[Lightscreen]
[Heaven's mandate is not with me!!!!]
Those five words weighed heavier than stone. For a moment everyone in the hall stopped breathing, as though even drawing air had turned difficult.
Then the glowing lines on the light screen pulled their gaze away.
Kongming recovered first and began analyzing the tone.
"That line 'People of Xiangyang-Fancheng, come witness Second Lord's glory' sounds like it comes from people living in the same time as this Wen Mang."
Zhang Fei stroked his coarse beard and offered his own take.
"Sounds just like spectators at a cuju match, yelling their heads off as they watch the game."
Huang Yueying spoke with calm grace.
"Perhaps in future times there exists some marvelous way to turn spoken words straight into writing, which then appears on the light screen."
Jiang Wan kept writing furiously, recording every word, while thinking to himself.
'Yide compares such a wondrous sign to a ball game. Truly he fears no judgment from heaven! But Madam Huang's words are elegant and exact. Public commentary indeed. Well put.'
As for the abrupt appearance of the light screen, Jiang Wan felt little surprise. After all, it was the very culprit behind his current workload..
What really caught his attention was Huang Yueying's idea about turning speech into text.
"I wonder what this combined naval and land force means?" Zhang Fei asked, already moving on. "And Second Brother, it looks like future generations hold you in very high regard!"
"The light screen has said more than once that Second Brother's might shook the whole land," Liu Bei said, speaking from long experience. "As for this combined force, it is likely an elite unit that fights equally well on water and on land."
The other generals nodded in agreement.
As for the final name that appeared, Li Shimin... Who was that? No one had any idea.
[Lightscreen]
[As we mentioned before, one reason Cao Cao withdrew his troops was because his base was raided. When weighing the greater of two evils, he decisively abandoned Hanzhong and returned to defend Xuchang.
So who raided his base? Of course, it was today's protagonist, Guan Yu!
Did this strategy succeed?
The good news: it succeeded. The bad news: it succeeded too well.]
"How can succeeding too well be a bad thing?!" Zhang Fei protested.
Guan Yu shook his head slightly.
The light screen had discussed Xiangyang-Fancheng multiple times, and as a famed general he had already formed his own deductions, even discussing them with Zhuge Liang. He had his suspicions.
"Still, 'raiding the base' is a fine term!"
Zhang Fei added with approval. "Clear and easy to understand. We are striking right at that Cao thief's home base!"
[Lightscreen]
[During the Hanzhong Campaign, the Shu forces in Jingzhou naturally had to relieve pressure for their lord. That was simply part of their duty.
Thus Guan Yu and Meng Da each led separate detachments to strike Xiangfang, Fancheng, Shangyong, and Fangling, forcing Cao Cao to redeploy troops from the western Hanzhong front to reinforce the eastern Xiangyang-Fancheng front.]
A textbook operation.
There was practically nothing to criticize. Zhuge Liang even rose to gesture at the map behind him.
"If Shangyong can be secured, then Yunchang need only take Xiangyang, and not even Fancheng would be necessary. Thus Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Hanzhong would be linked as one, and the grand plan could be realized!"
Though he already knew the outcome, seeing his former strategy progress to this stage still filled him with excitement.
The terminology used by the light screen also caught his attention.
Referring to battle zones as "fronts" was indeed clear and concise. Then the fighting in Hanzhong would be the Hanzhong front? Kongming made a mental note.
[Lightscreen]
[Actually, our old friend Meng Da did quite well here.
According to the Book of Shu, in the Biography of Liu Feng, he first attacked Fangling to the north. Then he joined up with Liu Feng at Shangyong, and the local Administrator Shen Dan surrendered to them.
That brings us to the first interesting detail.
After Meng Da killed the Administrator of Fangling, Kuai Qi, Liu Bei sent Liu Feng down the Mian River to take command of Meng Da's troops. The Book of Shu says Liu Bei secretly worried Meng Da could not be fully trusted on his own.
But the Zizhi Tongjian later argued that this view might not be accurate. After all, Records of the Three Kingdoms was put together during the Jin dynasty. They treated Wei and Jin as the rightful rulers, so they tended to protect those in power from criticism.
Either way, it is a fact that Liu Bei sent Liu Feng to split Meng Da's authority. And that choice would later turn out to be the first critical mistake leading to the disaster at Yiling.
Liu Feng failed to handle this delicate task properly.]
"Sounds like this Records of the Three Kingdoms is not exactly singing our praises," Zhang Fei grumbled.
Kongming calmly pointed out the core of the matter.
"If that work treats Cao Wei as the only legitimate dynasty, then Meng Da's later defection to Wei would naturally be written in a positive light. And..." he recalled, "the light screen told us earlier that Meng Da went over to Wei around the same time as the Wei Feng rebellion in the name of the Han. So in their account, such an act could even be twisted to look like returning to the rightful cause."
Kongming knew this kind of thing well. Was it really so strange for historians to write with a bias?
[Lightscreen]
[But if we step back and look at the bigger picture, Liu Bei had his reasons. It all starts with Meng Da's father Meng Tuo, who was quite the famous figure.
Back in the late Han when the Ten Eunuchs held all the power, Meng Tuo sold off everything he owned and went to Luoyang hoping to get ahead. He had no real talent and no powerful connections. So how did he make it? Through clever manipulation.
With only a little money to spend, he picked his target carefully. He set out to win over the servants of Zhang Rang. He treated them to lavish feasts and covered every expense.
After a long while, the servants began to feel bad. They did not deserve such generosity. They asked what he wanted in return.
Meng Tuo replied that he just cared about saving face. He did not ask for much. He just wanted them to kowtow to him when he passed by in his carriage the next day.
Was that such a big deal to them? Not at all. Bowing was what they did every day! They were professionals.
So when Meng Tuo rode by, the servants knelt in neat rows. He walked right into Zhang Rang's mansion, stayed inside for a while, then strutted back home.
Those seeking favor at the residence saw this display and assumed Meng Tuo held influence, so they began sending him gifts.
Meng Tuo took every gift, sold them for profit, and eventually caught Zhang Rang's eye.
In the end, with just one hu of grape wine, he won Zhang Rang's favor and got himself appointed Inspector of Liangzhou. That is where the famous phrase one hu for Liangzhou came from.
The Song dynasty poet Su Shi mocked it later: A general fights a hundred battles and never wins a title, while this man gets Liangzhou with a single measure of wine.
The Tang poet Liu Yuxi also wrote: With one measure I go and claim the governorship of Liangzhou.
Lu You followed with his own biting verse...
Ancient insults were truly elegant.
Using Li Guang's bad luck as a metaphor has gone too far. That old general is practically covered in arrows by now.
Buying low, boosting his own worth, then running off with the profits. Meng Tuo is basically the earliest example of a smooth operator.
From the Yellow Turban Rebellion all the way to Xiangyang-Fancheng, this content creator really knows how to dig up the roots of things.
Zhang Rang seems awfully easy to fool. Just some cheap wine and he was won over completely.
Grapes originally came from the Western Regions. Later dynasties lost control of those lands until the great Tang emperor marched out and took them back.]
[Server Chat Log]
[Li Shimin: Say more. I like this.]
Everyone in the hall covered their faces, unable to bear hearing any more.
From everything shown, Meng Tuo's actions had brought such shame to the Han that even people hundreds of years later still mocked him.
Liu Bei rested his hand gently on the hilt of his sword. "If only I could strike down the Ten Eunuchs with my own hand."
"Big Brother would have quite the list to get through," Zhang Fei said with a dry laugh, counting on his fingers. "After them comes He Jin, then Dong Zhuo, and now Cao Cao. Your sword would turn dull before you finished."
"With a father like that, it is no wonder Meng Da cannot be fully trusted. And Shangyong is such a critical stronghold. Placing someone loyal there was the most sensible choice," Kongming said, nodding in agreement with what the light screen had shown.
He cut Zhang Fei off before he could add anything else. "Yide, that is enough. Let us keep watching."
Meanwhile, Huang Yueying wrote down her own observations in neat, elegant characters.
'The Western Regions burn hot by day and turn cold at night. The land is dry and sandy. Guanzhong has a gentler climate, yet that very mildness might actually make it harder for grapes to grow well there.'
Her curiosity had clearly been fully awakened.
---
Fun Fact:
So what exactly did Meng Tuo do?
To anyone reading this now, Meng Tuo's story feels like a scam tutorial or some crazy social media hack. Except instead of likes and followers, it went down in the late Han court and the stakes were actual provinces and real power.
Back then, real power did not come from having a good title or being good at your job. It all circled around guys like Zhang Rang. He was basically the most powerful eunuch in the whole imperial court. If he liked you, doors flew open. If he did not like you, you could be the most talented person alive and still stand outside the gate wondering what the heck you did wrong.
Meng Tuo looked at his own situation. He had no talent worth mentioning and zero connections. So he came up with a wild plan. If he could not get inside the circle of power, he would just make everyone think he was already there.
Instead of trying to bribe Zhang Rang directly, which would have cost a fortune and probably failed anyway, he went for a way smarter move. He got friendly with Zhang Rang's servants. Not like a casual hello. He went all in. He threw them feasts, paid for everything, treated them like royalty, and kept doing it until they started feeling awkward. They were getting all this nice stuff and had nothing to give back.
When they finally asked what he wanted, Meng Tuo did not ask for money or favors or introductions. He asked for something so small it sounded totally stupid. He just wanted them to bow to him when he rode past in his carriage.
That was it. The servants said sure. Bowing was literally their job. It cost them nothing.
Next day, Meng Tuo rode by and all the servants lined up and bowed nice and proper. Anyone watching would think the exact same thing. This guy must be super important. Why else would Zhang Rang's own people treat him like that?
And just like that, Meng Tuo went from nobody to someone you definitely did not want to mess with.
From there, it blew up fast. People who wanted to get to Zhang Rang started coming to Meng Tuo with gifts, hoping he could put in a good word. He took every single one, sold them all, and kept the story going. The lie became real. The more people thought he had power, the more power he actually got.
By the time Zhang Rang actually noticed him, Meng Tuo was not just some random guy anymore. He already looked like a big shot. That jar of grape wine he handed over was not some last minute bribe. It was basically just closing the deal. Everyone already accepted he was important anyway.
To us now, it looks like Zhang Rang got fooled by something cheap. But really, he was just buying into a reputation that had been built super carefully. Back then, you could not Google someone. So how things looked was not just for show. It was proof.
That is why people later made up the saying one hu of Liang Province. Like this guy got an entire province with one jar of wine. Poets and scholars like Su Shi had a field day making fun of it. To them, it showed how messed up the whole system was. A general could fight for years and get nowhere while this guy just schmoozed his way to the top.
But here is the part that actually matters for our story. His son Meng Da? He got none of his dad's cleverness but all of his bad reputation.
In those days, your family background stuck to you forever. Having a dad everyone knew was a total schemer did not exactly make people trust you. And for guys like Liu Bei, this was not just old gossip. It was a giant red flag. If the father got everywhere by pretending and taking opportunities, then blindly trusting the son? That was not just being optimistic. That was asking for trouble.