Zhang Jie, this character, many people may feel very strange.
The historical Zhang neither appeared in the major battles that determined the fate of the Cao Cao clique, nor was he a key figure in determining the political trend of the Cao Cao clique, nor could he be found even in the historical masterpiece "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" written by Luo Guanzhong in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.
However, when we consult the historical records and life stories about this character, we will be surprised to find that Zhang Jie, a seemingly inconspicuous figure, has played a major historical role in the Cao Wei Group. It was precisely because of Zhang Jie's strategizing and exerting great efforts to govern that the Cao Cao clique was able to smoothly maintain its rule in the complicated political environment of the northwestern frontier at the end of the Han Dynasty, and although Zhang neither participated in several major battles of the Cao Wei clique, he indirectly made great contributions to the victory of the war.
He was not only resourceful, but also well-governed, and for more than twenty years in the northwest frontier, he was a good minister of the country in the cao cao clique and the border area. At the same time, he is also one of the typical figures of grassroots talent.
One
Zhang Jie, Zi Derong, a native of Gaoling, Feng Yi County, birth year unknown. Zhang was born in an ordinary grassroots family and had a poor family in his early years, but Zhang did not give up on himself because of the harsh family environment, but seized every opportunity to study angrily, and he was already able to write a beautiful article when he was a teenager.
Zhang Jie's talent soon attracted the attention of You Yin, a prominent member of the county and then Gong Cao, who did not dislike Zhang Jie's humble origins at all, and in spite of his family's opposition, he very solemnly invited Zhang Jie, who was only a teenager at this time, to come to his home as a guest, and specially ordered his family to put on a sumptuous banquet. You Yin's move attracted ridicule from his wife, who believed that Zhang was just a stinking hairy child, and his family was poor, and there was no need for such courtesy, while You Yin insisted that Although Zhang was still young, he had an extraordinary temperament and would be able to become a great instrument in the future.
After some conversation, You Yin became more firm in his own view of Zhang Jie, and he also entrusted his son You Chu to Zhang Jie, hoping that one day Zhang Jie would be able to promote his son. This move of You Yin caused a great sensation in the local area, and the young Zhang became famous in one fell swoop, becoming a small official in the county at the age of sixteen, and although feng Lu was meager, the family environment was improved.
After Zhang became an official, his career was not smooth. This small official, whose salary is less than a hundred stones, is not only heavy and trivial in his daily work, but also a person who speaks lightly, and if he is not careful, he will be punished by the officials.
Soon after Zhang Jie took office, he offended the county's surname and his superior, Cao Xuying, for a small matter. In anger, Xu Ying personally punished Zhang Jie and beat Him with thirty lashes, which also made Zhang Jie understand even more how small and humble he was in the official arena. However, Zhang was not depressed because of this, he knew that his family was poor, he came from a humble background, he had no support from the mountains, and he could not win a higher position by sneaking around and taking bribes like other officials, and he could only gradually realize his ideals by working in a down-to-earth and diligent manner.
Zhang also came up with a way to get the attention of his superiors. He often secretly prepared some knives, pens, and plates, and waited until some superior officials needed them to provide them in time. Unexpectedly, this method was still very effective, and many bosses felt that this young man was serious and careful, and slowly began to pay attention to this inconspicuous little official, which also played a certain role in Zhang's career.
However, Zhang Jie's life path is still very difficult at this time, and after that, he also held some other low-level positions, but he has not been able to move to a higher stage. Nevertheless, as an ordinary low-level official, perennial contact with the bottom of society also gave the young Zhang the opportunity to witness the hardships of the people's lives and the complex social formation of the Sanfu region in the late Han Dynasty.
Zuo Feng Yi Commandery, where Zhang was in charge, was under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant Department of the Imperial Guards in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was called Sanfu together with Jing Zhaoyin and Right Fufeng, adjacent to Liangzhou, which was extremely susceptible to the influence of the situation in Liangzhou, and had been an area with very sharp social contradictions and ethnic contradictions since the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Beginning in the first year of Zhongping (184 AD), there was a large-scale armed rebellion in the Liangzhou area, and fierce battles were fought with the Eastern Han Court, and its war soon affected the Sanfu region. The following year, the rebels attacked Sanfu with tens of thousands of troops and defeated the government forces led by Emperor Fusong and Dong Zhuo, and then engaged in fierce battles with Zhang Wen, Dong Zhuo, Bao Hong, and Zhou Shen; in the fourth year of Zhongping (187 AD), the rebels again attacked the Sanfu region, and this war lasted until the second year, although the rebels were finally defeated, Dong Zhuo in the Liangzhou region took the opportunity to garrison Fufeng County, refusing to obey the dispatch of the imperial court, and the Sanfu area also became a stronghold for Dong Zhuo's development momentum to covet the eastern Han Dynasty.
In the first year of Chuping (190 AD), Dong Zhuo deposed Shao Lixian and took control of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but was subjected to a conquest by the Kwantung Alliance, and Dong Zhuo was forced to take Emperor Xian hostage and move west to Chang'an, and was subsequently killed by Wang Yun, Lü Bu and others. Dong Zhuo's old subordinates Li Dai and Guo Feng soon after attacked Chang'an and gained control of the Eastern Han court, and then because of infighting, they launched a year-long scuffle, and the Sanfu area fell into an unprecedented catastrophe, and after this disaster, the population of the Sanfu area, which originally had a population of hundreds of thousands, was sharply reduced, the people lived in poverty, the price of grain also reached one and a half million, the price of beans and wheat was 1.2 million, and many areas of Sanfu even had a tragic situation of cannibalism, and bones were piled up everywhere. This phenomenon did not improve slightly until after Cao Cao took control of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The harsh social reality made the originally ambitious Zhang Jie also fall silent for a while, in the past few years, Zhang Jie was once promoted as a filial piety and won the opportunity to enter the DPRK as an official, but Zhang Jie chose to continue to stay in his hometown to do something practical for the people. After Cao Cao served as Sikong, he also recruited Zhang Jie, and Zhang Nei did not follow the order. Later, Zhang Was promoted to Xinfeng County Order, and during the several years that Zhang Was appointed as the County Commander, his ability to govern the local government was fully reflected, and his political achievements ranked first in the Sanfu region, becoming the region's premier and good official. It should be said that it was only then that his political enthusiasm was aroused, and Zhang's personal ability was also fully displayed in the vast land of the northwest frontier.
Two
In the few years that Zhang Jie served as the commander of Xinfeng County, the situation in the Central Plains had changed dramatically. After several years of efforts, the Cao Cao clique successively eliminated Zhang Mi, Zhang Yang, Zhang Ji, Yuan Shu, Lü Bu and other separatist forces, and in the fifth year of Jian'an (200 AD), it launched a strategic decisive battle with another powerful separatist force in the Central Plains at that time, the Yuan Shao clique, in the Guandu area. In this duel that determined the fate of the two major groups, Cao Cao's tactics were properly used and finally won a complete victory, and its situation of unifying the Central Plains was irreversible.
In May of the seventh year of Jian'an (202 AD), Yuan Shao died of illness, and the power of Yuan Shao's clique was even more precarious. In September of the same year, Cao Cao personally led the main force across the Yellow River to attack Liyang, kicking off the prelude to the unification of the Central Plains. At this time, yuan shang and yuan tan, the main representatives of the remnants of Yuan Shao's clique, in order to strengthen the defense of Liyang and delay Cao Cao's attack, immediately appointed Guo Yuan, the Taishou of Hedong, and Shi Gaogan of Hezhou with tens of thousands of troops, and joined forces with the Xiongnu Nandan to encircle the Hedong region under Cao Cao.
Guo Yuan also secretly sent emissaries to the Sanfu and Liangzhou regions to contact the local separatist forces, the Han Sui clique and the Ma Teng clique, in an attempt to use the power of these two cliques to attack Cao Cao's army. Faced with the grim situation, Lieutenant Zhong Xuan, who was in charge of military and political affairs in the Sanfu and Liangzhou areas, was faced with a choice: Who would be sent to persuade Han Sui and Ma Teng to dispel the idea of conspiring with Yuan Shang and others to conspire against rebellion?
In the end, Zhong Xuan did not appoint his advisers, but instead appointed Zhang Jie, a small Xinfeng County Commandery, a decision that was unusually risky, and if Zhang Nei failed to persuade him, Cao Cao's battle to unify Hebei and even the stability of Liangzhou and Sanfu would face a catastrophic situation. Later facts proved that Zhong Xuan's choice this time can be described as a unique vision and extremely profound. What Zhong Xuan values is not only Zhang's own ability, but also his in-depth understanding of Han Sui and Ma Teng's group.