Chapter 27: The Plains Move Troops

  Taishi Ci, Shi En, and Di Yu, the three of them broke through the encirclement smoothly and galloped out for over ten miles. Taishi Ci's fine steed could still hold on, but the two others' mounts gradually slowed down unconsciously. So Taishi Ci simply reined in his horse slightly and said: "Let's slow down and take a short rest."

  Then he suddenly turned his head and stared at Shi Xun: "That treacherous general just now, didn't Hong Fu recognize him? Why did you stop me from killing him?"

  At that moment, Guan Yu suddenly appeared, and Taishi Ci's arrow shot did not hit. Taishi Ci turned around and shot back, with his strength and archery skills, Xun estimated that even if Guan Yu himself was present, he might not be able to dodge it, let alone Xiao Luoli Guan Yu. So instinctively gave a whip to the horse's buttocks of Taishi Ci. With just one whip, Taishi Ci's arrow lost its accuracy and hit the neck of Guan Yu's warhorse. The horse let out a long whinny and fell to the ground, Guan Yu jumped off quickly and narrowly escaped death.

  He thought that with this whip, Taishi Ci was running and fighting, and might not have noticed. But as a general, he indeed had eyes in the back of his head... At this time, Taishi Ci asked him, and he could only lie: "This is just a momentary panic, I whipped the wrong horse..."

  Tai Shi Zi said, "You say my mount's butt is behind me, but my mount's butt is in front of you. Can't you even get that right? Please, if you're going to lie, at least make it somewhat believable?" He glared intensely into Si Yun's eyes and growled in a low voice, "Don't speak nonsense, tell the truth."

  "There's no way, so I had to answer truthfully: 'It was a woman. A great man killing a woman on the battlefield isn't anything glorious.' Taishi Ci heard this and was taken aback: 'A woman? Her stature is so small, I thought she was just a child...'"

  "It's a woman, and also a child, alas..." Xun couldn't help but let out a long sigh, so he briefly recounted the events of that day when they went on an outing to tread on the greenery and encountered Guan Shi's father and daughter. He said: "Guan Yu spared my life back then, so I couldn't bear to harm his daughter. Moreover, this girl is still in her youth, it's really unbearable to see her die unjustly..."

  Tai Shi Zi nodded slightly: "So that's how it is, then so be it. But since this woman followed her father in rebellion and personally wielded a bow and arrow, even if I spare her life this time, I reckon she'll ultimately meet a bad end."

  Although these words are reasonable, Xun heard them and couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart...

  They traveled day and night without a word, riding their war horses until they were drenched in sweat, and the men's legs were trembling. The inside of their pants was almost worn out by the time they finally arrived at Pingyuan County, the capital of Pingyuan State, after two days and two nights, where they met the newly appointed Prime Minister Liu Bei, also known as Liu Xuande.

  Since he arrived in this era, for the past few years, he was thinking about how to survive and not end up like his parents in this life, who suffered from hunger and eventually fell under the butcher's knife of a foreign (or perhaps their own) tribe. When he finally managed to sneak into the Lewang clan's mansion, his living environment changed, and his quality of life improved, so his expectations for life naturally rose with it, thinking about how to live better, with more dignity - if at that time he was still only thinking about barely surviving being a blessing, I estimate he wouldn't have had the audacity to rise up and impersonate someone else.

  Especially for the next step in history, he is clearer than anyone else in this era, even if it is a hero of the time. The world is about to be greatly chaotic, and the people of the chaotic world are not as good as chickens and dogs. In order to improve their survival rate, they must try their best to climb up from the bottom layer, only by climbing high can their lives and fate be grasped in their own hands to a certain extent.

  So from Lelang to Beihai, after successfully sneaking into the Shi family as a slave and then into the Shi family as a master, he began to think about finding a backer. After all, with his current identity and status, as well as his talent and character, it was impossible for him to rebel against the government, and if he were to reveal his true nature, he would immediately become a hero and establish a great empire. It's said that those who can dominate an area through their own efforts are almost non-existent, even in this chaotic world. If Yuan Shao didn't have the bloodline of four generations of high officials, and if his family members weren't high-ranking officials in Luoyang, would Dong Zhuo have taken him seriously? Would he have given him the position of Bohai Governor to appease him? When he first escaped from Luoyang, if Dong Zhuo had issued a wanted notice in the name of the imperial court, how many more days do you think Yuan Benchu could have survived? Could he still have rallied the provinces and counties of Guandong to attack Dong Zhuo?

  Let's talk about Cao Cao, when he first rose to power, he also had to rely on Yuan Shao, while Liu Bei relied on Gongsun Zan. Only Sun Jian can be said to have carved out his own territory through his own efforts, but at that time the world was not yet in chaos, and at most he just fought against a few water bandits and mountain thieves. When the Yellow Turbans were everywhere, how many generations would you have to fight before you could make a name for yourself?! Besides, didn't Sun Jian ultimately die in shame?!

  So if you want to continue climbing up, you must find a reliable backer. Currently, Xun's experience has proven that, whether it is Yi or Kong Rong, in the chaotic world, even one's own life may not be guaranteed, let alone being someone else's backer. Xun's goal is still locked on Cao and Liu, as for the Sun family, he basically doesn't consider them. Although Yi eventually defected to Eastern Wu, but with Sun Quan's petty face in history, especially his emphasis on espionage politics in old age, it's too dangerous and suffocating to work under such a boss, if not desperate, it's better not to rush into the muzzle.

  So, to follow Cao or Liu? Following Cao has its advantages: firstly, it's a quick way to get rich; secondly, Cao's basic governing area is north of the Yellow River, and whether in the previous life or this one, Huan's hometown is also in the north. Following Cao means not having to leave home and run to the southwest or southeast. However, Cao values his subordinates' abilities above all else, and if one's ability isn't enough, even someone as famous as Kong Rong would be left idle and ultimately lose their head...

  There are advantages to following Liu Bei. Firstly, Liu Bei is a righteous person who takes care of his old comrades, even if he has become somewhat tyrannical in his old age. Sun Qian has done nothing significant throughout history but was still well taken care of and became plump. Mei Zeng is only loyal and has no other strengths, and his brother even defected to Wu, yet Liu Bei did not punish him. Secondly, Liu Bei had the opportunity to unify the world - something that even Cao Cao could not achieve. Although the Battle of Red Cliffs was half accidental, the northern regions were initially unstable, and invading Jiangnan was never a sure win. When Liu Bei attacked Eastern Wu, if he had accepted Sun Quan's surrender and joined forces with the Wu army to attack the north, he would have been unstoppable due to Cao Cao's death and the chaos in the north. If one followed Liu Bei and worked hard to stop him from attacking the east...

  But thinking about it is also difficult, even Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang couldn't stop Liu Bei, what can I do?

  Anyway, Liu Bei is also a potential stock, can try to build relationships first, whether to invest in his camp or not, and wait for a while - after all, at this time, even Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, and Jian Yong have not joined the revolutionary team yet, what's the hurry.

  So this time, Guan Yu had to take the risk of following Taishi Ci to Pingyuan to recruit reinforcements. He also wanted to see Liu Bei first. He was really curious about what kind of person Liu Bei was, with his hands hanging down below his knees and his ears reaching his shoulders (he mixed up the descriptions in the novel and historical records, as there is no record of Liu Bei having ears that reached his shoulders). What kind of freak would have such a strange appearance?

  The result was that they met and took a look, and this is Liu Bei? Liu Bei actually looks like this! To put it simply, Liu Bei has the appearance of a perfect male protagonist in a revolutionary model play, with three points similar to Zhu Shimao. He has a medium to tall stature, broad shoulders, thick arms - whether he can hold his hands over his knees or not cannot be measured - with a square and regular national character face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, straight nose and mouth, smooth chin, and two curved mustaches on his upper lip, as if the four eyebrows of Lu Xiaofeng.

  This proves that the story of "Lù Zhuāng Jūn" is indeed true.

  "In the Shu Book of the Records of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that when Liu Bei entered Western Shu to pretend to reinforce Liu Zhang, he met Zhang Yu, one of Liu Zhang's attendants, at a banquet. Zhang Yu had a big beard, and Liu Bei teased him by saying: 'When I lived in Zhuo County, there were many people with the surname Mao, everywhere east, west, south, and north, so the county magistrate said: "Are all the Maos surrounding Zhuo?"'"

  "Zhuō" here refers to the homophonic character "zhuó", which means mouth. Liu Bei ridiculed Zhang Yu's mouth being surrounded by hair, so it was said "zhū máo rào zhuō jū". However, Zhang Yu did not hold back and retorted on the spot: "There was once a person who served as the magistrate of Lù County in Shàngdǎng Commandery, later transferred to serve as the magistrate of Zhuō County. After resigning and returning home, when writing letters to others, he wanted to sign his name as 'Magistrate of Lù', but then lost Zhuō; wanting to write 'Magistrate of Zhuō' instead, he lost Lù. In the end, he could only sign himself as 'Lù-Zhuō Gentleman'."

  "Zhang Yu Jun" is a homophone for "Lu Zhuo Jun", ridiculing Liu Bei's lack of beard, with his mouth fully exposed - historical records say it was because "the lord had no beard, so he used this to mock him". Liu Bei held a grudge against Zhang Yu because of this and later found an excuse to have him killed.

  So although the old Sheng Liu Bei on stage has a long beard, there are people who say that Liu Bei actually doesn't have any facial hair, just like an eunuch. But if Liu Bei really didn't have any facial hair, this characteristic would be too obvious among the scholars of the time, and it would definitely be recorded in historical books, not just saying "his hands hang down to his knees, he looks at his own ears". So there are also people who say that ancient people had a clear classification for beards: the hair above the lip is called a mustache, the hair below the chin is called a beard, and the hair beside the ear is called sideburns, so Liu Bei just didn't have a beard, not completely without facial hair.

  Today is the day to see Xun Yu in person, proving that this judgment is accurate. Liu Bei is not all talk and no action, he still has a beard - although it's very sparse. In that era, scholars considered long beards beautiful, so Zhang Yu ridiculed Liu Bei, and also why Liu Bei was resentful in his heart. However, he ultimately didn't look like a eunuch, otherwise the inferiority complex would have been even more severe.

  Liu Bei heard that an envoy from Beihai had arrived and hastily summoned him. When the three of them entered the great hall, they saw him sitting upright with a serious expression behind his desk, his face as calm as water, trying to appear composed but not quite pulling it off. Is it because he remembered reading in history books that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei often stood guard behind Liu Bei's back in their early years, like bodyguards? So he deliberately glanced around behind him a few times, and indeed saw a tall man standing guard, but unfortunately, he was neither red-faced nor black-faced, with very ordinary skin - could it be Zhao Yun? Had Zhao Zilong defected to Liu Bei by now?

  Liu Bei asked as soon as they met: "I heard that the Yellow Turban bandits have fled to Beihai, I don't know how is it?"

  Taishi Ci came forward, made a bow and said: "I am Taishi Ci from Donglai, I have been sent by Lord Kong of Beihai to seek your help." As he spoke, he handed over the letter from Kong Rong.

  Liu Bei opened the wooden board, first furrowing his brow. Xun knew what he was thinking - Kong Rong, that guy, hadn't shed his literary bad habits; this letter seeking help must be a bunch of flowery language, difficult to understand. Liu Bei had never liked reading books, although he had once been an auditor under Lu Zhi's tutelage. Whether he could make sense of such writing was hard to say. To put it another way, giving an unannotated Han Dynasty rhapsody to a liberal arts college student who wasn't majoring in ancient literature would probably have the same effect - the words looked familiar, but string them together and what did they mean? Without flipping through a dictionary and using his brain, he'd be stumped.

  Fortunately, Tai Shi Ci helped to explain. Tai Shi Ci first explained the general situation of Beihai and then said: "Ci is a humble man from Donglai, not related to Kong Beihai, nor from the same hometown, but only because he received his kindness, in order to repay him, so he assisted him. Now Kong Beihai is surrounded by the Yellow Turban bandit Guan Hai, the city is isolated and without aid, in danger every day, especially since the lord of the prefecture has a reputation for benevolence and righteousness, able to rescue people from urgent difficulties, therefore Beihai sent Ci to brave the blades, break through the heavy siege, come to seek help, hoping that the lord of the prefecture will agree."

  Xun Yu said, "Taishi Ci is quite eloquent. Liu Bei has just started his career and hasn't even rescued Xuzhou yet. This guy from Zhuo County who weaves mats and sells sandals only became the sole guardian of a state because he was classmates with Gongsun Zan. His reputation is almost zero, so what 'reputation for benevolence and righteousness' is he talking about?"

  Indeed, Liu Bei was the most famous name. Taishi Ci's words hit the nail on the head, and he smiled immediately. "Unexpectedly, even Kong Beihai knows that there is still me, Liu Bei in this world! Don't worry, neighboring counties..." After thinking for a moment, Pingyuan and Beihai are not adjacent, so he hurriedly changed his words, "As fellow Qingzhou subordinates, how can we not rescue? It's just that the troops under my command are scattered in various counties, and it's difficult to gather them hastily. I don't know how many soldiers and horses are needed to rescue Beihai?"

  At that time, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao had a falling out and were about to engage in battle. Therefore, most of Liu Bei's troops were deployed on the western front to defend against Yuan Shao and his younger brother Cao Cao.

  Taishi Ci replied: "Although the Yellow Turbans are numerous, they are all scattered and disorganized. Not many soldiers are needed; three to five thousand will suffice."

  "Good," Liu Bei said with a nod, "then dispatch 3,000 troops to rescue." As he spoke, he turned his head and fixed his gaze on the tall man behind him: "Yunchang, I'll trouble you to take this trip."

  Xun Wen was shocked and exclaimed, "So it's really him, Guan Yu?!"

  I am the helpless dividing line

  I'd like to explain that in the previous chapters, "Ying Ling" was mistakenly written as "" (don't know why it changed, hope you can understand what I mean), this is not my mistake, my hard drive's DOC document was fine, and it didn't have any problems when I uploaded it before, but recently it keeps making mistakes, and even after fixing it, it still doesn't work. I guess this is a problem with the Chinese character conversion system, which I don't understand, and neither does the editor. So I can only apologize to readers and ask you to bear with it for now.