Early September, the second year of Chuping (the twenty-first year).

Just after the autumn harvest, Qiu Zhiqing looked at the report records in his hands and couldn't help feeling that history is always surprisingly similar.

In March, Guan Yu was ordered by Xu Rong to lead his men and horses to escort the horses Ju Shuo purchased from Youzhou and the military equipment from Bingzhou to Yecheng for delivery.

Guan Yu originally had no intention of staying to help.

They actually hit it off with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei.

In this peach blossom-filled Yecheng Prefecture Mufu, they directly sworn sworn brothers and became brothers. Guan Yu was successfully promoted and became the second eldest brother, and Zhang Fei became the second eldest brother for a while.

Finally, he returned to his original mistress position.

As for when they made sworn vows, did they pay homage to the Second Master Guan...

This issue will not be discussed!

Although Guan Yu became sworn sworn brother in a hurry, he later regretted it, because he was still Bingzhou Mu's subordinate, even though Bingzhou Mu had said it before.

Their goal is to clarify Yunei, not to fight for hegemony and power.

Of course, Qiu Zhiqing also said that no matter what, he would arrange their escape route and not let them suffer any misfortune.

They can support the emperor, or they can seek refuge with other princes who have the ability to clean up the world.

But now, Liu Bei does not have such ability, at least he has not shown such ability yet.

Is there something wrong with him becoming a sworn sworn brother himself?

When Liu Bei and Zhang Fei saw that Guan Yu looked strange, they asked him why. Guan Yu told them all about his worries and what Qiu Zhiqing had told them.

Then I thought about it, although Qiu Zhiqing did not ask them to keep it secret.

It felt a bit uncomfortable to say it out like this, so Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were asked to keep it a secret.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei laughed out loud after hearing this, saying that Guan Yu was overthinking.

After Guan Yu asked, he understood that it turned out that when Liu Bei took the road to go south, he had met Qiu Zhiqing, and they had discussed this issue at that time.

Qiu Zhiqing made it clear that if Liu Bei had this ability.

It's okay to serve him as the master, but Liu Bei can't do it.

Then he will support Liu Xie who does not know his character.

As for Liu Bei, it was precisely because of his meeting with Qiu Zhiqing that he woke up from a dream. Today, the big man is already in a precarious situation and may collapse at any time.

It's not a matter of tinkering, it can be stable.

There are many people like Qiu Zhiqing who hold local power.

There are not many people like Qiu Zhiqing who are frank, but there are not many who have the world in mind.

Qiu Zhiqing's words made Liu Bei completely overthrow his previous idea of ​​serving as an official to benefit one party and protect the country and the people, and he headed towards the height of peace and stability in the world.

Liu Bei was originally worried that Qiu Zhiqing was deceiving him.

But today, it came from the mouth of his newly sworn brother.

Got such positive news.

How could this make Liu Bei unhappy? Now that the two sides had explained it, they happily called each other eldest brother, second brother, second brother, third brother...

Although Xu Rong sent himself here with the intention of assisting Liu Bei.

It’s up to you to decide whether you want to go back or not.

This was something Xu Rong had agreed upon before setting off.

Now that he had become a sworn sworn servant with Liu Bei, he naturally stayed, but Guan Yu said that Bingzhou Mu was kind to him in the first place, but for him.

He may not be able to save his wife and children.

Over the years, others have not treated me badly.

Although he is now sworn sworn friends with the two of them, he will still go back if Qiu Zhiqing calls him.

If one day, the eldest brother and Bingzhou Mu are enemies, then he will not help each other!

Guan Yu originally thought that as soon as he said these disrespectful words, even if he didn't come to reprimand him earlier, he would definitely receive a cold reception. Unexpectedly, he was praised by two people.

This made Guan Yu a little surprised. Could this be the fate of his previous life?

The three people's concepts are so similar, no wonder they feel like they met after a late meeting...

In fact, it was not only Guan Yu's fate that surprised Qiu Zhiqing.

What surprised Qiu Zhiqing even more was that Yuan Shao actually lost to Liu Bei, and the defeat was clean, natural, and unexpected.

Liu Bei and Yuan Shao fought in the Hejian Kingdom in July.

Both parties have paid off their old capital.

On Liu Bei's side, the three-bow crossbow modified by Mohist disciples made Yuan Shao lose his temper.

But Yuan Shao is not someone to be trifled with.

He directly took out his family's Thunderbolt Chariot and started a positional battle with Liu Bei. This confrontation lasted for more than half a month. In the end, Yuan Shao was still betrayed by the traitor and was still robbed of food and grass.

It's a pity that Liu Bei felt that these were just people's blessings.

He couldn't bear it, so Cheng Huan guarded the food and grass.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei's behavior made Yuan Shao see an opportunity.

He immediately took back the food and grass, but was still ignored by Cheng Huan, who burned a third of it. At this time, Yuan Shao completely lost hope of making a comeback.

Bohai County and Hejian Kingdom were originally in the past few years.

Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju suffered heavy losses in their rebellion.

Now that grain production has just resumed, naturally there won't be much grain in stock.

Now, one-third of the food was burned, and the front Dazhai was captured by Liu Bei. Yuan Shao had no choice but to fight while retreating towards Qingzhou.

Before leaving, he grabbed a handful of it.

Of course, Yuan Shao still maintained some restraint.

The soldiers were not allowed to rob powerful families, nor were they allowed to kill innocent people indiscriminately.

It's not that Yuan Shao is soft-hearted, but by keeping more people, Liu Bei can consume more food, making him unable to pursue, and at the same time intensifying the conflict with the wealthy family.

Yuan Shao mainly targeted those good families and common people.

The so-called good families are actually small landowners, such as Dong Zhuo and his family.

He robbed all the food stored by these people, leaving powerful families. It was impossible for them to come to rescue, but this was an opportunity for them.

What opportunities, opportunities to annex land and recruit people?

In this way, even the two counties of Hejian and Bohai occupied by Liu Bei.

If you want to make a difference, you will definitely have conflicts with the aristocratic families in the two counties.

He, Yuan Shao, can take the opportunity to pacify the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou and increase his power. When the time comes, he will join forces with Cao A'Man and rely on the danger of the Yellow River. He does not believe that he can't stop Liu Bei.

Sure enough, Yuan Shao's trick worked.

Liu Bei pursued and marched all the way.

All I see are disaster victims and refugees

Liu Bei was angry and helpless, so he had no choice but to follow Yuan Shao's idea and station a large army between Hejian Kingdom and Bohai County to distribute military rations to save people.

Several counselors made suggestions to Liu Bei.

Give up on these victims first and pursue Yuan Shao.

To prevent it from gaining a foothold in Qingzhou.

However, Liu Bei didn't think much about it, so he refused and asked his second brother Guan Yu to lead the Bingzhou cavalry with two thousand men and two horses to pursue Yuan Shao.

Drive Yuan Shao all the way across the river (Yellow River).

Qiu Zhiqing also saw this.

Only then did he strengthen his determination to invest more in Liu Bei.

When a person faces this kind of problem between interests and morality, he can resolutely give up the interests he has obtained and choose to stick to his heart.

This in itself is not a simple matter.

Although he practices cultivation, he needs to get closer to the "Heavenly Mind".

That is the state where there is no good or evil, no discrimination, and all things are unified.

But his "Tao heart" and "human heart" did not allow him to do this.

Such a result is undoubtedly what Qiu Zhiqing wants to see most.

If his power is gone, Qiu Zhiqing can give Bingzhou to him as his foundation. If his true intention is gone, then he will no longer have the capital for Qiu Zhiqing to invest. No one can tell the difference between gain and loss.

On Double Ninth Festival, Qiu Zhiqing hosted a rare banquet for members of Yiban Zhengshitang and the Sixth Department.
To be continued...