Chapter 805: No Surrender, No Retreat, Zhongmou from the Past
Zhou Li's begging for mercy kept falling into Sun Quan's ears.
Under Zhang Zhao's suggestion, Sun Quan realized at this moment that the strategy of moving the capital was a foolish move.
But Sun Quan did not blame Zhou Li for this.
Zhou Li is a loyal minister after all!
Just now, when the ministers were at a loss what to do, it was Zhou Li who was not afraid to take the lead in proposing a strategy. Although this strategy was not good, it only shows that Zhou Li's intelligence and strategy were inferior to Zhang Zhao's.
From the bottom of his heart, Zhou Li was still devoted to him.
When the country is in crisis, loyal ministers cannot be chilled, otherwise there will be no loyal ministers to speak up in the future.
However, in order to cut off some people's escape mentality, Sun Quan also had to punish Zhou Li.
"Your suggestions almost caused our country to overthrow.
Since you are loyal, I will spare you this time.
I will remove you from all official positions today, you can just go home and think about your mistakes behind closed doors!"
As soon as Sun Quan finished speaking, Zhou Li showed a look of surprise on his face.
Zhou Li didn't expect that Sun Quan's punishment would be so light.
Although it was stated that he was removed from his official position by Sun Quan, according to Zhang Zhao's tone just now, Zhang Zhao advocated that he be executed.
Sun Quan was able to exempt him from the death penalty, which was already a great mercy.
Sun Quan's attitude also revealed that he may not have a chance to make a comeback in the future.
Zhou Li, who understood Sun Quan's intentions, did not dare to hesitate at all. He kowtowed to Sun Quan repeatedly to thank him, and then hurriedly exited the palace step by step.
But before walking out of the palace door, Zhou Li turned around carefully and looked back. He was looking at Zhang Zhao.
Zhou Li's eyes were full of resentment.
Zhou Li knew very well that if he had not performed well enough before, his life might not have been saved under Zhang Zhao's angry rebuke today.
What's more, if Zhang Zhao hadn't appeared today, Wu's national destiny would have been ruined by his sharp tongue...
Zhou Li quietly kept his feelings of regret and resentment in his heart, then turned around and walked out of the hall.
Zhang Zhao was so old that he couldn't see Zhou Li's resentful look at him.
However, Zhang Zhao did not raise any objection to Sun Quankuan's behavior of manipulating the Zhou bream.
He just shouted "Anyone who talks about moving the capital can be killed", just to use the harshest punishment to frighten those ministers who want to escape.
Now that his goal has been achieved, there is no need for Zhang Zhao to kill all the Zhou bream.
After Zhou Li left the main hall, Sun Quan ordered people to carry Zhang Zhao up. When the soft collapse arrived, Sun Quan personally helped Zhang Zhao up.
After Zhang Zhao sat on the couch, Sun Quan squatted at Zhang Zhao's feet regardless of whether he was a king or a minister.
"Mr. Zhang, it is definitely not feasible to move the capital now. I don't know where my government should go. I hope Mr. Zhang can teach me."
Sun Quan spoke sincerely and looked at Zhang Zhao expectantly.
Sun Quan knew that with Zhang Zhao's character, if he came to the hall today, he must have something in mind.
Sure enough, facing Sun Quan's disciple-like questioning, Zhang Zhao's tone softened and he said:
"Your Majesty, for the current plan, our army can only defend Jianye.
Jianye is the foundation of our dynasty. As long as Jianye is in the hands of our dynasty, Chaisang and even Yuzhang County will be able to take it back in the future."
Zhang Zhao once again emphasized the importance of Jianye.
But Zhang Zhao also knew that simply talking about importance was not enough, so he went on to say:
"Although most of the main force of our army is in Jingzhou, defending the city is not a field battle. Ordinary soldiers and even ordinary people can be used to defend the city.
Your Majesty has been soothing Jiangdong for decades, and people in the north and south of the Yangtze River are turning to Your Majesty. This is the foundation for our army to resist the Han army.
In my opinion, Your Majesty should immediately issue an edict and declare to the world your determination to defend Jianye to the death.
Then the treasury in the city was opened, and the country's savings of more than ten years were scattered to reward the soldiers and civilians in the city.
The city of Ye was built with more than 200,000 registered households?
As long as the more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians are united, and the terrain of Jianye is dangerous and the city is high and the pond is thick, why should we fear the power of the bandits?
There is a saying in the art of war: If you attack for a long time, you will lose; if you defend for a long time, you will gain.
I, the whole government, must be determined to fight to the death with the thieves, gather all the national power of the country, and defeat the thieves under the city!
As time passes and the thieves gradually lose their edge, they will naturally retreat.
Do you still remember the two allusions I told His Majesty back then?
The Battle of Jinyang and the Battle of Handan!"
Hearing Zhang Zhao mention these two battles, Sun Quan's confused look became a little brighter.
These two battles were two famous city defense battles that took place during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with Zhao Guo as the protagonist.
In both battles, Zhao was the weaker side.
But the final result of those two battles was that the weaker side of Zhao State won.
The reason for this is that in those two battles, everyone in the Zhao Kingdom was united!
"The situation in our court today is no more critical than what Zhao Xiangzi and King Zhao Xiaocheng faced back then.
And the two monarchs of the Zhao family are no more talented than Your Majesty.
In this case, Zhao Guo could win those two battles, why couldn't our country?
Your Majesty understands this principle of putting yourself to death and resurrecting yourself. Your Majesty once held a sword in your hand to fight against powerful enemies!"
As Zhang Zhao spoke, he took off the sword from his waist and handed it to Sun Quan.
The year mentioned in Zhang Zhao's last sentence refers to the year when the Battle of Chibi took place.
Looking at the sword handed over by Zhang Zhao, Sun Quan did not take it immediately.
Sun Quan first raised his hand and looked at his palm.
Sun Quan suddenly discovered that the cocoon on his palm had dissipated a lot.
After many years of pampered life, Sun Quan no longer held a sword for a long time.
But could it be that Sun Zhongmou, who dared to declare war on the strongest in the world for the sake of power and position, really disappeared from the world?
The eyes of everyone in the palace were focused on Sun Quan.
They all want to know the answer to this question.
After a long time, under the gaze of all the ministers, Sun Quan stretched out his right hand.
A pair of strong hands grasped the sword handed over by Zhang Zhao.
Even if you don't hold a sword for a long time, muscle memory is not easily dissipated.
When the cold hilt of the sword fell into his hand, Sun Quan's originally restless heart slowly calmed down.
With a "shake" sound, Sun Quan drew out the sharp sword that shone with cold light in front of all the ministers.
"Now that the sword is in my hand, why do I need to beg for mercy?"
The words he used to angrily criticize the surrendering ministers once again appeared in Sun Quan's mind.
Sun Quan's eyes were fixed on the sharp sword in his hand, and his body gradually straightened up in the eyes of the ministers.
Sun Quan, who is in his forties, already has some gray hair on his head.
But at this moment, in the eyes of the ministers, they suddenly felt that the white hair on Sun Quan's head had disappeared.
Standing in front of them at this time was an unyielding and unwilling young figure.
"I will not surrender, and I will not retreat.
If you fight, you fight, if you die, you die!"
After saying these two sentences, Sun Quan pointed his sword to the west, which would be the direction from which Mi Yang's army was coming:
"I will be waiting for him in Jianye!"
There was no rage, no trembling, no panic. All these negative emotions could no longer be seen in Sun Quan at this moment.
Sun Quan's calmness convinced all the ministers and even more pleased Zhang Zhao.
At this time, Sun Quan is worthy enough to call himself "I"!