Zhang Lu was the third generation of the "Wudou Rice Sect" Tianshi, and is said to be the tenth grandson of Zhang Liang in the Western Han Dynasty and the grandson of Zhang Ling, the ancestor of the Tianshi Dao (Wudou Mi Dao).
With the help of Liu Yan, the former pastor of Yizhou, he seized Hanzhong by force, and then supported his troops to stand on their own, opposing Liu Yan and occupying Hanzhong for thirty years.
Ning was a slave to Cao, not a guest to Liu Bei
In the twentieth year of Jian'an (215), Cao Cao led an army to attack Zhang Lu, but Zhang Lu resisted the enemy, but at the suggestion of the strategist Yan Pu, fled into Bazhong, and then surrendered to Cao Cao with the Bazhong minority Yi wang Pu Hu and Du Hao.
It is worth mentioning that Wang Ping, a major general in the middle and late Shu Han Dynasty, also joined Cao Cao at this time.
Interestingly, before joining Cao Cao, Zhang Lu said that "it is better to operate slaves for Cao Than to be a guest for Liu Bei", which means that he would rather be a slave to Cao Cao than a guest of Liu Bei.
According to the "Huayang Guozhi":
"Twenty years later, Emperor Wu of Wei marched west to Lu, and Lu went to Bazhong. The First Lord will greet him, and Lu Gong Cao Bashi Yan Pu said that Lu Bei surrendered to Wei Wu: "It is advisable to praise the great things; otherwise, Liu Bei of the Western Jie will return to him." Lu Boran said, "I would rather be a slave to Cao Gong than a guest for Liu Bei!" So he confronted Wei Wu. ”
When I first read this sentence, I felt a bout of inexplicable, Zhang Lu and Liu Bei had no complaints in the past, no hatred in recent days, you surrendered to Cao Cao, why did you want to scold Liu Bei?
Does Zhang Lu and Liu Liu have a vendetta? Yes, this has to start with Liu Bei's capture of Xichuan.
Pretending to attack Zhang Lu, in fact, there is another plan
Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu fought each other for many years, and the two sides won and lost each other, and later, under the influence of the strategist Zhang Song, Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei to enter the river and help him attack Zhang Lu.
And Liu Bei had long wanted to get Xichuan, but he was suffering from the lack of a justifiable reason, so he just calculated the plan and took a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled people into Sichuan
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Fan Biography:
"Lü Dai returned from Shu and met the White Emperor, saying that (Liu) Beibu was separated, dead and half, and everything would not be overcome."
From the mouth of the Wu general Lü Dai, it was learned that the army led by Liu Beijinchuan was "scattered, dead and half", and had no combat effectiveness.
It was impossible to use such a force to fight Zhang Lu, who had been in Hanzhong for thirty years, and the reason why Liu Bei did this was not that he liked to take risks, but that he had other plans:
First, liu bei can be blackmailed from Liu Zhang, and liu bei can first be made clear to Liu Zhang that I Liu Bei is not bringing troops into Sichuan to fight you and let Liu Zhang relax his guard; secondly, he can let Liu Zhang provide soldiers and horses with money and food on the grounds that the soldiers are small and the generals are small, so that Liu Bei can get a good military force at no cost.
The second is to ally with Zhang Lu to solve the worries of the future. Hanzhong is the throat of Yizhou, always threatening the Xichuan area, if Liu Bei and Liu Zhang fight a lose-lose situation, Zhang Lu at this time to take advantage of the opportunity to reap the benefits of the fisherman, then Liu Bei will not be worth the loss, so Liu Bei before capturing Xichuan, it is very necessary to have a good relationship with Zhang Lu.
Although there is no direct record in the history books that Liu Bei and Zhang Lu had friendly relations, these can be seen from some details.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Huo Jun's Biography:
"The first lord attacked Liu Zhang, leaving (Huo) Jun to guard Ye Meng City. Zhang Lu dispatched Yang Shuai to entice Jun, asking to defend the city together, and Jun said: "The head of the villain can be obtained, but the city cannot be obtained." 'The veil is retreating. ”
After Liu Bei and Liu Zhang turned against each other, they took the large troops away and attacked Liu Zhang from the south, leaving only a few hundred troops in the rear of Ye Mengguan.
Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu were not incompetent, and Liu Zhang sent his troops around to Liu Bei's rear, preparing to attack Liu Bei back and forth.
Zhang Lu also sent an army from Hanzhong to fight ye Mengguan's idea. What is different is that Liu Zhang's troops were directly captured by force, while Zhang Lu was intellectually seduced, called "seeking to defend the city together".
With Zhang Lu's strength, in the face of this Ye MengGuan, whose guard strength was less than a thousand, he could directly attack like Liu Zhang, but he did not do so, but told the defender Huo Jun:
I'm here to help you defend the city. What kind of relationship did Zhang Lu and Liu Bei have to help him defend the city? That, of course, is a friendly alliance.
Help you defend against foreign enemies in the name of an ally? This was a trick that Liu Bei had just played with Liu Zhang, so Zhang Lu's idea didn't work at all here with Liu Bei.
Through the clue that Zhang Lu asked Liu Bei to "ask for a common defense of the city" incident, we can solve some other mysteries between the two of them.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Biography of Peng Xi:
"(Pang) unified the great good, and the Fa Zheng Su knew (Peng) Zhi, so he went to the First Lord." The Lord also thought it strange, and ordered the generals to propagate the military, instructed the generals, and gave the envoys the praises, and met riga. ”
Peng Xi was a prodigy in the land of Western Shu, but because he was too arrogant, he was cut off by Liu Zhang's hair, and tied around his neck with an iron ring (a punishment called "tongs"), and exiled to slavery.
After learning that Liu Bei had entered Shu, Peng Xi went to Ye Meng Guan, first to meet Pang Tong, and was appreciated by Pang Tong, and then Fa Zheng also recommended Peng Xi to Liu Bei, so Liu Bei received Peng Xi and was greatly surprised by Peng Xi's talent.
There is a detail in Peng Xi's performance, called "giving the envoy to the will", which means that the result of the ordered envoy made Liu Bei very satisfied.
Liu Bei was stationed at Ye Mengguan at that time, so the object of Peng Xi's envoy was no one but Zhang Lu. That is to say, it was Peng Xi, the wizard of the world, who promoted the alliance between Zhang Lu and Liu Bei.
In addition to Peng Xi, who was sent to maintain friendly relations with Zhang Lu, there was also a figure named Li Hui.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Li Hui Biography:
"(Li) restores the knowledge that (Liu) Zhang's will be defeated, and the first lord will succeed, but the envoy of the county, the first lord of the Northern Yi, meets Mianzhu." The first lord Jiazhi, from Luocheng, sent to Hanzhong to make good friends with Ma Chao, and chao obeyed his orders. ”
Although Li Hui was not as famous as Peng Hui, he was also quite talented, and it is interesting that Li Hui, like Peng Hui, was also dismissed by Liu Zhang for committing a crime, the difference being that Li Hui was not punished by tongs.
When Li Hui went to find Liu Bei, Liu Bei had already reached Mianzhu, that is to say, Li Hui joined Liu Bei later than Peng Xi, and after Peng Xi, Liu Bei sent Li Hui as an emissary to Hanzhong and befriend Ma Chao while maintaining relations with Zhang Lu.
An incident happened after Ma Chao joined Liu Bei, that is, because Peng Xian was too arrogant, he was transferred by Liu Bei from the central government to the local post of Jiangyang Taishou, Peng Xian was very unhappy, went to Ma Chao to complain, and then said that he was so excited that he wanted Ma Chao to rebel with him!
Ma Chao was too frightened to speak after listening to Peng Xi's words, and then reported Peng Xi to Liu Bei, and Peng Xi was sentenced to death for this.
From the personal relationship between Peng Xi and Ma Chao, it can be concluded that when Peng Xi first sent an envoy to Zhang Lu, he had already discovered that Ma Chao could not be reused under Zhang Lu, and then in order to win Ma Chao over.
Peng Xi had close contact with Ma Chao. Therefore, when Peng Xi was unhappy later, he went to Ma Chao, who he thought was not wrong with him, to complain.
Using Liu Zhang, not giving benefits, but also digging the foot of the wall
Through the above details, we can roughly restore the whole process of Liu Beikeng Zhang Lu:
Liu Bei took a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled into Sichuan, defrauded a lot of soldiers and horses from Liu Zhang's hands, came to Yemeng Pass, and then sent someone to tell Zhang Lu that I was not here to help Liu Zhang beat you;
At this time, Peng Xi joined Liu Bei, and Liu Bei sent Peng Xi as an envoy to Zhang Lu, which promoted the friendly relationship between Liu Bei and Zhang Lu, and at the same time, peng Xi discovered that Ma Chao was suspected under Zhang Lu at the same time as he went to Hanzhong, so he took the opportunity to win Ma Chao over;
Then Liu Bei counterattacked Liu Zhang, and Li Hui came to join him, and Liu Bei asked Li Hui to continue to plot against Ma Chao in the name of zhang lu, an envoy; then Zhang Lu sent someone to liu bei to ask for benefits, and Liu Bei directly said: Roll, no.
Zhang Lu's anger had not subsided, and he suddenly found that Ma Chao had disappeared, and then soon heard that Ma Chao had gone to help Liu Bei beat Liu Zhang.
Zhang Lu finally reacted, this Liu Bei was not only using him, but also digging his corner!
However, Zhang Lu was still quite tolerant of this person, and was so pit by Liu Bei that he did not tear his face with Liu Bei and maintained a superficial friendly relationship, so Zhang Lu chose to go to Bashi County for a while after being defeated by Cao Cao.
This place in Brazil nominally belongs to Liu Bei's Brazilian Taishou Zhang Fei, so Zhang Lu took refuge in Brazil, in fact, he was seeking Liu Bei's asylum, and Liu Bei quickly sent Huang Quan to meet him after hearing that Zhang Lu had entered Brazil.
It was just that Liu Bei was confronting Sun Quan because of the Jingzhou problem, which led to a little slower speed of receiving Zhang Lu, and at this time Cao Cao's army was approaching, and Zhang Lu finally couldn't bear it, saying that I would rather be a slave to Cao Cao than believe Liu Bei anymore!
Zhang Shijun was very angry, and the consequences were very serious, Zhang Lu not only surrendered to Cao Cao with King Bazhongyi, but also killed Ma Chao's son Ma Qiu!
At this point, Liang Zi, the sworn enemy of Zhang Lu and Liu Bei's clique, has no possibility of unraveling.