In the sixth year of Han Jingyao's reign, Jiange.
In the middle of the night, a tall, white-haired military general walked step by step towards a place in the sword pavilion, holding the "Shen Du" sword given to him by his mentor.
This old man is none other than Jiang Wei, the great general of the Han Dynasty.
In other words, it was Jiang Weicai, the former Han general.
Due to his high prestige in the army, many soldiers recognized Jiang Wei along the way and saluted him one after another.
But while the soldiers saluted Jiang Wei, there was unconcealable sadness and hesitation on their faces.
Occasionally, a few higher-ranking generals boldly came to Jiang Wei. They raised their tear-stained eyes to look at Jiang Wei, and asked a sentence that almost made Jiang Wei hold back his tears:
"General, is the big man really dead?"
This sentence brought Jiang Wei back from the memories of the past and brought him back to the cruel reality.
Today, an edict from Chengdu plunged tens of thousands of Han troops in Jiange into extreme panic and anger.
"I have surrendered, please follow me."
This was a surrender edict written by the current emperor Liu Chan, but this edict directly broke the remaining faith and perseverance in many people's hearts.
After receiving this edict, all the soldiers in the sword pavilion, who were in disbelief and anger, raised their swords and slashed the stones in the pass to vent their inner dissatisfaction.
On this day, countless weapons collided with hard stones and split, just like the hearts of many people today.
"I am about to fight to the death, why does Your Majesty surrender first?"
On this day, tens of thousands of soldiers in the Jiange shouted this sentence.
The sergeants below are like this, let alone the coach Jiang Wei?
But even if he studied under Zhuge Liang, and even if he claimed that his intelligence was not inferior to anyone in the world, what could he do if the emperor's edict was issued?
After a while, Jiang Wei was surrounded by generals and soldiers who came from all directions.
Jiang Wei saw them looking at him expectantly, as if waiting for his negative answer.
Jiang Wei also wanted to tell the negative answer, but in the end he said nothing. He just held the "Shen Du" sword in his hand with a numb look on his face, pushed aside the crowd and continued walking forward step by step.
Jiang Wei's actions silently shattered the last trace of delusion in everyone's hearts. When Jiang Wei crossed the crowd, he heard bursts of crying and wailing coming from behind.
This is the sound of national subjugation.
Against the background of these heartbreaking sounds of national subjugation, Jiang Wei's tragedy of walking alone seems even more lonely.
I remember that he came from a famous family in Liangzhou, and since he debuted, he would always have hundreds of dead men following him to the death.
Even when he was later framed by the rebel Wei Doguan, those dead soldiers followed him unswervingly.
But today, decades later, all the hundreds of soldiers who died in that year died on the battlefield, and in the end, he only had a sword given to him by his mentor to accompany him at all times.
The grief and anger in his heart made Jiang Wei even more unsteady.
With faltering steps, Jiang Wei finally came to a place in the Jiange.
This place is not the big tent of the Chinese army where he used to beat drums and gather the crowd, nor is it the closed sword pavilion where one step can lead to freedom for the rest of his life, but a temple with incense lingering.
The name of the temple is: "Zhongwuhou Temple".
After seeing the four words on the temple plaque, Jiang Weiru barely showed a smile on his face.
He held the hilt of the sword tightly, his eyes filled with awe, remembrance, gratitude, and guilt.
A few words are not enough to describe the complexity of Jiang Wei's eyes at this moment, but it can be seen from his complicated eyes how deep his emotions are for the great sage who has passed away.
Since the death of the great sage, many people from all over Sichuan have written letters requesting to build temples in his honor. However, the court refused to accept this, which violated the etiquette, so the people privately offered sacrifices to Zhuge Liang on the roads during the four seasons festivals.
What's more, some people were officials and were willing to risk being punished to privately build a temple for the great sage.
That great sage is Zhuge Liang.
What's more, among them is Jiang Wei.
No matter how stupid Liu Chan was, he always turned a blind eye to this crime that could obviously lead to beheading.
At the beginning of this year, he finally issued an order to openly admit this behavior in the name of the emperor.
At the beginning of this year, the situation in the Han Dynasty was in turmoil. Perhaps the old emperor also hoped that his mentor would show up and help the Han Dynasty survive this disaster again.
Jiang Wei, who was standing outside the temple gate, put the long sword in his hand into the scabbard at his waist. Then, like a child visiting his mentor for the first time, he carefully and solemnly arranged his makeup.
He didn't want to blaspheme his mentor's heroic spirit because of his impoliteness.
After repeatedly finishing his makeup, Jiang Wei took a deep breath, stepped up the steps, and entered the temple.
Different from the hustle and bustle outside, the temple is filled with fireworks and seems very quiet.
The temple was not big. As soon as Jiang Wei entered the temple, he saw the portrait of his mentor.
The portrait of Zhuge Liang that hangs high was written by Lu Yi, the former minister. Lu Yi was good at copying paintings. The portrait of Zhuge Liang painted by him is lifelike.
The lifelike portrait became more and more vivid under the smoke. From Jiang Wei's perspective, it seemed as if the mentor in the portrait was coming to life.
After seeing this, Jiang Wei could no longer control his suppressed tears in front of outsiders, and he knelt down in front of his mentor with a plop.
At this moment, he was no longer a Han general who was feared by hundreds of thousands of Wei troops. At this moment, he was no longer a pillar of the country in the eyes of outsiders who could not express his joy or anger.
At this moment, he seemed to have returned to several decades. That year, he had no choice but to accept the great sage in front of him, and in the following days, he taught him everything he learned without any secrets.
Jiang Wei no longer has to hide himself in front of his revered master who is so kind to him.
"The disciple is incompetent and the disciple is unworthy of the teacher's entrustment.
Hanzhong is lost, the great Han Dynasty is dead! "
At this point, Jiang Wei could no longer control his emotions, lowered his head and started crying.
"I didn't mean to let go of the Hanzhong defense line. I just wanted to lure the enemy deeper. I just wanted to be like my mentor back then and kill the enemy's main force as much as possible.
I didn't expect that Sima Zhao would suddenly gather hundreds of thousands of troops to march south. When I learned the news, I already realized that something was wrong, and immediately wrote to His Majesty, asking him to send troops into Hanzhong to restore Hanzhong's defense line.
I tried my best to make amends, but I never expected that Your Majesty would turn a deaf ear to my petition, which led to the total loss of Hanzhong.
Disciple, I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry for the big man! "
The more he spoke, the louder the crying in the temple became.
Many people blame Liu Chan for the fall of the Han Dynasty, but Jiang Wei knows that he is also responsible for this matter.
If he hadn't modified the Hanzhong defense line deployed by Zhuge Liang during his lifetime, hundreds of thousands of Wei troops would not have occupied Hanzhong so quickly.
As long as Yinping, Yangpingguan, and Nanzheng are not lost, it is absolutely impossible for Deng Ai to surprise Chengdu. Even if Yangpingguan and Nanzheng are not lost, even if Deng Ai leads his army to surprise Chengdu, the emperor will not be so decisive. Choose to surrender.
The basis for the emperor's surrender was not the instigation of several rebellious ministers in Qiao and Zhou, but the fact that Hanzhong was completely lost.
At this point, Jiang Wei cannot escape the blame.
Jiang Wei cried to Zhuge Liang's portrait like a disciple who had made a mistake.
If there is a spirit in heaven, he should be able to see everything today.
After a long time, Jiang Wei's crying gradually stopped. He raised his red eyes and looked at Zhuge Liang's portrait. He never believed in ghosts and gods, but at this moment he asked as if by mistake:
"Can you send someone to rescue the big man?"
As the last request came out of his mouth, Jiang Wei kowtowed heavily towards the portrait.
Maybe Jiang Wei doesn't really believe in ghosts and gods, and these words are more like his rants.
After all, he already has an idea in his mind, which is slowly taking shape.
But no matter how strong a person is, he will always have a soft side. What's wrong with uttering a few dreamlike words in front of his mentor?
But maybe Jiang Wei also didn't expect that during his kowtow, the smoke lingering in front of Zhuge Liang's portrait seemed to become more and more turbulent.
Will the big man really die?
Is it certain that Hanzhong cannot be saved?
In the dark sky of Jiange, bright stars suddenly lit up. They were countless spirits in heaven who had devoted their lives to the cause of the Han Dynasty over the past decades.
They stared at the land of Hanzhong in July of the sixth year of Jingyao.
At the same time, he also looked at the earth in July of the fourth year of Zhangwu.
There were bursts of thunder, the Han River was surging, and the moment that decided the fate of the country had arrived.
