So this was the legendary Baishui Army, the so-called pride of Yizhou.
Zhao Yun assessed the situation with a soldier's cold detachment and concluded they were far easier to break than the barbarians of Liaodong.
Even now, bound and seated as captives, the Yizhou soldiers stared at him and his riders with a mixture of raw terror and disbelief, as though they had witnessed a divine visitation rather than a tactical maneuver.
Zhao Yun shook his head inwardly. If these men were ever thrown against the veteran legions of Cao Cao, training them would demand no small amount of effort.
As for Zhao Zuo, he felt as though he were meeting Prefect Pang Xi for the very first time.
Only yesterday, Pang Xi had been so strung tight with stress that he was developing mouth ulcers, whispering privately to his attendants about whether surrendering to Liu Zhang might at least preserve their lives.
And now?
Now here he was, hovering around Zhao Yun like a persistent moth, showering him with flowery praise and suddenly declaring himself a lifelong servant of the Imperial Uncle, deeply concerned for the fate of the Han.
Cuihhhh,...Zhao Zuo spat inwardly.
He elbowed Pang Xi aside and leaned into Zhao Yun's space, his voice booming with performative righteousness. "In light of such a magnificent victory, I, Zhao Zuo, am willing to ride posthaste to Jiangzhou and report this triumph to our Lord!"
Zhao Yun did not answer at once. He looked out over the battlefield, his gaze lingering on the fallen. "I have my own riders to carry word," he said quietly. "But I do have one request."
"My riders. They have followed me for many years."
"I shall find a spot with the most beautiful scenery for their burial!" Zhao Zuo promised, puffing out his chest as though the task were a sacred duty.
Zhao Yun shook his head. "No need for a grand display. Once the traitor Cao is defeated, I will return and bring their graves back to the north. That is where they belong."
Zhao Zuo felt a surge of genuine admiration. He nodded solemnly and made a silent vow to see it done right.
"Zhang Yide tricked Gao Pei with a single blade.
Zhao Zilong broke their lines and slew Yang Huai."
The two battle reports reached the Jiangzhou government office in rapid succession. Pang Tong was practically dancing, his face lit with a manic sort of glee.
Liu Bei read the reports with a more measured smile. "Yide has developed a sharp wit in the field, and Zilong's valor remains undimmed. Truly, this is a day to celebrate."
Pang Tong's expression turned serious for a moment. "Does our Lord know how Zilong achieved such a crushing victory?"
Liu Bei leaned in, curious.
"He ordered Zhang Yi to lead the main army forward at a crawl, while he himself took a mere hundred riders and trampled the enemy's heart. Had he led the whole infantry force, the victory would never have been this effortless."
Pang Tong began to chuckle at the sheer audacity of it. Liu Bei's smile, however, froze slightly.
He rubbed his face, trying to process the hundred riders part, then turned back to his advisor. "So, Shiyuan. What is our next move?"
Pang Tong reached to the bottom of a stack of papers and drew out a single sheet, sighing with satisfaction. "Before we set out to take Yizhou for you, I never imagined it would go this smoothly."
Working from the dual victories at Langzhong and Baishui Pass, Pang Tong had run through several simulations. "I had expected a stalemate. Zilong locked in a grinding match with the Baishui Army while Yide hammered at the pass.
In that scenario, we would have needed you to lead the main force toward Chengdu to break the deadlock. But now..."
As Pang Tong laid out the coming steps, he could not help but feel a certain thrill.
This was the kind of high-caliber military campaign that usually sat under Zhuge Liang's hand.
Using it himself felt deeply satisfying.
By early September, the oppressive heat of Chengdu had begun to break. Yet the slight drop in temperature did nothing to ease the suffocating tension that gripped the city.
Fa Zheng sat in a quiet corner of a teahouse, watching tea leaves drift aimlessly in his cup. To him, they looked exactly like the fate of Chengdu's current master. Floating, directionless, waiting to be discarded.
This was not the first time such discreet meetings had taken place.
Ever since Liu Bei had occupied Jiangzhou, the local elites had reached a quiet consensus.
A pack of ambitious thieves from Jingzhou is coming for us.
At first, they scattered. Some rushed to offer frantic advice to the Liu Zhang.
Some settled in to wait for the wind to change.
Others, like Fa Zheng, began looking for a new employer.
As the reports trickled in, the atmosphere in the teahouse grew more frantic.
"The shameless usurper has allied himself with the rebel Pang Xi!"
"The straw-mat weaver used treachery to murder General Yang Huai!"
"Liu Bei has seized Baishui Pass with an iron grip!"
"The Imperial Uncle is marching on Chengdu!"
Fa Zheng watched the chaos with a cold and detached eye. Inwardly, he was rather impressed with Liu Bei's methods. Of late, Chengdu had been flooded with small pamphlets, palm-sized slips of paper bearing very few words. They were easy to carry, easy to hide, and even easier to spread.
Fa Zheng had secretly collected several of them. Each focused on a single, sharp narrative:
Liu Zhang Betrays Pang Xi and Pang Xi: A Prefect for the People were the most recent. They detailed how Pang Xi had helped Liu Zhang crush the rebellion of Zhao Wei, only to be repaid with a knife in the back.
Fa Zheng did not believe a word of the propaganda, but he knew the commoners did. If it is written on paper, it must be true. Was that not how they thought, right?
Other pamphlets cut even deeper.
The Treason of Liu Yan. How Liu Zhang Forced Zhang Lu to Rebel.
Liu Zhang's Secret Deal with Cao Cao.
And the ever-popular The Murder of Imperial Envoys.
The common folk understood little of the high politics of the past decade, but they understood scandal perfectly well, especially the bits about Zhang Lu's mother and Liu Yan's ego.
The crowd reaction was unanimous: "I've got a friend who loves reading this stuff, can't get enough of it."
And the logic of the street had firmly taken root. The Imperial Uncle was coming to demand an explanation from the Governor.
Liu Zhang had tried to counter this by posting official notices denouncing the claims as slander, but a handful of wooden boards stood no chance against the thousands of tiny paper slips already tucked into every citizen's pocket.
Fa Zheng ignored the shouting in the teahouse. He knew these men were merely posturing.
In private, they were likely exhausting their family resources trying to determine how best to make a favorable impression on the Imperial Uncle.
Servants from the great clans were being lowered over the city walls by rope at night, vanishing into the darkness to seek out the Jingzhou camp.
Rumor had it the guards at the eastern gate had collected enough in bribes to purchase two country estates.
Fa Zheng felt a twinge of envy, but mostly he felt joy. Chengdu had been a stagnant pond for far too long. He could not recall the last time things had been this interesting.
Ah, that is right. That Master Jian Yong I met last time was quite the character. I wonder if he will put in a good word for me.
And I wonder, when will the Imperial Uncle finally arrive at his faithful city of Chengdu?
Fa Zheng was practically vibrating with anticipation, but Liu Bei was in no hurry.
It had taken ten days to get from Jiangzhou to Langzhong, five more to reach Zitong, and another eight to arrive at Fucheng.
When the defender of Mianzhu, Li Yan, switched sides and surrendered, Liu Bei's pace slowed to a literal crawl.
Part of it was a deliberate show of reluctance, but the other part was the sheer volume of people arriving to swear their undying loyalty.
Local great clans showed up with their own supplies and private guards, begging to join the parade. Liu Bei's army was swelling into a tidal wave.
After Mianzhu came Luocheng. Liu Bei had originally planned to bypass it entirely.
The defender was Liu Xun, Liu Zhang's own son, and he had no desire to deal with the awkwardness of a family feud. But before he could even settle on a detour, Liu Xun was presented to him, bound hand and foot.
The local clans of Luocheng stood by with expressions that clearly said Please praise us, while Liu Bei blinked in confusion.
In the end, he paid them off with some silver and vague promises and sent them on their way.
Was it really this easy? Liu Bei wondered, feeling as though he were walking through a dream. Only the muffled cursing of Liu Xun brought him back to reality.
"Gag him," Liu Bei ordered, shaking his head. He looked the young man over and muttered, "I suppose this counts as a decent homecoming gift."
Liu Xun, trussed up like a prize hog, felt his heart skip a beat. The dramatic execution he had pictured did not come. Instead, he was handed over to a unit led by Jian Yong to be escorted back to Chengdu.
"I shall not fail the mission!" Jian Yong declared, looking as though he had already won the war.
"Xianhe, please. Try not to talk the poor boy to death," Liu Bei warned.
Luocheng sat so close to the capital that a hard ride could bridge the gap in a single day.
By the time the sun set, Jian Yong was looking at the walls of Chengdu.
Liu Xun was handed over to Liu Zhang's men, and Jian Yong was ushered straight into the presence of the Governor.
Jian Yong had never met Liu Zhang before. Up close, his first impression was one of overwhelming, soft wealth.
The man wore brocaded robes and a jeweled crown. His face was broad but lacked the sharp lines of a leader. He looked like a prosperous retired merchant, not the master of a province.
Liu Zhang's tone was surprisingly mild. "Is Liu Xuande truly determined to take Yizhou?"
Jian Yong bowed with an air of effortless grace. "My Lord wishes to restore the Han and punish the traitors. To do that, he must hold the land of the Han and keep it from the enemy."
Liu Zhang snorted. "He certainly has a way with words. Now the whole world says I am a man without loyalty, without righteousness, without filial piety."
Jian Yong hesitated for a moment, then drew himself up to his full height, his eyes locking onto Liu Zhang's. "And are you not?"
"You draw your salary from the Han as a Han official,"
Jian Yong went on, his voice steady. "Yet in this time of national peril, you do not think of the throne. You think only of keeping your own comfort through compromise with traitors. Have you forgotten your own surname, Governor?
Is that not disloyalty?"
"A father rules the household. A sovereign is father to the nation. They are one and the same. Now that the father of the nation is in distress and you turn a blind eye, is that not unfilial?"
Liu Zhang's face flushed a deep and blotchy red. Jian Yong kept his head high, fully expecting to be dragged out and executed.
But after a long silence, Liu Zhang slumped back into his silk-cushioned chair. "Even so," he muttered weakly, "he should not have aired our family business to the whole world on those pamphlets.
Jian Yong pretended he had not heard that. The pamphlets were a success, but admitting to them was an entirely different matter.
After another long and agonizing pause, Liu Zhang finally asked, "If... if I..."
Jian Yong, ever the diplomat, finished the sentence for him. "If the Governor is willing to nominate Lord Xuande as Governor of Yizhou, my Lord will naturally ensure that Chengdu remains untouched and the people of Yizhou are not disturbed."
Liu Zhang looked at Jian Yong with the eyes of a man who simply wanted to be told it was acceptable to quit. Jian Yong smiled. "Your seals of office, your family wealth, your estates. Lord Xuande will not touch a single copper of them."
Liu Zhang let out a long, shuddering breath. He spoke only three words. "That is well."
The deal was effectively struck. The following weeks blurred into a haze of procedural formalities.
Letters were exchanged, envoys dispatched, and at last Liu Zhang agreed to come out of the city in person to welcome Liu Bei.
In late September, under the watch of Zhao Yun's 'Baima Yicong', Liu Bei officially entered Chengdu.
The citizens lined the streets, jostling for a glimpse of the spectacle. After months of reading about the Righteous Imperial Uncle who fought for justice, they wanted to see if the man lived up to the stories.
Liu Bei sat in his carriage, his smile beginning to feel somewhat strained.
He looked at the low-slung houses, the potholed roads, the murky and stagnant water of the city canals. He could not help but feel a pang of disappointment. This is Chengdu?
He had not expected the glittering prosperity of the future he had see in light screen, but he had at least expected it to look better than Jiangling. A sudden and sharp wave of self-doubt washed over him. What exactly has Liu Zhang been doing for the past twenty years?
Beside him, Pang Tong was also lost in his own thoughts. So, it took me two lifetimes to finally set foot in Chengdu, he mused.
Fa Zheng stood among the commoners, watching the silver armor flash in the sun. He smiled to himself and added a silent postscript to the day.
The Imperial Uncle of the Han has today arrived at his faithful city of Chengdu