After Liu Biao's death, he did not specify his heirs, and before his death, Liu Biao's preferred heirs were only three, namely his eldest son Liu Qi, second son Liu Cong and Liu Bei.

【Brotherly Rivalry】

According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Biao had two sons, namely the eldest son Liu Qi and the second son Liu Cong.

At first, Liu Biao thought that Liu Qi looked like himself and liked him very much, and Liu Qi was the eldest son, so at the beginning, Jingzhou's heir was very clear that it was Liu Qi.

But then Liu Cong was unwilling to be lonely, so he married the niece of Liu Biao's wife Cai, and the relationship with Cai's family was closer, Cai's then leaned towards Liu Cong and hated Liu Qi, constantly blowing the wind in Liu Biao's ears, Liu Biao heard the words that slandered Liu Qi and praised Liu Cong every day, and Liu Biao deeply favored his stepwife, so he believed in accepting these words every time. In addition, Liu Biao's brother-in-law Cai Mao and nephew Zhang Yun were reused by Liu Biao, and they were on good terms with Liu Cong, and the situation was very unfavorable to Liu Qi.

Liu Qi also felt that he was not safe, so he discussed with Zhuge Liang, the evil man, how to protect himself. At that time, Zhuge Liang was Liu Bei's subordinate, and he was also related to Cai Mao, so Zhuge Liang didn't answer at first. Later, once the two climbed a tall building together, and then Liu Qi asked someone to take the ladder, he said to Zhuge Liang: "Today, I can't see the sky on the top, I can't see the ground below, and the words come out of your mouth and into my ears, can you speak?" ”

Zhuge Liang then said: "Don't you see that Shen Sheng is dangerous at home, but it is safe for Chong'er to live abroad?" Liu Qi felt in his heart and secretly planned a way out, just when Liu Biao's department killed Jiangxia Taishou Huangzu by Sun Quan, Liu Qi asked to take over this position, Liu Biao agreed, and sent Liu Qi to take over Jiangxia Taishou.

Later, Liu Biao was seriously ill, and Liu Qi came back to visit the disease. Because Liu Qi was benevolent and filial, Zhang Yun and others were afraid that after he saw Liu Biao, the two would have a father-son relationship, and Liu Biao had the intention of letting him succeed to the throne again, so he said to Liu Qi: "The general ordered you to take charge of Jiangxia, and this responsibility is of great importance. Now that you have left your people behind and come without permission, you will surely be reprimanded. It is not in line with filial piety to spoil the father's interest and aggravate his illness. So he blocked him out of the door and prevented him from seeing Liu Biao. Liu Qi left with tears in his eyes, and many people sighed after hearing it.

But later, until Liu Biao's death, he did not explicitly order Liu Cong to be his heir.

【Liu Biao and Liu Bei】

In history, after Liu Bei took refuge in Liu Biao, he did not completely hide his ambitions, so Liu Biao was still quite jealous of Liu Bei.

But later, Liu Biao had the intention of giving Jingzhou to Liu Bei.

According to the record of "Heroes", after Liu Biao was seriously ill, he once went to the table Liu Bei to lead the history of Jingzhou. At the same time, it is also recorded in the "Book of Wei" that when Liu Biao was seriously ill, he wanted to entrust Jingzhou to Liu Bei, and said to Liu Bei: "My sons have no talent, and the generals under my command are not powerful, after I die, I hope that you will control Jingzhou." ”

Liu Bei modestly replied: "Your sons will be wise, don't worry about getting sick." ”

Some people persuaded Liu Bei to listen to Liu Biao's words, Liu Bei said: "Liu Biao treats me very well, if I obey him today and seize Jingzhou, others will definitely think that I am unkind, so I can't bear it." ”

But now many people think that Liu Biao let Jingzhou be a lie, because Liu Biao has his own heirs, and he didn't want Tao Qian to not allow his sons to enter the official career, so Liu Biao may just want to support Gu, and not really give Jingzhou to Liu Bei.

However, logically speaking, Liu Biao probably really wanted to hand over Jingzhou to Liu Bei at that time, because the situation in Jingzhou was really bad at that time. As a father, Liu Biao will leave his cake to his children, but will not let his children jump into the fire pit, at that time Cao Cao's army in the north may have been ready to go south, Sun Quan in the east is also eyeing the tiger, and Liu Biao's two sons are not capable of guarding Jingzhou, Cao Cao once commented: "Giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou, Liu Jingsheng's son is like a dolphin dog ear!" ”

For Liu Biao, he didn't believe that Jingzhou could be defended by handing over Jingzhou to his sons, and he didn't trust the ability of his sons, which may be one of the reasons why Liu Biao wanted to hand over Jingzhou to Liu Bei.

There is also such a record in "Shiyu" that at that time, Liu Bei was stationed in Fancheng, and Liu Biao treated him with courtesy, but he was very jealous of him and did not trust Liu Bei. Liu Biao once invited Liu Bei to a banquet, Kuai Yue and Cai Mao were about to take the opportunity to get rid of Liu Bei, but Liu Bei found out, so he pretended to go to the toilet and took the opportunity to escape. At that time, Liu Bei was riding a famous horse, Lu, who was in a panic, fell into the water of Tanxi in the west of Xiangyang City, and drowned. Liu Bei was anxious, and said to Lu Ma: "Lu, now that I suffer from bad luck, you must come on!" Lu Yu jumped three feet, and Liu Bei's danger was solved.

"Shiyu" does not clearly indicate the time when this happened, but there is a record of Liu Bei stationed in Fancheng, when Xu Shu recommended Zhuge Liang in history, Liu Bei was still in Xinye, and he was stationed in Fancheng after this, which means that Liu Biao should have been running out of time at that time, and he was thinking about his future.

Therefore, the reason why Kuai Yue and Cai Mao acted against Liu Bei may be because Liu Bei participated in the issue of Jingzhou's heir.

Among the historical materials known now, there is only a record of Liu Bei as the assassin of Jingzhou on Liu Biao, and Liu Cong's ascension to the throne was not designated by Liu Biao, but supported by the ministers of Jingzhou. Among the ministers of Jingzhou, the Gui Cao surrender faction was very powerful, at that time, Kuai Yue, Fu Xun and others all wanted to return to the imperial court, or to submit to Cao Cao, Kuai Yue, Cai Mao and others joined forces to deal with Liu Bei, it can also be seen that the Gui Cao faction and Liu Cong faction began to unite, and even they themselves were one faction.

And Liu Biao was neither ready to take refuge in Cao Cao, nor did he want to hand over Jingzhou to Cao Cao, Liu Biao was indeed in poor health at that time, but he was not stupid. Kuai Yue, Cai Mao and others took action against Liu Bei, not letting the eldest son Liu Qi see him, it was impossible for Liu Biao not to see what he was thinking, so Liu Biao was unwilling, even if there was Cai's family, Kuai Yue, Cai Mao and others strongly supported Liu Cong, Liu Biao never clearly established Liu Cong as his heir.

For Liu Biao, it is better to hand over Jingzhou to Cao Cao than to leave it to Liu Bei, so although Liu Biao is well aware of Liu Bei's ambitions, he still considers letting Liu Bei inherit his position. But it was unrealistic to let Liu Bei inherit the position of Jingzhou Thorn History from the beginning. Because Liu Bei not only couldn't pass the level of Liu Biao's subordinates, it was also morally inappropriate.

This is completely different from the situation in Xuzhou, Tao Qian's sons did not enter the office, so they could not inherit the great cause of Xuzhou, and the officials and generals in Xuzhou had already prepared for it. But Liu Biao didn't do this, he also wanted to leave Jingzhou to his sons at the beginning, so Liu Qi and Liu Cong had their own small circles around them, and Liu Biao's subordinates would not accept Liu Bei.

Morally speaking, it is normal for Jingzhou to be inherited by Liu Biao's heirs, and Liu Bei is not Liu Biao's heir. Even if Liu Biao wanted to forcibly let Liu Bei inherit Jingzhou, it would be difficult to work, Liu Biao couldn't kill Han Song back then, as the lord of Jingzhou, Liu Biao didn't do whatever he wanted.

In "Kong Yan, Han Wei Chunqiu", there is a record of Liu Biao entrusting Gu to Liu Bei, so Liu Biao may also just be entrusting Gu.

On the whole, Liu Biao may indeed have considered making Liu Bei the assassin of Jingzhou in history, but this is unrealistic.