 The first step in his plan was to send Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu () to attack the forces of the official Han governor of Hanzhong, Su Gu () and take over his territory.Zhang Lu first killed Zhang Xiu, and after absorbing the latter's armies he successfully managed to kill Su Gu and take control of the territory, which created an independent buffer state between Liu Yan's Yi Province and the Han central government.His next step in gaining control of the region was to rein in the power of the local families, who had their own wealth and large private armies.