Not only did Zhuge Liang lose confidence, but Sun Quan was also in a mess.

Li Feng's arrogance was originally just a joke, no matter how you look at it, how to look like a Haiyu who makes people laugh, but when Wei Ba behind him gathered people in the name of Du Try, and Meng Da detained his war horse in the name of imminent war, cutting off the connection between him and Zhuge Liang, Li Feng's arrogance was not just a joke.

This is a sign of the coming storm.

Sun Quan was very nervous, pondering in front of the map all night, the more he looked at it, the more he felt that the prospect was not good, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that it seemed more rational to be a vassal to Shu Han, and it was not worth it to start a war with Shu Han for such an inexplicable reason.

It's not that you will definitely lose on the battlefield, but it's not worth it. After this battle, Wu will not be able to mobilize a large army for at least two or three years, and the situation on the Jianghuai battlefield will take a sharp turn for the worse, and Wei, which has just stabilized the annexation of the state, is likely to take advantage of this opportunity to invade south and re-advance the battle line along the Yangtze River. The rupture of relations with Shu Han also meant that Wu would no longer be able to get support from Shu Han and would fall into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts.

There is no doubt that among the three kingdoms, Wu is still the weakest. Not only is it weak, but it also has no room for development. Wei has such Xiongzhou as Jizhou, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou, and although it has suffered a setback, it can still support it for the time being. The latecomers of Shu Han prevailed, Zhuge Liang was in Guanzhong, and Wei Ba was operating in Jiaozhou, and the rapid increase in strength was obvious to all. The reason why Zhuge Liang couldn't attack Luoyang was not because Shu Han's strength was not enough, but because Li Yan and Wei Ba not only did not help, but also restrained part of Zhuge Liang's energy. If the power of Shu Han is concentrated in the hands of a certain person, it does not matter whether this person is Zhuge Liang or Li Yan. Unite the strength of Shu Han, take the state, and conquer Luoyang, which is just around the corner.

But Wu can't, to the south, Jiaozhou was occupied by Wei, to the east, is an endless sea, he has no territory to open up, no growth point. As the war intensified. However, Shanyue in the hinterland fled one after another under the lure of Wei Ba, and as time went by, he would become weaker and weaker.

Except for close ministers such as Zhuge Ke and Hu Zong, he no longer discusses with other ministers. Especially those ministers from Jiangdong. Because they are more on the same page. They all agreed to bow their heads to Li Yan. Declare himself a vassal to Shu Han to avoid war. Not only the Jiangdong family, but even Zhang Zhao, Zhuge Jin and others from the Jianghuai family also expressed similar attitudes in different ways.

In a trance. Sun Quan felt that he had returned to the thirteenth year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao's war letter arrived in Wu County, and the Manchu civil and military were in favor of surrendering. At that time, there was Lu Su and Zhou Yu, but who is there now? Even Lu Meng died, and the important general in the army was led by Lu Xun, but Lu Xun was an authentic Jiangdong man.

In the evening, when Sun Quan and Zhuge Ke sat opposite each other, he sighed sincerely: "It's a pity, Gongjin is not here, even Ziming is gone, and there is no successor." ”

Zhuge Ke quietly continued: "Maxima is often there, but Bole is not often." As long as the king dares to appoint, there is no one to follow. ”

Sun Quan glanced at Zhuge Ke and said half-jokingly: "Yuan Xun, if you go to Changsha, can you stop Wei Ba?" ”

Zhuge Ke said lightly: "There is a prince in Changsha, and there is also Zhang Zhonghei. ”

Sun Quan narrowed his eyes and said, "What if I send Zigao back to Wuchang, hand over all Zhang Cheng's troops to you, and give you another 20,000 soldiers?" ”

Zhuge bowed and bowed: "I am willing to drive for the king." ”

Sun Quan did not speak. He looked at Zhuge Ke and hesitated. He is optimistic about Zhuge Ke, but Zhuge Ke is too young, not qualified enough, and more importantly, he does not have a strong enough subordinate force. For the generals of Eastern Wu, whether the strength is strong or not, first depends on how many parts there are, how effective the troops are, and at a critical time, it is necessary to rely on the troops to charge into battle and decide the victory or defeat. Without a strong ministry, it is difficult to grasp such an opportunity. Another point is to look at his qualifications, without enough qualifications, he will not be able to make other generals bow down to orders. At the beginning, Zhou Yu and Lu Xun had encountered the disobedience of their subordinate generals, but at that time, the generals in the army were still mainly non-Jiangdong factions, and they could still maintain consistency in the face of common interests.

Thinking about it, only Lu Xun has such strength. It's a pity that there is only one Lu Xun after all, and it is impossible for him to deal with both Meng Da and Wei Ba.

After not hearing Sun Quan's reaction for a long time, Zhuge Ke felt a little cold, and slowly sat up straight, but kept his head down.

Sun Quan sighed secretly. He felt a little sorry for Zhuge Ke, provoked his ambitions, but couldn't pay him a heavy responsibility. He felt sad for himself again, and now he no longer has the pride of pulling out a knife and cutting the case and going to fight with Cao Cao.

Sun Quan coughed: "Yuan Xun, if you go to Changsha, how will you win?" ”

"The king, the minister thinks that Wei Ba is a virtual seven and three real, and has no will to fight." Zhuge Ke cleared his throat and said earnestly: "The king, the reason why the ministers are in unison and hope that the king will agree to Li Yan's request is nothing more than the weighing of interests. Claiming to be a minister is just a false name, but starting a war is a real harm, and inviting real harm with a false name is a mistake. ”

Sun Quan frowned, looked at Zhuge Ke quietly, and encouraged him to continue.

"Such a simple truth, I believe that Li Yan and Wei Ba both understand that the reason why they made this request is precisely because they feel that the possibility of the king agreeing is very high, not that they are sure of victory." Zhuge Ke continued: "This matter seems very simple, but if you think about it later, the title of minister is just a seemingly insignificant request, and even a little sweet decoy erbium, but this decoy contains a deadly fish hook. ”

Sun Quan's eyebrows gradually raised.

"If they can get their wish, it will be equivalent to overturning the previous covenant, and my Great Wu can only become their vassal from now on, and it is no longer possible to be the emperor, otherwise, the king is a rebel, and Li Yan can justifiably order a crusade against the king."

"If they get their wish this time, then in the court of Shu Han, Prime Minister Zhuge will be defeated for a while, and Li Yan will win again, and it is possible to gather great power in one, and it is possible to invade Guanzhong. If he grasps the military power in Guanzhong, and after conquering and annexing the state in the future, he will attack Jizhou, can the king stop him? When he recovers Jizhou, then turns around and crosses the river and invades Jianghuai, can the king stop it? The day is decided, he will sacrifice a different surname and not be crowned king, or investigate the king's previous affairs, and he will cut the domain, can the king stop it? The king, Kui Huan and Gongsun are in front of him, and the lessons of the past must be observed. ”

"The power is concentrated in Li Yan, and it is not the benefit of the prime minister, nor the benefit of the king." Zhuge Ke took a breath and continued: "Those people are either stupid and don't understand this truth. Or it is unfaithful, knowing but not speaking, and not saying enough. As long as their own interests were not damaged, the survival of the state of Wu was not in their consideration at all. ”

"Yuan Xun, your words remind me of Lu Zijing at the beginning." Sun Quan waved his hand and interrupted Zhuge Ke's words: "I know." Tell me if Wei Ba will really attack. ”

Zhuge Ke smiled: "King, if Wei Ba really wants to attack, will he make such a big fanfare?" This man has always been surprisingly victorious in the use of troops, and does not like head-on battles, in order to reduce casualties. Isn't it obvious that it is unusual, declared without a fight? If the king is weak and cowardly, he will be more and more arrogant. If the king refuses to show weakness, actively prepares for war, and wants to live and die with him, he is afraid that he will retreat, and don't look for other ways. ”

"You mean to say that Wei Ba is bluffing?"

"I can't say that." Zhuge Ke smiled more and more happily, "The art of war is cloudy, I am invincible, and the enemy can be defeated." Because I am invincible, the enemy will not attack. If the king is well-planned and has the intention of breaking jade, what opportunity does Wei Ba have to wait? ”

Sun Quan pondered for a long time, and then said angrily: "Yuan Xun, I will allocate 20,000 elites, you go to Changsha, I will transfer back to Zigao, but Zhang Cheng will stay there for the time being." ”

Zhuge Ke was a little regretful, but he still nodded and bowed down to receive the order.

……

In Xiangguan, Wei Ba was wearing a snow-white robe, slowly coiling his hands in the courtyard, with a light hem and fluttering long sleeves, like a fairy.

Wei Wu was accompanying him, and he was also in the cloud hand, but compared to Wei Ba's round turn, his cloud hand was a little more fierce, and his expression was even more violent, as if he was fighting with someone.

"Zilie, you have to relax a little more."

"As soon as I relax, I fall asleep easily." Wei Wu grinned, twitched his tense face, and showed a little frustration: "Brother, I really can't understand the kind of realm you said. ”

"Because you always want to fight with others, and if you want to fight, of course you will use your strength." Wei Ba slowly retracted his momentum and said with a smile: "Lao Tzu said that the husband is the only one who can't fight, so the world can't fight with him." You should understand this sentence more. ”

"Lao Tzu can recite 5,000 words backwards, but I just can't do it." Wei Wu licked his lips and said with a bitter face: "Brother, for example, if Xingcai wants to beat me, I can shrink my neck and let her beat, but if others want to beat me and kill me, I can't do it?" ”

"Alas, you rammer, it seems that you have nothing to do with cultivation." Wei Ba waved his hand and motioned for Wei Wu to go to the side to practice. Wei Wu looked up and saw that two soldiers walked over with an unkempt young man, and although the man's legs were weak, his face was hideous, and there was a lot of arrogance in his expression, so he couldn't help but be curious, put away his fist, and stood aside.

Wei Ba looked Zhou Yin up and down and smiled happily. "Zhou Zhongying, don't come unharmed?"

"Phew!" Zhou Yin, who had been keeping his mouth closed, suddenly opened his mouth and spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm, which hit Wei Ba's front swing, and the blue-yellow thick phlegm stuck to the hem of his snow-white clothes, which was dazzling. Zhou Yin tilted his head back in satisfaction, looked at Wei Ba with his nostrils, and scolded contemptuously: "Next!" ”

(To be continued......)