Destiny of an Emperor 2 Jing Zhou Re-unification
As the scene cuts in, Liu Bei gets a message of Cao Cao taking over Jing Zhou and Xiang Yang. This is your destination, so get your party ready to go. It looks like you will need to use Zhou Cang here as you have 6 characters without Lu Su.
Worry not, as Yi Ji is at Xin Ye. He offers his help, and while it is not much he is a serviceable tactician for right now (allowing you to bring Zhuge Liang into battle instead of limiting him to tactician). Yi Ji’s TP is low but it will suffice for now. Head for Jing Zhou.
Chen Jiao protects Jing Zhou castle with four outlaw armies. Chen Jiao is classic Wei, a good tactician and he can mess up your fighters with his high soldier count. Meanwhile, keep your soldiers up so you can do max damage. Yan Re him with Zhuge Liang.
In Jing Zhou Castle, go to the throne and search. You will find the Tally Order. This is essential for making the next few battles easier, though they are not impossible without it.
At Xiang Yang castle, you will find Xiahou Dun has occupied it. With the Tally Order, you will walk into town and surprise Xiahou Dun (lowering his physical defense). If you do not have the Tally Order, you can still win but Xiahou Dun’s defense is sky high (along with the forces). You would need to rely on Liu Mu and Shui Xing to take him out without physical attacks. Talk to the villagers of Xiang Yang. It seems you can use the port to the southwest.
Take the port to the southwest of Xiang Yang. This will take you to another port, go south to be at Yi Ling Castle. This is another battle where Tally Order makes their defense weak, but you can win without it too of course using Liu Mu and Yan Re. Cao Hong taunts you as you enter and Niu Jin is here, a stalwart attack. Inside, there is talk of Lu Bu being near, and Cao Ren has Nanjun it seems.
Nanjun castle can be reached by going east a bit then north. Cao Ren and Cao Ang are here, both are formidable but Cao Ren is much more difficult overall. Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang should both be using high level magic like Yan Re on him to burn him down.
Cao Ren attempts to flee to Han Castle just to the north, but Lu Bu seems to have occupied it. Lu Bu and friends absolutely rout Cao Ren. Inside, this is your first chance to be able to go to a billeting. Here, you can drop off dead weight in Zhou Cang. Yi Ji you should dump off, but keep him around for a little bit longer for storyline purposes. Prepare yourself and go north to Han Castle to see what this Lu Bu character is up to.
At Han Castle you will find that you cannot damage Lu Bu and friends. Quickly retreat and go back to Nanjun Castle. It seems there is a student waiting for you to tell that Pang Tong is here in Nanjun. Check the house in the upper-right part of town to speak with Pang Tong.
Pang Tong has a Brocade Sack to open while fighting Lu Bu, and your strategy will then be in place he says. Anyone can use the Brocade Sack in battle unlike the Arrow Storm. After you use it in battle, Guan Yu will feign defeat and Lu Bu will give chase. In the mean time, the rest of your party will have gotten in the castle before Lu Bu can make his way back. Now, you don’t do very little damage, and instead do quite a bit of damage.
Use your best spells on Lu Bu like Yan Re to burn his soldier count down quick. If you have Yi Xin or even Li Jian at your disposal, use them. Yi Xin should be enough to buy you some time to kill off Lu Bu. Zhang Ji and Li Jue are weaker tacticians while Guo Si and Li Su are more the fighter type, though none are that good besides their soldier count. Once Lu Bu is out the rest should go nicely.
Han Castle has some neat weapons and armor you may wish to purchase if you have the money. Iron Helmet and Iron Shield in particular. If you don’t have Yi Ji in your party now, add him from the billeting. Rest up and go to the east cave with Yi Ji.
This is a simple cave to traverse, you are just working your way east. Take the third south path for a Steel Armor, then take the east path that heads north and further east for an Iron Shield. The Northwest corner has some gold, and if you go to the south you will have an Iron Sword and another Iron Sword further east. Continue east along the southern path until you make your way out of the cave.
Ma Liang’s house is nearby and you need Yi Ji to enter. Zhuge Liang and Ma Liang will discuss strategy for re-taking the four southern Jingzhou estates from the wild governors. Evidently Ling Ling is the nearby castle to the east and south. This should be dealt with first.
There is a gate in front of Ling Ling castle actually, and Xingdao Rong will greet you with Liu Yan. Xingdao is a tough fighter, one of my personal favorites as the lone stalwart of Liu Du’s army. Fortunately he has low intelligence and can be had with tactics quickly, before he can do much damage physically. Just use Yan Re on him a few times, don’t waste too many tactical points as another battle looms. Liu Yan is a mediocre general that won’t bother you much especially once Xingdao goes down.
Xingdao Rong and Liu Yan then flee to Ling Ling Castle to the southeast. Hopefully you are well rested and don’t have to head back to Han Castle to rest up. You now have Xingdao Rong, Liu Yan, and Liu Du here. Liu Du is an okay tactician but Xingdao represents the biggest threat, so take him out with any tactic points you have spared. You can rest after you win this battle, but there is not much to do at Ling Ling Castle. However, if you use the Zheng Letter duplicate on the throne in Ling Ling, you will sometimes acquire Huang Zhong.
Now go straight south from Ma Liang’s house to find Gui Yang Castle. Bao Long is waiting at the gate, along with Chen Shu (should be Chen Ying). Chen Shu is vulnerable to tactics, but is stronger. Meanwhile Bao Long is not quite as strong but his Int. is a little higher. Neither are much of a threat for your band of tigers. Go inside, as Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun will go around the back assuming it is a trap. But as Zhuge Liang goes to the throne room by himself, he is ambushed by Zhao Fan, Bao Long and Chen Shu! Fortunately out of no where Lu Bu joins Zhuge Liang. Lu Bu will maul these guys for you.
Gui Yang is where you can really start forming a dominant party. Use the Zheng Letter duplicate on the throne to recruit Lu Bu! This is definitely the one of the most useful recruits you can get with the Zheng Letter. Just keep coming back with a small party and you can continue to recruit Lu Bu at the Gui Yang Throne. With 3800 soldiers, Lu Bu will be in your party for a while. Dump off Guan Ping and Yi Ji from your party here, so you can have Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, Lu Bu, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu!
West of Gui Yang and you will find a small village. Mostly you will hear about Gong Zhi and Jin Xuan at Wu Ling Castle. Gong Zhi is thinking about the Liu Bei army at the west cape, so visit him there.
At the cape, Gong Zhi says he will see you at Wu Ling Castle. So, head back towards Wu Ling Castle, and Jin Xuan indeed will be waiting for you. He is by himself and is not a formidable opponent by any means. This battle should not require much strategy. Afterwards, the bridge is lowered and Gong Zhi shoots down Jin Xuan. Within, you can spend some money on weapons and armor, along with resting.
Chang Sha Castle is the last castle to take, but it will be the hardest. The old tiger Huang Zhong is at the gate of Chang Sha, ready to duel Guan Yu! After two rounds, the ‘fight’ is over. Return back to Wu Ling to rest, and then head to Chang Sha for a huge battle.
Han Xuan leads the group, with Huang Zhong, Yan Ling (Yang Ling), Han Hao and Wei Yan. This battle can be brutal if you are not built up or have a good party. The problem is Wei Yan and Huang Zhong are so powerful that you forget that Yan Ling and Han Xuan aren’t too bad themselves. Han Hao fortunately does not bring much to the table, but he will certainly be dealt with last. Neutralize Wei Yan early on with Yi Xin, Li Jian or high level magic. His Int. is low so he can be had. Huang Zhong is pretty smart so you might want to just stick to having Zhuge cast spells on him. Try to get a high level tactic on Yan Ling and Han Xuan to get their HP down and to take some of the juice out of their attack. This is a war of attrition so be smart about tactic use, and keep your party healed. Having Zhuge Liang as your tactician in a 5 party system is so beneficial in this battle, to have Zhuge’s prowess in battle along with his high TP count.
Enter Chang Sha Castle and speak with Wei Yan at the gate. Definitely let him join your army. If you are still using someone like Guan Ping or Yi Ji, take them out for Wei Yan. The 240 Str is hard to argue with despite the low Int. Unless you abused the Zheng Letter trick, you will want him in your party.
In town go to Huang Zhong’s house. He is sad that he can’t bury his bow with his former leader (who you can strangely still fight in random battles). Anyway, you can find this bow to the cave west of here and you need it to recruit Huang Zhong and continue the story.
Take the south path down the stairs in the cave, then the right path for a Thunder Sword and Copper Portion. The left side gives you 1000 gold coins, and then head back to the beginning of the cave. Go west this time, then look to go south for a four way split. South for 604 gold coins, left for Copper Potion, and the upper left hand path nets a Copper Bow. North for the staircase, and then east for an Iron Helmet and south for the Youyuu Bow! This is Huang Zhong’s bow, so use Suo Di to teleport out and go to Chang Sha. Huang Zhong will join you after giving him the Youyuu Bow. I tend to not use him despite his nice stats, but many stand by his bow-wielding ways.
Return to Ma Liang’s house to share the good news. Unfortunately, a messenger runs in to say Lu Bu has betrayed you and is ruling chaotically in Gui Yang! You must return there and deal with him (you might even have a Lu Bu in your party with the Zheng Letter Trick).
Lu Bu is at Gui Yang Castle with only Zhang Ji, a tactician. Spam all of your magic attacks on Lu Bu here to take him out quickly, then Zhang Ji will quickly follow. Rest and save if you want, then go to the Ling Ling Gate.
Lu Bu greets you here with some tricky Jingzhou fighters in Xingdao Rong, Yan Ling, and Liu Yan. Yan Ling and Xingdao are underrated, powerful fighters. Of course Lu Bu will take your attention first, it might help to have Huang Zhong with instead of Wei Yan to have an extra person using spells on these idiots. Get each of their HP down quick and their attack strength will dwindle. Use Yi Xin and or Li Jian to take out Lu Bu.
Lu Bu then retreats to Ling Ling Castle. Rest up, and head towards the place. He may surprise you when you encounter him here, which case you could be in big trouble. They take off heavy damage at first when their soldier counts are high. You will want to get the jump on Lu Bu, either draining his HP quickly with powerful tactics or using Li Jian to have him attack his friends. You remember the other generals here, Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and Li Su. It’s good to get at least one spell in on them to lower their attack, but once Lu Bu is gone you should have no trouble take these guys out.
Finally you can go to Ma Liang’s house with news of victory and peace in Jingzhou. Well, turns out they’ve already left to Xin Ye Castle.