In the late Eastern Han, the land was in turmoil, and businesses of all sizes competed fiercely. Xuande, a scion of a fallen prominent family who was now selling shoes at a street stall, decided to grow his shoe business into a major enterprise. He went from street vendor to employee, to company agent, then back to working for someone after bankruptcy, and finally to founding a publicly listed company, weathering countless ups and downs along the way. Early on, he attracted Yunchang and Yide as co-founders. Later, he took over Tao Qian's storefront, then personally made three business trips to persuade Kongming to invest. Working with the Mengde Group, he drove Fengxian and the others out of business, steadily growing his company. After capturing the markets for shoes and woven mats, he gradually expanded into other fields, doing anything that could make money, both aboveboard and otherwise. By acquiring companies and recruiting talent from every field, Xuande's Shu Han Group rose alongside Mengde Tech and Jiangdong Industries to become one of the Three Kingdoms' top three hundred companies, a position it held for decades. Thus began his legendary Three Kingdoms success story.
