On the third day after transmigrating, Zheng Ci was struck on the head by a rolling boulder.
When he woke up, he found himself on the plank road along the northern stretch of the Chencang Pass, surrounded by routed soldiers.
Jieting had fallen. Zhuge Liang's first northern expedition was over. Ma Su had been taken back to Hanzhong to await judgment. Three thousand surviving troops crowded onto a single plank road, short on food and low in morale, with a boulder half a person's height blocking the way. They couldn't budge it.
Zheng Ci used two spear shafts and a length of hemp rope to pry the boulder aside.
The squad leader gave him a look, then brought him before Wang Ping. Wang Ping looked at him and said, "When we reach Hanzhong, take what you've written to the Prime Minister."
An hour later, Zheng Ci crouched beside a campfire, clutching a piece of wood shaved into a pen and a lump of charcoal, and began to write.
He was writing an analysis of the Battle of Jieting. The first line read:
"The defeat at Jieting began with the loss of water."
He had no idea what Zhuge Liang would say after reading it. He knew only one thing: according to the history books, what the Shu Han needed most in its northern expeditions wasn't men. It was grain, salt, and a passable road.
And he just happened to know where that road was.
