Sky Curtain: The Overlord Charges into Battle, Shocking Emperors of All Dynasties

[Old General, do you know Jiang Boyue of Tianshui?]

A clear voice rang out from the sky, and a young general spoke loudly to the white-bearded old general in front of the enemy lines.

Jiang Boyue of Tianshui? Jiang Wei? Does a mere traitor deserve to be remembered by posterity?

This was the cursing style used by the people of Wei and Shu during the Western Jin Dynasty.

Jiang Wei was originally a Wei official. During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, the governor of Tianshui suspected him of colluding with the enemy and refused to let him in. Jiang Wei had no choice but to surrender to Shu Han.

Zhuge Liang praised him for his "meticulous thinking and keen military acumen," and thus took him as a trusted disciple, teaching him with great care.

After Zhuge Liang's death, he carried on the prime minister's legacy and launched the Northern Expeditions.

Deng Ai secretly crossed Yinping, Liu Shan surrendered, and Jiang Wei surrendered to Zhong Hui. Later, the Wei army mutinied, and they were all killed.

Therefore, both the former people of Wei and the former people of Shu believed that Jiang Wei was a traitor.

Looking at the twenty-year-old Jiang Wei, the seventy-year-old Zhao Yun vaguely saw the Zhao Zilong of Changban Slope from back then.

Jiang Wei was still polite after all; if he had called him an "old scoundrel," he probably would have been furious.

Zhuge Liang's face was full of affection and longing for Jiang Wei.

...

Jiang Wei inherited the will of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and launched several Northern Expeditions, including nine campaigns against the Central Plains. He besieged Deng Ai at Qishan, but then received an imperial edict to withdraw his troops.

[Wei general Deng Ai secretly crossed Yinping, Liu Shan surrendered to Wei, and the Shu Kingdom perished.]

In the scene, an old and weary voice drifted from the sky.

"I hope Your Majesty will endure this humiliation for a few days, for I wish to restore the nation from peril and bring peace to the Han dynasty from darkness."

Jiang Wei feigned surrender to Zhong Hui, realizing Zhong Hui's long-standing ambitions. He intended to incite Zhong Hui to kill a Wei general, seize control of Shu, and restore the Han dynasty.

The mutiny was leaked, the Wei army mutinied, and Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui were killed together.

After the Zhong Hui Rebellion, Deng Ai was also killed by his subordinates.

In the scene, the elderly Jiang Wei, covered in blood, is surrounded by Wei troops.

"My plan failed; it is fate!"

Above the heavens, the discussions of future generations surged forth.

The Prime Minister launched six expeditions to Qishan, and Jiang Wei launched nine northern expeditions, all fifteen of which failed. Truly, destiny was not on Han's side.

[Jiang Wei, Jiang Wei, what will he do next?]

["In 264 AD, Jiang Wei died, and the Han Dynasty perished." He was the only person in history to define the fall of a nation by the death of a subject.]

Jiang Wei never met the late emperor, yet he dedicated the rest of his life to him.

Liu Bei never spoke of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang never spoke of the late emperor, and Jiang Wei never spoke of the prime minister. A scholar would die for one who understands him—this was the romance of Shu Han.

When Jiang Wei died, everyone despised him, believing that he had betrayed both Wei and Shu. It wasn't until Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty destroyed Cheng Han that a secret letter written by Jiang Wei to Liu Shan after his surrender was found in a secret room in the old imperial palace storeroom in Chengdu.

Postscript: If this letter had been found at the time, Liu Shan would have certainly died, but he kept it, not wanting his general to bear the stigma of being a traitor.

Follow-up comment: The Three Kingdoms period exhausted the spirit of heroes, while the Jin Dynasty was full of scoundrels.

Follow-up comment: Cao Wei had its own spirit, Shu Han had its own romance, Eastern Wu had its own cowards, and as for the Jin Dynasty, ugh~

People during the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties were greatly shocked. At that time, Jiang Wei's secret letter had not yet been discovered, and the world knew Jiang Wei as a treacherous villain who had repeatedly rebelled against his lord.

For more than eighty years, Jiang Wei has been condemned by the world and regarded as an example of a traitor.

Especially for the people of Shu, whose Shu Han dynasty fell not long ago, some elderly people still cherish the memory of the great Han dynasty when Prime Minister Zhuge was in power.

The old man, with white hair and a missing arm, was weeping uncontrollably, his tears and snot staining his gray beard. He was a veteran who had survived the fall of the Shu Han dynasty.

He knelt down shakily, and cried out to Jiang Wei's figure in the sky.

"General, I've been cursing you for decades! I'm utterly heartless!"

He kowtowed while weeping, expressing his regret and guilt for misunderstanding Jiang Wei for decades.

...

At this moment, Liu Bei also wept bitterly: "What virtue or ability do I possess to have such a loyal and righteous man devoting himself to the Han Dynasty!"

At this moment, Guan Yu's phoenix eyes also gleamed with light. He admired such loyal and righteous people the most in his life.

"A true hero!!"

At this moment, Zhuge Liang was thinking that if he could bring Jiang Wei under his command and carefully train him in advance, with his talent, the Han Dynasty would surely have a chance to be revived.

I wonder if Jiang Wei has been born yet.

In Tianshui, Jiang Jiong gazed at the chubby little baby in his arms. He had just named the child, his son.

Coincidentally, his name is the same as the general's name on the sky: Jiang Wei.

...

In the dynasties following the Wei and Jin, the emperors and ministers were not concerned with Jiang Wei's affairs. They were well-versed in history and already knew that Jiang Wei had feigned surrender. While they were admiring his loyalty and righteousness, the numbers on the sky caught their attention.

"264 AD?" Li Shimin was bewildered. "What kind of dating system is this? Aren't we all using reign titles?"

"Before Emperor Wu's reign title, it was based on the throne or imperial throne."

"Could it be that later generations invented a unique method of dating?"

"Yan Shigu!" Li Shimin instructed, "You are skilled in historical research. What was the reign title of the year Jiang Wei died?"

Yan Shigu carefully searched his memory. As someone who could directly participate in the compilation of historical books and was praised by His Majesty as being proficient in historical research, his memory was beyond question.

"It should be the first year of Yanxing in Shu Han and the fifth year of Jingyuan in Cao Wei."

Yan Shigu continued, "It is now the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, about 376 years since Jiang Wei's death, which means we are now in 640 AD."

"There must be a reason why later generations calculated it this way, regardless of the reason," Li Shimin decided immediately.

"Immediately increase manpower and rewrite the historical events according to this chronological method."

"Remember! There's no need to announce it to the public," Li Shimin added. "Just compile a list of the major events each year, working backwards."

"To avoid the situation where the sky will announce the time later, and we still don't know how it's calculated."

Linghu Defen, who had been deep in thought for a long time, finally spoke.

"Your Majesty, I have just calculated that the year 1 AD was the first year of the Yuanshi era of the Western Han Dynasty."

"In this year, Wang Mang was granted the title of Duke of Anhan and began his usurpation of the Han throne."

Li Shimin was puzzled: This is not a big deal, so why choose this year? If it were the year Qin Shi Huang unified the country or the year of the Yellow Emperor, it would make sense.

I don't understand. Let's wait for the descendants of Tianmu to explain.

The images on the celestial screen kept flowing and changing.

Yue Yun, son of Yue Fei, joined the army at the age of twelve and went to war at sixteen, achieving numerous military exploits.

Hmm? There are more experts?

Previously, most soldiers joined the army at seventeen or eighteen years old. How come there's one who joined at twelve?

In ancient times, Gan Luo became prime minister at twelve; in the Song Dynasty, Yue Yun joined the army at twelve.

Was the Song Dynasty really that powerful? It had so many generals.

Some emperors of dynasties that suffered from northern invasions lamented the lack of great generals in their armies. They thought that if such a general were in their dynasty, there would be no more invasions from the northern barbarians. They reasoned that since the Song Dynasty had many generals, what difference would it make if they had a few?

In every battle, he would wield two iron maces, each weighing eighty pounds, and, clad in heavy armor, would be the first to scale the city walls.

In every military campaign, Yue Fei always sent Yue Yun to lead the charge.

[Leading the Beiwei Army, they overcame the cavalry with infantry, and pierced through the Jin army's iron cavalry towers from the front.]

[In Yingchuan, the son-in-law of Jin Wuzhu was killed with a hammer, and 78 Jin generals were captured alive.]

[During the attack on Suizhou, Yue Yun charged alone to the city gate, smashed the iron chains with his double hammers, and broke the thick chains.]

In ancient warfare, there were four great achievements: being the first to scale the enemy lines, breaking through enemy lines, slaying enemy generals, and capturing enemy flags; Yue Yun excelled in all of them.