In the fifth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei left Runan County and went to Xiangyang County to defect to Liu Biao.
Liu Biao settled them in Xinye County and did not pay attention to them. Liu Biao just asked them to serve as outposts in the small place of Xinye, and did not treat Liu Bei with the courtesy of a former Xuzhou Mu, nor did he recognize Guan and Zhang as generals.
Liu Bei sat on the cold bench in Xinye, from the fifth year of Jian'an to the thirteenth year of Jian'an, a full eight years. It's a shame that he's so patient. How many energetic eight years are there in your life?
Once, Liu Biao invited him to dinner, and he thought of this during the banquet and was so sad that he shed tears. Liu Biao asked him why he wept, and he said: "I used to ride a horse every day, and I had no flesh on my hips; Now I haven't ridden a horse for a long time, my hips have become fat, I feel that I am getting old, and I am entering old age in a blink of an eye, and I have achieved nothing, so I am sad. ”
At this time, Liu Bei was in his forties.
In fact, Liu Bei can't complain about Liu Biao, and he can't complain about other people, he should complain about himself, he complains that he has more than enough heart and not enough strength, more courage than enough wisdom, lack of knowledge, the world's affairs, should conspire with the people of the world, at least should visit the world's first-class talents and conspire with it, with you Liu Bei alone has a little ambition, I think I can flatten the heroes alone and stabilize the world, isn't it because of the wood to seek fish?
Guan and Zhang have the courage of ten thousand people, Zhao Yun is full of courage, Mi Zhu and Sun Qian also have considerable administrative ability and diplomatic rhetoric; These people are good helpers, but compared to Zhang Liang, Han Xin, and Xiao He, there is a considerable distance.
Therefore, Liu Bei has been mixed for most of his life, running east and west, not being able to run any fame, and standing unstable anywhere.
When he was just starting out, under the command of a school captain Zou Jing, he led Guan and Zhang and a number of young friends who sat on an equal footing, let the dogs run together, and loved popular ** and beautiful clothes, and won the victory, killing the Yellow Turban Army in his hometown one by one, and was sponsored by Zou Jing to become the lieutenant of Anxi County, Zhongshan State. Zhongshan is not far from Zhuo County, and it can be regarded as his hometown; In fact, it was the fief of his distant ancestor Liu Sheng.
Liu Sheng was one of the fourteen sons of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty and was crowned king of the Zhongshan Kingdom; Liu Sheng's youngest son, Liu Zhen, was divided by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty into Lucheng County in Zhongshan State as a marquis, and in the fifth year of Yuan Ding due to the lack of quality, Emperor Wu cut off the marquis and was demoted to a commoner; Liu Bei's grandfather, Liu Xiong, also revived his family's reputation and became a petty official; His father, Liu Hong, was promoted as filial piety by the local government, and obtained an official position from filial piety and became the county magistrate of Fan County, East County, Yanzhou.
This Fan County magistrate, no, died early, leaving orphans and widows, and his life was very difficult. Liu Bei and his mother know how to adapt to the times, can bend and stretch, and rely on the hands of their mother and son, self-reliance, selling shoes, weaving mats, and living well, and saving money to ** Liu Bei studied and became Mr. Lu Zhi of the same county ** (Liu Bei was born in Zhuo County, Zhuo County, Youzhou, from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, called Zhuozhou, ** changed its name to Zhuo County.
Zhongshan belongs to Jizhou, and the first county is in Lunu, today's Dingxian County, Hebei. Anxi County belongs to Zhongshan State, and the old site is in the east of today's Dingxian County).
Liu Bei not only has money to study, but also money to make friends, which cannot be relied on only by the income from selling shoes and weaving mats. He had two confidants: Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, a big businessman in Zhongshan, who were in the horse business (transporting horses from outside the country to the mainland to sell) and made a fortune; Passing by Zhuo County, he may have sold a horse to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei is very expert in horses, and talked about a set of horse scriptures about horses, which aroused Zhang Su's favor (Liu Bei is not only very good at riding horses, but also knows the art of horses).
When these two people saw some of Liu Bei's friends, who were also extraordinary and promising, they generously donated money to support Liu Bei, so that Liu Bei had the money to unite a group of "disciples", walking on the streets, riding in the suburbs, all hugging each other in front of him, and forming a "local force" that could not be bullied, which was not simple.
Liu Bei had never entered a military school, and all he knew was horseback riding, archery, sword and sword dancing, and some strategic knowledge from books (such as "The Art of War").
At that time, it seems that no one had ever entered a military school, and there were no military schools in China during the Han Dynasty; However, in the higher state schools there are subjects related to military affairs.
As for Liu Bei, he has never entered a high-level national school. Therefore, he fought the Yellow Turban Army, which was more than enough, and it was not very difficult to help Gongsun Zhan's Tian Kai sweep Qingzhou; When it comes to confronting Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, and Cao Cao, it will be difficult to deal with.
The strange thing is that he helped Tao Qian defend Pi, but Cao Cao couldn't capture Pi. We don't have enough historical data to find out why. Perhaps, Cao Cao didn't have many soldiers at that time, and he had already fought a lot with Tao Qian; Moreover, the military rations were eaten and the transportation could not be continued.
Originally, his luck was not bad. With a person who has no qualifications to lead troops, and has never been promoted by filial piety and Maocai, he has risen to prominence and became An Xi's lieutenant, which is not much worse than the county magistrate. Later, in order to hate the "overseer" who inspected the county, he would not meet him, so he tied up the superintendent and beat him with two hundred sticks, and tied them to the stakes of horses.
After this catastrophe, Liu Bei simply even became the official of the county lieutenant, and it was not uncommon to do it, so he took off the "ribbon", hung it around the neck of the superintendent, and took Guan and Zhang to leave Anxi County, and went away to start a career of outlaw.
Not long after he died, he made friends with Biqiu Yi, who was sent by the general He Jin to Danyang County to recruit troops, and went to Danyang with Biqiu Yi, passing by Xiapi, and solved the local small bandits by the way. Biqiu Yi protected him, and he became an official again: the deputy county magistrate of Xiami County (east of Changyi County, Shandong).
Not long after the county beneficial, for some reason, Liu Bei quit again. Probably because he was young and vigorous, he couldn't stand the grievances (around twenty-five or sixteen years old). The author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" wrote the matter of tying up and supervising the post on Zhang Fei to render the rough character that the author gave to Zhang Fei (in the official history, there is no such Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei is a child of a rich family, he writes very well, his hobby in life, he is painting beauties, and his martial arts are also good).
After quitting the secret county, Liu Bei's official fortune was prosperous, and he didn't have long to be idle, and he became the county lieutenant of Gaotang County (southwest of Yucheng), and was promoted from county lieutenant to county order (the competent officer of the big county, called the county order; small counties, called county magistrates). This is his second time as a county lieutenant and his first time as a county magistrate.
In fact, throughout the ages, there are many people who have served as county magistrates, and there is nothing remarkable. Even if he became Jiuqing, there are many ministers who are equivalent to today. Only those who have made great achievements will be remembered in history and admired by future generations.
Liu Bei's special cuteness is that he does not regard the county lieutenant, county magistrate, and county magistrate as the peak of his life's career, but is satisfied and does not seek progress. He aims to clarify the United States and save the people; Therefore, if you don't like to get an official, you don't have to worry about losing your office, and you can leave at any time as a petty official.
Therefore, he made a county order in Gaotang County, and ran away for a small defeat in the battle against the bandits. This time he went far and defected to his old classmate Gongsun Zhan. At this time, Gongsun Zhan was honored as the "Zhonglang General" because of the pursuit of the rebellious Zhang Chun and the "greedy king" who surrendered Wuhuan.
Gongsun Zhan welcomed him very much, and immediately went to the table and recommended him to be the "Sima of the Other Department" (Sima's official, both big and small; The largest Sima of the Han Dynasty was the Great Sima of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which was equivalent to the Sima of the Western Zhou Dynasty; Units at all levels of the army also have their own responsibilities, and they are often in charge of baggage and logistics operations, and they are also ordered to lead troops into battle when necessary.
Liu Bei's position as the so-called "Sima of the Other Division" under Gongsun Zhan is very much like the Wuhuan of the other department who is in charge of surrendered or voluntarily surrendered, or as stated in the "Continuation of the Hundred Official Chronicles", the officers and soldiers who are in charge of another department other than the main force).
Liu Bei, as the "Sima of the Other Division", was sent to Qingzhou (northern Shandong) by Gongsun Zhan to help Tian Kai annex Qingzhou, which was quite successful. Tian Kai made Gongsun Zhan's Qingzhou Thorn History, and Liu Bei made the county order of Pingyuan County under Tian Kai, and soon became the minister of Pingyuan State.
The plain was a county in the Western Han Dynasty, and at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Yan and Emperor Huan successively named Liu Sheng, the son of Emperor He, and Emperor Huan's own younger brother Liu Gu as the king of the plain; So the plain was renamed from a county to a country; Taishou changed his name to the prime minister of the country, until Liu Bei became the minister of the plains and later (until Cao Cao abolished the country and changed the county in the eleventh year of Jian'an), and the plains belonged to Qingzhou.
There is one county in Qingzhou: Donglai; Five countries: Pingyuan, Beihai, Qi, Jinan, and Le'an. There were ten cities in the Plains State, eight of which were counties and two were Hou. The Hou State did not have a state minister, and the administrators of the Hou State were the same as those of the large counties, also called "Ling", and the magistrates of the small counties were called "Chang".
Liu Bei's official position at this time, although it is not too high, is not low. He gets along well with the local people, does not put up a fight with them, and is willing to spend a small amount of money. Moreover, the bandits in the territory are cleanly removed. Therefore, the common people love him very much.
The local bully, Liu Ping, did not like Liu Bei and sent an assassin. When the assassin saw Liu Bei, after talking, he became Liu Bei's friend, and not only couldn't bear to do it, but also told him about Liu Ping's conspiracy.
Kong Rong, the minister of Beihai who is equal to Liu Bei's official position and has a lot of fame, is also very willing to make friends with Liu Bei. Kong Rong once encountered the Yellow Turban attack, but he couldn't resist it, so he ordered his subordinate officer Tai Shici to come to the plain and ask Liu Bei for help.
Liu Bei immediately sent troops to rescue, and at the same time, in addition to being surprised, he said to Tai Shici: "Kong Wenju has also heard of it, is there such a Liu Bei as me in the world?" (Kong Rong's character is called Wenju.) Beihai is the area of Weixian County, Shandong, and the county is located in the southeast of today's Shouguang).
Another person with the same official position as Liu Bei was Chen Deng, the Taishou of Guangling County, Xuzhou. This Chen Deng, the grandson of a lieutenant, has always been above the top, but he admires Liu Bei very much, saying that Liu Bei is "outstanding in posture and has the strategy of being a king."
Does Liu Bei already know that he has a strategy to overlord? He may not have known it himself.
What he is showing at this time is that he just wants to be a good official. If you have the heart to be the overlord and the king of the world, how can you be a minister of state, and you will work so hard? It's right to be hardworking. We should focus on the problems of the whole country, and then take being a good national minister as the starting point of leveling the world, which is the cause of the king. To be a good minister for the sake of being a minister of state, it is so good that it is just a good minister of state.
At that time, the plain country belonged to Tiankai, the Thorn of Qingzhou; Tian Kai is a subordinate of Gongsun Zhan. What kind of material does Gongsun Chan look like? Liu Bei is willing to be a subordinate of Gongsun Zhan, what can he do?
Therefore, Yuan Shu looked down on him later, not for no reason. Yuan Shu once wrote to Lu Bu and said: "Since the birth of Shu, I have not heard that there is Liu Bei in the world. (Actually, this sentence is worthy of being said by others, but Yuan Shu is not worthy).
Liu Bei is willing to be the prime minister of the plains, and he is willing to take this plain quite a thing, and do it seriously, looking at the situation, it seems that he is willing to do it for a lifetime, but God does not let him be so unproductive. God told Yuan Shao to beat Gongsun Zhan, beat Tian Kai, beat him Liu Bei, took the plain country, forced Tian Kai and Liu Bei to retreat to the east, and retreated to Qi County (Shandong Yidu area).
God was really good to Liu Bei, but he was afraid that he would stay in Qi County, and specially asked Cao Cao's confused father to die at the hands of Tao Qian's subordinates, which made Cao Cao make a big move against Tao Qian, and also made Tao Qian ask Tian Kai for help, and Tian Kai took Liu Bei to rescue.
Who would have thought that as soon as Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, he would help Cao Bao, the only "general" of Tong Tao Qian, to defend Tancheng. The other party was not the Yellow Turban, not Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao, who was the most proficient soldier in China at that time.
Liu Bei not only fought well, but his personality was also appreciated by Tao Qian. When Tao Qian was sick and dying (at the turn of the second year of the first year of Xingping), he did not hand over Xuzhou to his son or subordinates, but ordered Mi Zhu and others to hand it over to Liu Bei. Tao Qian did this, not for himself, he was a dying person; It's for the people of Xuzhou.
Liu Bei became the pastor of Xuzhou and was in a promising place, so he should show some hegemonic measures, and he would not live up to the expectations of Chen Deng and his ilk. What is his performance? It was a scuffle with Yuan Shu, but he didn't see that Lu Bu was unreliable, he was stolen by Lu Bu, lost his wife, and lived in Haixi County with several loyal subordinates, so poor that he had no food to eat, so he bowed his head to Lu Bu upside down, begging Lu Bu to take him in and settle in Xiaopei, which was too bad.
Since ancient times, there have been many first-class talents surnamed Liu: Liu Bang, Liu Xiu, Liu Gaozhi, Liu Renliang, Liu Ji, Liu Mingchuan, and so on. These many people are not comparable to Liu Bei in the early days before he met Zhuge Liang (literati such as Liu Xian, whose attainments are also second to none among article theorists). Zhuge Liang "made a difference" in Liu Bei's life.
In fact, the glory still belongs to Liu Bei, other generals have never been willing to condescend to find a young talent in their twenties, and they have never had the heart to look for talents; He Liu Bei is willing to look at the thatched house, which is remarkable. Maxima often has, but Bole does not often have. Zhuge Liang has it in every era, but Liu Bei doesn't have it in every era, this is a later story.
Just one thing that he was willing to surrender to Lu Bu after he was stolen from Xuzhou by Lu Bu, Liu Zhoumu's style of being able to bend and stretch and not be afraid of people laughing can also be said to be "very extraordinary".
One thing that I feel sorry for is that whenever Lu Bu can't worry about him, he finally drives him away from Xiaopei, he doesn't go to others, but to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao fought Tao Qian, and Cao Cao once confronted him in Tancheng; Going to Cao Cao, isn't it another matchmaking incident?
Perhaps, he didn't go to Xu County sincerely. The fact is that he met Cao Cao in the state of Liang (south of Shangqiu, Henan). He should have given Cao Cao a head-on stab when he met Cao Cao. This is called "enemies meet and are very red-eyed".
As a result, not only did they not fight, but they became temporary confidants. In other words, it may be Cao Cao who took the initiative.
Cao Cao, from beginning to end, is to set his eyes on the situation in the country, he likes to collect talents from all over the world for his own use, and is very good at recruiting rebellions, and will never count Liu Beizhi who once fought against him in Tancheng, and is very happy that Liu Beizhi has formed a deep enmity with Lu Bu of Yanzhou, who stole him.
On the other hand, it is not impossible for Liu Bei to take the initiative to find Cao Cao. In order to avenge Lu Bu's revenge, in order to recapture Xuzhou, if you don't look for Cao Cao, who are you looking for?
Yuan Shao was far away. And Yuan Shao was also an enemy.
Among Liu Bei's several enemies, the most worthy of Liu Bei was Cao Cao, although after eliminating Lu Bu, he did not return Xuzhou to him (for this, we can't blame Cao Cao. Cao Cao's ambition to unify the whole country under the Han Dynasty he presided over was unable to allow a man like Liu Bei to reoccupy Xuzhou. If Liu Bei was in power in Xu County, he would not let Cao Cao live in Xuzhou).
In addition to Xuzhou Mu, whatever official position Liu Bei wants, Cao Cao can sympathize with it. Liu Bei opened his mouth or not, we don't know. As we know, as soon as Cao Cao saw Liu Bei, he used the name of Emperor Xian to appoint him as the pastor of Yuzhou. Moreover, Liu Bei really took office and arrived in office (during his tenure, he sponsored a person surnamed Yuan Ming Tan in Runan County, Yuzhou as "Maocai". This Yuan Tan is Yuan Shao's eldest son).
In September of the third year of Jian'an, Liu Bei followed Cao Cao to Xuzhou to fight Lu Bu, and won the first time; He followed Cao Cao back to Xu County, and enjoyed Cao Cao's courtesy to him of "going out to the same public opinion, and sitting at the same table", and was worshiped by Cao Cao as "General Zuo" in the name of offering the emperor. However, the official position of Yuzhou Mu is gone.
dismissed Liu Bei's Yuzhou pastor and left him as a high and powerless general in **, which was Cao Cao's "failure". Cao Cao doesn't know too much about people. Like Zhang Liao, Zhang He and others, if they can be a lieutenant general and a partial general, they are very desperate. As for Liu Bei, it is not the ratio of Zhang Liao and Zhang He, nor is it a slightly better than Zhang Zhang, so he will be very satisfied.
In order to entrap Liu Bei, restrain him, or even take it for his own use, Cao Cao must put his heart into Liu Bei and achieve a career together. This cause must be based on the Han Dynasty that supported the Liu family, and it cannot be called the Liu family, but in fact it is a situation in which the Cao family exists in name only.
The problem lies with Cao Cao, not with Liu Bei. Liu Bei had no idea of being the emperor himself at that time, nor did he have the idea of being the prime minister himself.
If Cao Cao could convince Liu Bei that he was really reviving the Han Dynasty, and at the same time let Liu Bei sit in the second position after the prime minister, Liu Bei would not have conspired with Dong Cheng to overthrow Cao Cao.
Dong Cheng is not interesting. Cao Cao treated him well, and gave him the position of general of the chariot cavalry, and he was just the father of Dong Guiren, a side chamber of the emperor (it may not be him who presided over the plan to invite Cao Cao to meet him in Luoyang four years ago, but Dong Zhao).
Dong Cheng is not, as Pei Songzhi said, the nephew of Emperor Ling's mother, Empress Dowager Dong. He may be a junior with the same surname outside Dong Zhuo's three clans, and he once served as an officer under Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu.
However, after Dong Zhuo's death, in the years when Li Dao and Guo Yan were messing around, he did loyally defend Emperor Xian. In July of the second year of Xingping, Emperor Xian set out from Chang'an and went east, Dong Cheng was one of the generals who accompanied him, and his official title was "General Anji".
Halfway through, Li Dao and Guo Yan made trouble again; Dong Cheng discussed with Yang Feng and invited Han Xian and a large number of Baibo disciples from Shanxi to save Emperor Xian's life.
When Cao Cao arrived in Luoyang in August of the first year of Jian'an, Dong Cheng was already a "General Wei", second only to the general, the hussar general, and the chariot general.
Cao Cao in August Xinhai day, as the general of Zhendong and the pastor of Yanzhou, and the "commander of the school, the record of Shangshu affairs", obtained the power to dominate ***, and then arrested and killed a servant surnamed Tai Mingchong, a Shangshu surnamed Feng Mingshuo and several other middle and lower-level officials around Emperor Xian, Liwei.
At the same time, he named thirteen people, including Dong Cheng and Fu Wan, as "liehous". A liege is a marquis without a place name. In March of the fourth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao was promoted to the official of Dong Cheng, and was promoted from General Wei to General Che Cai. Why? We don't know. Maybe it's because Dong Cheng's daughter is a favored nobleman in the palace.
At that time, Cao Cao, the official position of the general, had been given to Yuan Shao. This chariot rode the general, and Cao Cao gave it to Dong Cheng again. Yuan Shao is outside, and Dong Cheng is inside, although Cao Cao has great power, and his military position is quite inferior to these two, even Liu Bei's general Zuo. Since November of the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao has been nothing more than a "chariot and cavalry general".
If Dong Cheng had seen in his four years in Jian'an, Cao Cao could not always be loyal to the Han family, or he hated Cao Cao's cruel style in Xuzhou, and it was his freedom to get rid of Cao Cao purely for the sake of justice.
However, even so, you should be the first to stand firm yourself; Second, they should calculate their own strength and whether they are more than 51 percent sure of victory.
It is too early to say that Cao Cao was already a traitor at this time. At least, Cao Cao's traitorous face has not yet been exposed. Dong Cheng himself, with the dignity of a dignified general, and doing this sneaky and conspiracy to seize power, is too disgraceful.
As for the strength, the soldiers near Xu County, the capital, who can resist Cao Cao, only have a school captain's troops, at most a few thousand, can they solve Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands?
This lieutenant is a kind of editor. "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Emperor Xian" said that he was "the captain of the Yue Cavalry", and the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, the Book of Shu, and the Biography of the First Lord" said that he was the "captain of Changshui".
Another conspirator, who is partial to the general's royal suit, even if there are soldiers, there will not be much. This royal costume, written as "prince suit" in "The Biography of the First Lord", seems to be a "prince's suit". To be examined.
According to the book "Notes on the Living of the Emperor", Dong Cheng said to the prince: "The gate of Xilu Buwei, the beard is Chu and then high, and now I and my son are still the same." This "Zi Chu" is the grandson of King Zhaoxiang of Qin and the son of King Xiaowen, who was later supported by Lü Buwei and returned to Qin to obtain the throne and became the king of Zhuangxiang in history.
Dong Cheng used the story of Zichu to convince the "prince suit", and compared it with the prince suit of the Qin State, it is very similar to overthrow Cao Cao, abolish the emperor, and set up another "prince suit". Whether this "prince's suit" is a "prince's suit" of a son of Emperor Huan or Emperor Ling; Or the son of a royal family with a royal "prince's suit".
"Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" called him "Wang Fu", "Book of the Later Han" renamed him "Wang Fu", and "Zizhi Tongjian" only called him "Wang Fu". It can be seen that Fan Ye and Sima Guang have never regarded what Dong Cheng said to Wang Zifu in "Notes on the Living of the Emperor" as the same thing.
Another question: When was the plan of Dong Cheng, Liu Bei and others discovered by Cao Cao? Was it before Liu Bei solved the Xuzhou assassin Shi Che Guan? Or later?
The Wei part of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" contains the fact that Liu Bei killed Che Zhou before Dong Cheng was killed by Cao Cao. The Shu part of "Three Kingdoms", on the contrary, says that after Dong Cheng was killed by Cao Cao, Liu Bei killed Che Xuan. Sima Guang adopted the statement of "Wei Zhi" in "Zizhi Tongjian: Examination of Differences", and clearly stated that "Shu Zhi is wrong". The "Examination of Differences" cites Yuan Hong's "Later Han Ji" as a basis, saying that the "Later Han Ji" is the same as the "Wei Zhi".
The three parts of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou himself called them "Book of Wei", "Book of Shu", and "Book of Wu". Later generations often changed their names to "Wei Zhi", "Shu Zhi", and "Wu Zhi". Sages such as Sima Guang are not "exempt from vulgarity". Sima Guang and his assistants also called Yuan Hong's "Later Han Ji" the "Han Dynasty".
But the more logical view is that the part of "Three Kingdoms: Shu Shu" is right: Dong Cheng was in Xu County**, Liu Bei panicked, turned his face to Cao Cao in advance, occupied Xiapi and killed Xuzhou Assassin Shi Chexuan, leaving Guan Yu to guard Xiapi, and brought the main force to Xiaopei to prepare to meet the generals and soldiers that Cao Cao would send. This is the winter of the fourth year of Jian'an.
The generals sent by Cao Cao were Liu Dai and Wang Zhong. This Liu Dai, and Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou who participated in the crusade against Dong Zhuo's alliance in the first year of Chuping, not only have the same name, but also the same word, and both of them have the word "Gongshan"; The difference is: Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, is a native of Muping County, Donglai County, Qingzhou; Cao Cao's subordinate Liu Dai was a native of Peiguo, Yuzhou (Mu Ping is southeast of Penglai, Shandong, and Peiguo is northwest of Su County, Anhui).
Liu Dai and Wang Zhong were not Liu Bei's opponents. Wang Zhong is a "right-wing" person (in the Wugong area of Shaanxi), and he has no great qualifications, but he only ate human flesh due to famine during the period when Li Dao and Guo Yan were messing around (after that, Cao Pi liked to send people to find skeletons in the wild ancient tombs, hang them on Wang Zhong's horse's neck, and make fun of him).
Liu Bei said to Liu Dai and Wang Zhong: "If there are a hundred materials like the two of you, you can't do anything to me." If the surname Cao comes by himself, then it will be another matter. ”
After Liu Dai and Wang Zhong suffered defeat, they returned to Cao Cao's camp in Guandu and reported the truth. Cao Cao then followed Liu Bei's wishes, personally led his troops from Guandu to the east, and went to Xiaopei to ask Liu Bei for advice (Guandu is in the northeast of Zhongmu, Henan; Xiaopei is due east of Pei County, Jiangsu).
Liu Bei already had tens of thousands of soldiers at this time, including the troops brought by Cao Cao's old subordinate Changba of Donghai County and others. He was very good at fighting Cao Cao, but he suddenly had stage fright, and when he saw Cao Cao's banner, he ordered a retreat, abandoned the army and fled, losing his wife and son, and also losing Guan Yu, who was guarding Xiapi (Wang Shen's "Book of Wei" says so).
Sima Guang didn't believe that Liu Bei had reached this step, so he added a four-word note: "The Book of Wei is so delusional").
Liu Bei suffered a big defeat, which is indeed a fact. Not only were his wife and Guan Yu captured in Xiapi, but Zhang Fei and one of his officers and soldiers were also beaten to the point that they lost contact with Liu Bei's main force, and fled to Runan County (in the Zhengyang area of Henan) to find Liu Pi, the leader of the Yellow Turbans, and join them.