Chapter 194 Let Sun Ce go? This is not my style! The only strategist in Jiangdong! Lao Liu: This is a sure thing!
Sun Ce swore a solemn oath.

Lu Su also made a solemn vow.

Xiao Fang looked at Lu Su, his eyes turning slightly.

It is uncertain whether Sun Ce really wants to make peace or is just pretending to make peace, but looking at Lu Su's attitude, he must have full trust in Sun Ce.

Xiao Fang smiled slightly and turned his gaze to Liu Bei:
"My lord, since Sun Ce is so sincere and cares about the lives of Jiangdong people, if you don't agree, wouldn't it damage your reputation for benevolence and righteousness?"

"According to Fang's opinion, my lord should just accept Sun Ce's request for peace."

Since Xiao Fang had expressed his position, Liu Bei naturally had no reason to hesitate any longer and immediately accepted Sun Ce's proposal for peace.

Old Liu originally planned to ask Lu Su to return to the city to discuss the specific details of peace with Sun Ce. However, in order to show his sincerity, Lu Su insisted on staying in the camp as a hostage.

Old Liu had no choice but to order Lu Su to be settled there, treated well and not neglected, and to send his entourage back to Nanjing to report to Sun Ce.

"My Lord, Military Advisor, how can we agree to Sun Ce's request for peace?"

"We are now at the gates of Nanjing. We can crush Nanjing with a stomp of our feet, and the entire Jiangdong area will be as easy as taking something out of a bag."

"This meat is already in my mouth, why don't you want it?"

As soon as Lu Su left, Huang Zhong was the first to stand up and oppose.

"My lord, I think Sun Ce is sure of your kindness and righteousness, so he is using the lives of the people of Jiangdong to pressure you."

"Think about when Sun Ce pacified Jiangdong, he killed so many people in Jiangdong that their heads kept rolling. Did he ever care about the lives of the people in Jiangdong?"

"I think this is a delaying tactic, just to get the lord to withdraw his troops, so that he can catch his breath and recruit new troops and regroup."

"When he recovers, I expect he will break the agreement and the alliance, march westward and take back all the counties that were ceded to us!"

Taishi Ci also looked solemn and pointed out Sun Ce's intention.

There was a lot of doubt in the tent, and all the generals were opposed to accepting Sun Ce's request for peace.

Old Liu looked at Xiao Fang with a slightly confused look.

He was concerned about the life and death of the people of Jiangdong, but this was not the main reason why he agreed to Sun Ce's request for peace.

After all, although he is kind and righteous, he is not pedantic. How could he not know that war will result in death?

To quell a chaotic world, one must use force; to use force, there must be war; and to have war, the people will inevitably be affected.

Otherwise, why would you give up your ideal of pacifying the troubled times? Why are you fighting for Jingzhou and Jiangdong? Wouldn't it be better to just have a farewell dinner and go back to your hometown to farm?

Therefore, the reason why Lao Liu accepted Sun Ce's request for peace was actually because Xiao Fang asked him to agree, and he always obeyed Xiao Fang's words.

But based on his understanding of Xiao Fang, this doesn't seem to be Xiao Fang's style.

According to Xiao Fang's style, shouldn't he eliminate all the evil in Sun Ce and kill him all?
"My Lord, please take a look at this secret report sent by the spies first."

Xiao Fang ignored the doubts of the generals, smiled meaningfully, and handed a secret letter to Lao Liu.

As soon as he heard the word "eye", Liu Bei immediately understood that this must be the information sent by Lu Xun's undercover agent.

Liu Bei hurriedly took it, opened it and took a closer look.

Xiao Fang had already translated the coded letter in advance, which roughly stated that Sun Ce had sent his younger brother Sun Quan and Cheng Pu to leave Jinling yesterday and head towards Wujun.

Because Lu Xun had long been excluded from the core circle of the Sun Group, he did not know the motives of Sun Cheng and the others for leaving the city.

However, Lu Xun claimed that compared with Sun Ce's brutality, Sun Quan's attitude towards the gentry and nobles of Jiangdong was relatively gentle, so he had a good reputation in the eyes of the gentry and nobles of Jiangdong.

Therefore, Lu Xun speculated that Sun Ce sent Sun Quan to Wujun to recruit soldiers and horses with the intention of resisting to the end.

Liu Bei looked at the secret report in his hand, then at Xiao Fang's playful eyes, and suddenly he realized it.

"Military Advisor, could it be that Sun Ce is pretending to seek peace in order to buy time for his brother Sun Quan to go to Wujun to recruit troops?"

Xiao Fang smiled without saying anything, agreeing with Lao Liu's speculation.

Liu Bei still had a suspicious look in his eyes, and couldn't help wondering:

"Since the military advisor knew that Sun Ce was pretending to seek peace, why did he ask Bei to agree to Lu Su just now?"

Huang Zhong and other generals were all bewildered and their eyes were all focused on Xiao Fang.

"Sun Ce should be very clear that the situation has come to this point. Even if Sun Quan can recruit troops for him, relying on a bunch of untrained rabble will be a drop in the bucket."

"Then Sun Ce's only chance to turn the situation around is to achieve a surprise victory and win a great battle to repel our army."

"According to the secrets of Jiangdong's defenses that we got earlier, in addition to the more than 10,000 troops in Jinling City, Sun Ce also has another 5,000 troops in Yangxian, which are used to monitor and suppress the rebellion of the Shanyue people." "But Sun Ce has suffered heavy casualties, and there are only a few generals left in Jinling City. At this time, he can just send Sun Quan to recruit troops. Why did he send the veteran general Cheng Pu as well?"

"So we can guess that Cheng Pu's purpose of going here must be to take over the 5,000 troops in Yangxian, and then lead his troops to change their route to the north and sneak up on our rear unexpectedly."

"At this time, Sun Ce can use his offer of peace to lull us into complacency and lower our guard, and then attack us from both sides and catch us off guard!"

"If we win this battle, our army will be forced to retreat, and the siege of Nanjing and the danger to Jiangdong will naturally be lifted in one fell swoop!"

"This is Sun Ce's real intention in seeking peace!"

Xiao Fang did not beat around the bush to whet the appetite of Old Liu and the generals, and simply told them all his speculations.

Inside the big tent, everyone suddenly realized what was going on and there was an uproar.

"I see. I didn't expect that Sun Ce's request for peace actually had such a hidden scheme!"

"Fortunately, the military advisor had a keen eye and saw through Sun Ce's plot, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous!"

When Old Liu suddenly realized, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

After the generals were shocked, they became angry.

"Sun Ce, this villain, first shamelessly recognized Yuan Shu as his father, and now he wants to take advantage of the lord's kindness and pretend to seek peace. He is really shameless!"

Huang Zhong was furious and slammed the table:

"My lord, let me go and chop down Lu Su's sacrificial flag immediately, and then we will attack the city in a big way and flatten Jinling City in one fell swoop!"

All the generals stood up suddenly and challenged each other angrily.

Old Liu frowned, a look of deep anger appearing on his face.

He is a man of trust.

Sun Ce and Lu Su, the master and his minister, treated the oath as nothing, which really touched his bottom line and made him disgusted.

"Lu Su is a loyal and honest man. He should not be willing to help Sun Ce to pretend to seek peace."

"I guess he was also tricked by Sun Ce. He was probably kept in the dark and really believed that Sun Ce wanted to make peace."

Xiao Fang had a pretty clear understanding of Lu Su's character.

Then he said:
"Although Lu Su is young, he is good at commanding troops, has foresight, and is a rare commander."

"It would be a pity to kill so many talents like this. If you can take this opportunity to recruit them for your own use, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Xiao Fang pointed out Lu Su's outstanding qualities.

As one of the four great generals of the Eastern Wu in history, Lu Su was not as good as the other three in terms of siege, expansion of territory, or wisdom.

But compared to the other three, Lu Su has an unrivaled overall view and can be said to be the only strategist in Jiangdong.
The strategy he proposed to Sun Quan was a far-sighted strategy comparable to the Longzhong Plan.

Lu Su was also the only one among the four generals of the Eastern Wu who realized that only by forming an alliance with Liu Bang would Sun Quan have a chance to conquer the Central Plains.

Therefore, during his lifetime, Lu Su tried his best to maintain the Sun-Liu alliance.

Unfortunately, Sun Quan was too incompetent. He failed in his repeated attacks on Hefei, and finally could only set his eyes on Jingzhou. As soon as Lu Su died, he immediately tore up the alliance and stabbed Liu Bei in the back to launch a surprise attack on Jingzhou.

Although he got the fat piece of meat of Jingzhou, unfortunately Sun Quan lost the opportunity to conquer the world.

In terms of military ability, Lu Xun and Lu Meng are indeed superior to Lu Su.

Unfortunately, when it comes to strategic vision, the two of them can't even catch up with Lu Su, and only Zhou Yu can barely compete with him.

Xiao Fang naturally would not let Lao Liu miss out on such a talented general who has a broad view and can stand on his own.

"Sun Ce has such a great talent under his command?"

Old Liu was naturally surprised to hear Xiao Fang's high evaluation of Lu Su.

Xiao Fang nodded slightly and said with a smile:
"We have many talented people in Jingxiang, and Jiangdong is also home to many hidden talents. Unfortunately, Sun Ce does not have the generosity of a great leader like you, so even if he is talented, he cannot make full use of his talents."

"Fang was originally thinking about how to recruit Lu Su to serve the lord, but he didn't expect Sun Ce to bring such a great talent to the lord himself."

"Then let's take advantage of the situation, break Sun Ce's dying struggle, and take Lu Su, the great talent from Jiangdong, in the process!"

As soon as the words "use their own trick against them" came out, four words flashed through Liu Bei's mind:
This is sure.

(End of this chapter)