Jiangdong, Wu County.
After a few days of bumpy travel, Lu Su had returned to River East. He was sitting in a carriage and quickly entered the city from the north gate.
Very quickly, the carriage arrived at Sun Quan's residence. Lu Su walked straight in, and under the guidance of the chamberlain, they quickly arrived at a study.
In the study room, Sun Quan was reading a bamboo scroll. When he heard the footsteps outside, he immediately raised his head.
Seeing that it was Lu Su, Sun Quan's eyes lit up as he asked,"Zijing is finally back. Sit down first. How's the discussion going?”
Lu Su sat down in front of Sun Quan and smiled bitterly."Liu Jue accepted the jewels and beauties and agreed to make peace with us. He also agreed to release Gong Jin's mother and son, but he had one more condition.”
Sun Quan looked at Lu Su's expression and couldn't help but frown,"Liu Jue is too greedy. Since he has accepted the beautiful woman, he still wants to raise conditions? Tell me, what other requests does he have!”
"Liu Jue wants us to give him 100,000 dans of food and 100 skilled blacksmiths." Lu Su sighed and said.”
When Sun Quan heard this, his green eyes seemed to be about to spit fire. He slammed the table and roared,""100,000 dans of grain! Why didn't Liu Jue go and snatch it? Does he really think I'm afraid of him?"
"My lord, please don't be angry." Lu Su quickly said.”
"How can I not be angry?" Sun Quan roared. Liu Jue saw that Jiang Dongshan was becoming more and more chaotic and did not have time to care about anything else, so he came to ask for an exorbitant price. This was simply taking advantage of a burning house!”
Lu Su smiled bitterly." My lord, who doesn't know that Liu Jue is taking advantage of the situation? But for the sake of the big picture, please think twice!"”
When he heard the word 'big picture,' Sun Quan calmed down slightly. He then asked,"Is there no room for negotiation? For example, could the amount of food be reduced?”
"Liu Jue's attitude is very firm. When I left, he deliberately said in front of me that he wanted to go hunting and play in Yuzhang." Lu Su sighed.”
Sun Quan's lungs were about to explode from anger. What bullsh * t hunting and sightseeing? This was clearly a threat! If he didn't agree to this request, Liu Jue would most likely send troops to Nan Chang.
Perhaps Liu Jue was just saying it casually, but who knew if it was the truth?
Sun Quan gritted his teeth and said," He likes to go to Yuzhang to hunt. Then let him go. It's best if the wild beasts eat him. I won't give him a single grain."”
Lu Su smiled bitterly and said," My lord, please don't act on impulse. The unrest in Shanyue is getting more and more intense. If Liu Jue really goes south to attack Yuzhang, it won't be a good thing for us."”
Sun Quan's face was ashen. After a moment of silence, he asked,"If Liu Jue really attacks Yuzhang, how many troops can we send to resist?”
Lu Su said," 15,000 at most. Even if we can hold them off, it will affect our ability to pacify Shanyue."”
Sun Quan took in a deep breath. He was extremely unwilling.
Although the grain reserves in Jiangdong were not as good as Jingzhou's, there were still 600,000 to 700,000 dans. At most, pacifying Shanyue would cost 200,000 dans. Giving 100,000 dans of grain to Liu Jue would not have any impact at all.
However, Sun Quan felt indignant. The grain that he had painstakingly grown was given to someone else for nothing. He couldn't swallow this humiliation no matter what.
If it wasn't for Shan Yue causing trouble, why would I ask for peace with Liu Jue?
Sun Quan tightly clenched his fists and expressionlessly said,""Agree to Liu Jue's conditions. 100,000 dans of food and 100 blacksmiths.”
"Zijing knows. I'll go to Jingzhou immediately.”Lu Su smiled bitterly again.
"In addition, pass on the order to the generals. They do not need to show mercy to the Shan Yue who caused trouble this time. I will kill them until they no longer dare to riot!”Sun Quan roared as his blue eyes turned bloodshot.
Lu Su was stunned for a moment before sighing. He knew that this time, heads would roll and blood would flow like a river.
……
Liu Jue had recruited Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Meng Jian, Shi Tao, and other talents. He was originally happy.
Unexpectedly, Liu Jue received news from Liu Biao that the Emperor had sent an envoy to Jingzhou and would arrive at Xiangyang tomorrow.
"Emissary of the Son of Heaven?" Liu Jue muttered these four words and began to think.
Now, Cao Cao was holding the Son of Heaven in his hands to command the vassals. The so-called Son of Heaven was just a puppet without any real power. Therefore, this Son of Heaven's envoy was, in other words, Cao Cao's envoy.
"Cao Cao sent an envoy to Xiangyang for no reason. What is his motive?”Liu Jue had already learned to take one step at a time and not just look at things on the surface.
Cao Cao must have his own plans for suddenly sending an envoy.
Now that Cao Cao had just pacified the Gao Gan in Bingzhou, the only forces left in the north were the Yuan family and the Wuhuan who had a good relationship with the Yuan family.
According to history, Cao Cao would first deal with the two Yuan families and the Wuhuan before preparing to go south to Jingzhou.
Cao Cao couldn't be thinking of attacking Jingzhou at this time, right?
Liu Jue felt that it was impossible, but he really couldn't guess. He could only discuss it with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.
After Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong heard this, they fell into deep thought.
After a while, Zhuge Liang spoke first,""Young General, Cao Cao might not have sent an envoy here for the Jing State.”
After spending some time together, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong had started to address Liu Jue as Young General.
"If it's not for the Jing State, then what is it for?”Liu Jue frowned. In his opinion, the only places south of the Yangtze River that Cao Cao was interested in were Jingzhou.
"Maybe it's for someone.”Pang Tong said.
"For someone?"
Liu Jue's heart skipped a beat. Could it be because of Xiao Qiao? He had long heard that Cao Cao liked this kind of thing. Could it be that he knew that he had captured Xiao Qiao and sent an envoy to ask for her?
This was too shameless!
"Is the person you're talking about Xiao Qiao?”Liu Jue said.
When Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong heard this, they couldn't help but laugh.
"Young General, Cao Cao's purpose for sending the envoy this time might be for Liu Jingzhou or you." Pang Tong shook his head.”
"Me?"
Liu Jue was a little surprised and could not help but say,"Why did Cao Cao send an envoy to find me? Could it be that he saw that I was a talented person and wanted me to be his son-in-law?”
He remembered quite a few of Cao Cao's sons. As for his daughters, one of them seemed to have married Emperor Xian of Han, but he was not too sure about the rest.
"Of course not!" Zhuge Liang shook his head and smiled." Young General, you defeated Zhou Yu and led tens of thousands of troops. Your reputation rose. Cao Cao probably noticed you."”
"Do you mean that Cao Cao wants to deal with me?”Liu Jue rubbed his chin and understood.
The news that he had defeated Zhou Yu had probably reached Cao Cao. Cao Cao felt that with him around, he would cause some trouble when he went south in the future, so he wanted to deal with him.
To be honest, Liu Jue was quite happy. To be feared by Cao Cao meant that he was quite capable.
"However, even if Cao Cao wanted to deal with me, he wouldn't do it in Jing Zhou."”
Pang Tong said," That depends on how the imperial edict is written. If the young general can't do anything, then it's disobeying the emperor's orders. Cao Cao will have an excuse to send troops to attack."”
Liu Jue also came to his senses and could not help but sigh,"Sometimes, I really envy Cao Cao. He used the Son of Heaven to command the princes, bullying whoever he wanted.”
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