In the fifth year of Jian'an (200 years), Yuan Shao of Hebei and Cao Cao of Xuchang fought in Guandu.

Yuan Shao sent the general Yan Liang as the vanguard to attack Baima, Cao's army was surrounded, Cao Cao went to the rescue with Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, Guan Yu beheaded Yan Liang, and the siege of Baima was lifted. After Guan Yu made meritorious contributions, Liu Bei of Yuan Shao's office sent someone to recruit Guan Yu after receiving the news of Guan Yu, and Guan Yu rode alone for thousands of miles.

Liu Bei asked Yuan Shao for orders to go to Runanhui and Liu Pi and Gong Du to attack Cao Cao from behind and contain Cao Cao's soldiers and horses, and Yuan Shao agreed.

Guan Yu went to the ancient city to meet Zhang Fei successfully, and soon Liu Bei also escaped and arrived, and the three brothers reunited with the ancient city a year later. On the same day, the three of them were in Taoyuan, the ancient city, worshipping heaven and earth, and swearing again. That night, the three of them were drunk and drunk on the couch.

Bangbang three times, three watches, the sound of the watch made Liu Bei, who had been alert for a long time, open his eyes suddenly, and then remembered where he was, and saw that the two brothers next to him were sleeping soundly, and couldn't help laughing, running around for half a life, drifting, like a bird with a frightened bow, everything was cautious, and a few bangzi sounds also scared themselves. With a sigh, he turned around and prepared to go back to sleep.

Just as he was about to lie down, he vaguely saw an old man in the peach orchard in the distance, smiling and holding a cane, slowly beckoning to him.

Liu Bei thought that he was in a daze, and stared at it, and sure enough, there was an old man, Liu Bei thought: "How can there be an old man here, there is no one living around here, there are walls around Taoyuan, and there are officers and soldiers guarding them, and those who can come in must not be ordinary people." ”

Liu Bei quietly got out of bed, Guan Yu and Zhang Feiyou fell asleep, Liu Bei got dressed, walked out of the house, and walked quickly in the direction of the old man.

As soon as the old man saw him coming, he turned around and walked slowly, not in a hurry or slowly, Liu Bei chased quickly, seeing that the old man was not moving fast, but he couldn't catch up with the old man.

Walking and walking, he walked to a small pavilion, Liu Bei just walked into the pavilion, the peach blossoms on all sides blocked the road, and the old man was nowhere to be seen. Liu Bei realized that the old man was like a god, so he bowed his hand to the surroundings and said, "Old immortal, kid Liu Xuande, disturb the immortal." There was no answer for four weeks.

Liu Bei looked at the stone table in the pavilion, there were three rolls of bamboo slips on the table, Liu Bei picked up a roll and looked at it, and unconsciously, he had finished reading it. After putting it down, I thought about it for a long time, looked at it again, and then put it down. I picked up the second volume again, and after reading it, I hurriedly put it down, frowning.

Then, pick up the third volume, after reading it, pick up the middle volume again and look at it, Liu Bei saw that there was pen and ink on the stone table, so he picked it up, but there was no paper, so he took off the clothes outside and wrote, after writing it was not enough, he took off another piece, and when the record was completed, he put down the pen and let out a long breath.

Suddenly, a hearty laugh came, and Liu Bei looked back and saw that it was the old man who brought him. Liu Bei looked carefully and saw that the old man's hair was white but his face was full of red, and from the laughter, he could hear that his voice was loud and full of energy.

Liu Bei bowed deeply and said: Old immortal, Liu Xuande is polite.

The old man waved his hand and smiled: "No need to be polite. I'm not a fairy, but I'm just going to live a little longer. These three rolls of bamboo slips are a thank you gift. ”

Liu Bei said: "I have never been kind to the old immortal."

The old man replied, "How is this bamboo slip?"

Liu Bei said: "Unheard of."

The old man said: "This is divided into three volumes, the upper volume is the way to care for the people and enrich the people, the middle volume is the selection and appointment of talents, and the second volume is the strategy of arranging troops."

Liu Bei said: "Old man, although the upper volume and the second volume cannot be fully understood below, I know that this is definitely a shocking strategy.

It's just that the middle volume turned out to be a strategy to compete with the scholars for profit, which is probably difficult to do, today, it is the scholars who control nearly half of the world's resources, and their influence on the states and counties is too great, if they take the liberty of attacking their interests, I am afraid it will be difficult to move an inch. ”

The old man said: "So Zhongjuan also teaches you how to win the hearts of the people and select the talents of the poor."

Liu Bei smiled bitterly: "I'm just a lost dog, how can I talk about acting."

The old man smiled: "You are still here, your brother is still here, your subordinates are still here, you have the possibility of success before you give up, isn't it?"

Liu Bei was silent, and said for a long time: "How to do it, how to do it, these are all problems, and this method is by no means a strategy that can be completed in one generation."

The old man nodded and said: "That's right, it's impossible to completely eliminate the scholars, even if the law in the book is realized, there will still be the so-called scholars."

However, according to the different rulers and political circumstances, the way of adaptation is chosen, and the method I teach is mainly to break the monopoly of the nobles and weaken their influence.

Your old adversary, Cao Cao, has actually carried out a number of political strategies to achieve this goal.

Cao Mengde is old after all, and his children and grandchildren may not continue according to his methods. ”

Liu Bei said: "Cao Mengde is indeed an extraordinary person. ”

The old man said: "Cao Mengde's biggest disadvantage is that he is not surnamed Liu, and his power and position are already about the same as the emperor."

Cao Mengde can abide by his duty and not cross the final bottom line, so he doesn't need to rely too much on the family. But once Cao Cao died, his descendants couldn't control their desire to be emperor, then. ”

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Isn't that usurping the throne and plotting rebellion." ”

The old man smiled: "From your point of view, it is true, but from the perspective of others, what is this, it is just a change of regime."

The Cao family has reached the height of surpassing the ministers, and the change of dynasty is just a matter of course.

You Liu Xuande is the same, the merit is high and the lord is shocked, and then the merit is the master, and he is replaced by the unsealable and given to death.

Even if you are fine, it will inevitably affect your children and grandchildren, and I don't need to say what choice you will make. The Cao family just did what was best for themselves. ”

Liu Bei was silent, remembering what he said under the big mulberry tree when he was a child, indeed, he really had a day to lead the army to capture Chang'an and Luoyang, how could he be willing to assist others.

The old man seemed to see through all this and smiled: "This topic is over, and then let's talk about the book." It is true that your generation will not be able to see the time when it is fully realized, but you can take the first step and start this one, and someone will naturally follow your footsteps, and it will be possible to achieve it.

You read the volume with a pen to record the key points, it can be seen that you are also moved, since the Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, the rise of the various scholars in the regime, has been still restricting the regime, now is the imperial power to suppress the family, or the family holds the imperial power is unknown, but your ambition makes you never want to be controlled by others.

The reason why the middle roll is the middle roll is precisely because he can go up or down, it depends on what you do. Although your surname is Liu, in fact, to put it bluntly, you are just like a common people, you are barely a poor family, and most of your subordinates are from poor families, and now you have no foundation, so you don't have so many scruples, if you are the same as Liu Biao, completely rely on the family, then there will be no chance at all!

It is precisely because you have these people now that you can form relative constraints, and it is possible to slowly figure them out.

You have to grasp the scale, don't be in a hurry, this merit is in the future, and the benefit is in all generations. I will send you five sentences: Rise up Jiangxia, and abandon when you abandon it. Take Chengdu in a hurry, and when it is broken, it will be broken. Fight for Nanyang, when the battle is the battle. Fight Guanlong, when it is slow, it is slow. The prince should enter, and slowly try to do it, although the throne is respected, he is in a hurry. ”

Liu Bei muttered several times and said, "Thank you, old immortal."

The old man took out another pot of wine, and said with three peaches: "You come here, there is no hospitality, and you have the right to satisfy your hunger."

Liu Bei ate a peach and said to the old man: "Three peaches, I ate one, and I want to bring the remaining peaches to my two brothers to eat, I don't know if it's okay."

The old man said, "Okay, let's take the wine too." Liu Bei thanked him.

The old man said: "May the prince not forget today's words." Liu Bei said yes.

The old man said: "I am a peach man, holding the peach tree, I was worshiped twice by your brother, offering sacrifices, you wait for the peach orchard to drink, I also enjoyed some by the way, this is a thanks." Don't forget what you said today. "I can't say anything.

Liu Bei looked around, he couldn't help but gasp, there was only a pot of wine and two peaches left on the table, the peach tree got out of the way, Liu Bei put the wine pot peach in his arms, and walked down step by step.

In the middle of the line, when he looked up, it turned out to be his father's mother, Liu Bei walked forward quickly, turned over and knelt down and said, "The child greets his father." ”

Liu Hong and Liu's mother helped Liu Bei up, carefully advised, sorted out the clothes, Liu Bei said yes again and again, after the advice, Liu Bei was about to open his mouth to ask carefully, only to hear Liu Hong shout: "My son should go, and when will I stay."

Suddenly, the sky was spinning, Liu Bei was startled, got up suddenly, looked left and right, and he was actually on the bed.