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

Liu Bei was both pleased and worried about this.

He was no longer the naive boy he once was, and naturally he had his own views on aristocratic families.

He wasn't that assertive, and he also believed that aristocratic families had a reason and value to exist.

It was a double-edged sword, bringing both good and bad to his rule.

However, the other three feudal lords were more radical in their attitudes, while it was relatively more moderate.

Like the emperors of the Han Dynasty, he used it more often.

This group of powerful families lived through the reigns of Emperor Huan of Han and Emperor Ling of Han, two ruthless emperors who fought relentlessly for power and profit throughout their lives.

Then they encountered Dong Zhuo, the butcher. Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling of Han were at least not prone to mass killings, but Dong Zhuo, the butcher, did not care about such things. He would kill your whole family if he said he would.

This made these aristocratic families extremely nostalgic for Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling of Han, and they even reflected on whether they had gone too far back then and should not have given them such a derogatory posthumous title.

This shows how much harm Dong Zhuo, the great demon king, had done to them.

With great difficulty, Dong Zhuo was finally eliminated with their support for the other warlords. The two most powerful warlords in the land were increasingly hostile to the aristocratic families.

They only wanted to control the powerful families, to make them their tools, not their partners.

How could these powerful families, who had finally managed to eliminate Dong Zhuo, possibly agree to this?

To hand over one's life, leaving one's fate entirely in the hands of those in power?!

If this had happened before Dong Zhuo, they might have been able to accept it.

But now, they absolutely will not allow their lives to be out of their control.

They want to control enough power, especially military power and the army.

Now that they've finally encountered a reasonably normal feudal lord, these aristocratic families are so moved they're almost in tears.

They kept praising Liu Bei's virtues, and with the help of these powerful families, Liu Xuande's reputation as a moral exemplar spread throughout the entire Han Dynasty.

Many powerful families began to relocate to this area. Even a broken ship has three nails, let alone powerful families.

Even though they exhausted a great deal of resources in their efforts to eliminate Dong Zhuo, almost depleting their entire fortune, their remaining strength was still not to be underestimated.

Liu Bei's strength was not strong to begin with, ranking last among the many warlords. If he did not accept the support of these powerful families, it would be almost impossible for him to achieve final victory.

Liu Bei and the powerful families were a perfect match, complementing each other perfectly.

After Liu Bei consolidated his power in Liangzhou, he used the pretext that Sun Jian had attacked Liu Bei during Dong Zhuo's rebellion and hindered Liu Bei's attack on Dong Zhuo, so he assembled a million-strong army and declared war on Sun Jian.

Cao Cao and Yuan Shao also engaged in a fierce war for control of Guanzhong.

As the core of the Han Dynasty, Guanzhong had the wealthiest people and the largest population.

The fact that Dong Zhuo was able to support an army that could fight against all the forces in the world by relying on the wealth of Guanzhong is enough to demonstrate the importance of Guanzhong.

Whoever could seize Guanzhong would gain an advantage in the struggle for supremacy, increasing their strength by nearly half.

It's not just about practical interests, but also about political considerations.

Chang'an was, after all, the capital of the country. Possessing Chang'an was of great political significance, as it could greatly strengthen the cohesion of one's rule and increase the attraction of talent.

Being able to prove that one is destined for greatness greatly increases one's attractiveness to talented individuals.

After Dong Zhuo withdrew, Chang'an fell into the hands of Cao Cao.

Thanks to the city walls of Chang'an, Yuan Shao's remaining 200 million troops were unable to set foot on the walls.

This city was too important. Even though Shen Pei and Xun Kan advised Yuan Shao to withdraw his troops, Yuan Shao was still unwilling to give up.

They attacked for over 10 days, suffering heavy losses before finally having no choice but to retreat.

Yuan Shao's retreat also meant that the fertile lands of Guanzhong fell into Cao Cao's hands.

Yuan Shao only occupied the northern part of Guanzhong, using it as a bridgehead for his future southward expansion.

After gaining control of most of Guanzhong, Cao Cao chose to withdraw his troops instead of attacking Liangzhou, which was under Liu Bei's control.

His battle lines are now too long, stretching from Liangzhou in the west of the Han Dynasty to Qingzhou in the east, forming a line that divides the entire Han Dynasty in two.

He bordered all the feudal lords directly, which was extremely dangerous for any power.

This means that any vassal state can launch an attack on him from any location, and his defensive line becomes extremely long, requiring a huge amount of troops to defend his homeland.

Cao Cao couldn't possibly give up such a large piece of land as Guanzhong; he would push it down even if it meant overeating it.

If Guanzhong had been swallowed up by Yuan Shao, and all of Yuan Shao's territories had been connected, there would have been no martyr like him.

This is extremely dangerous for Cao Cao's strategic plan. Even if it is strategically disadvantageous, the gains will definitely outweigh the risks.

With the help of many powerful families, Liu Bei successfully conquered the entire Jingzhou region, driving Sun Jian out of Jingzhou and Yuzhou. Sun Jian now only had Yangzhou left.

Liu Bei has now become the third most powerful warlord in the land, possessing Jingzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou and part of Yuzhou, and has also recovered Manzhou, making him one of the three most promising kings to pacify the land.

Liu Bei originally intended to take advantage of the situation to conquer Yangzhou in one fell swoop and complete his strategic plan, but the powerful families in Yangzhou were not strong enough and were far inferior to those in Chang'an.

After being purged by Sun Jian, it was difficult for them to provide any further assistance to Liu Bei.

Relying on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, the formidable strength of the Yangzhou navy, and Sun Jian's leadership, Sun Jian successfully kept Liu Bei out of Yangzhou.

Liu Bei was also afraid that Cao Cao would attack Liangzhou. After realizing that he could not take the entire Yangzhou in one fell swoop, he decisively withdrew his troops. He needed to digest the large territory he had just swallowed.

A temporary calm descended upon the world, but everyone knew this was the last calm before the next outbreak.

Once the four major warlords have recovered, they will inevitably start another war to unify the world. After this war, there will only be two warlords in the world, one in the south and one in the north, vying for the final victory.

Liu Bei's current power is largely supported by aristocratic families. In order to express his friendship with these families and win their hearts, Liu Bei married the eldest daughter of the Wu family, an aristocratic family in Yizhou who had first taken the initiative to support him, as his principal wife and Queen of Hanzhong.

His move greatly excited the aristocratic families of Yizhou, who had suffered the least losses during the years of Dong Zhuo's rebellion.

Yizhou has this kind of environment; others can't invade, and they can't invade.

Therefore, the power of the Yizhou aristocratic families was preserved extremely well. They suddenly realized that they had been hiding in this remote mountain village, while the powerful aristocratic families outside had all disappeared. In this way, they had become the most outstanding aristocratic families in the world.

Where can I go to reason with this?!