Destiny of an Emperor 2 Attack on Cao Cao
So now head east and then north from the point in which Zhang Ren ambushed Pang Tong. This will be familiar, head back to the Yang Ping citadel. Xiahou Shang will be here, and he is a formidable opponent. Again though he is done in by Han Hao, Qui Ji and Jin Hui. Use Huo Shen to lower each of them by 3000 a pop and despite their astronomical soldier numbers, they do go down easy. Be happy, these characters have the same amount of soldiers as Cao Cao and his toughest warlords had. Obviously you know they aren’t in Cao Cao’s class but you are getting there as evidenced by the soldier level increase in this area.
Now, go through the pass once again, and you’ll get to Nan Zheng Citadel. Zhang Yi is there to defend it, with three extremely poor generals in Wang Bi, Wei Huang, and Mu Shun. Fortunately for them, they have really good weapons and armor. Zhang Yi is the first target so get him, then the rest will fall accordingly. Watch your soldier count in these parts especially now since you just got in the area. With your low soldier count (relative to the current generals), they can knock you out if you aren’t careful. Now go on and rest, but do know the next battle is tougher.
Xiahou Yuan is here and he is a heavy hitter. Oh, and he doesn’t have low class generals either. Yang Xiu is a good tactician with An Sha, while Li Tong and Du Xi are good balanced characters. Ma Yan, he is kind of trash. So attack Yang Xiu and Huo Shen Xiahou Yuan. It won’t be easy, and depending on what the AI feels like doing you may have a general An Sha-ed by Yang Xiu. Again, that should be a key thing you look at now when deciding who to take with you. Not necessarily whether that person will be using magic but rather whether or not he can at least have a decent chance of surviving/repeling tactics. Look for balance, and try not to have fighters under 140 or so for intelligence as they will be too susceptible to An Sha and other fatal tactics (ie Zhang Fei). But do take out Yang Xiu quick and maybe he won’t hurt you too bad. When he is gone and Xiahou is gone, wrap it up, it’s over.
Inside Han Zhong, big events occur. In the throne room, Liu Bei is there pondering what to do as Cao Cao acts as emperor. But Zhuge Liang then makes Liu Bei realize his destiny, as the righteous one that contrasts the tyranny of Cao Cao, and in this way Liu Bei declares himself emperor of Shu. That said, an attack on Cao Cao is decided, but men must be left behind. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, naturally, step down at this point. As you leave, Guan Xing is blocking the path and Zhang Bao is next to him. You must get Guan Xing but you can skip Zhang Bao, if you’d like, a common tactic of mine. I do this because there is no way to take Zhang Bao out of your party once you get him, and I like the freedom. Look, I like Zhang Bao, his intelligence is just ridiculously bad. His is not much better than his dad’s, as Bao is at 90; also Guan Xing is very similar to Guan Yu, as you’ve noticed. Use Guan Xing all the time and you will do well. Head east now.
A gate will impede your progress shortly into your march. Xiahou Mao is here, “protecting” Wei. He is pretty bad, although he does have Liu Ye with him, a decent tactician. Other than that Zhu Guang and Mao Jie are basically Xiahou Mao clones so take them all out shortly and rest if you need. Heading south, the first castle you see is Nan ‘An. Cao Xiu is there with some decent generals which makes this a relatively difficult battle. Huo Shen everyone and keep your soldiers up as always with Wan Fu. Lu Zheng and Fu Gan are decent warriors but can be Huo Shen-ed, so do that on them. Wang Kuang is pretty bad overall so take him out last. Go in now and rest, and buy some Flame Shields if you wish. The talk of the town is Jiang Wei of Tian Shui, and how it won’t be easy to take it. Well, we’ll see right?
Well since Tian Shui is going to be so hard let’s go to An Ding first. Note that you could have attacked An Ding before Nan ‘An if you had wanted. At An Ding though, is another relatively tough battle but not tough enough to mess you up too bad. Cao Chun comes with Lu Qian, Jiangyi Qui and Heng Huan. They are all decent attackers, so Ji Mian them or Huo Shen them. The usual brutes. Head in, you’ll learn more about the Jiang Wei mother medicine fiasco. It seems you’re going to need to hook up Huo Tua (the doctor you met in Nan ‘An) with his mom to earn his favor. Before you leave An Ding, go to the upper-left part of the castle area to get an Emperor Saber, and a Silver Token in front of Jiang Wei’s mother’s house between the space in the bushes (thanks to SirAngeluS for those items). At the throne room, use the Zheng Letter with a spot open in your party to recruit Pang Tong. Yes, the same Pang Tong who left us after the Zhang Ren ambush. He is definitely a top 5 character in my book, with a serviceable strength count to go with the 245 Int. You cannot remove him from your party, but you wouldn’t want to.
Well anyway, try to attack Tian Shui. Jiang Wei will close in on you and fire will destroy your army. You will awaken next to Ji Ping.
He tells you what you were thinking. Then he writes an Intro Letter for Hua Tuo but tells you the place is well guarded. Well, it wasn’t when we saw him last time! Go back though, and Fu Wan will be there by himself. Not really well guarded, although it is guarded I guess. Read the letter to Hua and he will go off and tend to her. When you get there she is fine and all is well, and she tells you about how her son admires Zhuge Liang. This is good right, well rest up and leave An Ding.
Jiang Wei shows up and curses you. This battle is tough as Jiang Wei has a huge agility. Eventually, he goes down, but he probably takes a guy or two even by himself. You block him from running but he tries to attack again. His mother then calms him down and Zhuge speaks to him also and soon enough he joins your side. Zhuge then makes preparations and sends you off with your new tactician. I would make Jiang your tactician and lower your party to 5 characters (butting out Ma Dai or something). So head to Tian Shui now.
Xiahou Mao spites you for leaving, and Tian Shui is then guarded by the same 4 minus Jiang Wei. Obviously, that’s a big character to lose, and the difficulty in the battle shows. There are some brutes ( Xiahou De and Chen Xi) but Huo Shen and Ji Shi should do the trick. Head in and gawk at the weapon/armor selection. Dragon Armor is not that much better than Flame Armor but you may want it anyway if gold isn’t an issue for you. Now the Void Spears and the Nu Long Swords are much better than their predecessors, so buy them in mass quantity and watch your team flourish. Before you leave talk to everyone to learn about Hao Zhao, ferry tickets and tea.
Northeast of here is Hao Zhao at Chen Cang. He is a tough general, and you’ll see the name Yang Xiu in there. Fortunately it’s not the same Yang Xiu as before, instead it is a brute Yang Xiu that is actually Yang Zu, I think. Hua Xin, Ma Wan and Liang Xing round out the 5 but the latter three are nothing to fret over. Huo Shen the hell out of Hao Zhao with Zhao Yun, Pang Tong and Jiang Wei and then attack Yang Xiu with your new weapons and hopefully you can do damage control and not lose too much in the first two rounds to Hao. After this, you should overwhelm them. Now Hao Zhao is in charge of the Ferry Tickets, so check the inside of the castle. At the upper left is a house with 6 treasures, all of which are extremely useful. The Ferry Ticket above all, along with a Power Spear, Wind Helmet, Great Armor, Thunder Shield and a Double Axe.
Return to Tian Shui and talk to everyone, and then head to the northwest to try to get to Bei Di. A guy will be at the port, so show him the Ferry Ticket. He will still not let you go, only to reveal himself as Shen Pei and attacks your army. A joke, as he is by himself and him attacking you is a faster way for you to get on the boat. So mop him up and go on. You will sail across the bay, and then head to the northwest. You will reach a gate, in which you will fight Cao Zhen, Zhang He, Wang Lang and Chen Yi.
Zhang He is tough and Cao Zhen isn’t too bad, but it really isn’t hard once you Huo Shen Zhang He. After this however, disaster strikes. As you attempt to flee, you are ambushed one step at a time, one general at a time. Zhang He first, then Xu Huang joins him, then the Sima family comes in (Zhao, Shi and Yi). Continue to run back to Tian Shui to speak with Zhuge.
Zhuge Liang will have a Crossbow weapon ready now and will take it into battle for Jiang Wei’s spot. Head back now, but Wang Lang and Zhang He are waiting for you at the narrow area. They aren’t too tough, so beat them and follow them back to the gate, where you face the same party again. Same exact strategy, and you don’t necessarily need to use the Crossbow Zhuge gave you. It’s really not THAT good, but it helps in battles where you are against a lot of generals. Continue eastward after this, into the mountain.
Head east upon entry and continue to the wall for a Wind Hat. Now head north and then east a little for a Water Scroll. Go left a little and then north again for a gold potion. Work your way to the left, and this will drop you on a route taking you all the way around via the topmost path, and you will come down and get a Void Spear and an Ice Bow to the left and north. Now you can go back and exit to the east. Enter Xia Luo village. You are offered water here but have no flask to accept it. In the southwest corner of town, in the two-by-four grassy area, search the second to the bottom-left square. That should net you the Speed Shoes (SpdShoes). Just head north now.
Cao Zhang guards Bei Yuan Citadel. He has Cao Zhi and Xun You, two deadly tacticians, and Hou Cheng can fight as well. Attack Xun You first, he is not fun. Once he is out, have Zhuge Huo Shen/Ji Shithe rest of them to oblivion. Go back and rest, and then head north to the castle (or go to the cave to the east if you’d like, a little further in the walkthrough are directions for that).
Uh oh. You weren’t really warned, but it IS Cao Cao here. And he has his two usual warriors in Xu Zhu and Dian Wei with him. Also, the dangerous Pang De is now with him, as is the deadly tactical assassin Xun Yu. Good luck. Every general here is tough, so try to quickly An Sha or Huo She the lower-intelligence generals quickly before Cao Cao and Xun Yu wreak too much havoc on your squad. If you are unlucky, you may lose this battle. If you have a decent level and equipment and strategy, you should pull it out. Although beware, it will be tough for you. If you win, Luo Castle is yours.
In the north building you can get a lot of items, including the Treatise (plus 20 intelligence), two Wind Hats, two Great Armors, and a Sky Hat. The next house? A Cun Yu Saber, Dragon Sword, Thunder Shield, War Scroll, Heaven Sword and a Halfmoon Bow. What a bounty. From the Billetting entrance, go behind and search facing north between the three bushes; you’ll find a Half Moon Bow. At the entrance of Luo itself is a Gold Token. It’s on the other side of the water, between that and a bush.