Three Kingdoms: Denouncing the Theory of Surrender and Calling Jiang Wei an Amateur

The realm is divided into three, and the Shu Han regime clings to survival in the southwest. Following the death of the Prime Minister at Wuzhang Plains, the grand ambition of the Northern Expedition has stalled halfway. When Shen Ke awakens in the twentieth year of Yanxi, he finds the entire court enthusiastically circulating and praising the "Theory of Hostile States," a sophisticated manifesto advocating surrender. While the eunuch Huang Hao performs superstitious rituals in the palace and Emperor Liu Shan applauds from the throne, General Jiang Wei continues his costly campaigns on the frontier, depleting his forces and straying further from a viable strategy. Shen Ke immediately overturns the table in protest. He openly rebukes the scholar Qiao Zhou, declaring that his defeatist essay is nothing more than a guide to premature capitulation, and bluntly tells General Jiang Wei that his military conduct proves him to be an amateur. When an enraged Jiang Wei challenges him to do better, Shen Ke accepts without hesitation. From that moment on, he finds himself battling both the defeatist faction and the reckless warmongers, becoming indispensable to both sides despite offending everyone. Qiao Zhou admits that while Shen Ke condemns his surrenderism, his tax reform proposals are undeniably superior. Jiang Wei spends three sleepless nights studying Shen Ke’s revised campaign map, beginning to doubt his own expertise. Emperor Liu Shan finally feels relieved, entrusting all state affairs to Shen Ke as his late Prime Minister once did. The impact of Shen Ke's leadership eventually reaches the enemy: when Deng Ai attempts his covert march through Yinping, he falls silent before a line of fortifications that should not exist; Zhong Hui stares at Jiange Pass for three days before conceding it is impregnable; and Sima Zhao sighs in regret, wishing such a talented commander belonged to Wei instead of Shu.