In the sixth year of Jian'an (201), Cao Cao turned south to crusade against Liu Bei, who was in rebellion in Yuzhou, after being defeated in Guandu, Liu Bei knew that he was invincible, so he sent an envoy to contact Liu Biao, and he attached himself to the south.

When Liu Biao was under his command, Liu Bei got that although it was used by Liu Biao, Liu Biao was secretly wary of Liu Bei, and even let Liu Bei lead a small number of troops north to try to attack Xuchang, and then Liu Bei stayed in Jingzhou for a long time, contacted the local heroes, and obtained Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, Yi and other talents.

【Attached to Liu Biao】

In the sixth year of Jian'an (201), Cao Cao personally crusaded against Liu Bei, Liu Bei could not resist, so he sent Mi Zhu and Sun Qian as messengers to Liu Biao to report and contact, Liu Biao personally went out of the city to greet him, treated the imperial uncle as a guest, gave him additional soldiers, and sent him to garrison Xinye. Liu Biao personally went to the suburbs to greet Liu Bei, and as a courtesy to the guests, he stayed in Xinye. But later, the number of heroes in Jingzhou who attached to Liu Bei increased, and Liu Biao suspected the intentions of the emperor's uncle, so he became wary of him.

In the seventh year of Jian'an (202) (Note 1), Liu Biao sent Liu Bei's Northern Expedition to attack Xudu, which reached Yexian and approached Xuchang. One morning the camp was burned and retreated, Xiahoudun led the troops to pursue Liu Bei, Li Dian said: "The enemy retreated for no reason, suspecting that there must be an ambush." The road to the south is narrow and dense, and it is impossible to pursue. Xiahoudun did not accept his opinion, and led his troops to pursue with Yu Ban, while Li Dian stayed behind. Xiahoudun and Yu Ban really fell into Liu Bei's ambush, when the battle situation was very critical, Li Dian, who had long been expected, arrived with troops in time, Liu Bei saw that Li Dian's rescue troops had arrived, and felt that it was useless to attack, so he was forced to retreat, and Cao's army successfully defended Xudu.

Although Liu Bei once approached Xuchang in this battle, in fact, because the troops were too small, the overall threat to Cao Cao was not very large, and in the end he just took some small advantage and retreated, the reason why Liu Biao sent Liu Bei out may be because of Zhang Xiu's rebellion, so let Liu Bei make a vote, not really expect Liu Bei to achieve any achievements, Liu Bei also accepted it when he saw it, and gave Liu Biao an explanation and retreated.

But this was indeed the first time that Liu Biao took the initiative to attack Cao Cao after becoming the lord of Jingzhou, and it was also the last time, and Liu Biao did not take the initiative to send troops north until his death.

【Resurrection of the Hip】

According to the record of "Spring and Autumn in Kyushu", Liu Bei lived in Jingzhou for many years after attaching himself to Liu Biao in Jingzhou. One day, Liu Bei found that he had fat on his thighs, and he cried because of this. Liu Biao saw it and asked about the internal cause, and Liu Bei replied: "I used to ride horses, and I didn't have fat on my thighs. Now I don't ride horses anymore, and the flesh on my thighs grows again. Time flies, people are about to grow old, but they have not been able to achieve success, so they feel sad. ”

【Advance to the Northern Expedition】

In the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Cao Cao made a northern expedition to Wuheng, and Liu Bei persuaded Liu Biao to take the opportunity to go north and attack Xuchang, but Liu Biao did not agree.

At that time, Cao Cao had pacified the Northern Expedition to the four states and eliminated the Yuan family, and it was foreseeable that he would soon go south, but Cao Cao went north at this time and led the army to set off, Xuchang's defense was bound to be weakened, and Wuheng was far away from Xuchang, once something happened, Cao Cao would not be able to come back in time even if he knew, so it was almost Liu Biao's last chance, but unfortunately, he still couldn't make up his mind.

According to the "Spring and Autumn Period of the Han Dynasty", after Cao Cao returned from Liucheng, Liu Biao was very annoyed and said to Liu Bei: "I didn't listen to you, and I missed this great opportunity." ”

Liu Bei comforted Liu Biao: "If there is a split today and wars continue, there will be opportunities in the future, will this be the last time?" If I can not let go of the opportunity in the future, I will not regret it this time."

However, the reality is that it will be the last chance.

【Xu Shu to vote】

Xu Shu was a famous scholar in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and later took refuge in Jingzhou and took refuge in Liu Bei. Xu Shu, the character Yuanzhi, is a native of Changshe County, Yingchuan County, Yuzhou.

According to the record of "Wei Luo", Xu Shu was originally called Xu Fu and liked fencing since he was a child. In the last years of Zhongping, Xu Shu was avenged, and then he painted his face with soil **, fled with his hair scattered, and was caught by officials. The official asked Xu Shu what his name was, and Xu Shu didn't say a word, so the official tied Xu Shu to a pillar to make a look of preparing for dismemberment, and beat the drum to order the people in the surrounding markets to come out and identify him, but they didn't dare to say that they knew this person. Later, Xu Shu's henchmen came together to rescue Xu Shu. Xu Shu was very grateful, so he stopped dancing with guns and sticks, and changed his usual temperament to study.

When he first started in the academy, all the students heard that he had been a thief and refused to be with him, while Xu Shu got up early in a humble manner, often cleaned alone, concentrated on studying, and was proficient in righteousness and reasoning. During the early peace period, the world was in turmoil, and the Central Plains was in war, so Xu Shu and Shi Tao went south together to live in Jingzhou, and became good friends with Zhuge Liang in Jingzhou.

After Liu Bei attached to Liu Biao, Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to be stationed in Xinye to resist Cao Cao, Xu Shu then went to defect, Liu Bei saw Xu Shu, he was very respectful of him, and later Xu Shu recommended Zhuge Liang for Liu Bei.

【The End of Wandering】

Jingzhou is the end of Liu Bei's wandering, before Liu Bei successively took refuge in Gongsun Zhan, Tao Qian, Lu Bu, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao five princes, displaced, although occupied Xuzhou twice, but never able to stand firm in the place, was driven out by Lu Bu and Cao Cao, and when he arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Bei was over forty years old.

At this time, Liu Bei still achieved nothing, and he had to send people under the fence, he was extremely depressed and sad in his heart at that time, but God will never disappoint the heartfelt, in Jingzhou Liu Bei ushered in the most important strategist Zhuge Liang in his life, and Zhuge Liang in the "Longzhong pair" for Liu Bei planned the future gave him a clear goal, after which Liu Bei no longer had to be confused, Jingzhou also became the last stop in his wandering career.

Jingzhou is Liu Bei's first piece of land obtained after Xuzhou, here is the second starting point of his career, in Jingzhou Liu Bei obtained Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Yi, Ma Liang, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan and many other civil and military talents, is the initial place of Shuhan Group to lay a three-point world, is the starting point of Liu Bei's hegemony.

At the same time, Jingzhou is also the place where Liu Bei's dream is broken, the general Guan Yu died in this battle, and after the eastward advance, he was defeated by Lu Xun in Yiling, and then Shu Han was no longer able to touch Jingzhou, and the two points of the "Longzhong Expedition" in the Northern Expedition were completely lost, and Liu Bei himself was also physically and mentally exhausted after the failure to recapture Jingzhou, and he collapsed, and he died in the White Emperor City after Tuogu.

Note 1: In the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" and other first-hand materials, I do not see the record of Liu Bei going north in the seventh year of Jian'an, but there is a record of this time in the "Zizhi Tongjian".

PS: The title of the fifth volume was revised to Sun-Liu Alliance