Gongsun Zan fled north to Youzhou. Naturally, men pursued him hard on his heels, but achieved little. No other branch of troops could match cavalry when it came to fleeing for their lives.
Lü Bu and Yuan Shao, these two allies, finally met.
In truth, the two were still relative strangers. Or rather, everyone of any standing in the world was relatively unfamiliar with Lü Bu.
The world's impression of Lü Bu was that he had served under Ding Yuan, the former Bingzhou Inspector: a frontier commandery warrior who enjoyed considerable prestige among the frontier Hu people and soldiers, known as the Flying General.
Their strongest impression after that was of the battle against Zhang Jue at Gong County, when the feudal lords had rallied to the emperor. Ding Yuan had been killed, and Lü Bu had led his men straight off the battlefield and fled north.
This counted as a major stain on Lü Bu's record.
But apart from a handful of feudal lords, everyone else's hands were dirty too, so few people brought it up.
Later, Lü Bu became Governor of Bingzhou, but his presence in the world remained faint. Bingzhou was poor, after all.
Lü Bu had committed so much this time because Yuan Shao wanted to establish a marriage alliance with him. To Lü Bu, that was an enormous honor.
Upon meeting him, Yuan Shao immediately bowed. "I thank you for coming to my aid, Lord Lü!"
Pride showed plainly on Lü Bu's face, but at least he remembered that the man before him would soon be his in-law. He clasped his hands and bowed. "You are far too courteous, Lord Benchu. We are family by marriage. Helping you is no different from helping myself."
Following at Lü Bu's side, Zhang Liao's mouth twitched at those