The world says that Liu Bei is a benevolent and righteous prince, who not only cares about the people, but also a wise king who knows how to use people well. But during the Three Kingdoms period, there were two heroes who would rather die than surrender Liu Bei! One of them is Pound, and the other is the former Hanzhong commander, Zhang Lu. Both of them would rather die than surrender Liu Bei. What is the reason? In fact, we can get the answer in Ma Chao, Who ruthlessly revealed 4 words before dying, which is tantamount to the best answer.
First, what kind of person was Zhang Lu, the boss of Hanzhong before him?
As we all know, the land of Hanzhong was previously controlled by Zhang Lu, and in 215 AD, Cao Cao led an army to take Hanzhong into his pocket.
What kind of ability does Zhang Lu have? Can you host Hanzhong?
In 194, Zhang Lu had a feud with Liu Zhang, who was originally the Governor of Yizhou. After Liu Zhang ascended to the throne, because Zhang Lu's influence gradually grew, he accused Zhang Lu of disobeying the work arrangements and beheaded many of Zhang Lu's families. Therefore, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang have been fighting each other.
Later, Zhang Lu attacked Ba County, divided it into Hanzhong, and its strength grew, and Zhang Lu also established the Wudou Rice Sect in the Hanzhong region, which developed to around 215 AD, and its congregation had reached tens of thousands. Among these people, there is no shortage of outstanding talents who can write and fight.
At the same time, during Zhang Lu's reign in Hanchuan, the "Rao San Policy" was adopted, and those who committed mistakes were not prosecuted three times, and after more than three times, they were punished. At the same time, Zhang Lu implemented a grain release policy in Hanzhong, and many homeless people and fleeing people could eat good rations and hot soup, and Zhang Lu did not take anything.
Suddenly, Zhang Lu's fame had spread throughout the central Sichuan region, and by 215 AD, Zhang Lu had ruled central Sichuan for 30 years. Someone had dug up a jade seal in the ground before, so someone suggested that Zhang Lu become king and establish a formal system. However, Zhang Lu refused, after all, he was already equivalent to the power of a king in Hanzhong, asking for soldiers and horses, generals and generals, and territory, and they were not subject to control.
If the world changes, you can still wait for the opportunity to move, the upper can support the heavenly son, the lower can help the people, so the day is definitely a thousand times better than Song Jiang, the head of the Liangshan Mountain.
Second, after Liu Bei ruled Yizhou, Zhang Luning did not surrender Liu Bei, but instead handed over the treasury, money, grain, and population to Cao Cao.
In 214 AD, Liu Bei led tens of thousands of Jingzhou troops, and in Pang Tong's plot, with the full cooperation of Fazheng, Zhang Song and others, coupled with Ma Chao's chi aid Liu Bei finally took Yizhou. Zhang Lu in Hanzhong was actually already thinking about the way back at this time, after all, Ma Chao was his own proud general before, and now Ma Chao has also surrendered to Liu Bei, although he has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, but it is basically impossible to defeat Liu Bei.
What to do? How should tens of thousands of people and the population of Hanzhong react? This became a topic that Zhang Lu had to think about after dinner.
In 215, Cao Cao led an army to capture Hanzhong. At this time, Zhang Lu actually had the heart to submit to Cao Cao long ago. Although his brother Zhang Wei led an army to resist Cao Cao at Yangping Pass, Zhang Lu did not send troops to support his brother, but instead went to Puhu with his soldiers and his party to pretend to resist, and before leaving, Zhang Lu confessed to collect all the money, grain, and military funds in Hanzhong so that he would defect to Cao Cao in the future.
Cao Cao led his army to Hanzhong, heard of Zhang Lu's good deeds, and immediately sent all of them to comfort Zhang Lu, and immediately praised Zhang Lu's behavior and actions, and appointed Zhang Lu as the general of Zhennan, leading langzhong marquis, and Cao Cao's five sons and sons of Zhang Lu were all marquises. And married with his daughter, and became an official relative of Zhang Lu.
There is a record in the Huayang Guozhi Volume II that Lu Buran said: "I would rather be a slave to Cao Gong than a guest for Liu Bei!" So he confronted Wei Wu. This historical record says that Zhang Lu's aide Yan Pu suggested that Zhang Lu surrender to Liu Bei, so that he could settle down. However, Zhang Lu said angrily, preferring to be Cao Cao's slave rather than surrender to Liu Bei!
Why was Zhang Lu reluctant to surrender to Liu Bei?
Hanzhong was the gateway to Yizhou, and since Liu Bei had obtained Yizhou, sooner or later he would take Hanzhong to make a strong name for himself. And Zhang Lu? If he surrendered to Liu Bei, he might be able to continue to be the boss of Hanzhong, and his aide Yan Pu persuaded Zhang Lu to surrender to Liu Bei at that time, which was also planned.
But what about Zhang Lu? He didn't think so, and vowed not to surrender Liu Bei to death.
Why did Zhang Lu do this? Isn't Liu Bei full of benevolence and righteousness? Couldn't Zhang Lu believe in Liu Bei's character?
In fact, on this issue, Liu Bei has said such a sentence before: "Zhang Lu is a thief who guards himself, there is nothing to worry about", Liu Bei's words can be said to have completely reduced his value, first, he cannot show a tolerant heart, and second, he cannot reflect Liu Bei's benevolent heart.
Zhang Lu was still in the yizhou territory, and he still couldn't persuade his heart, so what about someone else? Isn't Liu Bei even more uncertain?
Third, if Zhang Lu surrendered to Liu Bei, his own territory, money, grain, and population, including the Wudou Rice Taoistism that he had painstakingly pulled up, were all Liu Bei's. And Zhang Lu? Eventually you will become a true loner.
During the Three Kingdoms period, in addition to Zhang Lu's reluctance to surrender to Liu Bei, there was another person who also vowed to die and not surrender Liu Bei, and he was the Cao Wei general Pound.
Why was Pound reluctant to surrender to Liu Bei?
When Zhang Lu surrendered to Cao Cao, Pang De followed Zhang Lu to Cao Cao, and was immediately appointed by Cao Cao as the "General of Liyi", with 300 households, and Cao Cao gave Zhang Lu more authority, not only intermarried with his daughter, but also made Zhang Lu eat 10,000 households, and was enfeoffed, and his previous Wudoumi sect members and his party were also arranged to Chang'an, Luoyang, Yicheng and other places.
What about Pound? At the beginning, Cao Cao gave him 300 households, which was not a small gift, and did not give Pound an internship period, directly became a general, and then led the troops to fight.
In 219 AD, Guan Yu's Northern Expedition to Xiangfan, Pang Deyi did not hesitate to become a vanguard general of reinforcements. After Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, Pound was captured by Guan Yu, who wanted to persuade Pound to surrender because of Pound's bravery and his brother and old lord Ma Chao, who was serving Liu Bei in Chengdu.
However, Guan Yu was angrily scolded by Pound. Moreover, Pound also scolded Liu Bei. He said that Liu Bei's false benevolence and false righteousness really could not accomplish a great thing! In fact, in Pound's heart, he has seen through Liu Bei, and the reason why he accepted Ma Chao is to see Ma Chao's ability, and then what? Definitely a horse, Pound he does not want to be the next Ma Chao.
At the same time, Pound told Guan Yu that Liu Bei was not Cao Cao's opponent, no matter the territory, the generals, military assets, grain and grass including the hukou, no matter which one, Liu Bei was the ultimate loser. Therefore, he would rather die under Guan Yu's sword than surrender Liu Bei.
After Ma Chao surrendered to Liu Bei, was he really without complaint or regret?
Ma Chao, the general of Western Liang, and Cao Cao commented that Ma Chao's martial arts were not under Lü Bu. At that time, it was also Ma Chao, so that Cao Cao staged wonderful stories such as cutting his beard and abandoning his robe, seizing the ship and avoiding arrows.
For Ma Chao's ability, Liu Bei is very clear. So before Liu Bei attacked Chengdu, he privately wrote to Ma Chao, saying that he was willing to fund some of Ma Chao's elite troops, and then he was willing to let Ma Chao join his team. But there is a premise, that is, Ma Chao must lead the troops to help take Chengdu.
Attacking the city and pulling out the wall, that was Ma Chao's strong point, so Ma Chao, who was cornered, defected to Liu Bei.
So, after Ma Chao defected to Liu Bei, did he really not regret it? In fact, this is not the case, although Liu Bei promoted Ma Chao's official position, but only let Ma Chao lead the Marquis of Despondency, although he was a general of the Hussars, but there were no soldiers under his hands, how to play?
For Liu Bei, the greatest value of Ma Chao in this life is to claim the title of king and emperor, and then to lead the army into Chengdu. After doing these two things well, Ma Chao's good days will also come, not only do you need to worry about your own safety at any time, but you also have to be careful in everything, be careful of your words and deeds, and even dare not complain.
After Ma Chao defected to Liu Bei for 7 years, he died of depression.
Before dying, he wrote a letter to Liu Bei, the content of which was to entrust Liu Bei to take care of Ma Dai and let him inherit his own Ma clan bloodline. However, Ma Chao also mentioned 4 words in the letter, which are enough to show Ma Chao's attitude towards life after defecting to Liu Bei.
Which 4 words did Ma Chao say? "Yu Wu Fu Yan", translated into the big vernacular, is that I am really speechless. Although Ma Chao pointed to Cao Cao earlier, it is clear that Ma Chao also alluded to Liu Bei, after all, this letter was written to Liu Bei, not to Cao Cao.
In fact, judging from the fact that Ma Chao was elevated by Liu Bei, if Pang De and Zhang Lu, and the two of them also defected to Liu Bei, their final outcome would probably not be much better.
Especially Zhang Lu, his Five Bucket Rice Sect may have disappeared from now on. Perhaps this is also the reason why Pound And Zhang Lu did not dare to surrender to Liu Bei.
The WudouMi Sect founded by Zhang Lu, after the fall of Cao Wei, his power was still retained, all the way to the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The Wudou Rice Sect has developed very well, and all this should probably be attributed to Zhang Lu's wise defection to Cao Cao. If Zhang Lu had defected to Liu Bei, perhaps there would have been no Wudou Rice Sect in the world.
In short, if Pound De and Zhang Lu both surrender to Liu Bei, maybe in the end they will all become victims, and if the use value is not large, they will be hollowed out. Speaking of which, does anyone still think that Liu Bei is a benevolent and righteous prince?