In addition to the internal rebellion, the external princes can also be said to be very unfriendly to Liu Zhang, at that time Liu Biao had the intention of taking advantage of the situation at the beginning of his reign, and after Cao Cao became bigger, he did not put Liu Zhang in his eyes.

【Tempting Liu Biao】

Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao had already started to act at the beginning of Liu Zhang's succession, and he sent Liu He to lure many generals under Liu Zhang's command.

Although Liu Zhang and Liu Biao are both relatives of the Han family, their relationship is not very good, Liu Zhang inherited the position of his father Liu Yan, and there are already many contradictions between Liu Yan and Liu Biao.

Back then, it was Liu Biao who exposed to the imperial court that Liu Yan had the intention of transgressing his identity and plotting against him and usurping the throne.

After Li Guo and others of the Western Liang Army held the Son of Heaven hostage and controlled the imperial court, in order to win over the local princes, many envoys were sent to the east. And Liu Biao was also actively courting Li Dao and others at that time, Liu Biaoxiang consolidated his position in the name of the imperial court and further expanded his sphere of influence, and Li Guo and others also wanted to win over Liu Biao as foreign aid, and the two sides hit it off, so Li Dao sent the Huangmen squire Zhong Xiang to worship Liu Biao as the general of Zhennan and Jingzhou Mu, and was named the Marquis of Wu, and later sent Zuo Zhonglang to confer Zhu Tan with the false festival, and supervise the military of Jiao, Yang, and Yi.

After Liu Biao was awarded the Fake Festival, he could already justifiably start interfering in Yizhou affairs. And Liu Yan's death and Liu Zhang's succession is an excellent opportunity.

Liu Biao then sent his subordinates to engage in Liu Zhang, and reinted Liu Zhang's generals Shen Mi, Lou Fa, and Gan Ning, and Liu Zhang also ushered in his first life test after becoming the pastor of Yizhou.

Although Shen, Lou, and Gan were not the core figures of Yizhou at that time, they had the support of Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao behind them, which could not be underestimated, so in order to deal with them, Liu Zhang directly sent the No. 2 person of the Yizhou Group - Zhao Wei, the general of Zhengdong Zhonglang.

History proved that Liu Zhang's decision was correct, Zhao Wei successfully put down the rebellion, and Shen Mi, Lou Fa, Gan Ning and others had to flee to Jingzhou after the defeat and attached themselves to Liu Biao.

On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the strength of Shen, Lou, Gan and others is too far behind Zhao Wei, but Liu Biao's sitting back and ignoring is also a very important factor. At that time, if Liu Biao sent troops to support, Zhao Wei would not have won so easily, but Liu Biao himself was too cautious, and under such a good opportunity, he actually did not take action after only testing Yizhou, completely acquiescing in Liu Zhang's dominance over Yizhou, and letting the good opportunity to seize Yizhou be lost in vain.

【Brief Peace】

After successfully suppressing Zhao Wei's rebellion and Pang Xi begging for relent, the north also formed a stalemate with Zhang Lu, and Yizhou entered a long period of peace.

During this period, due to the defeat of Zhao Wei, the Dongzhou people have won the victory over the local group of Yizhou, and the people of Yizhou have begun to succumb to the existing situation, coupled with the gradual clarity of the situation in the world, the number of external refugees is also decreasing day by day, and the contradictions between the two sides began to disappear gradually.

In the east, Liu Biao's interest in Yizhou gradually decreased due to the internal rebellion and the threat of Cao Cao in the north and the two brothers Sun Ce and Sun Quan in Yangzhou.

As the environment around Yizhou stabilized and the internal rebellion subsided, Yizhou entered a long period of stability, until Jingzhou changed.

【Liu Zhang and Cao Cao】

The relationship between Liu Zhang and Cao Cao in history is not very good, not that Liu Zhang is disgusted with Cao Cao, but that Cao Cao and his Xuchang court really have some ill intentions towards Liu Zhang.

After Cao Cao moved the imperial court to Xuchang, he adopted a policy of wooing Liu Zhang's sworn enemy Zhang Lu, worshipping Zhang Lu as the general of the townspeople (one said that the general of Zhenyi Zhonglang), leading the Han Ning Taishou, and Zhang Lu's rule in Ba and Han was justified.

During the Yizhou Rebellion, the Xuchang Imperial Court also used the Yizhou Rebellion as the reason to recruit Liu Zhang as the secretary, and sent the Wuguan Zhonglang to make Niu Kang the Yizhou Assassin, but Liu Zhang was not so stupid, he decisively ignored this order.

As a result, Liu Zhang never sent anyone to the Xuchang court to contact Cao Cao for a long time, until Cao Cao eliminated the Yuan clan.

At that time, Cao Cao had already begun to conquer Liu Biao in the south, and he was also preparing to pacify Zhang Lu, while Jingzhou and Hanzhong, one east and one north, were adjacent to Yizhou, and in the face of the strong strength of Cao Cao's group, Liu Zhang could no longer stay out of the matter and ignore the imperial court.

So Liu Zhang sent Yin Pu, a native of Hanoi, to meet Cao Cao to show his intention to surrender, and Cao Cao pushed the boat down the river and crowned Liu Zhang as the general of Zhenwei, but at the same time appointed Liu Zhang's brother Liu Mao as the general of Pingkou.

At that time, these two generals could only be said to be miscellaneous generals, and General Pingkou's status was still one level higher than that of General Zhenwei, so Cao Cao's attitude towards Liu Zhang can be imagined. Liu Zhang couldn't do anything about Cao Cao, but Liu Mao couldn't run away, so Liu Zhang's only surviving brother was soon killed by illness.

Liu Zhang sent an envoy to visit Cao Cao again, and this time it was Zhang Su, a native of Shu County, who was under his command, and Liu Zhang also sent Cao Cao three hundred veterans and other royal sundries, so Cao Cao named Zhang Su as the Guanghan Taishou, but there was no other expression.

Liu Zhang sent Zhang Song (Zhang Su's younger brother) to pay homage to Cao Cao for the third time, and when Zhang Song arrived, Cao Cao had already pacified Jingzhou and drove Liu Bei away, so he was completely unmoved by Liu Zhang's envoy, and did not say anything at all, and Zhang Song did not get an official position, so Zhang Song also harbored resentment as a messenger.

After that, Cao Cao was defeated in Chibi and was driven back to the north by the Sun-Liu coalition army, and the territory no longer bordered Yizhou, at that time Cao Cao had not yet crusaded against Guanzhong and Hanzhong, for the Yizhou people, the situation was equivalent to returning to before, at this time the necessity of wooing Cao Cao had been greatly reduced, so after Zhang Song returned, Liu Zhang almost severed the relationship with Cao Cao again.

In history, the reason why Liu Zhang sent envoys to visit Cao Cao several times was out of concern about the external environment in Yizhou, in order to find a sense of security from Cao Cao, but each time it was unsuccessful, and it aggravated Liu Zhang's sense of crisis again and again.

In the face of the pressure of Cao Cao and Zhang Lu and others, Liu Zhang finally chose to unite with Liu Bei under the persuasion of Zhang Song and others, which also laid a good foundation for Liu Bei to enter Yizhou later.