The secret edict in the sash

closer than blood brothers. Therefore, folklore has it that the three of them used to worship as brothers.

After Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao, Cao Cao and Liu Bei went to attack Lu Bu together and destroyed Lu Bu's power. When they returned to Xudu, Cao Cao asked Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to make Liu Bei the left general, and he respected Liu Bei so much that he asked him to accompany him when he went in and out.

When Liu Bei saw Cao Cao's respect for him, he felt uneasy because he had his ambition and was afraid of Cao Cao's suspicion.

Cao Cao looked up to Liu Bei on the surface, but secretly he was also on guard against him. He sent someone to see what Liu Bei was doing at home, but he saw that Liu Bei was planting and watering vegetables in his garden and there was nothing suspicious, so he gradually felt relieved.

At this time, there was an incident in court. Because Cao Cao's power had grown so great, Emperor Xian of Han thought he was too tyrannical and asked his relative Dong Cheng to try to get rid of Cao Cao. He wrote a secret edict and sewed it into his sash, and gave the sash to Dong Cheng.

When Dong Cheng received the secret edict in his sash, he secretly met with some of his cronies to discuss how to get rid of Cao Cao. They felt that they did not have enough power, but thought that Liu Bei, who was a descendant of the royal family, would surely help them, so they secretly approached Liu Bei to discuss and asked him to go and do it together. Liu Bei agreed.

Not long after, Cao Cao invited Liu Bei to drink. The two men drank and laughed, and talked very well. As they talked, it was natural for them to talk about world affairs.

Cao Cao picked up his wine glass and said, "You see so many people are fighting for the world now, how many of them are considered heroes?"

Liu Bei said modestly, "I can't say."

Cao Cao smiled and calmly said to Liu Bei, "In my opinion, the only two contemporary heroes of the world are General and me, Cao Cao. A man like Yuan Shao is nothing."

Liu Bei was in a state of confusion about his conspiracy with Dong Cheng when he heard Cao Cao's words, he was so shocked that his body shivered and he dropped his chopsticks.

At this juncture, the sky flashed a lightning bolt, followed by a loud thunderclap. Liu Bei lowered himself to pick up his chopsticks and said, "This thunder is powerful, scaring people like this."

In this way, he managed to cover up his panic and did not let Cao Cao see the flaw.

After he finished drinking, Liu Bei pondered Cao Cao's words, again and again, thinking that Cao Cao regarded him as his only enemy and would not let him go easily in the future. After that, he liaised with Dong Cheng and the others to try to get rid of Cao Cao; on the other hand, he looked for an opportunity to leave Vudu.

It so happened that Yuan Shao sent his son to Qingzhou to meet Yuan Shu and to pass through Xuzhou. Cao Cao thought Liu Bei was familiar with that area, so he sent him to intercept Yuan Shu.

Liu Bei was eager to leave before it was too late, and as soon as he received Cao Cao's order, he flew off with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei with his men.

When Cao Cao's strategist Guo Jia and others heard that Cao Cao had let Liu Bei go, they quickly went to Cao Cao and said, "Liu Bei has ambition, you can't let him go!"

After Guo Jia reminded him, Cao Cao also felt remorseful and immediately sent his men after him, but Liu Bei had already gone far away.

Liu Bei defeated Yuan Shu and captured Xuzhou, and decided not to go back to Vudu. Xuzhou was originally the place where Liu Bei had been the state pastor, and all the nearby counties responded to him and betrayed Cao Cao.

Once Cao Cao heard that Liu Bei had betrayed him, he was furious. By the spring of the next year, someone denounced to Cao Cao that Dong Cheng and Liu Bei had conspired against Cao Cao in Xu Du. Cao Cao killed Dong Cheng and three of his inner circle, and resolved to send an army to conquer Liu Bei himself.

At that time, Yuan Shao had already annexed Youzhou (in the northern part of modern Hebei and most of Liaoning) with hundreds of thousands of men and threatened to attack Vudu.

The generals under Cao Cao dissuaded him, saying, "Yuan Shao is the main one fighting with you for the world. I heard that Yuan Shao is trying to fight over, but you are going east to fight Liu Bei. What will we do if Yuan Shao fights from the north?"

Cao Cao said, "Liu Bei is a capable man. If we don't destroy him now before it's too late, there will be endless problems in the future."

Guo Jia also said, "Liu Bei has just risen to rebellion and not many people have attached to him, so if we fight him immediately, we can definitely defeat him. Yuan Shao's nature is hesitant and suspicious, even if he were to come and attack, he would not be so quick."

Cao Cao then decided to put a part of his elite army to guard Guandu (northeast of present-day Zhongmou, Henan Province) against Yuan Shao's attack. He personally led a large army to attack Xuzhou.

Liu Bei sent for help from Yuan Shao, whose strategist Tian Feng advised Yuan Shao to take advantage of the empty strength of Xudu to sneak in on Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao did not agree.

Cao Cao's army attacked Xuzhou, and Liu Bei's army was too small to resist Cao Cao's attack. He had to abandon Xuzhou to defect to Yuan Shao in Jizhou.