Gathering

In the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian’s Treatise on Feng and Shan Sacrifices, it is said:

Zi gu shou ming di wang, he chang bu feng shan.

Since ancient times, which emperor who received the Mandate of Heaven has not performed the feng and shan sacrifices?

While few may know about the jiao sacrifices, many will know about the feng and shan sacrifices.

The feng and shan ceremony, where an emperor ascends Mount Tai to report to the heavenly and earthly deities that he has received the Mandate of Heaven, is the most important event proving an emperor’s legitimacy.

Looking closely at the feng and shan ceremony, it is divided into two separate sacrifices: feng and shan.

Feng involves building a circular altar of earth to offer sacrifices to Heaven.

Shan involves leveling and sweeping the ground flat to offer sacrifices to Earth.

In other words, feng and shan refers to the combined sacrifices to Heaven and Earth.

Feng is performed atop Mount Tai, while shan is performed on the flat land of Mount Liangfu south of Mount Tai.

But why Mount Tai? Mount Tai is not even that high. This was because the Yellow River basin was where civilization first formed and became the main stage of history.

At that time, Mount Tai was accepted as the center of the world in the Central Plains. So various emperors offered sacrifices to Heaven from this center of the earth.

However, as time passed and the stage of history expanded, with the center moving from the Yellow River basin to Guanzhong, the Qin and Han emperors who became the masters of the era faced a problem.

Mount Tai was too far from Guanzhong. Yet it wasn’t suitable to perform the feng and shan sacrifices on other mountains.

Due to this problem, the jiao sacrifices, or jiaosi sacrifices, emerged. Jiao in jiaosi refers to the area within 100 li outside the capital, so jiaosi means sacrifices held in the outskirts.

The sacrifice performed by building a circular altar in the southern outskirts of the capital is called Nan Jiao Ji Tian, while the sacrifice performed by building a square altar in the northern outskirts is called Bei Jiao Ji Di. These are the jiao sacrifices that substitute for feng and shan.

The Circular Mound Altar on Mount Weilü is the southern jiao among the southern and northern jiao sacrifices, an altar for the ritual of reporting to the Heavenly Emperor the emperor’s accession and unification of the world.

For Liu Bei to occupy such a place and perform the jiao sacrifice?

‘Holding the accession ceremony in Chang’an, capital of Former Han, and performing the Heaven sacrifice in Luoyang, capital of Later Han. What greater justification for unifying the world could there be?’

Pang Tong did not focus solely on performing the jiao sacrifice.

Pang Tong accurately pointed out that the key point was to make people know about this.

“As it happens, the Grand Preceptor Wang Mou is in Chang’an, so summon him to prepare the ceremony, and release wealth to inform all corners of the world that Your Majesty will ascend Mount Weilü and perform the jiao sacrifice at the Circular Mound Altar.”

Pang Tong said the Grand Preceptor happened to be in Chang’an, but would a high official of the Nine Bestowed Honors easily leave the capital Chengdu? Everyone gathered here was certain that Pang Tong had considered this in advance.

“If they do not stop us and Your Majesty truly performs the jiao sacrifice and succeeds to the Mandate of Heaven, they will surely crumble from within. If they come out to stop Your Majesty’s jiao sacrifice, they will perish from without.”

“Hahaha! The Grand Commander’s words are truly brilliant!”

Liu Bei burst into laughter as if a sore tooth had been pulled.

With drawing them out now as good as successful, Liu Bei moved on to the next step.

“Then the battlefield will be between Henan and Luoyang.”

“I’ve heard that Zhong Yao is accompanying Cao Pi as his advisor. He is familiar with the Luoyang area, so he will try to occupy key points before our army reaches Luoyang.”

“Zhong Yao… truly a talent too good to be under Cao Pi.”

Liu Bei muttered bitterly. But knowing it was neither the time nor place to lament over an enemy country’s talent, Liu Bei quickly shook off the regret and refocused on the war situation.

“Mount Weilü is south of the Luo River. Would it be better to cross the Luo River? Or should we enter Henan County as is?”

At Liu Bei’s question, the eyes of everyone gathered at the military council turned to one place.

It was a scene of everyone wracking their brains to answer the Emperor’s direct question to the best of their ability. And I was no exception.

‘If we really intend to occupy Mount Weilü and perform the jiao sacrifice no matter what, it would be better to move as quickly as possible, but the jiao sacrifice is just bait to lure them out of Luoyang Castle. If the main purpose is to engage in battle, it’s better to gather at Henan County as planned and move from there.’

In that case, it seemed right to go to Henan County without crossing the Luo River.

“Your Majesty, I believe it is right to march out immediately.”

“Are you saying we should cross the Luo River?”

“That is correct.”

Once again, my opinion differed from Pang Tong’s.

‘Pang Tong certainly prefers bold tactics.’

I was similar to Pang Tong in that regard. I liked adventurous operations and enjoyed aggressive attacks.

But the reason I can’t follow Pang Tong’s judgment in this war is probably because I still can’t erase the worst situation in Han history, the Battle of Yiling, from a corner of my mind.

‘This is not good. Being too cautious is like putting shackles on myself.’

It seemed I needed to seriously refresh my mindset, even if I had to take separate time.

“If we move slowly, we’ll be giving them that much time as well. If we don’t cross the Luo River towards Mount Weilü but go to Luoyang via Henan County, we’ll have to cross the Chan River.”

The Chan River was a tributary of the Luo River flowing between Henan County and Luoyang. Though its width and water level were not as great as the Luo River, a river is still a river.

If the Wei side sets up camp on the other side first and tries to hinder our river crossing, we’ll have quite a hard time.

‘The crossbows and Yuan Rong have been exposed for quite some time now. The Wei people aren’t fools, so they must have devised countermeasures.’

So Pang Tong’s argument was that we should safely cross the Luo River now and go straight to Mount Weilü.

“Very well. Then tell the left army that was supposed to meet us at Henan County to follow behind, and the main force will cross the Luo River immediately!”

As soon as Liu Bei, the supreme commander, made the decision, the army quickly began to move.

Since using only the existing bridge would make the river crossing too slow, we laid out the fleet for supplies and installed pontoon bridges to carry out the crossing.

After crossing the Luo River first, as I was watching the soldiers steadily cross the river, staff officers gathered around me.

“The Luanling Army has completed crossing.”

“What about the General-in-Chief’s Office?”

When I asked about the General-in-Chief’s Office whose command had been transferred to me, Governor Zhao Lu answered.

“The soldiers under my command have crossed first, and the General Who Pacifies the South is crossing now.”

The General Who Pacifies the South was Guan Ping.

Just as Wei had declared their victory in the recent battle with Guan Yu, Han also declared Guan Yu’s second northern expedition a victory.

Although the supreme commander Guan Yu had died in battle, Han had secured four commanderies – Hedong, Hongnong, Nanyang, and Nanxiang – so it wasn’t a completely wrong claim.

Just as Sima Yi was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry, Guan Ping was also recognized as a victorious general and promoted from Gate Assistant in the General-in-Chief’s Office to General Who Pacifies the South.

‘Only after his father’s death does he leave the nest and establish his own position… A sad independence.’

As we were crossing the river, rumors spread among the soldiers that Liu Bei would ascend the Circular Mound Altar to offer sacrifices to Heaven. Of course, it was an intentionally spread rumor. They even added exaggeration, saying that the Grand Preceptor Wang Mou, who would preside over the ceremony, was coming with items for the ceremony like ritual vessels and clothes in the rear supply unit.

Though we had deviated from the originally planned advance route, since we were still moving along the Luo River anyway, there was no significant impact on supplies via water transport.

We continue marching along the Luo River. When we approached near Henan County, we received news from scouts that the Wei army had come out of Luoyang Castle.

No matter how thoroughly we screen, there are bound to be one or two enemy spies among tens of thousands of troops. It was the Wei army rushing out as soon as they heard rumors that we would occupy Mount Weilü and perform the jiao sacrifice.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to secretly occupy Mount Weilü without spreading rumors?”

When Bu Zhan asked, before I could answer, Ma Su quickly said:

“Mount Weilü is only 15 li (about 6 km) from Luoyang, so no matter how much we try to hide it, it would be difficult to secure Mount Weilü faster than them. So we chose to spread rumors widely to amplify the situation and stimulate their sense of crisis.”

Though Wei implemented scorched earth tactics, it only applied to a few counties. The Henan Prefecture under Yique Pass or counties east of Luoyang would be accommodating more people because of it.

It wasn’t for nothing that Pang Tong insisted on releasing wealth to hire people to spread rumors widely throughout the world.

Anyway, the closer we got to Mount Weilü, the closer we approached Luoyang Castle, the more intensely we could feel the clouds of war thickening.

“The scouts say they’ve confirmed the enemy army. They seem to have brought out their entire army, as the numbers are said to be tremendous.”

“What about Cao Pi? Has Cao Pi come out too?”

“Yes. They say they’ve confirmed Cao Pi’s banner as well.”

Did they make the bold move of emptying Luoyang Castle, judging that capturing Liu Bei would end it all?

And Cao Pi personally came out to match our morale, as the Emperor himself had come out on our side.

The other side was also determined to wage a decisive battle, staking everything.

“This is truly a decisive battle with the fate of the world at stake.”

“It reminds me of the moment at Red Cliffs.”

The Battle of Red Cliffs, which was the turning point of whether Cao Cao would achieve the great enterprise of unifying the world.

This time, conversely, it was the moment to test whether Liu Bei could achieve the dream of unifying Han.

If this moment is a great battle for the world like the Battle of Red Cliffs, then rightfully there should be three main actors on this stage.

Han and Wei. The Cao and Liu clans alone are not enough.

As the tripod supporting the cauldron of the world has three legs.

It was inevitable that Sun Quan would also rush onto the stage.

“Sun Quan has come?”

“It is certain. They say they clearly confirmed Sun Quan’s military banner!”

Sun Quan was Cao Pi’s ace in the hole and a figure who could not be absent from the battle for the world.

Despite Sun Quan’s sudden appearance, the fact that Liu Bei and everyone present did not lose their composure was probably because they instinctively felt such inevitability.

At last, those who had carved their names on the vast land under heaven gathered in one place.

To determine the true master of the world.