Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 76.

Last time, the ruler of the riverlands, Liu Zhang, was persuaded to invite Liu Bei and company into his territory

to help him fend off external threats from Cao Cao and Zhang Lu.

Of course, anyone with any sense in the Riverlands could see that this was a really bad idea,

because Liu Bei was not likely to subjectate himself to a weakling like Liu Zhang,

especially when there's a fat piece of land at stake.

Still, Liu Zhang persisted, and a couple of his officials resorted to extreme measures

to try to change his mind. One of them, Huang Quan, used his teeth to grip Liu Zhang's robes

like a dog trying to pull its master back from danger, but Liu Zhang just gave his shirt a tug

and freed himself, taking out a couple of Huang Quan's front teeth in the process. Then, as Liu Zhang was

about to set out to go welcome Liu Bei, one of his

aide, Wang Lei, had himself suspended in the air high above the city gate and threatened to cut

the rope and plunged to his death if Liu Zhang did not heed his advice and turned back. But

Liu Zhang's mind was made up, and he was not about to be

deterred by such theatrics, so he called Wang Lei's bluff, rejected his advice, and scolded him.

Alas, Wang Lei was knocked bluffing. When he saw that Liu Zhang remained obstinate, he

waved the sword in his hand and cut the rope from which he dangled.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Lei laid dead on the ground below.

But Liu Zhang remained undaunted and pressed on.

He led 30,000 troops and headed to the city of Fu Cheng, with more than a thousand carts of

provisions and gifts to welcome Liu Bei.

...