A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Honey water! I want honey water!"

In Yuan Shu's palace, some left, and some fled.

There are hardly any people left.

Even his general Ji Ling had already died on the front lines, preferring death to surrender.

"Go and get him a bowl of honey water."

Cao Cao looked at his former friend. Back in Chang'an, Yuan Shu had always been ahead of him in everything, relying on his privileged background.

Always superior to others, always one step ahead.

"Highway, I never imagined you'd end up like this."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Yuan Shu pushed aside the crown in front of him, closed his eyes, and examined it carefully for a while.

"So it's Cao Cao! Call me Your Majesty!"

"I am now the Emperor of the Zhong clan!"

"Even if I die, it will be a natural death!"

Cao Cao's men brought over the honey water, which Cao Cao took, bent down, and handed to Yuan Shu.

"Heh, Highway, still dreaming of being an emperor?"

"Here comes your honey water."

"Your hobbies haven't changed at all over the years."

Cao Cao flashed his signature smile, preparing to see his childhood friend off.

Yuan Shu took the honey water, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

"That feels good."

"How can this be called a dream? Did I not become emperor? This is because the mandate of heaven is not in my hands, it is not my fault."

"Come, Cao Cao, see me off!"

Yuan Shu said frankly.

"it is good."

Cao Cao nodded and drew his sword.

"This sword is named Azure Rainbow. It can cut through iron like mud, and is extremely sharp. It will not cause you any pain."

Yuan Shu closed his eyes, sat on his dragon throne, and bravely faced death.

"Guards, give him a proper burial."

"We're retreating."

After taking some of the money and grain from Shouchun, Cao Cao led his army to withdraw from Shouchun.

Now, Shouchun has gathered four warlords: him, Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian, and Liu Bei, and Shouchun is located at the intersection of these four warlords.

There's not much profit to be gained from fighting for this place, but there's a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Cao Cao decisively abandoned this place, even though it was Yuan Shu's base, and its population and other factors were no less than any of the cities under his command.

Let Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and Dong Zhuo fight over this place.

Although Shouchun was located in a strategically important area, it was still quite wealthy. Liu Bei only had one province, and Sun Jian had less than two. Moreover, most of their territories were in the south, and the north had not experienced such disruptions in its history. Although Jingzhou and Yangzhou were better developed, they were still far inferior to the north.

The wealth of Shouchun was probably only comparable to that of Nanyang under Liu Bei in the entire south.

Such a good place, neither Liu Bei nor Sun Jian would easily give it up.

Dong Zhuo also wanted to turn this place into a bridgehead for his southward advance, and a place for him to attack Jingzhou and Yangzhou in the future.

None of the three parties will give up easily.

With Dong Zhuo's power growing, Liu Bei and Sun Jian put aside their personal grudges and joined forces to deal with Dong Zhuo.

Thanks to Sun Jian's bravery, the martial prowess of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and the strategies of Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Wei Shu, and Zhou Yu, the Sun-Liu allied forces managed to hold off Dong Zhuo in Shouchun.

Cao Cao also moved his troops to the vicinity of Luoyang, forcing Dong Zhuo to return to his camp.

Yuan Shao also pushed his army south, and everyone was tacitly resisting Dong Zhuo's expansion of power.

To prevent any trouble in Luoyang, Xu Rong led his army back, abandoning Shouchun.

After Xu Rong led his army back, Liu Bei and Sun Jian, fearing that Dong Zhuo would once again march south, divided Shouchun in two, with each of them controlling one part.

After Yuan Shu's defeat and death, Yuan Shao took advantage of the fact that Cao Cao's army had just finished fighting and was facing off against Dong Zhuo's army in Luoyang, and quickly withdrew his southward-bound troops. Taking advantage of Cao Cao's preoccupation with other matters, he began to take action against Gongsun Zan.

Yuan Shao had been waiting for this battle for a long time. He relied on the power of powerful clans to mass-produce troops and placed his men under Gongsun Zan's command, all in pursuit of a swift victory.

Yuan Shao knew Gongsun Zan's character very well, so he directly wrote a challenge, inviting Gongsun Zan to a decisive battle in Bohai.

He had his strategist Chen Lin write a letter of challenge and sent a descendant of the School of Diplomacy as an envoy. This immediately enraged Gongsun Zan, who led his troops south, vowing to fight Yuan Shao to the death.

This war started quickly and ended quickly.

With the help of powerful clans, Yuan Shao had already infiltrated almost all of Gongsun Zan's forces.

Among the warlords of the land, only Yuan Shao comes from a top-tier aristocratic family. Naturally, the aristocratic family will do its utmost to help him. With only the men under Gongsun Zan's command, they simply cannot stop him.

All of Gongsun Zan's plans and strategies would be laid out on Yuan Shao's table that day.

Gongsun Zan felt like a puppet on the battlefield, living in Yuan Shao's shadow.

In the end, he and his White Horse Cavalry were all surrounded and captured by Yuan Shao.

He ultimately committed suicide out of shame and indignation.

After Gongsun Zan's death, the entire Youzhou region was no longer able to resist, and Yuan Shao took the opportunity to recover Chaozhou and Yunzhou, among other provinces, and his power rapidly expanded.

In the same year, the powerful families of Yizhou, dissatisfied with Liu Zhang's inaction during this era of great strife, decided to support Liu Bei, the warlord closest to them, hoping to use Liu Bei's strength to contend for supremacy and become one of the top powerful families in the Central Plains.

They sent Zhang Song, a representative of a prominent family, to Nanyang to find Liu Bei.

Their intentions were discovered by Wei Shu long ago, and Liu Bei had already made preparations.

Upon seeing the incredibly ugly Zhang Song, Liu Bei remained unfazed and even warmly took Zhang Song's hand, sharing a drink and a table with him, making Zhang Song feel respected.

Zhang Song was deeply moved. This was the first person he had ever met besides his brothers who did not show any disgust upon seeing him.

Zhang Song directly acknowledged Liu Bei as his lord and presented him with a map of Yizhou, which detailed the mountains, rivers, and passes of the entire region.

"Ziqiao, Ji Yu is my kinsman. How can I seize his lineage? This is inappropriate."

Liu Bei shook his head. His current public image was one of benevolence and virtue, and it was this image that had attracted so many civil and military officials to join him. He couldn't let it be easily ruined.

"My lord, your benevolence should extend to the people. Only when you take over Yizhou will the people of Yizhou have good days ahead."

"Yizhou is a land of abundance, with fertile plains stretching for thousands of miles. It is the place where Emperor Gaozu rose to power. Only by obtaining Yizhou will you have the resources to sweep across the world and restore the Han Dynasty."

"This is true benevolence. You gave up your ideal of leading Yizhou and restoring the Han Dynasty for the sake of your kinship with Liu Zhang. This is sacrificing great benevolence for small benevolence."

Zhang Song secretly admired Liu Bei's magnanimity and offered words of advice.

"this……"

Liu Bei began to hesitate, "If the people of the world knew that I had seized the foundation of my clan, they would surely despise my character. Without the help of scholars and generals from all over the world, how can I possibly conquer the world?"

"What you say is absolutely right, my lord. This matter can be left to Zhang Song, and he has given you a satisfactory answer."

After bidding farewell to Liu Bei, Zhang Song returned to Yizhou and began to visit various prominent families in Yizhou, praising Liu Bei's strength and character and persuading them to compile a petition to all the people, inviting Liu Bei to Shu.

At the same time, citing the threat posed by Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, Liu Zhang asked Liu Bei to come to Sichuan to assist him in attacking Zhang Lu.