Veteran general Huang Gai advocated resistance to Cao Cao. He asked Kong Ming to use Sun and Liu to defeat Cao's strategy and persuade Sun Quan. In order to make Sun Quan dispel his worries and enhance his confidence in resisting Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang first used words to stimulate him, and then weighed the pros and cons and made Sun Quan accept the plan to defeat Cao Cao.
Sun Quan was worried about the matter concerning the survival of Soochow. Wu Guotai reminded him that "if you don't decide on foreign affairs, ask Zhou Yu." He quickly sent people to Poyang Lake to recall Zhou Yu, the naval commander, for discussion.
Zhou Yu returned, and Lu Su introduced Zhuge Liang to meet Zhou. Lu Su asked Zhou Yu whether he wanted peace or war. Yu originally wanted to fight, but deliberately said peace. Lu Su believed it and argued with him. Zhuge Liang had already seen Zhou Yu's thoughts and wanted to provoke Zhou Yu wisely, but sneered silently from the side. When Yu asked about it, Liang also deliberately said that he wanted to make peace. He proposed that as long as the two Qiao from Jiangdong were sent to Cao Cao, Cao Cao would withdraw his troops. This sentence proves that Cao Cao really wants to get Er Qiao. After hearing this, Yu scolded Cao Cao for going too far. Liang pretended to be puzzled, and Yu explained, "Big Qiao is Sun Ce's wife, and Xiao Qiao is Yu's wife. I hope Kong Ming can help us to defeat Cao Cao." Seeing that Zhou Yu was not willing to be bullied, Zhuge Liang agreed to discuss a plan to defeat Cao.
What Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu said was overheard by Zhou Yu's beloved wife Xiao Qiao. She said to Zhou Yu: "Even if the traitor Cao does not send troops specifically for my sisters, once Jiangnan falls, I and my children will definitely fall into the hands of the traitor Cao. "This remark made Zhou Yu more determined to resist Cao Cao.
Early the next morning, Sun Quan ascended to the throne room, and the civil and military ministers were divided into groups to wait for a while. Zhou Yu came in to see him.
Zhou Yu and Sun Quan analyzed the fatal weaknesses of Cao's army: such as the danger of Ma Teng in the north; the soldiers did not know the nature of water and were not accustomed to the water and soil; the weather was cold and there was a lack of clothing and food. Sun Quan decided to go to war with Cao's army, named Zhou Yu the governor, commanded the three armies, and gave Shang Fang a sword. Zhou Yu informed Zhuge Liang of this situation, but Liang estimated that Sun Quan still had concerns.
That night, Zhou Yu entered the tent again and found that Sun Quan was worried about the strength of Cao's army as Zhuge Liang said and was afraid that he would not be able to win. Zhou Yu then informed Sun Quan of the actual number of Cao's soldiers, and Sun Quan's suspicions were suddenly gone, and his worries were all gone. Zhou Yu was jealous of talents. He deeply felt that Zhuge Liang's strategy was superior to his own and would become a problem for Jiangdong in the future. It was better to get rid of it as soon as possible. He discussed with Lu Su, but Lu Su hurriedly tried to dissuade him and said: "If you kill the wise men before the thieves are defeated, you will injure your own arm, and you may break your trust in the world. Zhuge Jin is his brother, so you can persuade him to stay in Jiangdong." Zhou Yu asked Zhuge Jin to persuade Liang to no avail, and wanted to use Cao Cao's help to kill Liang, but Liang found out again. Zhou Yu then lured Liu Bei across the river, hoping to take the opportunity to kill him, but Guan Yu followed him around and did not dare to take action.
When Liu Bei left Soochow, Xiliang returned with him to avoid any unexpected events. Liang told Bei: "We should immediately mobilize ships and troops to prepare for defeating Cao Cao. We ordered Zhao Yun to drive a small boat to Nanping Mountain to wait. Don't make any mistakes. Wait for the southeast wind. When it rises, the light must return.”
Zhou Yu accepted Lu Su's suggestion and decided to eliminate Kong Ming after Cao Cao was defeated. Yu first sent Gan Ning to challenge Cao Cao, and won the first battle. He also personally went to spy on the actual situation of Cao Cao's camp. Cao Cao was furious after hearing the report and wanted to plot to defeat Wu. Adviser Jiang Gan volunteered to go to Jiangdong to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender. Zhou Yu knew his purpose and hosted a banquet in honor of him. He pretended that Jiang Qian was an old friend of Yu and was not a lobbyist of Cao Cao, but he secretly arranged a fishing hook. Yu ordered Tai Shi Ci to oversee the banquet, declaring that he would only talk about friendship and not state affairs before the banquet. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be beheaded. Zhou Yu praised all the generals as heroes from Jiangdong and named the banquet "Gathering of Heroes".
Seeing that Zhou Yu and his generals were fighting fiercely, Jiang Gan did not dare to bring up the matter of persuading them to surrender, so he had to do his best to entertain them. The banquet didn't end until late at night. Zhou Yu pretended to be drunk and went back to the tent with Jiang Qian to have a rest and slept on the same bed with him. Jiang Gan mistakenly thought that Yu was drunk and asleep, so he quietly got up and peeked at a forged letter written by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun to Zhou Yu, saying that Cai and Zhang would wait for an opportunity to kill Cao Cao and surrender to Zhou Yu. Jiang Qian believed it to be true, so he sneaked back to Cao Cao's camp overnight and presented the stolen letter to Cao Cao to show his merit. Cao Cao was furious and beheaded Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. When Cao Cao realizes it, he realizes that he has been tricked, but it is too late. Cao Jun lost his navy commander, so he had to take over due to ban and Mao Jie.
Zhuge Liang saw through Zhou Yu's forgery plan, which made him even more jealous and determined to get rid of Zhuge Liang to avoid future troubles. He made things difficult for Zhuge Liang and gave him ten days to supervise the production of one hundred thousand arrows for use in attacking the enemy. Zhuge Liang took his time and proposed: The war is imminent and ten days is too many, so just change it to three days. Although Zhou Yu was shocked, he was secretly happy in his heart. He was afraid that something might happen, so he forced Kong Ming to issue a military order. Lu Su was deeply worried about Kong Ming, but Liang was as if nothing had happened. He only asked Lu Su to help him with twenty boats, with thirty sergeants on each boat, and drums and music. The boats were covered with green cloth, and bundles of grass were distributed on both sides of the boat. , and told Su: "This time human life is at stake, be sure not to let Gong Jin know about it."
In the early morning of the third day, the ship headed north of the Yangtze River. At five o'clock, heavy fog filled the river. Liang ordered the ship to approach Cao Jun's water stronghold and move away. Liang drank with Lu Su in the cabin, played ancient music to cheer him up, and ordered his sergeants to beat drums and shout, which alerted Cao Jun's water camp. When Cao Cao heard the news, he ordered his crossbowmen to fire thousands of arrows. The ship was tilted due to heavy weight on one side. Zhuge Liang ordered the ship to turn around and continued to receive arrows. The arrows were all leveled. The fog was about to disappear and Liang ordered to return. At this time, the straw bundles on both sides of the twenty boats were filled with arrows, and more than 100,000 arrows were easily obtained and delivered on time. Zhou Yu helplessly exclaimed: "Kong Ming has a brilliant plan, and Yu is not as good as him." He then asked Zhuge Liang to discuss the matter of defeating Cao Cao. . Yu and Liang each wrote down the plan to defeat Cao on their palms. When they unfolded them, they saw that they all had the word "fire" in them. They looked at each other and laughed.
Jiang Qian stole the book and made Cao Cao kill the naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun by mistake. Cao Cao borrowed arrows from a straw boat and lost 150,000 to 60,000 feathered arrows. The continuous defeats made Cao Cao very angry, so he adopted the counselor Xun You's plan to fake surrender. Cai Zhong and Cai He, brothers of the Cai Mao clan, were sent across the river to pretend to surrender to Soochow as internal responders. Unexpectedly, this move was still within Zhou Yu's expectation. He took advantage of this and tried to use it to achieve his plan of attacking Cao Cao with fire, but he couldn't find a suitable candidate for a while. In the midst of anxiety, the veteran general Huang Gai returned to camp with the grain in hand. He saw through the governor's mind and volunteered to accept physical punishment. Zhou Yu was deeply moved.
The next day, in the main tent of the Chinese army, Zhou Yu severely punished Huang Gai with fifty sticks in front of the generals, Cai Zhong and Cai He. The generals were unable to persuade him, so they beat him until his skin was torn open and his breath was dying. Lu Su deeply blamed Kong Ming for standing by and watching. Kong Ming told Lu Su that this was the plan of the governor: one is willing to beat and the other is willing to suffer.
There was another person who saw through Zhou Yu's plan - Kan Ze, a member of the Soochow army. Entrusted by Huang Gai, he crossed the river and presented a false letter of surrender to Cao Cao, explaining the pros and cons with his sharp tongue. Just when Cao Cao was doubtful, he received secret letters from Cai Zhong and Cai He, confirming that what Kan Ze said was true, so he believed Kan Ze and asked him to return to Jiangdong immediately to cooperate with Huang Gai in his campaign.
In Gan Ning's camp at Sanjiangkou in Dongwu, Kan Ze and Gan Ning performed a scene of surrendering to Cao Cao, leading Cai Zhong and Cai He to tell their true feelings and agree to surrender to Cao Cao that day.
When Shao Zhen looked at the starry sky, he suddenly got out of his misunderstanding. His assassinations frequently failed because he, as a group performer, was assisted by military advisors. So Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others who have the halo of protagonists must have more advanced talents. Military division system assists.
"Commander, please leave. I won't keep you. I have no money."
"You'd better keep me here. I've reduced the price of a hundred pounds of gold by hundreds of thousands of times a day, and now I only have one tael of silver a year."
Shao Zhen smiled happily.
