In the palace of Sun Jian, the eldest son Sun Ce, the second son Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, the left army division, and Zhang Zhao, the right army division, all stood on both sides, discussing the situation in front of them.

And it was the four people who came to discuss it that were indeed divided into two different opinions, among which Sun Ce and Zhang Zhao meant that as long as the Celestial Empire gave them enough favorable conditions, they could consider the matter of being a minister. After all, the strength of the Celestial Empire is obvious to all, and it is not a wise move to be an enemy of such a country. And as long as the other party agrees to their request for autonomy, it is only superficially subordinate to themselves, and it is not difficult to do it, which is also a slow technique.

For this point, Sun Quan and Zhou Yu are indeed strongly opposed.

Even Sun Quan pointed directly at his brother Sun Ce and said: "Big brother, in vain, you are called the little overlord of Jiangdong, why do you only have such courage and become a coward?" Let me tell you, we in Soochow only have people who died in battle, and there are no people who surrender on their knees. ”

"Shut up." Hearing his younger brother's evaluation of himself, Sun Ce blushed and said: "What do you know, even if you want to fight or kill, you have to have confidence, now that the Celestial Empire is in full swing, do you think we can fight them?" And once defeated, how can our Sun family deal with themselves, and how can the people of Dongwu survive, have you ever considered it? ”

"Yes, Second Prince, the current Celestial Empire is too powerful, we should avoid its edge, but we can develop our own forces first, once we find a suitable opportunity, we can do the opposite, so that the chances of victory will be greater." Zhang Chen and Zhang Zhao echoed Sun Ce's words.

"That's not true." Zhou Yu spoke out at this moment, although he had a good relationship with Sun Ce in private, but when it came to life and death, he did still have his own opinions. "Today's Celestial Empire seems to be strong, but after the war with the Rus' State, now several legions have been completely broken, it can be said that they are now the weakest time, if they can't seize the opportunity to fight with it at this time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to have such an opportunity in the future. As I said, after all, the road to becoming a minister cannot solve the fundamentals, on the contrary, it will lose the morale of the army and the people, which will outweigh the losses. ”

The four of them all expressed their attitudes, and they still had their own reasons, and no one could convince anyone for a while, so they had no choice but to set their eyes on the king Sun Jian, waiting for the king's final decision.

At this moment, Sun Jian was also a little hesitant, or he didn't have an accurate idea. Because he didn't want to be a vassal to the Celestial Empire, but he didn't want to go to war with the Celestial Empire.

To be a vassal is to submit to him, which is inconsistent with his character; If you start a war, if you don't get it right, you will be completely killed, after all, after several battles, he didn't make any money from the Celestial Empire, and he was really a little scared in his heart.

Zhang Chao seems to be an invincible existence, but anyone who has fought with him will have a fear in his heart, and this fear often affects people's judgment.

Seeing that Sun Jian was still hesitating, the second son Sun Ce set his eyes on Zhou Yu, the left military division, and received a hint that he nodded silently. Immediately, he stepped forward and said, "Father, it's better to call in the two young generals, Lu Xun and Lu Meng, and listen to their opinions before making a decision." ”

It was his eldest brother and Zhang Zhao who did not agree to the first battle.

Needless to say, the eldest brother is worried that he has no confidence in the combat power of Soochow, as long as he can regain his confidence, he can fight.

As for Zhang Zhao, he is old and timid, and he is talking about a civil servant, who is afraid of war, and it is normal to not understand something, so Sun Quan thought about asking other people to come together to persuade his father.

"Alright, then summon the two of them and hear what to say." Sun Jian couldn't make up his mind, so he listened to Sun Quan's advice.

The guards went to pass the word, and it didn't take long for Lu Xun and Lu Meng to come to the main hall. After hearing the brief introduction of the second prince Sun Quan, Lu Xun knelt on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, as the second prince and the Zuo military division said, the current Celestial Empire seems to be powerful, but in fact, it is not, in a war with the Rus State, they are tired and the internal army is empty, if you can take the initiative to attack now, it is very likely that you will seize the initiative." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Over the past two years, our Soochow has continued to develop and expand its army, and now it has 1 million naval troops, 800,000 infantry, and the elite soldiers are full of food and content, and they are full of fighting spirit. Lu Meng, one of the people in charge of the military, immediately echoed and said.

After the two of them finished saying this, Sun Quan knelt on the ground and said, "Please also ask my father to agree to send troops." ”

"Please agree to send troops." Zhou Yu fell to his knees like him.

"Please agree to send troops." Lu Xun and Lu Meng also knelt on the ground and said loudly.

Full of fighting spirit, this atmosphere infected Sun Jian.

Sun Jian was nearly sixty years old, which was a very long-lived age at that time. It is precisely because of his age that his spirit is not as good as when he was young, so he hesitates to send troops or not. But now that all the generals under his command are a little warlike and are not afraid of death, what is he afraid of?

"Okay, if everyone agrees like this, then it's better to send troops, so tell the three armies, get ready, and the two armies by water will fight at the same time in three days." Sun Jian, instigated by his second son Sun Quan, finally gave the order to go out of the army.

Soochow began to prepare for war and prepare for the army, and the Tianyan members in Jianye City quickly found out the news, and at that moment, the news was transmitted to Xu Huang and Xu Shu of the Fifth Army who confronted them.

When the news came, the Fifth Army hurriedly made preparations for defense, and at the same time sent the news to Luoyang City, where there was a large Guo Jia in the array, and how to deal with it still needs to wait for a new military order.

Luoyang City.

Finishing touches are underway at the new palace.

It has been a long time since the occupation of Luoyang, but the work of repairing the palace has only begun in the past two years. Specifically, Emperor Zhang Chao took the army to Rus' to start the work, and from the eighth year of the Celestial Empire to the current ten years of the Celestial Empire, it has been more than two years, and the renovation work of the new palace is finally coming to an end.

At first, Zhang Chao himself did not agree too much with the renovation of the palace, and in his opinion, it was better to use the money for army construction. It's just that all the ministers, including Guo Jia and Lu Su, have opposed this point. In their view, the place of the palace is the foundation of the royal family, the face of a country, and it must not be dealt with in the slightest.

After all, Zhang Chao has never been an emperor, and with his avant-garde thoughts, it is difficult to understand the thoughts of the courtiers. In their hearts, the more noble the emperor's face, the more face he naturally has as a courtier.

Zhang Chao objected, but none of the courtiers had the intention of retreating in this matter, so he had no choice but to approve. Fortunately, the people who repaired it were all migrant workers from the people's families, and they were all cost prices, so they didn't need to consume too much money, but they couldn't hurt the foundation of the Celestial Empire.

Seeing that the palace was about to be repaired, the sound of the triumph of the army was also heard in front, which made Lord Guo Jia, who was sitting in Luoyang City, overjoyed. But with the news that Dongwu was going to move troops, his originally happy expression suddenly changed.

"Hey, did King Wu still decide to do it? Isn't this tantamount to disregarding the lives of the people of Eastern Wu? After hearing the news, Guo Jia couldn't help but sigh and said.

"Lord Guo, the decision of the Fifth Legion is still waiting for you in front, how to reply to them." A burly and heroic man stood in front of Guo Jia and asked.

"Oh, Second Highness, in your opinion, how do you reply?" Looking at this young man who was excessive, but his face was full of fortitude, Guo Jia smiled slightly and asked tentatively.

This second highness is not an outsider, but Zhang Xing, the second son of Zhang Chao, the first emperor of heaven, and the son born to Zhang Chao and Bai Tong.

Maybe it's because his biological mother is Bai Tong, and Zhang Xing, who knows that he has nothing to rely on, has been very strong since he became sensible, and he has also developed a very independent personality.

Now he is only fifteen years old, but his official position is already a battalion commander who has completed the eight classics. To say that he, the battalion commander, did not get it because of his identity, but really relied on his military merits to come up step by step.

At the beginning, a year and a half ago, Zhang Xing, who was less than 14 years old, suddenly told his mother Bai Tong that he wanted to join the army.

Mother Bai Tong was naturally a little reluctant, the Celestial Empire was so big and the army was so numerous, how could she send her own son. It's just that Zhang Xing's attitude is very strong, and since then he has been on a hunger strike for three days to show his ambition.

At this moment, the matter became sensational, so much so that Queen Cai Yan heard about it, and immediately she came to the Concubine Defei Palace where Bai Tong was.

For the arrival of the queen in person, Bai Tong naturally came to greet him with a sincere fear, and even brought out his son Zhang Xing, who had been on a hunger strike for three days, and went to ask for peace.

Who knows, what Cai Yan did was for Zhang Xing's business, as soon as the two sides met, she agreed with Zhang Xing's military service, and even said that the descendants of the Zhang family need the test of blood and fire, and his eldest brother, Zhang Tian, the son of the queen, is now in charge of the country, and he has no time to join the army, so it is better to let Zhang Xing do it. At the same time, she also said that as long as Zhang Xing is willing, she can be transferred to the palace brocade guard office immediately to become an official soldier.

The reason why Cai Yan did this was naturally because he didn't want any problems between his sister Bai Tong and his parents. And when it comes to agreeing to join the army, it's just an excuse, think about it, become a brocade guard, then stay in the palace, what is the difference between whether you really join the army?