After the Yellow Turban Rebellion was completely quelled, Huangfu Song truthfully explained to Liu Hong with his noble character that Lu Zhi worked hard and won many battles during his tenure. If he had not consumed the Yellow Turban's strength significantly before, he would probably not have successfully killed Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao brothers so quickly. Therefore, he suggested to Liu Hong that the first contribution should be recorded on Lu Zhi and severely punished Zuo Feng, who fabricated right and wrong.

Liu Hong thought Huangfu Song's was very reasonable, so he specially sent someone to invite Lu Zhi out of the court and restore his post. However, Liu Hong's attitude towards Huangfu Song's request to punish the eunuch Zuo Feng was very ambiguous, and Zuo Feng had not received any punishment for a long time.

After the official reinstated, Liu Bei, who was following Lu Zhi, was named Anxi County County Captain, while Liu Deran refused to have the title of official position and only received the reward silver. Before Liu Bei was about to go to Anxi to take office, he invited Liu Deran to visit his teacher together in Luoyang. As soon as Lu Zhi saw them, he immediately asked if he had discovered the "Yongyuan Bud" mentioned in Zhang Jiao's letter and his current living status.

Liu Bei told the truth. Although Lu Zhi thought that Liu Deran's handling naturally had a certain degree of overall consideration, judging from his understanding of his disciples, he believed that Liu Deran's heart was not completely positive, and he probably had his own calculations.

Before leaving, Lu Zhi privately told Liu Bei that he must be careful of Liu Deran. However, Liu Bei believed that Liu Deran had been with him since childhood and was like brothers. His father Liu Yuanqi also treated him like his own family, so he was a trustworthy person.

Afterwards, Liu Deran followed Liu Bei to Anxi, Xiami and Gao Tang to serve. During this period, Liu Deran showed his talent far beyond Liu Bei, and had a close relationship with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were under Liu Bei, and had a close relationship with him. However, this did not arouse Liu Bei's slight alertness to Liu Deran, and he still regarded Liu Deran as the closest person.

However, on how to deal with the issue of "Liu Ji", the opinions of Liu Bei and Liu Deran have never been unified. Liu Bei basically remains consistent with Lu Zhi's position. He believes that the emergence of "Liu Ji" at this time will not only not restore the Han Dynasty to its former glory, but will instead make the situation more complicated and worse.

Therefore, Liu Bei has reminded Liu Deran more than once not to burn himself by playing with fire. If Liu Deran is really unwilling to kill "Liu Ji", he should quickly place him in the homes of ordinary people and let him live a peaceful life like an ordinary person.

On the surface, Liu Deran did not continue to argue with him, but secretly Liu Deran had discovered that the gap between Liu Bei's ideal and himself was too big, which forced him to begin to conceive a very large plan.

Liu Bei also saw that Liu Deran had huge ambitions hidden in his heart. He believed that the existence of "Liu Ji" would make Liu Deran increasingly dangerous. Therefore, after thinking about it, he found that the only way was to completely eradicate this important problem.

Without telling Liu Deran in advance, Liu Bei came to the room where "Liu Ji" was placed, without saying a word. After he pushed open the door, he pulled out the sword with the word "Xuande" engraved on the sword body without saying a word.

Just as his sword was about to pierce into "Liu Ji"'s neck, he didn't notice that there was a sword behind him piercing his chest. When he turned around, he found that the person who wanted to kill him was actually Liu Deran...

Facing Liu Bei's face full of confusion and pain, Liu Deran pulled out the sword. The unprepared Liu Bei showed an expression of pain at this time, holding the sword in his hand and supporting it on the ground:

"What are you doing..."

Liu Deran looked at Liu Bei with extremely cold eyes and looked at Liu Bei with a sweaty face:

"We have all given both sides a chance, but it is because of this that we have come to this day..."

Because Liu Deran's sword stabbed Liu Bei's vital point very accurately, Liu Bei lost his heartbeat and breathing without feeling the pain for too long. At this time, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also walked in from outside the door. Liu Deran bent down and picked up Liu Bei's sword, put it in his hand and looked at it carefully, he inserted it into his scabbard. He said to Guan Yu who was standing behind him:

"Please carry him out and bury him well. In the name of Liu Deran, I will be Liu Bei from today onwards..."

For some reason, when Liu Deran looked at Liu Bei's body that was carried out, a tear fell inadvertently at the corner of his eyes. He reached out to wipe it away and then turned around to look at "Liu Ji" who was completely unmoved by it:

"How is it? You didn't tremble like last time when you saw such a bloody scene. Is it because you're used to it..."

"Liu Ji" answered Liu Deran, who had become Liu Bei with a stiff expression, and said coldly:

"For you, I am just a tool to be used, and this is my life..."

In order to avoid Liu Bei's body being discovered in the future, Liu Deran put Liu Bei on a pile of firewood and lit it with a torch.

Seeing the burning flames constantly devouring Liu Bei's body, Liu Deran felt very painful inside, but he did not think that he had done something wrong. As early as the moment he knew the fact of "Yongyuan Sprout", Liu Deran believed that only when the world was in chaos and completely collapsed could it be possible to revive the prosperous era of the Han Dynasty on the ruins.

After burying Liu Bei's ashes, Liu Deran held the sword he had been using before and threw it into the tomb pit.

From then on, Liu Deran completely abandoned all his past and instead survived in the name of Liu Bei, the king of Jing of Zhongshan.

In the same year, the thieves raided Gaotang County. Liu Bei was outnumbered and could only burn the county government. After taking "Liu Ji" and Guan Yu, Zhang Fei fled to the north and rescued his former friend Gongsun Zan.

However, during the escape process, "Liu Ji" suddenly disappeared without anyone noticing it. Liu Bei searched all corners around him and still found nothing. This made him, who had always been very calm, unable to control his emotions for a while, but after calming down, he quickly realized that "Liu Ji"'s disappearance was not a simple accident or accident.

Just as Liu Bei was looking for "Liu Ji", the six-year-old "Liu Ji" was walking very calmly along the Yellow River by a man wearing a black cloak.

"Yu Ji, Zhang Jiao, Liu Deran and others want to use me to achieve their goals. Do you want to use me too?"

"Liu Ji" with his head down looked expressionless, but he knew that he had no other way than to follow.

The man in the cloak smiled. He stopped and squatted down and gently stroked "Liu Ji"'s head with his hands and said gently:

"Don't worry, I won't use you, and I won't allow anyone to use you again, because... you are my son..."

"Liu Ji" could hardly believe that his ears were his ears. He had a father, who had always been used as a tool. This made his expression instantly turn like the bright sunshine that swept away the haze, and burst out with his first smile in his life.

Afterwards, he was taken to Baibogu by a cloaked man and settled down. He lived with the child he raised during his lifetime with Jia Xu, and taught military strategies himself. This period of time became the happiest time for "Liu Ji" since he could remember.

At the same time, Lu Zhi had already learned about the death of "Liu Deran", and he was unaware of it and felt very sad about it.

However, Lu Zhi was still suspicious of what Zhang Jiao said. He thought of what Zhang Jiao said in his letter that Liu She's wife was Sima Fang's sister Sima Youran, so he came to Sima Fang to verify the matter.

At this time, Sima Fang had been living under house arrest for seven years after that. He knew that even if he was not careful, he would cause a huge disaster. Therefore, he was so secretive about this matter and showed no clues at all.

Lu Zhi was a sensible person. Although Sima Fang had a good concealment, he still couldn't escape his eyes. After he looked at no one around, he whispered to Sima Fang about Zhang Jiao's support for "Liu Ji" as the "Saint Emperor".

When Zhang Jiao first supported "Liu Ji" as "Saint Emperor" and respectfully called "Your Highness", he did not make the real name of the Holy Emperor public. Therefore, Sima Fang only knew that Zhang Jiao had a son emperor, but he did not know that he was "Liu Ji".

After hearing this, Sima Fang, who had always been very calm, became extremely nervous in a very short time, so that his hands holding the teacup couldn't help but increase their strength without even notice, but Lu Zhi saw it.

Now Lu Zhi was basically sure that what Zhang Jiao said was not made up out of thin air. When he saw Sima Yi playing with Sima Lang in the courtyard, he felt that the child's appearance was not like Sima Fang and Cai in comparison, which aroused Lu Zhi's alertness. When he guessed that there was this possibility, he felt that Sima Fang was simply crazy:

"Does it mean..."

Seeing that the matter could no longer be hidden, Sima Fang believed that Lu Zhi's character was trustworthy, so he had to tell him everything. After hearing this, Lu Zhi finally understood the whole story. He admired Sima Fang for being able to give up family affection under the righteousness of justice, but he also objectively expressed his concerns about Sima Fang:

"In the current form, the emperor still has not relaxed his vigilance against you. There may be risks in continuing to keep Zhongda here."

For this reason, Lu Zhi made a bold suggestion to Sima Fang to go deep into the tiger's den of the palace. He believed that the reason why Liu Hong was worried about Sima Fang was because of Sima Youran and Liu She, and the other was because Sima Fang had always kept Sima Yi at home and rarely let him go out, which would arouse Liu Hong's suspicion. Therefore, Lu Zhi suggested that Sima Fang take the initiative to send Sima Yi and the sons of other officials into the palace, which could not only dispel the emperor's concerns, but also protect the completeness of Sima Yi and the Sima family.

After careful consideration, although Sima Fang thought this suggestion was very risky, it was worth a try, so he agreed to bring Sima Yi into the palace with other officials' children.

According to Lu Zhi's special arrangement, Sima Yi, who was only seven years old, was selected as the companionship of the second prince Liu Xie, and moved into Yongle Palace for a long time with Liu Xie. This move indeed made Liu Hong relieve his worries about the Sima family. In June of the same year, Emperor Ling of Han promoted Sima Fang to Jingzhao Yin, responsible for the big and small matters of the capital.
Chapter completed!