When Han Fu successfully completed his task of persuading Liu Biao, Ding Yuan had just stepped into the east gate of Hanzhong City.
Among all the heroes in the world, Zhang Lu was the prince who lived the most miserable life.
His territory was pitifully small, not even half of Hanzhong County. It can only be said that he only managed four cities near Hanzhong City in the name of Hanzhong Prefect.
Strictly speaking, Shangyong City should also fall under the jurisdiction of Hanzhong County, but in fact it has always been under Liu Yan's control.
Therefore, when Ding Yuan passed through Chang'an and transferred to Hanzhong to meet Zhang Lu, Cao Da's white-faced envoy Sun Qian also bumped into Ding Yuan and stepped into Hanzhong City.
Hanzhong County can be regarded as the gateway to Bashu area.
Historically, Zhuge Kongming tried every means to seize Hanzhong from Cao Dabailian before leaving Qishan in order to facilitate the use of troops.
If you send troops from Hanzhong, you can invade Chang'an at will if you go north; if you send troops to the northwest, you can train Liangzhou; if you send troops to the northeast, you can attack Wancheng; if you send troops to the east, you can threaten the nine counties of Jing and Xiang. It is really a battleground for military strategists.
It was precisely because Hanzhong was the site of the Fourth War that it fell into Zhang Lu's hands, because no matter who Hanzhong fell into the hands of, there would be people around him who would be dissatisfied.
Only when Zhang Lu is in Hanzhong can he avoid unnecessary fights.
Probably because Zhang Lu himself had no idea about power, but he didn't have much desire. Instead, he was very interested in promoting the Five Pecks of Rice religion passed down from his ancestors.
The time he spends dealing with government affairs all day long is far less than the time he spends dealing with academic affairs.
After receiving a report from his servants, Ding Yuan, the envoy from Pingyuan, and Sun Qian, the envoy from Chengdu, arrived at the same time, which made Zhang Lu feel a wave of pain in his balls.
Is it real pain, not fake pain, or the kind of pain that involves continuous twitching, causing pain in the spine and even the brain.
No matter Pingyuan or Chengdu, he couldn't afford to offend either.
Long before the Yangzhou War began, Zhang Lu, after learning that Lin Feng was marching to the northwest and suppressing the Ma family army, began to convene ministers to discuss the matter of submitting a letter of surrender to Pingyuan City and becoming a minister of the Han Dynasty again.
It's just that some of the parishioners have been clamoring to break away from the church recently, which has taken up most of Zhang Lu's energy. He has been busy appeasing the parishioners and preaching the doctrine, and he has actually forgotten about surrendering.
Now, envoys from Pingyuan and Chengdu have come together. Who do you want to see first and who will you see later?
With no choice, Zhang Lu ordered his chief think tank Yan Pu to come over.
Yan Pu is not famous in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but in fact he is a virtuous man who is capable of both literary and military skills.
It was because of Yan Pu's several suggestions that Zhang Lucai never made a mistake and lived a peaceful and prosperous life.
Zhang Lu waited until Yan Pu entered the door and hurriedly stepped forward and took Yan Pu's hands: "Meritor, now both Pingyuan and Chengdu have sent envoys, and I am caught in the middle.
How will you deal with it?"
As a meritorious official in Hanzhong, Yan Pu was actually in charge of all military, intelligence and government affairs in Hanzhong, both major and minor.
Let Zhang Lu hold his hands, the expression on Yan Pu's face was extremely wonderful.
Apparently he had not expected that the envoys from both families would arrive in Hanzhong at the same time.
"Excuse me, Governor, have these two envoys ever met each other?"
Zhang Lu's head shook like a rattle.
"No, how dare I let the two families meet? If a fight breaks out in our place, no matter who hurts whom, it's not something that little Hanzhong can handle."
Yan Pu was very satisfied with Zhang Lu's handling: "In this way, things are easy. No matter which envoy you receive first, the prefect, as long as you keep confidentiality, there will be no difference."
Zhang Lu looked very nervous: "The words of the meritorious officer are wrong. The person sent by Pingyuan is the former governor of Bingzhou and the current Lord Sikong of Pingyuan Dynasty, Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang."
Yan Pu suddenly took a breath when he heard this. Ding Yuan was not an ordinary person. As early as when the late Emperor Ling was in power, Ding Yuan had already served as the captain of the Bingzhou cavalry and was in charge of all the cavalry in the entire Bingzhou. , are all known as the strongest soldiers in the North.
When Ding Yuan was walking in the temple with his sword, Zhang Lu was just a county guard in Hanzhong County, and Yan Pu was even dressed in white and had not yet entered the official position.
"Since Lord Ding Jianyang is here in person, it would be best for the Governor to go and see Lord Ding first. Otherwise, if word spreads that Lord Ding has been neglected in Hanzhong, it will not be of any benefit to the Governor to clear your name."
Zhang Lu also felt it was reasonable after hearing this.
Sun Qian is just relying on Cao Dafa, otherwise he is just a small famous scholar in Xuzhou with little reputation. Who does Zhang Lu and Zhang know?
Zhang Lu opened the door of his mansion and came out to greet Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang in person.
Ding Yuan rode his horse to the door of Zhang Lu's house, kicked off his saddle and turned over to dismount. He looked at Zhang Lu who came towards him with his hands wide open and a smile on his face, without any expression on his face.
He stretched out his hand to signal Zhang Lu to stop, and solemnly pulled out an imperial edict from the yellow leather bag carried on his back, and slowly unfolded it towards Zhang Lu.
"Zhang Lu, the prefect of Hanzhong, accepted the order."
Zhang Lu was confused at first, but then he understood.
Ding Yuan, an old treacherous man, seemed to have heard the news of the arrival of the Chengdu envoy Sun Qian, and directly announced the edict in front of the Zhang Lu Mansion, just to let the people in Hanzhong City know that Emperor Xian of Pingyuan had come to see the edict. Zhang Lu, do you want to pick it up or not?
What should Zhang Luneng do? He is also desperate, okay?
Just answer it, because I'm afraid Cao Dabailian will kill him after receiving the news. If you don't answer it, Nima Lin's mad dog will turn his face, which will be even scarier, okay?
With a mournful face, he lifted up his robe and knelt down. After bowing and kowtowing three times and nine times to the imperial edict in Ding Yuan's hand, Zhang Lu shouted loudly.
Sui: "Long live my emperor, long live the emperor. I accept the decree from Zhang Lu, the prefect of Hanzhong."
Ding Yuan read the imperial edict loudly, without any other meaning. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty went straight to the point, asking Zhang Lu to hand over the Hanzhong Great Seal, hand over all military and political power to Lin Jun, and then packed up and headed for Pingyuan City with the old Zhang family, old and young. , a high-ranking official must be a good horse and must ride on it. If he lives a lifetime of glory and wealth, he will never run away.
After the edict was read out, Zhang Lu said he had accepted it, got up from the ground, walked to Ding Yuan with his head lowered, raised his hands above his head and took the edict, then turned around and handed it to Yan Pu, and then he handed over to Ding Yuan with a smile on his face. salute.
"Mr. Ding, you have worked hard all the way. Please come with me to the mansion to have a good rest and recuperate."
A strange smile appeared on the corners of Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang's lips: "Master Zhang invited me to come to the mansion to rest. I'm afraid he is in a hurry to see the envoy of the deposed emperor of Chengdu, right?"
Liu Bian considered himself orthodox, so he called Liu Xie the false emperor, while Liu Xie used the reason that Liu Bian had been deposed and abdicated by Dong Zhuo as the reason, and kept calling Liu Bian the deposed emperor.
Zhang Lu immediately became anxious and sweated all over his head.
"The old man is joking. You are the white jade pillar in my court, the purple golden beam that supports the sea. I am just worried that you, old man, will be exhausted from the long journey. Naturally, I have been waiting for you while you are recuperating. Outside the gate, ready to be summoned by the boss at any time, how can we go to see the so-called Chengdu envoy who doesn’t know whether it’s true or not?”
Ding Yuan then laughed loudly, pulled Zhang Lu over, and they walked hand in hand into the main entrance of Zhang's mansion.
At the far corner of the street, Sun Qian was always smiling and looking at the staged drama staged in front of the Zhang Mansion.
A follower behind him asked worriedly: "Sir, it seems that we are already lagging behind compared to the plains. What can we do?"
Sun Qian sneered disdainfully: "Ding Jianyang has already been on the decline for a long time. Ever since he was defeated by Mad Dog Lin in Bingzhou, his backbone was broken and he could no longer straighten his waist. But he didn't know it. He came out so arrogantly to show off his seniority, do you really think Zhang Lu gave him face because of his current status?"
The entourage was very surprised: "Ding Jianyang has now been named Sikong in the DPRK by the puppet emperor. How dare Zhang Lu look down on him?"
"Leaving aside Mad Dog Lin's power, what does Ding Jianyang mean to him? Even a scoundrel dog on the street has more backbone than him."
Pooh!
After spitting heavily on the ground, Sun Qian turned around and left with his followers.
Ding Jianyang has indeed taken the lead now. As for how to break the situation, it still depends on how Sun Qian plans to make plans next.
Zhang Lu was having a headache on how to deal with the envoys from the two sides. After all, both Ding Yuan and Sun Qian had something in their hands that was said to be an imperial edict. The only difference was that the one from Pingyuan was stamped with the imperial seal. The high-end goods, on the one hand, are authentic goods sent from Chengdu and stamped with the private seal of the Young Emperor of the Han Dynasty who once proclaimed his accession to the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.