The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 65

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 65:

Ma Chao Battles At Jiameng Pass;;

Liu Bei Takes Over Yizhou. 

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WARNING: IT'S THANKSGIVING DAY, IF YOU HAPPEN TO LIVE IN AMERICA. THAT MEANS A LOT OF LEFTOVER TURKEY. BETTER MAKE SOME COLD TURKEY SANDWICHES OUT OF THAT, BEFORE YOU END UP WITH A WHOLE LOT OF THE SAME THING AS YOU'LL FIND IN THIS CHAPTER'S COMMENTARY...YOU KNOW...SPOILERS. 

HAHA. I SLAY MYSELF.  

In the last chapter, of course, Ma Chao was driven from the West Valley Land (eastern Xi province, pretty much), after unwisely giving in to the urge to be a Tyrant, slaying a few people in the process, and then later on having most of his family wiped out by their next-of-kin in revenge. 

It is here that we see the recurring theme of Heaven's invisible hand turning the course of events once again. Ma Chao, you will recall, was the son and heir of Ma Teng, the unfortunate governor of Xi Liang who had been assassinated by Cao Cao a few chapters back. As such, Ma Chao had been one of the Feudal Lords in his own right...a person on equal standing with Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and even Cao Cao himself as far as his essential status in soiety was concerned. 

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The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 64

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 64:

Zhuge Liang Plans For The Capture Of Zhang Ren;;

Yang Fu Borrows Soldiers To Destroy Ma Chao. 

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So now it's Chapter 64, and Liu Bei is dealing with the fallout from what happened in the last chapter. What happened in the last chapter?  Well, it's been a while since I released that one from the vaults but you might remember that in the last chapter, Pang Tong was assassinated by Zhang Ren, and quite suddenly Liu Bei found himself not only bereft of his primary advisor in the invasion of Shu, but also now surrounded by enemies, his retreat cut off, and his entire dream in danger of being destroyed. (My oh my, how I can totally relate to that. I know that feel, Liu Bei. I know that feel.)

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The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 63

The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 63:

Zhuge Liang Mourns For Pang Tong;

Zhang Fei Releases Yan Yan. 

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WARNING: YUP. YOU GUESSED IT. SPOILERS. 

Chapter 63: Pang Tong is assassinated.  1963: John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Coincidence?  Or Conspiracy? (If it's a conspiracy, that's one hell of a long-lived conspiracy. About 1800 years or so.)

Anyways, yeah, Pang Tong is skraight up assassinated in this chapter. Of course, the assassin, Zhang Ren, totally meant it to be Liu Bei that fell at Fallen Phoenix slope, but...well, I guess you can't be too picky in such a situation, right? Amiright? SureIam. :p

So it just got real over in Shu. Liu Bei had been told once that if he had both Sleeping Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix to support him, he need have no anxiety about being able to accomplish his great goal of reunifying the Han Empire.  Well, now, he's just lost one of those two. I'm sort of curious what "Heaven's" take on all of this was. After all, supposedly, it was "Heaven" that drove Liu Bei to mount this expedition into Shu in the first place. And now it is "Heaven" which appears to be punishing him for doing so? Make up your mind, "Heaven". 

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