Fifteen miles north of Chengdu, there is a mountain named Sheshan.
This mountain is towering and densely forested, and there are countless wild and strange beasts in it.
Since Liu Bei ascended the throne as King of Hanzhong this year, he has become more and more powerful and deeply feels the importance of his successor to the great cause.
Therefore, after he named his son Liu Chan the crown prince this year, in order to cultivate Liu Chan's talents and increase his knowledge, he ordered Liu Chan to study "Shen Zi", "Han Feizi", "Guan Zi" and "Six Tao".
And Zhuge Liang, whom he relied on most, personally taught Liu Chan these books.
Not only that, Liu Bei also asked Liu Chan to learn riding and archery, and worked hard to train Liu Chan into a successor with both civil and military skills.
In order to help Liu Chan learn riding and archery, Liu Bei specially designated a mountain outside Chengdu with many wild animals as a training ground for Liu Chan to practice archery, and named the mountain Sheshan.
But although Liu Bei often brought Liu Chan to Sheshan to practice archery, he did not completely classify Sheshan as government property as proposed by many Yizhou ministers.
In order to prevent the people near Sheshan from losing their dependent livelihood, Liu Bei once issued a special edict:
"Everyone in Chengdu can go to Sheshan to hunt for food to supplement their family income."
It's just that when Liu Bei brought Liu Chan to Sheshan to practice shooting, the palace guards would temporarily block the surrounding area of Sheshan.
At this time, under the cold weather in Chengdu, at the foot of Sheshan Mountain, there were many meritorious disciples of aristocratic families gathered in brocade and holding good bows.
On the outskirts of Sheshan, there were thousands of palace guards, under the command of Huben Colonel Mi Wei, who guarded Sheshan tightly and did not allow anyone to approach.
And the king's flag fluttering in the wind among the thousands of guards also announced to those outside the perimeter who was here in Sheshan now.
At this time, inside the heavily guarded Sheshan Mountain, many well-armed sons of noble families in Chengdu were eagerly raising their bows to shoot.
But none of the many noble children of the aristocratic families took action for a while.
Because at this time, their eyes were all focused on a young man.
I saw that the young man was handsome and generous.
Wearing Hu clothes, he was sitting on a horse, aiming at an arrow target erected fifty steps away with concentration.
A moment later, an arrow with a cold light came out of the young man's hand and headed straight towards the target fifty steps away.
And just a moment after the sharp arrow flew out, the arrow shot by the young man hit the bullseye of the target fifty steps away.
Seeing this scene, bursts of cheers erupted from the audience.
In fact, in the current martial arts culture, if a practicing archer hits the target fifty steps away while still, it can only be regarded as an entry-level skill, not something worthy of applause.
But he couldn't resist the extraordinary status of the young man in front of him. The young man in front of him was Liu Chan, the crown prince of Hanzhong.
Nowadays, most of the children of these aristocratic families who burst into cheers in the field are from the local noble families in Yizhou.
They burst into cheers, just to please Liu Chan.
After all, they are not as good as Liu Bei's Yuan Cong faction and Jingzhou faction. Their elders have strong merits to support them.
If they want to gain a place as soon as possible in the growing power of Liu Bei, then pleasing the crown prince Liu Chan is a good shortcut.
Not far away, an old man wearing black royal robes and a crown showed a smile on his face as generous as the young man when he saw this scene.
This old man is Liu Bei, the King of Hanzhong, who is now powerful in the world, and his reputation is as high as that of King Cao Cao of Wei.
Liu Bei said to an old man beside him, "Wenxiu, your father-in-law is getting better and better at shooting."
"I used to be worried that my father-in-law was too weak, but I don't have to worry about that now."
Although Liu Chan's performance today is not outstanding among the descendants of military generals and nobles.
But compared with his past performance, it has already improved a lot.
Because of Liu Chan's progress, Liu Bei, as an old father, was also very relieved.
He felt that everything he did was in vain.
At this moment, the old man beside Liu Bei, who was affectionately called Wenxiu by Liu Bei, was Xu Jing, a famous celebrity in the world.
Xu Jing was born in Pingyu County, Runan County. In his early years, he and his cousin Xu Shao were famous for their comments on celebrities all over the world.
Later, due to the war in the world, Xu Jing defected to many princes, such as Kong Min, Chen Yi, Xu Gong, Wang Lang, Shibian and others.
Finally, he was invited by Liu Zhang, the shepherd of Yizhou, and became the prefect of Bajun, Guanghan and Shujun successively.
It can be said that his footprints were almost everywhere in the southern part of the Han Dynasty.
During his tenure as the governor of Shu County, Liu Bei attacked Shu.
After Liu Bei surrounded Chengdu, Xu Jing wanted to climb over the city wall and surrender to Liu Bei, but this was noticed by Liu Zhang in the city.
At that time, Liu Zhang already wanted to surrender to Liu Bei, and he was afraid of Xu Jing's reputation, so he did not execute Xu Jing.
Later, after Liu Bei captured Chengdu, Liu Bei felt that Xu Jing's name was not worthy of his name, so he wanted to abandon him.
However, at the suggestion of his confidant Fazheng, Liu Bei appointed Xu Jing as General Shi of the Left.
This year Liu Bei ascended the throne as Queen of Hanzhong. Because Xu Jing had a great reputation in the world, he worshiped him as King Fu of Hanzhong.
Xu Jing, who had had a rough life, was moved when he saw Liu Bei openly revealing his worries about his son to a minister who was not a close confidant, regardless of past grudges.
This is trust.
Maybe Liu Bei disliked him at first and didn't want to use him.
But after Liu Bei untied his knot and appointed him, Liu Bei was like a wise master in ancient times, trusting him and treating him generously and favorably.
Faced with Liu Bei's worries, Xu Jing bowed to Liu Bei and said, "The prince is young and has not been in battle since he was a child, so it is unusual for him to have a softer temperament."
"When the prince grows older, His Highness will arrange for some wise ministers to assist him.
The prince has the air of a king and will surely grow up quickly. "
Hearing what Xu Jing said, Liu Bei was noncommittal.
He was good at understanding people, so how could he not know what kind of material his son was?
He did not expect Liu Chan to have the ability to expand the territory, he only hoped that he could inherit his character of treating others with sincerity and become a conservative king.
After hearing Xu Jing mention arranging some wise ministers to assist Liu Chan, Liu Bei, who was in a good mood today, asked Xu Jing:
"Wenxiu was famous for his ability to evaluate talents in his early years.
In Chengdu today, there is a saying about the four friends of the prince that is circulated, and Wenxiu can comment on it for a solitary test. "
The term "Prince's Four Friends" is a title that has gradually spread in Chengdu this year.
It is about four friends of Liu Chan, the crown prince of Hanzhong. These four are:
Guan Xing, the second son of former general Guan Yu, Zhang Bao, the eldest son of Zhang Fei, the right general, Zhao Tong, the eldest son of General Yijun, and Mi Yang, the legitimate son of Mi Fang, the prefect of Nanjun.
These four are not much different in age from Liu Chan, and their elders are all from the Yuan Cong faction that Liu Bei relies on most.
In addition, these four people were always taught by Liu Bei and grew up together with Liu Chan. Therefore, people at that time collectively referred to these four people as the Four Friends of the Prince.
