Liu Bei is a model of self-made in the Three Kingdoms period, with the fallen royal family of weaving mats and peddlers, relying on the angel investment of merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, and with the brotherhood of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, pulling up a team, from the fight against the Yellow Turban Uprising, Liu Bei began a lifelong entrepreneurship.
Liu Bei's entrepreneurial road is bumpy, full of hardships and variables, although he won the first pot of gold by fighting the Yellow Turban Army, he was appointed by the imperial court as a county lieutenant of Anxi County, with a low official position, but he was also an official at the level of the director of the county public security bureau, which made Liu Bei full of expectations, hopes and confidence in the future.
Liu Bei did not work long in the post of lieutenant in Anxi County, when he received a group of officials from the imperial court who were exempted from relying on military merit to obtain official positions because they wanted to reduce their burdens, and Liu Bei was also among them, faced with the strength of the nine bulls and two tigers to mix with the first imperial court official in his life, Liu Bei's despair of losing expectations, hopes and confidence was transformed into hatred for the postmaster, so the unfortunate postmaster was severely beaten by Liu Bei, and Liu Bei's loss of office also became a reality.
Liu Bei
As a Liu Bei who has a strong desire for success in the future and will never say defeat confidence, it doesn't matter if he loses his official position, anyway, there are many opportunities in the chaotic world, so Liu Bei constantly looks for opportunities in the chaotic world, such as helping Yiqiu perseverance to fight thieves, and when he is cornered, Liu Bei goes to his former classmate Gongsun Zhan.
After a few years of mixing with Gongsun Zhan, Liu Bei felt that there was no future, and took the opportunity to support Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, taking several thousand soldiers and horses given by Gongsun Zhan to Xuzhou to directly surrender to Tao Qian, and supporting Tao Qian to resist Cao Cao's revenge attack on killing his father.
Sometimes, I have to admire Liu Bei's vision, always able to find their own opportunities in the chaotic world, was removed by the governor, Liu Bei found another opportunity to curve the promotion, when Liu Bei found that the life for the imperial court could not be guaranteed, Liu Bei resolutely gave up to the rise of the local warlord Gongsun Zhan, when Liu Bei found that Gongsun Zhan fell into a crisis of failure, and keenly looked for opportunities to leave Gongsun Zhan and defected to Xuzhou Mutaoqian, who was slightly strong and located in the land of four wars.
Liu Bei rescued Xuzhou
In the chaotic world, in addition to Liu Bei's strong vision, his core team strength is also amazing, when Kong Rong in the North Sea was surrounded by the Yellow Turban Army, he sought Liu Bei for help, if it were not for the strong combat effectiveness of Liu Bei's group, Kong Rong, a literati, would not have rescued Liu Bei, and Tao Qian's purpose of inviting Liu Bei to Xuzhou was also because of liu Bei's strong fighting strength of the small group. It is precisely because of Liu Bei's keen vision and strong combat effectiveness that Liu Bei has always lived well in the chaotic world, but in contrast, various forces of the same era as Liu Bei, such as Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shao, Tao Qian, Yuan Shu, Lü Bu, Zhang Xiu, and other warlord forces, were either destroyed or surrendered, but Liu Bei was always able to maintain an independent state, which is the ability and reason why Liu Bei was able to survive.
Therefore, when Tao Qian was seriously ill, he entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Bei, not because Tao Qian was very generous, but because in the chaotic world, if Tao Qian passed on the territory of Xuzhou to his son who was not in contention, it would attract all kinds of strong forces to covet, and in the end it was still the destruction of the city and the family, it was better to give Xuzhou to a person with strong ability, a Liu Bei who could defend Xuzhou and at the same time save his own people, that was a win-win situation, which was also the reason why Tao Qian gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei.
Tao Qian let Xuzhou
Tao Qian's transfer of Xuzhou was a great surprise for Liu Bei, but according to the tradition in the bones of the Chinese people, Liu Bei had to be humble, no matter what the process was, Liu Bei finally accepted Xuzhou, just in the year when Liu Bei accepted Xuzhou, Lü Bu was defeated by Cao Cao, there was no way to go, Lü Bu went to Xuzhou to surrender to Liu Bei, Liu Bei although he did not like Lü Bu very much, but still accepted Lü Bu, and placed Lü Bu in an important stronghold west of Xuzhou - Xiao Pei.
Lü Bu's reputation has always been bad, and he has killed two lords - Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, why did Liu Bei still accept Lü Bu, Liu Bei was not afraid that Lü Bu would rob his own Xuzhou?
Before answering the question, let's take a look at how Lü Bu came to Xuzhou. Lü Bu came to Yanzhou in 194 at the invitation of Chen Gong and Zhang Mi to fight Against Cao Cao, and when Cao Cao was preparing to attack Tao Qian in Xuzhou, Cao Cao's adviser Chen Gong and Chen Liu's retainer Zhang Mi (張邈) together seized Cao Cao's stronghold of Yanzhou, and only three cities in Yanzhou remained loyal to Cao Cao, and the rest of the cities all betrayed Cao Cao to Chen Gong, Zhang Mi, and Lü Bu.
However, after nearly two years of arduous war, Cao Cao achieved a great reversal, starting with only three cities, and defeated Chen Gong, Zhang Mi and Lü Bu in two years, when Zhang Mi went to Yuan Shu for help, while Chen Gong and Lü Bu came to Xuzhou to join Liu Bei, at this time he had to stand on Liu Bei's position and analyze the situation around Liu Bei.
At that time, Liu Bei was Xuzhou Mu, controlling the whole of Xuzhou, the south of Xuzhou was Yuan Shu's territory, Yuan Shu and Liu Bei were hostile, Yuan Shu had always had a plan to capture Xuzhou, as early as Tao Qian's time, there was action, and now Xuzhou was taken by Liu Bei effortlessly, Yuan Shu was very angry, the consequences were very serious, and he always wanted to send troops to attack Xuzhou.
The east of Xuzhou is the sea, the north of Xuzhou is Kong Rong, Liu Bei has a life-saving grace for Kong Rong, so the north of Xuzhou is temporarily safe. To the west of Xuzhou was Cao Cao's base area of Yanzhou, Cao Cao had the intention of capturing Xuzhou as early as the Tao Qian era, but Chen Gong, Zhang Mi and Lü Bu inserted a bar in the middle, resulting in Cao Cao's inability to capture Xuzhou from 194 to 195, but it did not mean that Cao Cao did not want to take Xuzhou, Liu Bei was also scheming, he would not be unaware of Cao Cao.
Lü Bu
Moreover, when Cao Cao held Tianzi hostage in 196 AD to order the princes, he once made Emperor Xian of Han and made Liu Bei the general of Zhendong and the Marquis of Yicheng Ting, Cao Cao's purpose was very simple, that is, to win Liu Bei over and prevent Liu Bei from accepting Lü Bu, as long as Liu Bei did not accept Lü Bu, Lü Bu was definitely like a dog that lost his family, sooner or later he would be destroyed by Cao Cao, eliminating Lü Bu, Cao Cao's next political purpose was undoubtedly to seize Xuzhou, do not be blinded by Cao Cao's sealing of Liu Bei's official position, this is all political means, but the struggle behind it is extremely fierce.
So
Only the northern and eastern sides of Xuzhou occupied by Liu Bei were safe, and Liu Bei's most tangible threat at present was Yuan Shu from the south, in line with the principle of not fighting on two fronts, although Liu Bei did not like Lü Bu and had heard of Lü Bu's personality, but politically, Liu Bei could only accept Lü Bu, as long as Lü Bu was there, it was a pawn to resist Cao Cao's invasion of Xuzhou, and Xiao Pei, which Liu Bei let Lü Bu guard, was the main transportation route for Yanzhou to enter Xuzhou
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If Liu Bei did not accept Lü Bu, Lü Bu would certainly be ashamed and angry, and would collude with Yuan Shu to plot Xuzhou, which is certain and inevitable, and it will inevitably happen, and if you calculate the political account, you will understand that Liu Bei's acceptance of Lü Bu's interests is much greater than giving up Lü Bu's interests, so for political purposes, Liu Bei did nothing wrong.
Liu Bei took over Xuzhou
Other than that
Lü Bu was also defeated by Cao Cao under such favorable circumstances as occupying Yanzhou, indicating that Lü Bu's combat effectiveness was not very good, Liu Bei had a wealth of combat experience with such enemies as Yu yu and Zhang Fei, and now that he had xuzhou, Liu Bei was not afraid of how Lü Bu dared to do in Xuzhou, which was also a reason why Liu Bei accepted Lü Bu
What Liu Bei did not expect was that when he was facing Yuan Shu's army on the front line, after Lü Bu in the rear arrived in Xuzhou, the original Tao Qian's generals Cao Bao and Xu Tan were now Liu Bei's peace, and these two people actually betrayed Liu Bei to welcome Lü Bu into Xuzhou, Zhang Fei could not resist, the entire city of Xuzhou was quickly occupied by Lü Bu, Liu Bei defended Lü Bu, did not expect his own Cao Bao and Xu Tan to betray, this is the afterword, but also Liu Bei's carelessness.