Zhuge Liang couldn't help but shed a few drops of cold sweat when he realized that the other party had directly pulled out his trump card, and that the wooden box contained the head of Zhao Fan, the prefect of Guiyang who had led his army in rebellion.
It has to be said that the Soochow people's attitude of a strong man cutting off his wrist is indeed very courageous.
It is not difficult to imagine who made such a decisive strategy - for nearly a year, Zhuge Liang had not heard about Zhou Yu's movements. Later, when he inquired, he found out that because of the defeat in the Battle of Hefei, Zhou Yu was sent to Jiaozhou for crimes.
exile.
But now, after Soochow suddenly changed its slightly tough course of action and made a decision that even he did not expect, Zhuge Liang realized that Zhou Yu should have returned.
"I see... It seems that Soochow has made sufficient preparations this time... and has expressed sincerity in advance..."
Zhuge Liang sighed a little, just to sweep away this annoying and surprising atmosphere.
Fazheng frowned. Although he was far inferior to Zhuge Liang in terms of strategy, he was no less conciliatory in terms of scheming. No matter whose strategy it was to present the rebel general's head, it was all the diplomacy of the Soochow people.
A proactive step.
Fazheng and Zhuge Liang originally thought that by concealing Zhao Yun's whereabouts, they could take some initiative in negotiations and use this to severely blackmail the Soochow people. Who would have thought that the other party would actually take the initiative to resolve this concealment?
risks of.
"Sure enough... Gong Jin, have you considered the possibility that Zilong was not dead, but that we deliberately concealed his whereabouts?"
Headache... Zhuge Liang is actually very reluctant to let things end like this.
Just fighting with Cao Cao and Yi Xiaotian in the north had already exhausted him. During the trip to Hanzhong, Jiang Wan came out of the blue - although to a certain extent, Zhuge Liang was not sure of victory in the Hanzhong battle... His own side
The defeat can probably be attributed to Wei Yan, Zhang Fei and others' repeated actions that ignored military orders——
However, in the final battle before leaving, Zhuge Liang was defeated in a head-on confrontation with Jiang Wan.
Of course... this kind of thing falls into the category of unforeseeable... No one expected that Jiang Wan, who was in a desperate situation at that time, could not help but not be killed because of being trapped in the battle. Instead, he was defeated by the lost Che Xuan formation that no one could have expected.
Surrounded by one's own side.
It's just that... these are still within Zhuge Liang's acceptance range——
Being hostile to Cao Cao, he had long expected such hardships and failures.
He is not a saint or a god, so naturally he cannot promise Liu Bei that he can win every battle.
But - Cao Cao, Yi Xiaotian, Jiang Wan... they are all enemies, enemies from beginning to end.
But Zhou Yu is not...
The same emotion appeared in Zhuge Liang's mind more than once:
If there were no such troubled times, why couldn't we become close friends?
Now Zhuge Liang wants to confront his friends, which is not what Zhuge Liang wants.
"Now that the captain has taken out the head of the person we and others must not let go, we have seen Soochow's sincerity."
Zhuge Liang shrugged, looked at Fazheng, and then whispered a few words in Liu Bei's ear.
Jiang Qin looked at this scene, not to mention how nervous he was... The pressure from the group of fierce men around Liu Bei was ridiculous. All he could do was to trust the judgment of Zhou Yu and others and continue to act according to the plan——
Although the sophistry has been refuted, everything is still under control.
The important thing is how to seize the right to speak and take the initiative.
so……
"No... this alone is not enough to express my lord's apology. The guilty general Lu Meng has been dismissed from his post. If necessary, my lord is willing to send Lu Meng to come and apologize in person... to pray for your forgiveness."
When he said this, Fazheng finally couldn't help it anymore——
"Please pause for a moment... I still have doubts, and I would like to ask the captain to clarify them for me."
Seeing that the speaker was so young and immature, Jiang Qin instinctively did not take Fa Zheng into his eyes, and this is human nature. At this time, who has heard of the name of Fa Zheng, Fa Xiaozhi, who has no merit?
"Who is this……"
Jiang Qin asked doubtfully.
"Fa Zheng, Fa Xiaozhi, are now my military advisors. Since Xiaozhi has said so, would you like the captain to listen to his words and clarify his doubts?"
Liu Bei hurriedly smoothed things over and elevated Fazheng's status, finally making Jiang Qin take a closer look at this young man named Fa Xiaozhi.
Of course, he still had doubts in his heart - someone who could be ranked alongside Zhuge Liang as a military advisor under Liu Bei's account was definitely not an ordinary person.
But other than that, Jiang Qin still knew nothing about it and could only follow Liu Bei's wishes and calm down to listen to the other party's doubts.
"According to the captain, the sneak attack on Changsha was Na Lu Meng's personal act, right?"
Jiang Qin seemed to know that Fazheng would ask this question. He shrugged and spread his hands without saying a word. He probably meant that he could not deny it, but he did not know how to define it in words. This was a typical vague statement.
To muddle through.
Fazheng, or in other words, the generals and counselors in Liu Bei's camp are not stupid. It is obvious that this is Sun Quan's order, but the other party wants to make the big thing trivial, and the trivial matter is trivialized. Lu Meng is just the scapegoat of the other side, and the other side also advocates the revolution without authorization.
As Lu Meng's position, this move must be subtle, but if Liu Bei and the others just let go of the entanglement, they will only let the other side take a huge advantage.
"Captain Jiang, what do you mean by this? Do you mean to say that such a large-scale war can be launched arbitrarily by a general like Lu Meng who only has the power to control an army? If I didn't remember
If it is wrong, even if it is just a movement of more than 20,000 troops and horses, the army in Soochow will still need to report it to Wu Hou for decision. May I ask - where did Wu Hou go at this time? Did he really have no idea at all?
?”
Fa Zheng's series of questions seemed to threaten to eat Jiang Qin alive, but...because of this, Jiang Qin gradually calmed down even though his views were so exciting.
He clearly realized that he still had a trump card, so as long as he played it at the right time, he would be sure to win.
If these people under Liu Bei's account, including Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng, really wanted to argue in court, Jiang Qin would be no match for them, but the problem is... diplomacy is never fair.
"Well... General Lu Meng admitted this himself, and also admitted the crime of deploying troops privately. While the casualties of the troops were still under control, the death regulations in our Soochow Army were not yet touched - he is now dismissed from his post and is at home.
, the lord has cut off all sources of income for Lu Meng. As I said, if you are still not relieved, you can tell my lord, my lord will definitely send a special person to lead General Lu Meng to come and apologize in person——"
Broken... Fazheng was gritting his teeth now. Looking at the other party's calm appearance, he realized that as long as the other party was thick-skinned enough, then indeed... they couldn't find any evidence that Sun Quan took the initiative to launch a war, and all Sun Quan had to do was to insist that this matter
It has nothing to do with him——
Then……
"However... my lord has also considered that such a development will happen. Due to emotions and reasons, the lord is on your side. Even if you kill Lu Meng alone, you will not be able to relieve your anger, so——"
Under everyone's gaze, Jiang Qin finally took out a trump card from his arms that could end this diplomatic incident.