Presumably, when many people look at the history of the heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty, there is always a doubt that cannot be avoided - why would Liu Zhang lure wolves into the room to recruit Liu Bei?
For warlords, aren't armies and turf equivalent to lives? Is it a warlord with a normal mind who delivered a large amount of military assets and troops to Liu Bei and also introduced them to his own territory?
This is a unique doubt of the chaotic world, and before answering it, let's briefly understand the rules that are unique to that era. The rule of chaos is that the explicit constraints of the superiors and subordinates no longer work, and strength is sovereignty. This is true among friends, brothers, and kings, and Liu Zhang's story vividly embodies this set of rules.
Figure 1 Warlords divided at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In the eyes of everyone, the warlords of the late Han Dynasty are like this: You occupy a state, you are the emperor of the earth, I occupy a state, I am the emperor of the earth; in my territory, I am the king, everyone else is a subject, the same is true in your territory; all the exchanges and conflicts between us are the things that the two of us do... This is the stereotype that the warlord clique is really regarded as an independent state.
In fact, in a warlord group, the relationship between people is pluralistic. For example, Cao Cao, as the leader of the Cao Ying clique, had a de facto "partner" relationship with Xun Yu, Zhong Xuan and others, but as the leader of the group, he was also Xun Yu's superior; his confidant Xiahou Yu, although he was his subordinate, but as a leading general with independent departments, in a sense, it can also be said that Xiahou Yu was also his "partner". In this relationship, whether there are more "subordinates" or more "partners" is determined by the strength of the characters.
Figure 2 Cao Cao (155–220)
This is exactly the characteristic of the chaotic culture - the uncertain relationship, which brings more instability, so there will be "you don't pay attention to me, then I will jump ship" (such as Guo Jia and Cheng Yu are several masters), there will be "look at you inferior to me, I take people to do it alone" (such as Zhang Lu, Gongsun Zhan), but more is "you are so powerful, I still continue to follow you". To put it in a nutshell, the large group of that era was nothing more than the collection and absorption of one small group after another, and if the leader wanted to lead many small groups, he needed excellent ability to control people and power skills, otherwise the small leaders of the small group would not be willing to be their subordinates, and they could change from subordinates to partners at any time and anywhere.
The problem with Liu Zhang is that he not only knows this rule well, but also knows that he can't play with this rule.
Figure 3 Map of the Thirteen States of the Eastern Han Dynasty
Liu Zhang's intention in recruiting Liu Bei into Sichuan was not as simple as resisting Zhang Lu.
The Zhang Lu clique that wanted to invade Xichuan was formerly a small clique in the Liu Zhang clique. Zhang Lu was originally a general of Liu Zhang's father Liu Yan, and together with the general Zhang Xiu, he was ordered to attack Hanzhong Taishou Sugu, and as a result, the ambitious Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu to seize the army, and then annexed Hanzhong, suddenly from Liu Yan's subordinate to the leader of the Hanzhong clique.
After Liu Zhang took the throne, he also made some counterattacks. He first killed Zhang Lu's family to vent his anger, and then appointed his close subordinate Pang Xi as the Brazilian Taishou and attacked Zhang Lu - the result was repeated defeats. In the meantime, the internal contradictions in Yizhou have also become more prominent. Because Liu Zhang failed to properly deal with the contradictions between the displaced people and the local residents (or that he preferred the foreigners), the local opposition Zhao Yun relied on the people's grievances to cause a riot, although Liu Zhang eventually relied on the "foreigners" Dongzhou Army to suppress the rebellion, but everyone had already seen the contradictions within the Yizhou clique, and at this time, not to mention resisting Zhang Lu, it was a question whether Liu Zhang could stabilize the increasingly uneasy situation in Yizhou. It was precisely because of this that Liu Zhang was afraid that once the enemy Zhang Lu called, his subordinates would collapse, so recruiting foreign aid and "holding foreign forces to respect themselves" became his only option.
Figure 4 Liu Bei (161 – 10 June 223)
Finding Liu Bei was actually an accident.
Liu Zhang looked at the world, and the first thigh he wanted to hold was Cao Cao. However, Cao Gong, whose career was at its peak at that time, did not have much respect for Liu Zhang, a small character in the jianghu, but only gave a false title and no longer gave grace, and let Zhang Song eat several times behind closed doors, which not only angered Liu Zhang, but also angered the diplomatic ambassador Zhang Song.
On his return journey, Zhang Song met Liu Bei, who was also famous as Cao Cao, and Liu Bei, who was still a soldier in Jingxiang, was obviously much more humble, with good wine and good food, accompanied by daily conversations, and Zhang Song, who was proud of his talents, not only made up his mind to pull Liu Bei into Sichuan, but also decided to defect to Liu Bei's camp.
This led to the later battle of Liu Bei into Sichuan.
Obviously, Liu Zhang saw his own problems very clearly, and he knew that with his own level, he could not control Yizhou's subordinates, and at the same time, he could not govern the people of Yizhou well, let alone make up for the rift between different factions within Yizhou. It was precisely because he was terrified that there would be a second Zhang Lu and Zhao Yun in the future, so he would attract strong reinforcements into his own territory, on the one hand, he would intimidate internal dissatisfaction with external self-esteem, and on the other hand, he would remain vigilant against Liu Bei.
Figure 5 Liu Bei entered the river (capture of Yizhou)
The result is a bad chess game.
As a bystander, Zhuge Liang saw the Yizhou problem very clearly, and he said in "Longzhong Pair": "Liu Zhang is weak, Zhang Lu is in the north, the people are rich and do not know how to save, and the wise man thinks of Mingjun." The phrase "Si De Ming Jun" was really most appropriate for Liu Zhang's subordinates.
After Liu Bei broke with him and the two armies fought, the collapse of the Shu general was almost unbelievable. Not to mention Zhang Song, who had always been the internal response to fool Liu Zhang countless times, the Shu general Meng Da became Liu Bei's general as soon as he saw Liu Bei, the minister Fa Zheng became Liu Bei's military division as soon as he left Chengdu, and Li Yan, who guarded the gate of Chengdu Mianzhu, became Liu Bei's confidant. These people are the backbone of the Yizhou clique, they are gleefully doing the leading party, and the other people have no resistance.
Figure 6 Fa Zheng (176-220), character filial piety
Ben wanted to reject the wolf and invite a tiger.
Liu Zhang made a calculation and finally broke himself, he calculated that Liu Bei was stronger than Zhang Lu, but he was not sure that Liu Bei was more eager and capable of taking Yizhou than Zhang Lu. In fact, this model of "finding agents to do short-term work" is not uncommon in the Three Kingdoms, and some are at peace with each other - Liu Beitun soldiers Liu Biao's land boundary, until Liu Biao's death, there is no dove occupying the magpie's nest; some commit to the buffer zone to give people short-term work - Zhang Xiutun soldier Liu Biao's Wancheng city to resist Cao Cao and Zhang Lu; some are happy and sincerely obedient - Zang Ba's return to Cao Cao and cao Cao's lifelong non-rebellion. It's just that Liu Bei is too strong compared to Liu Zhang's level, and summoning him seems to be self-destructive.
At a deeper level, it is the problem of Liu Zhang's own position. He was not a native scholar of Shuchuan, so he trusted foreign soldiers and civilians, or Hanmen generals, and the dispersion of people within the group was very serious, so he was more afraid of the rebellion of the local soldiers and civilians or other generals of the warrior clan. Zhang Song pinched his sore spot and repeatedly told him, "The generals Pang Xi and Li Yi in the present prefecture are all proud of their merits, and if they want to have external intentions, they must not yuzhou, then the enemy will attack outside it, and the people will attack it inside, and the way to defeat will also be lost." This made him get closer and closer to Liu Bei, even if Huang Quan and Wang Lei gave advice to each other, they did not obey -- it was you who guarded against it.
Figure 7 Zhang Song (?) –212), courtesy name Joe
With Liu Zhang as the coordinate, it is easy to see the high level of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan and others, they can control the ghost talent tiger general, can make the internal capital of the factions satisfied, and even let the offensive and defensive trend reverse as soon as the reputation arrives, which is worthy of the title of hero of the chaotic world.
Text: Left light bucket
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author