Emperor Liu Bei of the Han Dynasty (161 – June 10, 223), courtesy name Xuande, was a native of Zhuo County (涿郡, in present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei), after Liu Sheng, king of Zhongshan in the Western Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei made unremitting efforts, and after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei successively took Jingzhou and Yizhou and established the Shu Han Dynasty. Later, because Guan Yu was killed by Eastern Wu, Liu Bei did not listen to the persuasion of his subjects and insisted on launching a war against the state of Wu, resulting in the defeat of Yiling, and finally died of illness in the third year of Zhang Wu (223) at the age of sixty-three, with the title of Emperor Zhaolie. Throughout Liu Bei's life, Yizhou and Jingzhou can be described as the two most important places. Of course, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jingzhou was originally Liu Biao's territory, and Yizhou was Liu Zhang's territory. So, the question is, in the face of the ambitious Liu Bei, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, why are they willing to accept him?
First, Liu Biao's reasons for accepting Liu Bei
In the spring of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), the edict of the garment belt occurred. Cao Cao personally attacked Liu Bei, but Liu Bei was defeated and Guan Yu was captured. In July of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei to lead troops south of Liu Bei and Liu Peikou, and Guan Yu learned of this and returned from Cao Cao to Liu Bei's aid. Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to attack Liu Bei, Liu Beizhan was unfavorable to return to Yuan Shao, wanted to leave Yuan Shao, on the pretext of uniting liu Biao, led his troops back to Runan, united with the Yellow Turban Army Gong Du, a total of thousands of people, Cao Cao sent Cai Yang to attack, was killed by Liu Bei.
In the sixth year of Jian'an (201), Cao Cao personally attacked Liu Bei, and Liu Bei surrendered to Liu Bei. Liu Biao personally went to the outskirts to greet Liu Bei, waited for the courtesy of the guests, and then tuned in Xinye. Jingzhou Haojie all went to return to Liu Bei, causing Liu Biao's suspicions, and Liu Biao secretly guarded against Liu Bei. Therefore, for Liu Biao, although he was wary of Liu Bei, he still accepted Liu Bei. The reasons for this are mainly divided into the following points. On the one hand, after Zhang Xiu defected to Cao Cao, this made Liu Biao lose the barrier against Cao Cao. Therefore, Liu Biao hoped that Liu Bei could make up for the gap left by Zhang Xiu and thus become the northern barrier of Jingzhou.
In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's advice and surrendered to Cao Cao again. After Zhang Xiu arrived, Cao Cao took Zhang Xiu's hand and attended the banquet together, marrying Zhang Xiu's daughter for his son Cao Jun, and making Zhang Xiu a general of Yang Wu. For Nanyang County, where Zhang Xiu is located, it is located exactly between Jingzhou and Xudu. Therefore, before Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao, Liu Biao was not too worried about Cao Cao's attack on Jingzhou. However, in the context of Zhang Xiu's surrender to Cao Cao and Cao Cao's victory at Guandu, Liu Biao naturally strengthened his defenses against Cao Cao. Therefore, allowing Liu Bei to garrison troops in the area of Xinye County, Nanyang County, could undoubtedly play a role in resisting Cao Cao. In other words, Liu Bei has a greater use value for Liu Biao, which is the main reason why Liu Biao can take him in.
On the other hand, Liu Bei, Liu Biao, and Liu Zhang, are all descendants of the Han Dynasty, which can undoubtedly narrow the distance between them. Moreover, Liu Bei was also a left general appointed by the Eastern Han Court. Therefore, taking In Liu Bei's words would help to gain support loyal to the han forces. Of course, as far as Jingzhou, where Liu Biao was located, there were many powerful local warrior clans.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to gain the support of the local warrior clan, Liu Biao married Cai Mao's sister Cai Shi as his wife, and used Cai Mao, Ku Yue and other representative figures of the Jingzhou clan as heavy subjects. From this point of view, Liu Biao's position in Jingzhou is not very solid. Especially in the context of Cao Cao's continuous influence on Jingzhou, Liu Biao needed Liu Bei to balance these local warriors in Jingzhou, and at that time, Liu Bei had Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and other generals under his command, and his strength could not be underestimated. Therefore, Liu Bei was able to stay in Jingzhou for a long time, and even to be able to recruit talents such as Zhuge Liang in Jingzhou, which was naturally inseparable from Liu Biao's connivance and acquiescence.
Second, Liu Zhang's reasons for accepting Liu Bei
In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), after Liu Biao's death, Cao Cao sent a large army to attack Jingzhou. However, at the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated by a coalition of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Liu Bei led an army to capture four counties in the south of Jingzhou. In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Zhou Yu died of illness in Baqiu near Jiangling, and Liu Bei took the opportunity to borrow Jingzhou Jiangling (南郡) from Sun Quan, so he took possession of the five counties of Jingzhou.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), Liu Zhang, following Zhang Song's advice, sent Fa Zheng to invite Liu Bei into Sichuan to help him deal with Zhang Lu, and Fa Zheng and Pang Tong persuaded Liu Bei to take Yizhou at this time. Liu Bei left Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, and others to guard Jingzhou, and since he had tens of thousands of steps into Shu, he would meet Liu Zhang at Fu. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the reasons why Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei to enter Yizhou are mainly divided into the following points. On the one hand, the ostensible reason was to oppose Zhang Lu in Hanzhong.
In the second year of Chuping (191), Liu Yan, the pastor of Yizhou, appointed Zhang Lu as the governor of Yi, and together with Sima Zhang Xiu, he led troops to attack Hanzhong Taishou Sugu. After Zhang Xiu killed Su Gu, Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu again and captured his soldiers. He also cut off the Xiegu Road and, at the behest of Liu Yan, killed the emissaries of the imperial court. In this regard, in the author's opinion, in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Yan could still control Zhang Lu, and the two worked together to divide the land of Hanzhong and Yizhou, prompting the Eastern Han court to take them out of their way. However, in the first year of Xingping (194), after Liu Yan died of illness, his son Liu Zhang took the place. Liu Zhang killed Zhang Lu's mother and her family on the grounds that Zhang Lu did not obey his dispatches. He also sent Pang Xi and others to attack Zhang Lu, and was repeatedly broken by Zhang Lu. Zhang Lu's parts were mostly in Badi, and Liu Zhang, therefore, made Pang Xi the Taishou of Ba County. Zhang Lu attacked Ba County. As a result, between Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang, it can be said that they are inseparable.
For Liu Zhang, he had attacked Zhang Lu many times, but the result was not successful. Therefore, the purpose of inviting Liu Bei to Shu now was to use Liu Bei's generals to eliminate Zhang Lu, a strong enemy. On the other hand, Liu Zhang's invitation to Liu Bei to enter Shu was not entirely to oppose Zhang Lu in the Han Dynasty. Like Liu Biao, Liu Zhang is in Yizhou and is also a "strong dragon that does not suppress the head snake".
According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms and other historical sources, the Yizhou official Zhao Yun and others hoped to take advantage of Liu Zhang's Wenren, so the letter recommended that he succeed yizhou as the governor of Yizhou, and the imperial court edict was made Yizhou Mu, and at the same time appointed Zhao Yun as the general of The Zhonglang of Zhengshu. The generals Shen Mi, Lou Fa, and Gan Ning rebelled against Liu Zhang, and after being defeated by Zhao Yun, went straight to Jingzhou. In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Zhao Yun launched a rebellion, and Shudi responded in many places, but fortunately, liu Yan had previously taken in Jingzhou and the "Dongzhou soldiers" established by the three auxiliary people to fight to the death, and only then did they quell the rebellion and kill Zhao Yun in Jiangzhou. Therefore, it is very obvious that Liu Zhang's position in Yizhou is also very unstable. For Liu Zhang, there was Zhang Lu, who was looking at the tiger on the outside, and there were local scholars in Yizhou who had their own thoughts. Therefore, although Liu Zhang knew that Liu Bei had lofty ambitions and would not submit to others, he still hoped to use Liu Bei's power to balance the local shi clan in Yizhou and Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. From this point of view, Liu Zhang accepted Liu Bei also because the latter had use value.
Of course, Liu Zhang still underestimated Liu Bei, or rather underestimated Liu Bei's ability. Although there were not many soldiers and horses, and it was an away battle, Liu Bei successfully defeated Liu Zhang and captured the land of Yizhou. In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), Liu Bei invaded Chengdu and sent Jian Yong to persuade Liu Zhang to surrender. For Liu Zhang, he understood that the general trend had gone, so he gave up resistance. In this regard, Liu Bei naturally did not exterminate Liu Zhang, but moved him to Jingzhou, returned the property to him, and then pei Zhenwei's seal letter. In summary, during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, liu biao and Liu Zhang's acceptance prompted Liu Bei to attack Jingzhou and Yizhou successively, and then stand on three feet with Cao Cao and Sun Quan.