The world at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty can be described as wonderful and colorful, the princes fought openly and secretly on the same stage, you sang and I appeared, which also led to countless people in ancient and modern China and abroad who loved that period of history.
Among the princes of the late Han Dynasty, Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, who divided Yizhou, were very special. They had laid their roots in Yizhou long before the great chaos in the world, and then they were almost isolated from the world, and they were at ease in their own world and developed, until the situation in the Central Plains was generally clear, and they were late.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou according to zhuge Liang's plan for him, and then planned to march to bashu in the west.
At this time, Liu Zhang of Yizhou took the initiative to invite Liu Bei to go. For Liu Bei, this is undoubtedly a major benefit, belonging to the pie that fell from the sky.
But for Liu Zhang, this is the act of luring wolves into the house, and the history that happened later also proves this.
Then, at that time, Liu Zhang had his own army and territory, so why did he recruit Liu Bei into Sichuan?
To understand this problem, we have to start with a man named Zhang Song.
Zhang Song was a native of Chengdu at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was an official under Liu Zhang, and once visited as an emissary after Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou.
Cao Cao, who had just captured Jingzhou at the time, did not care about his unassuming Zhang Song and lacked respect for him, which led to the latter's resentment.
After returning to Yizhou, Zhang Song deliberately smeared Cao Cao, and according to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, he "destroyed Cao Gong and persuaded Zhang to kill himself", and Liu Zhang, who had always lacked opinion, began to fight with Cao Cao.
After convincing Liu Zhang to befriend Cao Cao, Zhang Song suggested: "Liu Yuzhou, so that the heart of the king, can communicate with him." Because Liu Bei and himself were both relatives of the Han Dynasty, and the name of Rende had long been famous all over the world, Liu Zhang agreed without much thought. Soon after, Fa Zheng went to befriend Liu Bei on behalf of Liu Zhang, and at that time Liu Bei was facing the pressure brought by Cao Cao, and Liu Zhang sent Fa Zheng and Meng Da to lead thousands of people to help without saying a word.
Seeing that the relationship between Liu Zhang and Liu Bei was getting closer and closer, Zhang Song once again said: "The generals Pang Xi and Li Yi in this prefecture are all arrogant and proud, and if they want to have external intentions, they must not yuzhou, then the enemy will attack outside them, and the people will attack them inside, and the way will be defeated." That is to say, pang xi, Li Yi and other generals in Yizhou are now proud of their achievements, believing that they have worked hard and gradually disobeyed orders, and secretly have thoughts of independence or betrayal. If Liu Bei is not called to help in time, then when the internal and external troubles break out together, it will definitely lead to the final failure.
Liu Zhang also felt that it was very reasonable when he heard it, so he wrote a letter inviting Liu Bei to enter Shu.
I have to say that Liu Zhang is really a straight and stubborn person, and after choosing to believe Zhang Song and believe Liu Bei, even the bitter persuasion of Huang Quan, Wang Lei and other ministers did not make him change his mind. Liu Bei entered the Land of Shu, and Liu Zhang was very generous in his efforts to fulfill the friendship of the landlord, according to the Book of Wu: "Zhang used 200,000 yuan of rice, rode a thousand horses, rode a thousand cars, and sent Liu Bei with funds." "
The main purpose of Liu Zhang's giving Liu Bei so much money, grain and materials was also written in the history books, that is, to "make Zhang Lu"
Zhang Lu was the third generation of the Heavenly Master of Wudou Midao and a warlord in the late Han Dynasty. Because Hanzhong was the northern gateway to Yizhou, Zhang Lu became the most threatening force to Liu Zhang. In order to obtain more materials, Zhang Lu often went south to harass Yizhou, which was not affected by the war and was rich and stable, and plundered materials, money and grain, which Liu Zhang had been very troubled by for a long time.
Compared with Liu Zhang and the Yizhou generals, who had no experience in fighting wars, Liu Bei, who had spent half his life on horseback, was experienced in combat, and was a very reliable ally in theory.
However, Liu Bei's real goal was not to help Liu Zhang in his crusade against Zhang Lu, but to find an opportunity to capture Yizhou. In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), Liu Bei took Yizhou from Liu Zhang, laying the foundation for his future title of emperor, while Liu Zhang surrendered and was sent to Jingzhou for the rest of his life.
In summary, the main reason why Liu Zhang wanted to recruit Liu Bei into Sichuan was as follows.
First of all, he was persuaded by zhang song and others, whom he trusted, to believe that Cao Cao would pose a great threat to himself, and Liu Bei could become a great help to himself.
Secondly, after Liu Bei became the King of Zhongshan Jing, he and Liu Zhang were also relatives of the Han Dynasty, and the blood connection made the latter believe that the cooperation between the two sides should be intimate and harmonious.
Third, because of the long-term closed environment, many generals in Yizhou began to be complacent about their own achievements that were not much in fact, and in order to prevent the situation they thought was great from continuing to deteriorate, causing them to have different intentions, Liu Zhang summoned liu bei, the real person, to Yizhou. In this way, you can suppress the sharpness of the military generals, and secondly, it is convenient for the military generals to really rebel at least one powerful force that can help themselves.
Finally, and most importantly, there was Zhang Lu in the north of Yizhou at that time, and in addition to Zhang Lu, there was such a giant as Cao Cao. Liu Zhang, who had a weak personality and lacked courage, naturally hoped to have a talented strong reinforcement at such a time, so even if he had an army and territory, he still hoped that Liu Bei could use it for himself. He tried to exchange a large amount of supplies for Liu Bei to defend the northern border for himself and attack Zhang Lu and Cao Cao.