After Yang Feng and Han Xian assisted Lü Bu in defeating Yuan Shu, they remained in Xia Pi (下邳; northwest of present-day Suining, Jiangsu).
Due to the constant war and chaos in Xuzhou and Yangzhou, there was a shortage of grain, and Yang Feng and other military grains were not continued, and Lü Bu did not agree to jingzhou and defected to Liu Biao.
At this time, Liu Bei temporarily inhabited Xiao Pei (present-day Pei County, Jiangsu), and Yang Feng knew that Liu Bei and Lü Bu had a feud, and in November of the second year of Jian'an (197), he secretly contacted Liu Bei and wanted to attack Lü Bu with Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was very disgusted with Yang Feng's personality and wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of him, so he pretended to agree, welcomed Yang Fengjun to Xiao Pei, invited Yang Fengjun into the city, set up a banquet, and arrested him during the banquet, tied him up and killed him.
Seeing that Yang Feng had been killed, Han Xian led more than ten horsemen to flee to Hezhou (杼州, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), where he was killed by Zhang Xuan (張宣) of Zhuqiu County.
Hu Cai and Li Le stayed in Hedong, Hu Cai was killed by the enemy, and Li Le fell ill and died.
Guo Feng's general Wu Xi rebelled in Guo County and led an army to attack and kill Guo Feng.
In April of the third year of Jian'an (198), the Eastern Han court sent pei mao, a servant of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to Guanzhong to convey the edict of the Han Emperor xian, ordering Duan Sheng and other generals to jointly attack Li Dai.
Duan Sheng, Liang Xing, Zhang Heng, and others marched on the Huangbai City that Li Dai was defending, annihilated his three tribes, sent Li Dai's head to Xu Du, and ordered him to hang high in the public.
The rest of Dong Zhuo's forces were completely wiped out here.
Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie, therefore, appointed Duan Sheng as the general of Annam, transferred the general of Zhenyuan, led the northern land to Taishou, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Fuxiang.
Yingchuan celebrities Du Xian, Zhao Yu, and Fan Qin took refuge in Jingzhou, and Liu Biao received them with the courtesy of guests.
Fan Qin (?-218), courtesy name Xiubo, was a native of Yingchuan Commandery (颍川郡, in modern Yu County, Henan).
Du Xun (杜潣), courtesy name Zixu, was a native of Dingling, Yingchuan County (present-day Xiangcheng County, Henan).
Zhao Yu (171–245), courtesy name Boran, was a native of Yang Zhai (present-day Yuzhou, Henan), Yingchuan County.
Zhao Yu was familiar with the history of the scriptures since childhood, developed a keen observation and analysis ability and a shrewd and practiced philosophy of life, and at the age of twenty he was praised in the township, together with Xin Bi, Chen Qun, and Du Xian, and called the four famous scholars of Yingchuan.
At that time, in order to strengthen their own strength, they competed to recruit the world's talents, and these sages, in order to show their great talents and realize the long-cherished wish of Anbang and the country, also chose their satisfactory objects with a cautious attitude.
Zhao Yu saw that the warlords of all walks of life were fighting endlessly, and for a while they could not find a satisfactory object of their support, in order to avoid the chaos of the war, the family moved to Jingzhou, where they met Du Raid and Fan Qin, who also lived here temporarily to avoid the chaos of the war.
Liu Biaosu heard the names of Zhao Yu, Du Xian, and Fan Qin, deliberately enveloped them, and invited them to join the army many times.
Zhao Yu looked at it coldly, believing that Liu Biao was short-sighted, and although he was prominent for a while, it would be difficult to achieve great things in the end, and he insisted on resigning.
Fan Qin repeatedly contributed strange tricks to Liu Biao and was appreciated by Liu Biao.
Du Xun persuaded him, "I came to Jingzhou with you just to save my life and wait for the right moment." Is Liu Biao the Hero who has set things right, and let you plan to support yourself with him? If you continue to show your talents like this, you will no longer be my student, and we will never be friends again. ”
Fan Yu also realized that he was wrong, and said with emotion: "I accept your advice." ”
When Cao Cao greeted tianzi and appointed the capital Xu County to implement Tun tian, Zhao Yu said to Fan Qin: "Cao Cao should be in the right place, and he will certainly be able to stabilize the whole country, and I know who I should belong to." ”
So the three of them walked together and went north together to join Cao Cao.
Cao Cao made Emperor Xian of Han and appointed Zhao Yu as the governor of Langling County (朗陵县, in present-day Southern Qishan, Henan).
At that time, there were many strong and cunning people in Langling County who did not abide by the law and discipline, and they were rampant for wrongdoing.
Zhao Yu arrested the leaders of the gangsters and put them in prison, filed a case for examination, and convicted them of capital crimes, and then went to the county guard and asked that all these people be released.
At Langling, Zhao Yu became acquainted with Li Tong, a Jiangxia man who was then the governor of Yang'an County.
Li Tong (168–209), courtesy name Wenda, was a native of Pingchun, Jiangxia (present-day northwest of Xinyang, Henan).
In his early years, Li Tong was famous as a ranger in the Jiangru area, and after Chen Gong, a native of the same county, raised troops at Langling, many people came to join him.
There was a man named Zhou Zhi, who had more than 2,000 households under his command, and was superficially harmonious with Chen Gong and Li Tong, but in fact he was dissatisfied in his heart.
Li Tong wanted to kill Zhou Zhi, but Chen Gong thought it was difficult.
Li informed that Chen Gong did not make a decision, so he made a plan alone, set up a banquet to invite Zhou Zhi to a party, and suddenly killed Zhou Zhi while the wine was in full swing.
This kind of behavior was disgraced at the time, and was criticized by everyone, which triggered a riot.
Li Tong led Chen Gong and others to kill the more influential figures in Zhou Zhi's henchmen and take over his team.
Later, Chen Gong's brother-in-law, Chen Gao, killed Chen Gong and annexed his subordinates.
Li Tong attacked Chen Gao's troops and beheaded Chen Gao's head to pay tribute to Chen Gong.
He also captured Wu Ba, the commander of the Yellow Turban Army, alive and surrendered his subordinates.
From then on, the thieves never dared to come and invade.
In the years of the great famine, Li Tong threw away his family's property to help the disaster and save the people, and shared the chaff equally with the Confucians, and everyone admired him very much and rushed to him.
In the first year of Jian'an (196), Li Tong led his men to Xudu to defect to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appointed him as the general of Zhenwei Zhonglang and stationed him at the western border of Runan.
In the second year of Jian'an (197), Cao Cao recruited Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao sent troops to support Zhang Xiu, Cao Hong was unfavorable in battle, and Cao Cao personally marched.
Li Tong came to see Cao Cao overnight with his soldiers, replenished Cao Cao's soldiers, and ordered Cao Cao to have troops to fight again.
As a pioneer, he turned back to attack Zhang Xiu and broke it, and was moved to the post of General of Pei, made the Marquis of Jiangong, and served as the Governor of Yang'an.
Li Tong's wife's uncle broke the law, and the county magistrate Zhao Yu arrested him for questioning and sentenced him to Da Pei (one of the five punishments in ancient China, the common name for the death penalty before the Sui Dynasty).
Li Tong's wife cried and begged Li Tong to save her uncle's life.
Li Tong not only did not agree, but also said solemnly: "I am working with Cao Gong in one heart, and morally, I cannot abolish the public with private interests." ”
He also praised Zhao Yu for his selflessness in law enforcement, and the two felt sorry for each other and became friends.