Meanwhile.
Where Liu Bei was,
in his early years, he had never been someone who enjoyed studying the classics and histories.
He had never received a systematic education.
He had once studied under Lu Zhi, but only nominally. Most of his time had been spent befriending heroes and men of ambition.
Yet with Wenren Sheng, he restrained the restless urge in his heart to achieve great deeds.
The reason was simple. Like his ancestor Liu Bang, he discovered that this was different from the learning of Confucian scholars—it produced tangible results.
Grain supplies grew more abundant by the day, and military strength increased by the day.
More land was acquired each day, and popular support flourished by the day.
This greatly shook Liu Bei.
So he actually held himself back and remained here to study.
And his intelligence was by no means low.
It could be said that among the generals beneath Cao Cao, if Cao Cao himself did not take the field, few could defeat Liu Bei.
Yet he could not withstand Cao Cao. In the end, he simply could not.
Later, once he had Fazheng, he successfully repelled Cao Cao in the Battle of Hanzhong and achieved his first reversal of fortune.
Unfortunately, he could not hold on. Unable to follow Liu Bang's path again, the King of Hanzhong became the King of Shu.
He studied Wenren Sheng's methods of management in earnest.
From grain supplies to commerce, from commerce to military training.
The more he learned, the more astonished he became. The more he learned, the more he felt that Wenren Sheng's knowledge was vast and profound, unfathomable to the very bottom.
In short, for a full ten months, while his peers were fighting the Yellow Turbans, earning merit, and demanding rewards, he actually restrained his own