In 208 AD, when Cao Cao completely eliminated Yuan Shao's clique in the north to unify the north, he began to shift the strategic focus to Jiangdong, preparing to eliminate Sun Quan and unify China. After Cao Cao did not make much effort to annex Jingzhou, which was crucial to Sun Quan, 200,000 troops gathered in Jiangdong, and Cao Cao was determined to win. When Sun Quan learned of Cao Cao's southward march, he summoned his ministers overnight to plan countermeasures. At this time, Sun Quan really could not accurately judge the situation, Cao Cao's power was actually too large, the land of China was already owned by Cao Cao, could this strength of Jiangdong be able to fight Cao Cao? At this time, among the ruling top echelons of Jiangdong, the struggle between the main war faction headed by Lu Su and the main descending faction headed by Zhang Zhao had reached a fever pitch, but because the view of surrender among the top brass had the absolute upper hand, and Zhang Zhao's position in Jiangdong was self-evident. Zhang Zhao said to Sun Quan: "Cao Cao's strength is much stronger than Jiangdong, and even a powerful force like Yuan Shao has been completely eliminated by Cao Cao, not to mention the small Jiangdong." Moreover, the root of Jiangdong's foothold was the Yangtze River, but now Cao Cao had occupied the favorable terrain in the middle reaches, and Liu Biao's water army had also returned to Cao Cao. The only advantage we have in the Yangtze River is no longer there, and now Cao Cao is floating east, hundreds of thousands of troops are moving east, our strength is limited, and now there is no second way but surrender. Sun Quan was indeed shaken by Zhang Zhao's words at this time, but the consequences of surrendering were not something he did not think of, and it was possible to become Liu Chun's second; but if he fought, whether he had the certainty of victory, if he could not fight and then fell, the end would be even worse. Lu Su was a staunch warrior faction, and he was not willing to let the great cause of Jiangdong iii be destroyed in this way, and his plan to unite Liu Bei against Cao Jun impressed Sun Quan at the last moment, giving Sun Quan hope of defeating Cao Cao, and Sun Quan decided to unite with Liu Against Cao. As a result, the Battle of Chibi brought the arrogant Cao Cao back to the north, and the general pattern of the three kingdoms facing each other was officially formed.
Before Zhang Zhao joined the Sun Group, he was a famous man in Pengcheng, a high-class figure in the society at that time, and indeed talented. Since he followed Sun Ce, he has indeed made significant contributions to the consolidation of the Sun clique's rule in Jiangdong. However, when Cao Cao went south, he strongly persuaded Sun Quan to surrender, although Sun Quan was extremely dissatisfied, which also laid the groundwork for Sun Quan to alienate Zhang Zhao, and Sun Quan did not consider Zhang Zhao twice, first Sun Shao and then Gu Yong, although he respected Zhang Zhao very much in etiquette until he died at the age of eighty-one.
Some views now hold that Zhang Zhao's exhortation to Sun Quan to surrender to Cao Cao was based on the great cause of China's reunification and was in line with the historical trend of the people's desire for reunification at that time. Therefore, now the clamor for Zhang Zhao's applause is very high, and for a time, Zhang Zhao seems to have become a peace-loving progressive, and there are many people who smear grease and powder. Is that right? Was Zhang Zhao's surrender for the sake of the fragmented China of the time? Is it for the common people who have suffered from war? Obviously not, when Zhang Zhao persuaded Sun Quan to surrender, he did not say a word that the people had been trapped in war for a long time and longed for peace, what he said was: Now Cao Cao's forces are too powerful, we can't fight, since we can't fight, only surrender. If Sun Quan's strength was not worse than Cao Cao's before the decisive battle, would he still say so? If the pre-war strength was stronger than Sun Cao's, wouldn't Cao Cao and the large number of military generals under him become splittists? Who rules that the weak are separatists? Strong strength is the inevitable of reunification? Then further, Cao Cao's strength before the Battle of Guandu was far inferior to Yuan Shao's, so why didn't Cao Cao surrender, some people say that Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao and destroyed China's reunification is a sinner for thousands of years, then Cao Cao has not also become an ancient sinner who undermined China's unification? Some people will say that the result is that Cao Cao won, and Cao Cao still represents the progressive trend of China's reunification, which is ridiculously tight. If we push forward a step further, Dong Zhuo was the most powerful at that time, then did Yuan Shao and Cao Cao resist the most powerful forces, and both became separatists who undermined reunification? It's ridiculous. Before the Chibi War, who knew that Sun Quan would not be able to defeat Cao Cao? As a result, Sun Quan won, so did Sun Quan also represent the progressive trend of China's reunification? Why didn't That Zhang Zhao persuade Sun Ce to surrender to Cao Cao, who was stronger than Sun Ce, while supporting Sun Ce? If Sun Ce surrendered, then Cao Cao's strength would be greatly enhanced, China's reunification would be realized ahead of schedule, and Zhang Zhao would also be a separatist. If Cao Cao did not go south, would Zhang Zhao still persuade Sun Quan to surrender?
History is constantly advancing, there is a long process of reunification, the warlord melee at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was the most bitter time for the common people to live, and the historical footsteps of reunification have never stopped, but a process is needed. The unity of Cao Cao and the unity of Sun Quan are essentially indistinguishable, but the key lies in the mutual change of their forces, which is constantly moving towards the purpose of unification. It is a pity that the famous historian Mr. Wu Han holds such a view.
Zhang Zhao's historical task was not to complete the unification of Cao Cao from his standpoint, but he should contribute to the cause of unification for Sun Quan, who was also a force that hoped to complete the unification of China at that time. Moreover, Sun Quan already had the ambition to unify China, but Cao Cao's strength was too strong to do. Cao Cao was strong and had ambitions for unification, but the power of Sun Quan and Liu Bei made it difficult for him to accomplish this ambition, and the role of each other was fair, not a so-called internal traitor who endured humiliation and burdens. If the desire is more true, then is not the power of Chiang Kai-shek more powerful than in the Red Zone, and have the revolutionaries in the Red Zone all become separatists?
Zhang Zhao's persuasion to Sun Quan to surrender was not at all out of any love of peace and desire for reunification, the most important reason was that at that time, the Central Plains region was the most advanced area of Chinese culture and economy, as a celebrity, the advanced culture of the Central Plains was what he most longed for. Others such as Gu Yong are like this. If some people take the big hat of reunification and historical progress to suppress others, then is Sun Quan's historical contribution to the development of the southeast after the partial an jiangdong is not greater than cao Cao's continued focus on the central plains after reunification? Isn't the development of the southeastern wilderness unimportant? Moreover, the large-scale development of the southern region and the improvement of civilization in China's history are all contributions of the regime in the southern part of the country, and I can say that Zhang Zhao's sabotage of China's development of the backward areas in the south is a sinner of history for eternity, and the improvement of the living standards of the people in the north is important, is it not important to improve the living standards of the people in the south? Is it possible to say that?
In terms of moral character, Zhang Zhao is not a righteous gentleman, and his so-called celebrity style is just a mask for his false Taoism, and he is not loyal to the cause he is engaged in in grand strategy, but only cares about sub-sections. The torturer Wu, he just pulled the big banner and said a few boring words like a tiger skin, the avenue is at a loss, and the subsection is he foot. When Cao Pi's 300,000-strong army went south, why didn't Zhang Zhao persuade Sun Quan to surrender again, wasn't he very fond of peace and reunification? Did he ever think of sneaking to the Central Plains? He must have thought about it, but first, he couldn't leave, Sun Quan certainly wouldn't let him go; second, even if he arrived in the Central Plains, he wasn't a heavy minister of Cao Wei, and when he went to the north, he was just a small minister with no status, at most he had a false name, and he had the scenery of being a man in Jiangdong.
Zhang Zhao, just a villain.