After Liu Bei sent Zhuge Jin away, although he had made up his wish and replaced Jiangling with the three counties of Jingnan, he was still worried and called Ma Su in and asked:

"You Chang, Ziyu is loyal and honest, but the three counties in Jingnan are dragged back, so it is difficult for Sun Quan to fool him. Do you think Sun Quan will attack the three counties in Jingnan by force?"

Ma Su pondered for a moment and replied:

"Sun Quan has been ignoring Jingzhou for a long time. This time, General Guan is unreasonable. Sun Quan is not the one who can suffer losses. He will definitely not be able to swallow this. If he betrayed the alliance and suddenly sent troops to attack Jingnan, he has no confidence to make enemies on both sides for the time being, but he will fight with reason and approach step by step. At that time, both sides will be in a difficult position. If the master's contribution cannot give Sun Quan a step, it will only be a matter of time before the two sides will break up and use force."

Liu Bei nodded and said:

"This is exactly what I am worried about. Xichuan was decided at the beginning. The problem in Hanzhong has not been solved yet. Cao Cao may come at any time. I really can't free up my troops to Jingzhou and get involved with Sun Quan. I originally wanted to leave it to Yun Chang to deal with it myself. Although Jingzhou has a lot of troops, it is not enough to compete with Sun Quan because I still have to guard against Cao Cao's attack. What can I do to make Sun Quan retreat when he sees the difficulties?"

After Ma Su was summoned by Liu Bei that day, he stepped down from Mianzhu and has been considering Sun Quan's request for Jiangling these days.

What he was surprised was that Sun Quan actually agreed to the suggestion of using the three counties of Jingnan to exchange Jingnan. This was not a maximization of benefits for Jiangdong, and there must be inside information!

Ma Su was puzzled and suddenly remembered Sun Shangxiang, who had been back in Jiangdong for two years. Then he realized that Sun Quan was determined to make Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang reconcile, and then he showed a certain attitude of winning.

After figuring out the key to this matter, Ma Su felt confident and asked Liu Bei:

"Because Sun Quan's last move has not taken action, I have no way to stop Sun Quan for the time being, but if the lord ignores it and lets General Guan and Sun Quan face up to the point, there is no possibility of this matter being good. I don't know what the lord is thinking. After setting the bottom line, it may be possible to resolve this dispute in advance."

Liu Bei thought about it and felt that since Ma Su was asked to be responsible for this matter, he should give him a briefing, so he said to Ma Su:

"Actually, the military advisor and I have discussed it. They feel that Jiangling's strategic position is too important. Even if they go to war with Sun Quan, they cannot be returned. The three counties of Jingnan sincerely returned it to Sun Quan. The military advisor expected that Chief Yun would come out to stop it. We should first set the tone and position the dispute between the two sides to the three counties of Jingnan. After reaching an agreement, as long as Sun Quan agrees to certain conditions, it is acceptable to replace Lingling with Jiangxia County and return it to Jiangdong. After all, there are too many places bordering Cao Cao, and it is very difficult to defend."

After Liu Bei finished the final talk, Ma Su did not speak immediately. Sun Quan wanted Sun Shangxiang and Liu Bei to reconcile. After all, he was just speculating, but he didn't dare to say it casually, but said:

"Lord, it's been more than two years since Mrs. Sun returned to Jiangdong, and Jiangling is his dowry. If the lord can send someone to bring Mrs. Sun back, I'd be somewhat sure that Sun Quan will no longer ask for the three counties of Jingnan."

Liu Bei's eyes flashed, but soon became Wubo, and he spoke:

"You Chang, when Sun Shangxiang returned to Jiangdong to visit his mother, he did not obtain my consent in advance, and did not even inform the Zhuge Military Advisor who stayed in Jingzhou, so he ran away from home! If she came back on her own initiative, I would not care, but it would be impossible for me to send someone to pick it up! At that time, the military advisor and I also considered this possibility. Before I promised to return the three armies in Jingnan, I had already hinted to Zhuge Jin in words, but I don't know if he told Sun Quan, and whether Sun Quan was willing to give the land of the three counties to his sister, there was no certainty, so I could only take one step at a time!"

Ma Su also agreed with Liu Bei's idea in his heart and offered his advice:

"Lord, since this is the case, the dispute between the three counties in Jingnan will definitely be difficult to calm in a short time. Sun Quan will definitely have the idea of ​​regaining it by force. It is better to let me lead some county soldiers with weak combat effectiveness to Yong'an for training. Once Sun Quan shows signs of moving troops, the lord can lead the army to rescue without temporarily assemble the army."

Liu Bei knew Sun Quan's nature well and felt that Ma Su's words were reasonable. He also agreed with Ma Su's methods of training troops, so he allocated the three thousand Xichuan County soldiers to the commander of Ma Su, and went to Baidi City for training a few days.

...

...

In the July of the 19th year of Jian'an, the works left in Jingzhou came to report to Cao Cao. Sun Quan and Liu Bei were in trouble because of the Jingzhou issue. Lu Su and Guan Yu gathered a large army across the river to fight, and there was a stance that they would start a war if they had a disagreement.

Cao Cao and Sun Quan fought many times in Hefei, but did not take advantage of it. They wanted to take the opportunity to attack Hefei, but caught Sun Quan off guard.

Cao Cao gathered his army and used Fu Gan as an army member, but Fu Gan wrote a letter to dissuade him:

"There are two great things in governing the world, namely literature and martial arts; when using martial arts, one should first be powerful, and when using literature, one should first be virtuous. Power and virtue are enough to complement each other, and then the king's way is ready. In the past, the world is in chaos, and the upper and lower orders are out of order. Ming Gong used martial arts to repel it, and nine out of ten were flattened. Now that the king has not accepted the king's order, Wu and Shu have the danger of the Yangtze River, and Shu has the obstacles of the mountains, which is difficult to be powerful and easy to be virtuous. I think I can sleep on the army according to the armor, stop the army and raise the soldiers, divide the land and set the seal, and reward it according to the merits. If this is the heart of the inside and outside, the heart of the inside and outside is easy to be virtuous.

If you have meritorious people, the world will know the system. Then gradually raise schools to guide their good nature and improve their moral integrity. The Duke Shenwu shook all over the world. If you use literature to help them, then the whole world will be unsatisfied. Now, a hundred thousand people will be raised and the Yangtze River will be hidden deep. If the thief is carrying the strong and the horse will not be able to show its ability, and the strange changes will be useless, and the great power will be defeated and the enemy will not be able to be convinced. Only the Ming Duke thought about the righteousness of Yu Shun and Gan Qi, and the power will be fully nourished and the virtue will be strengthened, and the victory will be won with the Tao."

After reading it, Cao Cao felt that Fu Gan was reasonable. He was not young anymore. The goal of unifying the world was difficult to achieve. He had no idea of ​​replacing Emperor Xian of Han and decided to leave this opportunity for his children and grandchildren. So he accepted Fu Gan's persuasion and then stopped the southern expedition, established schools, and literati, preparing to clear away dissidents in the court and clear obstacles for his children and grandchildren.

Under his instructions, the four ministers, Wang Can, Du Xi, Wei Kai, and He Qia wrote a letter to respect Cao Cao as King of Wei.

The Secretary of the Secretariat Xun You retorted on the spot:

"No. The Prime Minister was promoted to Duke Wei and was awarded the title of Nine Tseng. The position was already extremely high. Now he has been promoted to the throne, which is not reasonable."

Cao Cao was about to enter the throne, but he didn't think that his status was not high enough, but wanted to see who opposed it. Unexpectedly, the first one was his trusted Zhongshu Ling, and he couldn't help but say angrily:

"This person wants to follow Xun Yu!"

After saying that, I thought that I had poisoned Xun Yu and killed Xun You again, and I was a little sorry for the Xun family, which had outstanding achievements, and did not punish Xun You.
Chapter completed!