Zhang Fei successfully completed the task, and after returning triumphantly, he bragged to Liu Bei and Li Xiang. Liu Bei and Li Xiang didn't disappoint him, they all listened with a smile. Before Zhang Fei finished boasting, someone came to give an order, asking the three brothers to go to see Huangfu Song together.

Liu Bei knew that it was time for Huangfu Song to ask the reason, but he didn't know if he was suspicious because he found that the results of Liu Beijun and Cao Jun were too different, or if Zhang Fei made a fuss and let him know. But whatever the reason, it was a good thing for the three brothers.

In fact, Huangfu Song knows both things, and has already investigated clearly, and already has a preconceived impression. So when Liu Guanzhang and the three of them saw Huangfu Song, after the salute was completed, Huangfu Song twisted his beard and smiled: "Xuande, you three brothers are all great talents, and they will all be important ministers of the imperial court in the future." Especially Xuande, you are open-minded and can focus on the overall situation, which is even more rare. Don't worry, I won't let you suffer, and I will give you the same credit as Cao Mengde in the good news to the imperial court. ”

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Thank you Lord Zhonglang for your love, Xuande deserves it." Xuande only wanted to have the opportunity to serve the court, and he didn't care about the reward. ”

Huangfu Song shook his head and said: "It is appropriate to reward and punish merit, since you have made great contributions, the court should naturally reward you, otherwise who is willing to contribute to the country?" In addition, Yide will also have to be more restrained in the future, then Xiahou Yuanrang is Cao Mengde's brother, you beat him to a serious injury, I don't care, but Cao Mengde can't not care. And the Cao family has a lot of old times in the court, which is not comparable to your white body. As long as the court deliberates on merit, you only need to use a little means, and your reward will be greatly reduced. Of course, Zhu Zhonglang and I will also speak for you, and we will not let the heroes be wronged. ”

Hearing Huangfu Song say this, Li Xiang was shocked to realize that his plan still had such a big loophole.

Not to mention that the Eastern Han Dynasty has not been in the limelight for a few years, and the official position is not important. On the contrary, official position at this time is very important. The greater the official position, the greater the power, the greater the fame, and the greater the power in the hands. When troubled times come, reputation and strength are the capital of the start.

Just like the princes of the Eighteenth Road in the original book, the other princes are at least a Taishou and master several counties. And Liu Bei is just a county commander, he has no soldiers and horses in his hands, and he is just a follower when he goes to the alliance, and he can't go to the table at all. Li Xiang secretly made a lot of efforts, so that Liu Bei made much more contributions than in the original book, isn't it just to have a thicker foundation in the future? But now it is likely that he was beaten back to his original form because he offended Cao Cao, how can he not secretly regret it?

Although Li Xiang said that he came from later generations and had a much broader knowledge than people of this era, he himself was not a wise man, and many times he could come up with good methods in a flash of inspiration, but he was often not thorough, and now he has tasted the bitter fruit.

It seems that we are really not the material to be a military advisor, if Liu Bei wants to develop, he has to draw a similar think tank!

After returning to his tent from Huangfu Song, Li Xiang sincerely apologized to Liu Bei. Liu Bei didn't know if he really didn't care, or to comfort Li Xiang, he just smiled heartily: "Second brother doesn't have to apologize, although this strategy was made by the second brother, it was me who decided to implement it." Now that something has gone wrong, I am most responsible. This matter is in the past, and it is only a lesson that we can think about things more carefully in the future. ”

In order to make up for his mistakes, Li Xiang once again offered advice: "Big brother, the Cao family has a history in the court, and we can also make friends with some people in the court." If it goes well, maybe it will come in handy when discussing merit, and it will not be plotted by the Cao family. ”

Liu Bei said worriedly: "It's naturally a good thing if you can befriend the people in the court, but our brothers don't even know a few officials, how can we connect with those high-ranking figures?" The only ones who can speak are Lu Shi, Huangfu Zhonglang and Zhu Zhonglang, and Lu Shi was also convicted and imprisoned. ”

Li Xiang wanted to say that he could use money to open the way and slap in with those guys who were high enough and greedy for money. But the richest among their brothers is Zhang Fei, but Zhang Fei has sold all his family wealth to recruit rebels, how can he have the money to curry favor with those corrupt officials? It is said that the three major weapons for traversers to make a fortune, glass, cement, and distilled spirit, the first two Li Xiang can't, but distilled liquor can still be operated, after all, I learned the principle of distillation in junior high school physics. It's just that there has to be a process to make a fortune by distilling liquor, and now that they are all marching and fighting, how can they have time to run a business? It's too late.

The three of them were silent for a moment, and Liu Bei could only sigh and say, "Forget it, let's take a step and see a step." No matter what official position the court rewards in the future, you can serve the court. ”

Having said that, Li Xiang was still a little unwilling, and took advantage of the temporary break in the war to start thinking about making distilled spirits. In fact, it is very simple, it is to make a simple distillation device, and then use the most common cloudy liquor of this era as a raw material, and distill the alcohol component in it. It's just easy to say, but it's difficult to do, and he has failed many times in a row, which made Zhang Fei complain for a while, thinking that he was too wasteful, so it was better to let him drink. Li Xiang ignored him and vowed not to stop until he made distilled spirits!

Just when Li Xiang was messing around, Zhu Jun finally arrived. In fact, it's not that Zhu Jun is too slow, but that Huangfu Song's movements are too fast. From the arrival of Liu Guanzhang and the three of them to Guangzong to the end of the war, it was less than two days, and Liu Guanzhang and the three of them rode fast horses, which was not much of a two-day journey faster than Zhu Jun.

Of course, Zhu Jun was quite sorry for not being able to catch up with this big battle, but Liu Guanzhang was his subordinate, and it was a little hard work to be able to participate. Huangfu Song is also a generous person and knows Zhu Jun's thoughts, so he also mentioned a sum of money in the report of success, so that Zhu Jun also has some benefits.

Soon after, the court's reply came down. He was crowned as the general of the chariot and cavalry, and led the Jizhou pastor. Cao Cao also made a Jinan minister, and the class teacher went to work on the same day. And Liu Guanzhang and the three people, who have more prominent contributions, did not mention it.

Huangfu Song was very dissatisfied with the disposal of the imperial court, and Zhu Jun once again jointly played, first defended Lu Zhi, saying that he was not guilty, and at the same time asked for a reward for Liu Guanzhang and the three people, Gu Yan The three of them made great contributions, captured Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, beheaded Cheng Zhiyuan, Gao Sheng, etc., if they did not award the reward, the army was not convinced.

The news of the two joint performances soon spread in the army. Many people began to whisper, and it was rumored that the reason why the three brothers Liu Guan and Zhang were not rewarded for their merits was because they offended Cao Cao. said that Cao Cao was narrow-minded, obviously he bullied others first, and he didn't make secret moves when he counterattacked, but he was upright and single-handed, but after being defeated, he held a grudge and secretly did his hands and feet to erase the merits of the murderer, which is really not a son of man.

Hearing this rumor, Cao Cao was really ashamed. In fact, this matter really has nothing to do with him, he really wanted to compete with Liu Bei at the beginning, but those obscene methods were definitely not his instructions, but after knowing about it afterwards, he didn't blame his subordinates for making their own decisions. As for Xiahoudun being injured, he was really angry, but he didn't let his family contribute to erase Liu Guanzhang's credit. Besides, with the Cao family's little power, even if they use all their strength, they can only make Liu Guanzhang's reward a little less, and it will definitely not be completely wiped out. But who will believe this? Cao Cao is really dumb and eats coptis.

Under the pressure of such a thousand people, Cao Cao had to plan a way to turn over. So he took the initiative to visit Liu Guanzhang and the three of them with some gifts, and when Liu Guanzhang went out to greet them, he deliberately stayed for a long time, so that people could see that they were talking happily. After entering Liu Guanzhang's residence, he apologized earnestly, and explained that this incident was definitely not his doing.

Regarding Cao Cao's statement, Liu Bei was skeptical. But on the surface, he looked like he was related and completely agreed, and he also sincerely said that he did not believe these rumors at all. Now that the rumors are so big, maybe someone is stirring up the relationship between the two of them.

Liu Bei's statement made Cao Cao very pleased, and he also expressed his indignation at the people who spread the rumors. In the end, the two sides ended the meeting in a friendly atmosphere, and then the three brothers Liu Guan and Zhang sent Cao Cao out of the country, and once again performed in the middle of it, so that everyone knew that the relationship between the two sides was intimate and affectionate.

A few days later, Liu Bei's three brothers were invited to visit Cao Cao, and Cao Cao set up a banquet to entertain them, and the two sides were drunk. However, this time the relationship between the two sides is really close, the key is that after getting drunk, Cao Cao and Liu Bei both relaxed their vigilance a little and said something from their hearts. After this heartfelt conversation, the two found that the two have a lot of common language, and their minds and spirits are almost the same, and they are both outstanding people. At a time when the Han Dynasty had not completely declined and the heroes were not self-reliant, these two people naturally did not have the idea of competing for the world, so there was no idea that the two could not stand side by side, and they naturally got along happily.

It's just that the two haven't been together for a long time, and Cao Cao has to go to work. When sending Cao Cao away, Liu Bei really had some other meanings.

Li Xiangzhen doesn't know how to describe the friendship between these two people. In the original work, Liu Bei took refuge in Cao Cao when he was down, and Cao Cao did not underestimate him, but instead said the comment "The hero of the world, only the king and the ear", it can be seen that the two really cherish each other. But they are lifelong rivals, and they die without distinguishing the winner or loser. Now I know each other in advance, but I don't know what impact it will have on the future.

After a few more days, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's recital finally had an echo. Lu Zhi was directly released from the two of them and reinstated. And Liu Guanzhang and the three were all named captains and assigned to Zhu Jun. At the same time, he ordered Zhu Jun to immediately open and go to Wancheng to exterminate Zhao Hong, Han Zhong, and Sun Zhong. Wait until the bandits are completely wiped out, and then the reward will be awarded.

Since the imperial court said so, Zhu Jun and Liu Guanzhang could only follow the order and go to Wancheng on the same day.