In the autumn of 210 AD (the fifteenth year of Jian'an), Zhou Yu, who was loyal to the Sun family for three generations, made great contributions to Jiangdong's foundation, suddenly died while traveling along Jiangxi to Yizhou and Baqiu. According to Pang Tong's arrangement, the news of Zhou Yu's death did not spread, but chose to secretly bury Zhou Yu's body in a coffin and secretly mourn him to Chaisang.

At the same time, Pang Tong also asked Lu Meng to personally rush to Wu County to report this to Sun Quan. At that time, Sun Quan was drinking tea with Zhang Zhao and others. After hearing about this from Lu Meng, he could hardly believe his ears. He asked in a silence:

"Zi Ming, what did you say just now?"

Lu Meng, who had already endured the huge pain, knocked his head heavily on the ground, gritted his teeth and replied loudly:

"The Grand Governor died of serious illness in Bachu because he suddenly fell seriously ill!"

At this time, the seats were filled with sighs and everyone seemed at a loss. Sun Quan, who was sitting on the collapse, stood up and held the agate tea cup that Shi Xie had just paid tribute from Tangming Kingdom in his hand. This thing was extremely precious and was worth more than gold, but Sun Quan threw it heavily to the ground and said to Zhang Zhao crying:

"Gongjin is a talented man from Wang Zuo. I can rest assured because of him. Who else can I count on when he goes?"

Lu Meng conveyed Zhou Yu's last words to Sun Quan, including Lu Zijing's replacement of Zhou Yu's position before his death and the re-activated "Luanying" Lu Xun. However, Sun Quan only cared about Lu Su's succession as the governor and hurriedly sent an envoy to Jiangling to recall Lu Su, but he had no reaction to the reuse of Lu Xun.

In order to show his special importance to Zhou Yu's death, Sun Quan specially led Mrs. Bu and all the people with a certain reputation and status in Jiangdong to Wuhu to welcome Zhou Yu's coffin. During the waiting period, Sun Quan also abandoned his monarchy status and wore filial clothes for Zhou Yu, which was highly praised by the subjects of the Eastern Wu.

When the emergency envoy sent by Sun Quan rushed to Jiangling, Lu Su was discussing the withdrawal of troops from Nanjun with Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei.

After learning about Zhou Yu's death, Lu Su was extremely surprised. Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei looked at each other and thought that this was just a script designed by Zhuge Liang, but they still pretended to have an incredible expression.

Zhuge Liang, who was full of anxiety, asked Lu Su and said:

"The governor came to Jiangling for a banquet not long ago, and he was still radiant. Why did he suddenly turn out to be a few days later..."

At this time, Lu Su's square inch was already in chaos. Now he had no intention of dealing with Zhuge Liang in Nanjun affairs, so he quickly said goodbye to Liu Bei and returned to Wuhu to meet with Sun Quan.

After sending Lu Su onto the ship, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei watched him leave, and then Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei:

"The threat to us going west to Bashu has been eliminated. As soon as Zhou Yu, who strongly advocated the death of his western expedition to Yizhou, Sun Quan would probably suffer great resistance among his ministers if he wanted to follow his last wishes."

Liu Bei also realized this and put his hands behind his back meaningfully, saying, "Yes, Lu Su, who now succeeded Zhou Yu, has always advocated a joint alliance with us, and has always agreed to temporarily hand over the entire Nanjun to us. I'm afraid this policy will be implemented soon, and it is time for us to prepare for entering Sichuan."

The coffin fleet transported by Pang Tong himself finally arrived at Wuhu Port as scheduled, and Sun Quan led his ministers to wait here long ago.

After the ship docked, the people who were already ready to carry Zhou Yu's coffin came up, but Sun Quan walked to the front of them, personally carried Zhou Yu's coffin ashore with them, and mourned him:

"Gongjin! It's easy to walk!"

All the officials and the people of Eastern Wu who were watching the surrounding area burst into tears when they saw this. One was sad for Zhou Yu's early death, and the other was moved by Sun Quan's emphasis on his meritorious officials. For a moment, the crying sounds on the shore were enough to move the world.

During the funeral in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, Liu Bei specially sent Sun Gan in mourning clothes to pay his respects on behalf of him and Zhuge Liang. Pang Tong saw that the culprit who killed Zhou Yu was so shameless and came to show off, so he was naturally angry.

Just when he was about to expose Liu Bei's false intentions, Lu Su, who was standing beside him, reached out to stop him:

"Now is not the time to have a conflict with Liu Bei, so it is better to be patient in everything."

At this time, Pang Tong looked at Lu Su's extremely calm expression and finally realized that what Zhou Yu said during his lifetime was not a misunderstanding of Lu Su. He was indeed the best candidate to be a capable minister in the world. Zhou Yu and Sun Quan did not misunderstand the person.

Due to Lu Su's strong recommendation, Pang Tong met Sun Quan for the first time and followed him back to Wu County.

Losing Zhou Yu was a huge loss for Sun Quan, but he also got the "Feng Chu" that Zhou Yu mentioned several times before his lifetime, which inevitably gave Sun Quan a little comfort.

Sun Quan treated Pang Tongyou like a guest of honor, and he always treated him very well whenever he summoned him, for fear that he would not be well received.

In asking how Zhou Yu should get along with Liu Bei when he died, Pang Tong insisted on Zhou Yu's claim that the land of Nanjun must not be given to Liu Bei, and should continue to adhere to the strategic plan of attacking Badong and seizing Yizhou.

However, there was a huge disagreement between him and Lu Su on this issue. Lu Su believed that Zhou Yu had just passed away, and the morale and people of the Eastern Wu were greatly affected. The current strategy should mainly focus on the three aspects of "pro-Liu", "rejecting Cao" and "guarding the territory". We should no longer blindly move westward to Yizhou and have any friction with Liu Bei. Instead, we should hand over all Nanjun to Liu Bei as agreed before. In this way, all the pressure of Cao Cao in Nanyang County will accumulate on Liu Bei's head, and Dongwu will gain a long-term breathing and development.

In front of Sun Quan, Pang Tong accused Lu Su of being timid and embarrassed by his great responsibilities. He had strongly agreed with the Western Expedition, and now Zhou Yu went back on his word as soon as he died, which was simply contrary to Zhou Yu's expectations during his lifetime.

Lu Su was not willing to be outdone, and explained that his actions should be responsible for the future of the entire Jiangdong. It was simply a delusion to be able to revitalize a country with a temporary spirit, let alone compete with Liu Bei and Cao Cao in the future.

Faced with the dispute between the two, Sun Quan realized that although Pang Tong was outstanding in talent and even better than Lu Su, Lu Su had extremely high popularity in Jiangdong and the easing policies implemented were in line with Jiangdong's national conditions and his own political plans. Therefore, in the issue of advancing west despite the friction with Liu Bei, and temporarily giving up Nanjun to consolidate the Sun-Liu alliance, Sun Quan agreed to Lu Su's proposal.

Seeing that his proposal was not recognized by Sun Quan, Pang Tongyi decided to leave Wuxian and not become an official again. Although Sun Quan and Lu Su tried their best to keep him, Pang Tong said that he had made up his mind. Since Sun Quan was far from his political ambitions, it would be useless to continue to stay in Jiangdong, and it would cause disagreement among officials.

In desperation, Sun Quan had to agree to Pang Tong's resignation, but in order to try his best to keep Pang Tong, he specially sent Lu Ji, Quan Cong, Gu Shao and others who had a good personal relationship with Pang Tong on weekdays to see him off.

After being sent to Changmen, Pang Tong had already learned about their purpose and rated the personality traits and abilities of the three of them respectively. After that, all three of them were valued by Sun Quan.

After Pang Tong left, Sun Quan couldn't help feeling very regretful, and he said to Lu Su:

"Zijing, Liu Bei has a 'Wolong' Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao has a 'Tong Tiger' Sima Yi. Why can't I, Sun Zhongmou, keep a 'Feng Chu' Pang Tong? Is it true that I can't use talents?"

In this regard, Lu Su only smiled mysteriously, but did not answer Sun Quan's question positively.

After leaving Wu County, Pang Tong came to Leiyang County in Guiyang County. At this time, Liu Bei had just agreed to withdraw all the defenders of Nanjun to Jiangxia. After Liu Bei obtained this vacuum zone, he transferred a large number of officials from Guiyang and Lingling to Nanjun to serve. The talents of Jingnan counties were tight, so Liu Bei issued a recruitment order to seek talented people from all over the place to serve.

After seeing this, in order to cover up his eyes, Pang Tong pseudonym Yang Lei on the spot to start the exam.

Pang Tong's talents are among the few in the world, not to mention that he has taken the lead in this small Leiyang County. Jian Yong, who was in charge of the exam, soon took a fancy to Pang Tong and appointed him as the magistrate of Leiyang County.

After joining the company, Pang Tong not only did not show his talent that ordinary people could not match, but instead ignored the county affairs all day long. The civil complaints in the county yamen have accumulated over the past few days, and Pang Tong ignored them. This aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people and local officials, so he jointly wrote a letter to Liu Bei, who was in charge of the public security, demanding severe punishment of Pang Tong.

Considering that this incident would endanger the stability of the rear of Jingzhou and thus affect Liu Bei's subsequent Western Expedition, Liu Bei had to pay attention to this matter. He first sent a specialist to investigate the matter and removed Pang Tong's position as county magistrate.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang, who happened to transport troops and food in Chongling, learned about this and went to Leiyang to inspect.

When he saw Yang Lei, who was scolded by the local people in the prison, Zhuge Liang was shocked because the sloppy dressed man standing in front of him was Pang Tong, whose abilities were comparable to him.

However, in surprise, Zhuge Liang felt very suspicious about why he appeared in Jingzhou: "I remember not long ago, Sun Quan, the Duke of Wu, was treated as a guest of honor. Why did you come to this mere county magistrate in a blink of an eye?"

Pang Tong sighed: "Kong Ming, you may also guess that Zhou Yu's previous proposal to attack Yizhou was something I tried hard to promote later. I wanted to continue to let Sun Quan implement this lofty plan, but unexpectedly, Lu Zijing and Sun Zhongmou were short-sighted. Not only did they not adopt my suggestion, but they handed over Nanjun to Liu Bei as you wish. In this way, your attack on Xichuan has become a smooth road. What a pity... I don't want this 'Tianfu Country', I believe Sun Quan will definitely regret it in the future."

From the beginning, Zhuge Liang guessed that Sun Quan's Western Expedition to Bashu was definitely not Zhou Yu's plan. The only one who could use this dangerous move was Pang Shiyuan, who had the same strategy as him.

Zhuge Liang sat on the ground and smiled at Pang Tong in front of him:

"Brother Shi Yuan's words were filled with cold sweat. However, since Dongwu has no place to Rong Your Excellency, you might as well come to Jingzhou to serve my Lord, Uncle Liu. Now my Lord is recruiting talents, and with my brother's great talent, he will definitely be able to show his strength."

Looking at Zhuge Liang who wanted sincerity to him, Pang Tong's expression was hard to understand:

"Kong Ming, are you really willing to let me join the army of Uncle Liu? Don't forget that if I become an official in Liu Bei, it may pose a threat to your status. Is this what you want to see?"

Zhuge Liang seemed very calm about this: "I am the same as you, and all I think about is the revival of the Han Dynasty. Fame and fortune are not very attractive to me. After the world is pacified, I am still more willing to return to Longzhong to cultivate and grazing."

After obtaining Pang Tong's approval, Zhuge Liang took him back to Liu Bei's place where he had moved the capital to Jiangling.

Liu Bei had talked with Zhuge Liang many times before and involved the "Five Ability" today, but he knew more clearly that Pang Tong's strength was unfathomable. Zhuge Liang alone made him feel very scary. If he recruited a talent like Pang Tong, it would be a double-edged sword, which made Liu Bei hesitate.
Chapter completed!