Author: Hanging Bi (public name of the same name), authorized to read the history of the release. Click here to view the previous article
After Ma Chao was forced to return to Hanzhong, he declared that he would never be able to retake Liangzhou again.
First of all, his fruitless return this time, coupled with some of his own problems, led to his complete loss of Zhang Lu's trust. Secondly, Ma Chao's previous series of brutal acts also made him quite unpopular with the people of Liangzhou.
Under such objective conditions, Ma Chao could not gain a foothold in Liangzhou.
And Zhang Lu here, he can't stay anymore.
Before we analyzed, Zhang Lu's positioning of Ma Chao is a sharp knife against Cao Cao, who thinks that Ma Chao is not Xiahou Yuan's opponent.
Now liangzhou has been completely pacified by Xiahou Yuan, before Ma Chao lost twice in a row, expecting him to lead the northern expedition again is no longer realistic, but in vain to lose troops.
And if Ma Chao stays in Hanzhong and does nothing for a long time, it will eventually become a big hidden danger.
In case Ma Chao found an opportunity to occupy the magpie's nest, it would be too late to regret it, after all, the lesson of Opening the Door and Stealing in Yizhou was close at hand, and Zhang Lu had to guard against it.
In this way, Ma Chao's situation became more and more dangerous, because in the future, once Cao Cao invaded Hanzhong in the south, Zhang Lu, in the case of being unable to resist, was very likely to kill him, a person whom Cao Cao deeply hated, as a surrender to Cao Cao.
Moreover, at this time, Zhang Lu's subordinate Yang Bai had already begun to plot against Ma Chao.
Ma Chao has reached the moment when he must make a decision.
Surrender to Cao Cao in the north?
Don't even think about it. Cao Cao is restless without dying, coupled with the deep hatred of the Blood Sea, this option can be directly Passed.
Occupy Hanzhong? I am afraid that the strength is also insufficient, because at this time, Ma Chao's concubines do not have many troops. When Zhang Lu first sent Yang Ang to assist Ma Chao in attacking Liangzhou, the total strength of the army was only more than 10,000 people, so Ma Chao's troops were at most a few thousand. After that, he lost consecutive battles, and there were only a few men and horses left under his command.
And Zhang Lu has developed with peace of mind over the years, not only has there been no loss, but his strength has also been greatly enhanced. Liangzhou and Guanzhong have been in turmoil for many years, and a large number of people have fled, but Hanzhong is a paradise far from war, and tens of thousands of people have taken refuge in Hanzhong.
During the rebellion of Han Sui and Ma Chao, tens of thousands of People from the Meridian Valley of Kansai ran away. (Three Kingdoms Chronicles of Wei Shu 2nd Gongsun Tao 4 Zhang Chuan VIII)
Therefore, Zhang Lu's strength was at least several times that of Ma Chao, and coupled with the fact that he already had defenses, it was almost impossible for Ma Chao to want to cause trouble.
At this time, the arrival of a person provided Ma Chao with a new choice.
This person was Li Hui under Liu Bei's account, and this time he came as an emissary to befriend Ma Chao.
For Ma Chao, it is the snow that sends charcoal, if he wants to survive, he must insist on opposing Cao, but he has no place to stand, so it is inevitable to seek the protection of other forces.
When the most staunch anti-Cao person today is probably Liu Bei, now that the Battle of Yizhou is nearing its end, Liu Bei taking Liu Zhang's place has become a foregone conclusion, and he is Ma Chao's best and only choice.
At present, Liu Bei's initial creation is the time to employ people, and in the future, when the Northern Expedition, Ma Chao's prestige in Qiangxi can play a role, so the two sides hit it off.
Ma Chao immediately wrote a letter to Liu Bei asking for surrender, and then immediately left.
However, if he wanted to take the Golden Bull Road to Shuzhong in a bright and upright manner, it would be impossible, after all, Zhang Lu had already taken precautions. Therefore, Ma Chao went in a big circle, passed through the territory of the Wudu People, and went to Chengdu.
However, when Ma Chao left, he left his wife and children behind. Although this Dong clan is not the right wife, and Ma Qiu is not a concubine, considering that Ma Chao's wife Yang Shi and the eldest son of The Concubine have been killed in Ji County, these two people should also be saved.
Leave them behind, and the consequences can be imagined.
Maybe Ma Chao is trying not to show the wind, but the coldness of this person's heart is also evident.
Let's talk about the war situation in Chengdu.
There were about three lines of defense north of Chengdu, the northernmost of which was Fu County (around present-day Mianyang City, Sichuan), followed by Mianzhu (present-day Huangxu Town, Deyang, Sichuan), and the last line of defense was Luocheng (around present-day Guanghan City, Sichuan).
Among them, Fuxian and Mianzhu had been easily taken by Liu Bei, and Luocheng, the last gateway north of Chengdu, had also fallen after holding out for a year, and the gateway to Chengdu had been wide opened.
On the other hand, reinforcements led by Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun from jingzhou had also arrived, and the two sides joined forces, and Chengdu was besieged.
Liu Zhang did not surrender immediately, perhaps the thirty thousand horses in the city and the grain and grass that could be used for a year gave him some confidence.
However, at this time, his heart should still be very entangled, or it can be said that he is doing a fierce psychological struggle for surrender.
At that time, Xu Jing, the Taishou of Shu Commandery, planned to sneak out of the city to surrender, but after the matter was revealed, Liu Zhang did not kill him, on the grounds that the enemy was in a forgivable situation.
This is very strange, if Liu Zhang made up his mind to stubbornly resist, then for an unfaithful person like Xu Jing, he would definitely have to behead him immediately to deter other people who were plotting against him. Letting him go now can only show that Liu Zhang himself is inclined to surrender, but he has not yet made up his mind.
Liu Bei's side was also well aware of Liu Zhang's thoughts, and earlier Fa Zheng accurately judged that Liu Zhang would not adopt Zheng Du's firm wall and clear the wilderness strategy, which was enough to highlight Liu Zhang's ambivalence that he was not willing to admit defeat and was not determined to resist.
So Liu Bei simply cooperated with him, besieging Chengdu without attacking, giving Liu Zhang a time to consider, and people like him who were not firm in their hearts would collapse first without hitting him under the huge pressure of the outside world.
On the other hand, Liu Bei also wants to wait for one person - that is, Ma Chao.
After besieging Chengdu for more than a month, Ma Chao finally arrived, but because he wanted to hide his whereabouts, he only brought out a small number of people from Hanzhong.
Liu Bei did not let Ma Chao go directly to Chengdu City, but first sent someone to stop him, secretly giving Ma Chao a group of men and horses, and asking him to take this army to the north of Chengdu City.
Ma Chao's arrival was the last straw that crushed the camel, and Liu Zhang was completely instigated.
It is to make people stop overtaking, and sneak into the military. Over, ling led the army north of Tuncheng, overtook to the tenth and collapsed in Chengdu. (Three Kingdoms Zhi Shu Shu Guan Zhang Ma Huang Zhao Chuan VI, Pei Note)
At this time, Liu Bei sent Jian Yong into the city to persuade him to surrender.
This person was very cleverly chosen, when Liu Bei was just invited to Sichuan, Jian Yong, who was accompanying him, was quite close to Liu Zhang.
When the Lord entered Yizhou first, Liu Zhang saw Yong and loved him very much. (Three Kingdoms Zhishu Shu Shu Xu Lu Sun Jian Yi Qin Biography VIII)
That is to say, Jian Yong was the most suitable candidate for Liu Bei's communication with Liu Zhang.
Sure enough, Jian Yong successfully broke Liu Zhang's psychological defense line, and the two talked happily and went out of the city in a car together.
Forcing Liu Zhang to surrender was one of the few highlight moments in Ma Chao's life, and Liu Zhang heard that Ma Chao of Wei Zhenxi had come to attack him, so he would surrender, which was also the impression of most people on Ma Chao.
On the surface, it seems that this is indeed the case, Liu Bei besieged the city for dozens of days, Liu Zhang never surrendered in front of him, Liu Zhang surrendered within a few days after Ma Chao came, coupled with Liu Bei's overjoyed performance after hearing of Ma Chao's arrival, this seems to be a matter of no doubt.
However, if you think about it carefully, things are not so simple, Ma Chao's previous record is very unsatisfactory, in addition to some prestige in Qianghu, I really can't think of anything else he can do.
Previously, Yang Fu said that Ma Chao had "faith and courage of cloth", which was too much to lift him up. Don't say that Han Xin can't catch up with Ma Chao, even Yingbu is much stronger than him. The reason Yang Fu said this was only to make Cao Cao pay attention.
Isn't it strange that such a person whose record is barely mediocre has made Chengdu surrender to Kaesong out of timidity?
In fact, the real reason is not complicated, and the key to solving the mystery lies in Liu Bei's secret move to increase Ma Chao's troops. It is reasonable to say that if it is to deter Liu Zhang, let Ma Chao go directly to the city, why bother with this move.
I think Liu Bei's real purpose was to conceal the fact that Ma Chao was poor and poor, but instead created the illusion that Ma Chao was leading a large army to help.
At that time, Chengdu was already under siege, and Liu Zhang basically had no information from the outside world, that is to say, Ma Chao's escape from Zhang Lu was unknown to Liu Zhang.
At this time, Ma Chao led a large army to the city, liu zhang must not have thought that Ma Chao came to defect to Liu Bei, but it is very likely that zhang Lu sent Ma Chao to fight him.
You know, Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu have a deep hatred in the sea of blood, zhang Lu's mother and brother were killed by Liu Zhang, and now that Liu Zhang is at the end of the road, it is normal for Zhang Lu to fall into the well.
The more Liu Zhang thought about it, the more afraid he became, and once the city was destroyed, in order to thank Zhang Lu for his help, it was also very likely that Liu Bei would hand himself over to Zhang Lu for disposal, and it would be the disaster of the Yi clan at that time.
Although this person's treachery is quite hateful, after all, he let Fa Zheng write a letter to express a certain goodwill, presumably falling into Liu Bei's hands can at least save his life.
Liu Zhang's mental journey I think is generally like this, what he is really afraid of is that Zhang Lu and Liu Bei can't resist him together, and what he is afraid of is that he will end up in the hands of Zhang Lu and have a miserable ending, not because he is jealous of Ma Chao's "prestige".
After Liu Zhang surrendered, Liu Bei moved him to the public security of Jingzhou, a location that was also very elaborate.
First of all, Yizhou definitely can't stay, after all, there are some old departments of Liu Zhang, which makes it difficult for him to stay at ease. And if Liu Zhang has three long and two short, the world will definitely think that Liu Bei has a black hand, and then it will be unclear, so it is better to go far.
On the other hand, letting Liu Zhang stay in the public security can just be monitored by Guan Yu. Guan Yu's base camp Jiangling and the public security are only separated by a river, Liu Zhang should be foolproof in this place, but what Liu Bei did not expect was that Liu Zhang eventually got out of his control, which is a later story.
Regarding Liu Bei's next strategic planning, in fact, there is nothing to say, Sooner or later Cao Cao will have to march south to Zhang Lu, so he will either attack first and take advantage of Cao Cao and Sun Quan's game on the eastern front to preemptively take Hanzhong, or he will recuperate and recharge his strength, and then send troops to assist Zhang Lu after Cao Cao sends troops, at least not to let him give Hanzhong to Cao Cao.
However, choosing to attack Zhang Lu is also risky, first of all, Shu Road is difficult, it is not easy to march, plus Zhang Lu is quite powerful, it is difficult to fight quickly, once it falls into a protracted war, it is equivalent to taking the initiative to push Zhang Lu to Cao Cao's side, then the situation is even more unfavorable.
On the other hand, Liu Bei's clique took Xichuan after more than two years of hard fighting, and not only did the officers and soldiers need to rest, but Liu Bei also had to concentrate on the post-war consolation work.
The most important of these was the economic problem, and Liu Bei had promised that if Chengdu was attacked, all the treasures in the treasury could be taken by the soldiers at will. In the end, Liu Bei did fulfill this promise, which bought people's hearts to a certain extent.
But now the problem comes, after Liu Bei gave a large reward to the property that should be used as military funds, it led to insufficient use in the army.
For this matter, Liu Bei asked Liu Ba for advice, and Liu Ba gave three suggestions: the first was to mint a hundred dollars, the second was to stabilize prices, and the third was to set up an official market.
There has always been a saying that Liu Ba's proposal of zhibaiqian is a kind of official act of blatantly cutting leeks for the people, which is actually very incorrect.
At first glance, zhibaiqian is a kind of inflated currency, and if it is issued in large quantities, it will inevitably lead to excessive currency issuance, inflation, such as the issuance of small money during Dong Zhuo's reign, which has led to serious economic disasters.
But Liu Ba still has a backhand, and the combination of stabilizing prices and setting up the official market can offset the impact of inflation.
After the first issuance of additional currency, the official hands naturally have money, so that there is capital to intervene in the market, as long as there are cheap goods for sale in the officially presided over market, the people's lives will not be affected.
Just like today's society, although after many rounds of monetary issuance, the price of ordinary living materials has always tended to be stable, which is where the power of macroeconomic regulation and control lies.
The real hit was the Yizhou clan, whose main wealth was concentrated in their hands, so that the devaluation of the currency caused by inflation would lead to a shrinking of wealth in their hands, and in the case of a full government treasury, it would be difficult for them to exploit the people by means of hoarding and juqi.
It can be seen that the additional issuance of currency must be coordinated with stable prices, which is why the Shu Han Dynasty's hundred dollars can be passed on to the Southern Dynasty and are still sought after, while Dong Zhuo's small money is soon abandoned by the market.
After the implementation of the new economic policy, the financial situation of Liu Bei's regime improved greatly, and Liu Bazhen was truly an economic wizard.
Now that the economic problems have been successfully solved, the internal affairs have been managed in an orderly manner by Zhuge Liang, and Xichuan has regained peace after more than two years of military disasters, a new round of expansion actions of Liu Bei's group is about to be put on the agenda.