At the end of the Han Dynasty, the land, the flames and wolves, the princes were in a scuffle, and all the people with lofty ideals wanted to share a piece of the deer in the flock. In this process, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Gongsun Zhan, Sun Ce and others have always been praised, not because of how strong they are, but because of their ambition. On the contrary, there are still a group of people who have always been looked down upon, including Liu Biao, one of the "Eight Juns". Liu Biao has always been criticized because Liu Bei once suggested that he take advantage of the great war between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to sneak up on Xuchang, but Liu Biao disagreed, is it because Liu Biao has no ambition or is he incompetent?
First of all, we have to talk about whether Liu Biao is an incompetent person, which can only be judged by looking for information from the main history. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Pei Songzhi's note on Liu Biao's biography quotes Sima Biao's "Strategy" as saying: "At the beginning of Liu Biao," Liu Biao was jingzhou, jiangnan zong thief sheng, yuan shu tun luyang, and all the people of Nanyang. The Wu people Su Dai led Changsha Taishou, and Bei Yu was Hua Rongchang, and each of them blocked the rebellion. The table first arrived, and the single horse entered Yicheng... WeiJiangxia thieves Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng embraced Xiangyang, and The table was that Yue and Pang Jishan rode to Say surrender, and Jiangnan was xiping. ”
Judging from this record, Liu Biao is obviously not incompetent. During Liu Biao's tenure in Jingzhou, the local thieves were in chaos, which could be described as extremely dangerous. Liu Biao rode to Jingzhou and relied only on a piece of paper from the imperial court, which eventually stabilized the situation in Jingzhou. It was precisely because of Liu Biao's arrival that Jingzhou was able to stabilize and become a rare paradise at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Moreover, Liu Biaozhen has been guarding Jingzhou for nearly 20 years, and it is impossible without ability.
Since Liu Biao is not an incompetent person, there is still a possibility, that is, Liu Biao has no great ambitions. On the surface, Liu Biao has always been satisfied with self-preservation. Even if Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had such a good opportunity to fight, they were unwilling to go north, and indeed there was a suspicion of no ambition, but was the truth really so simple? The root cause of this matter actually lies in Liu Bei.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms? According to the Biography of the First Lord, after Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao, he had no choice but to defect to Liu Biao. "Cao Gong broke shao and attacked the lord from the south. The first lord sent Lu Zhu, Sun Qian, and Liu Biao to hear each other, and the table greeted them from the outskirts, and the above guests treated them with courtesy, benefited their soldiers, and made Tun Xinye." For Liu Bei's arrival, Liu Biao was still more willing at first, and funded Liu Bei's soldiers and horses. During this period, Liu Bei also failed Liu Biao's trust and defeated Cao Cao's general Xiahou Huan.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the First Lord records: "In December, Cao Gong marched north to Karasuma, and the First Lord said that the table attacked Xu, and the table could not be used. This is what everyone knows about Liu Bei's persuasion to secretly attack Xuchang, and Liu Biao rejected Liu Bei's suggestion. Why did Liu Biao give up this great opportunity? The reason is closely related to Liu Bei's past "bad deeds".
After defecting to Liu Biao, Liu Bei, as always, plotted to stand on his own feet and recruited troops and horses in Xinye. Because Liu Bei was very famous, many people came to liu Bei. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the Ancestors records: "More and more people in Jingzhou Haojie returned to the Ancestors, expressing doubts about their hearts, and yin and yuzhi. This happened before Liu Bei suggested sneaking up on Xuchang. That is to say, before Liu Bei suggested it, Liu Biao had doubts about Liu Bei's true intentions in Jingzhou. It's just that I am reluctant to pick out the situation and the situation.
Long before Liu Bei defected to Liu Biao, Liu Bei's actions in the Central Plains were already well known. Originally, when Liu Bei was under Gongsun Zhan, in the name of rescuing Tao Qian, he finally left Gongsun Zhan and entered Xuzhou; when he was under Cao Cao, he abducted Cao Cao's soldiers and horses and Xuzhou in the name of intercepting Yuan Shu; when he was under Yuan Shao, he took Liu Biao's troops to Runan, on the pretext of southern Lian Liu Biao. Judging from Liu Bei's experiences, Liu Bei is by no means a person who has lived under people for a long time, and he will continue to create opportunities for self-reliance without opportunities.
As a liu biao who started in a chaotic world, he is not a fool, and it is impossible not to pay attention to Liu Bei's "bad deeds". At this time, Liu Bei once again proposed to sneak attack Xuchang, the real purpose of which was to repeat the same technique, under the pretext of taking the troops and materials provided by Liu Biao to set up another mountain. Therefore, the shrewd Liu Biao, like Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and others, was deceived by Liu Bei, but saw through Liu Bei's attempt at a glance, not only decisively rejected Liu Bei's proposal to hide evil intentions, but also sent Liu Bei from Xinye to Fancheng to garrison him for close surveillance.
Reference book: Romance of the Three Kingdoms