My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 304: Giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou

Xue Ti was naturally quite surprised when he heard what Cheng Pu said.

The Sun family of Jiangdong had fallen to such a state that Sun Ce was dead and even his own brother had to flee.

However, Xue Ti also knew the priorities and now was not the time to think about it, so he immediately asked Cheng Pu to take him to see Sun Quan.

After a while, Xue Ti arrived at the posthouse and met the young man who looked like Sun Quan. The man was not dressed in fancy clothes, nor did he carry any tokens such as seals, ribbons, or flags, but he did have a strange appearance, with blue eyes and a short purple beard, so Xue Ti did not dare to look down on him.

Little did he know that Sun Quan had been very cautious these days. When he passed through the area occupied by Yuan Tan, he even hid a razor on his body, ready to shave at any time if he found something wrong.

Fortunately, the generals under Yuan Tan who were patrolling and guarding Han Dang were not careful, and did not check Han Dang's "clerks and followers" carefully, so they did not notice Sun Quan's abnormality. Sun Quan was able to keep his short beard (because he was only 20 years old, so he could not be called "purple beard" yet, and he needed to grow a beard for a few more years before it was long enough).

Out of caution, Xue Ti had a brief conversation with Sun Quan and asked about some situations. He then asked Cheng Pu to take everything that could prove Sun Quan's identity, and then sent his subordinate Inspector Gao Tanglong with two hundred soldiers to escort Sun Quan to Xu Du.

Sun Quan did not overreact to Xue Ti's suspicion, nor did he feel insulted. He just went on his way calmly and dignifiedly.

……

Sun Quan and Cheng Pu traveled westward under the protection of Gao Tanglong. Everyone had horses, so their speed was naturally not slow.

Pengcheng was originally located in the westernmost part of Xuzhou, so after one day, it entered Peixian and Fengxian in Yuzhou. After another day of traveling, it left Yuzhou and arrived in Yanzhou, and then arrived in Jiyin County.

According to the route plan, after arriving at Jiyin County, one should turn southwest and go through Liang and Chen counties to Xudu.

However, when Sun Quan and his entourage were in Jiyin County, they were interrogated by local officials from Yanzhou. After Gao Tanglong explained his purpose, the other party asked him to slow down temporarily and needed to report.

Gao Tanglong was puzzled. He was clearly entrusted by Xue Ti to have an audience with the emperor, so why would the officials in Yanzhou obstruct him? However, he did not want to cause a conflict, so he stayed for a day or two.

Two days later, the Yanzhou officer came again to order them to go northwest to Dingtao County, the capital of Jiyin County.

Gao Tanglong argued with reason, but the other party said that this was an order from the governor of Jiyin County. He also said that after going to Dingtao, although it would be a long detour, they could go upstream along the Jishui River, turn to the Honggou Canal, and go to Yingchuan by water, so that the distinguished guests would not have to worry about the bumpy ride.

Cheng Pu and Sun Quan were not eager to see Cao Cao. Sun Quan only came to seek refuge to become a rich man and get a leisurely title, so they did not want to cause trouble. Gao Tanglong saw that Sun Quan had agreed, so he did not resist.

The group turned northwest and walked for another day before arriving at Dingtao, the capital of Jiyin County.

It was also in Dingtao County that Sun Quan met another heavyweight figure.

That night, the mysterious official who was said to be temporarily taking over the duties of the Jiyin County Magistrate summoned Sun Quan and Cheng Pu.

When the two sides met, the other party observed Sun Quan's appearance and asked a few questions before revealing his identity:

"I am Jia Xu, the old man, and I am temporarily taking over Cheng Zhongde's duties as the governor of Jiyin County. Lord Cheng has another important matter to send you on. If you want to meet the Minister of Works, you don't have to go to Xudu. The Minister of Works is not in Xudu, but in Juancheng in the north, with his troops stationed on the river.

If Sun Lang is afraid, you can stay here for a while and come back when Si Kong is free, and then come to see me on the way. If you are in a hurry to see me, I will send someone else to escort you to Juancheng."

This person turned out to be Jia Xu? Sun Quan and Cheng Pu were both quite surprised.

Not only was he surprised at Jia Xu's identity, but he was even more surprised at the information Jia Xu revealed.

Fortunately, Sun Quan quickly calmed down. He was not very familiar with the geography of Jiyin, Dongjun, Jibei and other places, so he kindly asked Jia Xu to show them the map.

Jia Xu did not refuse. Sun Quan took a quick look at the map and came up with an idea: "Juancheng is close to the Yellow River. Cao Gong has come to Juancheng in person. Could it be that he wants to use troops against Yuan Shao again?"

"It is just as Sun Lang expected." Jia Xu had been observing the other party, and it was not difficult for him to see this, but Sun Quan was still very young, which meant that Sun Quan was at least not an uneducated dandy.

Sun Quan hesitated for only a second or two before making a decisive statement: "In that case, I would like to trouble Lord Jia to escort me to Juancheng to meet the emperor."

Jia Xu nodded and said nothing more. The next morning, he arranged for people to escort Sun Quan to turn due north. A day later, they arrived in Juancheng and met Cao Cao.

Counting the days, from the time Sun Quan landed in Rizhao, it took two days to reach Zhuxian, three days to Pengcheng, three days to Dingtao, and one day to Juancheng. All in all, it took nine days to meet Cao Cao.

If we count from the time when Sun Ce and his party were discovered by Yuan Tan's patrol troops in Langya, it would have been at least seven days. On the other hand, Han Dang was sent by Yuan Tan's army to Linzi to meet Yuan Tan, which would have been at least three or four days earlier than Sun Quan met Cao Cao.

If Yuan Tan was sharp enough and paid enough attention, he would have had the opportunity to discover that the Sun family was completely destroyed, all the Sun family members fled north, and Cao Cao's feint in Pengcheng to Xiapi was a fraud. He didn't even need to wait for Liu Bei's warning envoy Zhuge Jun to arrive.

However, Yuan Tan was not a particularly perceptive person. He had a lot of things to deal with every day, and he couldn't tell the priorities. He didn't follow up on the "Han Dang surrender" line and investigate thoroughly as soon as possible. ...

April 5th, night, Juancheng County Government Office.

Cheng Pu was stopped outside and entertained by someone else, while Sun Quan was taken into the inner courtyard alone by Xu Chu.

Looking at this situation, Cheng Pu knew that Sun Quan was summoned by Cao Cao alone, so he had no choice but to wait.

Sun Quan was a little nervous, but he quickly got over it. He was already a desperate man who had no threat and Cao Cao would not do anything to him. As long as Cao Cao wanted to win the hearts of the people, he had to treat himself well.

Thinking like this, Sun Quan followed Xu Chu around several courtyard walls and finally arrived at the inner hall.

Although he knew he shouldn't observe the other person's appearance, Sun Quan was young and had good eyesight, so he took a few quick glances at the other person when they were about ten steps apart. He kept his head down only when they were within five steps of each other.

"I didn't expect that Cao Cao, who is both famous and treacherous, is so short and fat. However, his beard is quite impressive, which is enough to conceal it when he sits down." Sun Quan thought to himself.

As expected, Cao Cao had no intention of standing up. He just sat on the couch and looked up at Sun Quan.

It's not that he was arrogant or looked down on Sun Quan, it's just that short people like to sit in a certain position to hide their shortness. Especially Cao Cao's shortness is caused by short legs, not the upper body, so it's not easy to see his shortness after sitting down.

"The defeated general, the righteous captain Sun Quan, pays his respects to the Prime Minister." Sun Quan walked up to Cao Cao and saluted respectfully.

Cao Cao also took the opportunity to observe Sun Quan's appearance and was quite amazed at his sparse purple beard and blue-green pupils.

"This boy was born with a look of wealth and nobility, but he has fallen to this state. It seems that physiognomy cannot be fully trusted. He was familiar with Sun Wentai in the past, so why does this boy look nothing like Sun Wentai?" Cao Cao pondered in his heart, and was also suspicious that Sun Quan did not look like Sun Jian.

However, he would not dwell on these issues and quickly chatted with Sun Quan about the latest progress of Liu Bei's war to pacify Jiangdong. Sun Quan also told him everything he knew and the truth.

Cao Cao was well versed in the art of warfare, so he could naturally tell whether Sun Quan's words were true or false. In just a few words, he had tested Sun Quan's knowledge and confirmed that this Sun Quan was definitely not a fake.

Cao Cao thought for a moment and had already thought of a reward: "Your brother fought against the traitor Liu Bei and died for the country. It is admirable and lamentable. I only regret that I was hindered by Yuan Shao and could not return to the south to rescue him. You said that your brother's orphan also came with him to surrender this time?"

Sun Quan quickly bowed and replied, "Indeed, my nephew Sun Shao is only two years old. Fortunately, he is born strong and has survived the stormy sea for more than half a month."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "I will present a petition to the Emperor today to allow Sun Shao to inherit your brother's title of Marquis of Wucheng. Wucheng County is in Liu Bei's hands, so I will select another place to allocate 2,000 households and collect their rent and taxes as salary. I will also grant you the title of Marquis of Wu, General Suppressing the Enemy, and Administrator of Lujiang. Although Wu County is also in Liu Bei's hands, I will also allocate another 2,000 households as food fiefdom."

As for the Lujiang prefect, of course he could only hold the post remotely, as it was essentially a nominal position.

Sun Quan quickly expressed his gratitude.

After talking about rewards and resettlement, Cao Cao was still somewhat interested in Sun Quan, so he started talking about family matters and Sun Quan's experiences and hardships along the way. Sun Quan did not hide anything and told Cao Cao about his hardships along the way. Cao Cao saw that Sun Quan was tenacious and could remain calm in the face of adversity, and he admired him even more.

When Cao Cao heard Sun Quan mention that when he passed through Zhuxian and Juxian, in order to avoid being intercepted by Yuan's army, he had to sacrifice Han Dang as a cover and surrender to Yuan Tan, he was slightly startled and suddenly realized another problem.

"Han Dang surrendered to Yuan Tan? Even if Yuan Tan didn't know that you were also among those who surrendered to the north, nearly a thousand soldiers under Han Dang's command were all taken in by Yuan Tan. Even if Han Dang ordered to keep silent, it would not be possible to cover everything!
As long as Yuan Tan thought of isolating and interrogating the captains of the garrisons and squadrons, it would not be difficult to find out that the Sun family of Jiangdong has been completely destroyed! This matter can only be concealed for a few days at most! If Yuan Shao does not fall into the trap and has not yet crossed the Yellow River with his army to the south, wouldn’t it ruin my plan! "

For a moment, Cao Cao began to dislike Sun Quan.

He actually hoped that Sun Quan would surrender, but Sun Quan's actions were so open-minded that it might cause Yuan Shao to reassess the tension between Cao and Liu, and then the situation would be different.

Sun Quan had not thought about this problem at first, because he did not know at the beginning that Cao Cao was going to lure Yuan Shao to annihilate him again, but after meeting Jia Xu yesterday, Sun Quan thought of this. So all day today, on the way from Dingtao to Juancheng, he had thought of various excuses to comfort Cao Cao so as not to be angered by Cao Cao.

Sun Quan immediately said, half in self-defense and half in comfort, "Don't worry, Lord Cao! During the two days when General Han protected us in transit, I also secretly observed Yuan Tan's generals stationed in Langya. Yuan Tan's military discipline was lax and his scouts were ineffective, so he would not be able to react so quickly.

I will not ruin Cao Gong's cause if I surrender here! Please wait and see! When I passed through Zhuxian County that day, I passed by the ancestral tomb of the Ge family in Zhuxian County to pay tribute to historical events and learn from the past. The Zhuge family today is no more talented than Ge Ying. Liu Bei may have the ambition of Emperor Gao, but Cao Gong's perseverance is better than Xiang Liang.

Xiang Liang died after one defeat, but Cao Gong was able to persevere. He had Xiang Liang's great strategy, Shen Shang's magic, and Han Bai's unique strategy. If Xiang Liang had been defeated and fought again, how could the world have been Emperor Gao! Yuan Shao and Liu Bei were both unable to defeat you, this is inevitable! "

Then Sun Quan used metaphors to gradually explain the truth that he had slowly figured out when chatting with Cheng Pu that day.

Cao Cao was a little unhappy when he first heard Sun Quan defend himself and clear himself of responsibility. Later, he felt even more disgusted when he heard Sun Quan openly flattering him.

But as I listened, I found that Sun Quan's flattery was unique, and I felt a sense of empathy.

(End of this chapter)