In the second year of Xingping, Xuzhou Mutaoqian was seriously ill, and at that time Tao Qian hoped that Liu Bei would take over the management of Xuzhou, and asked Xuzhou not to drive Mi Zhu to assist Liu Bei. After this, Mi Zhu immediately led the people of Xuzhou to welcome Liu Bei as a Taishou, and Liu Bei did not dare to take over at that time, until Chen Deng and Kong Rong repeatedly persuaded Liu Bei to take Xuzhou. However, soon after, Yuan Shu began to lead a large army to attack Xuzhou, and at the beginning of the war, Liu Bei's army and Yuan Shu's army fought in Xuyi and Huaiyin, without winning or losing, and later Lü Bu secretly attacked Xia Pi and captured Liu Bei's wife, and Liu Bei's army collapsed. After that, Liu Bei temporarily stayed in Xiaopei, and Yuan Shu sent the general Ji Ling to lead an army to attack Liu Bei, if it were not for Lü Buyuan's shooting and blocking Ji Ling, he was afraid that Yuan Shu's army would meet Liu Bei again. But in fact, Liu Bei had always belonged to gongsun zhan's camp, and gongsun zhan had always been an ally of Yuan Shu, so why did Yuan Shu attack Liu Bei?
At that time, the reason why Yuan Shu wanted to attack Liu Bei, on the one hand, naturally looked at Xuzhou, a treasure of feng shui, although during Cao Cao's first attack on Xuzhou, Yuan Shu fought side by side with Tao Qian to resist foreign enemies, but when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou for the second time, Yuan Shu did not help Xuzhou, so perhaps Yuan Shu had the intention of reaping the benefits of the fisherman at that time, if Cao Cao and Tao Qian were both defeated and injured at that time, they were afraid that Yuan Shu would plan to take Xuzhou. Previously, Yuan Shu had tried to coerce Chen Jue into submitting to him, and if he really did as he wished, then one-third of Xuzhou would have entered Yuan Shu's pocket.
Not only that, it was also a strategic empty window period at that time, it should be known that there were many main opponents of Yuan Shu, but at that time, Yuan Shao besieged Zang Hong, facing the resistance to Gongsun Zhan, and Liu Biao was a greater and greater threat to Cao Cao, Cao Cao in addition to resisting Liu Biao, but also busy building the new capital Xuchang, while Yuan Shu's side was different, at that time Sun Ce and others marched south smoothly, Liu Shu Wang Lang was vulnerable, Yuan Shu could completely free his hands at this time and attack Liu Bei, who seemed to be vulnerable.
What's more, Xuzhou at that time did seem to be organic, after all, Liu Bei was not born tall, neither a protégé all over the world, nor a strong wealth, it can be said that there is no money for money, no one wants people, at this time he also accepted Lü Bu, who has a lot of different intentions, in Yuan Shu's eyes, as long as he moves a little at this time, Liu Bei will undoubtedly lose, and Xuzhou is also within reach. As for the issue of allies, when Liu Bei took Xuzhou by himself, there was not much contact between him and Gongsun Zhan, and the relationship with Yuan Shu was even smaller.
The author believes that for Yuan Shu, the interests of attacking Liu Bei are too great, and under such circumstances, he will not give up this opportunity.