In front of the fortress of Jianyin City, there is a flat river.
A small military tent stood abruptly next to the river, with dozens of soldiers in armor guarding the surrounding area.
This was set up by the Han army to receive the envoy from Hexi Haoyou.
In order to prevent Wei Wei spies from disguising themselves as envoys to find out whether the city was strong or not, Zhang Bao explicitly prohibited anyone from crossing the river. Anyone who violated the rules would be punished as a spy. He also set up a small ferry on the other side of the river to protect people heading to the Nishui River Valley in Wuting.
Jiang Wei was in contact with his subordinates; he also took advantage of the opportunity to collect the letters from those envoys and returned.
Many messengers also speculated that the Han Dynasty planned to capture Jincheng County and destroy the power of Wei's troops in Liangzhou. After discussing in detail how to deal with the affairs in Hexi, they left one after another.
However, some people who are not at both ends of the spectrum are still waiting.
One of them is the messenger of Zhang Ji, the governor of Dunhuang.
Zhang Jiu was the son of Zhang Gong, the former captain of Wuji School in the Western Regions, and the son of Zhang Hua, the prefect of Xihai (Zhangye Juyan State).
The Zhang family rose to prominence during the Jian'an period when they fought for the country to quell the rebellion in Hexi Province. Both father and son were well-educated and loved by scholars and common people. Their prestige in Liangzhou was no less than that of Pang Xuan and others.
In other words, the Zhang family is not the kind of people who are only interested in profit and benefiting the family.
Moreover, under Wei's policy of "people on the border governing the border", the Zhang family became the most powerful force in the Hexi Corridor with one family and two governors, which can be said to be a great favor.
Now he actually sent an envoy, and for Zheng Pu and Zhuge Qiao, they were not stingy with the joy coming from heaven.
If the Zhang family is willing to be surrendered by the Han, then the resistance of the counties in the Hexi Corridor will melt away.
After all, the two counties of Dunhuang and Xihai are located in the far west and north of Hexi respectively. By then, the Zhang family can form a pincer attack with the Han army, leaving Jiuquan, Zhangye and Wuwei counties undefended.
However, the reality is not satisfactory.
When the envoy welcomed the military tent, and after the distinguished guests took their seats and exchanged greetings for a while, the envoy presented a letter of surrender written by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang.
He said: "Thanks to the sincerity of the prime minister of your army, my family's eunuch is impressed by Wu Nei. We should have changed our banner and helped the Han Dynasty. However, since the great disturbance in Hexi when Emperor Xian was presented, the Luoyang Temple has been very kind to the Zhang family of Dunhuang. If they surrender without a fight, they will surrender."
The family members who are close to me all think that the governor of my family is a repeater, and the people in the county are no longer attracted to me! Therefore, I am here today to thank you for your military weapons and the Zhang family in Dunhuang."
Having said this, without waiting for Zheng and Zhuge to say anything, he left the table, bowed, and continued.
"However, my prefect also knows that using the troops from several counties in the west of the river to fight against the front of your army is like using a mantis' arm as a chariot to increase the number of orphans and widows among the common people in the county. For this reason, since I received the letter from the prime minister of your army, my prefect has
I have been thinking about it all night long. If we surrender, the Zhang family will live up to their responsibility of guarding the land and find it difficult to establish a foothold in the world; if they do not surrender, the lives of the people and the common people will be ruined. This is also a disregard of benevolence and righteousness, and it is difficult to choose! I wonder if your army can have a plan that has both ends? Please don't hesitate to teach me.
."
Well.
After Zheng Pu heard this, he knew what was going on.
It turned out that the Dunhuang Zhang family did not resist returning to the Han Dynasty, but they were forced to make a choice due to secular loyalty.
However, this is also easy to understand.
Although Wei treated the Zhang family well, it now huddled all its troops in Jincheng County and abandoned the Hexi Corridor.
Moreover, it had not been long since Cao Pi succeeded the Han Dynasty, and the common people in Hexi were bound to be sad and angry at being abandoned. Even if Zhang Ji wanted to repay the favor of Wei, he could hardly follow him with all his strength.
"I know your envoy's intention."
Extending his hand to invite the envoy to sit down, Zheng Pu smiled and said, "The Zhang family in Dunhuang has always been famous for their loyalty. Therefore, when the road was cut off, the Wuji captain in the Western Regions still commanded the officials and the people not to associate with the rebels. This is still remembered today."
People are talking about it. It is reasonable for Governor Zhang to have a difficult decision now. As for the strategy of having both sides, please allow me to think about it for a moment."
After saying this, he nodded slightly to Zhuge Qiao who was at the banquet.
Zhuge Qiao understood the idea and raised a cup to invite the envoy for a cup, telling some interesting stories about Hexi and other things to change the subject.
Taking advantage of this moment, Zheng Pu spread out the Prime Minister's surrender letter on the case and read it carefully.
Regarding the recruitment and surrender of Hexi Haoyou, the prime minister did not make a general conclusion.
Instead, they made different conditions based on their power, personal prestige, and temperament. Zheng Pu had to take a closer look before he could have in-depth discussions with the Zhang family envoys.
There are quite a few words in the letter. First, he praised the Zhang family's family tradition, and compared the Zhang family's achievements during the Hexi turmoil to Leyang Shizi and Li Tong's family restoration. Then it briefly described the great cause of the late emperor Liu Bei to continue the Han Dynasty and condemned it.
Cao Cao's violence in the Wei Dynasty and the injustice of Cao Pi's replacement of the Han Dynasty made the Zhang family abandon Wei and return to the Han Dynasty, and strive to restore the great Han Dynasty again.
In the end, it naturally comes down to actual profit commitments.
The pay is very generous.
First, the imperial court will use the merits of the whole county to confer Zhang Jiu and Zhang Hua as marquises, with 800 households each, and each of them can have a son enter the court as a prince.
Secondly, he claimed that he would give the Zhang family a high rank in Chengdu, grant them acres of mulberry fields, and allow them to have complete Silk Road benefits from "sericulture and brocade in the middle of Sichuan to Yumen in the west."
Finally, there is the adjustment of official positions.
The imperial court conscripted the older Zhang Hua into the court as minister, and Zhang Jiu was added as a minister, and he stayed in Jincheng or Xiping County in Liangzhou as the prefect; there was no military commander in the county, and Zhang Jiu was responsible for all affairs.
【Note 1】
If Zhang You intends to lead an army on an expedition, he can be assigned the rank of general as a servant and join the prime minister's army.
Of course, the Dunhuang Zhang family needed to set an example and respond to the imperial edict on Hexi Haoyou's "immigration of border people inland" - half of the clan moved to Shu.
After Zheng Pu saw it, he couldn't help but be speechless secretly.
It's not that Prime Minister Zhuge was being too generous.
Rather, from such conditions, the Prime Minister deeply understood the helplessness of the people in the land of Bashu that had dried up.
If the Han Dynasty had enough food for its troops and sent a general to lead an army of 10,000 to 20,000 people out of the Fortress of Manyin, from Wuwei to Dunhuang, who could possibly be the vanguard of the Han army?
When the army comes to the city, whoever dares to disobey will be punished!
Why do you need to recruit and surrender?
Alas~~
Sighed quietly.
After reading the letter, Zheng Pu tried hard to suppress the anger in his heart and concentrated on thinking about his reply to the messenger.
In fact, there is nothing to worry about.
The attitude of the Dunhuang Zhang family is very obvious, and their demands are also very clear.
They were willing to return to the Han Dynasty, but they would not directly change their banner and send troops to fight with the Han army to quell other disobedient people. Instead, they wanted to ask the Han Dynasty to regard the Zhang family as the second "Wandering Chu".
They thought that after the Han army arrived at Dunhuang County, they would surrender because Wei had no reinforcements and had no choice but to surrender in order to save the lives of the common people.
In this way, the scholars and common people will not be exposed to war, and the Zhang family will not be condemned by secular etiquette.
As for the envoy who was sent, why didn't he tell Zheng Pu clearly and instead asked Zheng Pu for advice?
It's just that the benefits promised by the prime minister were too heavy, which made them feel that if they didn't raise troops to fight against the enemy, they might be afraid that when the Han soldiers arrived in Dunhuang in the future, their current promises would be reduced!
How surprising!
——
[Note 1: During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were many military affairs in border counties, and the county magistrate was also called Chang Shi, and he was in charge of the army and horses for the prefect.]
