The Rebirth of Lu Bu in the Legend of the Heroes of the Later Han Dynasty

Just when Lu Bu was going on an expedition to the sea, war was raging in the Central Plains, rivers of blood flowed, and people were killed.

Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, died suddenly. There are rumors that Tao Qian was poisoned and killed during a banquet. The most suspected person was Liu Bei, who lived in Xuzhou. Liu Bei had not returned for many years since he was sent to Xuzhou by Gongsun Zan. He managed his power in Xuzhou, married the Mi family, a noble family in Xuzhou, and married Mi Zhen, the daughter of the Mi family. With the support of the Mi family's money, Liu Bei was able to recruit 50,000 troops and Xuzhou The Chen family, a noble family, also turned to Liu Bei and received the support of the two major noble families. Liu Bei had already mastered the real military and political power in Xuzhou and sidelined Tao Qian.

Yuan Shu of Yuzhou wanted to expand his territory and sent 100,000 troops, with Ji Ling as the main general, to attack Xuzhou. Liu Bei followed Guan Yu's plan, luring the enemy deep and attacking from both front and rear, so that Ji Ling's army was unable to see each other at the end. Ji Ling was beheaded by Guan Yu, and the siege of Xuzhou was lifted. At the celebration banquet, Tao Qian drank a few too many glasses of wine and died suddenly after returning home. Tao Qian's two sons also died inexplicably. With the support of the Chen family and the Mi family, Liu Bei succeeded Xuzhou governor.

When the news came back to Runan, Yuan Shu was furious. Not only did his expedition prove fruitless, he also made a wedding dress for Liu Bei, intending to raise troops to attack Xuzhou again. However, at this time, Cao Cao sent troops from Yanzhou, with Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, and Cao Hong as generals, and divided his troops into three groups to attack Yuzhou. Yuan Shu's army was defeated and defeated. Yuan Shu fled to Huainan with less than a hundred people left. Cao Cao took advantage of the situation and sent troops to Xuzhou. Xiahou Dun was shot in the right eye by a stray arrow and was seriously injured. Cao Cao's army was defeated.

Cao Cao appointed Xiahou Yuan as the general to conquer the west. He attacked the Guanzhong area and captured Guanzhong almost without any bloodshed. Xiahou Yuan stationed troops in Hanzhong. Ma Teng from Liangzhou also surrendered to Cao Cao and entered Luoyang as an official.

In just one year, Cao Cao captured Yuzhou, Liangzhou, and Guanzhong. In addition to the original Yanzhou and Sili, Cao Cao now controls thirty-four counties and governs a population of tens of millions. He has become the most powerful prince in the world. , and with the emperor in hand, we can justifiably reward the clan members of the Cao family and the Xiahou family.

Liu Yan died of illness in Yizhou, and several sons competed for the position of heir apparent. Finally, the second son Liu Zhang obtained the position of governor of Yizhou with the support of the Wu family. In order to consolidate his rule, Liu Zhang chose to marry the Wu family.

Liu Biao of Jingzhou built a warship with the intention of crossing the Yangtze River and seizing the land east of the Yangtze River. However, his young son Liu Cong suddenly fell seriously ill, so Liu Biao gave up the expedition and lost his best opportunity.

Jiangdong Liu Yao, Wang Lang, and Yan Baihu rebelled and got rid of Yuan Shu's rule. Poor Yuan Shu, the fourth generation and the three princes, now only have a small land in Huainan, struggling to support themselves.

Yuan Shao spent a lot of manpower and financial resources in Jizhou to finally pacify the Black Mountain Army in the territory. Zhang Yan, the leader of the Black Mountain Army, fled to Yanzhou and surrendered to Cao Cao. The four Taishan bandits who were expelled from Xuzhou by Liu Bei fled to Qingzhou. Yuan Tan, the governor of Qingzhou, mishandled Qingzhou. Most of the land was occupied by Taishan bandits. Yuan Shao led his army to conquer personally, and General Zhang He single-handedly fought against four Taishan thieves, killing three of them, and Zang Ba fled. Yuan Shao finally put down the rebel armies in Jizhou and Qingzhou, and controlled 17 counties with a population of 9 million. He was the most powerful prince in the world second only to Cao Cao.

In the second year of Jian'an (197), the imperial court again granted titles to the princes of the world: Cao Cao was the prime minister, Xun Yu was the minister, Xiahou Dun was the governor of Yanzhou, Cao Hong was the governor of Yuzhou, Cao Ren was the captain of the Sili school, Xia Houyuan was the governor of Hanzhong, and Han Sui was the governor of Liang. The governor of the state, Zhang Xiu is the prefect of Chang'an; Yuan Shao is the general, leading the pastoralists of Jizhou and Qingzhou; Lu Bu is the hussar general, leading the pastoralists of Bingzhou and Youzhou; Liu Bei is the general on the left, leading the pastoralists of Xuzhou; Liu Zhang is the general on the right, leading the pastoralists of Xuzhou Yizhou pastoralist; Liu Biao was the former general and led the Jingzhou pastoralist; Liu Yao was the rear general and led the Yangzhou pastoralist.

Lu Bu judged that there would be no large-scale war in Bingzhou and Youzhou in the short term, and that the focus should still be on conquering overseas colonies. Lu Bu and the newly recruited 20,000 soldiers worshiped the gods of heaven and earth in Yishui, and increased their troops to Japanese counties. It was trained by Gan Ning for future use in conquering the countries on the sea.

Three clansmen, Liu Zhang, Liu Biao, and Liu Yao, formed an alliance. Liu Bei formed an alliance with Yuan Shao. The two major military alliances prepared to attack Cao Cao's regime after the autumn harvest.

In Cao Cao's territory, the plague was rampant, and millions of civilians and soldiers died. Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, his younger brother Cao Chun, and his younger brother Cao Anmin were also killed by the plague.

Cao Cao moved his capital to Xuxian County in Yanzhou and named Xuchang County as a warning from heaven.

In the third year of Jian'an (198), the anti-Cao Cao alliance was established. The princes who joined included clan members Liu Biao, Liu Yao, Liu Zhang, general Yuan Shao, and left general Liu Bei. This was another political and military alliance formed by princes after the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance. The purpose of the alliance is to defeat Cao Cao and reorganize the world.

The leader of this alliance is still Yuan Shao. Like the alliance a few years ago, Lu Bu was still invited to join, but Lu Bu refused to join because of undetermined border conflicts. Lu Bu had his own ideas in his heart. He was familiar with the history of later generations and knew that Cao Cao's regime would eventually defeat all the princes. Even if they wanted to form an alliance, they would form an alliance with Cao Cao. After all, the purpose of both of them was to unify Guanhe and bring peace to the world.

Facing the conquests of the princes, Cao Cao asked Xiahou Yuan to defend Hanzhong and prevent Liu Zhang's army from leaving Shu; Zhang Xiu garrisoned Wancheng to defend Liu Zhang's Jingzhou army; Cao Ren garrisoned Baima to stop Yuan Shao's army from going south; he led the army to conquer Liu Bei, who was the weakest.