Liu Bei led his troops out of Xinye. His force of fewer than ten thousand included old subordinates from Runan, Jing Province soldiers assigned by Liu Biao, newly recruited local militiamen from Xinye, and rebels he had gathered in Jiangxia.
They had not trained for long or seen much combat, and their troops came from a jumble of sources, so their fighting ability was cause for concern. Fortunately, Guan, Zhang, and Zhao were all Ten Thousand Enemies, and Xu Shu handled troop deployments and command with impressive skill.
After marching north for half a day, they reached Xi'e. Wen Ping, the Nanyang garrison commander, and Yi Ji met them outside the city.
Liu Bei saw that Yi Ji looked troubled, and his heart began to pound. Could Xu Shu and Lan Tian have been right after all?
The two sides exchanged bows. Wen Ping said with a smile, "His Excellency Liu has arrived quickly."
"An army values speed. General Wen, are you ready? When shall we set out?" Liu Bei asked.
"His Excellency may go ahead. My troops here aren't ready yet," Wen Ping replied with a smile.
Liu Bei was baffled. He looked at Yi Ji in confusion, thinking, That's not what you said before you left.
Yi Ji explained awkwardly, "Zhongye's hands are tied for the time being. Xuande can either wait a while or go ahead and lead the troops alone."
Wait? Wait until Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao?
"This is Prefect Liu's order," Liu Bei said, forced to invoke Liu Biao's authority.
Wen Ping smiled. "Our lord surely understands the situation in Nanyang better than I do. Zhong Yao is at Guanzhong to the north, Zhang Lu is at Hanzhong to the west, and there are troops from Xudu to the east. I have only a