The Zhang family is one of the few aristocratic families in Yizhou. It is necessary to cultivate their spokespersons in the government. However, there are many aristocratic families in Chengdu and their official positions are also in a situation where there are too many monks and few porridges.

Even in the Zhang family, there were only a few outstanding children who served in the office, and most of them were low-level officials in various county government offices.

There are not many officials in the Zhang family who can rank under Liu Zhang, and now there are only three people, Zhang Su, Zhang Song and his younger brother Zhang Ren.

Among them, Zhang Su and Zhang Song are brothers, Zhang Ren was born in the Zhang family, Zhang Song brothers were civil officials, and Zhang Ren was a military general.

Both Zhang Song brothers were able to occupy higher positions under Liu Zhang, mainly because Zhang Song's father was the patriarch of the Zhang family and had a personal relationship with Liu Zhang's father Liu Yan.

At that time, Zhang's father was just a small county magistrate, and he had resigned because he was old.

But he had a unique vision. When Liu Yan was the military supervisor and the governor of Yizhou, he first arrived in Yizhou, followed Jia Long to welcome Liu Yan into Yizhou and provided a large amount of money and food.

After Liu Yan pacified Yizhou, Zhang's father did not accept Liu Yan's reward, but left the opportunity to become an official to his eldest son Zhang Su. Of course, it was also the Zhang brothers' outstanding talents, which could block the long and endless entourage of tens of thousands of Zhang's children.

As the helm of the Zhang family, although the chief Zhang clan had a low official position at that time, he had great power in the family.

Using the family’s resources and connections, they spare no effort to cultivate their two sons, so that they can easily become officials while getting a good education.

Zhang Su, whose courtesy name is Junjiao, was Zhang Song's elder brother. He was very majestic and dignified. He was highly valued by Liu Zhang very early. He was ordered to go on an envoy to make friends with Cao Cao. He was appointed as the Prime Minister's Mansion by Cao Cao and was appointed as the prefect of Guanghan.

Although Zhang Song was extremely smart since childhood, his parents did not dislike him because of his strange appearance. They treated him equally with their eldest son Zhang Su and trained him carefully.

But snobbishness is human nature, and it is inevitable that relatives and friends belittle Zhang Song in order to please Zhang Su!

At that time, he paid great attention to the appearance of officials, even more important than his talent! His brother Zhang Su was able to take advantage of all his advantages. He was not only handsome, but also the eldest son and the legal heir to the family!

Even if Zhang Song is equally handsome and talented, he will be overshadowed by his brother's brilliance and treat it differently. Therefore, Zhang Song has been a little inferior since childhood and has formed a more paranoid personality.

Fortunately, Zhang Song was not willing to be content with the status quo and wanted to make a name for himself.

He regards his brother Zhang Su as his goal to surpass him, and he studies harder. In addition, he has an amazing memory and unparalleled eloquence. When he was young, he was outstanding in Xichuan.

With his talent and the influence of the Zhang family, Zhang Song was hired as a different leader by Liu Zhang, who loves fame.

At the beginning, Zhang Song also wanted to repay Liu Zhang's kindness for his kindness and often gave advice on Liu Zhang.

But because he is paranoid and likes to take odd jobs, he has no choice but to argue with the officials under Liu Zhang, but based on his own likes and dislikes, no matter whether it is right or wrong.

Although Liu Zhang was not a wise ruler, he still didn't like Zhang Song's improper arguments, so he did not get Liu Zhang's reuse.

This time, Zhang Song did not want his brother Zhang Song to be beautiful, and wanted to be valued by Cao Cao with his talent and completely surpass his brother Zhang Su.

Zhang Songshi was sure to win this opportunity for mission. Before he came out to debate with other officials, he had already made full preparations. He had planned together with his friends Fa Zheng, Meng Da and others for a long time, and had prepared a speech.

Fa Zheng came from a family of famous scholars and was the grandson of famous scholars. He went to Sichuan with his good friend Meng Da from the same county to rely on Liu Zhang.

But Liu Zhang was not a good lord. It was a long time later that Fa Zheng became the magistrate of Xindu and was later appointed as the military lieutenant.

Fa Zheng was not recognized by talent, and he originally favored his uncle Liu Bei, but his friends Zhang Song and Meng Da were both optimistic about Cao Cao, so they finally decided to present the "topographic map of Western Shu" to Cao Cao.

After Zhang Song stood up, Liu Zhang attached great importance to Zhang Song's eloquence and wanted to let him go on a mission, but he did not dare to neglect it. He also stood up and bowed to show courtesy and sincerely asked:

"What are the advantages of not being able to solve Zhang Lu's danger of invasion?"

Zhang Song replied:

"The world's general trend will be together for a long time. Now there are only a few princes left. Liu Bei has newly acquired Jingzhou, and is a relative of the Han Dynasty. He is an ideal partner for alliances. However, Jingzhou is newly established and cannot reach its strength. Although Sun Quan from Jiangdong is strong and strong, he can look at our Xichuan for a long time and cannot be used as a support. Cao Cao supports the emperor, and is now orthodox, sweeping the Central Plains, Lu Bu and the two Yuans were destroyed. They are defeated again and the Han coalition forces are invincible. The lord can prepare the offer, and I am willing to go to Xudu in person to persuade Cao Cao to raise troops to take Hanzhong to map Zhang Lu. Then Zhang Lu is too busy to resist the enemy, so why dare to spy on Shu again?"

After several days of debate, Liu Zhang actually wanted to hold Cao Cao's thigh, but as a royal family member, he still felt a little resistant to Cao Cao, who was bullying the emperor.

Now that Zhang Song finished speaking, no one came out to object, he took the opportunity to make the final decision and ordered his subordinates to pack up the gold pearls and Jinqi as gifts, and sent Zhang Song as envoy.

Zhang Song became the envoy to Xu Du as he wished. He wanted Cao Cao to give him high-ranking officials and surpass his elder brother Zhang Su, so he needed to be appreciated by Cao Cao.

He brought the "topographic map of Western Shu" he had secretly drawn with him and prepared to present it to Cao Cao. Because the matter was confidential, Zhang Song only brought his confidant from several people to take the road to Xudu.

...

...

After Ma Su retreated from Wu Pass, he escaped from a small path and was not blocked by Xiahou Yuan, which made him lose his life, but Xiahou Yuan also gained the credit for regaining Wu Pass.

Ma Su did not leave many troops at first, and he retreated to Hanzhong after only a few days of hard work.

Because Ma Su was Liu Bei's subordinate, he was not good at coming forward, so he simply asked Liu Xiongming to take He Yun and Fang Shan's two thousand troops to join Zhang Lu, while he himself brought Xing Daorong's one thousand troops and joined forces with Pang Rou to guard Xianyang County.

Liu Xiongming was able to lead the army to capture Wuguan and escape unscathed under the siege of Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun. He was recognized by Zhang Lu and was sent to Xixiang County to defend against the threat from Cao's army in Shangyong County.

Since Cao Cao withdrew from Chang'an, Xiahou Yuan stabilized the situation in Chang'an, but the entire Guanzhong still gave him a feeling of storm.

Xiahou Yuan decided to take the initiative to send troops to quell the rebellion. He first recovered Wuguan, but the news that Liu Xiongming's army occupied Wuguan also spread throughout the northwest.

Han Sui, who retreated to Xiping, suffered heavy losses. If Cao Cao was still in Chang'an, he would naturally not dare to act rashly.

But Xiahou Yuan could not scare him. When he heard that Liu Xiongming had occupied Wu Pass, Han Sui did not want to miss this rare opportunity, so he sent Liang Xing to lead his troops to capture Lantian and prepare to meet with Liu Xiongming of Wu Pass.

At that time, Liang Xingru had few troops and fewer remaining troops after he was defeated by Cao Cao, and after breaking Lantian County, he was unable to attack the surrounding county towns.

Liang Xing had a clue and plundered more than 5,000 families, forcing them to attack cities and villages together, burn, kill and loot. The surrounding counties were unable to resist and were very scared. The county magistrate fled to Gaoling, the capital of Zuo Fengyi.
Chapter completed!