"Resisted for eight months.
The soldiers and civilians… died for the nation."
Liu Bei's heart jolted.
The words died for the nation were not unfamiliar to him. In the records of later generations, he had seen them countless times.
Zhang Yi following Jiang Wei on northern expeditions, leading the Wudang Flying Army, fighting Wei to the death. Slain in battle. Dying for the state.
It did not end there.
Fu Rong and Ma Liang who fell at Yiling.
The sons and grandsons of Kongming and Yide who died beneath Mianzhu Pass.
All of these names were carved deep into Liu Bei's memory.
He even remembered later generations speaking of Southern Song's fall, when over a hundred thousand soldiers and civilians leapt into the sea and died for the nation.
Yet none of those distant tragedies felt as heavy as these eight simple words before him.
Outside the walls, barbarian wolves circled and ground their teeth.
Inside the court, imperial envoys proclaimed edicts to cede land.
The entire city, soldiers and civilians alike, refused the order.
The city fell.
They died.
The state perished with them.
Later generations did not record every detail, but it was enough for Liu Bei and the others to glimpse the true course of Northern Song's military decline.
A muddled emperor.
Civil officials tearing each other apart.
Those who wanted to save the nation through blood and battle were crushed.
Those who wanted to sell the nation for survival joined hands without shame.
And now, looking at it, what crime had the common people committed.
They bore the pain of divided territory.
They suffered under harsh taxes and endless levies.
They lived day after day without peace, barely surviving.
And in the end, the Song emperor casually lifted his brush and pushed them straight into the mouths of wolves.
Liu Bei felt bitter irony burn in his chest.
No wonder uprisings in Song never ceased.
If he, Liu Bei, had been born in that era, he might well have climbed a hill, raised a banner, and shouted for like minded men to follow.
On the other side, Zhang Fei could no longer hold back. He jumped to his feet and roared,
"This Qinzong is a spineless piece of trash."
"He enjoys his muddled pleasures, and his wife and daughters pay the price."
"I want to drag that man to Taiyuan and run him through myself."
The more Zhang Fei spoke, the angrier he became. Finally, he slammed his fist straight down, smashing the low table into splinters.
He clasped his hands briefly toward Liu Bei and stormed out of the hall.
Even after he left, his furious curses echoed clearly,
"Swine like that stain Old Zhang's eyes and ears."
The atmosphere had been heavy, but Zhang Fei's outburst strangely relieved some of the pressure.
Zhuge Liang let out a quiet sigh.
"Yide is straightforward by nature. He cannot hide what is in his heart. My lord, please do not take it to heart."
Before Liu Bei could speak, Pang Tong said,
"The Third General spoke from the heart. I feel the same."
The others nodded.
Zhang Fei had cursed out exactly what they were all thinking. In a way, it felt like he had vented for everyone.
They lived in an age of chaos themselves. Watching Northern Song's rulers stumble step by step into disaster made it cut even deeper.
Especially seeing men like Li Gang and Zhong Shizhong trying to shoulder the realm, only to die, be demoted, or be cast aside.
"In prosperous times, every age has its own flavor," Lu Su said, shaking his head. "In chaotic times, they are all alike."
He picked up his brush and, like Zhuge Liang, wrote down his thoughts. For the first time, his former obsession with reputation felt faintly laughable.
"The Grand Historian said,
A man's death may be heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather.
It depends on what he dies for."
Lu Su let out a bitter laugh to steady himself. Then he stepped forward and clasped his hands solemnly to Liu Bei.
"Su is willing to be used by Duke Xuande as you see fit. I only wish"
He paused, took a deep breath, then continued,
"I only wish that the sons of Han may live under Great Unity and never know the pain of separation and chaos. I only wish that soldiers and civilians will never again have to die for the nation."
Liu Bei straightened and returned the salute with equal gravity.
"Zijing's trust, I will never betray."
"What we have spoken today proves that our wills and our paths are one."
"To the realm as well, I will never betray it."
In the hall, some were solemn, some laughed, some were eager, some felt it was only natural. Together, they clasped their hands.
"We will never betray it."
They were not great ministers of famous clans. They were not born into the highest nobility.
For Liu Bei and the others, their wish was simple.
In the first half of their lives, they had seen the people thrown into chaos.
In recent years, they had seen China's fate battered again and again.
Though each man's vision of Great Unity was not exactly the same, their desire to prevent such tragedies was identical.
"Shame beyond all shame."
On his couch, Li Shimin had completely lost his earlier excitement.
The Ganlu Hall was silent. Only Li Shimin's long sigh over those four words echoed through the hall.
Everyone saw the original Song texts on the glowing curtain clearly.
And so, they fell even more silent.
After a while, words that sounded half like imperial orders and half like private thoughts began to echo through the hall.
"Now that Tuyuhun is eliminated, Guanzhong is secure. The Turks are far in the Western Regions. Tubo remains unenlightened. The Thirty Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions are divided and disunited. None pose a true threat. Therefore, Hebei must be the foremost priority of the realm."
"For plans of a hundred years, we must rely on favorable climate to cultivate Hebei's fields. Establish official schools to control education. Set garrisons to suppress bandits and intimidate great clans. Those who refuse shall be relocated to Guanzhong."
"I require no royal court south of the desert, no mixed barbarians north of it. I do not demand that the Turks become Han in a single generation. But I will ensure they are dispersed and resettled, beginning the transformation of customs."
The commands were fragmented, but all the civil and military officials of Zhenguan listened with full attention.
On the glowing curtain,
[Lightscreen]
[Before the fall of Northern Song, Yue Fei was nothing more than an unknown small unit captain in the Pingding Army.
The only truly serious battle he participated in was the Second Taiyuan Campaign, the disastrous defeat controlled remotely by Emperor Qinzong with Li Gang left to take the blame.
According to historical records, Yue Fei's performance in this battle was still quite solid.
He voluntarily took on the mission of infiltrating behind enemy lines to scout information, and he completed it extremely well.
During this process, he even left behind in the official histories his first image as a fierce general.
Leading a hundred plus cavalry scouts, Yue Fei encountered over a thousand Jin troops near Yuci.
On a narrow road where bravery decided victory, Yue Fei copied his idol Guan Yu's style.
He charged alone into the enemy formation, entered and exited several times, and cut down multiple Jin cavalry commanders.
The mission was a success.
But as a mere scout unit leader, that was the limit of what he could do.
Neither Emperor Qinzong's mind nor Li Gang's military authority were things Yue Fei could influence.
After the failure of the Second Taiyuan Campaign, the Jin army launched a massive southern advance.
Yue Fei's Pingding Army had only three thousand men. Their will to fight was strong, but with Zhen Ding Prefecture falling rapidly, they could not hold alone.
Three thousand men held off tens of thousands of Jin troops for half a month.
In the end, they were overwhelmed and the city fell.
Yue Fei and several comrades broke out through the chaos and returned to their hometown.
The story of Yue Fei's mother tattooing his back is well known today.
The four characters, Serve the Nation with Utmost Loyalty, are clearly told in the legends.
However, this story does not appear in official histories.
In the official record, when Yue Fei was later interrogated as a prisoner, the four characters revealed on his back were recorded as, Exhaust Loyalty to Serve the Nation.
Whether the tattooing story is exaggerated or not, one thing is beyond doubt.
Yue Fei's mother was a great woman.
At that time, Yue Fei's hometown had already fallen.
With Jin troops surrounding them and survival uncertain, Yue Fei once wanted to take his family into the mountains to hide.
His mother scolded him harshly and cut through his hesitation.
She ordered him to join the army and serve the nation.
The fall of Northern Song briefly shattered the century long system of civil officials restraining military power.
With righteousness and resolve, Yue Fei's mother cut away her son's final hesitation.
At twenty three, Yue Fei set out alone.
He began his third enlistment.
And with it, the legend of the Jin resisting general truly began.]