Chapter 5 96 Liu Bei enters Yizhou

After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu spent more than a year driving Cao Cao's troops from Jingzhou.Who should Jingzhou belong to?Liu Bei believed that Jingzhou was originally Liu Biao's territory, and he and Liu Biao belonged to each other. After Liu Biao died, Jingzhou should be taken over by him; but Sun Quan believed that Jingzhou was brought down by Soochow and should belong to Soochow.So Zhou Yu only handed over the land on the south bank of the Yangtze River to Liu Bei.Liu Bei felt that he was given too little and was very dissatisfied.Soon after Zhou Yu died of illness, Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan to lend Jingzhou to Liu Bei.

Borrowing other people's land is not always a long-term solution, Liu Bei has to open up new territories.According to Zhuge Liang's plan, it was originally going to develop to Yizhou.Just at this time, Liu Zhang of Yizhou sent someone to invite Liu Bei. It turned out that Yizhou Mu Liuzhang had two counselors under him, one named Fazheng and the other named Zhang Song. They were good friends and both were very talented people.They thought that Liu Zhang was mediocre and incompetent, and there was no future in working under him, so they wanted to find a way out. When Cao Cao conquered Jingzhou, Liu Zhang sent Zhang Song to contact Cao Cao.At that time, Cao Cao had just won the battle, so he was a little proud. In addition, Zhang Song, who was sent there, was short and ordinary in appearance, Cao Cao didn't take him seriously at all.This drove Zhang Song away.

Zhang Song returned to Chengdu (the seat of Yizhou) and said to Liu Zhang: "Cao Cao has great ambitions, and I am afraid he wants to annex Yizhou." Liu Zhang became anxious.Zhang Song persuaded him: "Liu Bei is the lord's family and Cao Cao's enemy. If you make friends with him, you can deal with Cao Cao." Liu Zhang believed Zhang Song's words and sent Fazheng to Jingzhou to contact him. Fazheng went to Jingzhou to meet Liu Bei.Liu Bei received him very graciously, and talked with him about the situation in the world, and they had a very harmonious conversation.

As soon as Fazheng came back, he secretly discussed with Zhang Song, intending to take Liu Bei to be the master of Yizhou. Soon after, Cao Cao planned to march to Hanzhong (now east of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi).Yizhou was threatened.Zhang Song took the opportunity to persuade Liu Zhang to invite Liu Bei to guard Hanzhong.Liu Zhang then sent Fazheng with 4,000 troops to Jingzhou to meet Liu Bei. When Fazheng arrived in Jingzhou, he told Liu Bei bluntly: "Yizhou is a very rich place. As wise as the general, with Zhang Song as your internal support, it is really easy to obtain Yizhou."

Liu Bei was still a little hesitant.At that time, Pang Tong had already served as Liu Bei's military adviser.He insisted that Liu Bei go to Yizhou. He said: "The land in Jingzhou is desolate, and there are Sun Quan in the east and Cao Cao in the north. It is not easy to succeed. If you want to build a great cause, you should take Yizhou as the foundation." Liu Bei listened to the persuasion of Fazheng and Pang Tong, and sent Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu to stay in Jingzhou, and led his troops to Yizhou. Later, Liu Zhang discovered Zhang Song's internal response.Liu Zhang killed Zhang Song and arranged troops to resist Liu Bei.

Liu Bei led his men and horses to march towards Chengdu, and reached Luocheng (now Guanghanbei, Sichuan, Luoyin luo), but was firmly resisted by the defenders of Luocheng, and they had not captured it after fighting for a year.Pang Tong was killed by an arrow in the battle.After Liu Bei broke Luocheng, he attacked Chengdu.Zhuge Liang also led troops from Jingzhou to join the army.Liu Zhang couldn't hold on, so he had to surrender. In 214 AD, Liu Bei entered Chengdu and called himself Yizhou Mu.In terms of rewards for meritorious deeds, he believed that Fazheng made the most contribution to entering Yizhou this time, so he was named the prefect of Shu County.Not only is Chengdu under his control, but he is also regarded as an important figure among the counselors.

The Fa rectifies this narrow-minded person.When he has power, he repays personal grievances.Whoever invited him to dinner in the past, he would return the gift; whoever rolled his eyes at him, he would retaliate.In order to avenge himself, he even killed several people. Zhuge Liang is different from Fazheng.He helped Liu Bei govern Yizhou, enforced the law strictly, and kept secrets.Some wealthy families in the area complained about Zhuge Liang. Fazheng advised Zhuge Liang: "In the past, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty entered the customs with only three chapters of the agreement, and the people supported him. Now that you have just arrived here, it seems that you should be more tolerant, so that it suits everyone's wishes."

Zhuge Liang said: "You only know one thing, but you don't know the other. The Qin Dynasty's criminal law was harsh, and the people resented it. Gaozu abolished the Qin law and formulated three chapters of the contract, which just followed the people's will. The situation is completely different now. Liu Zhang is mediocre and weak, and the laws are lax. The officials in the local area are running amok and making a mess. If I don’t pay attention to the laws now, how can the local area be stable.” After listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Fazheng admired Zhuge Liang from the bottom of his heart.He himself didn't dare to be as bossy as before.