We know that the actual founder of the State of Wu in the Three Kingdoms period was Sun Quan's brother Sun Ce, and Sun Ce was brave and good at winning people's hearts, so he quickly occupied Jiangdong when he went south. Unfortunately, however, Sun Ce was assassinated by the enemy shortly after he founded Jiangdong Foundation. Sun Ce had just occupied Jiangdong, and his son was still young, so he gave the position of Lord of Jiangdong to his younger brother Sun Quan. At this time, Sun Quan was only a teenager. In order to keep the loan from China, Sun Ce entrusted Sun Quan to two people when he died, namely Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao. Zhou Yu later became the commander-in-chief of Wudong, holding the military power in Jiangdong, while Zhang was responsible for handling Wudong's internal affairs. They can be said to be the two pillars supporting Jiangdong. However, Zhang Zhao and Sun Quan gradually drifted away, and Sun Quan was not reused for a long time, which was useless to him and Zhou Yu. So why was Zhang Zhao alienated by Sun Quan?

Zhang Zhao stills

According to Pei Songzhi's note "Biography of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Zhang Gu and Zhuge Bu", Sun Ce said to Zhang Zhaoyou before he died: "If you don't do it, you should do it yourself." Sun Ce's remarks mean telling Zhang Zhao that if Sun Quan is not competent for the East River, then Zhang will replace Sun Quan as the Lord of the East River. If this record is true, then Sun Ce's orphan Zhang Zhaozu and Liu Bei's orphan Zhuge Liang are all in Yong 'an. This shows that Zhang Zhao's position in Sun Ce's heart is even higher than Zhou Yu's. After Sun Ce's death, Zhang Zhao failed to live up to Sun Ce's expectations. According to Sun Ce's orders, Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu supported Sun Quan as the leader of Jiangdong. Later, Zhang Zhao helped Sun Quan to appease the people and crusade against the rebels, which made great contributions to the stability of Jiangdong. This period can be said to be the most influential period of Zhang Zhao in Jiangdong. It was not until the outbreak of Battle of Red Cliffs that Zhang Zhao's position in Jiangdong plummeted.

Battle of Red Cliffs stills Wu Dong Shui Jun

As a result of Battle of Red Cliffs, the combined forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao. But before the outcome is undecided, the chances of Sun Quan and Liu Bei winning are slim. Cao Cao was not only good at using troops, but also had absolute superior forces at that time, so the hawk faction represented by Zhang Zhao in Jiangdong felt that the best strategy against Cao Cao was to surrender to Cao Cao. But at this time, Sun Quan got the support of Zhou Su and others and made an alliance with Liu Bei, so he decided to put all his eggs in one basket and fight with Cao Cao to the end. Sun Quan's decision was proved correct afterwards. Cao Cao was defeated by Sun Liu's allied forces and retreated to the north. Sun Quan kept the foundation of Jiangdong and became the overlord of the independent side. After the outbreak of Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhang advocated that Sun Quan surrender to Cao Cao, which was a major mistake in his life. Later, at sunrise, Zhang praised his achievements, but before Zhang spoke, Sun Quan said to Zhang, "If I had listened to you and surrendered to Cao Cao, would I be here today?" Zhang Zhao knelt on the ground, and Sun Quan was ashamed.

Sun quan stills

Another reason why Zhang Zhao was gradually neglected by Sun Quan was that he criticized Zhang Zhao's character bluntly. Sun Quan often likes traveling and fighting tigers. He hunted tigers several times and was almost injured by them. After learning about this, Zhang Zhao thought that the monarch should learn to protect himself and should not take the risk of remonstrating with Sun Quan. On the surface, Sun Quan promised that Zhang Zhao would stop traveling and hunting, but he went his own way afterwards. Later, when Zhang Zhao exhorted Sun Quan again, Sun Quan just laughed and didn't answer. When Sun Quan summoned the prince of Wu, his ministers recommended Zhang Zhao as the prime minister, but Sun Quan appointed Sun Shao, who was far less qualified than Zhang Zhao, as the prime minister. After Sun Shao's death, Sun Quan appointed Gu Yong as Prime Minister. At the end of his life, Zhang Zhao never became prime minister again. In his later years, Zhang Zhao resigned from home and completely stayed away from Wudong politics.