Da did intend to rebel. But how firm was that intention? That's questionable. His situation was difficult, yes—but it hadn't yet reached a life-or-death crisis. What the Chancellor did was give him a push, turning rebellion from an option into a necessity.
Second: did the Chancellor like Meng Da? The answer is obviously no. Emperor Zhaolie of Shu once said, "Have you not seen what happened with Ding Jianyang and Dong Zhuo?"—words still ringing in everyone's ears. And this was a man whose actions directly led to Guan Yu's death, dealing a devastating blow to Shu Han's early grand strategy.]
Emperor Zhaolie of Shu!
Liu Bei was momentarily confused—then realization hit him square in the face.
Wasn't he the one who said that?
His eyes immediately turned toward Zhuge Liang for help. No explanation was needed; Kongming understood at once.
"Zhao praises virtue, Lie honors great achievement," Zhuge Liang explained calmly. "Together, they commend both moral character and accomplishment. For my lord, the title fits well."
Liu Bei nodded slightly, then steadied himself. This was history's final verdict on Liu Bei—but right now, his foundation had only just been laid. He had not yet reached those heights.
No—Liu Bei shook his head inwardly.
Even that future verdict was no longer enough.
A-Dou still needed guidance.
Second Brother still needed saving.
Treacherous allies needed to pay their price.
The north still needed to be unified.
He, Liu Bei, was no longer satisfied with merely being "Zhaolie."
As for Meng Da—formerly Liu Zhang's subordinate—Liu Bei quietly dismissed the thought. He would never give such a man another chance. Better to slowly strip him of military authority and exile him into civilian life, letting him live out his days in peace.
"Peaceful," Liu Bei thought. That word suited Meng Da perfectly.
[So the Chancellor's strategic intent becomes very clear:
If Meng Da waits passively for death—one Shu traitor eliminated. Everyone wins.
If Meng Da refuses to sit and die, raises troops, and openly rebels—Cao Wei is plunged into chaos, and attention is drawn away from the Northern Campaign. Everyone wins.
If Meng Da panics, abandons his troops, and flees back to Shu—his life or death rests on Zhuge Liang's decision alone. Everyone still wins.
No matter how one looks at it, Meng Da's fate could only end in death.
Which leaves us with only one conclusion:
Chancellor… your heart is really black. 🙂]
"The Northern Campaign?" Liu Bei murmured.
He silently counted the years, then turned to Zhuge Liang. "So… five or six years after my death, the Northern Campaign begins? Isn't that a bit rushed?"
Zhang Fei was absent—currently banished to the kitchen to drink himself silly.
But Liu Bei hadn't forgotten Zhang Fei's earlier words:
"Big Brother was angered to death by Lu Xun's fire at Yiling!"
The light curtain had repeatedly implied that many believed Yiling marked Shu Han's final turning point. That single inferno must have devastated the fledgling state.
Could they really recover in five years?
Zhuge Liang met Liu Bei's earnest gaze and really wanted to complain:
My lord, you know you're not the Liu Bei who died at Baidi City… so why forget that I'm not the Regent Chancellor Zhuge Liang either?
Though still only a Military Adviser General, Kongming felt a vague intuition forming.
Back in the Longzhong Plan, the strategy had been clear:
"When the realm changes, send a great general to lead Jingzhou's forces toward Wan and Luo, while the General himself leads Yi Province's troops out through Qin."
But in the future Northern Campaigns, the lord himself was already gone. Half the plan had vanished.
For Zhuge Liang to abandon the original strategy and force repeated northern expeditions, there could only be one explanation—
The fire at Yiling must have burned away far more than anyone realized.
Zhuge Liang fell into deep thought.
Zhuge Liang mentally logged off.
Zhao Yun's brush flew across the page as he hurried to record everything.
Liu Bei, receiving no response from "Bright Bright," had no choice but to drop the subject.
Yet when he looked again at Meng Da's fate, Liu Bei suddenly remembered Liu Feng—the adopted son he would one day order executed.
A brave, capable son… undone by slander, leading to Guan Yu's death and everything that followed.
Was I truly that bad at raising children?
Liu Bei fell into self-doubt.
[In truth, figures like Meng Da and Wei Feng were merely reflections of Cao Wei's internal state.
Cao Cao gained the support of Yingchuan scholars by "holding the Son of Heaven hostage to command the realm," but that very act also created the Ru–Ying faction within Wei.
At the time, the Ru–Ying faction—led by the Xun clan—still harbored loyalty to the Han. Thus, they tolerated the Qiao–Pei military faction. But as Cao Cao received the Nine Bestowments and became King of Wei, dissatisfaction quietly spread.
When Cao Pi finally proclaimed himself emperor, the Han they once served was truly gone. The Xun clan gradually withdrew, yet the Ru–Ying faction did not transfer its loyalty to Emperor Wen or Emperor Ming.
Instead, ambition took root.
The Sima clan gradually emerged as the new power brokers of Ru–Ying.
In his later years, Cao Cao could only suppress these internal divisions and pass the problem to Cao Pi. Cao Pi's political skill was adequate—but his life was short, leaving an even greater mess to his son Cao Rui.
After Emperor Ming ascended the throne, Shu Han's Northern Campaigns ironically extended Wei's lifespan by turning internal conflict outward, greatly easing factional struggle.
Cao Rui's governance was competent, but his political maneuvering was weak. After fourteen years on the throne, he entrusted the state to Sima Yi and Cao Shuang on his deathbed—fully detonating Wei's contradictions and plunging both sides into a struggle to the death.
This culminated in the Coup at Gaoping Tombs.
At that point, Cao Wei was finished.]
"So… the Northern Campaigns actually saved Cao Wei?" Zhao Yun asked, baffled.
"I understand," Huang Zhong said with a chuckle.
"General Zhao, I spent nearly twenty years in Jing Province, settling countless petty disputes. This is just like village feuds I saw in my youth."
"When two neighboring villages fight over water, all internal conflicts—no matter how severe—are temporarily set aside. Even blood feuds."
"If they lose the water dispute, the entire village suffers crop failure. That becomes the real crisis. Quarrels between individual households suddenly seem trivial."
Liu Bei sighed. "Indeed. Just like when Brother Jing Sheng replaced his eldest heir—family inheritance disputes tearing brothers apart are all too common."
"But who would have thought… Cao the Traitor rose by holding the Son of Heaven hostage, and fell for the very same reason. Had he truly been loyal to the Han, how could his clan have ended in extermination?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head. "If Cao Cao were truly loyal to the Han, he would still be a traitor to the state. Even seventeen centuries later, people can recite his crimes in detail. That alone proves the people did not support him."
"Even if the King of Wei helped reunify the Han, how would that Han differ from the days of Emperor Ling? Such cruelty—he surpassed even Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao once compared himself to Yi Yin and Huo Guang; if Huo Guang were alive today, he'd be furious enough to die again."
Huang Zhong, however, caught another detail.
"After Emperor Ming's death, there was another regency… which means another child emperor."
He frowned.
"He reigned fourteen years and still couldn't produce an adult heir?"
Huang Zhong slapped his thigh.
"Something's wrong with the Cao family bloodline!"