The imperial cause at the end of the Han Dynasty was not one of partial peace.

Chapter 65 Cao Cao used the way of the hegemon, Liu Bei used the way of the benevolent king.

After the imperial edict was read aloud, cheers erupted in the tent.

Zhang Fei's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Second Brother! Mount Tai! Eldest Brother has become the Prefect of Mount Tai! And a Marquis at that! I knew Eldest Brother had lofty ambitions, but I never imagined it would be realized so quickly. He hasn't even reached the age of thirty, and he's already a high-ranking official!"

Guan Yu stroked his beard with pride, of course! Doesn't he know who chose him as his elder brother?! A position of two thousand shi! Elder brother is now ranked among the top officials, which is worthy of his status as a hero of our time.

Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Shen Pei and other strategists also offered their congratulations, filling one side of the tent with a joyous atmosphere.

Taishan Prefecture was a strategically important military town, encompassing more than ten counties including Fenggao, Bo, Liangfu, Juping, Laiwu, Gai, Nancheng, Fei, Nanwuyang, and Mou.

This place is bordered by the sea to the east, Yanzhou to the west, Mount Tai to the north, and Lu to the south. Since ancient times, it has been the key to Qi and Lu and the throat between north and south. This single prefecture connects four prefectures: Qing, Xu, Yan, and Yu!

The emperor entrusted this prefecture to Liu Bei not only as a reward for his service, but also as a responsibility—to make him a formidable figure among the Yellow Turban rebels across the four provinces!

The recent resurgence of the Black Mountain bandits, numbering in the millions, serves as a stark warning. The court officials are likely still deeply shaken and cannot tolerate a repeat of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qing and Xu provinces.

However, the remaining Yellow Turban forces in Qing, Xu, and Yu prefectures are still in the mountains and marshes, like sparks hidden in ashes.

Therefore, the court had no choice but to take precautions and carefully adopt Liu Bei's advice from the Imperial Secretariat, appointing him as the Prefect of Mount Tai to control the vital passage between these four provinces.

This also means that if Liu Bei can fulfill this responsibility well, whether it is to appease the remaining rebels or to suppress the rebellion, he will still have outstanding achievements to make in the future.

With his current status as a member of the Han imperial family and his high rank of two thousand piculs of grain, if he were to accumulate further merits, he could advance even further and become the emperor's governor of a province.

But after the initial joy, Liu Bei was soon overcome with a sense of melancholy at the thought of parting.

Once he takes office, he will have to leave the land where he has worked for nearly two years.

He also had to say goodbye to the people who admired him so much and entrusted their lives to him.

Those who undertake great tasks must prioritize the well-being of the people.

He had developed a deep emotional bond with these villagers who shared land and farmed along the Zhangshui River, supporting the elderly and raising children, and he was reluctant to leave them.

These people are the foundation that has supported and lifted him to his current position.

While he was still feeling melancholy at parting, the villagers were already grieving as if they had lost their parents!

For them, losing Commandant Liu was like losing the sky that sheltered them from the wind and rain.

It was Commandant Liu who risked his life to save them from the axe and sword last year. It was also Commandant Liu who led them to cultivate the land along the Zhang River, ensuring that the elderly had a place to live and the young were cared for, allowing hundreds of thousands of them to survive in the chaos of the world.

To them, Commandant Liu was not just an official, but also a benefactor, a savior, and the only person in this chaotic world who cared about them and risked his life for them.

Now that their benefactor is leaving, they feel as if the sky has fallen.

The news spread faster than Liu Bei had anticipated.

As soon as the summer harvest was over, some villagers from various reclamation areas spontaneously rushed to Liu Bei's camp.

At first, only a few elderly villagers kowtowed and wept outside the camp. By the third day, thousands of villagers had gathered outside the camp gate, kneeling in a dark mass, their cries echoing across the fields.

"The Commandant can't leave!" An old man with white hair knelt on the ground, his forehead bleeding from the repeated kowtows, and cried out in a hoarse voice, "If the Commandant leaves, who will care for us poor people? What if another ruthless governor comes along? We'll have to sell our children again!"

"We haven't even repaid the Captain's kindness in saving our lives, how can we just leave like this?" A woman knelt in the crowd, holding her child, tears wetting the swaddling clothes of the baby in her arms. "If it weren't for the Captain's kindness, our whole family would have starved to death by the roadside long ago."

Liu Bei stood outside the camp gate, gazing at those familiar faces, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He stepped forward to help the old man up, but was surrounded by even more people.

Countless hands reached out, trying to grab the hem of his clothes, as if they would stop him from leaving once they did.

Upon seeing this, Tian Feng immediately ordered his soldiers to maintain order and persuaded some of the villagers to leave.

However, as the news spread, more and more people came to see them off. By the fifth day, even villagers from Zhongshan, Zhao, Changshan and other places had come upon hearing the news, and the crowd gathered outside the camp had exceeded ten thousand.

Liu Bei had no choice but to order the march to begin ahead of schedule to avoid causing even greater trouble.

However, this departure became the most unforgettable farewell of his life.

On the day the army set off, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the thin mist on both banks of the Zhang River had not yet dissipated.

As Liu Bei rode his steed, he looked back and saw that outside the camp, tens of thousands of villagers were kneeling in a dense, dark mass!

The villagers, young and old, came from all directions and knelt along both sides of the official road for several miles.

Many people held freshly harvested ears of wheat in their hands, proof of their bountiful harvest this year, and hope that they had struggled out of hunger and cold.

They held the ears of wheat high, as if offering them to their benefactor who was about to embark on a long journey.

Some cried out loud, some wept silently, and some kowtowed repeatedly, their foreheads stained with blood that reddened the yellow earth.

Liu Bei's throat tightened, and he could barely speak. He dismounted and walked slowly along the official road, wanting to personally help up every kneeling commoner. However, for every person he helped up, another knelt down behind him.

When the army reached the Zhangshui ferry, the crowds became even more surging.

The villagers crowded the riverbanks on both sides of the ferry crossing, their cries deafening. Hundreds of them knelt directly in the middle of the official road, using their bodies as a barrier to block the way.

"Captain, you can't leave!" Kneeling at the front was an old man with white hair and beard, his hands tightly gripping the reins of Liu Bei's horse, tears streaming down his face, his forehead hitting the stone slab with a thud.

Liu Bei quickly dismounted and helped the old man up with both hands. His voice choked with emotion, he said gently, "Please rise, sir. I have no choice but to go by imperial decree. Mount Tai is not far from here, and I will return to visit you all."

The old man refused to get up, clutching Liu Bei's sleeve tightly, his turbid tears streaming down his cheeks.

His lips trembled, and he said in a tearful voice, "Liu Lang! We really can't live without you! If you leave, and another governor comes, how will we survive?"

Just as Liu Bei was about to offer some words of comfort, he suddenly felt someone gently tugging at his clothes. Looking down, he saw a little girl of about five or six years old, with her hair in pigtails, her face covered in dust, and her dark, grape-like eyes filled with tears.

She tugged at Liu Bei's sleeve with one hand and raised her little fist with the other, asking in a childish voice, "Liu Lang, Liu Lang—"

"Is it because I took the grain that Liu Lang distributed that he's unhappy and wants to leave?"

As she spoke, she loosened her tightly clenched little fist, revealing a few grains of freshly harvested wheat glistening with sweat in her palm. She held them high, her voice childish yet incredibly earnest: "I don't want any more grain, and I don't want to eat meat either. I'll give all the grain back to Liu Lang—Liu Lang, please don't go, okay?"

In that instant, Liu Bei felt as if something in his chest had shattered, and tears welled up in his eyes.

He squatted down, gently took the little girl's dirty little hands in his own, and held the few grains of new wheat mixed with sweat tightly in his palms.

He looked up at the sky, closed his eyes, and two streams of hot tears slid down his cheeks, dripping onto the parched yellow earth.

A grown man, who never shed a tear when drawing his sword on the battlefield and remonstrating with his life, now cries like a child in front of the people.

"No, no." His voice was hoarse as he reached out and gently stroked the little girl's disheveled hair.

"If it weren't for you taking the grain, why would Liu Lang blame you? Liu Lang went to protect this land for you, to prevent bad people from bullying you again."

"When Liu Lang returns, I will not only ensure you have enough to eat, but I will also ensure that the entire Ji Province, the entire Hebei Province, and even the entire world have enough to eat, and that the world will be prosperous! Is that alright?"

The little girl nodded as if she understood, but then shook her head, burst into tears, and threw herself into Liu Bei's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Guan Yu dismounted and led dozens of soldiers forward, kowtowing to thank the elders and villagers while pleading with them to make way for him.

However, no matter how they tried to persuade them, the people just knelt and wept, refusing to disperse.

Jian Yong, however, was quick-witted. He raised Liu Bei's prefectural staff and proclaimed loudly, "Fellow elders, the Commandant has been appointed by imperial decree. His mission to Taishan Commandery is precisely to eliminate the remnants of the bandits and ensure that the Yellow Turbans of Qing and Xu will not rise again!"

"Otherwise, if the Yellow Turban Rebellion reignites in Qingzhou and a million strong invade Jizhou, the current agricultural settlement situation will be destroyed! By blocking the Commandant's path, you are not only wasting the Emperor's and Commandant's efforts, but also ruining your own future!"

These words finally calmed down some of the people.

It is common knowledge that the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou has not yet been quelled.

Once the million-strong Qingzhou army is revived, marching into Jizhou will be inevitable.

Commandant Liu's journey to Mount Tai was just like his previous defense against the Black Mountain Army in the west; now he was going to the east to defend against the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou.

Thinking this way, the people finally felt a little better.

But on the official road, the sound of weeping still echoed across the fields.

More than ten people pushed an elderly woman with white hair to the middle of the road. The old woman sat cross-legged on a dilapidated cart, her withered hands trembling as she held a bowl of water.

She was the oldest woman elected by the villagers in the neighborhood. She was ninety-three years old this year and had a full head of white hair.

She had no children or grandchildren. Last year, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, and her entire family perished. If it weren't for Liu Bei taking her in, she would have starved to death by the roadside long ago.

Although the old man was frail, he insisted on coming to see them off. He had been kneeling so hard that his legs were weak and he had to be pushed on a cart to keep himself from falling.

She refused to let her juniors do it for her, insisting on personally serving the captain this farewell wine.

"Liu, I'm over ninety years old and I've seen countless officials. Some were corrupt, some were ruthless, and some were better, but they just didn't come to bully us."

Her cloudy tears streamed down her wrinkles, her voice trembling: "But I've never seen anyone like the Commandant who pulled us out of a pile of corpses, distributed land and grain to us, and even fended off bandits for us—I've lived for ninety-three years and never seen anything like it."

"Captain, you're leaving today. Who will take care of us poor souls? I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid—I'm afraid that after you leave, you'll never come back."

Liu Bei strode forward, took the bowl of wine with both hands, and drank it all in one gulp.

He smashed the bowl heavily on the stone slab by the roadside, the fragments scattering everywhere—drinking the farewell wine and smashing the bowl as a vow, this was an ancient custom of the Yan and Zhao regions.

He knelt before the old woman, grasped her withered hand, and solemnly addressed everyone around him: "Please rest assured, everyone. My departure is not to abandon you. I am acting on the Emperor's orders to eliminate the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qing and Xu. Once the world is at peace, I will certainly return to visit you all! No matter what, I will return to Hebei!"

Upon hearing this, the surrounding people could no longer control their emotions, and their cries shook the heavens.

The old woman held Liu Bei's hand tightly, tears streaming down her deeply lined face. Her lips trembled, but she couldn't utter a single word.

The villagers around them knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly. Their cries and the sound of horses' hooves mingled together, echoing along both banks of the Zhang River.

As he traveled, the officials and common people wept and blocked the road, preventing his carriage from moving forward. He was delayed at every step, and it took more than a month before he finally left the territory of Jizhou.

When he left the territory of Jizhou, even this hero of steel was saddened by the loss.

Zhen Jiang gently grasped his hand, her beautiful face filled with heartache and sorrow. Looking up at her husband's eyes, which were once again moist, she asked, "Husband, is it that you can't bear to part with him?"

Liu Bei nodded, gazing back at the beautiful land of Hebei, and sighed, "My lady, only today do I truly understand the meaning of 'water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.' These people are not ants under oppressive rule, not just numbers on a tax ledger. Each and every one of them is a human being with flesh and blood."

He looked up and sighed, "Having won the hearts of the people like this, what regrets could I have in this life?"

Zhen Jiang comforted him, saying, "My husband, you must muster your will. More than 80,000 households and hundreds of thousands of people in the twelve counties of Mount Tai are still eagerly waiting for you to come and rescue them from their suffering."

"Although I am a woman, I know that the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou was even more severe than that in Hebei. Last year there was a great plague, and this spring there is famine. The suffering of the people of Taishan is probably no less than that of the villagers on the banks of the Zhang River."

"My husband can live with benevolence for the people of Jizhou, and he can also live with benevolence for the people of Taishan. Although I am foolish and ignorant, I am willing to go with my husband, to share his worries and relieve his burdens, and to see him establish a peaceful foundation in Taishan."

A warm feeling welled up in Liu Bei's heart. He held Zhen Jiang's hand tightly and gently embraced her.

A surge of ambition welled up within him. Gazing towards the majestic Mount Tai in the distance, he said, "Madam is right. The twelve counties of Mount Tai will be the location of our next foothold."

Before taking up his post as the Prefect of Taishan, Liu Bei had consulted many documents and had gained some understanding of Taishan County.

Taishan Commandery was first established during the Chu-Han Contention. Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang enfeoffed his eldest son Liu Fei as the King of Qi. The State of Qi had seven commanderies under its jurisdiction, and Taishan Commandery was one of them.

Fenggao, the seat of the prefecture, was established in the first year of Emperor Wu of Han’s Yuanfeng era when he performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. It was specifically set up to worship Mount Tai.

Although Mount Tai is extremely wealthy, with only twelve counties under its jurisdiction, it has more than 80,000 registered households and a population of more than 400,000. However, this prefecture has always been known as difficult to govern.

Its mountains are high and valleys are deep, and its terrain is treacherous, making it a haven for bandits since ancient times.

Since the restoration of the Ming Dynasty under Emperor Guangwu, this area, located at the junction of plains and mountains, has been beyond the reach of the imperial court's decrees, resulting in a large number of refugees and escapees flocking here.

During the reign of Emperor Shun, bandits Gongsun Ju and Dongguo Dou, along with others, gathered 30,000 men and plundered the three prefectures of Qing, Chong, and Xu. It took the imperial court several years to quell the rebellion.

But after each suppression, it wouldn't be long before new refugees would gather and new bandits would rise up.

The last campaign against the bandits in Mount Tai was actually not that long ago.

At that time, the bandit Shusun Wuji of Taishan invaded and disrupted the counties, and General Zong Zi was sent to suppress him, but he did not submit.

The imperial court specially summoned Huangfu Gui, one of the three brilliant strategists of Liangzhou, and appointed him as the governor of Taishan. Upon assuming office, Huangfu Gui implemented a wide range of strategies, and the bandits were all quelled.

The fame of Liangzhou Sanming still lingers, and before the man had gone far, bandits rose up again, forcing the court to appoint Liu Bei, a hero who had shaken Hebei, as the governor of Mount Tai and send him to oversee the situation.

This is precisely the most difficult aspect of governing Taishan County: they take the mountains as their nest, rely on the natural defenses to fortify themselves, and when the government troops come to suppress them, they scatter into the deep mountains; when the government troops retreat, they regroup as bandits. Ordinary methods simply cannot eradicate them.

However, Liu Bei's reputation was not unfounded; he truly intimidated the enemy and barbarians.

As everyone knows, when Liu Bei boarded his chariot and took up the reins, he was filled with the ambition to bring peace and order to the world.

Therefore, when the bandits of Mount Tai heard that Liu Bei was coming, they were terrified by his reputation and fled in panic. Thousands of them escaped from the county.

In this respect, Liu Bei's reputation was quite different from Cao Cao's.

Liu Bei recently heard that Cao Cao, because of his fearlessness of powerful figures, his uprightness and incorruptibility, and his suppression of annexations, had been a powerful clan in Jinan when Cao Cao served as the Chancellor of Jinan. The powerful clans of Zhang and Zhao were rampant in the countryside, plundering the people.

Before Cao Cao even took office, these powerful families were terrified and fled Jinan with their families and valuables, either hiding in the mountains or fleeing to other counties.

After Cao Cao took office, he arrested all the powerful figures who had not had time to escape and punished them according to the law.

Furthermore, there were more than ten counties in the country, where the local officials were mostly sycophants of the powerful and wealthy, and were corrupt and filthy. Therefore, it was proposed that eight of them be dismissed.

Then, the practice of illicit worship was banned, and wicked people fled, thus bringing order to the Jinan prefecture.

This earned Liu Bei's high praise; this was truly the righteous hero Cao Mengde!

So Liu Bei personally wrote a letter to congratulate him, saying: "Brother Mengde: I recently heard that you have been appointed as the Chancellor of Jinan. Within ten months, you have dismissed corrupt officials, banned licentious sacrifices, and the wicked and treacherous have fled at the mere sight of you. The prefecture is now in peace."

Brother, you govern with the ruthless methods of the barbarians, upholding a peaceful and just administration. You are not afraid of the powerful and do not flatter the nobles. You are truly the eagle of the Han dynasty and the pillar of the state.

This move drew attention from both the court and the public, and even heroes applauded it. When I heard of it in Hebei, I was overjoyed and wished I could fly to Jinan to share a drink with you, brother.

"In the past, my brother and I said that my life's ambition was nothing more than to be the General Who Conquers the West of the Han Dynasty, to march west from Jincheng, to climb Qilian in the north, to inscribe a stone on Yanran Mountain, and to seal the Wolf-Dwelling Mountain. I still remember it vividly to this day."

However, the world is in turmoil, and the troubles are not limited to the western border. The remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion have not yet been extinguished in the four provinces of Qing, Xu, Yan, and Yu, and the remaining bandits are still hiding in the mountains and valleys. The people are crying out for food. This is the time for heroes to display their prowess.

"I am now going to Mount Tai, a place bordering four prefectures with a complex and intricate situation. Although I am not talented, I wish to emulate your uprightness, brother, to govern the people with benevolence and punish the wicked with severity, so that the people of Mount Tai may also enjoy a peaceful and prosperous world, just as the people of Jinan do. If you hear of any shortcomings in my conduct, brother, please tell me frankly, and I will humbly accept your advice."

"Three fine steeds from Bingzhou, all obtained from the Poison Mountain stronghold, are strong and vigorous, with fiery temperaments, perfectly matching your heroic spirit, brother. I present these horses to you not to seek favor, but to encourage you—may you never lose your lofty ambitions, never forget the suffering of the common people, and never change your heart of loyalty and righteousness."

"When the world is at peace one day, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you atop Mount Tai, overlooking the vast land, and we will drink a cup together, so that we may not have failed in our promise today."

"Your younger brother, Bei, bows and pays his respects again."

Cao Cao was overjoyed to receive the news. He was praised by heroes and congratulated by his confidant. It was truly a fortunate event in his life!

Although the trend of public criticism is prevalent nowadays, Cao Cao has no respect for those famous scholars who only know how to talk nonsense.

The person he respected was a hero like Liu Bei, whose fame shook the world.

He couldn't help but recall Liu Bei's parting words: "Don't worry about having no friends on the road ahead, for who in the world doesn't know you!"

So he immediately ordered a grand banquet to be held at the Prime Minister's residence in Jinan, inviting officials from the prefecture and local celebrities.

During the banquet, everyone was puzzled as to what joyous occasion was happening today. They only said that the Prime Minister had recently impeached corrupt officials and banned licentious worship, and wanted to use this banquet to reward his subordinates.

Unexpectedly, Cao Cao, seated in the main seat, suddenly took out a silk scroll from his robes, raised it high, and laughed loudly, "Do you gentlemen know what this is? This is a handwritten letter from Liu Bei!"

The guests immediately began whispering amongst themselves.

Liu Bei's name is now known throughout the world. Who doesn't know the Hebei hero who was famous throughout Hebei and defeated the Black Mountain bandits in just a few months?

Seeing that everyone was watching, Cao Cao became even more pleased with himself and began to read the silk scroll aloud sentence by sentence in front of everyone.

Upon reading "a pillar of the Han dynasty, a bulwark of the state," he exclaimed in admiration, slapping the table and saying to those around him, "Brother Xuande's words are not only congratulations, but also encouragement! Gentlemen, listen to this line..."

Upon reading the line "Brother, with your thunderous and decisive rule, you govern with peace and tranquility," he suddenly put down the silk scroll, looked around at everyone, and asked with great enthusiasm, "Do you all think that I, Cao Cao, am a true friend of Liu Bei, a hero?"

One of the men in the room rose and bowed to the Duke. It was none other than the Prefect of Jinan. He laughed and said, "Liu Bei saves the people with benevolence, while the Chancellor punishes the wicked with severity. They take different paths but arrive at the same goal: the Han dynasty. With Liu Bei's words, the Chancellor's name will surely spread throughout the world once again."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao laughed heartily, personally filled a cup with wine, and raised it with both hands, facing the direction of Mount Tai, offering a toast from afar. He said loudly, "Brother Xuande has gifted me three bags of fine horses from Bingzhou, and also bestowed upon me these invaluable words. I have nothing to repay you with, except this cup of wine, to pay homage to your great ambition!"

He smugly let the wine soak his beard and robes, not caring at all, and said proudly, "Guards, seal this book in your mansion and pass it on to future generations. Let them know that I, Cao Cao, have never failed my confidants, nor have I failed the Han Dynasty."

He then wrote back in his own hand, a few lines long, written in a vigorous and forceful hand: "Brother Xuande, I am unworthy to accept your recommendation. I heard that you protected 170,000 surrendered soldiers in Hebei, and that the people lined the roads to see you off, their cries shaking the heavens. Such benevolence is something I cannot attain, but I admire it greatly. You govern the people with benevolence, while I govern my prefecture with law; though our paths differ, we arrive at the same goal. If we have time in the future, I will drink with you and discuss the heroes of the world."

Liu Bei was astonished upon receiving the letter, unable to comprehend how this romantic, unconventional, and peaceful hero could have become the ruthless and cruel villain who slaughtered millions of civilians in a chaotic world.

Moreover, he was audacious and reckless, daring to kill Bian Rang, a pseudo-official scholar.

In his previous life, Liu Bei couldn't understand why Cao Cao's massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou didn't lead to a rebellion in Chongzhou, while his killing of Bian Rang, the former governor of Jiujiang and a renowned scholar, immediately triggered a rebellion in Haizhou.

Only after living in this world did he realize just how incredibly audacious Cao Cao was.

Just imagine what kind of shock it would cause the world if he were to kill Liu Bei, a renowned scholar, and how he would steal the world's hopes.

With the entire Haizhou region in rebellion, scholars secretly hoped that the project would inevitably be completed.

However, it is now impossible for Cao Cao to kill Liu Bei, because Liu Bei's troops and private army have become so powerful that even Cao Cao himself has to be wary of them.

Since Ju Shou devised a strategy for him last year and began accumulating grain and training troops, Liu Bei's elite infantry and cavalry have grown to over 1,400 men.

This is only the regular fighting force. If we include the auxiliary soldiers of the well-training, medical, pasture, and heavy garrison camps, the total number is no less than three thousand.

These men were all clad in black armor, equipped with fine weapons, and carried over a thousand bags of weapons, with armor and weapons piled up like mountains.

Moreover, they won every battle, and the soldiers were richly rewarded, so their morale was high. They had become an elite private army that should not be underestimated.

Last year in Jizhou, he led troops to suppress the Hui as the Commandant of Martial Valor. He commanded more than a thousand elite infantry and cavalry, a rightful and legitimate authority granted by the court.

Now that Black Mountain has been pacified, the position of Martial and Mighty Commandant has naturally been relinquished. If he were to lead thousands of armored soldiers to take up his post as the garrison commander of Mount Tai in a grand manner, it would be too high-profile!

It is important to know that Dong Zhuo had quelled the Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou and was a formidable figure on the border. The court wanted to strip him of his military power and force him to return the army to Huangfu Song. Dong Zhuo refused, and wrote a letter stating that "the loyal followers of Huangzhong who commanded the Qin Hu soldiers all came to me and said: 'If the grain is not delivered properly, the imperial gifts will be cut off, and my wife will suffer from hunger and cold.'" He kept 5,000 elite troops by his side, thus beginning his path of controlling an army and becoming powerful.

This rebellious minister, Hui'an, only has five thousand border troops, while Liu Bei currently commands over a thousand elite armored soldiers, all of whom are his private army and do not obey the court's orders. It's no wonder that those with ulterior motives would feel apprehensive.

More importantly, his army still possessed over a thousand sets of Xuan armor, piled up in one place, forming a veritable armory. Now that he had relinquished his command of military campaigns, retaining such a formidable private army of heavily armored soldiers would be tantamount to giving others a handle against him.

Therefore, after discussing with Tian Feng and Ju Shou, Liu Bei decided to divide his troops.

He divided his troops into three groups: Tian Yu and Qian Zhao led a thousand elite infantry and cavalry back to Youzhou, where they were stationed at the Liu clan manor in Zhuojun and the fiefdom of the Marquis of Guangwu respectively.

Firstly, they could protect the royal family and establish a foothold for Liu Bei's fiefdom; secondly, with the border regions in Youzhou experiencing frequent troubles, this elite force could also protect the royal homeland there, preventing it from being feared or targeted by others.

The other five hundred or so cavalry, led by Zhao Yun, escorted the supplies and provisions, following the departing team for over a hundred li, and entered Mount Tai in batches.

As for Liu Bei himself, he only brought Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Jian Yong and other trusted civil and military officials, totaling more than 500 people, and set off along the official road towards Mount Tai with a small entourage.

This lineup, though elite, was not conspicuous. In the Han Dynasty, it was common for officials appointed to govern a region with a salary of over 1,000 shi (a unit of grain measure) to bring hundreds of attendants when they took office, since according to Han regulations, the governor of a region was required to recruit his own staff and officials.

And this is precisely his primary task in stabilizing public sentiment and consolidating his power.

From a minor officer to the ruler of a prefecture, his status had changed dramatically. Those brave and valiant warriors who had fought alongside him through countless battles across thousands of miles would naturally be promoted accordingly and given their proper positions.

Only in this way can followers be made to serve wholeheartedly, and new vassals be made to wholeheartedly submit.

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