Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 139.

Before we get started, let me wish everybody happy holidays.

This episode is being released on Christmas Day in the United States,

and I would like to thank everyone for another wonderful year.

The podcast has more listeners than ever,

and I love reading all the comments that I have been getting.

We are in the home stretch.

There are maybe another 20 or so episodes left,

so the show is going to wrap up sometime in the coming year. When I first started this project,

I wasn't sure whether it would find an audience, but you guys have answered that question

loudly and clearly, and your support has been instrumental in motivating me to keep going over the

past three years. So thank you once again, and I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season.

Now, back to the show.

Last time, we bade farewell to Sima Yi and Sun Quan.

Sima Yi's sons were now in charge of all the affairs of the kingdom of Wei,

while Sun Quan's son, Sun Liang, has stepped into the throne of Wu.

The Sima brothers decided that this would be a good time to conquer the Southlands,

so they marched 300,000 men to the borders of Wu

and focused their attention on taking the key district of Dong Xin.

On the other side, the imperial guardian of Wu, Zhuge Khe, assembled the officials to discuss a

response. The general Ding Feng said,

...