Chapter 37 7. Be strict

Sun Quan has always been known for being good at employing people, but there are exceptions in his hands. Less than a year after Lu Xun became prime minister, he was pissed off by Sun Quan.In any case, Lu Xun has been reused throughout his life.The most injustice was Zhang Zhao, who, as Sun Ce's loyal minister, never even served as a prime minister throughout his life.When Sun Ce died suddenly, the 18-year-old Sun Quan took over a precarious country with internal and external troubles. It was Zhang Zhao who blocked all the wind and rain for him and propped up the crumbling sky.So, why was Zhang Zhao left out after Sun Quan became king?What kind of story is behind this?

Zhang Zhao (156-236), courtesy name Zibu, was born in Pengcheng, Xuzhou, which is today's Xuzhou, Jiangsu.He was born in a noble family, loved learning since he was a child, read a lot of books, and was good at official script. At the age of 20, because of his outstanding literary talent, he was recommended as Xiaolian.Later Tao Qian, governor of Xuzhou, recommended him as a maocai, but he did not apply. Tao Qian was furious and arrested him. Fortunately, his friends rescued him from prison.Unable to stay in Xuzhou, Zhang Zhao went south to Yangzhou, just in time for Sun Ce to start a business and recruit talents, so he was recruited.Zhang Zhao became Sun Ce's minister by virtue of his outstanding literary talent, upright character and excellent handling ability.When Sun Ce was dying, he entrusted him with the task of assisting Sun Quan.

When Sun Quan came to power, Zhang Zhao was still very popular. Every time Sun Quan went to war, he left Zhang Zhao to guard the rear.Then, however, things began to change.Sun Quan still respected Zhang Zhao very much and treated him generously, but he just didn't entrust him with important responsibilities. As we said before, Sun Quan likes to fight tigers. Zhang Zhao believes that a ruler should control heroes, not beasts, and he scolded Sun Quan unceremoniously like an uncle teaching his nephew.This incident can represent Zhang Zhao's attitude towards Sun Quan.In the Jiangdong Group, Zhang Zhao has always appeared as a lonely and important minister, and always poses as a majestic elder to Sun Quan.Later, Sun Quan became full-fledged, and he was no longer the boy who cried and failed to see his courtiers. Zhang Zhao still did not change his attitude.

Sun Quan, known as Queen Wu, once held a banquet at Diaoyutai in Wuchang (Wuchang is today's Ezhou City, Hubei Province). , Let them wake up and drink again, and yelled that today they must drink so much that someone falls off the Diaoyutai.Zhang Zhao's face turned cold when he heard this, and without saying anything, he stood up and walked out the door.When Sun Quan saw it, he hurried out to ask Zhang Zhao, wasn't he very happy tonight?Why are you angry?Zhang Zhao said angrily, happy?Back then, King Zhou piled up distiller's grains into a mountain and poured fine wine into a pool. He drank every day and was very happy.Sun Quan was naturally unhappy when he heard that he was comparing himself to King Zhou, but what he said was not unreasonable, so he had to say, well, everyone dispersed.

It would be fine if he was stubborn on trivial matters, but Zhang Zhao always disagreed with Sun Quan on major political decisions.Before the Battle of Chibi, Zhang Zhao took the lead in proposing to surrender to Cao Cao.In all fairness, Zhang Zhao's idea of ​​making peace is based on the overall situation. If Cao Cao unifies the country as soon as possible, the world will also be stable as soon as possible.However, Sun Quan was of course unwilling to hand over the foundation created by his father and brother.After Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, he still couldn't forget the old things, and said to Zhang Zhao, if you follow Mr. Zhang's plan, I will be begging today, so why are you talking about becoming emperor!

However, Zhang Zhao still couldn't change his stubborn temper, and he still couldn't avoid confronting Sun Quan on major issues. In the first year of Jiahe, Gongsun Yuan, the prefect of Liaodong, pretended to be a minister of Wu State.Foreigners came to proclaim their ministers, and Sun Quan really experienced the addiction of being an emperor.Sun Quan was very happy, so he made Gongsun Yuan the king of Yan, and sent 10,000 soldiers with gifts to reward Gongsun Yuan.All the ministers present here disagree, thinking that Gongsun Yuan is a villain, surrendering to Wei today and Wu tomorrow, capricious, and lacks sincerity, we send an envoy to send him some money, meaning enough, there is no need to seal him To be king, there is no need to send 10,000 people to make him king.Sun Quan was in high spirits, so he was not willing to listen.Zhang Zhao came out to persuade, Zhang Zhao persuaded, Sun Quan refuted, and refuting Sun Quan was annoyed, finally he couldn't bear it, pulled out his sword and said, Zhang Gong, our scholars from the state of Wu entered the palace to worship me, and came out. I beg you, Gong, I have given you enough face, but you never give me face, every time you contradict me in front of everyone, I am going to make a mistake today.It means, I am going to kill you.Zhang Zhao stared at Sun Quan quietly, and then said, Your Majesty, the old minister doesn't know that this is inappropriate to say, but why do you still say it?It's really because of the Queen Mother's dying instructions, the words are still ringing in my ears.After saying this, Zhang Zhao burst into tears, Sun Quan threw the knife away, and cried with Zhang Zhao.

But after Sun Quan cried, he still went his own way and sent people to Liaodong.Zhang Zhao was furious and stopped going to the court. Sun Quan saw that he would not go to court, right?Perfect for you!Send people to block the door of Zhang Zhao's house with soil.Zhang Zhao also has a stubborn temper, will you seal the door and I won't?I also used soil to plug the door tightly inside. Later, the envoy Sun Quan sent to Liaodong was killed by Gongsun Yuan. Sun Quan regretted not listening to Zhang Zhao.Sun Quan had no choice but to take the opportunity of going out to see him, and called Zhang Zhao outside the door. Zhang Zhao lay on the bed and pretended to be sick, and ignored him.In a fit of anger, Sun Quan ordered people to set fire to the door of Zhang Zhao's house, trying to burn Zhang Zhao out.Zhang Zhao lay motionless on the bed and asked him to burn, so Sun Quan had no choice but to call for the fire to be put out quickly.Zhang Zhao's son couldn't bear to see him standing by, so he had to give Sun Quan a step down, so he carried Zhang Zhao out on a stretcher, and followed Sun Quan into the palace.After entering the palace, Sun Quan made another in-depth self-criticism, and the matter was over.

Sun Quan often said to people, "When I talk to Zhang Gong, I dare not speak casually.Zhang Zhao's uprightness and fierceness made Sun Quan so afraid.When Sun Quan established the prime minister, everyone guessed that this son was none other than Zhang Zhao, but Sun Quan did not appoint Zhang Zhao, but a man named Sun Shao.Sun Quan's explanation at the time was that it was an eventful time, and the prime minister's work was very heavy. Zhang Gong was already old, so how could I have the heart to make him work hard? Later, when Sun Shao passed away, everyone recommended Zhang Zhao as prime minister.Sun Quan disagreed and made Gu Yong the prime minister, and Zhang Zhao lost the possibility of becoming prime minister forever.After Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Zhao wrote a memorandum saying that he was not in good health, so he applied for retirement and handed over all his duties and powers.Sun Quan persuaded Zhang Zhao to retreat.After that, Zhang Zhao left the political center of Wu State and devoted himself to writing books at home.

After Zhang Zhao retired, Sun Quan once went to Zhang Zhao on business.As soon as Zhang Zhao saw Sun Quan coming, he knelt down on the seat, but immediately avoided the seat. Avoiding the seat is a kind of respectful etiquette, so Sun Quan quickly knelt down and sat down.Sitting down, Zhang Zhao said, thinking back then, King Heng and the Empress Dowager, that is, Sun Ce and Mrs. Wu, they entrusted you to the old minister, not to you.This sentence points out who is in charge of Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao.Zhang Zhao went on to say, it's a pity that the old minister is ignorant, can't speak, and doesn't like people, so he is being treated coldly now.The old minister thought that he would die of old age in this life, but he did not expect His Majesty to come to visit the old minister. Even so, the old minister's character will not change. The old minister will still say whatever he wants, let the old minister think about other people's thoughts and say things to please others, the old minister can't do it.Sun Quan had no choice but to laugh and said, it's up to Mr. Zhang.

This is Zhang Zhao!His upright and stubborn character will not change until death. In "Records of the Three Kingdoms", Chen Shou once commented on Zhang Zhao: "Seeing fear from strictness, seeing others from high-mindedness, neither serving as prime minister nor enrolling in teacher protection, calmly living in Luxiang, just taking care of the elderly, so as to clarify the inadequacy of power." Chen Shou Zhang Zhao's not being reused shows that Sun Quan is not as magnanimous as Sun Ce, but "seeing fear with strictness and seeing others with highness" also explains Zhang Zhao's own reasons in the whole incident.Let’s not talk about Zhang Zhao’s ups and downs, just compare it with Gu Yong, an important minister of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, who will be introduced in the next section, everything is naturally clear.