The singing style of later generations lingered in the air, and paired with the image of the rotten wood on screen, it seemed to form a strangely unified aesthetic.
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 and Zhang Fei could offer comfort, Liu Bei had already risen and steadied himself.
"Draw it. A grand, detailed copy of that image. Place it in this very hall."
He did not turn his head, but Ma Liang knew the words were directed at him.
"Yes." Ma Liang let out a quiet sigh, drew out a sheet of paper, and began to sketch.
It was only a piece of rotten wood, after all. What difficulty could there be?
[Lightscreen]
[Opposite Liu Shan's position is Liu Chen, the fifth son of Liu Shan, King of Beidi.
Very little is recorded of him, it can even be said exceedingly little.
What we know is that in the year 259 he was enfeoffed as King of Beidi, and in the year 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 year 263, Deng Ai pulled off a miracle. He bypassed the main defenses through the Yinping trails and appeared at the gates of Chengdu.
Huo Ge, son of the famed general Huo Jun, was at the time General Pacifying 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 Ge had led reinforcements to Chengdu, Deng Ai's isolated force, with no route of retreat, would surely have been defeated. Yet Liu Shan rejected Huo Ge'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 263, 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. He surrendered to Wei.]
None had expected that even a single act of surrender could contain so many details.
Zhang Fei stole a glance at his elder brother, yet to his surprise, Liu Bei neither smashed cups nor struck the table. He simply sat there, his expression calm, yet cold to a frightening degree.
"Hands bound and a coffin ready! He certainly put a lot of effort into the ceremony of quitting," Liu Bei remarked.
The meaning was plain: to bind one's own hands and bring along a coffin when surrendering, declaring oneself ready to be dealt with at will. It was the highest form of submission.
The generals were fuming. A detached force, a literal suicide squad, how could they take a fortified city? Just hold out and wait for reinforcements, and the 'miracle' becomes a funeral!
But to refuse help? What was there even to say?
"The Light Screen said Chen Shou held a grudge against Chen Zhi,"
Kongming mused, his mind working at lightning speed.
"Could it be because Chen Zhi opposed Qiao Zhou's surrender-first policy? Did Chen Zhi play the game of favoring the eunuchs just to keep power and support Jiang Wei's northern campaigns? If so, no wonder the surrender-loving scholars hated him."
Kongming felt a chill. If the history was 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, explosive confrontation with his father. Facing a Liu Shan who agreed with the 'surrender' strategy, Liu Chen roared:
Now we stand at the brink, disaster imminent. At such a time, father and son, ruler and ministers, should fight to the death with our backs to the river, perish together with the state, fall together with the nation. Only thus can we face the Former Emperor without shame!
But Liu Shan's mind was already made. He expelled this fifth son.
As Liu Shan walked out with his hands tied, Liu Chen went to the Zhaolie Temple, right where we are now. He killed his wife and children, and then himself. He chose to be a Han ghost rather than a slave of a fallen state
Some say: 'Liu Chen was worthy of his grandfather; Liu Shan was unworthy of his son
Others say: 'Though Liu Shan was a coward, the Prince of Beidi gave the Han Dynasty its final, brilliant spark.']
Unlike the tragic deaths of generals who fell for their state, Liu Chen's act carried an even deeper sense of solemn heroism.
Steadfast. Noble," Guan Yu said, his eyes filled with rare approval. "Big brother has a fine grandson. We have a fine grand-nephew!"
"Too bad his father didn't have half his spine!" Yide slammed the table. "He had a main army in the field, reinforcements at the door, and he quits because of a detached force? Where is the Han integrity? Where was the ruler's integrity?"
Though he still felt affection for his nephew, Zhang Fei could not help his dissatisfaction.
Yide was pacing now, venting his frustration. "Our 'wonderful' nephew... first in line to trust a eunuch, first in line to surrender. If he was going to be this pathetic, why did he even bother waiting for the strategist to die? He should have just quit years ago and saved us the trouble!"
"Yide!" Yunchang snapped, motioning for him to shut up. He then turned to Liu Bei. "Brother, Adou is only four..."
Liu Bei waved his hand, his face still cold.
[Lightscreen]
[Later generations have expressed much sympathy for Liu Chen's death.
In the Ming, Luo Guanzhong, when writing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, composed a verse in his praise.
Even the television adaptations of the 1980s captured his spirit quite well.]
The Light Screen shifted again. Zhang Fei read aloud in a booming voice:
" 'Ministers and lords may bend the knee... but his spirit remains, awe-inspiring! Who dares say the Han has truly perished!' "
Zhang Fei burst into laughter and praised loudly:
Yide let out a roaring laugh. "Powerful! Now that is the Prince of Beidi! Great poem! Great kid!"
The images that followed were familiar to them from before. The resolute Liu Chen rebuking Qiao Zhou drew applause, and his final act of suicide within the ancestral temple brought tears to their eyes.
Xuande stared at a specific line on the screen: 'Better to die in battle and lose the state than to hand over the mountains and rivers on a silver platter.'
Finally, he gave an order:
"Write that down. Frame it. I'm going to hang it in Adou's bedroom tonight."
[Lightscreen]
[That line, 'his spirit remains' reminds me of the Prime Minister Later Memorial on the Expedition
In it, there is a passage recalling the officers lost after Hanzhong. The Prime Minister described them as: these were elite men gathered from all directions over decades, not the possession of a single province.
As everyone knows, our Imperial Uncle was once desperately poor. How could a mere title draw heroes from all corners?
Who would bow their heads for the sake of a title alone? What those heroes followed was precisely this line: "Who says the Han is gone?"
If one examines it further, it can be understood that as long as people like Liu Chen exist, the flame of Han has not been extinguished.
Conversely, if rulers are like Liu Shan, then the fall of the Han is nothing surprising.]
For a moment, Liu Bei felt as though struck by thunder, his mind suddenly enlightened.
In earlier years, he had exhausted every effort to make use of the title "Imperial Uncle," even going so far as to secure imperial recognition for it.
But now, it all seemed somewhat laughable. Among those in this hall, and those striving outside for him, how many truly followed him because of that title?
"A Later Memorial? So there's more than one?" Zilong asked, intrigued. He looked at Kongming, but the strategist gave him a look that clearly said don't even ask, leaving the general disappointed.
[Lightscreen]
[From a historical perspective, Liu Chen's suicide may not have been a bad ending.
Liu Shan had seven sons and two daughters. The Crown Prince Liu Xuan died during Zhong Hui's rebellion, while four of the remaining five sons perished in the Yongjia turmoil of the Western Jin.
Only the third son, Liu Cong, had already died of illness before the fall of Shu. His descendants eventually fled to Lingnan, preserving Liu Bei's bloodline.
Liu Chen's death preserved the final shred of dignity for Shu Han, and also secured a measure of dignity for himself.]
Dignity, honor. Liu Bei turned these words over in his mind and could not help but shake his head.
When a state has fallen to such a point, to speak of such things is a luxury.
Yet to have such a grandson allowed his heart to settle, if only a little.
[Lightscreen]
[I have spoken at length because of my personal fondness for Liu Chen.
Next to the main hall are the side halls. Let us first look at the one on the left.]
Wow, that is one ugly statue!" Yide blurted out, squinting at the screen with a grimace. "To be that hideous and still get a spot in the side hall... Second Brother, is that you?"