Sun Quan was skeptical, and he felt that Zhuge Liang and Li Yan had no good intentions. Li Yan robbed him openly, and Zhuge Liang was secretly robbed him. Li Yan wanted to make contributions by invading Wu and overwhelmed Zhuge Liang, while Zhuge Liang hoped that Li Yan would fail to invade Wu, so as to maintain balance in the court and hold his foot.

He said that Wei Ba would not participate in the war, but Wei Ba would not participate in the war? Can he command Wei Ba? If he really believed this and ignored Li Yan's final spy, which led to the outbreak of the war, Zhuge Liang would not suffer any losses, but Wu would have to pay a considerable price. Yes, with the current strength of both sides, even if Wei Ba and Meng Da joined forces, they would not be sure to conquer Wuchang. In the end, it would be likely that both sides would suffer a loss, or that one side would have a strategic advantage, but this would also consume a lot of financial resources.

For Sun Quan, who was tight in the treasury, the outbreak of this war may mean that the JAC battlefield had to shrink its defense line, and the losses were huge.

Sun Quan even suspected that Zhuge Liang wanted them to fight so that he could get a chance to breathe, wait until his strength recovered, then attack Bingzhou, and then march towards Jizhou in front of Wu, and finally form an absolute advantage over Wu.

Sun Quan had no doubt that Zhuge Liang had the idea of ​​unifying the world. The alliance between them could only be a short-term alliance. After the demise of Wei, they would inevitably continue to fight and fight for the final victory. He thought so, and Zhuge Liang must have thought so too. This destined that the alliance between them could not be a pure alliance. While acting in unison, they might as well fight intrigue and plot against each other.

Zhuge Liang can plot against him, and he can also plot against Zhuge Liang. If you want to maintain your dignity, you must rely on your own strength in the final analysis. While sending Zhuge Ke to Guanzhong for advice, Sun Quan put forward many demands on Zhuge Liang, hoping that Zhuge Liang could provide more help, including the most important war horse. Sun Quan asked for 10,000 horses as soon as he spoke.

"Has Prime Minister Zhuge agreed to my conditions?" Sun Quan asked slowly.

"Prime Minister Zhuge has considered it." Zhuge Ke said: "However, Guanzhong's harvest this year is average. Apart from normal expenses, he can support us in limited quantities. He cannot take out the one million stone of rice required by the king."

"How much can he give?"

"Two hundred thousand stones."

"Hmph!" Sun Quan snorted dissatisfied. He only provided 200,000 stones for one million stones. He was a little too stingy. When he wanted to fight Luoyang, Wei Ba provided him with 500,000 stones in one breath. "What about the war horse I want?"

"There is a difficulty in ten thousand horses, and he can only provide five thousand horses."

Sun Quan did not say anything, and felt a little relieved. He asked for ten thousand war horses, but he didn't expect Zhuge Liang to really give him ten thousand war horses and get five thousand. He was already satisfied.

"Where is the price?"

"Fifty gold, two hundred horses, thirty gold, thousand horses, ten gold, four thousand horses."

Sun Quan nodded. The price was not expensive. It can even be said that Zhuge Liang gave him a lot of discounts. But he still felt that the burden was not small. The most ordinary war horse was distributed to various generals, and they organized personal guards. He didn't have to pay for the money, but he had to pay for the other war horses, totaling 40,000 gold, which was still an unbearable huge sum.

A total of 80,000 gold was handed over to Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang's hands were much more relaxed. From this point of view, Zhuge Liang would rather retreat in Chengdu than gain a foothold in Guanzhong and refused to let go. The purpose was very clear. Holding the resources of war horses in his hands is a stable source of wealth. So what if Li Yan occupied Chengdu, how many thousands of gold can Yizhou earn in a year? At most, it is the value of three or four thousand ordinary war horses. Moreover, if he has more money, he may not be able to buy war horses. The weapon of war is firmly in Zhuge Liang's hands, so he dare not force Zhuge Liang too much.

"When will it be transported to Wuchang?"

"Prime Minister Zhuge said that the faster the better. Once the negotiations break down and Li Yan declares war on Wu, it will be difficult for him to do business with Wu again."

Sun Quan nodded and sneered. Zhuge Liang indeed put his interests first and did not want to fight against Li Yan. But in this way, it would be very difficult to raise so much money in a short period of time. Zhuge Liang probably had the intention to not hesitate if he did this.

...

While Sun Quan was consulting the ministers and busy preparing for war, the envoys of Shu Han rushed to Wuling and began to contact with Prince Sun Deng of Wu. At the beginning of the negotiations, the three envoys of Shu Han showed completely different attitudes.

Du Qiong, the Great Honglu, was a scholar who was well-educated and valued great importance to the Taoist dynasty. He insisted that the Wu Kingdom was not moral in favor of the Wei Kingdom. Now he changed to the Shu Han to surrender to the secret and to the light, which was not only a strengthening of the Han-Wu alliance, but also a correction of the Wu Kingdom's past mistakes. Shu Han was able to accept the Wu Kingdom's surrender, but of course it was also a tolerant and generous attitude that was not blamed. Sun Quan should be grateful.

Of course, Sun Deng and others would not take these extremely pedantic arguments seriously. Only scholars who study hard and do not care about the world will say these absolutely correct, but absolutely useless nonsense. For such a person, you just pretend that he does not exist. If you want to argue with the official refutation, Zhang Wen and Zhang Cheng beside Sun Deng can deal with them. They start with the sage's meaning of the scriptures, but they can't stop talking, and there is a tendency to turn negotiations into discussions on classics.

However, the attitudes of the two deputy envoys were not so easy to deal with.

Fei Yi didn't speak much from beginning to end, obviously not interested in this negotiation, but he had to attend due to etiquette. However, his silence was not without expression. On the contrary, his not speaking was a very worrying attitude. Because he had just visited Jiaozhou and asked to see Wei Ba. If Wei Ba gave him any promises, he would not say nothing at this moment. Since he did not speak, it would be equivalent to saying that Zhuge Liang's promise to divide Wei Ba had failed, and Fei Yi did not receive any support from Wei Ba at all.

This also proves from another aspect why Li Feng is arrogant. Arrogance requires strength, and his greatest reliance cannot be Meng Da, but only Wei Ba. Because he has just returned from Jiaozhou.

Li Feng was very high-profile in the negotiations. He repeatedly stated that the kingly way was not not to be exterminated. Shang Tang overthrew Jie of Xia through force, and Shang Tang also overthrew Zhou of Shang through force. Since the lord of the world can overthrow by force, there is nothing to doubt about extermination by force. If the Wu State can reform itself and return to the Han Dynasty, then of course everyone will be happy. If he is obsessed with it, he must maintain the title of King of Wu with incorrect reputation and dissatisfaction, then everyone in the world will despise him. Of course, the general will obey the hearts of the people and raise troops to confront the Han Dynasty to face the hearing.

Li Feng said a lot, but the meaning is actually very simple: If you don’t accept it, you will be beaten to your end.

Compared with Du Qiong's citations, Li Feng's rhetoric is almost full of loopholes, but this does not affect his deterrence. Faced with Li Feng's threat, Sun Deng and others argued with reason while reporting Sun Quan to prepare for war. Obviously, Li Yan would not give up until he achieved his goal, and a great war was inevitable.

After a fierce negotiation, Sun Deng introduced Zhang Wen and others into the inner room, summarized the daytime negotiations, and then dispersed. Zhou Feng had just left the house and was called back by Sun Deng. Zhou Feng thought there was something wrong and was about to ask, but Sun Deng sighed: "Zhou Yin is gone."

Zhou Feng was stunned and then felt his scalp numb. What does Zhou Yin mean when he disappeared? Is he running away or someone killed? Sun Quan demoted Zhou Yin to Luling because he was the prefect of Luling. On the one hand, he could monitor Zhou Yin, and on the other hand, he could protect Zhou Yin. If Zhou Yin had any accidents, he was the first person responsible. If Zhou Yin escaped, it would be better. At most, he would be a traitor. If Zhou Yin died, Sun Quan would not bear this responsibility, but Zhou Feng could not escape.

"What does it mean?"

Sun Deng took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Zhou Feng. Zhou Feng took it nervously. After reading it, a layer of sweat oozing from his forehead. The letter was written by the Crown Princess Zhou, saying that Zhou Yin was besieged in Luling, and only one of the four members with him escaped. The report said that the person who called himself Fei Yang and came to invite Zhou Yin to see him at the order of Zhou Feng. At present, Zhou Yin is unknown, and I hope that Sun Deng can get angry with Zhou Feng and let Zhou Yin go. If Zhou Yin has anything wrong with her, she is willing to take it on behalf of her brother.

The Crown Princess said it very politely, but the murderous intent was very serious. This was already a decision to make Zhou Feng take action, and he wanted to ask Zhou Feng for someone.

There was no one in Zhou Feng? He only now knew that Zhou Yin was missing.

"Your Highness, I have been in Jiaozhou for the past few months. Both Sun Junhou and Zhang Huishu can be used as evidence."

"Yes, I know this, I guess the king also knows it. The problem is that this does not mean that you cannot order bad for Zhou Yin." Sun Deng sighed: "Don't worry, I believe in you, and the king will believe in you, so I will leave this matter to you. You must find Zhou Yin and find it intact, so that you can prove your innocence and..."

Sun Denton paused and said word by word: "The King's innocence."

Zhou Feng held his breath and couldn't speak for a long time. He understood the meaning. If Zhou Yin died, he was the first person in charge, but the biggest suspect was King Sun Quan of Wu. Many people would suspect that Sun Quan ordered him to execute Zhou Yin, which might cause the overall counterattack of the Jianghuai Group.

Recently, the strength of the Jiangdong family has soared, occupying more and more seats in the court, seriously infringing on the interests of the Jianghuai Group. The Jianghuai Group has long disliked the strength of the Jiangdong family. If the Zhou family may be cleaned up, who else is safe? This can be regarded as a manifestation of Sun Quan's complete bow to the Jiangdong family. The Jianghuai Group may fall apart and be disunited from Sun Quan.

Therefore, it is not him, Zhou Feng, who is facing the biggest crisis, but Sun Quan himself.

Zhou Feng bowed and bowed: "Your Highness, I will immediately rush back to Luling and start to investigate the site of the incident. I will definitely find out the truth and give an explanation to the king and Your Highness."
Chapter completed!