Chapter 504 Time to wake up from the dream
Dai County, Chanhe Pond.

The night wind whistled and blew, and the campfire was stretched and danced freely.

Xu Shu walked to the upwind side of the campfire with his cloak on, then reached out and got close to the campfire.

Then Liu Bei looked up to the sky and sighed: "Yide is the one who pleases me the most, but he is the enemy of the Grand Marshal, so I will not accept him."

Guan Yu held the sword under his cloak with his left hand, and put his other hand behind his back under the cloak, looking at the jumping flames coldly: "But brother, the heroes of Youzhou are determined to raise an army. If you refuse to join forces with them, at best they will defect and return to the Yuan family, at worst they will mutiny and be coerced."

Zhang Fei left the border county and was unwilling to become an enemy of the heroes who were fighting against the Hu people, and Guan Yu was also unhappy about it.

Things have come to this point because he was too self-conceited and did not take the initiative to express his position.

At this moment, he could no longer let it go, so he said: "Brother, Tian Yu is no longer the original Tian Guorang. Since they gathered troops to cooperate with Yuan Shao to force Gongsun Bogui to death, we are no longer the same people. The Grand Marshal implemented the system of a thousand households at the border, and the various Hu people were afraid of cutting off their roots. Without the various Hu people, how can the heroes of Youzhou profit from it?"

In terms of resources, it is not as good as the Central Plains, and the climate is bitter and cold.

Isn't smuggling the way the Youzhou tyrants make their money?

Selling salt, iron and horses is just a small business; the real big business is selling military force.

The full implementation of the Qianhu system would cut off the huge profits from smuggling by the Youzhou tyrants; and selling military force was something the Guanlong side was good at.

Since the Han Dynasty, the frontier troops of You and Bing were relied upon. The good families of the six counties came from these two states. The frontier troops of these two states had a very close relationship with the military officers of the imperial guards in the capital. They could be said to be a group of people, and their source was all good families of the six counties.

But Youzhou is also one of the three border states in the north, but it is more like a mercenary of the imperial court.

When recruiting people, they would usually conscript the Xianbei and Wuhuan people to serve as vassal soldiers, and the powerful people in Youzhou could not get any good jobs.

Zhang Fei has made it clear that Guan Yu cannot allow Zhang Fei to be isolated.

He continued, "There is also Liu Ba entering Guanzhong. He seems to be asking questions, but in fact he is touching the reverse scale of the Grand Marshal. Brother, how old is the Grand Marshal? His family was destroyed when he was young, and he has been wandering around the world and experienced many hardships. The reason why he has suffered sins is not because of the arrogant family who disregard the law?"

"This is something that the Grand Marshal does not want to mention. Liu Ba went to ask about it. Let alone the Grand Marshal, even if someone else came to ask about my brother's family affairs and did not say how my brother was, or how Yide was, I would kill him with my own hands!"

Seeing Liu Bei nodding slowly, Guan Yu continued, "Look at the Grand Marshal since he was born, he has kidnapped Yuan Yaoqing and rashly went to Hebei. This shows that the Grand Marshal is naturally natural and cannot be bound. Then Liu Ba wants to restrain him with clan law, isn't it ridiculous? And today, there was no big problem for our army to go to Juyongkou. The only mistake we made was that Tian Yu and others interfered and failed to report to the Grand Marshal in time."

"Brother, think about it. With the Grand Marshal's broad mind, how could he have taken Feihu Road if we had sent an envoy to inform him ten days earlier? We originally chose Feihu Road because it was close to Ji County, which was convenient for you to hold an alliance, and also to intimidate Yuan Xi of Zhuo County nearby. Now it has come to this, I hate it deeply!"

At this time Xu Shu also said: "As General Yunchang said, my lord and I have been coerced by the heroes of Youzhou. It is not a military matter, but a sentiment of our fellow villagers. It is not your fault, it is human nature. I think we should immediately send General Zilong to lead more than a thousand elite Wuhuan cavalry to the south overnight to guard the Grand Marshal, leave General Yide to guard the left and right, and then recruit troops from various counties, and let General Yunchang gather them and control them outside, so that their troops are separated from the two places. In this way, even if the heroes of Youzhou want to cause chaos, it will be difficult to mobilize troops."

Liu Bei sighed again: "Since I passed Juyongkou, I have felt that I was tempted by Guo Rang. If I was really worried about the war and the harm to my hometown, why would I have such a competitive and victorious heart?"

He turned and looked at Xu Shu: "Now the Grand Marshal has passed Feihukou, and the change will happen soon. I am afraid we will not be able to catch up with him."

Xu Shu was silent, so Guan Yu asked, "Brother, should we just sit back and watch when the Grand Marshal is ambushed? This is a dispute of morality. The Grand Marshal is not loved by the gentlemen, not because he hates old enemies, but because of the livelihood of the people! If our army does not move, we will regret it in the future! Rather than regretting, I would rather not have Youzhou! Look at Zhang Xiu, he has no relatives, but because of his talent, he controls the four counties of Hexi! Your virtue and talent are ten times better than Zhang Xiu, so why worry about your future achievements?"

Anyway, what is being done and what has been accomplished in Guanzhong is very much to Guan Yu's liking.

He even planned to name his daughter, who had just learned to speak, Qinghua.

It doesn't matter whether it's the Liu family or not. As long as the powerful are suppressed and more people can live a better life, he can accept it.

When a person dies, his policies come to an end. Now it is time to restore the policies of our ancestors. This is the true inheritance of the mantle, and is much more reliable than nominal descendants.

Liu Bei stretched out his hand and slowly drew out his sword, holding it vertically in front of him, looking at the vague human figure reflected by the mirror-like sword. Only a pair of eyes appeared clear because of the reflection of the campfire, like two small sparks.

The opinions and support of his hometown people really made Liu Bei reluctant to give up this sense of achievement. He couldn't help but think of Jian Yong who went to Yunzhong County to serve as the county governor. In winter, the heavy snow blocked the road and Yunzhong County was just established. Jian Yong also stayed with him in Ji County.

When spring came and flowers bloomed, Jian Yong traveled to Yunzhong to take up his post. He regarded himself as the prefect of the Han Dynasty, visited various places to comfort the people, worked hard to restore the county government, and established a new county government.

Even with all the hard work up to now, the number of registered households in Yunzhong County is less than 3,000, but Jian Yong is happy with it and rarely asks about the affairs of the General Zhenbei's Mansion.

Jian Yong was also from Youzhou. How could he abandon and not care about the opinions of his fellow townsmen?

Perhaps Jian Yong was not the same kind of person as these Youzhou heroes, and it seemed that he himself was not either.

Just like when Tian Yu parted ways with him during the rescue of Xuzhou, what both sides cared about and pursued were always different things.

Just as Guan Yu said, when the heroes of Youzhou formed the Han-Hu coalition to avenge Liu Yu, a native of Xuzhou, and cooperated with Yuan Shao to force Gongsun Zan to death, there was no similarity between him and the heroes of Youzhou except that they grew up in the same place.

If they could force Gongsun Zan to death, they would naturally be able to force another hero who killed the Hu to death.

"It's really like a dream."

Liu Bei slowly sheathed his sword. Thinking of his mother who died early from overwork and illness, his voice trembled as he whispered, "It's just that my parents can't see my achievements today. Such achievements, as Yun Chang said, are not worth regretting."

Then he turned to Xu Shu and said in a serious tone: "Military Advisor, our troops are stationed at Chanhe Pond and cannot move."

Xu Shu was stunned, then reacted and immediately bowed: "I understand."

After a brief moment of astonishment, Guan Yu said, "If you are like this, I am afraid that the Grand Marshal will not listen to your explanations later."

"Since the Grand Marshal has won, he will be magnanimous to others."

Liu Bei looked up at the clear, bright and blue night sky and said, "As for Yide, Yunchang, you need to be more careful so that he doesn't get sick from anger."

"Don't worry, brother."

Guan Yu then said, "This matter must be kept secret from Yide. Only he can deceive Tian Yu and Xian Yu Fu. What about Zilong?"

"Zilong is a man of duty and a man of integrity. He knows me well and will remain loyal to his duties even if he has doubts."

Liu Bei thought for a moment and said, "I want to see how courageous Yuan Benchu's son is."

Then he looked up at the night sky. Only by cleaning up Youzhou could the widow who would raise her son in the future get treatment from Taoist Youyun when she fell ill, just like in Guanzhong.

Unconsciously, two lines of tears slid down the corners of my eyes.

He missed his mother terribly tonight and felt even more sad. His best friend since childhood, Tian Yu, had finally become the kind of person he hated the most.

If Tian Yu is like this, what about Qian Zhao?

Will Qian Zhao be the first to rush to the front when Yuan sends troops to attack this time?
When they were young, Tian Yu and Qian Zhao both had the ambition to kill the Hu people. As they grew older, they admired heroes like Duan Xing and Gongsun Zan.

They all wanted to be a hero like Gongsun Bogui, but now they have become the opponents of the Grand Marshal.

Are they too conservative, or is Da Sima too radical?
Since we can't control it and don't want to fight, we should just stay at Chanhebi and let them fight freely.

(End of this chapter)