Winter, sixth year of Jingyao. Deng Ai crosses the Yinping by a hidden route, and twenty thousand cavalry reach the gates of Chengdu. The court officials hold up a surrender petition and kneel, waiting for Liu Shan to sign.
He tears it up.
"Open the armory. Muster the Imperial Guard."
"Your Majesty, there are no arrows left in the armory."
"Twenty thousand arrows are enough to kill Deng Ai."
The whole realm thinks this is the foolish words of that hopeless emperor, Ah Dou. Only he knows that an old soldier and scoundrel, dead for a hundred years, has just taken up residence in his mind. That man once crawled between another man's legs, survived on a meal from an old woman, was made King of Qi, and finally died by a hemp rope in the Bell Chamber of Changle Palace.
His name was Han Xin.
"How much food does Deng Ai have left?" "A day and a half." "I have thirty thousand shi."
Three days later, flames rise on all four sides of Fucheng, and General of the Western Expedition Deng Ai becomes a prisoner. Only then do the court officials realize: the emperor who has spent three years drinking has been wide awake all along.
But he never meant merely to hold Chengdu. It is twelve hundred li from Chengdu to Chang'an, and eight hundred li from Chang'an to Luoyang. He has done the math. Three years.
The details are well written. Many of Han Xin's details in the TV series have been completed. It is worth recommending.