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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY, AND PROBABLY WILL, INVOLVE SOME SPOILERS.
At the end of the last chapter, Cai Mao, that disgusting excuse for a human being, laid a trap to kill Liu Bei. Liu Bei, due to an almost miraculous leap over the River Tan, managed to escape the fate Cai Mao had planned for him, and now finds himself face to face with Zhao Yun, he called Zilong, who, if he knew what Cai Mao had tried to do, would quite literally rip the man apart piece by piece.
And how, oh, HOW the course of history would have changed had he done so...
Chapters 35 and the succeeding chapters prove to be some of the most important in the entire novel in terms of plot development. Up until this point, Liu Bei has been at best a subordinate of more powerful lords, and at worse a homeless vagabond with a ragtag band of followers and no place to rest his head in peace. Now, however, for the first time in his life, Liu Bei begins to perceive, dimly, that he himself has power within him to accomplish the goals he has set for his life, a fact foreshadowed in the previous chapter by Liu Bei's little slip of ambition in front of Liu Biao.
Unfortunately, as the sage Sima Hui is to point out to him, he has good officers under him, and certainly the strength of virtue and charisma to lead them, but he yet lacks "the one man" to aid him. Needless to say this refers to Zhuge Liang, the Sleeping Dragon, a man truly without peer in the Age of the Three Kingdoms. But it is not Zhuge Liang who first opens up Liu Bei's eyes to his own power, but Xu Shu, who is introduced in this chapter as "Shan Fu" (an assumed name).
Xu Shu is one of my favorite characters in the entire novel. I love this guy. He's brilliant, and honorable, and if I had someone like Xu Shu to advise ME in life I could very well come to rule the world. Few in all the Age of the Sanguo would have been able to compare, talent for talent with Xu Shu. Jia Xu perhaps might have, and certainly Sima Yi, Lu Xun, Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and probably Guo Jia too, but apart from those named, I doubt anyone in the Empire could have even come close to matching Xu Shu's brilliance.
Of course, where brilliance fails, cunning might succeed, and Cheng Yu, one of the chief advisors of Cao Cao, possesses that quality in abundance. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. More on Cheng Yu and Xu Shu later.
It is important to understand that at this time in the book, there is only one superpower in the Empire, and it's got Cao Cao at its head. Whether or not one likes Cao Cao or agrees with his actions or policies, by this point in the story, he IS indeed the Prime Minister of State, the chief member of the Imperial Bureaucracy, with at least a semblance of legitimacy as the "rightful" commander of the official Iimperial Army. The other two kingdoms which, along with Cao Cao's Wei, contribute to the name "Three Kingdoms" have not yet come to exist as sovereign states. Sun Quan has a hefty warlord state in the Southeast, certainly, but it is still nominally subject to the Han, as is Liu Biao's Jing Province, where Liu Bei serves as a subordinate. Thus, failure to submit to Cao Cao's authority would certainly be viewed as nothing more than common rebellion, and give Cao Cao a valid excuse, within the rule of law, for mounting an expedition into the south to expand his power.
To this point in the story, Liu Bei's gotten his ass handed to him in just about every major battle he's been in. Now, with Xu Shu to advise him, he starts winning, and gets a taste of what it is that Cao Cao has experienced as a great warlord leader.
"...and the Dragon flies from the mire" indeed...
Sorry this one's a bit late, but better late than never. Enjoy, all!