When the ministers were worried, they heard Sun Quan say loudly: "Everyone, Cao Wei's attention is now attracted to Xishu. Should I, Soochow, take this opportunity to do something?"
The year before last, Sun Quan personally conquered Jiangxia, and all the elite soldiers of Soochow came out. The battle was not insignificant, but the result was unsatisfactory.
Not only was he frightened off by Wenpin and others with only suspected soldiers on his own route, but he was also easily defeated by Sima Yi on the other route and retreated to Jiangling with a broken army.
In fact, it was acceptable to retreat. What made Sun Quan most angry was that the general Han Zong, who he had high hopes for, led his entire clan to rebel against the country and surrender to the enemy. This move made him lose face in the court, and he was laughed at by some people. .
Now compared with the results of Ji Han's Northern Expedition, he felt even more humiliated. He couldn't help but start to compare, and prepared to send troops to attack Wei again. He was determined to win several battles to show the world. He must not let Ji Han Exclusive prestige.
As soon as Sun Quan finished speaking, Gu Yong quickly dissuaded him and said: "Your Majesty, although most of Cao Wei's energy is now on Xi Shu, there are still more than 100,000 Wei soldiers guarding the Jingyang front line.
Moreover, Wei generals Sima Yi and Cao Xiu were not ordinary people. They sent troops forcefully when there was no opportunity to take advantage of them. I think this was an unwise move and not the behavior of a wise king or a wise master. "
"The Wei thieves were defeated by the Shu people. The country must be in panic and the army and the people must be frightened. How can we not take advantage of this opportunity?" Seeing that someone objected as soon as he finished speaking, Sun Quan was very angry and immediately retorted in a bad tone.
Gu Yong raised his head and glanced at Sun Quan, and saw that his face was full of displeasure. Although he felt that what his lord said seemed a bit unreasonable, he did not dare to argue anymore in this situation.
At this time, Zhuge Jin also advised: "Your Majesty, Cao Rui may return to Luoyang soon. Once he returns to the court to take charge, the chaotic situation in his country will surely stabilize. By then, Cao Wei will stabilize the west and turn its head." Go east and concentrate on dealing with my Northern Expedition army. If this happens, our army may not be able to win. I hope your Majesty will think twice."
Wei and Shu would soon stop sending troops. This was the consensus of Shicai's ministers. Sun Quan himself also recognized this. Zhuge Jin used this reason to oppose sending troops, and for a while he was speechless.
Seeing that their king was rendered speechless, many people spoke out against him. But how could Sun Quan give up? He turned to look at Zhu Ran, hoping that this confidant would speak out to support him.
"Yi Feng, what do you think?"
Zhu Ran also felt that he had little confidence in conquering Wei at this time, and wanted to object directly, but when he saw the expectant look on Sun Quan's face, he suddenly couldn't bear it, so he forcibly changed his opinion, handed over his hand and replied: "Your Majesty, I think this is The time is right to send troops."
"Well, tell me your reasons." Sun Quan looked encouraging.
Seeing that someone finally supported him, Sun Quan was cheered up. Looking at Zhu Ran, he was secretly pleased: "Yi Feng is still considerate!"
Zhu Ran knew that his lord wanted him to defeat the opponents such as Gu Yong, but he was originally on Gu Yong's side. How could he think of a reason to support sending troops? If he had been there, he would have become a supporter of Sun Quan long ago. ? Why wait until now?
However, at this moment, everyone's eyes in the palace were focused on Zhu Ran. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that even though Cao Rui would return to the court soon, the Shu people occupied Longyou and were eyeing Guanzhong. Cao Wei will allocate at least half of his energy to the Western Front no matter what, which is much better than the situation before I sent troops.
In the past, I was able to cross the Yangtze River and go north to conquer the Jinghuai River. But now that Cao Wei is defeated, do we dare not send troops? "
"Come on, Yi Feng's words are very unintentional. Now that the snobbery has favored me, we should seize the opportunity to send our troops north to achieve great achievements. How can we be afraid to move forward?" Seeing that Zhu Ran's words were sound and convincing, Sun Quan was very excited. To cheer up.
With such a strong reason to support sending troops, Sun Quan suddenly felt that his waist straightened a little. He glanced at Gu Yong and others with a smile on his face. Seeing that they did not dare to look at him, he felt proud in his heart.
"Does what I say make sense?"
Seeing no one to refute, Zhu Ran couldn't help but doubt his original thoughts. Recalling the reasons he just said based on his feelings, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable he felt. At this time, he was really interested in sending troops to attack Wei.
Just when Sun Quan wanted to strike while the iron was hot and decided to send troops, Gu Yong suddenly retorted: "The words of General Zhengbei are not correct. Soldiers are a major event for the country. How can they be done with just a single act of bravery?
In the past few years since Cao's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, most of the Wei troops have attacked us. Except for a large-scale attack the year before last when Cao Rui's throne was not stable, our army has never sent any large troops to the north. It can be seen that even now Cao Wei is focusing its energy on dealing with Western Shu. , but as long as there are no major flaws in the Jing and Yang lines, our army will not be able to move northward. Forcibly moving northward will be a waste of money and food and a useless effort. "
"this......"
Zhu Ran was speechless for a moment, but he felt that what Gu Yong said was quite reasonable. As a general in the army, he had to admit that his army had a hard time facing the Wei soldiers in land warfare. The difference in combat power between the two armies cannot be determined by blood alone. Courage makes up for it. If you want to achieve success by going north to attack Wei, you have to find a good opportunity.
Seeing that Gu Yong and the others had the upper hand again, Sun Quan became a little anxious, and finally turned his attention to Lu Xun, who had not spoken for a long time. Whether Soochow would send troops or not, he would have to listen to this person's opinion.
"What do Boyan think?" Sun Quan asked.
Lu Xun cupped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I haven't thought about it yet."
"Is this so? But..." Sun Quan was about to force Lu Xun to express his position when he suddenly caught a glimpse of him winking at him.
Sun Quan was stunned for a moment, then understood and said to everyone: "That's all, let's discuss it here for today, and we will discuss whether to send troops later. Boyan stays, and everyone else should disperse."
After the ministers retired, Lu Xun asked Sun Quanping to retreat. When all the maids and maids had left the palace, Lu Xun said: "Your Majesty, in fact, since the Northern Expedition of Western Shu, I have been planning to attack Wei. Just as your Majesty said, Cao Wei Now most of our attention is on Zhuge Liang, this is a good opportunity for me to go north to Jingyang from Soochow, I must not miss it."
"Oh? How come I haven't heard anything from you about this matter?" Sun Quan asked in shock.
Lu Xun explained: "Your Majesty, as the Prime Minister and others said, even if Cao Wei's attention is mostly attracted by the Shu army, our army must find Wei Jun's flaws if it wants to go north, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve greater results. Former Minister I never found a good opportunity, so I didn’t dare to report it, and it wasn’t until recently that things turned around.”
"What kind of opportunity is this?" Sun Quan asked hurriedly.
Lu Xun said: "Does Your Majesty still remember Zhou Li, the governor of Poyang?"
"Of course I remember that it was this person who was able to quell Peng Qi's rebellion last year. If he hadn't captured Peng Qi alive, the rebellion would not have been quelled so quickly."
Peng Qinai was the commander-in-chief of the clan robbers in Poyang County. In the third year of Jianxing, when Cao Pi led his army to Guangling to prepare for another attack on Wu, he took the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of people to rebel against Wu. He conquered several counties at once and claimed to be a general with great momentum.
Since Sun Quan had been preparing for war against Wei, he did not send a large army to attack Peng Qi. He only appointed Zhou Li as the governor of Poyang, and asked him to coordinate with his governor Hu Zong to attack Peng Qi.
Zhou Li did not disappoint Sun Quan and teamed up with Hu Zong to successfully capture Peng Qi alive and put down the rebellion. Later, Zhou Li was promoted by Sun Quan as the captain of Zhaoyi school for his meritorious service, and he also served as the prefect of Poyang.
"What does this matter have to do with Zhou Li?"
Lu Xun replied: "I haven't found a weakness in Cao Wei for a long time, so I decided to find a good opportunity on my own, so I came up with a plan.
A few months ago, I ordered Governor Zhou to secretly look for the clan leader who had escaped into the mountains and gathered in a crowd and was known to Cao Wei. He planned to have them go to Cao Xiu to feign surrender and lure Cao Xiu to lead his troops south so that our army could ambush them.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Taishou thought that these clan traitors would leak secrets and were not enough to succeed, so he recommended himself and asked for permission to fake the surrender of Cao Xiu himself.
I thought that the governor of Poyang was indeed more important than the leaders of the sects, so I agreed to it. This plan has gone too far, so please forgive me. "With that said, he stood up and prostrated himself on the ground.
Sun Quan hurriedly helped Lu Xun up and said with a smile: "You are planning for the country, and you are eager to obey your authority. What crime do you have?"
He had already carved a few of his seals and placed them with Lu Xun, so that Lu Xun could easily deal with the military affairs. How could he be blamed for arranging Zhou Li to design Cao Wei?
"How far are you with Zhou Li now?" Sun Quan asked excitedly.
Lu Xun said: "Going back to the Supreme Being, Zhou Yi has written seven notes for his cronies to send to Yangzhou. In the note, he lied that he had been criticized by the Supreme Being and was afraid of being accused and killed. He planned to surrender Poyang County to Cao Wei and asked Cao Xiu to do so. Send troops to respond.”
"Did Cao Xiu believe it?" Sun Quan asked quickly.
"Cao Xiu is still half convinced. In order to further paralyze Cao Xiu, this plan requires the cooperation of the Supreme Being."
Sun Quan smiled and said, "Oh? What should you do if you want me alone?"
"The Supreme Being only needs..." Lu Xun stepped forward and whispered back.
After a while, a burst of hearty laughter came from the hall. It was Sun Quan who was in a good mood because he had made a good plan.
It could be heard that he was very confident in Lu Xun's strategy this time.
