Three Kingdoms: Rebirth of Liu Bei, the Zhaolie

Zhang Shiping, a prominent merchant from Zhongshan, naturally knew Zuo Zi and Zhang Ba.

He glanced at Jian Yong, Qian Zhao, Dongye Ban, Xinyuan Jian, and Guan Yu, and asked Liu Bei:

"Xuande, who are these brothers?"

After briefly introducing the names and hometowns of the five men, Liu Bei continued:

"They are all my close friends. We can talk about anything with each other."

The idea is to have Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang treat the five of them and Liu Bei as a single entity.

Zhang Shiping nodded, glanced at the others, and smiled:

"I observe that all of you possess extraordinary signs, indicating that you will all achieve great things in the future. In particular, Xuande, with his large ears and long arms, is a sign of great fortune and prosperity, and his future will be immeasurably noble."

He glanced at Guan Yu again and said:

"Yun Chang is tall and imposing, his divine might is insurmountable, and he is also a man of great nobility."

Then he said to Qian Zhao:

"Zi Jing has a strong constitution and will surely grow up to be a person of great courage and ambition."

He glanced at Jian Yong again:

"Xianhe is the epitome of a refined, noble, and leisurely life."

After saying that, he fell silent.

Higashino Ban was waiting for this Zhongshan University student to evaluate him, but when he suddenly stopped talking, he couldn't help but become anxious and pressed him for an answer:

"This wealthy businessman from Zhongshan, what about me? What will become of me? And what about Aragaki Kan?"

Zhang Shiping glanced at the Dongye platoon and pondered for a moment:

"Brother Higashino has the appearance of a fierce general, and Brother Aragaki has the appearance of a wise general."

Liu Bei couldn't help but say:

"It seems Brother Zhang can also read faces! I thought Brother Zhang only knew how to judge horses."

Zhang Shiping burst into laughter at those words.

Everyone burst into laughter.

Zhang Shiping sighed:

"Over the past ten years, I have traveled around doing business and met countless people. Unconsciously, I have learned to understand a person's inner thoughts by looking at their face. My judgment of people may not be accurate, but it is usually quite right."

"I'm a horse trader, so naturally I can judge horses. But I'm not as good as Su Shuang. Su Shuang's horse-judging skills are unparalleled. So, for over a decade, we've been business partners, complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses to make a profit together."

Liu Bei immediately said to Su Shuang:

"Brother Su, we happen to have four horses here, tied up at the corner of the Cuju field. Would you please take a look at them?"

"it is good."

Su Shuang nodded.

Liu Bei then had Zhang Ba lead over a horse.

Su Shuang glanced at it briefly and said:

"These are horses bought from the Western Regions. Their quality is impeccable; they are top-grade military horses. However, compared to the horses raised by the Wuhuan people in Liaodong, these Western Region horses are somewhat pampered. You need to feed them fine millet and lush, fresh grass for them to be energetic and strong."

Liu Bei listened, nodded, and asked:

"Don't the horses raised by the Wuhuan people need to be fed with concentrated feed and fresh grass?"

Su Shuang shook her head:

"No need. The horses raised by the Wuhuan people are naturally not as tall and magnificent as the horses of the Western Regions, but they are docile, easy to tame, and can withstand the cold, so they don't need to be fed with concentrated feed every day."

"When it's snowing heavily, if you give it some dry hay, it can survive on the snow. If used as a military horse, it can adapt to long marches and raids."

"Simply put, the horses of the Western Regions were mostly ridden by noble princes, generals, and officers. Ordinary cavalry mostly rode Wuhuan horses and Xianbei horses."

Everyone nodded silently after hearing this.

Liu Bei addressed Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang:

"It seems you two each possess unique skills. You make a good pair, true partners. Are you two heading to Liaodong to trade horses again, passing through Zhuojun after leaving Zhongshan?"

Zhang Shiping nodded and said:

"Yes, we are transporting some grain, cloth, wine and other goods to sell in the Liaodong vassal state. We happened to be passing through Zhuojun, so we stopped here at Shiwulipu for a few days to visit our old friends Zuo Zi and Zhang Ba."

Liu Bei said:

"I heard that in the past, when you traded horses from the Liaodong area, you would settle them in this Cuju field after passing through Shiwulipu."

"Yes."

Zhang Shiping nodded and said, "In the past, we purchased several hundred military horses for the Zhuojun Commandery, along with some service horses and riding horses, which were then confined here for sale. However, military sales are sometimes available and sometimes not. It mainly depends on the war situation on the frontier."

"It seems your business is quite large."

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then asked, "From the Liaodong area to this Zhuojun, one has to pass through several large commanderies, including Liaoxi, Youbeiping, Yuyang, and Guangyang. Has the journey been relatively peaceful?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shiping sighed and said:

"The past few years have been relatively peaceful and stable. But things haven't been so good in recent years."

"What's wrong? What trouble have you run into?"

Liu Bei asked.

"well……"

Zhang Shiping sighed. "Speaking of which, it all happened last autumn... You know, we usually start trading horses from Liaodong to the interior every autumn. Horses in autumn, after a whole summer of lush pastures and abundant water, have new coats growing and are at their strongest and most marketable. Once they arrive in the interior, they're ready to be sold. Last year, we spent a lot of money buying over sixty fine horses, intending to sell them to Zhuojun. But when we got to Youbeiping County, a group of bandits from who-knows-where robbed us of all our horses..."

Liu Bei asked curiously:

"This journey has been long and arduous, and you are a prominent merchant family from Zhongshan. Didn't you spend a fortune to hire a few sword-wielding swordsmen as bodyguards?"

"Thank you."

Zhang Shiping said, "We've hired seven wandering knights. But there are several hundred bandits coming to plunder. They outnumber us and we can't possibly defeat them. In the past, there were only a few horse thieves, and the seven knights could handle that with ease. But now, if we encounter bandits, it's all over."

Liu Bei then asked:

"Who are these bandits who stole your sixty fine horses?"

Zhang Shiping couldn't help but say resentfully:

"Later, we actually sent a few wandering knights to investigate in secret. We eventually learned that this band of mountain bandits numbered more than a thousand and were entrenched in the fortified village on Mount Xuwu. Their leader was called the Five Deer King."

"King Wulu..."

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then looked at the crowd and asked, "Does anyone here recognize this person?"

Although he glanced at everyone, he was actually asking Zuo Zi and Zhang Ba if they knew this bandit leader called Wu Lu Da Wang.

After all, among everyone present, only Zuo Zi had spent some time with Zhang Niujiao, a bandit from Baishi Mountain, and might know many ruthless bandits in the martial arts world.

Everyone shook their heads.

Zuo Zi and Zhang Ba also shook their heads.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then said:

"It seems that this bandit known as King Wulu is a recent addition to the mountain."

He then looked at Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang and asked:

"Since you two sent out wandering knights to investigate secretly, have you been able to find out anything about this person?"

Zhang Shiping sighed and said:

"All we know is that this man was originally a refugee. His surname was Wulu. 'King' was his nickname. As for his real name, it is impossible to find out. King Wulu was arrogant and conceited, yet he was incredibly brave and strong. He was skilled in using heavy weapons such as iron axes and hammers, and he was also very good at archery and horsemanship."

Liu Bei nodded silently and said:

"This person's weapons and equipment are somewhat similar to those of the Xiongnu, but his surname—Wu Lu—is a Han Chinese surname."

Zhang Shiping frowned and said:

"As for whether this King of Wulu is a Xiongnu or a Han Chinese... I can't be sure. In any case, he has occupied the fortified village of Xuwu Mountain and is committing all sorts of evil deeds. The government troops are busy dealing with the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes beyond the Great Wall and have no way to deal with him for the time being."

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then gave everyone a meaningful look and said mysteriously:

"Gentlemen, I suddenly have an idea. Why don't we practice on Xu Wushan's Five Deer King first?"

Everyone present, except for Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, two prominent merchants from Zhongshan, knew Liu Bei's meaning.

That was to practice on the bandit leader Wu Lu from Xu Wushan in Youbeiping County before heading to the Xianbei royal court beyond the Great Wall to assassinate Khan Tan Shihuai. It was like a rehearsal.

Upon hearing this, Qian Zhao was very excited and said in a deep voice:

"Can."

……

Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, wealthy merchants from Zhongshan, were rich and traded horses in Zhuojun. They saw them and were impressed, so they gave them a lot of money.

—From *Records of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, Biography of Liu Bei*