Chapter 21: Must Come To An End

Ma Miao never expected much from life.

He'd finally gained the rank of Governor of Jiangyou, this city just behind the vast Yinping mountain range, and since he controlled an entire city, he thought that life would be peaceful. He'd just collect taxes, send a few to the Shu Imperial Court every now and then, and train some soldiers in case Capital Chengdu wanted troops sent to Hanzhong or Baidicheng. He never thought that his job would be difficult at all.

But he was dead wrong.

There were hardly over 1500 troops stationed in Jiangyou's fort. Emperor Liu Chan had ordered Ma Miao to send reinforcements to Hanzhong, and they did, forcing about 4000 of Jiangyou's young men to go to fight.

Then a few merchants who were trading with the scattered tribes of the mountains came down, declaring that an army was marching from the north to take Chengdu.

Ma Miao knew that 1500 troops could do little to stop any notable force, so he decided to surrender.

His wife, Li Liang, heard him discuss their surrender terms with the commanding officer of Jiangyou's troops, some Lieutenant who'd moved from Ta Zhong after the city had been seized from Shu's hands not long ago. (1.)

Lady Li was furious at the suggestion. How could her husband be such a worthless coward?

"You've been a Shu officer for how long, now? For years you've been living peacefully in this city, slowly earning cash and living a peaceful life. Now the enemy has come to destroy Shu, and instead of doing your duty to your country and fighting the enemy or evacuating the city and alerting the Capital, regrouping at Fortress Mianzhu, you instead surrender so eagerly. How do you expect me to look at filth like you? Bastard..." Turning her head, she marched into her inner chamber.

Ma Miao sighed. That foolish women did not know the times, and thus she would have been raped had Ma Miao and this tiny escort tried to escape to the south. Ma Miao knew what had to be done, so he led the troops out to surrender to the enemy commander.

Deng Ai spotted the enemy commander march out with a white banner, and smirked. "See, men? We've caught them off guard." With Sima Wang by his side, he accepted Ma Miao's surrender terms.

But just when the Wei army started to enter the city, a servant ran to tell Ma Miao that his wife had committed suicide. Shizai was curious as to why this would happen, so Ma Miao told him about Lady Li.

When he heard her tale, Shizai sighed. "If she was the commander of this position, I fear I might have been trapped between the legions of Shu and those mighty mountains... I would have been finished..."

With that said, Lady Li Liang received a hero's funeral.

Rocks smashed against their walls, but Jiang Wei and his troops remained hopeful. "His majesty will send ample reinforcements soon. All he needs is to gather resources from Jiangzhou, and we shall retake Hanzhong! Shu will not fall!" Zhang Yi continued to read from his commander's script.

Jiang Wei shook his head. "Xiahou Ba... Is this not hilarious, how the loyal men of Han are being defeated by these traitors? Zhongquan?" Jiang Wei turned to look at his advisor...

And Xiahou Ba was hanging from the ceiling of the Han lookout post, his head having turned quite blue from being choked by his belt.

Deng Ai entered the Fort of Mianzhu, noticing that there were no enemy forces in the area...

And he was dead wrong.

"Lord Zhuge Zhan, they've entered the fort... I see only a dozen or so soldiers outside of Mianzhu, but they'll probably get wiped out quickly by our troops." Zhang Zun spoke.

"Then we shall annihilate them. Catapults, FIRE!" The son of Zhuge Liang ordered.

Now the Wei army found themselves shelled quite hopelessly, trapped within the rickety, ancient fort. But not for long...

Yang Xin had not entered the fort, for both were uncertain why there wouldn't be any troops in it. Deng Ai, having gotten cocky thanks to Ma Miao's quick surrender, entered the fort with his son, Deng Zhong, his friend, Shi Zuan, and his strategist and best friend, Sima Wang.

General Yang, noting the various catapult rounds smacking the fort from every known direction, decided to call in their own artillery, hidden to the north. When they came, he had them fire right where the other shells were coming from, and, so simply, the Shu effort was defeated. (2.)

Deng Ai emerged from the fort. Shaking his head, and exhausted, he marched to the capital of Chengdu...

Only to see a large, white flag waving over the city.

"I, Emperor Liu Chan, hereby surrender to you, General Deng Ai." Liu Chan announced.

But Deng Ai was still three kilometers away, his troops slowly lugging along, hoping that they'd find something to eat when this was all over.

Upon seeing Liu Chan's flag, Shizai smiled. It seemed that all was over for the Shu cause...

Xiahou Ba's suicide did not go lightly in Jiang Wei's eyes.

He slept with nightmares, that night, while stones continued to hit their wall. Few things could faze this determined Han loyalist, but this was one of them.

Finally, a messenger came from Emperor Liu Chan himself, making the announcement that the Emperor had surrendered to General Deng Ai.

Jiang Wei was honestly speechless, and when the green flag was replaced with a captured blue one, Zhong Hui decided to cease his attack and talk to Jiang Wei.

"I cannot believe that peasant got the better of me..."

"Neither can I. Who can willingly admit that their nation was destroyed by him?"

"I... I must win in the end... The Zhong family must be given honor!"

"Well, I know of one way you can earn your honor, beyond that what Deng Ai could ever hope for..."

"And what would that be?" Zhong Hui asked.

"Taking the throne for yourself." Jiang Wei answered.

And both men smiled.

Deng Ai slowly approached Hanzhong, hoping to celebrate with Zhong Hui despite their old feud. The war was over and peace could prevail.

When, suddenly, Tian Xu appeared before him. "General! I have a message to convey!"

"What is it?" Deng Ai asked. He and his son were the only two who went to meet with Shiji, as Zichu and the others had to settle things in Chengdu.

"You... Shall die for what you have done!" Tian Xu yelled as he swung his spear. In seconds, Deng Ai was cut down, and as Deng Zhong charged forward, spear in hand, a series of archers from behind immediately opened fire, and Deng Zhong went down.

These men of Wei were beginning to reconsider their allegiance, and Zhong Hui was proud of them.

"Deng Ai has been outwitted, friend, and now we can witness a new age!" Zhong Hui laughed.

"Yes..." Jiang Wei mumbled. Once Zhong Hui was on the throne, he'd betray him, and, after killing him, reinstate Emperor Liu Chan. The Han had to continue ruling, despite this little intermission.

But as the two men approached Chengdu, the archers that marched by their side were suddenly cut down by waves of mounted calvary, men who were pouring in from the rear.

Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei turned, and each of them were cut down in turn.

Wei Guan, Sima Zhao's most trusted general, ran over their bodies several times with his horse. "Thus always to traitors!" He declared, smiling.

Sima Wang, upon hearing that Deng Ai was slain, disappeared. None of the Wei or Jin officers could find him, despite Wang being Sima Yi's nephew.

Shi Zuan and Yang Xin, infuriated with the death of their commander, gathered their troops in Chengdu and mounted an attack on Wei Guan. Without a decent strategist to guide them, they were both slain.

Sima Zhao immediately executed Deng Ai's youngest son, Deng Fang. Shizai's second son, Deng Qiu, a royal clerk, also met his end, but Chen Wen was able to rescue his sister and her surviving children, along with many of his nephews and nieces. Those girls who married Deng Ai's sons also found solace in his home, and since he'd served Wei so faithfully, Sima Zhao dared not kill him due to fear that his own strategists, such as Shao Ti, would rebel.

A river flows along, taking many grains of sand along with it.

In this river of time, Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, Zhong Hui, these men are all grains of sand, and they too were eventually swept away.

Yet, unlike mere sand grains, their trials will never be forgotten. For, in the end, there will always be that little crab on the riverbed who will pick them up and cherish them forever.

FIN

1. Li Liang is a pseudonym. Liang is not a commonly used word that means "fruit," as fruit is normally known as "Shui Guo" in Chinese. Unfortunately, back then women were hardly considered in China, and for that reason Lady Li has no officially given name...

2. Simple? Boring? Course. That's how Shu died (no offense to Shuists). They all just surrendered to Deng Ai with Zhuge Zhan trying to fight them off and failing miserably.

Aqua's Final Note: I had intended to include a Stat ranking for each of the officers portrayed here, since the ROTK game series gives them unfair stats, or my portrayal of the characters is quite different than how they were historically. However, due to time constraints (and laziness), I will include them in Blazing a Trail, which is still in progress.

If this chapter seemed very lackluster, it is because I am exhausted. I am human, and completing this fic, a story that has a depressing ending, is tiring for me, because I hate depressing endings.

With that said, I hope you've enjoyed your stay so far, and I highly recommend you read Blazing a Trail, if you haven't already... That fic will have a much higher quality than the previous fic, and if that is not true, then you have the right to sue.

So long, farewell, I hate to say goodbye...

Goodbye...