[Lightscreen]
[People have argued plenty about what the Prime Minister did with Meng Da. Some say he played the man without any real honor or trust. Others swear he only did it to get revenge for Guan Yu. The debate just goes round and round and never really ends.
But come on, let us be real here. We are talking about the greatest legendary minister this nation has ever seen. A mind like his does not cook up a master plan that only serves one simple little goal. That is just not how his brain works.
First off, history shows Meng Da really was planning to turn his back on Liu Bei. But was the whole idea of rebelling entirely his own choice? That is where it gets messy. Things got really dangerous for him in Wei after Cao Pi passed away and his powerful backers were gone. He was stuck dealing with Shen Yi constantly badmouthing him and Sima Yi looking at him with total distrust. So when the Prime Minister reached out, it was not just a gentle push. It was tossing a drowning man a rope to grab hold of.
And another thing. Did the Prime Minister actually like Meng Da as a person? The answer is a hard no. Liu Bei's famous words still rang loud in his head. "Kongming, have you completely forgotten the terrible mess with Ding Jianyang and Dong Zhuo?"
There was deep bad blood between them. Meng Da had killed Kuai Qi, who happened to be the Prime Minister's own brother-in-law. And when Guan Yu was trapped at Fancheng and begged for help, Meng Da refused to send reinforcements.
That choice directly contributed to Guan Yu's death and shattered the early strategic foundation of Shu Han.]
The voice from the Screen kept right on talking, but the men in the room had suddenly stopped listening.
One single phrase had just exploded in their midst like a massive shockwave.
The Zhaolie Emperor of Shu Han.
When Liu Bei first heard the title, his mind could barely process it. The words just seemed to bounce right off him. But only a moment later, the full weight of it crashed down.
The Screen had just quoted that line about Ding Jianyang and Dong Zhuo. He was the one who said it. Those exact words had come from his own mouth years before, when he was talking to Cao Cao about how untrustworthy Lu Bu really was.
If he had said those words himself, and the Screen now credited them to the Zhaolie Emperor...
Liu Bei whipped his head around.
His eyes locked straight onto Zhuge Liang, clearly begging for an instant explanation. He did not even need to say a single word. Kongming possessed a razor-sharp mind and understood his lord's panic and confusion at once.
Zhuge Liang gently waved his feather fan, his voice low and remarkably steady.
"In the ancient rites of posthumous titles, to possess luminous virtue and labor without rest is called Zhao. To wield great merit and bring peace to the people is called Lie. Together, they form Zhaolie. This title honors your moral character even as it proclaims your achievements to all under heaven. For a lord of your standing, it is a title that befits the founder of a dynasty."
Liu Bei nodded slowly and took a deep breath, forcing his racing heart to steady.
So this was it.
This was the final judgment the historians of the future had laid upon his entire life. It was a fine title. A truly great one. But right now, his grand legacy was barely taking shape. He was still just a warlord scrambling to find his footing in a broken and chaotic world. He had not yet reached those lofty imperial heights history said he would one day claim.
But then another thought took root in his mind.
No. This is not enough.
He shook the thought away. A glorious posthumous title was wonderful, but the history the Screen had shown so far was a nightmare. If sticking to the original story meant his precious son Adou needed extreme guidance just to keep from ruining the state, then history had to change. If it meant his beloved second brother Guan Yu was destined to be beheaded in a cruel betrayal, then history must change. If it meant his so-called allies in Jiangdong were going to stab him in the back when he least expected it, then those allies would pay a terrible price. His true goal had always been to unify the northern heartland and restore the glory of the Han.
Suddenly, Liu Bei wanted far more than just becoming the Zhaolie Emperor. He wanted to rewrite the entire tragedy.
His thoughts turned to the man the Screen was currently talking about. Meng Da. Right now, that man was serving under Liu Zhang in Yi Province.
Liu Bei let out a quiet breath and made up his mind then and there. He would never let this Meng Da get the chance to cause all that future disaster. When the time came, he would strip every bit of military authority from him, slowly but surely. He would send him far away to live as a wealthy but powerless commoner. He would let Meng Da enjoy a long and quiet life of peace.
The words peace and happiness would suit that man far better than anything else that could ever be carved on his tombstone.
The magical screen shifted its visuals, displaying a simplified map with flashing arrows. The voice returned with a distinctly smug tone.
[Lightscreen]
[So when you break it all down, the Prime Minister's grand strategic intention could not be clearer. It was a flawless trap in every way.
Scenario one: Meng Da gets terrified out of his mind, binds his own hands, and waits for Cao Wei to execute him. If that happens, Shu Han gets rid of a treacherous traitor without even lifting a finger. Everyone wins.
Scenario two: Meng Da refuses to sit still and wait for death. He raises his troops and launches a full rebellion against his masters. That becomes a massive bleeding headache for the Cao Wei court. It perfectly distracts the enemy and pulls their full military focus away from the Prime Minister's upcoming Northern Expeditions.
Once again, everyone wins.
Scenario three: Meng Da completely loses his nerve. He packs light, grabs a fast horse, and flees desperately back across the border to surrender to Shu Han. If he does that, his life and death rest entirely in Zhuge Liang's palm. The Prime Minister could have him executed on the spot for his past crimes. And yet again, everyone wins.
So no matter which way you look at it, Meng Da's fate was sealed from the start. Seeing such a flawless political trap, we modern folks can only sigh in pure admiration and say: Prime Minister, your heart is truly dark and ruthless 😊]
Liu Bei blinked. He caught a specific phrase hidden inside that rapid-fire analysis.
Northern Expeditions?
Liu Bei began to calculate the timeline in his head. The numbers clicked into place. He turned his head and looked directly at his brilliant strategist.
"Kongming," Liu Bei whispered. "Did the screen just imply that these Northern Expeditions began merely five or six years after my own death? Does that not seem a bit fast?"
Zhang Fei was not currently in the room.
He had been banished to the kitchen earlier to drink wine and eat meat because he was being too loud. But Liu Bei had not forgotten the harrowing words his third brother had shouted earlier.
'Big brother! The screen said you were literally angered to death by a great fire at a place called Yiling!'
The screen had mentioned multiple times that many future historians considered that specific fire to be the final exhaustion of the Shu Han faction's destiny.
It was painfully obvious that the disaster at Yiling would inflict catastrophic, nation-crippling losses upon his newly established empire.
If his country was reduced to ashes, could they truly recover enough military and economic strength to launch northern invasions in a mere five years?
Kongming looked at Liu Bei's deeply concerned, expectant gaze.
The young scholar desperately wanted to scream in frustration.
'For heaven's sake, My Lord! You already know you are not the version of Liu Bei who entrusts his orphaned son on his deathbed at Baidi City! Why do you keep forgetting that I am also not that future, all-powerful Prime Minister Zhuge Liang?! I am just twenty-seven years old! I do not have the answers yet!'
He was definitely not sitting in that future seat of ultimate power yet. But his brilliant mind was already piecing together a grim theory.
During their famous meeting at the thatched cottage in Longzhong, Zhuge Kongming had laid out a flawless grand strategy. The plan explicitly stated: when the realm experiences a great shift, order a superior general to lead the armies of Jingzhou straight toward Wancheng and Luoyang. Meanwhile, you, my Lord, will personally lead the core forces of Yizhou out through the Qin Mountains.
That was the plan. A perfect two-pronged assault to crush the north.
But in that grim timeline of the Northern Expeditions, his lord was already gone. The whole second half of their grand strategy had vanished. For the future version of himself to tear up the original plan and launch a desperate, one-sided invasion of the north, there could only be one explanation.
The great fire at Yiling had not just burned their army to ash. It had swallowed Jingzhou whole. It had wiped out half of the blueprint they had built together.
Kongming stood frozen, his mind grinding to a halt as everything around him faded into noise. He was utterly lost in thought.
Right beside him, Zhao Yun stayed perfectly calm, his brush moving with frightening speed as he frantically recorded every word the Screen broadcast. The man looked like the most dedicated scribe anyone could ask for.
Seeing Kongming completely lost in his own head and unresponsive, Liu Bei had no choice but to hold back his questions and turn his eyes back to the floating display.
Yet as the Screen kept talking about the traitor Meng Da, a dark shadow crossed Liu Bei's heart. He suddenly remembered another spoiler the Screen had dropped earlier. A man named Liu Feng. His own adopted son. The one he would one day be forced to order to take his own life.
This adopted son was brave and skilled in battle. But the Screen said Liu Feng had listened to foolish lies and refused to send aid when his uncle Guan Yu was trapped. That single catastrophic mistake led straight to Guan Yu's death and set off the whole chain reaction that ended in the Yiling disaster.
'Is there something fundamentally wrong with how I guide and teach the younger generation?'
Liu Bei sank into a deep and painful spiral of self-doubt. Between his own son Adou, apparently growing up to be an ineffective ruler, and his adopted son Liu Feng bringing ruin upon the state, Liu Bei seriously wondered if he needed to seek out a proper guide on raising children well.
[Lightscreen]
[In the grand scheme of things, guys like Meng Da and Wei Feng were just tiny examples of a much bigger structural problem eating away at the Cao Wei government.
Back in the day, Cao Cao managed to gain control of the Han Emperor. By holding that ultimate political puppet, he won the backing of the powerful scholar-official clans from the Yingchuan region. But this shortcut came with a hidden flaw. Because he relied on the Emperor's authority, a strong political faction grew right inside his own court. Historians call them the Ru Ying faction.
In the beginning, the Ru Ying faction, led by brilliant men like Xun Yu, still clung to a hopeful illusion. They truly believed they were staying loyal to the Han Dynasty. Standing on that moral high ground, they were willing to work alongside Cao Cao's inner circle of military commanders from his hometown, known as the Qiao Pei faction.
But things turned sour as time went on. When Cao Cao accepted the Nine Bestowments and took the title King of Wei, the Ru Ying faction grew increasingly unhappy. The dream they had believed in was falling apart.
The final break came when Cao Pi officially took the throne and declared himself Emperor. The Han Dynasty, the very institution the Ru Ying faction had sworn to serve, was gone for good. The mighty Xun clan gradually faded from center stage.
Here was the real problem. Once the Han fell, the Ru Ying faction's loyalty did not simply shift over to Emperor Cao Pi or his successor Cao Rui. Instead, the power vacuum let ambition run wild. Step by step, the Sima clan stepped in and became the new powerful force this discontented group rallied around.
In his final years, Cao Cao could only do his best to keep these boiling tensions under control. When he died, he left this ticking political time bomb right in his son Cao Pi's lap. Cao Pi was actually very skilled at handling court politics, but sadly he did not live long enough to fix things. He died young and left an even bigger mess for his own son Cao Rui to deal with.
Right after Cao Rui took the throne, Shu Han launched their Northern Expeditions. In a strange twist, those invasions actually helped Cao Wei last longer. The threat from outside forced all the quarreling factions to set aside their differences and unite to defend their land. It gave the empire temporary relief from its internal struggles.
Cao Rui was decent at managing daily affairs, but his political judgment was terrible. After ruling for fourteen years, he lay on his deathbed and made a disastrous choice. He entrusted his young heir to two rival regents, Sima Yi and Cao Shuang. That one decision blew the whole situation apart. It pushed the two factions into a brutal fight to the finish. That deadly clash led straight to the famous Gaoping Tombs Incident.
And with that bloody coup, the Cao Wei empire was done for. Game over.]
Zhao Yun paused his frantic writing. He looked up, his brow furrowed in genuine confusion.
"The Northern Expeditions actually saved the Cao Wei empire?"
Zhao Yun asked the room. "I do not understand the logic behind this statement."
A deep, hearty chuckle echoed from the corner of the room. General Huang Zhong stroked his white beard.
"I actually understand this concept perfectly," Huang Zhong smiled warmly.
"Zilong, you must understand something. I have lived in Jingzhou for nearly twenty years. I have personally handled an uncountable number of trivial, annoying local disputes. This grand political theory the screen is discussing is exactly like a petty village rivalry I witnessed with my own eyes during my younger years."
Huang Zhong leaned forward, his weathered face illuminated by the screen.
"Imagine two neighboring villages. They share a single river. When a great drought hits and those two villages begin fighting over the water supply, a miraculous thing happens. Inside each individual village, no matter how deep their internal grudges run, everything is instantly put on pause. Even if two families inside the village have a blood feud over a murdered father, they will drop their weapons and stand shoulder to shoulder."
Huang Zhong gestured with his calloused hands. "Why? Because if they lose the fight for the river water, the crops of the entire village will fail. Everyone will starve to death. That is an issue of survival. Compared to starving to death, a petty feud between two households suddenly seems like a small, irrelevant problem."
Liu Bei sighed deeply. He tapped his fingers on the wooden table.
"That makes perfect sense," Liu Bei agreed. "It is exactly like what happened with my dear brother Liu Biao. He foolishly bypassed his eldest son to name his youngest as heir. The amount of blood spilled between brothers fighting over a simple inheritance in these local villages is staggering. Internal peace only lasts when there is a wolf scratching at the front door."
Liu Bei then shook his head, a complex mixture of pity and vindication in his eyes.
"But I truly never expected this outcome. That treacherous thief Cao Cao built his entire foundation by holding the Emperor hostage, and his entire empire ultimately collapsed for that exact same reason. If he had genuinely been loyal to the Han Dynasty, his descendants would never have suffered such a miserable, total extermination."
Kongming had finally finished rebooting his brain. He picked up his feather fan and shook his head firmly.
"My Lord, even if Cao Cao was genuinely loyal to the Han Dynasty in his own twisted mind, he would still go down in history as a traitor to the state. The fact that future generations, separated from us by a staggering one thousand and seven hundred years, can casually list off his treacherous deeds like they are reading a grocery list proves a simple point. The common folk possess an innate sense of justice. Cao Cao never held the true hearts of the people."
Kongming's eyes flashed with a cold, intellectual fury. He was verbally dissecting his greatest rival.
"Even if the King of Wei somehow managed to help the Han Dynasty achieve unification, what difference would it make? How would that unified Han be any different from the miserable, rotting court under Emperor Ling? Cao Cao has committed a mountain of tyrannical, blood-soaked atrocities. He is far more destructive than Dong Zhuo ever was. I have heard rumors that Cao Cao privately compares himself to legendary, loyal regents like Yi Yin and Huo Guang. But let me tell you, if Huo Guang could magically crawl out of his grave today, he would instantly die again from sheer anger just looking at Cao Cao!"
The tension in the room broke as Huang Zhong suddenly spoke up again. The old veteran had noticed a different, specific detail from the broadcast.
"You know," Huang Zhong said slowly, scratching his chin. "The screen mentioned that Emperor Cao Rui died and entrusted an orphaned child to his regents."
The old archer looked around the table, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"This implies that his successor was a literal toddler. The man sat on the imperial throne, enjoying the finest women in the empire, for fourteen whole years. And in all that time, he could not produce a single, healthy adult prince to take over?!"
Huang Zhong threw his head back and laughed. "The old Cao family bloodline has some serious, fundamental issues!"