Chapter 144 A perfect chain of events! God blesses me with this Qilin! Xiao Fang: I will watch your performance quietly!

"I wonder which general Gongjin is referring to?"

Sun Ce was full of curiosity and asked impatiently.

Zhou Yu smiled and said, "This person is in the tent!"

In the account?

Sun Ce looked around and saw only four words in the tent.

It couldn't be Zhou Yu, and it couldn't be himself, his lord.

Then only Lu Su and Huang Gai are left.

Sun Ce turned around and his eyes fell on the two men.

"Gongjin, you want me to pretend to surrender to Liu Bei?"

Lu Su's eyes widened and he asked in surprise.

Zhou Yu shook his head and turned his gaze to Huang Gai:
"Zi Jing, you are not important enough. The person I am referring to is General Gongfu."

Everyone's eyes turned to Huang Gai.

Huang Gai looked surprised, obviously not expecting that he would become the best candidate to pretend to surrender to Liu Bei.

"General Gongfu is a veteran of two generations of the Sun family. His prestige in our army is well known. Only a general of this importance would have the opportunity to steal the grain ship without arousing Liu Bei's suspicion."

"In addition, the most crucial reason is that General Gongfu is from Jingzhou and is a branch of the Huang family."

"After Liu Bei seized Jingzhou, he placed great importance on the Huang family. Huang Chengyan was treated as a distinguished guest by him, and Huang Zhong was also a powerful general under his command."

"Then, as a native of Jingzhou and a descendant of the Huang family, isn't it perfectly legitimate for General Gongfu to defect to Liu Bei, the lord of Jingzhou?"

Zhou Yu smiled and slowly explained all the reasons.

Sun Ce suddenly understood and remembered that the veteran general Huang Gai was from Lingling in Jingzhou.

In the Han Dynasty, people had a strong sense of local attachment. Local tyrants were unwilling to go to other places to serve as officials unless they had no other choice. Unless they were to be ambassadors to a frontier region or officials in the court, they mostly served in their own province.

Although there is chaos everywhere and the situation in the world has changed, heroes from all sides have left their hometowns and joined the local princes in order to find a way out.

People like Xu You and Guo Tu under Yuan Shao were originally from Yingchuan, but they all went to Jizhou to follow Yuan Shao.

Even so, most of the powerful people still prefer to take root in their own state.

Just like Chen Deng of Xuzhou, who clearly admired Liu Bei very much, when Liu Bei evacuated Xuzhou, he still chose to stay in his hometown.

Then, as a native of Jingzhou, wasn't it natural for Huang Gai to surrender to Liu Bei in order to return home and serve as an official?
"Gongjin is absolutely right. General Gongfu is indeed the best candidate for feigning surrender!"

Sun Ce nodded heavily and looked at Huang Gai:

"General Gongfu, are you willing to take on the important task of pretending to surrender to Liu Bei and launching the fire ships?"

At this moment, Huang Gai also understood the deep meaning of Zhou Yu's statement that he was the best candidate.

Without any hesitation, Huang Gai said:

"I have received great favors from the Sun family. This battle is related to whether the Sun family can seize Jingzhou and achieve hegemony. I feel obliged to do so!"

"This important task of false surrender will be undertaken by Gai!"

Seeing Huang Gai agreed so readily, Sun Ce couldn't help but show a hint of relief on his face.

Just when they were discussing the details of the false surrender.

Lu Su, who was pondering, could not help but remind:
"Although General Gongfu is from Jingzhou, he is a veteran of two generations of the Sun family and is highly respected in our army."

"Su is afraid that if General Gongfu, with his status, goes to pretend to surrender to Liu Bei, it will make Liu Bei suspicious."

The relief on Sun Ce's face disappeared immediately.

What Lu Su said was right.

It is true that Huang Gai is from Jingzhou, but he is also a senior minister of the Sun family. His seniority and status in the army are on par with Han Dang and Cheng Pu.

Just because he was from Jingzhou, he gave up such a status, bore the infamy of being a traitor, and went to join Liu Bei?
"Gongjin, Zijing's words make sense. Just because General Gongfu is from Jingzhou doesn't seem to be enough to convince Liu Bei."

Sun Ce frowned and looked at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu still had an expression of having expected this.

Facing Sun Ce's questioning, he just smiled faintly:
"Don't worry, Bofu. I have already thought of a solution for this issue."

"So, before we use this false surrender strategy, we need to use a self-torture strategy."

A bitter plot?
Sun Ce's eyes widened, and suspicion appeared in their eyes.

This time, even Lu Su failed to understand the hidden meaning of Zhou Yu's words from these three words.

"To be frank, I know that there are many people in the Jiangdong army who do not obey me, Zhou Yu, including General Gongfu."

"Now that Yu has miscalculated twice, Bofu has lost 100,000 arrows, and he himself was injured by Liu Bei, which has caused our army's morale to suffer. I think there will be more voices questioning me in the army."

"Let's take advantage of this and put on a good show for Liu Bei."

"General Gongfu can openly accuse Bofu of making mistakes in selecting people during the military meeting and contradict Bofu in public."

"Bo Fu pretended to be enraged and ordered General Gongfu to be caned in public."

"In this way, General Gongfu can pretend to surrender to Liu Bei on the grounds that he can't bear the humiliation and is dissatisfied with Bofu."

"Then what reason does Liu Bei have to doubt General Gongfu's sincerity in surrendering?"

Zhou Yu slowly told everyone about the self-torture tactic.

Sun Ce and his companions suddenly realized.

Huang Gai slapped his hands on the table and praised loudly:
"What a great scheme of self-torture! This scheme of Gongjin is truly brilliant."

"Once this plan is put into practice, my false surrender will be flawless. Even that Xiao Fang will not be able to find the flaw in my plan!"

Afterwards.

Huang Gai changed the subject, looking somewhat ashamed:

"Gongjin, if you can be honest with me, I will naturally be honest in return."

"To be honest, there are indeed many people in the army who do not obey you, and I, Huang Gai, was once one of them."

"But after today, I finally believe in Bofu's ability to judge people. I, Huang Gai, am convinced by you!"

Hearing Huang Gai speak frankly and express his admiration in public again, Zhou Yu naturally acted humble, but a hint of imperceptible pride quietly crossed his lips.

Sun Ce laughed loudly and slapped his thigh:
"Gong Jin's trick of self-torture, feigning surrender and fire attack are all linked together perfectly. Even if Zhang Liang were resurrected, he would be far behind!"

"I will use Gongjin's plan to play a trick on Liu Bei and burn all his 40,000 soldiers and horses with one fire!" Zhou Yu was not excited, but his face turned into guilt.

He coughed a few times and turned his gaze to Huang Gai:

"But this self-torture trick requires some physical pain, otherwise it will not be hidden from Xiao Fang."

"General Gongfu is old and in a very advanced state. How can he endure such physical pain?"

"Yu is considering whether to change someone to pretend to surrender."

Sun Ce's heart was shocked and he suddenly remembered this matter.

Before he could speak, Huang Gai waved his hand and said proudly:

"I have been fighting for half my life, what are a few dozen military sticks?"

"Don't worry about the physical pain. As long as I can help my lord and the Sun family take back Jingzhou, it doesn't matter if I lose my head!"

Sun Ce was instantly filled with awe and felt deeply moved.

So he stood up and bowed solemnly to Huang Gai:
"General Gongfu's loyalty to my Sun family will never be forgotten by me, Sun Ce!"

"If I, Sun Ce, can capture Jingzhou, take control of the Yangtze River, and achieve hegemony, General Gongfu will be the first contributor to my Sun family's hegemony!"

Inside the big tent, the atmosphere became passionate.

Zhou Yu's three strategies were thus finalized.

"My lord, Gongjin's three strategies are indeed flawless and ingenious."

"But I think we need to carefully choose who will be sent as an envoy to the north bank to pretend to surrender to Liu Bei."

This time, Lu Su was completely impressed by Zhou Yu's ingenious plan. He did not pour cold water on him, but only gave a cautious reminder.

"Zi Jing's words make sense. This envoy is also very important."

"I wonder who Gongjin has chosen?"

Sun Ce simply let Zhou Yu make all the decisions and was too lazy to think about it himself.

Zhou Yu smiled and said slowly:
"I have already thought of the candidate for this envoy. His name is..."

Sun Ce looked puzzled, and asked again:

"There are many people in Jiangdong who can be used, why did Gongjin choose this person?"

Zhou Yu's eyes flashed with a strange look, and he sneered:
"Because this person has a close relationship with Xiao Fang, having him go on the mission is like adding a double insurance, which will make Xiao Fang less suspicious."

"As long as we can hide it from Xiao Fang, Liu Bei will naturally believe it."

After saying this, Zhou Yu slowly and chronologically told the background of the man he had chosen, as well as his relationship with Xiao Fang.

Sun Ce suddenly realized what was going on, and immediately his eyes showed murderous intent:
"I didn't expect that there is someone under my command who has this kind of relationship with Xiao Fang."

"If I had known about their relationship earlier, I would have killed him long ago!"

Zhou Yu smiled and said calmly:
"This man, like most of Jiangdong's heroes, is still living in seclusion and watching from the sidelines. He has not served you, Bofu, and in fact, he can't be considered as your subordinate."

"Bofu, you can send a letter to Zhongmou, asking him to forcibly recruit this man to serve as an official, and send him to the front line without leaving any trace under the pretext of escorting grain."

"After the self-torture plan is implemented, my lord will demote General Gongfu to the position of guarding grain and grass, and then he can be put under the command of General Gongfu in a legitimate way."

"By then, if we can defeat the old general, we will have a chance to persuade this man to surrender to Liu Bei and have him go on a diplomatic mission to the north bank on our behalf."

"This man was forcibly recruited, and he must have resentment towards the Sun family. In addition, with his relationship with Xiao Fang, he must be happy to obey orders."

"In this way, this person was used by the lord without realizing it, and became a chess piece in our overall plan."

After hearing Zhou Yu's analysis and layout, the murderous intent on Sun Ce's face disappeared, and was replaced by deep shock.

Huang Gai and Lu Su also widened their eyes and looked at Zhou Yu in disbelief.

There was total silence in the big tent, except for the sound of people gasping for air.

The master and his ministers could not believe that Zhou Yu's vision could be so grand that he even included an insignificant little character far away in Jiangdong in this plan.

After a while.

Sun Ce took a deep breath, stood up and walked outside the tent, bowing deeply to the sky:
"My father is in heaven, and I am so lucky to have met a talented person like Gongjin, who is my sworn brother!"

"My son will be like a fish in water with Gongjin. We will definitely get Jingzhou, and our Sun family's hegemony will be achieved!"

Zhou Yu was stunned at first, but when he heard what Sun Ce said to the sky, he finally understood.

The corners of his mouth rose quietly.

...

North Shore, nightfall.

Inside the Chinese military tent.

Liu Bei and Xiao Fang were drinking wine around the stove.

"Jinglue, the spy sent back news that day, it was indeed Zhou Yu who tried to use Aliang's straw boat to borrow arrows in an attempt to trick me back."

"I heard that although Zhou Yu escaped the disaster, he was wounded by an arrow."

"I remember the military advisor said before that if Zhou Yu were alive, an envoy would come from the south bank in a few days."

"More than ten days have passed, but no messenger has come to the north bank."

Liu Bei asked casually while adding charcoal to the stove.

Xiao Fang poured Lao Liu a glass of warm wine and said:
"Fang is also wondering if my calculations are wrong."

"According to my deduction of this battle, if Zhou Yu wants to help Sun Ce to quickly defeat our army, he can only use one strategy."

"According to reason, an envoy should come to the North Bank in the next few days to deliver the first child."

Xiao Fang spoke ambiguously again, leaving Old Liu confused.

Just waiting to be asked.

Chen Dao hurried into the account and bowed, saying:

"My lord, I report to the military advisor."

"Just now, my patrol boat intercepted a boat three miles downstream, coming from the south bank."

"There is a scholar on the boat, claiming to be a relative of Military Advisor Xiao, and wants to meet the lord and the military advisor in secret."

(End of this chapter)