Chapter 143

Tents covered the mountains and plains, and thousands of banners fluttered in the wind.

Inside the camp, the neighing of warhorses and the drilling of soldiers rose one after another; there were at least over two hundred thousand troops!

At the camp entrance,

Guan Yu and Zhao Yun led troops to set up camp in the designated area.

Liu Bei dismounted and cupped his hands.

"Thank you all heroes for welcoming me! I, Liu, have arrived late; please forgive me!"

Gongsun Zan laughed out loud.

"Brother Xuande, I haven't seen you for a year; you have truly made me look at you with new eyes!"

Liu Bei cupped his hands.

"I have also missed you, brother."

"Thanks to you, brother, for letting Zilong go to me; otherwise, when I assassinated Dong Zhuo and fought everywhere, I would have lacked an excellent helper."

Gongsun Zan nodded. "Very good, very good."

Gongsun Zan felt bitter in his heart; who would have thought that a minor general he casually gave away would now become a great general!

It was a pity that he had already given him away; there was no such thing as asking for him back. Liu Bei now had high prestige, so it was not good to offend him.

Yuan Shao laughed.

"Brother Xuande, the matter of us fighting side by side in Luoyang to execute the Ten Eunuchs is still fresh in my memory."

"Brother Benchu, I still admire you for opposing Dong Zhuo's deposition of the Emperor in the court."

Liu Bei looked at Cao Cao.

"Brother Mengde assassinated Dong alone; his courage and wisdom were both excellent."

Cao Cao also laughed out loud.

"Xuande, I am not as good as you. Dong Zhuo was stabbed by you until he was covered in blood; I heard he had to sleep on his stomach for two months!"

Zhang Fei muttered 'quietly',

"My brother also earned a precious sword; it was dropped by Cao Mengde, right?"

Cao Cao's mouth twitched. Could you stop talking? Don't I have face?

Liu Bei took out the Seven-Star Precious Sword.

"Brother Mengde, I should return this sword to its original owner."

Cao Cao hurriedly waved his hand.

"A precious sword is for a hero. Brother Xuande, you have merit in assassinating Dong Zhuo; you should keep it."

He didn't want this sword, lest he think of that incident every day!

Liu Bei thanked him. To tell the truth, this Seven-Star Precious Sword was quite easy to use, and he had other uses for it; he really couldn't give it to Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu said sarcastically,

"Liu Bei, you are a noble person. We have all been here for several days, and you have arrived late."

Yuan Shu was very dissatisfied with Liu Bei; a person who sold straw sandals was now the Inspector of Bingzhou, and his reputation was higher than his own!

Liu Bei laughed.

"Brother Gonglu has always been fast; you were also the fastest to come out of Luoyang."

Yuan Shu's face was about to twist. This Liu Bei was implying that he was the fastest to run away and was afraid of death!

He snorted and turned to walk back.

Liu Bei greeted the other warlords again.

Everyone returned to the tents and began to drink, eat meat, and brag!

Liu Bei was naturally the target of everyone's toasting, and he didn't refuse anyone.

"Gentlemen, I arrived a bit late; I should be punished, I should be punished!"

Several warlords who met him for the first time instantly felt that Liu Bei was someone they could get along with; drinking with him was refreshing!

Everyone began to brag again.

Wang Kuang laughed.

"I have the great general Fang Yue; I will definitely make that old thief Dong Zhuo never return!"

Han Fu laughed.

"My great general Pan Feng is skilled with a great axe; the people of Jizhou call him the Peerless Divine General!"

Yuan Shu was not to be outdone and glared at Liu Bei.

"My brave general Yu She can behead Lu Bu!"

Liu Bei??

What kind of alliance was this? It was clearly a bragging contest!

"The only thing missing is melon seeds and peanuts!"

After several rounds of drinking,

Yuan Shao coughed.

"Xuande, we were discussing the matter of choosing an alliance leader. We think that because you assassinated Dong Zhuo and are world-renowned, you can be the alliance leader!"

Liu Bei looked at Yuan Shao; this guy's hypocrisy was visible to the naked eye!

Liu Bei had no intention of being the alliance leader. Not many people supported him, and besides, the gun hits the bird that sticks its head out; he didn't need to hang the name of alliance leader on himself.

Liu Bei cupped his hands.

"Brother Benchu, you are too polite. I, Liu Bei, am just a person who weaves mats and sells sandals; how can I take this position of alliance leader?"

"Brother Benchu, you deserve it; don't decline anymore!"

Several others also persuaded him. Yuan Shao pretended to decline again and then became the alliance leader.

Yuan Shu curled his lips and secretly cursed Liu Bei for having no vision; he, the legitimate son of the Yuan family, was standing here, was he blind?!

Yuan Shao waved his hand and had the soldiers build an alliance platform, while the warlords continued to drink!

Kong Rong raised his glass and walked over, admiring him.

"Brother Xuande, I only knew how to yield pears when I was a child, but you yielded the position of alliance leader; I am not as good as you!"

Liu Bei drank a few cups with him and laughed.

"Brother Wenju, I am not as good as you. You really wanted to eat the pear, but I really didn't want to be the alliance leader."

Kong Rong pondered for a while.

"Xuande is an honest person; I have decided to make you my friend!"

Kong Rong almost dragged Liu Bei to kill a chicken and burn yellow paper to swear brotherhood!

Liu Bei hurriedly poured him several bowls of wine and got him drunk!

Early the next morning, the sun was rising.

The warlords, still somewhat hungover, rushed to the high platform.

Yuan Shao straightened his clothes and sword, looked solemn, went up with a heroic spirit, burned incense, and bowed again!

After listening to the alliance oath, the warlords smeared blood to swear an alliance, vowing to crusade against the rebels and support the Han!

Liu Bei secretly thought,

"Fortunately, we didn't have to swear to die in the same year, same month, and same day!"

After everyone drank and bragged yesterday, Liu Bei discovered that he was actually the youngest among the warlords.

He was the only one born in the 60s, born in 161 AD.

Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Kong Rong, and Sun Jian were all born in the 50s, and Tao Qian was even born in the 30s...

"Liu Bei has almost no foundation and is still young; it is truly not easy to become a warlord who divides the world into three!"

He looked around.

Many of the warlords here would fall in the next few years as the great waves washed away the sand!

Shanyang Governor Yuan Yi joined his cousin Yuan Shao and was killed while competing with Yuan Shu for Yangzhou!

Yanzhou Inspector Liu Dai was later killed by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans!

Yuzhou Inspector Kong Zhou was killed by Dong Zhuo!

Jizhou Inspector Han Fu had Jizhou snatched by Yuan Shao, joined Zhang Miu, and committed suicide because he was afraid of Yuan Shao's pursuit!

Zhang Miu later fought with Cao Cao and was killed!

Sun Jian obtained the Imperial Jade Seal and was shot to death by Huang Zu on the way home!