Cao Ying called a junior colonel and asked him to find Liu Bei, while he and Yuan Shao stood at the door and waited.

After a long time, the little colonel led Liu Bei to arrive, followed by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, all three of whom had mud on their bodies, rolled up their trousers, and wore straw sandals with bare feet, as if they were working in the field just now.

Liu Bei said some time ago that he finished repairing the new castle for the ministers to live in, in the process of repairing the city, he had a good relationship with many of the lowest soldiers, and now the Yuancheng side is in a chaotic stage, most of the soldiers are newly recruited, they have no opinion on whether Liu Xie is the emperor of the Han Dynasty, or Liu Wei is the emperor, who loves to be who, as long as they can have a stable life!

Whether the princes brought their own soldiers or recruited soldiers nearby, they are not very good to the soldiers, and they look down on the soldiers, but Liu Bei is the opposite, he is very good to the soldiers, no matter whose soldiers it is, as long as he talks to him, he responds enthusiastically, and when he eats, he also eats with the soldiers, and he has a very common style of sharing weal and woe, so the soldiers here in Yuancheng, no matter whose subordinates they are, all have a good impression of Liu Bei, Liu Bei's name is very loud in the coalition army, louder than any prince along the way!

Liu Bei didn't dare to openly pull the generals of the princes, but he estimated that if the coalition forces were separated, he could get a small official position or something, then there would be a lot of people who followed him, but now he has no foothold, no territory, even if he lets the soldiers follow him, then he can't afford to raise it, he can't afford to raise it, he will scatter quickly, and it will damage his reputation, so he has not won over the generals of other princes, and the department is still the Xiangyong brought out from the countryside.

When the little school went to call Liu Bei, Liu Bei and Guan Zhang were playing mud outside the city, and when they heard Cao Ying calling him, Liu Bei took his two brothers and hurried over.

Coming to the door, Liu Bei stepped forward and saluted: "Two generals, I don't know what to call Bei to come?" ”

Cao Ying glanced at Liu Bei, then at Guan Yu and Zhang Fei behind him, and thought: "This Liu Bei is not very good, but the second general behind him is a rare talent, but it's a pity that Mingzhu secretly invested!" ”

Cao Ying said: "Brother Xuande, you are a relative of the Han family, and you are humble, so General Yuan and I have promoted you in front of the Queen Mother and the Prince, and the Queen Mother has named you the Marquis of Yuancheng, and the fief is this Yuancheng." You say, how can you thank us? ”

Liu Bei was immediately stunned, he ran out of his hometown, looking for a marquis, in order to restore the ancestral family, but he didn't expect that he would be a marquis so soon, he was in Yuancheng, he didn't have any credit, that is, to build a castle, but what kind of merit is this, nothing is it!

But Liu Bei is not an ordinary person after all, he was only stunned for a moment, and then he understood that he came, Empress Dowager Dong has no henchmen around her, this is to promote herself, and then let herself be a henchman for her and the prince! Don't look at Cao Ying's good words, saying that he and Yuan Shao Baoju, in fact, if there is no mistake, when the Empress Dowager Dong wanted to crown herself as a marquis, these two people didn't know how to oppose it, and now that they have come out, they have changed their mouths and started to sell their favors!

I understand it in my heart, but I can only hide it in my heart, and I can't say it in my mouth. Liu Bei thanked him repeatedly, as if there was no Cao Ying and Yuan Shao in this matter, as if it couldn't be done, and his attitude was sincere, there seemed to be tears in his eyes, and he thanked Cao Ying and Yuan Shao as benefactors!

Not only Liu Bei couldn't stop thanking him, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also full of joy, they are not famous generals now, although they are very proud, but because of Liu Bei's marquis, their status has risen suddenly, and the rise is really too big, so that they can't be proud, they all have a flattered expression, feeling that the Empress Dowager Dong is too good, and the little prince is too wise to know heroes, even if Cao Ying and Yuan Shao are not sincerely grateful, they can't do Liu Bei's sincerity, but they also thanked them several times, after all, they are so happy!

Yuan Shao was a little embarrassed to be thanked, but Cao Ying was unmoved, the more sincere Liu Bei's thanks, the more he felt that Liu Bei was not simple, and the more he regarded Liu Bei as an opponent!

Cao Ying said: "Brother Xuande, just because after you came to Yuancheng, you didn't have an inch, but you suddenly became a marquis, and the other princes did not have this treatment, I am afraid that it will cause others to be disgusted, and even jealous, this must be guarded against!" ”

Liu Bei knew in his heart that it must be Cao Ying and Yuan Shao, the two guys who made it bad, and saw that they couldn't stop the Empress Dowager Dong from making herself a marquis, so he gave a halberd, if it was expected, he must let himself attack Li Qin, and he must be a pioneer, so that he can make meritorious service to calm everyone's mouth, in addition, I really can't think of any other way to make meritorious service!

Sure enough, this result was very easy to guess, so he guessed it right as soon as he guessed. I heard Cao Ying say: "So the Queen Mother, her old man, intends to temper you, and plans to let you act as the vanguard officer of the coalition army and attack Li Qin in the west." General Yuan and I saw that you had few soldiers, so we took the initiative to divide each of you with 1,000 elite soldiers, all of whom were cavalry, and General Gongsun Zan also wanted to divide your 1,000 cavalry, making up 3,000 iron cavalry, to attack Li Qin, this burden is not light, are you willing to bear it? ”

Liu Bei thought to himself: "If you really let me be a pioneer and give me soldiers and horses, but it is estimated that the Empress Dowager Dong wants to give it, maybe it was supposed to give more, but they desperately opposed it, and it was reduced to 1,000 per person!" He thought about things in his heart, and he didn't thank him right away.

Yuan Shao and Cao Ying glanced at each other, and thought in their hearts: "This person still has some talent, at least not the kind of person who is easy to be fooled, could it be that he knows that we are going to send elite soldiers to him, and he wants to get rid of him faster when he loses the battle?" ”

Cao Ying said: "Brother Xuande, let's go in and thank the Queen Mother and the Prince!" ”

Liu Bei came back to his senses, and hurriedly thanked Cao Ying and Yuan Shao again, and followed the two of them into the temporary palace to thank the Empress Dowager Dong! Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stayed outside the door, the two were very excited, they were originally very dissatisfied with sending Liu Bei to be a coolie to repair the city, thinking that this was despising Liu Bei, but now they don't think so, thinking that it is a tempering that must be passed before the great task of heaven, the two of them don't have too many opinions in politics, just for Liu Bei to be named Hou, and get three thousand iron horses, happy in their hearts!

After Liu Bei entered the palace, the Empress Dowager Dong naturally wanted to say some high-sounding words first, and encouraged him kindly, and then let Cao Ying and Yuan Shao go separately, she left Liu Bei to eat, this is an extraordinary grace, when he was in Luoyang before, Mo said Liu Bei, even He Jin has never enjoyed this kind of treatment, Liu Bei is naturally grateful to tears, and repeatedly said that he would swear allegiance to the Queen Mother and the Prince!

Empress Dowager Dong took the opportunity to talk to Liu Bei about the attitude of Cao Ying and Yuan Shao when she was the marquis, and asked Liu Bei to be careful of these two people, no matter what, for the courtiers, she still trusted the children of the clan more, but after she said these words, she only thought that she could win Liu Bei more together, but forgot that this would make the generals dissatisfied with each other and pull their skins, that would make the war fail, if it failed, she would never want to return to Luoyang in her life!

After eating and showing his loyalty, Liu Bei withdrew. As soon as he went out, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei immediately came forward, and Guan Yu asked, "Big brother, has the Queen Mother left for dinner?" What did she say? ”

Zhang Fei said: "Big brother, let's go and pick up troops, and then raise troops to the west to defeat Li Qin, the eldest brother is a royal family, then Li Qin can be crowned king, why can't you, if you can be crowned a king, it would be great!" ”

Liu Bei looked back and said: "The kindness of the queen mother and the crown prince is difficult to repay with broken bones, as for the matter of picking troops, I am afraid that I will not be able to do so, General Gongsun is my fellow disciple, he will divide my elite soldiers, but General Cao and General Yuan...... Alas, if you really want me to pick up troops, I'm afraid that there are more than 3,000 people who are willing to go with me! ”

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei said together: "The eldest brother is generous, and the generals are naturally willing to follow!" "Surrounded him and went to find Gongsun Zhan together.

After a while, Cao Ying and Yuan Shao were also very happy, and they really gave Liu Bei a thousand cavalry, and Gongsun Zhan even picked out a thousand elite soldiers and gave them to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was overjoyed, he immediately gathered the assigned soldiers, almost one soldier by one, more than 3,000 soldiers he questioned one by one, asked where his hometown was, asked who else was in the family, what ideals he had, and so on! Then there is the big training, he personally led the army to spread joy in the open area near Yuancheng, running around, practicing various formations, although he didn't practice any tricks, but such a "share weal and woe" to eat together, sleep together, but very much supported by the soldiers, at least on the surface!

Cao Ying and Yuan Shao watched coldly and did not interfere with anything, while the other princes gritted their teeth angrily when they saw Liu Bei being so able to toss, and they didn't understand how this fake prince who braided straw shoes could be so noisy, which was really strange. Even some people with the surname Liu, or those who were not originally surnamed Liu, but now changed their surname to Liu after arriving in Yuancheng, all ran to the outside of the palace, asking to meet the Empress Dowager Dong, wanting to mix up an official and a half-position, and the Empress Dowager Dong did not refuse, whoever wanted to see her, she was willing to see, and even worked diligently, wantonly to win over "talents", she actually intended to make up a temporary Yulin Army to come out, but unfortunately no prince was willing to raise the arch grain and grass and military equipment, so she could only gather these people together first, for later use.

After nearly a month, all the princes who promised to come have arrived, counting Liu Bei, a total of 18 roads, a total of about 150,000 troops, about 100,000 people who can really go to the battlefield, still mainly recruits, and the remaining 50,000 old and weak soldiers are all auxiliaries in a so-so way.

When the princes arrived, Yuan Shao presided over the alliance, and the princes killed the green ox, made a blood alliance, swore to fight against the national thief Li Qin, and after drinking the blood wine, they set off, with Liu Bei as the first pioneer officer, Lu Bu as the second road, Yuan Shao in the center, after Cao Ying was broken, 150,000 people, known as 800,000, set off from Yuancheng in a mighty way, and went west to crusade against Li Qin and his Fujiao army!

(To be continued)