Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 104.

So we're in for treat this week.

Kaiser Guo, the host of the Seneca podcast, is going to be reading this episode.

I've been a big fan of Kaiser's podcast for years and recently had the pleasure of meeting him

since he is now in my corner of the world. He expressed an interest in guest reading an episode,

and I jumped at the opportunity. So enjoy and be sure to check out the Seneca podcast, where Kaiser explores China past and present.

Thanks, John, it's a real honor, and I hope you enjoy this.

Last time, the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan clashed, and Liu Bei won an easy victory,

putting Sun Quan's commander and kinsman Sun Huan

to flight, and then trapping him inside the city of Iling. Shaken but not beaten, Sun Quan then

marched out the big guns, sending a relief force of 100,000 and many of his best generals. One of those

generals, Gan Ning, one of the Southland's top warriors,

was suffering from dysentery at the moment, but he soldiered on and headed out with the relief

force. Meanwhile, Liu Bei was putting the might of his army on full display. He built a string

of 40-some camps running from the location of Jienping all the way to the borders of the city of Yiling, where the defeated Dongwu commander Sun Huan was presently hold up.

The impressive line of camps covered 200-some miles.

Sitting inside one of his camps, Liu Bei, thinking about all the recent accomplishments by his two young nephews, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao,

could not help but sigh.

All the generals who followed me back in the day are now old and useless,

but with such heroes as my two nephews, what need have I to be concerned with Sun Quan?

Just then, word came that Dong Wu was sending a relief force, led by the generals Han Dang and Zhou Tai.

...