Returning to Xinye overnight, Liu Bei asked everyone about the news of Fulong and Fengxiao. Sun Qian, Mi Zhu and others all said that they had heard of his name, but they didn't know where they were.

Liu Bei was puzzled: "The seniors said that I will understand when I arrive, what does it mean?"

Zhiming thought for a moment and said, "Maybe he is hinting to Uncle Huang that someone will come to inform him of this, or maybe that person has already come to this city." ”

Liu Bei immediately understood, so he assigned Zhiming to go to the city tomorrow to investigate the matter.

The next morning, Zhiming went to ask the soldiers guarding the city, and they said that the people who had entered and left the city in the past few days were ordinary people and merchants, and there was nothing special. He instructed the soldiers: Anyone who has a Taoist, who is dressed strangely, or who behaves strangely, should be kept and brought back to the county office.

After walking around the city, Zhiming found nothing, so he had to go to a tavern to rest.

After two bowls of wine, he felt refreshed and ready to get up and continue his investigation.

At this time, a person at the next table said to himself: "This world is unfair, where should I go!"

Zhiming saw that he looked like a passing merchant, and thought that he was not in a hurry anyway, so he sat down and asked what was going on.

The man looked at him and said, "Young man, you are energetic and promising, so why bother with me, a down-and-out?"

"I saw your sad face, and I wanted to find out what was going on. You name it, maybe I can help you. Zhiming moved the stool a little closer and said.

"Do you think you can help me?" asked the man, tilting his head sideways and squinting his eyes, with a look of drunkenness.

Zhiming nodded. The man filled two glasses of wine, raised his glass, and said, "Come, let's make this one first." ”

The two of them drank it all. The man paused, and said, "Thank you, young man, for listening to me. In fact, I am a scholar, I have loved military affairs since I was a child, and I have studied a lot of military books, and my study of the art of war can be described as painstaking. Now there is a big chaos today, Cao Cao usurped the Han and took power, and coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, I can't see it, so I want to take refuge in a British lord and help him achieve a career to reject Cao Cao. I wanted to take refuge in Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao, but I always felt that he was indecisive, and he was over the age of sixtieth, and he was seriously ill, thinking that Jingzhou would fall into the hands of others sooner or later, so I didn't vote for it. I am glad to hear that Liu Bei, the current hero, is the head of the county, is a person who values righteousness and respects talents, and is recruiting troops and horses, so he wants to vote for him; ”

Zhiming suspected that the person he was looking for was him, so he asked, "Where did Mr. come from?"

"I'm from Nanzhang and my name is Shan Fu. ”

"Nanzhang!" Zhiming was a little excited, "Don't hide it, sir, I am Liu Bei's subordinate, if you sincerely want to join him, I can introduce you." ”

Shan Fu's eyes lit up: "Is this true?"

"Don't believe me, I have a token here. Zhiming untied the token on his waist and revealed his identity.

Shan Fuxi said: "If this is the case, everything will have General Lao!"

"Let's go, I'll take you to him now. Zhiming led him to the county office.

Shan Fujin saw Liu Bei and was treated as a guest. He said: "Corporal Liu Huangshu Lixian, I deeply admire him. To tell you the truth, I have been interested in the art of war since I was a child, and I have studied a lot of military books, and often add my own experience on the basis of the creation of my predecessors. Uncle Huang has not been able to start a business so far, the key is the lack of a real military advisor, who is willing to play this role and help Uncle Huang achieve great things. ”

Liu Bei was overjoyed and immediately ordered his subordinates to prepare a luncheon to welcome the new guests. Shan Fu thanked Zhiming for his introduction.

The two hit it off at first sight and had a good conversation. After chatting for about a quarter of an hour, Liu Bei said: "I hope that Mr. will give me more advice in the future! There is a thin banquet in the backyard pavilion, and I want to have lunch with Mr. ”

The two of them ate and talked in the pavilion and sat until dark. Talking about the general trend of the world, Shan Fu asked: "What are the plans of the imperial uncle in the future?"

"At present, I have no plan, and I hope that Mr. will give advice. ”

Shan Fu thought for a while and said: "Cao Cao has just pacified the four northern states, the tiger is in the Central Plains, he is ambitious, and he will send troops to the south at any time, and the first to bear the brunt is you, Uncle Huang." For him, Uncle Huang is a barrier on the way to achieve hegemony. Cao Cao was bent on getting rid of the emperor's uncle, and if he called, how could this little Xinye resist him? In my opinion, it is best to take Jingzhou as his home at present. ”

Liu Bei's face was embarrassed, as if he was in distress. Shan Fu continued to ask, and then he shook his head and said: "Jingzhou is the foundation of my brother Liu Jingsheng, if I take it, I am afraid that I will be scolded by the world." ”

"Uncle Huang's words are wrong. If you want to win the world, you can't look ahead and backward. If you only use this cone as the basis for competing with Cao Cao, it is undoubtedly a mantis arm blocking the car and a drop in the bucket. Although Liu Biao is in Jingxiang Nine Counties, after all, he is old, and someone must succeed him. His eldest son, Liu Qi, is a dog and a sheep and is not good at directors, and his second son, Liu Cong, is smart by nature, but he is still young and not up to the task. Once Liu Biao died, Jingzhou would be left unmanaged. Liu Biao had two factions, and the two factions disagreed with each other and sometimes clashed, and the emperor was able to capture Jingzhou in one fell swoop. ”

"Despite this, after all, Xinye's troops are limited, how can he be able to defeat Jingxiang's tens of thousands of troops?"

"Uncle Huang is not in a hurry, maybe the other party has already prepared for Rang Xian, and he will talk about it after he is seriously ill. ”

Liu Bei sighed blindly. Shan Fu also knew that he had a kind heart, so he had to temporarily change the topic: "I heard that Uncle Huang has recently been happy with your son, can you take me to see it?"

"Of course, sir, please come with me. Liu Bei took him to the inner room.

Shan Fu entered the inner room and met the two ladies, Gan and Mi. It turned out that Liu Bei had two wives, Mrs. Gan was the main room, and Mrs. Mi was the side room, and she was also the sister of Mi Zhu and Mi Fang. Mrs. Gan gave birth to a son not long ago, named Liu Chan, and his milk name was Adou.

Liu Bei introduced Shan Fu to them. After Shan Fu asked for peace, he asked, "Mrs. Zun, can you let me hug Ling Lang?"

Lady Gan handed Adou to him. Shan Fu hugged Adou and observed it carefully, seeing that this baby had a gray face and dull eyes, he thought that this person must be incompetent in the future, but it was inconvenient to say it, so he had to say politely: "I think Ling Lang's appearance is good, as long as Uncle Huang cultivates more, he will definitely make great achievements in the future." ”

Liu Bei said happily: "That's good, Mr. Cheng's noble words, I will do my best to cultivate." ”

Shan Fu returned Adou to Mrs. Gan, greeted him again, and returned to the pavilion with Liu Bei.

Suddenly, he noticed something, walked out of the pavilion and said, "As I expected!"

Liu Bei came out and asked, "What did the military advisor see?"

Shan Fu pointed his finger at the sky and said: "Uncle Huang, you see, tonight's constellation arrangement is a bit abnormal, the arrangement of the Big Dipper is in the shape of a sharp sword, Tiangang Star and Yuhu Star are separated from both sides of the sword, according to the astrological theory, this is a bad omen! If I guess correctly, Cao Cao is about to fight!"

Liu Bei didn't expect that he still knew astronomy, so he hurriedly asked, "What should I do then?"

Shan Fu said with a smile: "Uncle Huang, don't be afraid, even if you let them come, you just have the opportunity to prove my strength." ”

Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief. Subsequently, he asked someone to arrange a room and asked Shan Fu to go back to the room to rest.

After Shan Fu bathed, he was ready to go to bed. Someone knocked on the door, and when he opened the door, he saw that it was Zhiming.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Affect is resting. Zhiming quickly entered and closed the door.

"Oh, it's okay, I'm just getting ready for bed. The general is so late and still not resting?"

"Sir, I'm not a general. I would like to ask Sir one thing. ”

"Please. Xu Shu invited him to sit down.

"If I'm not mistaken, Mr. should be Sima Hui's predecessor's apprentice, right? It was the senior who arranged for Mr. to be Uncle Liu Huang's military advisor, right?

Shan Fu thought for a while and said in a low voice: "It's not a secret, I was indeed entrusted by the master to come, just because he calculated that the imperial uncle would come to visit him a few days ago, so he arranged for me to come to this county in advance, looking for an opportunity to enter the county government and be the imperial uncle's military advisor." Today, I stumbled upon you at a tavern with the token of the county government hanging from your waist, and knowing that the opportunity had come, I deliberately pretended to be drunk in order to get your attention and let you introduce you to me. As for guiding the emperor's uncle to find Fulong and Fengxiao, I also asked the general to keep it secret for me for the time being, because I watched the sky at night and knew that Cao's army was coming, so the top priority was to meet Cao's army, and other things will be talked about later. ”

"Understood, sir, please rest, excuse me. Zhiming finally confirmed his judgment.

Cao Cao sent troops to the north to conquer Wuhuan a while ago, and as soon as the division returned to the dynasty, he discussed with the generals to enter Jingzhou.

Cao Cao said to the generals in the hall: "With the help of the princes, the old man has destroyed the Wuhuan, and cleared the remnants of the Yuan clan in the north. Why don't we strike while the iron is hot and attack the south? The soldiers of the nine counties of Jingxiang are well fed, Liu Biao is incompetent, and his men are scattered sand, if they lead the troops to the south now, Jingzhou will be at their fingertips. If you get Jingzhou, you can take advantage of the victory to march into Eastern Wu and expand the territory of our Wei State. I wonder what you think?"

Strategist Xun Yu said: "Our army has returned from the northern expedition, and the soldiers are tired, and if they go out again, I am afraid that the army will not be convinced." ”

The military general Cao Ren said: "In my opinion, the disaster in Jingzhou is not in Liu Biao, but in Liu Bei. Liu Bei is ambitious and refuses to submit to the imperial court, which is our great enemy. Now, as the commander of Xinye County, he is not loyal to his duties, but he recruits troops and horses every day, accumulates grass and grain, and his troops have far exceeded the level that an ordinary county order should have, which shows that he has coveted Jingzhou for a long time and is preparing to attack; if he does not get rid of it as soon as possible, Jingzhou will be captured by him in the future. ”

Cao Cao nodded: "Qing's words are exactly what I want." The only people that the old man is afraid of are Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Before Liu Bei captures Jingzhou, we must take the lead!"

He immediately sent Cao Ren, Li Dian and the deputy generals Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang brothers to lead 30,000 troops to Fancheng to prepare to attack Xinye. Cao Ren served as the commander-in-chief of the whole army, and Li Dian served as the deputy governor.

After the army set off, Cao Cao asked Xun Yu: "Wen Ruo (Xun Yu's character) looks at this victory?"

Xun Yu asked rhetorically: "Does the prime minister want to hear the truth or lie?"

"Honestly, of course. ”

"I believe that we will lose this battle. ”

"Oh, why?" Cao Cao was surprised.

"With the strength of Cao Ren and Li Dian, it may not be easy to win against Liu Bei, and with Liu Biao behind him, we have no chance of winning this battle. ”

"Then why don't you dissuade the old man?"

"The prime minister has made up his mind to fight, how dare I say more! If the prime minister wants to collect troops, he can send meteor horses..."

"No need. Cao Cao stopped him, he was afraid of being laughed at.

On the night when the army entered Fancheng, Cao Ren gathered to discuss.

Li Dian said: "I think that before we find out the enemy's situation, we should not act rashly, so as not to lose." ”

Lu Kuang said: "Little Xinye, I don't think there are many troops. Please ask Governor Cao Du to allocate 5,000 men to our brothers, and tomorrow we will bring back Liu Bei's head!"

Cao Ren was overjoyed and immediately allocated 5,000 men and horses to Lu Kuang.

The next morning, Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang led the army out of the city and marched towards Xinye. When the Xinye sentinel discovered that the enemy had invaded the territory, he hurriedly raised wolf smoke, and the summons rushed to the county office as soon as possible to report to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei sought advice from Shan Fu. Shan Fu said: "Cao Jun is tired from afar, and he has not figured out the truth of our side, so he must first send a young man to explore the way." This is a crowd of ants, so there is no need to worry. ”

As soon as the time came, Guan Yu led the army to attack from the left and the enemy in the middle of the incoming army; Zhang Fei led the army to attack from the right and the enemy to the rear of the incoming army; Zhao Yun and Zhiming led the main army to meet the attack from the front and carry out a three-sided attack. Every man was ordered to withdraw.

Zhao Yun and Zhiming led the army out of the city. Zhiming had never killed anyone in his life, and it took him a long time last night to convince himself, after all, deep down he didn't like killing.

The enemy army is approaching, Zhiming thought: "I can't hesitate any longer, this is my first battle, and I have to make a meritorious contribution!"

Lu Jun is here. The two formations were in a circle, and Lu Kuang came out of the formation and shouted: "Where is Liu Bei, I will kill him!"

Zhao Yun was furious when he heard this, and was about to rush over, but Zhiming stopped him and said, "Use a knife to kill chickens, I'll go up!"

He slapped his horse and danced his knife and rushed up, shouting: "If you want to kill Liu Bei, you have to pass my pass first!"

"Nobody, come and die!" Lu Kuang also slapped his horse and danced his knife to meet him.

When the two horses met, Lu Kuang had not yet lifted the knife, but he had been slashed by Zhiming under the horse, and his head was broken and bleeding to death.

Seeing this, Lu Xiang was furious, raised his gun and slapped his horse and rushed forward, shouting, "I'll kill you!"

Zhiming jumped from the horse, flew above Lu Xiang with the aerial technique, and fell with a knife in his hand. Lu Xiang immediately rolled into the saddle and fell off his horse, spurting blood and dying.

Zhiming looked at the corpse of the enemy and couldn't help but think: "Life and death are in an instant, war is really the root of all evil!"

When the 5,000 sergeants saw that the main general died in an instant, they were all so frightened that their souls were not possessed. Zhao Yun and Zhiming took advantage of the situation to lead the army to chase and kill.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led the army to attack left and right, attacking in three ways, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, killing the Cao army who had lost power, crying for his father and mother. In the end, Liu Jun broke Cao's army without a single horse and surrendered several people.