Chapter 2 2. Liu Biao's difficulties

Cao Jun is marching south, what is Liu Biao doing?Liu Biao is sick. Liu Biao was sixty-seven years old this year, and he had been in Jingzhou for nearly twenty years.He used to be a party member, even a literati, and a little famous.But he was not weak at all, rather courageous and resourceful. Relying on the support of his old colleague Kuai Yue and the Cai and Ma families in Jingzhou, he quickly gained a foothold in Jingzhou. Liu Biao has a way of managing government affairs and developing the economy. He is a man of action. He has managed Jingzhou well in recent years. Further promote the economic and social development of Jingzhou.

However, compared with Cao Cao, Liu Biao did not fight any serious battles, and spent most of his time in a peaceful environment, living comfortably for twenty years. There were a few not so big battles in the middle. Once Sun Jian fought at the door of his house. The situation was very critical, but Liu Biao was lucky. Sun Jian died suddenly and strangely, and the crisis was resolved.Later, Liu Biao also fought against the rebels in the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River, but none of them were of any scale, and he had an overwhelming advantage. This is luck, but also misfortune.

Now, when Cao Cao, who has been through many battles, led an army of more than 100,000 to kill him, Liu Biao realized that peace is beautiful, and peace for too long can also harm people. The number of Liu Biao's army should also exceed 100,000, and he is superior to Cao's army in terms of naval forces.But Liu Biao knew in his heart that this is an army that grew up in a peaceful age. How could it be the opponent of Cao Jun who is accustomed to fighting? He got it, but it was a little too late.Liu Biao may have thought about surrendering, which would be very shameless, but if he had to bite the bullet and fight a battle, he really couldn't pull himself together, and he didn't have any confidence in winning.

Therefore, Liu Biao was ill, and it was very serious, and he could not afford to be ill. In addition to the pressure of soldiers, Liu Biao's own family affairs also bothered him. Liu Biao has two sons, the eldest Liu Qi and the second Liu Cong.According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Liu Biao liked Liu Qi more at the beginning, because Liu Qi looked like himself (at first, he was similar to him in Qi's appearance, and loved him very much).As the eldest son, Liu Qi was deeply loved by his father. Under the eldest son inheritance system, it was a matter of time before he took over.However, there was an episode.

Liu Biao's ex-wife died, and his second wife, Cai, came from the Cai family of Jingzhou.The Cai family has a younger brother named Cai Mao, and Cai Mao has a nephew named Zhang Yun. They are in charge of Liu Biao's navy, and they are figures that Liu Biao dare not underestimate. Liu Biao likes Liu Qi, but Cai's likes Liu Cong, because Liu Cong married Cai's niece and became close relatives.In order to promote Liu Cong, the Cai family kept slandering Liu Qi in front of Liu Biao. After so many times, Liu Biao gradually believed him, so he gradually alienated Liu Qi.On the surface, Liu Biao was a little confused, and he committed the big taboo of abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones.Yuan Shao's defeat was right in front of him, it was really unwise for him not to learn his lesson and repeat the same mistakes.

Chen Shou held this point of view. He believed that Liu Biao "abolished his sons and established his concubines, sacrificed his rites and worshiped his love. It is not a misfortune that his heirs will be destroyed and the country will be overthrown."But thinking about it, maybe not.Back then, Liu Biao paid more attention to the rivalry among the Yuan family than anyone else. He also wrote long letters to Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, urging them to unite and not split up. How could he not know the danger of discord between brothers. However, the more this is the case, the more he wants to choose Liu Cong as his successor.Liu Cong has the support of the Cai Group behind him, but Liu Qi has no backing.If he ignored the opposition of the powerful Cai Group and insisted on letting Liu Qi take over, he would have guessed that there would be civil strife in Jingzhou after his death.

Therefore, he took the initiative to alienate Liu Qi and sent Liu Qi to work in other places to appease the Cai Group. Both "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" and "Records of the Three Kingdoms" record that Liu Qi's position is the prefect of Jiangxia County, which is also his request to Liu Biao.It was Zhuge Liang who had just come to Liu Bei's subordinates who came up with this idea. This story is well-known, and it tells that Liu Qi is uneasy in the face of a crisis, but he has nothing to do. He heard that Zhuge Liang, a counselor newly recruited by Liu Bei, is a good planner, so he asked him for help.But Zhuge Liang seemed unwilling to get involved in Liu Biao's family affairs because he was also related to the Cai family. Zhuge Liang's mother-in-law was surnamed Cai, and she and Liu Biao's wife Cai were sisters. Zhuge Liang had to call Liu Biao his uncle.So despite Liu Qi's repeated pleas, Zhuge Liang just refused to answer.

One day, Liu Qi invited Zhuge Liang to drink tea and chat upstairs, then quietly ordered someone to remove the stairs, and said to Zhuge Liang sincerely: "Now there are only two of us, the top does not reach the sky, and the bottom does not reach the earth. The words come from the mouth of the gentleman." It comes out and only reaches my ears, so can you talk about it?" Zhuge Liang was helpless, and at the same time, he also saw that in the Liu Biao Group, only Liu Qi could make friends, and he might become Liu Bei's ally in the future, so he called him and said: "Didn't you see that Shen Sheng is in danger inside, but Chong Er is safe outside? Both Shen Sheng and Chong Er were the sons of Jin Xiangong in the Spring and Autumn Period. In order to let her son Xi Qi succeed her, Li Ji, the favorite concubine of Jin Xiangong, designed and murdered the crown prince Shen Sheng. After nine years of struggle, he returned home and became the king of the country, that is, Duke Wen of Jin, one of the Five Overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Zhuge Liang's words awakened Liu Qi, so he began to consider ways to escape.Just at this moment, Liu Biao's general, Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia County, was killed by Sun Quan, and Liu Qi asked to take over. It should be said that it is true that Liu Biao likes Liu Qi, but liking Liu Cong is a bit forced.Liu Qi not only looks like his father Liu Biao, but also is quite capable.Liu Biao approved Liu Qi's request and asked him to serve as the prefect of Jiangxia County and lead an army to station in Jiangxia County. When he heard the news that Cao Jun was going south, Liu Biao became seriously ill.

After Liu Qi heard about it, he hurried back from Jiangxia County to Xiangyang to visit.Liu Qi is a dutiful son (sucixiao), and Liu Biao also loves Liu Qi very much. In view of this, Cai Mao and his brother thought that when their father and son met, Liu Biao would not suddenly entrust Liu Qi with the funeral, so they did everything possible to prevent their father and son from meeting. Cai Mao said to Liu Qi: "Your father ordered you to guard Jiangxia County. This burden is very heavy. If you put down everyone and come here without permission, your father will definitely be angry when he sees you, which will affect the relationship between you and your father and son. It will also increase his illness. It’s not filial piety (hurting the happiness of relatives and multiplying their illnesses is not the way of filial piety).” Liu Qi was not even allowed to enter the door (so he was kept outdoors), Liu Qi had no choice but to leave, and everyone who saw this scene sad.

In August of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Liu Biao, who was also regarded as a generation of heroes, died of illness at the age of sixty-seven. According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Liu Biao died of "gangrenous hair and back death". This disease is called "back gangrene" in traditional Chinese medicine and "acute suppurative cellulitis on the back" in modern medicine. Caused by accumulation of damp heat, the internal cause is the stagnation of the seven emotions and heat accumulation in the viscera.When Liu Biao got this disease, he was completely worried. As an important figure who has ruled Jingzhou for 20 years, later generations also have a lot of comments on Liu Biao, among which Pei Songzhi's comments are the most representative.Pei Songzhi believed that Liu Biao was "not a talent for overlord", but also believed that he was "the master of benevolence and righteousness". Liu Biao's eldest son, Liu Qi, was not present when Liu Biao died. Under the auspices of Liu Biao's wife, Cai Shi, and Jingzhou's main generals, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, Liu Biao's second son, Liu Cong, succeeded him. According to records such as "Heroes" and "Book of Wei", Liu Biao left a political will before his death, but his designated successor was neither Liu Cong nor Liu Qi, but Liu Bei. "Heroes" said that Liu Biao presented himself to Emperor Xian when he was ill, and recommended Liu Bei to act as the governor of Jingzhou. "Book of Wei" said that when Liu Biao was seriously ill, he entrusted the country to Liu Bei and said to him: "My son is not talented, and the generals are not particularly outstanding. After I die, you will lead Jingzhou." For Liu Bei, this is the second time someone has entrusted a country with a country. The last time was Tao Qian, and this time it was Liu Biao. It seems that Liu Bei is not only a qualified small businessman, but also able to win over people, and there must be others Otherwise, with Tao Qian's aloofness and Liu Biao's dominance over Jiangnan, it would be impossible to lift him up so high. Just like last time, Liu Bei didn't understand the truth of Liu Biao's words, and said: "General, your sons are very capable, don't worry." He refused Liu Biao's kindness. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" said that someone persuaded Liu Bei to accept it. Liu Bei said: "Liu Jingsheng has always treated me generously. If I accept this matter today, everyone will think that I am ruthless. I can't bear to do this." When analyzing this matter, Pei Songzhi believed that the above record was wrong, because Liu Biao and his wife had already decided on Liu Cong as their successor (the love has been determined for a long time), and they would not suddenly change their decision before they died.However, if Liu Biao really saw Liu Bei during his serious illness, this possibility exists entirely. It's not because they are all surnamed Liu, but because no one except Liu Bei can understand the difficulties in Liu Biao's heart.Before Liu Biao died, he must have realized that the struggle between the two sons was inevitable. At this time, he could only pin his hope of quelling the civil strife on Liu Bei.But Liu Bei is an old man, otherwise he would not be alive now.Although Jingzhou is what he longed for in his dreams, it doesn't belong to him now.Liu Biao's words can be believed to be true, but they are useless to Liu Bei, the reason is simple: at this time Jingzhou is no longer under Liu Biao's control. Liu Qi was stationed in Xiakou as the prefect of Jiangxia County. In order to appease Liu Qi, Liu Cong ordered someone to give Liu Qi the Marquis Seal and Ribbon granted by the court before Liu Biao was alive.Liu Qi was so angry that he threw the seal ribbon on the ground, preparing to take advantage of the funeral. Seeing that the scene of the sons fighting each other after Yuan Shao's death will be repeated in the Liu family, but before the Liu brothers can start fighting in the future, Cao Jun killed the door of the house. In September of this year, Cao Cao led his army to advance to Xinye, and Wenpin, Liu Biao's defender in the north of Jingzhou, surrendered. Wenpin, styled Zhongye, was born in Wan County, Nanyang County, Jingzhou Governor's Department, and will grow into one of the famous generals of Cao Wei in the future.Cao Cao asked Wenpin to continue to lead his troops and gave them very high courtesy. Now, there is no danger to defend north of Xiangyang.