The Three Kingdoms period is a history that we are very familiar with, and this history has passed thousands of years since we have passed. Under the circumstances at that time, the people were displaced and had nowhere to settle down, and such a chaotic world occurred many times in the five thousand years of Chinese civilization. Most of our ancient country was in a chaotic world.
Starting from Qin Shi Huang, the land of China was the first to unify the world, and since then, the emperors of successive dynasties have unified with Qin Shi Huang's Qin Dynasty as the benchmark. During the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei established the Han Dynasty, but by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor of the Han Dynasty was already a puppet and had no real power.
Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, was the last emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and this emperor was weak and incompetent, first by Dong Zhuo, and secondly by Cao Cao, without any real power, it was a complete decoration. However, Cao Cao was still very kind to him, and in order to prevent Emperor Xian of Han from being killed by Cao Cao's descendants, Cao Cao married all three daughters to Emperor Xian of Han.
In 220 AD, this day was very important to Cao Pi, who forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate. Since then, Cao Pi has become emperor and is no longer a courtier of the Han Dynasty. The following year, Liu Bei followed suit and proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, Sichuan, in order to continue the family business of the Liu family.
Some people here will definitely think of a problem, when Cao Pi became emperor, he made Liu Xie the Duke of Shanyang, and he also had his own fiefdom. So why didn't Cao Pi give Liu Xie to Liu Bei? You must know that in the following year, Liu Bei declared himself emperor and gave Liu Xie to Liu Bei, which was equivalent to humiliating Liu Bei.
For Liu Bei, if he pretends to be confused, he can still be called emperor, so why not enjoy it? In fact, Cao Pi gave Liu Xie to Liu Bei, which would make Liu Bei embarrassed. But Cao Pi didn't do this, why? The first reason is that Cao Pi's title of emperor came from the Han Dynasty, because Liu Xie was the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Only the existence of Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, within the control of the Great Wei regime, could guarantee the legitimacy of Cao Pi's throne. In this way, what is recorded in the history books will be better, and there will be no suspicion of usurpation. On the other hand, Emperor Xian of Han was also a means for Cao Pi to show his political achievements, and by giving preferential treatment to Emperor Xian of Han, he could show his benevolence.
It should be known that even if emperor Xian of Han is given to Liu Bei, it may not be able to achieve the desired effect. Liu Bei could have killed Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han, on the way to the Shu state where Cao Pi had sent him, and although Liu Bei was the King of Zhongshan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was entirely possible for him to do so, and this was not worth mentioning in the face of power.
If Liu Bei sent someone to kill Emperor Xian of Han, then the literati and inkers in the world would think that this was Cao Pi's doing, so that Cao Pi would not be worth the loss. Even if Emperor Xian of Han arrived safely in Shu Han, Liu Bei could still ask Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the throne to himself, so that Liu Bei would become the legitimate mantle of inheriting the Great Han.
If he really wanted to do this, I am afraid that Cao Pi's emperor would not be orthodox. If such a situation really happened, it would simply be Cao Pi begging for food and lifting a stone to drop his own feet. To be sure, Cao Pi thought about this practice at that time, but he did not put it into action.