Yuan Shao takes Liu Bei at his word and sends the executioners away. He seats him in the tent again, and they discuss how to avenge Yan Liang. From below the dais a general steps forward. Yan Liang and I were like brothers, and now Cao Cao has killed him, so how can I not vent this grief? It is Wen Chou, a famous general of the north.
Yuan Shao is delighted and gives him a hundred thousand men to cross the Yellow River. His adviser Ju Shou objects. For now it is better to stay at Yanjin and send part of the army to Guandu. If we cross the river lightly and things go wrong, no one will come back. Yuan Shao answers angrily, have you never heard that in war speed is what counts? Ju Shou withdraws and sighs. Those above are swollen with ambition and those below scramble for credit, so will I ever cross back over the wide Yellow River? He pleads illness and never comes to a council again.
Liu Bei makes a request of Yuan Shao. I have received great kindness and have no way to repay it, so let me go with General Wen. One reason is to repay your goodness, he says, and the other is to learn the truth about Yunchang. Wen Chou, unwilling to march with a general who has lost so often, gives Liu Bei thirty thousand men and has him follow at the rear.