My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 601 Liu Zhang's Intentions towards Cao
Sima Lang was Sima Yi's elder brother and the eldest son of the Sima family in this generation. He was already over thirty years old at this time. Two years ago, he was summoned back to the capital by Cao Cao from the provinces to serve as the Chief Justice of the Court of Justice, with a salary of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain).

This time, Cao Cao entrusted him with an important task: to enter Shu and make contact with Liu Zhang and Zhao Wei.

Although Huang Quan was from a prominent family in Sichuan, he was far inferior to the Sima family, a prominent family in Henan.

Hanoi was an important town in Sili. In peaceful times, the Sima family was no less powerful than the Xun family.

Sima Yi's grandfather once served as the Prefect of Yingchuan, but lost his position due to the Party Prohibitions. Sima Yi's father and two uncles were all prefects with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain), while Sima Yi's father, Sima Fang, even reached the top position of Prefect of Jingzhao, which was only slightly lower than Prefect of Henan.

Sima Fang, while serving as the Prefect of Jingzhao, recommended Cao Cao to serve as the Northern Commandant of Luoyang, which marked the beginning of Cao Cao's career.

It is evident that the Sima and Cao families had a very close relationship, spanning at least two generations. The unofficial historical account that Cao Cao summoned Sima Yi, but the latter feigned illness to refuse, is utter nonsense, intended to bolster the Sima family's claim of usurping the Wei throne.

Sima Lang was specially appointed by Cao Cao for this mission, and was accompanied by twenty elite guards to protect his safety.

Fortunately, the journey was smooth and the Hanzhong army controlled the area along the way, and they arrived in Luocheng without any problems.

However, from this point onward, the danger increases dramatically.

On one hand, the Shu army in Luocheng was at war with Zhao Wei's army. On the other hand, the Shu army and the Hanzhong army were also old enemies. The situation was quite complicated. Sima Lang was a cautious man and naturally did not want to take any risks.

Therefore, the group, led by Sima Lang, went directly into Luocheng to request an audience with Huang Quan, the garrison commander of Luocheng.

After learning Sima Lang's identity and purpose, Huang Quan hesitated.

How could Huang Quan not understand what his lord was thinking?

Back then, Liu Yan allowed Zhang Lu to grow powerful in Hanzhong, wasn't it all to block the roads so that Zhang Lu could carve out territory and become king in Shu?

Although Liu Zhang was more ambitious than Liu Yan and wanted to establish his authority by taking back Hanzhong in order to consolidate power, his idea was good, but his execution was a complete mess.

Now that Zhao Wei has rebelled, Liu Zhang's confidence has plummeted.

Zhang Song and others in Chengdu sent them messages saying that Liu Zhang was actually testing their willingness to negotiate peace with Zhao Wei.

When Huang Quan first heard the news, he was furious.

After calming down, Huang Quan realized that Liu Zhang was likely genuinely afraid. Now that Sima Lang had come from the west with an imperial decree, Liu Zhang might actually surrender to Cao Cao.

However, from Huang Quan's perspective, he did not actually support Liu Zhang's approach.

General Zuo now wields considerable power. Although he outwardly supports Zhao Wei, he has not actually sent troops to cooperate with him. Based on current intelligence, General Zuo has only provided Zhao Wei with a portion of supplies and weaponry.

From Huang Quan's perspective, if General Zuo truly intended to support Zhao Wei, Bodao wouldn't have been able to hold out for so long. The fact that the enemy was stationed outside Bodao was likely just an excuse to appease Zhao Wei's request for reinforcements.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that Zhao Wei's retreat and supply lines had just been cut off, and then the Bodao region fell? Moreover, only a few days after its fall, the vanguard of the Zuo Mu army had already reached the outskirts of Wuyang City.

It is clear that General Zuo only wanted to enter Shu under Zhao Wei's name, while using Zhao Wei to weaken the resistance forces in Shu.

From the perspective of Huang Quan and the local faction, they actually preferred to surrender to Liu Feng.

Firstly, Liu Feng is a strongman, and admiring the strong is a characteristic of the local faction, so they naturally hope to ally with the strongest.

Secondly, given Huang Quan's abilities, it's not difficult to conclude that only by surrendering to the strongest can Sichuan be stabilized most quickly.

If they surrendered to a less powerful figure like Cao Cao, it would only turn Shu into a battlefield, causing immense suffering to the common people and heavy losses to the local gentry and powerful clans.

Thirdly, there was the overall situation of the world. Long-sighted gentry and powerful families like Huang Quan had also collected intelligence on areas outside Yizhou.

Cao Cao's meritocratic approach was not actually favored by aristocratic families such as Huang Quan.

This may seem like a counterintuitive conclusion, but it is actually the reality.

When Cao Cao implemented the policy of appointing officials based solely on merit, the vast majority of the gentry strongly opposed it.

Because the meritocracy of that time and the meritocracy of later generations are completely different things.

Cao Cao's meritocratic system was essentially about using people for his own purposes. Simply put, as long as you were willing to be loyal to Cao Cao and had certain abilities, even if you were corrupt, disregarded human life, or had a bad reputation, I could still give you an official position.

This is the meritocratic system that Cao Cao promoted.

Although the aristocratic families of the late Eastern Han Dynasty were severely corrupt, a large portion of them still had some sense of shame and were far less shameless than those of the later Jin Dynasty.

Many aristocratic families valued their reputation highly, hoping to use it to obtain official positions.

Cao Cao directly implemented a meritocratic system, so how could these aristocratic families not oppose it?
Not to mention that Cao Cao selected officials based solely on their talent, and out of ten of them, five or six were likely corrupt officials.

Liu Feng's approach was completely different. He adopted the meritocratic system of later generations, which valued both morality and ability, and made the best use of everyone's talents.

In particular, Liu Feng had no attachment to the Central Plains. People from Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, and even Jiaozhou could rise to prominence under his command. This was a great temptation for ambitious people like Huang Quan in Yizhou.

The gentry of Yizhou had virtually no status during the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang's place of origin was Hanzhong, not Yizhou. As for Liu Xiu, he had no affinity with Yizhou, only enmity.

Now that the Liu family has established their foundation, although they can no longer claim credit for the rise of the emperor, they can still claim credit for following the emperor. Moreover, the sooner they join, the better they will be able to enter the core positions of the General of the Cavalry and the General of the Left, given the Liu family's equal treatment of everyone.

The prerequisite, of course, is that Liu Zhang is willing to submit to the Left Guard.

However, Huang Quan knew perfectly well that Liu Zhang's choice was likely different from that of the local gentry in Yizhou.

As for the Dongzhou faction, they might support Liu Zhang's decision.

The Dongzhou School mainly originated from the Guanzhong Three Auxiliary Regions and the Nanyang region of Jingzhou, with a small number originating from Jiangxia County of Jingzhou.

Now, the former two are under Cao Cao's rule, while the Dongzhou faction in Jiangxia County is not only small in number, but also consists of Liu Yan's old ministers. These people are not close to Liu Zhang, and their voices are far less influential than the former two.

After much deliberation, Huang Quan finally decided to send Sima Lang to Chengdu.

As a subject, he could not make choices for his lord.

However, before that, he sent someone else to Chengdu to inform Zhang Song and others of the news, so that they could make preparations in advance. Sure enough, when Sima Lang arrived in Chengdu under the escort of Huang Quan's men, he was immediately received by Liu Zhang.

Liu Zhang showed great enthusiasm for Sima Lang's arrival.

Although Liu Zhang did not agree to Sima Lang's request to submit to the court and Cao Cao, he was quite enthusiastic. After the two met, the atmosphere was very harmonious and amicable, and he even specially arranged a banquet to entertain Sima Lang.

Before arriving, Sima Lang had already learned that Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu had a deep-seated hatred between them.

Offering Liu Zhang a chance to surrender would likely displease and provoke a backlash from Zhang Lu, while Liu Zhang himself would be very hesitant about Cao Cao's offer.

In Liu Zhang's view, Cao Cao had already sided with Zhang Lu, who was his enemy. If he were to submit to Cao Cao, would he be betrayed by him? This was a concern he had to consider.

Fortunately, Xi Zhong and Jia Xu already knew about this matter and provided a solution, with the breakthrough point being Zhang Lu.

Cao Cao received Zhang Lu's forgiveness with an unprecedented level of courtesy.

That is the right to proselytize.

Cao Cao allowed Zhang Lu to maintain the lineage of the Celestial Masters sect and to spread the teachings in the capital and the north after he entered the capital.

Of course, this kind of preaching needed to be under the supervision of the imperial court, but for Zhang Lu it was an enormous favor.

In the original timeline, Zhang Lu intended to surrender to Cao Cao, but Zhang Wei firmly refused, which led to the first Battle of Yangping Pass. The right to preach Christianity was a reward Zhang Lu received after surrendering to Cao Cao following the battle.

In fact, if Cao Cao had offered this reward earlier, Zhang Lu's resolve to surrender would have been even stronger, and even Zhang Wei would have hesitated about whether to persist. Cao Cao might have been able to gain Hanzhong without a fight in the end.

Coincidentally, in order to break the deadlock in Yizhou and simultaneously take down Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang, Cao Cao, on the advice of Xi Zhong and Jia Xu, still used the magic weapon of missionary authority to persuade Zhang Lu.

Upon learning of Cao Cao's plans, Zhang Lu was initially furious, but he calmed down after seeing Cao Ren's 40,000-strong army.

Currently, the only usable troops in Hanzhong are the three thousand Dao soldiers by his side. Even the Huangjin Garrison relies on its trained soldiers as the main force. Not to mention, the main force of his brother Zhang Wei in Hanzhong is entirely under Cao Ang's command.

Zhang Lu clearly realized that he was powerless to resist Cao Cao.

At the same time, the compensation offered by Cao Cao was indeed quite generous, especially the right to spread Christianity, which really appealed to Zhang Lu and made him very tempted. Moreover, the compensation was not limited to the right to spread Christianity, but also included being granted a title and the rank of general.

Cao Cao submitted a memorial to the court, recommending Zhang Lu as General Who Conquers the South and granting him the title of "Marquis of Langzhong" with a fief of ten thousand households.

In the original timeline, Zhang Lu was recommended to be the General Who Guards the South. However, in this timeline, the General Who Guards the South, Liu Biao, is still alive and has now submitted to Cao Cao, serving under him.

The title of General Who Guards the East was acquired by Han Sui, and he had already been appointed by the court in the third year of the Chuping era (192 AD).

The title of General Who Guards the North was given to Wang Yi in October of the second year of Xingping, while the title of General Who Guards the East in this plane was given to Guan Yu. Therefore, Zhang Lu was unable to obtain the title of General Who Guards the North and could only be given the title of General Who Conquers the East.

The title of General Who Conquers the South was originally held by Liu Feng, but Cao Cao deliberately bestowed it upon Zhang Lu, which is suspected of being an attempt to sow discord between the two.

Regardless, Cao Cao has now bestowed upon Zhang Lu a title of nobility and a high position, granting him the extremely prestigious title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households, a title highly regarded in the Han Dynasty. In addition, he has granted him the right to spread Christianity in the Central Plains. If Zhang Lu still refuses to submit, he would be extremely out of touch with reality.

In fact, Zhang Lu did indeed bow his head, not only expressing his gratitude to Cao Cao and the court, but also writing a letter as requested by Cao Cao, which he entrusted to Sima Lang to deliver to Liu Zhang.

The main point of this letter is to express a willingness to resolve old grievances, abandon past grievances, and forgive past transgressions.

At this time, Sima Lang kept the letter close to his body, not only when it was with Huang Quan, but also when he first met Liu Zhang.

This was a trump card, and Cao Cao obtained it from Zhang Lu at a great cost.

While this letter was extremely useful to Cao Cao, it was extremely damaging to Zhang Lu himself.

The Han dynasty ruled the country with loyalty and filial piety, with filial piety being even more important than loyalty.

Even if Zhang Lu's willingness to abandon his mother's revenge was for the greater good of the court, it would still be met with censure from the people of his time. Zhang Lu was essentially trading his reputation for the right to preach Christianity in the Central Plains.

Therefore, out of concern for Zhang Lu, Cao Cao specifically instructed Sima Lang that this letter should not be used if possible, and if it must be used, it should be kept as discreet and confidential as possible.

The following afternoon, Sima Lang requested an audience with Liu Zhang again.

This time, Liu Zhang met with Sima Lang alone.

The two discussed the matter at length in a secret room, and Liu Zhang showed a fairly clear inclination, which secretly pleased Sima Lang.

Thinking of Zhang Song and others' rather stiff attitude at the meeting yesterday, Sima Lang decided not to delay any longer and directly laid out most of Cao Cao's conditions.

This included Cao Cao recommending that Liu Zhang be appointed General Who Conquers the East, enfeoffed as Marquis of Jingling, and granted a fief of ten thousand households, thus ensuring that Liu Zhang's status would not be lower than Zhang Lu's. He then explicitly stated that after Liu Zhang entered the court, he could choose one of the three ministers to serve in, while also implying that he would definitely obtain the position of one of the three dukes within five years.

Jingling was the ancestral home of Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang. To be granted a marquisate in the name of one's hometown was an extremely honorable thing in the Han Dynasty. In addition, Cao Cao granted him the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households, which made it the ultimate honor.

Such conditions were indeed extremely favorable. Cao Cao was only a Grand General at the time, equivalent to one of the Three Dukes. More importantly, Cao Cao had not yet begun to plan to return to the position of Chancellor, and the power of the Three Dukes was still considerable.

Thinking of the shattered state of Yizhou, the rebellious Zhao Wei, the Liu Feng who seized Wuyang, and the Zhang Lu who was eyeing northern Shu, Liu Zhang was truly tempted.

To be fair, Liu Zhang's ambitions far surpassed those of his father, Liu Yan.

Although his historical reputation is that he was weak-willed, his actions were anything but. Otherwise, he would not have so easily killed Zhang Lu's mother and brother, and would not have launched campaigns against Hanzhong year after year.

However, Liu Zhang had suffered too many blows in the past year.

The repeated defeats in the campaigns against Zhang Lu severely damaged Liu Zhang's prestige. When Zhao Wei raised an army, the entire Ba Commandery rebelled. The rebels advanced triumphantly, and the Dongzhou troops suffered repeated defeats, eventually having to retreat into Chengdu. This almost completely destroyed Liu Zhang's prestige.

The Dongzhou faction's top brass preserved their strength, while the local Yizhou faction was restless and even their close advisors had ulterior motives.

Liu Zhang was truly exhausted, and Cao Cao was the one who offered timely help.

Liu Zhang was very satisfied with the conditions offered by Cao Cao and the imperial court.

He is now nominally the ruler of Yizhou, but in reality, of the eight counties of Yizhou, only Shu County remains under his control, and Shu County is currently embroiled in war.

(End of this chapter)