Chapter 414 Decisiveness and Ambiguity
Zhang Hong quickly walked through a corridor and came to Sun Quan's study. A guard hurried in to report and came out for a moment and said, "Mr. Wu, please come in!"
Zhang Hong walked into the study room. The lights in the study room were dim. Sun Quan stood in front of the wall with his hands behind his back, staring at a huge map on the wall. It was the entire south drawn by Sun Ce when he was alive. It was the dream of the three generations of the Sun family, unifying the south, then marching into the north, and finally winning the world.
Zhang Hong sighed in his heart. He knew that Wu Hou had made up his mind and would not let him fight this battle. I am afraid he would never look back.
Sun Quan seemed to know Zhang Hong's arrival, and he said in a low voice: "Take Jingzhou, destroy Liu Bei, and set Bashu, and make unparalleled achievements. Does the Chief Secretary think I can do it?"
He slowly turned around and stared at Zhang Hong, "I want to hear the heartfelt words of the emperor."
Zhang Hong smiled bitterly and said, "If the battle is hard, we have a chance to win, but if the strategy is right, we have a chance to win by five. It depends on the performance of both sides in the battle."
Sun Quan returned to his seat and sat down. He asked Zhang Hong to sit down and looked at Zhang Hong calmly, "Sir, please continue to speak, I'll listen attentively!"
Zhang Hong smiled slightly, "I am neither Gongjin's Nanhe faction nor the Nantong faction of the military advisor. I am a pragmatic faction, without prejudice, analyze according to facts, and then it is up to Wu Hou to decide whether to fight or to reconcile."
Sun Quan nodded, "The Chief Secretary speaks freely, I want to hear non-prejudicial words."
"I think the fundamental reason why the governor Zhou and military commander Zhang disagree is actually their judgment on Cao Cao's strength. The governor Zhou believes that Cao Cao is strong and the Jiangdong family is not enough to resist, so it is necessary to join forces with Liu Jing to fight against Cao Cao. This is not a problem in the overall situation and is a wise move in the long run. However, as Liu Jing becomes stronger, the dream of Wu Hou unifying the south will probably be difficult to realize."
Sun Quan did not speak, listened quietly to Zhang Hong's analysis. He was very calm at this time. Sun Quan hoped to make a choice in rational analysis.
Zhang Hong turned the topic to Zhang Zhao again, "The military advisor's view is contrary to the governor of Zhou. He believed that Cao Cao was weak and could not move south within five to ten years. This is our opportunity to unify the south. I know that the military advisor has always been committed to unifying the south. Bo Fu was impressed by the unification of the south. It should be said that the military advisor's view is in line with the national policy of Jiangdong and is also the only way for the Emperor Wu to dream of Emperor Wu. However, the military advisor has always looked down on the Jiangxia army, and his plan is somewhat a bit scholarly."
Sun Quan nodded, "The chief thought, can we fight this battle?"
"Whether you can fight is not up to me, nor Gongjin, nor the military advisor. The key is the determination of the Marquis of Wu. If Wu Hou is determined and can withstand the end of failure, then it is okay to fight. If Wu Hou is worried about gains and losses, wants to unify the south, but is unwilling to face failure, then I advise Wu Hou not to fight and maintain the status quo."
Sun Quan stood up and paced back and forth with his hands. Finally, he stood in front of the map and stared at the entire southern area for a long time. At this time, Sun Quan was so eager to achieve the great achievements of his father and brother. He remembered his father's teaching when he was a child, and Sun Quan's eyes were a little wet.
"Sir, I decided to fight, and I will never regret it!" Sun Quan turned around and stared at Zhang Hong. At this moment, he finally made up his mind.
Zhang Hong nodded slowly. As he expected, Sun Wentai's son was not a person who was in a corner.
"If the Marquis of Wu decides to fight, then we must pay attention to strategy and not fight hard. We can join forces with Liu Bei and secretly communicate with Cao Cao, so that Liu Bei can restrain Liu Jing from the south, and Cao's army will restrain from the north, and our main force will attack Jiangxia fiercely, so that there will be at least 50% chance of victory."
Sun Quan thought for a moment and said, "But Liu Jing and I signed a covenant. Now that the Battle of Red Cliff has just ended, I betrayed the covenant. Will this make people all over the world laugh?
This is also the only thing Sun Quan is worried about. He is worried that his reputation will be lost, but Zhang Hong smiled and said, "In fact, the Jiangxia army has given Wu Hou an excuse to destroy the ship in Qichun. Wu Hou can do a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, it requires Liu Jing to hand over the murderer of the ship destroying the ship, and on the other hand, it requires Liu Jing to implement the imperial decree and give up Jiangling. If Liu Jing refuses, then Wu Hou can just stop abide by the alliance."
Sun Quan's eyes flashed brightly, and Zhang Hong's plan finally touched his heart.
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Three days later, Jiangdong mobilized 80,000 troops and marched west in two groups. One route ordered Cheng Pu as the main general and Xu Sheng as the deputy general. He led 30,000 troops to Qichun County by land. The other route was Sun Quan personally as the head commander, Huang Gai and Han Dang as the deputy generals, and led 50,000 troops to ride 800 warships and rushed to Pengze in a mighty manner.
At the same time, Sun Quan ordered Bu Zhi and Zhang Wen to be envoys, respectively, to seek support from Liu Bei and Cao Cao. At the same time, he ordered Yu Qian to envoy Wuchang, ordering Liu Jing to hand over the murderer who destroyed the ship and give up Jiangling in accordance with the imperial decree.
Jingzhou's storm suddenly started, and the dark clouds of war once again enveloped Jiangxia
Most of the Public Security New City in Jingnan has been built and was personally led by Zhuge Liang. The county town has been considered thoroughly and makes full use of the natural defenses of the Youjiang River and the Yangtze River, forming a trend that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The county town is nearly twenty miles in circumference and the city wall is three meters high. It is made of square bluestone. It is strong and tall. Zhuge Liang also personally designed a stone cannon heavy platform. The stone cannons and heavy trenchers on the cannon can even be directly penetrated into the river.
Zhuge Liang was very satisfied with the city he presided over and devoted a lot of effort. Although he was determined to plan for Bashu, he had to leave a way out. If Bashu failed, at least their foundation was still there.
That morning, Zhuge Liang inspected the newly built city as usual. At this time, a cavalry rushed over and shouted under the city: "Can the military advisor be there?"
Zhuge Liang leaned over at the top of the city and asked, "What's the matter?"
"The emperor said there was an emergency, so please go to the big camp to discuss it quickly."
Zhuge Liang nodded, "Please tell the emperor, I'll come now!"
Liu Bei's camp is located about five miles east of the new city, covering an area of nearly a thousand acres, consisting of hundreds of large tents, and stationed 20,000 troops. Not long ago, Liu Jing returned Liu Bei's wife and children and moved a big stone that Liu Bei had pressed in his heart.
However, Liu Jing immediately sent a navy army to destroy the nearly 100 ships that Liu Bei had collected with all his efforts, which made Liu Bei very angry. As the Jiangxia army occupied Jiangling, Liu Bei knew that he had no hope of returning to Jiangling. He was depressed and lost in his heart. He had been in a bad mood these days.
At this time, in the big tent, in addition to Liu Bei, there was another person, Bu Zhi, the envoy of Jiangdong. Bu Zhi was on his third mission to Jingnan and was already very familiar with Liu Bei.
Bu Zhi brought Sun Quan's handwritten letter and proposed the suggestion of the two armies to jointly attack Jiangxia. As compensation, Sun Quan proposed to allocate Nanjun and Changsha County to Liu Bei. The conditions were so generous that Liu Bei couldn't help but be moved.
However, Liu Bei also knew that he could not be morally correct in attacking Liu Jing. After all, Liu Jing had just exchanged his wife and children. If he turned against Jingzhou, it would not only damage his reputation, but also devastated the hearts of the soldiers.
But Liu Bei did not refuse Bu Zhi. He needed to discuss with Zhuge Liang before making a decision. Bu Zhi went to rest in the bill, while Liu Bei paced in the room with his hands behind his back, waiting patiently for Zhuge Liang's arrival.
Soon, Zhuge Liang walked over quickly, entered the tent and smiled, "But is the east wind coming?"
Liu Bei hurried forward and said, "Bu Zhi is here and bring Sun Quan's handwritten letter."
He handed Sun Quan's letter to Zhuge Liang and looked at Zhuge Liang with expectation. Zhuge Liang read the letter calmly and said with a smile: "No wonder Sun Quan was angry. It turned out that the court actually appointed Cheng Pu as the prefect of Nanjun. Cao Cao's plan of separation is very clever! It ignited Sun Quan's ambition."
Liu Bei was concerned about his own interests. He asked: "Sun Quan promised in the letter that as long as I was willing to assist him, once Jiangxia was conquered, he would assign Nanjun and Changshajun to me. Does the military advisor feel it is credible?"
Zhuge Liang sneered slightly, "I believe he will assign Nanjun and Changsha County to his lord, but he didn't say how long it would take. Giving the lord fifty years is to keep his promise, but giving the lord only three days is to keep his promise. Why don't he talk about this key issue?"
"What the military advisor means is that he has no sincerity at all?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head, "Let's not mention Liu Jing's return to the young master, but only Sun Quan. Now there are the Southern Union factions and the Southern He factions in Jiangdong. As the name suggests, it means that the Southern Union faction is unified and the Southern He faction. Zhou Yu is not mentioned in the letter, which means that the Southern Union faction has the advantage. What is the Southern Union? It means that the Southern Union faction is unified in the south, including Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Jiaozhou and Yizhou.
If Nanjun is handed over to us according to Sun Quan's promise, how could the Jiangdong Army attack Yizhou? It is obvious that Nanjun cannot give it to us, but his promise only shows that his promise is not sincere.
In addition, I heard that when Liu Jing and Sun Quan formed an alliance to negotiate, the ownership of the four counties in Jingnan was involved. Sun Quan clearly asked the four counties in Jingnan to return to Jiangdong. This shows that Sun Quan's original intention was to take Jingnan first, but his mind was disturbed by Cao Cao's plan of alienation. Once he really wiped out Liu Jing, his next step would inevitably be to deal with us, and it was Yizhou's turn in the end."
Zhuge Liang's words hit Liu Bei's heart, and he suddenly realized that he was confused by Sun Quan's fascination. He couldn't help but smile bitterly: "If there were no military advisor reminders, I would definitely agree to Sun Quan's conditions. The military advisor meant to advise me not to agree, right!"
Zhuge Liang smiled, "It's okay for the lord to agree to him, it's just a gesture, such as starting to build a ship, or something, it's up to us to decide whether to fight or not. If Liu Jing really fails, we can take advantage of the situation to seize Jiangling. Once Sun Quan fails, we will consolidate the four counties in Jingnan."
Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang reminded Liu Bei, "In addition, I would like to remind my lord that our goal is the dispute between Bashu and Jiangdong and Jiangxia, which actually has nothing to do with us. We must seize the time to seek Yizhou. Since Liu Zhang intends to invite us to assist in the defense of Badong County, we must seize this opportunity to enter Yizhou, occupy Badong and Ba County first, and use this as the foundation to advance towards Chengdu. Once Chengdu is occupied, Yizhou will be determined."
Liu Bei nodded, "If this is the case, we will concentrate our troops to seek Badong, but we can also secretly communicate with Liu Jing to make him know the matter."
Chapter completed!