Zhang Lu faction 張魯

Zhang Lu was a man of Feng County in the Pei State. His grandfather Zhang Ling, living as a sojourner in Shu, studied the Way on Mount Huming and composed Daoist writings; since those who received the Way from him had to contribute five pecks of rice, people called them the "rice bandits." When Zhang Ling died, his son Zhang Heng practiced the Way, and when Zhang Heng died, Zhang Lu practiced it in turn. Records, Wei 8 §61

Because Zhang Lu's mother, who practiced the Way of Ghosts, frequented the house of Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, Liu Yan made Zhang Lu Major Supervising Righteousness and had him attack Su Gu, Administrator of Hanzhong, together with the Major of a Separate Command Zhang Xiu (張脩). Zhang Lu ambushed and killed Zhang Xiu and took over his followers, then stayed in Hanzhong, cut the plank roads through the valleys and killed the Han envoys. When Liu Yan died and Liu Zhang succeeded him, Liu Zhang, on the grounds that Zhang Lu was not obedient, killed his mother and his whole household, and Zhang Lu at last took Hanzhong for himself. Zhang Lu thus became an enemy of the Liu Zhang faction, and Pang Xi and others, whom Liu Zhang sent against him repeatedly, were defeated by Zhang Lu each time. Many of Zhang Lu's retainers were in Baxi. Records, Wei 8 §61–62Records, Shu 1 §7 · 13

Zhang Lu taught the people with the Way of Ghosts and styled himself "Lord Teacher." Those who came to study the Way were at first called "ghost soldiers"; once their faith was firm they became "libationers" and led followers, and those who led many became "great libationers at the head of a parish." He taught them to be sincere and not to deceive, and had the sick confess their own faults; Chen Shou wrote that on the whole it resembled the Yellow Turbans. Records, Wei 8 §62

The libationers built charity lodges like the post-station lodgings of today and hung up charity rice and charity meat there, so that travelers could take as much as their bellies required. Lawbreakers were pardoned three times before being punished; no senior officials were appointed and all governing was done by the libationers, and the people and the non-Han peoples were content with it. In this way he held Ba and Hanzhong for nearly thirty years. Records, Wei 8 §63

The Han court, unable to attack him by force, made Zhang Lu General of the Household Who Pacifies the People and concurrently Administrator of Hanning, and Zhang Lu merely sent tribute. When one of the people found a jade seal in the ground and his subordinates wished to exalt Zhang Lu as King of Hanning, his Officer of Merit Yan Pu remonstrated that the people of Hanchuan numbered more than 100,000 households and the land was ringed by natural defenses, so that appointing officials on the emperor's authority already gave him ample power, and urged him not to be the first to invite disaster; Zhang Lu followed this advice. During the rebellion of Han Sui and Ma Chao, tens of thousands of households of the people west of the passes fled to Zhang Lu by way of the Ziwu Valley. Records, Wei 8 §64–65

In the 3rd month of the 16th year of Jian'an (211), Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to attack Zhang Lu on the grounds that he occupied Hanzhong, but the commanders in Guanzhong suspected that the attack was aimed at them, and Ma Chao rebelled together with Han Sui and others. In the same year Liu Zhang of Yi Province, alarmed at this news, welcomed Liu Bei and had him attack Zhang Lu, but Liu Bei, even after advancing as far as Jiameng, did not attack Zhang Lu at once. Records, Wei 1 §109–110Records, Shu 2 §27–29

When Ma Chao attacked the commanderies and counties of Longshang, Zhang Lu sent his senior commander Yang Ang to help him, and when the gates of Jicheng, which they attacked together, were opened, Ma Chao had Yang Ang kill the Inspector and the Administrator. But when Yang Fu and others rose against him and Ma Chao was defeated, he fled south to Zhang Lu. The biography of Ma Chao records that because Zhang Lu was not a man with whom great plans could be made, Ma Chao was inwardly depressed, and on hearing that Liu Bei was besieging Liu Zhang at Chengdu, he secretly sent a letter asking to surrender. Records, Wei 25 §27–28 · 32Records, Shu 6 §29

In the 3rd month of the 20th year of Jian'an (215), Cao Cao set out west in person to attack Zhang Lu, came out through San Pass, and in the 7th month reached Yangping. Zhang Lu wished to surrender Hanzhong, but his younger brother Zhang Wei would not agree and, with the commander Yang Ang and others, held Yangping Pass with tens of thousands of men, building walls across the mountains for more than ten li. Unable to take it, Cao Cao withdrew his army, and when their guard relaxed he made a night attack over the steep ground, routed them and beheaded the commander Yang Ren. Zhang Wei and the others fled by night, and Zhang Lu, his forces broken, fled to Bazhong. Records, Wei 8 §66Records, Wei 1 §146–147

When Yangping Pass fell, Zhang Lu wished to submit, but Yan Pu told him that if he went now, driven into a corner, his merit would be slight, and that he should rely on Du Hu, go to Pu Hu and resist, and only then submit. When those around him wished to burn all the treasures and storehouses, Zhang Lu said that he had originally meant to submit to the state and the treasures and storehouses belonged to the state, and he sealed them up and left. Cao Cao, entering Nanzheng, praised this highly and sent men to comfort and persuade him. Records, Wei 8 §67–68

In the 11th month of that year Zhang Lu came out of Bazhong with the remainder of his followers and surrendered. Cao Cao appointed him General Who Guards the South, treated him with the courtesy due a guest, and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Langzhong with a fief of 10,000 households; his five sons and Yan Pu and others were also enfeoffed as full marquises, and Cao Cao took Zhang Lu's daughter as wife for his son Cao Yu. With Ba and Hanzhong both having surrendered, Hanning Commandery became Hanzhong Commandery again, and Huang Quan, whom Liu Bei had sent to welcome Zhang Lu, arrived after Zhang Lu had already surrendered to Cao Cao. When Zhang Lu died he received the posthumous title Marquis Yuan, and his son Zhang Fu succeeded him. Records, Wei 1 §152 · 148Records, Wei 8 §68–69Records, Shu 2 §36

In his assessment in Records of Wei 8, Chen Shou said that Gongsun Zan, Gongsun Du, Gongsun Yuan, Tao Qian and Zhang Yang held provinces and commanderies yet were worse off than common men, and then wrote that Zhang Yan, Zhang Xiu (張繡) and Zhang Lu, who abandoned the bands of brigands, joined the ranks of meritorious officials, escaped danger and destruction and preserved the sacrifices of their ancestral temples, did better than they. Records, Wei 8 §71