When it comes to the famous generals of the Three Kingdoms, people will first think of Lü Bu, Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and others. In fact, in addition to these famous generals who were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, there were also some martial generals who were both wise and courageous at that time. Although these warriors have not been exaggerated by the novels, they have achieved fame in history.
What the editors want to talk about today is a brave and strategic three-country general. This fierce general belonged to the Shu Han camp, and he was called.
Zhang Ling is a native of Nanchong, Sichuan, and although his family was poor since childhood, his personality was very bold. As an adult, Zhang Ling served as Gong Cao of Shuzhong County. When Liu Bei attacked Yizhou, Zhang Ling, who had made meritorious efforts in suppressing bandits, was promoted by Liu Bei to the post of governor.
In 231 AD, the Qiang people of Wenshan County took advantage of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition to Cao Wei to rebel. At that time, Ma Zhong appointed Zhang Ling as the vanguard of the army, and Zhang Ling was worshiped by Liu Chan as a tooth gatekeeper and followed Ma Zhong to suppress the rebellion. After the Qiang rebellion was put down, Zhang Ling followed Ma Zhongping to rebel against the Southern Barbarians many times, and because of his accumulated military merits, Zhang was given the title of Taishou by Liu Chan.
Yuewei was a frontier stronghold of the Shu state, which had long been controlled by barbarian tribes. After Zhang Ling arrived in office, he first beheaded the rebellious barbarian leaders, and then he began to teach the barbarian people how to cultivate, and he also worked with the barbarians to repair the broken city walls. The barbarian people were grateful for the grace of indoctrination and were very supportive. Therefore, during the fifteen years of Zhang Ling's tenure as Taishou, the border of the Shu state ushered in a rare tranquility.
Zhang Ling not only has great achievements in governing the localities, he has also achieved the goal of expecting things like gods. Let's take a look at what aspects Zhang Ling has achieved the goal of being like a god.
After Zhuge Liang's death, Jiang Huan succeeded to the position of Chancellor of the Shu State. After Jiang Huan's death, Fei Yi inherited Jiang Huan's position. After Fei Yi came to power, he vigorously advocated Nongsang, which enabled the economy of the Shu state to develop to a certain extent. However, Zhang Ling found that Fei Yi was too kind, and Fei Yi was very close to those who had just surrendered to the Shu state. So Zhang wrote to Fei Yi: In the past, Cen Peng was a great general, and he was assassinated for treating the newly surrendered people kindly. Now that you are also a great general of the Shu Kingdom, you should take Cen Peng as a mirror and be more vigilant. Not wanting Fei Yi to take Zhang's advice seriously, Fei Yi was indeed killed by Zhang Ling's general Guo Xun.
On his deathbed, Sun Quan worshipped Zhuge Liang's nephew Zhuge Ke as the Eastern Wu Taifu. Zhuge Ke, who became the lone minister of Eastern Wu, held the military and political power of Eastern Wu. When Zhang Ling saw that Zhuge Ke had come to power and began to act arbitrarily, he sent a letter to Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan. Zhang Ling said to Zhuge Zhan in his letter: I hope you can persuade your cousin not to go too far away from the new emperor of Eastern Wu, otherwise Zhuge Ke is afraid that he will be in trouble. Zhuge Zhan persuaded Zhuge Ke, but Zhuge Ke laughed at his cousin's advice. The later Zhuge Ke was indeed killed by the new lord of Eastern Wu and destroyed by the three tribes, as Zhang Ling's letter predicted.
In 254, Li Jian, a key official of the Wei state, sent Liu Chan a secret letter requesting surrender. In his letter, Li Jian stated that he was ready to lead the people of the county to surrender to the State of Shu (at this time, the Sima Shi brothers had already monopolized the power of the State of Wei, and Xiahou Ba was also preparing to surrender to the State of Shu). Subsequently, Jiang Wei led his army to meet Li Jian, and because of Li Jian's surrender, Jiang Wei took the opportunity to occupy two important border towns in the State of Wei: Heguan and Lintao.
And because Jiang Wei received a large amount of military supplies from Li Jian, Jiang Wei was ready to take advantage of the situation to lead the Northern Expedition again. During the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, Jiang Wei worshiped Zhang Ling as the vanguard of the Shu army. At this time, the elderly Zhang Ling had already suffered from severe rheumatism. Zhang Ling, who was seriously ill, even reached the point where he could only walk on crutches. At this time, some people suggested that Jiang Wei leave Zhang in Shuzhong, but Zhang Ling said that he would also follow the army in the Northern Expedition.
Before leaving, he wrote to Liu Chandao: The subject was valued by the former emperor and was repeatedly rewarded. Although he was seriously ill, he was often worried about his sudden death and could not repay the kindness of the former emperor. Now he can finally go out with the army and serve the country. If the Shu army can capture Liangzhou, then the subject is willing to defend Liangzhou for His Majesty's town. If His Majesty does not receive a good reward, then the subject will be dead in return. After Liu Chan saw Zhang's performance, he was moved to tears.
Subsequently, he personally led the Shu army to engage the Wei general Xu Qian. Although Zhang Ling went shirtless and fought, he was eventually outnumbered and died in battle for the Shu state. When the local people heard the news of Zhang Ling's death on the battlefield, they all wept for it. The local people thanked Zhang Ling for his indoctrination and took the initiative to fund the establishment of a temple for Zhang Ling, and the sacrifice was carried out at four o'clock. After Liu Chan learned of the news that he had died in battle for the Shu state, he made Zhang Ling's eldest son the Marquis of Xixiang, and his second son Zhang Huxiong inherited the title.
For the famous Shu Han general Zhang Ling, Chen Shou once had an evaluation: Zhang Ling's personality was generous and heroic, but the scholars who liked to climb up the powerful often ridiculed him with Zhang Ling's debauchery and little courtesy. Later Qing Dynasty minister Li Guangdi also praised Zhang Ling. Li Guangdi commented on Zhang Ling: Zhao Yun and Zhang Ling not only have the strategy of being generals, but the two are clear and decisive in the face of things, and the old cheng is heavy, which is actually the choice of Liu Beituo's lonely and heavy subjects.