In the Book of Shu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the first and second volumes are "Liu Ermu" and Liu Bei, respectively, "Liu Ermu" can be said to be Liu Bei's predecessor. Liu Yan's historical image is still an iron-fisted careerist, while Liu Zhang is a weak and defeated warlord. In the "Battle of Yizhou", Liu Bei defeated Liu Zhang one after another in the case of enemies and widows; also based in Yizhou, Liu Bei was able to establish a foundation and establish the Shu Han regime, but Liu Zhang could only make wedding clothes for others. So what's the difference?
Strictly speaking, Yizhou, which Liu Zhang ruled, was not the entire territory of Yizhou, and an important area was missing, that is, the Hanzhong Basin. In fact, the problem lies in Liu Yan's body. Very early on, at least in the fifth year of Zhongping (that is, in 188 AD), when the world was not so chaotic, Liu Yan had ambitions to break away from the control of the Eastern Han court. After Liu Yan became the pastor of Yizhou, he immediately began his own strategy, using Hanzhong to isolate the Eastern Han court and become his own tu emperor.
For this reason, Liu Yan ordered Zhang Lu and others to control Hanzhong, giving Zhang Lu a high degree of power and asking him to intercept and kill the Han envoys. At this time, the connection between Hanzhong and Mianzhu (at that time Liu Yan's seat of government was Mianzhu) was already relatively loose and weak. After Liu Yan's death, Hanzhong was completely out of control. Zhang Lu did not recognize Liu Zhang's rule, and Liu Zhang, in anger, killed Zhang Lu's family members, and the relationship between the two was completely broken and in a state of hostility.
In his attitude towards Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang appeared very negative. At that time, There was a relatively important figure under Liu Zhang's subordinate named Pang Xi, who had great favors for Liu Zhang, and was appointed as the Taishou of Brazil as a "border town" against Zhang Lu. After repeated setbacks in his battle against Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang adopted a conservative defensive posture and was suspicious of Pang Yi. Pang Yi increased the military strength of Bashi County, but was jealous of Liu Zhang and almost rebelled against Liu Zhang. The war against Hanzhong was not firm, so that Yizhou always faced the threat of the north. The reason why Liu Bei was invited to enter Yizhou was precisely because of the military threat in Hanzhong, acting as Liu Zhang's thug.
The Liu Bei Group's strategy towards Hanzhong was more firm. In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (i.e., 214 AD), Liu Bei destroyed Liu Zhang, and three years later, in the twenty-second year of Jian'an (i.e., 217 AD), Liu Bei launched the "Battle of Hanzhong". Unlike small fights such as "tired of sending Pang Xi and others to attack Lu", Liu Bei's purpose in carrying out the "Battle of Hanzhong" was to capture Hanzhong with a hammer.
The "Battle of Hanzhong" lasted for two years, with Liu Bei's clique and Cao Cao's clique fighting in Xiajie, MaMingge, Yangpingguan and other places. Liu Bei, as the side of the attack, naturally suffered more losses, ma chao, Zhang Fei, Chen Shiyiyu, Wu Lan, Lei Tong, and Ren Fu were killed. Soldiers, horses, grain and grass were continuously transported from Chengdu to the front, and the huge consumption in the war made Zhuge Liang feel the pressure. Zhuge Liang asked The Shu Ministry to engage Yang Hong, and Yang Hong replied that Hanzhong was the throat of Yizhou, and that "men should fight, women should be lucky"
Eventually, with a large amount of resources, coupled with the performance of Liu Bei, Fazheng, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun and others, Liu Bei Group finally took Hanzhong and had the barrier Bashu Portal. If the "Battle of Hanzhong" or the "Battle of Hanzhong" had not been lost, Liu Bei's clique would have been in a situation of coercion like Liu Zhang.comity. The strategy for the Hanzhong region led Liu Bei and Liu Zhang to two different development paths.
When Liu Bei and Liu Zhang had just started a war, "the soldiers were not satisfied with ten thousand, the soldiers were not attached, the wild valley was the capital, and the army was not heavy", just looking at Liu Bei's strength in Yizhou, it could not be compared with Liu Zhang's clique. And one of the most important reasons why Liu Bei Group was able to eliminate Liu Zhang was that the people of Yizhou were floating. In the "Battle of Yizhou", a large number of troops defected, making Liu Bei's clique stronger and stronger, and Liu Bei's strength gradually overwhelmed Liu Zhang.
Liu Bei was able to enter Yizhou because of the internal ghosts that originated in Yizhou. Zhang Song, Fazheng, Meng Da, and others vigorously promoted the alliance between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang, and persuaded Liu Zhang to invite Liu Bei to Sichuan; during the war, Li Yan, Wu Yi, Fei Guan and other important generals surrendered to Liu Bei. Fuxian and Mianzhu were easily broken, and only Luocheng insisted on resisting Liu Bei for a year and shot and killed the important general Pang Tong. The defender of Luocheng was Liu Xun, the son of Liu Zhang, and if it was other generals, he might not have been able to hold out for so long.
The fundamental problem of the floating hearts of the people in Yizhou is also in Liu Yan's body, which is a hidden danger laid by Liu Yan for Yizhou. Liu Yan wanted to control Yizhou to achieve his ambitions, but he parachuted into Yizhou without any foundation to speak of, and even when he took office, he encountered the Yellow Turban Yu Party and could not enter Sichuan, and only relied on the power of the state official Jia Long to organize forces to quell the rebellion. The strength of the Wang clan in Yizhou far exceeded that of Liu Yan. In order to curb the local forces, Liu Yan absorbed a large number of displaced people to become his own concubine force, which was called "Dongzhou Shi" in historical sources.
Liu Yan suppressed the Yizhou giant chamber with the "Dongzhou Shi", and the "Dongzhou Shi" itself flew high, which led to sharp contradictions within Yizhou, and there were only two large-scale rebellions (Ren Qi, Jia Long Rebellion and Zhao Yun Rebellion). During Liu Zhang's reign in Yizhou, he tilted the balance toward the Yizhou Giant Chamber, which led to strong uneasiness among the "Dongzhou Scholars". Li Yan, Wu Yi, and Fei Guan, who surrendered to Liu Bei, were all "Dongzhou scholars" in their position.
During the reign of Liu Bei or Shu Han in Yizhou, it was also with the Jingzhou group and the Dongzhou group as the core to curb the local forces in Yizhou. However, during the reign of Zhuge Liang, the politics of the Early Shu Han Dynasty were clear and the laws were strict, and there was no phenomenon of the Dongzhou clique invading the Yizhou clique, so as to avoid the intensification of contradictions. However, despite this, in the late Shu Han Dynasty, the Yizhou Group also began to float in people's hearts, which can also be regarded as one of the reasons for the demise of the Shu Han.
In the end, the abilities of the two leaders, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang, were also very different. Among the warlords at the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Zhang could be described as weak. When it should be Wen Ren, it should be strict, and when it should be strict, Wen Ren. For example, in the contradiction with Zhang Lu, Zhang Lu's original attitude was only arrogance. It was after Liu Zhang killed Zhang Lu's family that the two formed an endless situation.
Pang Xi increased the strength of the bashi county, which was suspected by Liu Zhang; the "Eastern Prefecture Soldiers" invaded the local forces of Yizhou, and Liu Zhang's leniency could not be prohibited, which eventually led to a rebellion by Zhao Yun. Although the chaos in Yizhou has the reason why Liu Yan buried hidden dangers, judging from Liu Zhang's performance, he did not have enough ability to make changes, and even exacerbated the contradiction.
Especially in the "Battle of Yizhou", Zheng Du engaged in Zheng Du's strategy of persuading Liu Zhang to use jianbi qingye to migrate the people, burn wild valleys, cut off the source of grain and grass for Liu Bei's army, consume the morale of Liu Bei's army, and then avoid sharp strikes. This was originally a good suggestion, but Liu Zhang rejected Zheng Du's suggestion because he "did not hear of the people to avoid the enemy", and even deposed Zheng Du. On the contrary, it left Liu Bei room for development.
Liu Bei is not the case, the strict rectification is strict, and the Wen Ren is the Wen Ren. In order to appease people's needs, Liu Bei vetoed the proposal of the army to divide the chengdu tianxian houses; Xu Jing, who was very despised but had considerable fame, Liu Ba, who had evaded him many times, Peng Xi, who was ostracized by Liu Zhang's blows, and so on. In special circumstances, Liu Bei was also able to stabilize the situation with special means, such as rewarding yizhou with materials from the yizhou capital treasury and issuing hundreds of dollars to compensate for the deficit; in the face of Cao Cao's threat, Yizhou was shaken by iron blood. As a warlord, Liu Zhang's ability was far inferior to Liu Bei's, so he became a loser and became an nourishment for the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Reference: "Three Kingdoms"