Kongming was flying through the air.
Zhang Fei was spinning like a whirlwind on the ground.
Huang Yueying let out a startled gasp, instinctively reaching forward as if afraid Kongming might actually be flung into history. Pang Tong stared with naked envy, half envy of Kongming, half envy of Zhang Fei's arm strength. and Liu Bei and Guan Yu were exchanging knowing, triumphant smiles.
Ma Liang looked as though this was exactly what he had expected, while Jiang Wan stood nearby, his eyes filled with a quiet, profound yearning.
To this small gathering of legends, the news was like a bolt of lightning, a divine and unexpected joy that shook them to their very cores.
The Han had been dead for seventeen hundred years in the timeline of the Light Screen, yet the descendants of those Nanzhong remnants still considered themselves citizens of the Han Empire.
These people, known to the future as the Wa, might not have known the names of the Founding Emperor Gaozu, Liu Bang or the Great Emperor Wu, but they knew one name with absolute, unwavering clarity:
Zhuge Liang.
Kongming had to practically punch Zhang Fei's muscular forearms twice before the General finally set him back on solid ground.
Dizzy and disheveled, the Military Advisor could only manage a breathless warning.
"Never. Do that. Again."
Pang Tong, unable to contain his curiosity, stepped forward.
"Kongming, what in the name of the heavens did you actually do to steal the hearts of these Nanzhong tribes so completely?"
According to the history they had pieced together from the screen, Kongming had departed, spent twelve months campaigning, crushed the rebels, pacified Nanzhong, secured the Ancient India Road, and appointed local governors.
By the following year, he was already launching the massive Northern Expeditions, a campaign that would continue until his final breath on the battlefield.
That so-called "pact" could only have been forged in that single year.
But what could a man achieve in twelve months that would last fifty generations?
[Lightscreen]
[The Prime Minister did not leave many written records regarding his civil administration of Nanzhong, but history thrives where the written word fails: in oral tradition. Even if you visit the region today, the Wa people will still tell you the stories of their ancestors and Zhuge Liang.
Generations of elders have passed down the tale: after the Prime Minister pacified Nanzhong, he did everything in his power for the Wa ancestors. He did not just bring swords; he brought life. He introduced superior crop strains and taught them how to preserve seeds. He taught them advanced farming techniques, how to build sturdy houses, and the art of training oxen for labor. He brought the knowledge of planting mulberry trees, raising silkworms, spinning yarn, and weaving cloth.
This primitive, untamed land of slash-and-burn tribes was suddenly touched by the fire of civilization. It was, quite literally, the earliest documented poverty alleviation program in Chinese history. The Prime Minister also understood the importance of adapting to local conditions. In places like Pu'er, where the light is soft, the temperature is stable, and the soil is loose and rich with rain, he promoted the cultivation of tea.
The tea-planting methods he taught made Pu'er tea world-famous, and to this day, it remains the backbone of the local economy. Because of this, the people of Yunnan still worship Zhuge Liang as the Tea Ancestor.
He truly achieved the 'Pacification of the Southern Tribes' strategy he had outlined years before in the Longzhong Plan. Centuries later, the novelist Luo Guanzhong summarized it perfectly: 'He sought to win their hearts, not to exterminate their people.']
"Win their hearts, not exterminate their people..." Liu Bei whispered, his voice thick with admiration.
"Even the Great Emperor Wu, with his hundred thousand armored soldiers, could not finish what Kongming achieved with a handful of seeds and a tea leaf," Guan Yu said, his eyes shining with rare, visible praise.
To a man of war like Guan Yu, this was the pinnacle of military art: to subdue the enemy without further bloodshed.
"It is exactly like that couplet from the Marquis Wu Shrine," Guan Yu continued, now fully drawn in.
"By attacking the heart, rebellion naturally vanishes. Since ancient times, those who truly understand war are not those who delight in it."
He turned to Kongming, his gaze sharper than before. "Kongming, you are truly a grandmaster of the military arts."
CLANG!
Zhang Fei whipped his head around.
Pang Tong had accidentally knocked his tea cup off the table.
Pang Shiyuan, The Fengchu looked as though he had swallowed a lemon whole.
Zhang Fei burst into booming laughter, strode over, picked up the cup, and gave Pang Tong a heavy, soul-rattling pat on the shoulder.
"Military Advisor Pang, they call you Fengchu, the Fledgling Phoenix alongside our Wolong, the Crouching Dragon here. You had better work harder, my friend. Work harder!"
The blunt encouragement only earned Zhang Fei a massive eye-roll from Pang Tong. You, a commander destined to be murdered by your own guards, are telling me to work harder?
Pang Tong stared down at the tea leaves floating in his cup, thinking about the title Tea Ancestor bestowed upon the man standing beside him.
Suddenly, the tea tasted like dust.
Farming, construction, and planting were not exactly profound mysteries.
Pang Tong considered himself reasonably skilled in such matters.
But he had never imagined that such mundane skills could be transformed into a method for winning hearts and pacifying an entire region for seventeen centuries.
Pang Tong's thoughts became a chaotic storm of self-reflection.
Meanwhile, Ma Liang was scribbling with manic energy.
He was already thinking about the Wuxi tribes in Jing Province. Could these strategies be applied there?
With the Light Screen's protection, there would be no defeat at Yiling.
He, Ma Jichang, would live to do great things.
Perhaps if he followed this blueprint, a thousand years from now, a statue of Ma Jinchang might stand beside the Prime Minister in some grand shrine.
The thought made him chuckle as he continued writing.
[Lightscreen]
[It was precisely because of these strategies that the resistance of the Kings of Banhong and Banlao against the British was so resolute. To them, the Prime Minister had fulfilled his end of the pact a thousand years ago. He had pulled them out of the wilderness. Resisting the British was simply their way of keeping their end of the bargain.
But as we all know, the British were like a toad pretending to be a frog, ugly and obsessed with playing dirty. In 1941, the Wa people woke up to find that they had been signed away. The Nationalist government had signed the '1941 Line' with British Burma, effectively selling the lands of Banhong and Banlao.
The Wa people refused to yield, and their struggle was supported by people across China. It was not until the 1960s, after the founding of the new China, that the border was finally redrawn and the lands returned. The Banhong Monument to the Resistance Against the British stands there today, a testament to a history of struggle that the Prime Minister himself set in motion.]
The heroes of Han could barely process the tragedy of it.
"The descendants of the future... they truly suffered greatly. To be bullied and bartered away like cattle," Liu Bei sighed.
Zhang Fei was still stuck on the logic of it.
"There are legends of Kongming there! There are Han people there! They speak the Han tongue! How could the rulers of that era simply give them away to a neighbor?"
He looked around, his voice rising in fury. "Were the ministers and kings of that time all traitors?"
Guan Yu stroked his magnificent beard as he stared at the image of the Monument.
A thought slowly took shape. "Is this not the same as carving achievements in stone?"
The more he considered it, the more it made sense. "To carve stone to record merit, to erect a stele to pass down a legacy... it is identical to this Monument."
"If the people grow up seeing this stone, they will remember the history and the sacrifices of their forefathers."
"It is brilliant."
"But who does the monument honor?" Zhang Fei asked. "The King of Banhong or the King of Banlao?"
"Neither," Guan Yu replied, pointing at the screen.
"Third Brother, look carefully. The return of this land was aided by the kings, but the greatest merit belongs to the people of Banhong."
"They remembered Kongming's kindness for generations, and it was for their identity as people of Han that they fought."
Guan Yu's eyes gleamed.
He was beginning to realize that the future dynasty possessed a remarkably grand vision.
"To erect a monument in praise of merit, yet the merit belongs to the common people... that is a masterpiece of statecraft."
The room fell into stunned silence as a detailed image of the monument appeared.
It was the Banhong Anti-British Site Monument.
The base was square, and one side was covered in a dense forest of names.
The King of Banhong was not singled out.
His name was lost among thousands of others, each carved in exactly the same size.
In that silence, only Kongming remained smiling.
And when the image of the monument appeared, his smile widened further.
[Lightscreen]
[In Nanzhong, you had military deterrence, the promise of local autonomy, the binding of interests through the trade route, and the Prime Minister's poverty alleviation for the vulnerable tribes.
You could say the Prime Minister took sixty points of resources and produced a ninety-five-point result. He did his absolute best.
With the money and grain secured and the south pacified, it was time to straighten out the internal administration. Usually, the Prime Minister's governance of Shu begins with the Shu Ke, the Legal Code of Shu, because all his policies stemmed from this foundation.
When the Shu Ke was implemented, the powerful clans of Yi Province began weeping into their sleeves. 'Our old lord Liu Zhang was so much better!' they cried. 'Under his lax rule, we had money, we had power, and we could do whatever the hell we wanted! Now these beggars from Jing Province show up and want to protect the commoners? This is unlivable!'
Historical records describe the Prime Minister's rule as strict but not cruel. Rewards and punishments were clear. He was fair and just, and the people had no complaints. Through this, the Prime Minister inadvertently grasped one of the core functions of law: the protection of the interests of the vulnerable.]
Kongming savored this new term.
Since the pre-Qin era, Legalists had debated for centuries whether laws should be harsh or lenient.
Yet the Light Screen had provided a modern clarity that struck like a bucket of ice water.
Did the powerful clans and wealthy families need the law?
No. Most of the time, they hated it.
They had private armies, servants, and retainers to enforce their will across the countryside.
How could a commoner ever threaten them?
The powerful held authority.
The wealthy held gold.
The strong held force.
The only thing the weak and common could rely upon was the Law.
As Kongming finished organizing these thoughts, he looked up to find Pang Tong staring at him with a predatory gleam.
"Kongming, I assume the Shu Ke has not yet been written in our timeline?"
When Kongming confirmed it, Pang Tong's eyes practically lit up.
"Then how about this?"
"Once the fighting is over, you and I shall co-author the laws of Shu."
"Wolong and Fengchu drafting the Code... now that would be a story for the ages."
Kongming gave a small, polite laugh and immediately declined.
He knew his friend's temperament far too well for that particular headache.
[Lightscreen]
[The success of the Prime Minister's legal system is a matter of public record, so we will not dwell on it. What is worth discussing is the Great Amnesty.
When Liu Zhang and his father ruled Shu, they issued amnesties almost every single year. To the Prime Minister, this was a textbook example of how not to govern a country.
Under his own administration, a general amnesty was issued only once, when Liu Shan ascended the throne. After that, never again.
But after the Prime Minister's death, during the remaining thirty years of Shu Han's existence, amnesties were issued twelve times. The Rule of Law that the Prime Minister had painstakingly built became a joke, accelerating the empire's collapse.
Centuries later, during the Tang Dynasty, the Emperor of a Thousand Years, Taizong, also known as Li Erfeng, frequently discussed governance with his ministers. He greatly admired the Prime Minister's Zhuge Kongming, stance on amnesties, believing they did not stabilize a nation but often planted the seeds of future chaos.
Unfortunately, while Erfeng understood the theory, he could not consistently adhere to it. He issued several amnesties during his reign. Though he emphasized that corruption would not be forgiven, the practice still fundamentally harmed the interests of the common people.]
[Chat Server Log]
[Gilded-SSR-Strategist: "Li Erfeng is truly the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), but his descendants were such 'pit-fathers' who dragged the team down!"
Map-Sprint: "The Prime Minister didn't have a 'System' or a 'Cheat Code.' He just used 60 points of resources to produce 100 points of results. Look at that efficiency!"
EnVoid Dark: "Emperor Xuanzong fled to Shu, and Emperor Xizong fled to Shu. Basically, whenever the Tang fell apart, they treated the Prime Minister's Chengdu as their 'Safe House.' It's ironic, the place Kongming built became the emergency exit for the Tang."
Tea Lover: "Did you know Zhuge Liang is literally the 'Tea Ancestor' in Yunnan? The locals still pray to him before harvesting Pu'er tea."
Le_ArmScholar: "Zhuge Liang was strict but fair. He protected the commoners from the greedy landlords. That's why they called him 'Father.' Unlike the later Tang emperors who just taxed everyone to death."
Me_87Master: "I can't wait for the Northern Expedition episode. 'Come hither, you village farmer!' Wang Lang's last words before his heart exploded. LOL
[LI SHIMIN: ????]
[LI SHIMIN: I HAVE NEVER HAD THE NICKNAME 'LI ERFENG'!!!!]
The people in the hall had only just begun wondering why an Emperor of a Thousand Years would have such a strange title, Erfeng, when the glaring text suddenly exploded across the screen.
Ma Liang stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"So... this Li Shimin... he is Li Erfeng?"