Hello everyone, welcome to historically accurate
In this episode, I will continue talking about Liu Bei
In my last episode, I mentioned that
after Liu Bei became the chancellor of Ping Yuan Commandery
he followed Tian Kai to rescue Tao Qian who was attacked by Cao Cao
Xu Province, where Tao Qian lived
consisted of five commanderies and had a large population
However, Tao Qian’s military strength was quite weak
which made Xu Province a target of many warlords
In the face of the powerful Cao Cao
Liu Bei’s help was actually a drop in the bucket
But at that time, Liu Bei was under the command
of Gongsun Zan’s subordinate Tian Kai
so he could only follow Tian Kai to rescue Tao Qian
On the way, Liu Bei recruited several thousand famine victims
when he arrived in Xu Province
Tao Qian gave him another four thousand Dan Yang soldiers
As a result, Liu Bei’s army rapidly expanded nearly 10 times
At that point, Liu Bei simply left Tian Kai and followed Tao Qian
Of course, Ping Yuan Commandery was also given up by Liu Bei
Then why did Liu Bei give up Gongsun Zan
and his own territory and follow Tao Qian
This was because, at that time
Gongsun Zan occupied You Province after he had killed Liu Yu
who had been the governor of You Province with a good reputation
Liu Yu had also been a member of the Han imperial family
Also, Gongsun Zan was already at war with Yuan Shao
the most powerful warlord north of the Yellow River
Liu Bei could tell that Gongsun Zan wasn’t loyal to the
Han government and had no chance of winning
so he took the opportunity to rescue Tao Qian and left
If Gongsun Zan lost, Liu Bei would not only lose Ping Yuan Commandery
but also have an extremely powerful enemy----Yuan Shao
Foreseeing this, Liu Bei did something when
he was still in Ping Yuan Commandery
What was it?
I will skip it for now, but what Liu Bei had done
saved his life in his future crisis
After Tian Kai and Liu Bei arrived in Xu Province
Cao Cao’s army retreated
This was because Cao Cao’s base camp, Yan Province
was attacked by Lü Bu and Cao Cao commanded his
entire army to return to Yan Province to help
As a result, the crisis in Xu Province was temporarily resolved
Tao Qian asked Liu Bei to station his army at a place named Xiao Pei
and recommended Liu Bei to the imperial court as Ci Shi of Yu Province
which was equivalent to the
highest-level administrative official of Yu Province
So why did Tao Qian recommend Liu Bei for such a high-level position
If we look at the map, we will find that although Xiao Pei
where Liu Bei was located, was controlled by Tao Qian
administratively it belonged to Yu Province instead of Xu Province
And most of Yu Province was Cao Cao’s territory
Liu Bei was stationed here as a barrier
on the frontline of Xu Province against Cao Cao
Tao Qian soon became seriously ill and then died
When Tao Qian was seriously ill
he told his subordinate Mi Zhu that
Xu Province couldn’t survive without Liu Bei
So, after Tao Qian's death
Mi Zhu, Chen Deng, and Kong Rong, three prominent local figures
all supported Liu Bei to take over Xu Province
That is to say, Liu Bei, who had a low official position
low social status and low military strength
quickly made the prominent local figures in Xu Province
develop a strong affection for him and
support him to lead the entire Xu Province
It all happened after he arrived in Xu Province
Such personal charisma is indeed rare in the world!
Although supported by everyone to lead Xu Province
Liu Bei still recommended the very prestigious Yuan Shu
to take over Xu Province
However, Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, Kong Rong and their followers
were unanimous in disliking Yuan Shu
whose reputation and strength were much stronger than Liu Bei's
and insisted that Liu Bei took over Xu Province
so Liu Bei agreed to do so
Just like that, Liu Bei, who started as an unimportant Xian Wei
became a major warlord owning the entire Xu Province
This is as incredible as a county sheriff suddenly succeeding in
running for governor of a state in a few years
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long
Although Liu Bei, whose military strength wasn’t strong
luckily “inherited” such a large strategic area all of a sudden
he would also be envied by the other warlords
Not long after, Yuan Shu led his army to attack Xu Province
When Liu Bei led his army south to defend against Yuan Shu
Lü Bu raided Xia Pi, which was guarded by Zhang Fei
and captured Liu Bei's family
Then why was Lü Bu able to raid Xia Pi
This was because Lü Bu came to join Liu Bei
after he was defeated by Cao Cao
Liu Bei accepted Lü Bu since he couldn’t resist Cao Cao by himself
Liu Bei planned to use Lü Bu as his “shield”
in case Cao Cao attacked Xu Province
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao didn't come
Yuan Shu came first, and Liu Bei himself became Lü Bu's “shield”
This also gave Lü Bu the opportunity to raid Xia Pi
After Xia Pi was attacked
it couldn’t continue to provide supplies to Liu Bei’s army
In addition, Xu Province had just experienced
a horrible massacre by Cao Cao and Ze Rong
Liu Bei couldn’t bear to allow his army to plunder the people
Therefore, Liu Bei’s army could only
survive and be able to return to Xiao Pei
by eating the corpses of the soldiers died of starvation
In the end, In desperation, Liu Bei had no choice but to sue for peace
Lü Bu returned Liu Bei's family and let Liu Bei stay in Xiao Pei
Life was so unpredictable
Liu Bei now returned to the same situation when he first joined Tao Qian
All his previous efforts had been in vain
Liu Bei learned the lessons from his painful experience
and decided to increase his military strength
He recruited nearly 10,000 men in Xiao Pei
which made Lü Bu feel threatened
As a result, Lü Bu directly sent troops to attack Xiao Pei
Liu Bei couldn’t resist the attack
so he fled to Xu Du and joined Cao Cao
This time, Liu Bei directly hit rock bottom and lost all his territory
The reason for Liu Bei’s series of failures was that
Liu Bei didn’t train an army with high combat effectiveness
and military expertise in time
Although Liu Bei could quickly gain support
of the locals wherever he went
he wouldn’t be able to protect his territory without a
sizeable and powerful army in the troubled times
After Liu Bei fled to join Cao Cao
Cao Cao allocated some troops and rations to Liu Bei
Cao Cao asked Liu Bei to go back to Xiao Pei
gather the defeated soldiers and continue to attack Lü Bu
This time, Lü Bu sent his generals
Gao Shun and Zhang Liao to defeat Liu Bei again
and Liu Bei's family were also captured by Lü Bu again
Seeing that Liu Bei couldn’t defeat Lü Bu
Cao Cao decided to attack Lü Bu himself
This time, he finally completely defeated Lü Bu
and executed Lü Bu on Liu Bei’s advice
Despite repeated military failures
Liu Bei’s name still became widely known
Cao Cao respected Liu Bei very much
In a conversation with Liu Bei
he even said something like
"You and I are the only heroes in the world"
Liu Bei, who had been trying to keep a low profile
was so shocked to hear this that
he dropped his chopsticks to the floor
In the novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”
it happened to thunder when Liu Bei dropped his chopsticks
So, to hide his ambition, Liu Bei said to Cao Cao
“Look, even the thunder startled me, I am really timid”
In addition to having his own ideals
Liu Bei was also very uncomfortable with
Cao Cao's use of the emperor as a puppet
Therefore, when the emperor secretly hid the distress letter
in his belt and asked Dong Cheng
Liu Bei and others to help him kill Cao Cao
Liu Bei agreed to do so
But before Liu Bei had the chance to carry out the plan
he was sent by Cao Cao on an expedition against Yuan Shu
The conspiracy was discovered not long after Liu Bei left
All those involved were killed by Cao Cao
and Liu Bei became Cao Cao's enemy completely
You might think that Liu Bei had absolutely no need to
participate in the murder of the man who took him in
but there was an ideological struggle involved here
Cao Cao believed that the Han Dynasty was so decayed
that there was no point in maintaining it
so it would be better for him to use his own talents to
govern the country in the name of the emperor
however, in Liu Bei's opinion, if whoever had strong military power
and whoever was lucky enough to snatch the
emperor as a hostage first could control the whole country
then the country would become a barbaric society without rules
and the stronger could kill the weaker without being punished
Both beliefs are actually valid
and it is difficult to say who is completely wrong
At the critical moment, when the emperor sent the distress letter
Liu Bei knew that it would be quite difficult to succeed
but he was obliged to participate in the plan
for the sake of the idea he represented
otherwise the people who supported his idea
would not unite around him
This explained Liu Bei’s seemingly
irrational involvement in the killing of Cao Cao
Of course, ideals always come at a price
After learning that Cao Cao had discovered the conspiracy
Liu Bei quickly reoccupied Xiao Pei and Xia Pi
trying to rely on these places to fend off Cao Cao
However, Cao Cao was so strong that Liu Bei couldn’t resist at all
In the end, Liu Bei's family and Guan Yu were captured alive by Cao Cao
Remember I mentioned earlier that Liu Bei did something
when he was still in Ping Yuan Commandery that saved himself later
That “thing” was recommending Yuan Tan
the son of Yuan Shao who was the most powerful warlord at that time
to be a government official
Although Yuan Tan’s family was prominent
he couldn’t become a government official directly without
the recommendation of a reputable person
Liu Bei, who was in charge of Ping Yuan Commandery at that time
was qualified to recommend Yuan Tan
After being defeated by Cao Cao, Liu Bei went to Yuan Tan
who introduced Liu Bei to Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao welcomed Liu Bei’s arrival and went 200 Li
(a traditional Chinese unit of distance)
out of the city to greet Liu Bei
Liu Bei finally got a respite in Yuan Shao’s place
Soon after Liu Bei joined Yuan Shao, Battle of Guandu broke out
Guan Yu returned to Liu Bei after helping Cao Cao kill Yan Liang
Liu Bei keenly saw that Yuan Shao could lose to Cao Cao
and advised Yuan Shao to ally with Liu Biao in Jing Province
He also left Yuan Shao on the pretext of contacting Liu Biao
and recruited a few thousand men in Ru Nan from Gong Du
the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army
Once again, Liu Bei’s judgement was proved to be right
Yuan Shao was defeated by Cao Cao soon after Liu Bei left
If Liu Bei were still with Yuan Shao at that time
he would literally have no one to turn to
Cao Cao went south to chase Liu Bei
But fortunately, Liu Bei had arrived in Jing Province
and was accepted by Liu Biao from the same clan
Liu Bei stationed his troops in Xin Ye
In Xin Ye, Liu Bei finally had a huge turnaround in his life
If you want to know how Liu Bei bounced back
after his life hit rock bottom
please check out my next episode about Liu Bei
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