Who Said Zhang Ji Had Joined Duke Xuande? Show Me the Evidence!

Liu Biao had joined this great war for a reason. It had all started when Yuan Shu had blocked him from taking office in Jing Province. That alone might have been tolerable, but Yuan Shu had even mocked him in public: "Simp, simp—simp until you end up with nothing."

Of course, the Chinese language was profound and expansive, so Yuan Shu's exact words had not been those. But that had been the gist of it. As the son of an aristocratic clan, Yuan Shu had truly looked down on Liu Biao, whose own birth had been noble enough, for kneeling and fawning before Dong Zhuo. He believed Liu Biao had disgraced both the aristocratic clans and the reputations of renowned scholars.

Liu Biao had always held a grudge over this. But, first, his control over Jing Province had not been strong enough. Mobilizing a large army without the local aristocratic clans' consent had been nothing more than a pipe dream. Well, forget mobilizing a large army—even in his own inner residence, if he wanted to favor a maidservant, he would be beaten viciously by his wife, Lady Cai.

At this point, Liu Biao had already been fifty, while Lady Cai was still young. As for how she had beaten him, we could not say. It had been too bloody, involving things that could not be described in detail.

Back to the main point. The main reason this campaign had been able to proceed was the encouragement of the remnants of the Nanyang aristocratic clans who had fled to Jingxiang. They wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to seize those land interests back from Yuan Shu. Some of Xiangyang's great families had also wanted to use the opportunity to expand their influence. Only through this exchange of interests had this