From Liangzhou, I Gaze Toward the Road to the Central Plains

His name was Li Ke, an ordinary farmer’s son from Julu Commandery.

The year the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he took a few dozen villagers and hid in a desolate ravine, hoping only to survive that harsh year.

Later, he was forced to join the army. He fought from Jizhou to Liangzhou and rose from a commoner to Protector of the Qiang. He divided up farmland, took in refugees, trained new recruits, drank with the Qiang, and battled the powerful clans. Many people around him died in those years: Er Gou, Wang Er, Ma Er, and Zhang San.

He only wanted to live, and to keep the people who remained alive.

But as the years passed, he noticed that there were fewer and fewer people around him, while the people on the other side were growing stranger and stranger.

Cao Cao died. Liu Bei died. Sun Quan died. Zhuge Liang grew old, and so did Sima Yi.

And he was still practicing the Five Animal Frolics in Liangzhou, watching the names he had once looked up to disappear into the history books one by one.

Later, the history books recorded: In the twelfth year of Jianxing, 234 AD, Zhuge Liang died at Wuzhang Plains. In the third year of Jiaping, 251 AD, Sima Yi died in Luoyang.

Later, the history books also recorded: In a certain month of a certain year, Li Ke of Liangzhou led his army east.

He stood atop the city wall, gazing at the land in the distance, so familiar and yet so strange.

A cool wind blew in from the Wei River.

So many heroes had once roamed the land. Now, who could stand against me, Li Ke?

This is the story of a nobody gritting his teeth and surviving in an age that devoured people. He lived to see the very end and witness how that era concluded.

There is no golden finger and no cheats. The entire story is based on official history, with its dates and characters following the historical record. Everyone has their own dream of the Three Kingdoms. I hope you enjoy my vision of the Three Kingdoms and support my work.