The singing faded, and the image of rotting wood lingered on the Lightscreen, casting a somber, almost eerie mood over the hall.
None among them found it appropriate to say much. After all, they were ministers of Liu Bei, not of Liu Shan. Whatever anger, sorrow, or shame they felt, it was not their place to trespass upon a father's grief.
Before Guan Yu or Zhang Fei could offer a word of comfort, Liu Bei straightened up, his voice steady but heavy.
"Draw it. A grand, detailed copy of that image. Hang it right here in this hall."
He didn't turn his head, but Ma Liang knew the order was meant for him.
"Understood." Ma Liang sighed softly, spreading out a sheet of paper and picking up his brush. 'It was just a piece of rotting wood, after all. How hard could it be to draw?'
[Lightscreen]
[Opposite Liu Shan's position is his fifth son, Liu Chen, the Prince of Beidi.
We know surprisingly little about him. Outside a few scattered records, history barely bothers to introduce the man.
In the second year of Jingyao, 259, Liu Shan enfeoffed him as the Prince of Beidi, and in the sixth year of Jingyao, 263, he took his own life.]
"This..." Liu Bei felt that the number of sighs he had given today surpassed all those of his past life combined.
"You were not the ruler, child. Why die for a state that was already given away?"
"Pitiful nephew-grandson of mine!" Zhang Fei was equally moved. "To stake his life in order to recover the honor of Shu Han."
[Lightscreen]
[In the sixth year of Jingyao, Deng Ai pulled off a miracle. He bypassed the main defenses through the Yinping trails and appeared at the gates of Chengdu.
Huo Yi, son of the famed general Huo Jun, was at the time the General Who Pacifies the South and held command over Nanzhong. When he heard the news, he immediately petitioned to lead his troops to Chengdu to save the capital.
Now, Deng Ai's miracle only worked because the terrain was so vertical that the Wei soldiers literally had to wrap themselves in felt mats and roll down mountains. It was a desperate, high-stakes gamble.
This meant Deng Ai's miracle force was small, exhausted, and had no supply line. Meanwhile, Jiang Wei still held the Jiange Pass, pinning down the main Wei army under Zhong Hui.
At this moment, if Huo Yi had led reinforcements to Chengdu, Huo Yi's arrival could have significantly strengthened Chengdu's defenses and potentially placed Deng Ai's isolated force in serious danger.
Was Deng Ai vulnerable? Absolutely. Was his defeat guaranteed? History does not give us the luxury of testing the theory.
Yet Liu Shan rejected Huo Yi's memorial requesting permission to aid the court, saying he had his own plan.
And what was Liu Shan's plan? He listened to the local gentry Qiao Zhou and chose to surrender. Oh, fun fact: Qiao Zhou's most famous student was none other than Chen Shou.
Finally, in the winter of the sixth year of Jingyao, Liu Shan led sixty officials, including the Crown Prince, out of the city. He bound his own hands and brought a coffin to the enemy gates.
The message was simple:
The emperor of Shu was surrendering himself to Wei.]
No one had ever imagined a single surrender could pack this much disappointment.
Zhang Fei glanced at his elder brother, expecting an explosion. But Liu Bei did not smash a cup or slam the table. He just sat there, face calm, but so cold it sent shivers down everyone's spine.
"Hands bound and carrying a coffin," Liu Bei said, his voice flat and sharp. "He really committed to the whole I am ready to be executed performance, did he not?"
The generals were practically vibrating with frustration. A tiny, ragtag force that had rolled down mountains? How could they take a whole city? Just hold on! Hold out for reinforcements! That miracle would have turned into a funeral!
But to refuse help? What was even there to say?
"The Lightscreen mentioned Chen Shou held a grudge against Chen Zhi," Zhuge Liang murmured, his mind racing. "Could it be because Chen Zhi opposed Qiao Zhou's surrender? Maybe Chen Zhi even leaned on the eunuchs just to keep enough power to support Jiang Wei's northern campaigns? If so... no wonder the surrender-favoring scholars hated him."
A chill ran through him. If the history books were written by the students of the man who advocated surrender... how much of the truth had been twisted?
[Lightscreen]
[Right before the surrender, Liu Chen had a final, furious showdown with his father. Faced with a Liu Shan who was already set on giving up, Liu Chen shouted:
We stand on the brink! Disaster is here! Father and son, ruler and subject, we should fight until the last breath, with our backs to the river! Die with the state! Only then can we face the Former Emperor without shame!
But Liu Shan's mind was made up. He had his son expelled from the hall.
As Liu Shan walked out of the city with bound hands, Liu Chen went straight to the Zhaolie Temple, this very place. There, he killed his wife and children, then took his own life. He chose to die as a subject of Han rather than live as a slave to a fallen dynasty.
Some say: Liu Chen was worthy of his grandfather. Liu Shan was unworthy of his son.
Others say: Though Liu Shan was weak, the Prince of Beidi gave the Han Dynasty its final, brilliant spark.]
Unlike the deaths of generals falling in battle, Liu Chen's choice carried a heavier, more solemn kind of heroism.
"Steadfast. Noble," Guan Yu said, a rare look of genuine respect in his eyes. "Big Brother... you have a fine grandson. We have a fine grand-nephew!"
"Too bad his father did not have half his backbone!" Zhang Fei roared, slamming his fist on the table hard enough to rattle the cups. "Reinforcements on the way! Main army still fighting! And he surrenders to a ragtag band that rolled down a hill?! Where is the Han integrity? Where was the ruler's integrity?!"
He still cared for his nephew, but he could not hold back the frustration. He paced back and forth, venting.
"Our wonderful nephew... first to listen to eunuchs, first to surrender! If he was going to be this pathetic, why did he even wait for the Prime Minister to pass away? Could have just quit years ago and saved us all the trouble!"
"Yide!" Guan Yu snapped, giving him a sharp look to settle down. He turned to Liu Bei. "Brother... A-Dou is only four years old. There is still time..."
Liu Bei raised a hand, his expression still cold.
[Lightscreen]
[Later generations have always held deep sympathy for Liu Chen's fate.
During the Ming Dynasty, when Luo Guanzhong wrote Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he composed a poem in his honor. Even the 1980s television series captured his spirit beautifully.]
The Lightscreen shifted, and Zhang Fei read aloud, his voice booming across the hall:
"Lords and ministers may bow the knee, but his spirit remains, awe-inspiring! Who dares say the Han has truly perished?"
Zhang Fei let out a thunderous laugh, clapping his hands. "Powerful! That is the Prince of Beidi! Great poem! Great kid!"
The images that followed, Liu Chen arguing fiercely against Qiao Zhou, then his final act in the ancestral temple, drew nods of approval and more than a few teary eyes.
Liu Bei stared at one line on the screen: Better to die defending the state than to hand over the mountains and rivers on a silver platter.
Finally, he spoke.
"Write that down. Frame it. I am hanging it in A-Dou's bedroom tonight."
[Lightscreen]
[That line, his spirit remains, reminds me of the Prime Minister's Later Memorial on Dispatching the Troops.
In it, he writes of the officers lost after the Hanzhong campaign: These were all the elite gathered from the four corners of the land over decades. Not the strength of a single province.
We all know Liu Huangsu was once desperately poor. How could a mere title draw heroes from everywhere?
Who would give their all just for a title? What they followed was exactly this sentiment: Who says the Han is gone?
As long as people like Liu Chen exist, the flame of Han has not gone out.
Conversely, if your rulers are like Liu Shan... well, the fall of the Han is not exactly surprising.]
For a moment, Liu Bei felt as if struck by lightning.
It all clicked.
For years, he had pushed the Huangsu title, leaned on it, fought for recognition of it. Now it seemed almost silly.
The people in this hall... the people fighting and dying for him... how many were really here because of a title?
"A Later Memorial?" Zhao Yun asked, tilting his head. "So there is more than one?" He looked at Zhuge Liang, but the strategist just gave him a look that clearly said do not even ask, leaving the general pouting.
[Lightscreen]
[From one angle, Liu Chen's death may have been the better ending for him.
Liu Shan had seven sons and two daughters. The Crown Prince, Liu Xuan, died during Zhong Hui's rebellion. Four of the remaining five sons died in the Yongjia Disaster when Western Jin collapsed.
Only the third son, Liu Cong, had already died of illness before the fall of Shu. His descendants eventually fled south to Lingnan, keeping Liu Bei's bloodline alive.
Liu Chen's death preserved the last shred of dignity for the state of Shu, and for himself.]
Dignity. Honor.
Liu Bei turned those words over in his mind, shaking his head.
When a dynasty falls so far... talking about dignity feels like a luxury.
But to have a grandson like this? It gave him some comfort, at least.
[Lightscreen]
[I have rambled on because I have such respect for Liu Chen. Now, let us move to the side halls. First, the one on the left.]
"Whoa," Zhang Fei blurted out, squinting at the image. "That is one ugly statue! To look like that and still get a spot in the side hall... Second Brother? Is that you?"