At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after Dong Zhuo moved west to Chang'an with emperor Xian of Han, the so-called "rebels" in the Kwantung began to tear their faces, and dogs bit dogs to compete with each other for territory and annex and divide. At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, two hostile camps were formed, led by Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers- Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao vs Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zhan, and Tao Qian.
At that time, the pattern of the world was roughly as follows: Yuan Shao occupied Jizhou, Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou, Gongsun Zhan occupied Youzhou, Yuan Shu occupied most of Yuzhou, Yangzhou Erjun and Nanyang, Tao Qian occupied Xuzhou, and Liu Biao occupied Jingzhou. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers were at odds, and Gongsun Zhan was looking at Jizhou with a tiger's eye, so naturally, Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zhan formed an alliance based on the principle of "the enemy of the enemy is a friend", and Tao Qian ambitiously joined the camp of Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zhan.
In 193 AD, Tao Qian attacked Cao Cao first, so Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou for the first time and beat Tao Qian enough. As a result, Cao Cao's father Cao Song died on Tao Qian's territory inexplicably, so Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou for the second time, and Tao Qian could not resist, so he asked his ally Gongsun Zan for help. Therefore, Gongsun Zhan would let Qingzhou Assassin Shi Tiankai and Liu Bei lead troops to rescue Tao Qian, and as a result, Lü Bu occupied Yanzhou, and Cao Cao returned to the rescue, and Xuzhou escaped Cao Cao's anger.
In 194, at the age of 63, Tao Qian died of overwork and entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Bei before his death. In fact, when Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, he had the heart to break away from his old classmate Gongsun Zhan, because Liu Bei knew that there was basically no day in Gongsun Zhan. At that time, Liu Bei only had more than a thousand soldiers and horses and Youzhou Karasuma Zahu riding, and on the way to Xuzhou, he captured thousands of hungry people, and after arriving in Xuzhou, Tao Qian gave Liu Bei four thousand Yang soldiers, and Liu Bei then broke away from Gongsun Zhan and belonged to Tao Qian.
Tao Qian entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Bei on his deathbed, of course, there are many reasons, among which there are naturally people who Liu Bei belongs to his own camp. But in fact, after Liu Bei went south to Xuzhou, he changed his strategy, betrayed Gongsun Zhan, and threw himself into the arms of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, which showed Liu Bei's superb political skills:
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > Liu Bei raised Yuan Tan as Maocai, and Yuan Shao supported Liu Bei in leading Xuzhou Mu</h1>
Liu Bei was often referred to as "Liu Yuzhou", and his experience in Yuzhou was twice, the first time was through Tao Qian's performance, becoming the Assassin of Yuzhou, and the second time was with the support of Cao Cao and becoming the pastor of Yuzhou. When Liu Bei was in Charge of Yuzhou, he once held Up Yuan Tan as Maocai. It is generally believed that the time was when he first imprisoned Yuzhou, because the second time Liu Bei was in Yuzhou for the second time, he was basically committed to cao cao's clique and should not show favor to Yuan Shao, whose relations with Cao Cao had deteriorated significantly.
Yuan Tan was Yuan Shao's eldest son, and Liu Bei's promotion of Yuan Tan as Mao Cai was actually a gesture of overtures to Yuan Shao. Perhaps before Liu Bei left Gongsun Zhan, he had already seen that Gongsun Zhan was not Yuan Shao's opponent, so Liu Bei left a way back for himself. Mao Cai was a higher recommendation than Xiao Lian, so when Liu Bei led Xuzhou Mu, Chen Deng sent emissaries to see Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao replied, "Liu Xuande Hongya has faith and righteousness, and now Xuzhou Le Daizhi, Cheng Vice Hope also." "
Yuan Shao also had many considerations in supporting Liu Bei as Xuzhou Mu: first, he was busy with northern affairs, and it was always more advantageous for Liu Bei to be Xuzhou pastor than Yuan Shu and Cao Cao to occupy Xuzhou; second, Liu Bei had previously recommended Yuan Tan as Maocai, which was actually showing favor to himself, and Xuzhou turned to his own camp, which was better than yuan shu and Gongsun Zhan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > Cao Cao's cousin Liu Bei was the general of Zhendong and the Marquis of Yicheng</h1>
In the first year of Jian'an (196), Cao Cao's cousin Liu Bei was made the general of Zhendong and the Marquis of Yicheng Ting. Yuan Shu led a large army to attack Xuzhou, Liu Bei attacked, and the two armies held each other at Xuyi and Huaiyin. Cao Cao's cousin Liu Bei was the general of Zhendong, which had actually been a very confusing operation, but if the order of Yuan Shu's attack on Xuzhou was placed before Cao Cao played Liu Bei, it would be easy to explain.
Yuan Shu, this guy, didn't know what was going on, just couldn't look at Liu Bei, who was born as a mat weaver, plus Yuan Shu's territory was originally close to Xuzhou. Tao Qian died, and Yuan Shu was eager to occupy Xuzhou himself, so he would send troops to attack Liu Bei, hoping to capture Xuzhou and expand his power. Cao Cao and Yuan Shu were sworn enemies, and Cao Cao played Liu Bei, which meant saying to Liu Bei: "Brother, fight Yuan Shu well, brother support you!" ”
After the Battle of Jieqiao in 192 AD, Gongsun Zhan no longer had a great advantage over Yuan Shao, and Gongsun Zhan and Youzhou Mu Liu Yu were full of contradictions. Liu Bei was in the Camp of Gongsun Zhan, so naturally he knew these things very well, and Gongsun Zhan actually did not treat Liu Bei very well. In 194, Liu Bei had more than a thousand troops, and his official position was Pingyuan Xiang, so Liu Bei was determined to break away from Gongsun Zhan.
After taking Xuzhou, Liu Bei's series of operations were actually a manifestation of his initiative in a complex political environment. The yuan shao and cao cao camps were obviously stronger than Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zhan, so it was a very wise choice for Liu Bei and Xuzhou to turn to Yuan Cao's camp.
References: Notes on Pei Songzhi in romance of the Three Kingdoms, And Lu Simian in History of the Three Kingdoms