With Liu Bei bearing down on them, the Southlands try to tell him that they didn’t really mean to kill Guan Yu; it was all a simple misunderstanding. We swear!

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 103.

Last time, Liu Bei was marching a huge army toward the Southlands, hell-bent on exacting a heavy dose of revenge against Sun Quan and company for the death of his two sworn brothers. Sun Quan sent the adviser Zhuge Jin, the elder brother of Zhuge Liang, to try to convince Liu Bei to call off the attack.

Zhuge Jin met Liu Bei at the city of Baidi (2,4). Upon being summoned, Zhuge Jin prostrated on the ground to pay his respects to the newly self-declared emperor Liu Bei.

“Sir, for what business have you come such a long way?” Liu Bei asked.

“My brother has long served your highness,” Zhuge Jin answered, “so I have risked my life to come explain what happened in Jing Province. First, when Lord Guan was at Jing Province, my master tried several times to form a marriage alliance with him, but Lord Guan refused. Then, after Lord Guan conquered the city of Xiangyang (1,2), Cao Cao sent one letter after another to my master, ordering him to attack Jing Province. My lord did not want to, but his general Lü Meng had a grudge against Lord Guan, so Lü Meng took matters into his own hands and launched an attack, causing a disaster. My master deeply regrets what happened, but the fault lies with Lü Meng, not my master. Now, Lü Meng is dead, and with him should our quarrel rest.

“Also, your wife Lady Sun has been longing to return to your side. My master has sent me as envoy to inform you that he is willing to return to you Lady Sun, the officers who defected from your ranks, and Jing Province so that we may form an everlasting alliance and work together to bring Cao Pi to justice for his crime of usurpation.”

So if you do the math, Sun Quan is offering a really good deal here. Without firing a single arrow, Liu Bei would get back all the territory that Guan Yu lost, the two guys who assassinated Zhang Fei, and the wife he hadn’t seen in almost a decade since Sun Quan smuggled her back to the Southlands. And yeah, Sun Quan is kind of passing the buck here, pinning all the blame on the dead guy Lü Meng, but hey that’s what you get for being dead.

But Liu Bei angrily swatted down this juicy offer.

“You all killed my brothers. How dare you now come speak such deceitful words?!”

“Your highness,” Zhuge Jin replied, “Allow me to discuss the matter of priorities: Your highness is the imperial uncle of the Han Dynasty, and the Han emperor has been deposed by Cao Pi. Yet, instead of trying to exterminate the usurper, you are compromising your imperial dignity for the sake of a brother who doesn’t even share your family name. That is forsaking a sacred obligation for a lesser one. The northern Heartlands is the core of the realm, and the cities of Chang’an and Luoyang are the capitals of the Han. Yet, instead of setting your sights on those territories, you are coming after Jing Province. That is forsaking what is important to pursue what is petty. The people of the land all expected that once you ascended to the throne, you would surely revitalize the House of Han and reclaim its territories. Yet now, your highness is ignoring the Wei and attacking Dongwu. I must advise your highness against it.”