"We can only prepare for the worst case scenario regarding Zhao Yun - if Zhao Yun is still alive, but Liu Bei and others concealed the news of his existence, we must treat this matter carefully and not give the other party any excuses.
Blackmailing us——"
Zhou Yu said slowly, and Lu Su on the side also expressed his agreement.
"Since Guiyang has been lost, of course we cannot push Jiang Gongyi out. In order to block the other party's reasons for holding him accountable, I suggest sending Gongyi as an envoy to go to Jiangling with the head of Zhao Fan to negotiate with Liu Bei."
"In this case, the other party will definitely have no reason to pursue us for causing Zhao Yun's disappearance - once Zhao Fan dies, there will be no evidence for the rebellion against Guiyang. It is simply killing two birds with one stone."
"Well - that's very good. As long as we can clear away the relationship with Zhao Yun's disappearance, everything will be easy to talk about!"
Sun Quan clicked his tongue in praise and had to express his appreciation to Zhou Yu for his thoughtful consideration.
But before Zhou Yu finished speaking... Lu Su continued to ask:
"But if it's just a human head, I'm afraid it's not enough to stabilize the greed of Liu Bei and others, right?"
Yes, although Lu Su was the first to show his kindness to Liu Bei and was the first to propose an alliance with Liu Bei to fight against Cao, he was quite wary of Liu Bei's ambitions... He took advantage of Yizhou to attack Hanzhong.
Judging from the subsequent break with Liu Zhang, Liu Bei was not as humble and cowardly as he appeared on the surface.
Zhuge Liang was right to preside over the overall situation of Liu Bei's army, but Liu Bei was by no means as naive as Liu Jingsheng.
As long as Liu Bei smells the smell of interests, any covenant and friendship will be nothing more than empty talk and a thin piece of paper that will be broken at the drop of a hat.
"This is indeed..."
Zhou Yu nodded and did not deny Lu Su's statement, but Zhou Yu naturally had a way to solve this problem.
"The first thing we need to make clear is that this is by no means the time to break with Liu Bei. The alliance between the two families must not be broken at will. Zhong Mou, your previous reckless behavior gave your opponent enough reason to blackmail us, no matter what
We have no reason to refuse whatever requests the other party makes."
"But if this is the case, we are too passive, so in order to stabilize Liu Bei, I have two other proposals——"
"Oh? Are there two other ways?"
Sun Quan was a little embarrassed at first because he had said it all. After he calmed down, he did realize that he was reckless. This embarrassing situation was all caused by him. In order to make up for it, he was willing to obey
Zhou Yu and Lu Su’s plan.
After hearing Zhou Yu say there were two proposals, Sun Quan couldn't help but get excited.
"To be precise, these two are indispensable. First of all, regarding Nanjun Jiangling, we must express our position and recognize the other party's ownership of Jiangling, and let the other party believe that we will not launch another unprovoked sneak attack on Jiangling like before.
"
"We don't have to rush to mention Jiang Xia's ownership, because no matter what, the troops currently relying on Liu Bei are unlikely to be able to withstand Jiang Xia - we just need to wait and see what happens and wait for the other party to take the initiative to mention it."
"And the second point -"
"Then that's marriage as a show of sincerity."
——
To be honest, when he heard the word marriage, Sun Quan still felt unrealistic.
Because he always felt that Jiangdong was now full-fledged, and it was unlikely that he would do something like a marriage that was for political purposes but was quite aggrieved by reason.
In fact, as early as the beginning of Jian'an that year, Cao Cao deliberately asked Sun Quan to send protons to Xudu. Sun Quan was extremely aggrieved at that time. After all, Soochow was just established, his brother Sun Cexin died, and Jiangdong was in turmoil. He knew that if he wanted to give
Soochow's behavior of trying to gain some breathing space and sending protons was a condition that has always been the same throughout the ages.
But...this is too frustrating.
Sun Quan was very high-spirited at that time, and he was already young and energetic. To have him do such unreasonable things was like stabbing a knife into his body.
Of course, the strong opposition from Zhou Yu and others later gave Sun Quan the confidence to reject Cao Cao.
However, this also allowed Cao Cao to know Sun Quan's attitude, which indirectly led to the subsequent Battle of Chibi.
If there are no accidents, in fact, relying on this chain reaction, Cao Cao swept all the way and even conquered Chibi, and now the whole world will be unified - it can only be said that fate plays tricks on people, and various accidents, like God's will, made Cao Cao
Defeat at Chibi.
So when Zhou Yu mentioned marriage, Sun Quan rejected Zhou Yu without even thinking about it.
"No! Only marriage is impossible!"
"Zhong Mou... This is the best way for us to express our sincerity and appease Liu Bei. If not, we have to trade Chaisang for stability. There are only two paths at the moment. If it were you, how would you choose?"
Seeing Sun Quan's fierce reaction, Zhou Yu was not too surprised and just continued to ask in a calm tone.
Sun Quan choked for words for a moment, yes, he only considered reason but ignored their current situation.
Chaisang? They have already lost Jiangxia, and they want to exchange Chaisang for stability. If this is the case, wouldn't it mean that Jiangling is getting farther and farther away, and the possibility of taking Jingzhou is getting smaller and smaller?
Sun Quan's thoughts were in chaos, and both Zhou Yu and Lu Su could only watch helplessly as Sun Quan struggled.
Snapped--
A crisp slap sounded in the room.
It startled several birds in the courtyard outside the house.
At this moment, Sun Quan covered his red and swollen face and gritted his teeth. He slapped himself, firstly to calm himself down, and secondly to feel ashamed of his recklessness and stupidity.
"It's all my fault... If I hadn't made such a wrong decision, I wouldn't be like this today..."
"Zhong Mou, it's useless to talk about that now. Making a decision as soon as possible is the most important thing."
"If you feel humiliated, if you feel unwilling to accept it, remember this feeling, and we will take it back together in the future - temporary tolerance is just for greater success, do you understand?"
Zhou Yu's voice became slightly gentler. Both he and Lu Su knew that as a lord, Sun Quan had to go through these struggles. If no one was around to advise him at this time, it would only make Sun Quan go astray, so even now
Humiliation, but also cannot be acted on impulse.
"I see--"
After a long time, Sun Quan finally raised his head.
Looking at his extremely gloomy face and his whole person looking quite tired, one can imagine what kind of struggles he has gone through.
However, the answer finally came.
"Gong Jin, who do you mean by marriage...?"
"You should know that there is no one more suitable besides her."
"really…"
Zhou Yu said lightly, while Lu Su also sighed.
Sun Quan's mood is even more complicated, because apart from friendship, the "she" in Zhou Yu's mouth is Sun Quan's closest blood sister, Sun Shangxiang.
Sun Quan's biological mother has passed away, and his father and brother are no longer here. The only ones in the family are his father's original concubine, Ding, and Sun Shangxiang, the daughter of Ding and his father Sun Jian.
After Sun Quan took charge of the military and political power of Soochow, he treated his father's concubine and his concubine as his biological mother.
Now the Ding family is following Sun Quan to take charge of the family, deciding his internal affairs, and is known as Wu Guotai. Now... he has to use his only younger sister, his mother's only biological daughter, as a political tool because of the marriage...
