Inviting Liu Bei Into Shu, Letting the Wolf In
When Zhang Lu of Hanzhong repeatedly harried Yi province’s borders, Liu Zhang — on the urging of his officers Zhang Song and Fa Zheng — decided to invite Liu Bei’s army into Shu to help with the defense. But Zhang Song and Fa Zheng were in secret contact with Liu Bei and had already handed over the maps and weaknesses of Yi province. Once in Shu, Liu Bei gradually won hearts and built his strength, and at last turned on Liu Zhang — this move of "easy to summon a god, hard to send it away" was the great blunder of Liu Zhang’s life.
Opening the Gates to Spare the People
With Liu Bei’s army besieging Chengdu for scores of days, the city still held thirty thousand crack troops and a year’s grain, and his officers all argued to hold to the death; but Liu Zhang said, "father and son have governed this province more than twenty years, with no kindness done to the people; the people have fought three years, their flesh smeared on the wild grass, because of me — how could my heart be at ease?" and opened the gates and surrendered, giving up Yi province. That reluctance to make the people suffer more war is the one thing history grants him that can be called dignified.