Chapter 284: I am afraid of being embarrassed to see you, so I left you The next morning, after a night of conversation by candlelight, Liu Bei met with Lu Bu in person. At this time, more than a year has passed since the last meeting between the two. At that time, in Lu Bu's eyes, Liu Bei was just a little brother, and he didn't dare to say a word even when Lu Bu robbed Xuzhou. But when we met again, he was already wearing shackles and heavy chains. I don't know if it was because he had come to his senses in prison, but this time when Lu Bu saw Liu Bei again, he didn't shamelessly call him brother, but knelt on the ground and shouted: "I, the sinner Lu Fengxian, am here to pay my respects to you, my Lord!" Having said this, he bent down, with the shackles hanging to the ground, looking honest. All in all, he spent a month in jail. The once arrogant and domineering flying general now had a foul odor all over his body. His long hair was disheveled and his beard was unkempt and messy.

Wearing a poorly fitting prison uniform, he looked like a death row inmate. When Liu Bei saw this, he did not rush forward to help as he did in the past, and there was no expression on his face. He just looked at Lu Bu, pondered for a long time, and sighed: "Fengxian, why is this happening? The former flying general is now in this situation!" "Although we are not friends, I allowed Fengxian to stay in Xuzhou temporarily in the past, and after Fengxian defeated me, I was willing to accept him." "You and I are not mortal enemies, and I am also wholeheartedly in good terms with Fengxian." "Why did Fengxian attack me from behind when I went south to fight the enemy?" In fact, Liu Bei sometimes reflected on what the grudge between him and Lu Bu was! Why can't the two families live in peace? Could it be that it was because of his inferior background that it was difficult for Lu Bu to be convinced? Therefore, even if he didn't want to kill Lu Bu now, he wanted to get to the bottom of it. After he said this, Lu Bu remained silent. After a long while, he said in a deep voice: "It is because of not understanding the general situation and being unkind to those below that the disaster of today has come to pass." "This is all Bu's own fault, it has nothing to do with you, sir!" This attitude is obviously completely different from Liu Bei's impression of Lu Bu. So when Liu Bei heard this, he told Lu Bu to raise his head. Lu Bu then raised his head, only to see that he lowered his brows and looked submissive, no longer as arrogant as before. Liu Bei looked at his eyes carefully, frowned for a moment and said: "Why is Fengxian unwilling to look up at people?" Lu Bu listened, and suddenly a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"I am ashamed to see you, so I dare not look at you directly!" He didn't lie when he said this, he was really a little shy now. After all, even when he was at his lowest point, he was still neatly dressed when he met Liu Bei. But in his current state, he would feel ashamed even if he saw his wife and daughter, let alone Liu Bei. This is also the truest appearance of Lu Bu. Although he seems to be brave on weekdays, he will actually give in when he should. Just like now, he knew that his life was in Liu Bei's hands, so he just spoke frankly without hiding anything. When Liu Bei saw his appearance, his doubts were reduced by three points. If Lu Bu continues to confront him, it means that Lu Bu is completely stupid and cannot be kept at all. But his current appearance shows that Lu Bu can at least face reality. In this way, the possibility of this person causing trouble again will be much smaller. Thinking of this, he stood up, walked with his hands behind his back and said: "If Bei wants to kill Fengxian, I wonder if Fengxian can blame me?" When Lu Bu heard this, a trace of despair appeared on his heroic face and he said: "I have long heard that Lord Xuande is kind and righteous. I would like to see you in order to save my life." "I didn't expect that you would also want to kill me now, which shows that Bu's fate is like this." "Bu doesn't want to ask for anything more. Please save your family and leave a whole body!" Seeing that he had accepted his fate, Liu Bei asked again: "I will take care of your young ones, but your generals Gao Shun and Wei Yue are unwilling to surrender." "If I kill Fengxian, they will follow Fengxian!" "I wonder what Fengxian thinks, how should they treat it?" Hearing that Gao Shun and Wei Yue were unwilling to surrender, Lu Bu said with a strange look: "My Lord, are you saying that Bo Ping and Zi Ang (Wei Yue) are unwilling to surrender?" In fact, he knew that Wei Yue was unwilling to surrender. After all, the two of them had been temporarily detained together before. But Gao Shun's refusal to surrender was somewhat beyond his expectations. Because the treatment he gave Gao Shun was the worst among all the generals. But unexpectedly, Gao Shun remained so loyal even though almost all his generals rebelled against him. Therefore, after hearing this, even though he was a selfish person, he couldn't help but sigh: "If Bu had known that Bo Ping was so loyal and brave, would he have abandoned him?" Thinking of this, he felt even more regretful and quickly raised his head to Liu Bei and said: "Your Excellency's greatest enemy is only Bu, and both of them are innocent. Please pardon them!" Seeing that he could plead for the two, Liu Bei could not help but said in a deep voice:

"If they don't surrender, how can I pardon them?" After hearing this, Lu Bu finally understood Liu Bei's intention, and immediately laughed at himself: "As long as you are willing to pardon the two, I am willing to lobby for you!" "Zi'ang is my brother, he will definitely surrender!" "Bo Ping's life was saved by me. If I persuade him, he will surrender!" He was originally ready to die, but he didn't expect that he would have to do Liu Bei a favor before he died. In the past, he might have begged for mercy. But now he could see clearly that all of Liu Bei's men wanted him dead. In this situation, Liu Bei has made it clear, so why is he begging for mercy? At least before he died, he could save a little face for himself. However, what Lu Bu did not expect was that after he said this, Liu Bei spoke up instead: "If you can persuade these two to surrender, I can spare your life!" As soon as these words came out, Lu Bu's body was shocked, and he suddenly raised his head and looked at Liu Bei and said: "Does Mingshou really want to spare Bu's life?" Liu Bei raised his eyebrows, looked at Lu Bu meaningfully and said: "Does Fengxian want to die wholeheartedly?" Did Lu Bu want to die? Of course not! Even before he met Liu Bei, he was only thinking about surviving. But at that moment he had really given up. So Liu Bei suddenly gave him hope of survival, which surprised him: "But Bu has betrayed you and fought back several times, will you spare my life?" Of course, he regretted it as soon as he said this. What if Liu Bei has already forgotten these things, wouldn't he be seeking death if he brought them up now? But Liu Bei obviously had not forgotten. He slowly turned his back and sighed: "Since we met, you have betrayed me four times!" "In the past, all the princes in Guandong were unwilling to accept you, but I accepted them. You took Xuzhou from me and worked with Yuan Shu to cut off my retreat." "Later, I stationed in Xiaopei to guard the border for you, and you turned against me again." "I will fight Yuan Shu with you, and you can rebel again after you win." "As for our alliance, you have betrayed my covenant again!" "To be honest with you, Fengxian, I have wanted to kill him since I knew that I had captured him." "But Kong Ming and the military advisor under my command all advised not to kill him." "I think we are all from the north, and although we come from poor backgrounds, we shouldn't be so shameless." "This time I met Fengxian because Fengxian asked me to see him that day, and now I have fulfilled Fengxian's wish."

"If you rebel again in the future, even if Fengxian wants to see me again, I will be ashamed to see you!" "I hope you will take care of yourself and don't do it again!" After saying this, Liu Bei no longer looked at Lu Bu, and walked towards the back hall with his hands behind his back. Lu Bu was left alone, kneeling on the ground, his face full of shame and unable to utter a word. In mid-February of the fourth year of Jian'an, after Lu Bu was defeated and captured, Liu Bei made a decision that surprised everyone in the world. Just when everyone thought that Liu Bei would kill Lu Bu as soon as he caught him, Liu Bei did not kill Lu Bu. As soon as this decision was made, it caused an uproar among Liu Bei's subordinates. First, Yuan Huan, Liu Fu, Sun Qian and others in Shouchun City came to persuade Lü Bu that he should not be allowed to stay. Later, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei wrote letters to urge him to kill Lü Bu. Except for a few people such as Qin Zhen, Zhuge Liang, and Xu Shu, almost no one advised Liu Bei to kill him. But Liu Bei endured such pressure and saved Lu Bu's life. Lu Bu was simply deprived of his military power and settled in a farm outside Shouchun. This move undoubtedly required tremendous courage and magnanimity, and once caused confusion among the public. However, many scholars also praised Liu Bei for his benevolence and righteousness, as well as the spirit of Emperor Gaozu, and the opinions from all sides were mixed. At the same time, Gao Shun and Wei Yue quietly joined Liu Bei's army. After the two joined, according to Qin Zhen's suggestion, Liu Bei transferred Wei Yue to Dongzhi and went to Nanping County with the new prefect Zhuge Jin. Gao Shun was arranged by Qin Zhen to serve as an instructor beside Zhao Yun, responsible for training the elite troops in their army. This position does not involve commanding the army and cannot mobilize troops, but can assist in training the army. In a sense, this is also the best way to place Gao Shun at the moment. At the same time, Liu Bei also began a new round of military deployment and official transfers. Zhang Liao was transferred by Liu Bei to serve under Chen Deng as General of the Central Army, and was responsible for wiping out the local tyrants and pirates in Donghai County together with Chen Deng and Lei Xu. Gan Ning was ordered to go to Guangling and borrow a boat from a noble family to go north to meet Gongsun Zan. Chen Qun was appointed by Liu Bei as his Gongcao Congshi, which was considered as a direct entrustment of an important task. Wei Xu and others stayed in Shouchun, temporarily idle and waiting for transfer. Pei Qian, Shi Tao, Meng Jian and others served as county magistrates to stabilize the situation in each county. After some operations, on February 17th, Liu Bei's concubine Gan gave birth to a son. Therefore, the child was born at sunrise, and the sunlight shone on the snow, making it appear pure white, so the child was nicknamed White Pig. Baitun means white pig, which was also a custom of giving nicknames in ancient times. I don't ask for anything trustworthy, elegant, or successful, I just want a humble name that's easy to raise, for example, Emperor Wu of Han, whose nickname was Zhui, and Sima Xiangru, whose nickname was Quanzi.

The name Adou, according to legend, came from Gan who dreamed of swallowing the Big Dipper and was named Dou. However, in this timeline, Liu Adou no longer exists, and in his place there is a Liu Baitun. Liu Bei was delighted to have this son. He held a grand banquet for three consecutive days to celebrate with his ministers without saying much. Just as Liu Bei's army was overjoyed, Xu Du, hundreds of miles away, was in the midst of undercurrents. In Xuchang City, inside Sikong Mansion, since the emperor moved the capital, this place has had half of the court's jobs. Almost all official business would first be handled by Xun Yu from the Secretariat before being sent to Cao Cao’s mansion for him to see. After Cao Cao had read them, he classified the documents, kept some of them, and submitted some to Liu Xie. It can be said that this place is the transit agency for documents from all over the Han Dynasty, and it is also the gathering place of the Cao family. As the coldest weather of the year is about to pass, the snow is gradually melting, and the red plum blossoms are hanging on the branches, swaying in the cold wind that blows into the courtyard. In Cao Cao's study, a group of ministers gathered here, waiting for Cao Cao to check the news coming from various places. The heat from the warm room made the entire room airtight, and even made many people sweat, but no one said a word and no one moved. Everyone looked at Cao Cao quietly, waiting for him to finish reading the letter in his hand. After a long silence, Cao Cao finally picked up the teacup on the table and said with a look of surprise: "So, although Lü Bu was captured by Qin Zhen and brought to Shouchun, Liu Da'er didn't kill him?" Beside him, Guo Jia knelt on the fourth seat and said with his head lowered: "That's right. Liu Bei didn't kill Lu Bu, most likely because of Qin Zhen's intention." "Although such behavior is risky, it can win people's hearts." "Lv Bu's subordinates Qin Song, Wei Xu and others all praised Liu Bei's virtue!" "In my opinion, Qin Zhen's move may be a hint for Sun Ce to surrender." "He is using this strategy to shake people's hearts. I'm afraid that even Sun Ce will find it difficult to resist after the spring!" "The land of Jiangdong will soon fall into Liu Bei's hands!" "Incredible, incredible, Qin Zixuan is truly incredible!" Cao Cao listened to Guo Jia's words and praised Qin Zhen: "It has only been two years since he joined Liu Xuande, and Liu Xuande has already conquered three states." "Looking back now, our army's past situation is indeed closely related to Zixuan." "Liu Bei is not a simple man either. He can tolerate what others cannot tolerate. He even didn't kill Lu Bu. I can't compare to him!" Seeing this, Guo Jia hurriedly wanted to speak, but before he could say anything, Cao Cao looked up and said with a smile: "Then, Qin Zhen said something very well, 'Those who left me, yesterday's day cannot be kept; those who disturbed my heart, today's day is full of worries.'"

"Since Liu Bei has this destiny, let us not worry about him!" "I asked you all to come here today because I have only one thing to discuss!" At this point, his smile faded, and he put the teacup on the table and said in a deep voice: "I would like to advise the emperor to move the capital to Chang'an. What do you think?" (End of this chapter)