After receiving the message from Zhuge Liang's flying pigeon, Sima Yi learned that Zhuge Liang had gone to Jiangdong with Lu Su to meet Sun Quan, and persuaded him to make up his mind to defend against Cao. After reading it, Sima Yi threw the cloth written by Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter into the charcoal fire. Looking at the ignited flames and the cloth that gradually turned into coke in the fire, Sima Yi smiled knowingly.

During the next day's military discussion, Cao Cao learned through a spy who had been stationed in Jiangdong in advance that Sun Quan had sent Lu Su to Xiakou to meet Liu Bei, which made him suddenly doubt Sun Quan's attitude:

"Did it be said that Sun Zhongmou has secretly communicated with Liu Bei and intends to conspire to rebel against me?"

From Cao Cao's tone, Jia Xu and others felt more and more intensely that he wanted to conquer Sun Quan, so Jia Xu quickly stood up and said to Cao Cao: "Prime Minister, we have just pacified Jingzhou, and the people's hearts have not completely surrendered. What you should do now is to wait for the opportunity to appease the people. After your rule in Jingzhou is completely stabilized, Sun Quan will definitely surrender without fighting."

Cao Cao asked Jia Xu very directly about the problem, which was also the issue he always attached the most importance to:

"Liu Bei has always been arguing against me. If he is let go this time, he will be in trouble in the future."

Jia Xu calmly analyzed:

"Jiangxia was originally the territory of Liu Biao. Now Sun Quan killed Huang Zu and seized Jiangxia. Although Liu Qi was nominally the prefect of Jiangxia, he could only temporarily live in Hanjin. Although Sun Quan temporarily gave the land of Jiangxia to Liu Qi and Liu Bei, he did not completely withdraw his garrison. The two forces will not survive in a mere county. By then, they will sooner or later fall apart and kill each other."

This time, Cheng Yu and Jia Xu had differences in their opinions, and he believed:

"Sun Quan had just been in power for less than ten years and had not yet formed enough prestige in the country. The Prime Minister was invincible from the south to the north. When he first took Jingzhou, he was intimidated. Even if Sun Quan had the courage, he knew that he was at a disadvantage at this time. Liu Bei had always enjoyed the false reputation of deceiving the world, and the assistance of Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, etc. In this way, he would definitely join forces with Liu Bei to resist us. Even if the two parted ways, Liu Bei had already received actual funding at that time, and his strength was no longer as good as before, and had long exceeded the scope that Sun Quan could control."

Cheng Yu advocated to quickly eradicate Liu Bei's foothold while he was not stable, while Jia Xu strongly advised Cao Cao to Shi Huairou first and then make plans. The two were one urgent and one slow, which was far from each other. Although Cao Cao did not make any clear response to their opinions, Sima Yi, who was sitting aside in charge of the record, had already seen that he was obviously inclined to Cheng Yu's side.

After pondering for a while, Cao Cao finally spoke:

"The main purpose of my trip is two. One is to purge Jingxiang, pacify the general list, and the other is to eradicate Liu Bei and eliminate his worries. Liu Bei must not be eliminated, but what Wenhe said makes sense. Why not do this? I will write a letter to Sun Quan to test his attitude."

After saying that, Cao Cao looked at Sima Yi: "Zhongda, I'll write it."

"No." Sima Yi spread out the brand new bamboo slips, and pinched the pen with his right hand and dipped it in the inkstone and prepared.

"Recently, I have been ordered by the Emperor to fight against guilty rebels. Wherever the Han army flag is pointed, I hope that the wind will surrender. Liu Cong has stopped. Now I have led more than 800,000 naval troops to hunt down the Han rebel Liu Bei, and will occupy Jiangxia soon. I hope that you can invite you to hunt together in the Eastern Wu area at that time."

In just one sentence, Ahmadha Xu saw Cao Cao's intention, but he knew very well that Cao Cao had made up his mind at this time, so he had to remain silent.

After Sima Yi finished writing it, he submitted it to Cao Cao as it was. Cao Cao read the note roughly and put the three words "Meng De" on it, and then handed it to Sima Yi: "Send it to Jiangdong as follows."

Sima Yi took Cao Cao's bamboo slips with both hands and turned around and left the conference hall, and sent someone to Wujun quickly.

Just as Sima Yi was standing at the door of the mansion and watching the messenger leave, Jia Xu also walked out of the conference hall:

"I really didn't expect that Cheng Yu and you will be used by you this time."

"Mr. Wenhe, I don't understand what you mean."

After several previous encounters, Sima Yi knew that Jia Xu would come to find him, so he was already prepared for it. Therefore, this time his answer was obviously much more calm than before.

Seeing Sima Yi so calm, Jia Xu roughly guessed in his heart that he was prepared for it:

"If I can't understand the phone, I think I'm talking to myself. If I'm not mistaken, the reason why you didn't express any opinions this time is because you have roughly understood the context between me and Cheng Yu during the previous military discussions, so you expected that we would have differences on the issue of dealing with Liu Bei, right?"

In fact, Jia Xu's words completely hit Sima Yi's heart. Sima Yi couldn't help clenching his fists and tried his best to prevent his emotions from being able to see the flaws. He answered calmly: "You overestimate me. Compared with you and Mr. Zhongde, I am too small. How can you understand what you are thinking?"

Seeing Sima Yi pretending to be stupid and stunned, Jia Xu smiled helplessly:

"Well, I said I won't expose you, because the decision on how to go next is also with you."

After a long journey of water, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong finally landed in Qichun. Zhuge Liang received a letter from Sima Yi saying that Cao Cao had sent a letter to Sun Quan and asked him to make plans early.

So they rushed to Wujun to meet Sun Quan without stopping.

At the same time, Cao Cao's letter was sent to Sun Quan's collapse case first. After reading it, he instantly understood Cao Cao's sinister intentions. Facing the many civil and military officials standing in the hall, Sun Quan still disclosed the content of the letter:

"The letter Cao Cao gave me was not nominally targeted me, but in fact it revealed two news. One was to show me that he was fully preparing to attack Jiangxia Liu Biao and Liu Qi, and told me not to interfere. These two..."

Zhang Zhao also saw the profound meaning in Cao Cao's letter: "This second statement shows that Cao Cao already intends to advance eastward, and he also invited the lord to hunt in the tone of his master. This intention is also obvious."

Sun Quan gently put the bamboo slip back on the table: "Tell me, what should we do next?"

Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others fiercely persuaded Sun Quan to fight to the end, and he must not be humiliated by a thief like Cao Cao. Before Sun Quan could make any statement, Zhang Zhao refuted them:

"The Sun family has been operating Jiangdong for three generations. Cao Cao's letter said that it has a million armors. Its momentum is unstoppable. If we fight against it, Jiangdong will definitely be devastated. This is definitely not what the lord's father and brother are willing to see."

From Zhang Zhao's words, Sun Quan had already seen that he had the intention of surrendering. Although he smiled, his tone was already unhappy:

"Mr. Zibu means...will I surrender to Cao Cao?"

"No..." Zhang Zhao immediately explained his statement:

"What I mean is to ask the lord and the prime minister to discuss peace, and make a promise not to interfere with his and Liu Bei's affairs. If necessary, we can also assist the prime minister in capturing and killing Liu Bei as the sincerity of peace talks."

Faced with Zhang Zhao's words, all the generals showed an angry expression. Sun Quan looked at Zhang Zhao and said in a low voice:

"Kill allies first... and then donate land... what Zibu said is really for the sake of my people in Jiangdong, but..."

As he said that, Sun Quan stood up and walked to Zhang Zhao, showing a smile that made Zhang Zhao feel extremely unnatural:

"I wonder what people in the world think of me, Sun Quan and Sun Zhongmou?"

At this time, all the civil officials who surrendered knew that Sun Quan was already dissatisfied, so they were speechless. Zhang Zhao also realized that his words seemed to anger Sun Quan, so he quickly took two steps back and bowed to apologize:

"I am wronged and please forgive me."

Seeing that Zhang Zhao had returned to his usual smile, Sun Quan immediately stepped forward and helped him up: "Why did Zibu say this? I am just blaming myself for not having the ability to resist Cao Cao. How could he blame you, the ministers?"

When talking about the four words "the minister of the humerus", Sun Quan could aggravate his tone, which made Zhang Zhao and others even more chill.

Sun Quan turned his back to his ministers and said, "Let's come here today. Please come back and think about it. What can I do to make my Sun Quan worthy of the position of the Lord of Jiangdong, the foundation created by my father and brother, and the people of Jiangdong."

After the ministers dispersed, Sun Quan felt disdainful when he looked at the leaders and the civil officials who surrendered:

"A bunch of people who live in vain..."

At this moment, the attendant came up and said to Sun Quan, "Report to the lord, Lord Lu Su and Mr. Zhuge have returned from Jiangxia."

"Oh?" Although it was almost night, Sun Quan still said to the attendant: "Hurry and invite me!"

Under the leadership of the attendants, Lu Su and Zhuge Liang were introduced to the conference hall.

When he saw the young Zhuge Liang, Sun Quan did not ceremonially as a monarch and ministerial courtesy, but said:

"I am very honored to have come from afar. In the past, I heard my brother Zhuge Jin mention his name many times. Today I have seen it as a blessing in my life. I hope that my husband will give me advice."

Seeing Sun Quan so polite and polite, Zhuge Liang intuition predicted that this person would be a difficult person in the future. He also gave him a gift and said, "Mr. Wu is going to be so bad. This is the reason why he came here on the order of my lord."

After inviting Zhuge Liang and Lu Su to take their seats, Sun Quan hurriedly asked about Cao Cao's movements. Zhuge Liang answered truthfully, which made Sun Quan feel shocked: "Cao Cao has no rivals from all over the north and south. Even Uncle Liu was defeated by him several times. I just heard the gentleman talk about the tragic battle in Dangyang. However, I have never seen Cao Cao after all. I wonder if he intends to invade my Jiangdong territory?"

Zhuge Liang gently stroked the feather fan buckled on the table with his left hand and said with a random smile:

"When I came, I heard the counselors under the tent of Wu Hou discussing the issue of war and harmony. In fact, according to the foolish opinions of the subordinates, there is no difference between seeking peace and seeking surrender. It is just a nice side. There are only two ways in front of Wu Hou, one is fighting and the other is surrender. If Wu Hou thinks that he is unwilling to bear the humiliation of losing the city and seeking peace and is willing to fight with Cao Cao with all his might, he will cut off all contact with Cao Cao and make up his mind to fight him to the end. If you think you are not Cao Cao's opponent, it is better to order the disarming of the Jiangdong soldiers early so as to bow to Cao Cao to seek peace."

After listening to Zhuge Liang's words, especially his last remarks about surrender, Sun Quan was very unhappy, but it was difficult to attack in public. So he patiently asked Zhuge Liang:

"As the sir said, why didn't Uncle Liu surrender to Cao Cao?"

Zhuge Liang responded calmly, taking Tian Heng at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty as an example to illustrate Liu Bei's heroic and talented style, unparalleled in the world, and all the gentry in the world admired him. Even if he died in the end, he was destiny and could not be inferior to Cao Cao.

Lu Su, who was standing aside, could see that Zhuge Liang's words were agitating Sun Quan and testing whether he had the courage to fight Cao Cao to the death. At this time, Sun Quan was furious and instantly vented all the resentment he had held from Zhang Zhao and others:

"Liu Xuande has no city or pool and can still deal with Cao Cao until now. I have six counties and eighty-one prefectures in Jiangdong, and there are countless wise ministers and generals under me. Cao Mengde can defeat the powerful Yuan Shao with a weak force in Guandu. Could it be that I, Sun Zhongmou, cannot do it!"

Lu Su felt confident when he saw Sun Quan's attitude. In order to strengthen his confidence, Lu Su said to Sun Quan:

"Lord, during the court discussion, many civil officials surrendered because their family business is there. If they surrender, they can protect themselves. Even Lu Su can surrender to Cao Cao, because I am the same as them. Once I surrendered, if I am valued by Cao Cao, I can still find a job and a half-time position, and then make friends with soldiers and rise to prominence. But what about you after you surrender? Do you want to be the second Liu Cong?"

Speaking of this, Sun Quan couldn't help but sigh. He patted Lu Su on the shoulder and whispered:

"Zi Jing, I'm going to tell you, when I heard Zibu and others' comments that persuaded me to surrender, I felt very sad. Looking at the civil officials in Jiangdong, I'm afraid that the only one you and I were thinking the same."

At this time, Zhuge Liang took two steps forward and said to Sun Quan:

"Mr. Wu, you have many powerful generals under your tent and have a deep foundation in Jiangdong. Although Uncle Liu temporarily retreated to Fankou, the number of soldiers returning has reached more than 10,000, and Liu Qi's troops also have 10,000. However, Cao Cao came from afar and did not receive good repairs, resulting in the exhausted troops of his troops. As the saying goes, it is difficult to penetrate Lu Hao at the end of his strength. Most of the tens of thousands of surrendered troops in Jingzhou have not completely surrendered. At this time, Cao Cao did not have much advantage in fighting with us."

After hearing this, Sun Quan felt that the situation seemed to be far from what Zhang Zhao and others said, and gradually became a little sure of it. However, after all, once the war started, there was no room for recovery, so he still had to be careful:
Chapter completed!