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“But I have three bold generals,” said Liu Bei, “quite equal to any task you can set them. Send Zhang Fei to keep ward on the southern border of Yue, Guan Yu to guard the city of Guzi against Zhang Lu in the west, and Zhao Yun holding the Three Gorges will protect you from Sun Quan. Why need you grieve?”

The scheme appealed strongly to the Imperial Protector, but Cai Mao did not approve. So he spoke to his sister, Liu Biao's wife, saying, “Liu Bei is putting his troops in such commanding positions all round the region. That is the danger.”

Lady Cai, thus influenced by her brother, undertook to remonstrate, and that night began by saying to Liu Biao, “The Jingzhou army seem to have a great liking for Liu Bei; they are always coming and going. You ought to take precautions. I do not think you should let them stay in the city. Why not send them on some mission?”

“Liu Bei is a good man,” replied the Imperial Protector.

“I think others differ from you,” said the lady.

Liu Biao said nothing but muttered to himself. Soon after he went out of the city to see Liu Bei and noticed he was riding a very handsome horse. They told him it was a prize taken from the recently conquered rebels; and as he praised it very warmly, Liu Bei presented it to him. Liu Biao was delighted and rode it back to the city. Kuai Yue saw it and asked where it had come from. The Imperial Protector told him it was a gift from Liu Bei.

Kuai Yue said, “My passed-away brother, Kuai Liang, knew horses very well, and I am not a bad judge. This horse has tear-tracks running down from its eyes and a white blaze on its forehead. It is called a Dilu horse, and it is a danger to his master. That is why Zhang Wu was killed. I advise you not to ride it.”

Liu Biao began to think. Soon after he asked Liu Bei to a banquet and in the course of it said, “You kindly presented me with a horse lately, and I am most grateful; but you may need it on some of your expeditions and, if you do not mind, I would like to return it.”

Liu Bei rose and thanked him. The Imperial Protector continued, “You have been here a long time, and I fear I am spoiling your career as a warrior. Now Xinye in Xiangyang is no poverty-stricken town; how would you like to garrison it with your own troops?”

Liu Bei naturally took the offer as a command and set out as soon as he could, taking leave of the Imperial Protector the next day. And so he took up his quarters in Xinye.

When he left Jingzhou City, he noticed in the gate a person making him emphatic salutations, and the man presently said, “You should not ride that horse.”

Liu Bei looked at the man and recognized in the speaker one of the secretaries of Liu Biao named Yi Ji, a native of Shanyang. So he hastily dismounted and asked why.

Yi Ji replied, “Yesterday I heard that Kuai Yue told the Imperial Protector that that horse was a Dilu horse and brought disaster to its owner. That is why it was returned to you. How can you mount it again?”

“I am deeply touched by your affection,” replied Liu Bei, “but a person's life is governed by fate and what a horse can interfere with that?”

Yi Ji admitted his superior view, and thereafter he kept in touch with Liu Bei wherever he went.

The arrival of Liu Bei in Xinye was a matter of rejoicing to all the inhabitants, and the whole administration was reformed.

In the spring of the twelfth year of Rebuilt Tranquillity (AD 207), Liu Bei's wife, Lady Gan, game birth to a son who was named Liu Shan. The night of his birth a crane settled on the roof of the house, screeched some forty times and then flew away westward.

Just at the time of birth a miraculous incense filled the chamber. Lady Gan one night had dreamed that she was looking up at the sky and the constellation of the Great Bear had fallen down her throat. And she conceived soon after.

While Cao Cao was absent from the capital on his northern expedition, Liu Bei went to Liu Biao and said to him, “Why do you not take this opportunity to march against the capital? An empire might follow from that.”

“I am well placed here,” was the reply. “Why should I attempt other things?”

Liu Bei said no more. Then the Imperial Protector invited him into the private apartments to drink; and while they were so engaged, he suddenly began to sigh despondently.

“O Brother, why do you sigh thus?” asked Liu Bei.

“I have a secret sorrow that is difficult to speak about,” said Liu Biao.

Liu Bei was on the point of asking what it was when Lady Cai came and stood behind the screen, whereat Liu Biao hung his head and became silent. Before long host and guest bade each other farewell, and Liu Bei went back to his own place at Xinye. That winter they heard that Cao Cao had returned from Liucheng, and Liu Bei sighed when he reflected that his friend had paid no heed to his advice.