Liu Bei sets out from Runan to attack Xuchang while Cao Cao is tied up in the north, but Cao Cao hurries back and beats him badly. Runan falls to Xiahou Dun, and Liu Pi and Gong Du are killed. Fewer than a thousand men are left. Drinking wine the villagers have brought on a sandbank by the Han River, Liu Bei says. All of you have the gifts to serve a king, yet you had the misfortune to follow me. I have not enough ground to stand an awl in, so why not leave me, go to a wise master and win fame?
They all cover their faces and weep. Guan Yu says, you are wrong, brother. Gaozu of Han lost to Xiang Yu many times, and a single battle opened the foundation of four hundred years. Sun Qian suggests going to Liu Biao of Jing Province, a kinsman of the Han house with strong troops and plenty of grain. Sun Qian goes ahead to speak for him. Cai Mao objects that Liu Bei followed Lü Bu, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in turn and never stayed to the end, but Liu Biao takes him in. He comes thirty li out of the city to meet Liu Bei.
Over the next few years Cao Cao takes almost the whole north. Yuan Shao dies of illness, and his sons quarrel and fall one by one. All that while Liu Bei stays in Jing Province.