After Liu Cong decided to surrender to Cao Cao, he did not notify Liu Bei, who was guarding Fancheng in the north, causing Liu Bei to miss the first time to leave, and appeared to be very hasty.

Liu Cong's actions also aroused great dissatisfaction among Liu Bei and his subordinates, but Liu Bei did not take action against Liu Cong because he was too merciful, but left Xiangyang in an attempt to go south to occupy Jiangling first.

[Rushing south]

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 years), Cao Cao personally led the army to the south, and at this time Liu Biao died of illness, Liu Biao's second son Liu Cong set up on his behalf and sent an envoy to surrender to Cao Cao.

According to the record of "Kong Yan Han Wei Chunqiu", after Liu Cong surrendered, he did not dare to tell Liu Bei about it, and Liu Bei did not notice it at first, but after a while, he realized that something was wrong, so he sent his own cronies to ask Liu Cong. Liu Cong then sent Song Zhong to meet Liu Bei to give the decree. At that time, Cao Cao had already arrived in Wancheng, Nanyang County, Jingzhou, Liu Bei was taken aback when he learned the news, and he said to Song Zhong: "How can you people do things like this, don't you tell me earlier, isn't it too much to talk about it now that the catastrophe is coming!" He pulled out his knife and pointed it at Song Zhong and said, "Even if I cut off your head now, it will not be enough to relieve the resentment in my heart, and I am ashamed to kill you people when I am leaving!" "Let Song Zhong go back and convene his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

At that time, some people persuaded Liu Bei to take the opportunity to kidnap Liu Cong and the officials of Jingzhou to go to Jiangling, but Liu Bei said: "When Liu Biao was dying, he entrusted his orphans to me and asked me to take care of them on his behalf. I cannot do anything that is contrary to my faith and is only for personal gain. Otherwise, what face do you have to see Liu Biao after death! ”

Passing through Xiangyang, Zhuge Liang again persuaded Liu Bei to attack Liu Cong in order to capture Jingzhou. Liu Bei said: "I can't bear it! ”

So he stopped his horse and greeted Liu Cong, who was afraid and didn't dare to get up. Many of Liu Cong's subordinates and people in Jingzhou belonged to Liu Bei. When he arrived in Dangyang County, there were more than 100,000 people who followed him, and thousands of carts of grain and grass were loaded, and he could only travel more than ten miles a day, so he sent Guan Yu to lead hundreds of ships to travel by water, and agreed to meet in Jiangling.

According to the "Dictionary", Liu Bei went to Liu Biao's tomb to pay respects at that time and said goodbye in tears.

Liu Bei went all the way south, and there were more and more people and officials and doctors who took refuge in him, and the team became larger and larger, but because of this, the speed of the march became slower and slower, and some people advised Liu Bei: "We should go to Baojiangling at full speed, although there are many people now, but there are very few people who can fight, if Cao Cao's army catches up, how can we resist?" ”

Liu Bei said: "The achievement of great causes should be people-oriented, and now that people take the initiative to follow us, how can I bear to leave them!" Cao Cao considered that Jiangling had hoarded a large number of military supplies, but feared that Liu Bei would occupy it first, so he gave up his grain and grass and hurried to Xiangyang with light equipment.

【Jingzhou not taken】

Historically, Liu Bei was considered the lord of benevolence and righteousness, but sometimes he was too benevolent and righteous. After Liu Cong ascended the throne, some of the things he did were actually very inappropriate, before the northern part of Jingzhou was guarded by Liu Bei, but after he surrendered, he did not inform Liu Bei of the news in time, which in a sense is the monarch's betrayal of his subordinates, that is, in the pit Liu Bei (in fact, Sun Quan was also pitted).

And Liu Bei later noticed this matter, and what did Liu Cong do, he sent a person named Song Zhong to tell Liu Bei, "Song Zhong" and "send Liu Cong to the end" What does this mean!

Not to mention that Liu Cong gave up his father's foundation, abandoned the people of Jingzhou without sending a single soldier, and abandoned the generals and officials who were loyal to him, which of course also includes Liu Bei, so Liu Cong is unreasonable for Liu Bei, "The king has the way, follow it, be loyal, the king has no way, cut it down."

Therefore, at that time, Liu Bei's crusade against Liu Cong could be said to be just and deserved, and Liu Bei's subordinates also persuaded Liu Bei to send troops twice. The first time after Song Zhong came with the news of Liu Cong's surrender, everyone persuaded Liu Bei to do it, Liu Bei couldn't bear it, the second time Liu Bei's soldiers came to the city, Liu Cong had no face to see Liu Bei, a large number of scholars and doctors and people in Xiangyang City came to vote, Zhuge Liang persuaded Liu Bei to do it, Liu Bei still didn't agree.

At this time, Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness were already interrupted.

Liu Cong surrendered Jingzhou without a fight, which is a very serious blow to his reputation, which is equivalent to his own abandonment of Jingzhou, at this time Jingzhou seems to have a master but is actually ownerless, Liu Bei can take the opportunity to seize it, first occupy Xiangyang before Cao Cao, control Liu Cong and related officials, and even abolish Liu Cong and set up Liu Qi, even if he can't hold Xiangyang under Cao Cao's offensive, he can retreat to Jiangling, relying on the four counties in the south, even Sun Quan can completely fight with Cao Cao, it's better than panicking, It is good to give Liu Cong and Jingzhou to Cao Cao.

But Liu Bei had lost the momentum of his youth at that time, thinking that the post supervisor was just to remove Liu Bei's official position, Liu Bei tied him up and whipped him two hundred times, and Liu Cong, as his own monarch, gave up himself and betrayed himself, Liu Bei just greeted, and finally couldn't bear to use the sword soldiers, although Liu Bei is indeed not young anymore, but this is too benevolent and excessive.

【People-oriented】

The phrase "people-oriented" was not the first person to be said by Liu Bei and Uncle Liu Huang in history, and the first person to put forward this sentence was Guan Zhong, the famous minister of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period.

But Liu Bei said this sentence at the time was very moving, we have to know what Liu Bei was doing at that time, he was not playing in the mountains and rivers, he was running for his life, Cao Cao's classmate had already arrived in Jingzhou, and he was going to kill him soon, but in this case, Liu Bei still did not give up the burden, did not give up his followers, he sent Guan Yu to open the way, instead of taking the first step himself, Liu Bei chose to go south with ordinary people, he chose to be with them, even if Liu Bei knew very well that Cao Cao was not far away, Liu Bei said that he wanted to be people-oriented, and he did it.

It's silly and naïve, but it's really touching and moving. There is a comment on this in "Xi Chisel Tooth Said": Although Liu Bei is in the midst of displacement and danger and difficulty, he is more faithful; Despite the dire nature of the situation, the words spoken are not immoral. He remembered Liu Biao's old kindness and moved the three armies with emotion; His attachment to his followers made them willing to endure his troubles. Liu Bei can finally build a great cause, isn't it also what it should be?

However, Liu Bei's classmate moved us by doing this, but he couldn't move Cao Cao, so Meng De would not let him go, and the slowly soaring Liu Bei brigade could not escape the pursuit of Cao Cao's army, but would give Cao Cao a great advantage in pursuit, as a result, Liu Bei would inevitably be caught up by Cao Cao, and he would be defeated in one fell swoop, and those people and scholars who followed Liu Bei would inevitably suffer because of this, and even Liu Bei's own safety might not be guaranteed.

Therefore, benevolence and righteousness should not be excessive, because excessive benevolence and righteousness may harm oneself and others.