Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 25.

So happy New Year, everybody.

We are back from our holiday hiatus.

Before we pick up where we left off, since I haven't done this in a little while,

I just want to encourage you all to check out our website,

3Kingdomspodcast.com, spelled with the number 3,

for supplemental materials such as maps and transcripts of the episodes.

Also, if you enjoy this podcast,

please consider rating the show on iTunes to help others discover it.

Just as a reminder, I have a challenge going on until January 31st.

The details of the challenge are on the website,

but basically, the more ratings and reviews the show gets on iTunes

before January 31st, the more supplemental material I will produce in 2015.

So take 20 seconds and rate the show.

Thank you for your support.

Now let's get back to it.

So last time, Cao Cao was on his way to attack Liu's strongholds, and Liu Bu was going

to go do something about it. His father and son advisor team of Chen Gui and Chen Deng, however,

were in cahoots with Cao Cao, and they were busy plotting Liu's defeat.

Chen Deng was going with Liu, while Chen Gui was going to stay behind and guards Xu province in their absence. But Chen Gui

was worried about the fact that Lu Bu's family, and many of his loyal men, were still in the city.

...