At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty was young, his relatives were monopolizing power, and eunuchs intervened in politics. After the death of Emperor Huan, Emperor Ling succeeded to the throne, and the power fell into the hands of Shi Changshi. They sold officials to harm the people, extorted excessively, and officials forced the people to rebel. Finally, on March 5, the seventh year of Guanghe, Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 184), the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out across the Central Plains. Emperor Han Ling ordered the landlords to lead troops to suppress it, and the states recruited troops for defense.

Recruitment notices were posted at the gate of Zhuo County. Among the onlookers, there was a red-faced man named Guan Yu, who was from Jiexian County, Hedong. After killing a powerful man in his hometown, he fled to Zhuo County and sold mung beans for a living. Another person in the crowd read the announcement and sighed. Behind him, a black-faced man said to the man who was sighing: "A man who does not contribute to the country, why do you sigh?" The man who sighed was named Liu Bei. Make a living by selling mats and shoes. The black-faced man is named Zhang Fei, and he runs a butcher shop in the local area, and he likes to make friends with heroes from all over the world. He often put the unsold pork in a well and covered it with boulders. Whoever can uncover the big stone can take the meat from the well at will.

Someone came to Zhang Fei's butcher shop to buy meat, but the clerk couldn't come up with any meat. Guan Yu came and moved the boulder away without any difficulty, and took all the pork in the well to share with everyone. Zhang Fei learned that he wanted to compete with Guan Yu in martial arts, the two fought inseparably, and were pulled away by Liu Bei who was watching.

Because the three were like-minded, they prayed to heaven and earth in the peach grove and swore to be brothers. Make an oath: "Work together to save the poor and help the needy; report to the country, and go down to the common people; don't want to be born in the same year, the same month, and the same day, but only to die in the same year, the same month, and the same day."

After the Yellow Turban Uprising was suppressed, Liu Bei made a lot of military exploits, but he only became the county captain of Anxi County, Zhongshan Prefecture.

Soon, Shi Changshi ordered the prefects from all over the country to send supervisors to visit, and took the opportunity to eliminate a group of local officials.

The governor of the county came to Anxi County for inspection. He was arrogant and rude to Liu Bei and asked for bribes. Zhang Fei was furious when he learned that he tied up Duyou and whipped him with willow sticks. Liu Bei rushed over after hearing the news, and seeing the governor begging for mercy, he ordered Zhang Fei to stop. Guan Yu thought: "Among the thorns and thorns, it is not a place for the phoenix to live. It is better not to plan." So the three brothers abandoned their positions and left.