Mi Zhu broke down in grief.
His sister had only been gone a few years, and not even a decade later his own younger brother betrayed his brother-in-law, leading to Yunchang's death, and in the end even he himself would die of sorrow and anger.
He had once believed that pouring out his entire fortune for the state meant that even in death he would leave no stain upon his name.
But because of this single betrayal, his family would be nailed to history as true traitors of the state.
Liu Bei pulled Mi Zhu down to sit and comforted him in a low voice.
Zhuge Liang just looked thoughtful. He pulled Ma Liang over and whispered a few instructions into his ear.
Ma Liang showed a hint of reluctance as he glanced at the light screen, but he obeyed the order and slipped out of the side hall without a word.
Huang Yueying tilted her head slightly toward her husband. "You figured it out?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head and whispered back, "Only a suspicion."
He sighed softly. "What that later Ming eunuch said is not without reason. To serve as an official, one must be cautious in both word and deed."
"But do you not find it strange?" Huang Yueying asked.
"What is strange about it?" Zhuge Liang said calmly. "The chaos of the Han began with the eunuchs, yet does that mean later generations will avoid the same fate?"
"Learning from the past does not guarantee avoiding it, and a precedent is not always a lesson."
Meanwhile, many people were still staring at the words about the Match-3 Game of the Nine Familial Exterminations on the screen.
That definitely meant the extermination of 9 generations, and there was no way it meant anything else.
This future descendant has no sense of propriety. It is terrifying that such a horrific punishment could be mentioned so casually.
[Lightscreen]
[The whole burning of military equipment thing was actually just embezzlement and resale. The fact that it could make the imperial brother-in-law flip his cart just shows the buyer was highly problematic.
Looking at the environment at the time, the Xiang River Pact was an agreement signed by Sun and Liu under pressure. After dividing the territory along the Xiang River, both sides set up Xiang Pass as a checkpoint for merchants.
But because the border areas changed hands several times in a short period, specific border management was extremely difficult.
The biographies of Lu Meng, Sun Quan, and Liu Bei all record occasional friction between the two sides.
Lu Su's biography puts it best: suspicion arose repeatedly, and the borders became a tangled mess. Even with a treaty in place, neither side ever stopped poking into the other's affairs.
Under these circumstances, the buyer of Mi Fang's military equipment was highly likely Sun Quan.
Whoever Sun Wu stationed in Jingzhou, whether it was Lu Su, Lu Meng, or Lu Xun, was a generational mastermind. Using Mi Fang to extract intelligence was child's play.
When facing the equipment deficit, Mi Fang could just burn it all to cover his tracks. But once Eastern Wu pulled out the receipts of their equipment and intelligence trades, Mi Fang had only one path left, which was surrender.
Looking back, Lady Sun's ambiguous return to Wu and Sun Quan's conveniently timed appearance of his massive fleet were also highly likely the work of internal spies.
But these are just speculations based on historical materials. In short, the spark for the third rise of the Han dynasty was extinguished right here.
Yang Xi also gave the final verdict in his Eulogy of the Ministers of Shu Han, stating that Mi Fang cut himself off from humanity and made a laughingstock of two states.]
Although the light screen mentioned it was just speculation, reverse-engineering from the facts that had already happened meant things were probably exactly like this.
Ma Liang had already returned by then. Zhuge Liang waved his hand calmly. "Just report to the lord."
"My lord, following the strategist's orders, I searched General Mi's residence and found 3 suspicious secret letters hidden in a secret box." Ma Liang presented the 3 letters.
Liu Bei's face was as dark as storm water as he took them.
Down below, Mi Fang lunged forward. "My lord, it must be that Jiang Wan villain framing me! Wuwuwu!"
Zhang Fei was quick-handed and immediately pinned him down, conveniently pulling off his own belt to stuff into Mi Fang's mouth.
Liu Bei finished reading and shook his head. "Zifang, I have not treated you poorly. Why were you secretly corresponding with Zhou Gongjin?"
Mi Fang's eyes quickly filled with tears, and he mumbled incoherently around the belt.
Zhang Fei glanced at his Big Brother's expression and pulled the belt out of Mi Fang's mouth.
Coughing twice, Mi Fang glared hatefully at Liu Bei. ""You mat-weaving, sandal-selling nobody! When my brother and I joined you, we abandoned a post worth 2,000 shi!"
"And how did you treat me? I could not even command a force of my own! A butcher, a fugitive, and even some old relic can rank above me!"
Huang Zhong instinctively touched his own hair.
"My brother spent our fortune on you! My sister suffered and died for you, and yet you, the Lord of Jingzhou, could not wait to take a new wife! How happy you must be!"
"And now you stumble from defeat to defeat like a stray dog, wagging your tail before Sun Quan!"
His gaze finally locked onto Guan Yu.
"To know that you, the fugitive from Hedong who cannot see people for who they are, will die... that is my greatest comfort!"
He burst into manic laughter.
Guan Yu's eyes held nothing but piercing pity.
Mi Zhu took off his headgear, set it aside, and kowtowed to Liu Bei without making a single sound.
Zhang Fei, who was still holding Mi Fang down, was itching for action and just waiting for his Big Brother's order. Zhuge Liang was also watching Liu Bei.
Liu Bei did not think for too long. "I will not punish you now for a crime committed 10 years in the future. Zizhong, imprison him for the crime of colluding with Wu and keep him under strict guard."
Liu Bei gave the order, then solemnly helped Mi Zhu up. Mi Zhu's face was already streaked with tears, unable to say a single word.
Carefully helping his minister put his headgear back on, Liu Bei patted the back of Mi Zhu's hand. "Zizhong has never let me down, and I will certainly repay him as a state scholar."
Then, looking at everyone, he smiled. "Since Chancellor Mi thinks that we mat weavers, butchers, fugitives, village idiots, and old veterans cannot achieve great things..."
Liu Bei pointed at each of them one by one, and everyone burst into laughter.
"Then we naturally have to restore the Han dynasty, just so we can give Chancellor Mi his lost position back!"
Zhuge Liang, however, looked at the 3 secret letters and a thought popped into his mind. Huang Yueying, sharing a telepathic connection, glanced at it, smiled faintly, and pulled one of the letters over.
[Lightscreen]
[After Mi Fang and Fu Shiren surrendered, Jiangling and Gong'an fell. Guan Yu was left without reinforcements, while the enemy held the families of his soldiers.
Lu Meng played his best card here: he invited Guan Yu's messengers into the city to see how well the civilians were being treated.
He even executed one of his own countrymen from the same village for a minor crime to prove his discipline.
The messengers brought this news back, and Guan Yu's army lost all will to fight. Morale collapsed completely.]
"Execute a fellow townsman? What a brilliant move to win hearts!" Zhang Fei felt he really could not compete with that. "These people's hearts are just too dark!"
At the same time, he looked at his Second Brother with suspicion. "Second brother, this is what you called just a brave general?"
Guan Yu returned an equally confused look. "The Lu Meng I saw in Nan Commandery definitely did not seem to have much brains."
[Lightscreen]
[You might also be familiar with Lu Meng's approach. Our own people's army relied on discipline to show the common folk whose side it was truly on.
That discipline was later formalized into what became known as the Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention.
The first three rules were straightforward: obey orders, take nothing from the people, and turn in everything captured.
The eight points then laid out how soldiers were expected to conduct themselves around civilians and captives. They were told to speak politely, pay fairly for anything they bought, return whatever they borrowed, and pay for or replace anything they damaged. They were forbidden from hitting or verbally abusing people, damaging crops, or taking liberties with women, and they were expected to treat captives properly.
Eleven principles in total. Simple enough to memorize, yet strict enough to completely change how an army interacted with the people it claimed to protect.
Ultimately, they chased Chiang Kai-shek all the way to Taiwan and established our own New China.
If we are talking about Lu Meng's lifetime strategies, this move was definitely his most brilliant flash of genius.]
Even though everyone had not fully recovered from the Mi Fang incident, their eyes still widened.
"War inevitably brings a few bumps and bruises. How can you also compensate for damaged goods?" Zhang Fei did not understand. "And not mistreating prisoners? Not killing captives is already the limit of benevolence!"
Zhuge Liang's eyes gleamed with interest. He sighed in admiration. This summary was incredibly sharp. Discipline was an iron law. Those three precisely summarized points seemed simple, but obeying orders, not troubling the common people, and not concealing captured goods were the absolute core of employing troops.
Guan Yu saw it clearly. After staring for a long moment, he said, "If the Cao thief could follow these eleven rules, the realm would already be his."
Huang Zhong's eyes flew wide in shock. "Yunchang, please do not joke. The Cao army indeed does not plunder wealth, but they drag off the strong for labor or military service, force women into marriage, and cut off the heads of the elderly to claim military merit!"
"If they massacre cities as casually as breathing, how can you expect them to follow such rules?"
[Lightscreen]
[And the final weight on the scale was added by Lu Xun. Sun Wu came prepared, and Lu Xun sent troops to take Yidu, completely sealing off Guan Yu's route back to Shu.
As a side note, the previous Administrator of Yidu was Meng Da, who was transferred by Liu Bei to attack Fangling and Shangyong. If Meng Da was still there, although he might flip-flop, at least Guan Yu would have had a sliver of hope to survive.
With the road blocked, Guan Yu fought and retreated. His fake surrender failed. Departing from Maicheng, Guan Yu took the Zhang Water route, embarking on the final journey of his life.
In the 12th month, Ma Zhong, under Pan Zhang, captured and killed Guan Yu and Guan Ping at Zhang Township in Linju County. A generation's God of War fell right here.]
At this point, the light screen switched from a map to a video clip. A warrior who looked somewhat like Guan Yu was seen speaking his final words:
"I am but a martial man from Xiezhou. My lord treated me like a brother. How could I betray righteousness and join the enemy?
Brother pulls troops to take all of Hanzhong? No problem, watch me capture Yu Jin's 7 armies and behead Pang De!
Big brother gets Hanzhong and returns to Chengdu? No worries, watch me remotely command bandits to shake Xuchang!
The raccoon-dog grandson Sun Quan wants to take Jingzhou? So what, it is just the 3 of us brothers rising and falling for another 10 years!
As long as I can return to Chengdu, Big Brother and Third Brother will just laugh it off like the old days in Xuzhou.
Holding Yizhou and Hanzhong, with the strategist's assistance, I, Guan Yu, will be the vanguard once more to revive the Han!
Destroy the Cao thief, annihilate Sun Wu, let the people suffer no more, and clear the dust from the entire universe!
As long as I can return to Chengdu, Big Brother and Yide will be waiting for me when the peach blossoms bloom in the Peach Garden..."