As the saying goes, heroes cherish heroes, and good men cherish good men, but when there is a contradiction between heroes and good men, they often struggle extremely fiercely. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was such a pair of heroes, who regarded each other as the world's heroes, one of them also treated the other with the heart of Akagi, trying to draw him to his own camp, but after all, the two had different ambitions, and eventually embarked on a special path, and used up every solution to kill each other. The heroes were Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo was in turmoil, and in the first month of the first year of the First Year of Chuping (190), the Kwantung counties rose up together to oppose Dong and form an alliance army against Dong, with Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance. Later, because the warlords of all walks of life had selfish intentions, the Allied forces were not happy and dispersed. Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an, and various warlords in the Central Plains began a brutal war of annexation. In this process, countless heroes rose and fell, and in contrast, Cao Cao's experience was much more than Liu Bei's.
Before consulting Dong, Cao Cao became a lieutenant of the new army in the capital Luoyang Xiyuan by virtue of his family lineage, political achievements, and military merits. After Dong Zhuo entered the capital, Cao Cao did not want to be with him, so he gave up his official position, returned to his hometown to sell his property, and recruited troops to please Dong. After Liu Dai of Yanzhou was killed in battle, Cao Cao served as the pastor of Yanzhou, temporarily having the land of Yanzhou to live in and develop his power. Liu Bei's experience before this was even more difficult. Although he was a descendant of the imperial family, he was born in cloth, and because he was good at making friends with heroes and had quite organizational skills, he was well-known in the local area. Later, due to the Yellow Turban rebellion, Liu was funded by the merchants, organized local armed forces to fight against the Yellow Turban Army, and was made an official, but because of disagreement with his superiors, he defected to He Jin. After He Jin was killed, Liu Bei's Gaotang County was attacked by the Yellow Turban Army, and he had to defect to Gongsun Zhan. Not long after, Gongsun Zhan was attacked by Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei had to move to the State of Qi (Linzibei, Zibo, Shandong). In the fourth year of Chuping (193), Cao Cao, who was already quite powerful, attacked Xuzhou in a big way. Tian Kai and Liu Bei received a request for help from Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, and the two rushed to the rescue. It was during this war that the trajectories of Cao Cao and Liu Bei intersected for the first time.
In the first year of Xingping (194), Tao Qian died of illness, and Liu Bei accepted Tao Qian's will and served as the pastor of Xuzhou. Yuan Shu of Huainan was dissatisfied and attacked Liu Bei in June of the first year of Jian'an (196). When the two armies were in a standoff, another force took the opportunity to capture Liu Bei's rear. Liu Bei returned to the army to rescue him, but was defeated, and he reorganized his army and horses to capture Guangling's foothold, and was defeated by Yuan Shu. Liu Bei had to retreat to Haixi County and ask Lü Bu for peace. Lü Bu agreed to peace, ordered Liu Bei to garrison Xia Pi, and attacked Liu Bei in the third year of Jian'an (198) because of minor incidents. Liu Bei fled alone and defected to Cao Cao. By this time, Cao Cao had taken Emperor Xian of Han hostage and moved the capital to Xu County. As a result, Liu Bei and Cao Cao had a second intersection.
After Liu Bei arrived in Xu County, Cao Cao attached great importance to Liu Bei, and the strategist Cheng Yu said to Cao Cao: "Liu Bei has talent, wins the hearts of the people, and has great ambitions, and will not be subordinated to others, and if he does not get rid of them as soon as possible, sooner or later it will be a hidden danger." "
At this time, Cao Cao still had the intention of taking Liu Bei for his own use, saying: "Now is the time to collect heroes, and killing Liu Bei will lose the hearts of the people in the world." "
Cao Cao appointed Liu Bei and Yuzhou Mu to finance his grain and soldiers. Liu Bei also collected the scattered old troops, accumulated strength, and waited for the opportunity to attack Lü Bu.
In 198 AD, Lü Bu took the initiative to attack Liu Bei. Cao Cao sent Xiahou Huan to the rescue and was defeated by Lü Bu. Cao Cao personally led troops to rescue Liu Bei. After a major battle, Lü Bu was captured and killed. Liu Bei's life was saved by Cao Cao. After this battle, Cao Cao thought that Liu Bei owed him kindness and would loyally assist him, so he treated Liu Bei with greater sincerity.
After the conquest of Lü Bu, Cao Cao promoted Liu Bei to the position of General of the Left. Every time the two traveled, Cao Cao had to ride in the same car as Liu Bei, and the two of them had to sit at the same table indoors. Cao Cao wanted to use this to show his attention to Liu Bei in order to make him loyal and subordinate. But on the other hand, Liu Bei was very dissatisfied with Cao Cao's practice of blackmailing Tianzi to order the princes, and Cao Cao's true feelings and kindness could not touch Liu Bei in the slightest.
While Cao Cao tried to make Liu Bei truly submit, emperor Xian of Han personally sent a secret edict to the foreign general Dong Cheng, asking him to plan to kill Cao Cao, and Later Liu Bei participated in the conspiracy. In the spring of the fourth year of Jian'an, before the murder was carried out, Cao Cao held a banquet one day, and he rose on a whim to discuss the heroes of the world and said to Liu Bei: "Today's heroes of the world, it seems that only you and I, Yuan Shao's disciples, are not enough to worry about. Liu Bei listened to this, thinking that the conspiracy was discovered, frightened to drop the chopsticks, just when it happened to be raining and thundering, Liu Bei busily explained: "No wonder the ancients said that 'thunder and fierce wind will change'. After that, Liu Bei and Dong Cheng accelerated their preparations for assassination.
At this time, Yuan Shu wanted to go north to defect to Yuan Shao. Cao Cao was worried that the two Yuan forces would be difficult to deal with, so he sent Liu Bei to intercept Yuan Shu. Cao Cao's men quickly reminded Cao Cao not to let Liu Bei go. But Cao Cao regretted it too late.
Before Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, Yuan Shu fell ill and died. At the same time, Xu Du Dong Cheng murdered Cao Cao, and Dong Cheng and others were killed. Liu Bei then killed Xuzhou and occupied Xuzhou, joining forces with Yuan Shao to fight against Cao Cao. At this point, Cao Cao's sincerity towards Liu Bei was in vain, and the two sides completely broke with each other. In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Cao Cao personally led an army to attack Liu Bei in the east, despite the pressure of Yuan Shao's army in the north. Liu Bei was eventually defeated by Cao Cao, fled north, and defected to Yuan Shao.