jdhmnovel Chapter 436 Zhang Zhao Meets Fei Yi
Chapter 436 Zhang Zhao Meets Fei Yi
No one who can climb to a high position is a fool. Fei Yi, who became one of the Four Chancellors of Shu Han, must have been a person of exceptional wisdom. He quickly understood the pros and cons and got to work.
Faced with Fei Yi's questioning, Deng Hong did not hide anything and told him everything about the front-line battle situation and Guan Xing's latest movements.
Fei Yi and Dong Hui are our own people. How can we do our job if we can't even trust our own people?
After listening quietly to Deng Hong's account, Fei Yicai exclaimed in shock, "General Anguo is truly a genius of unparalleled talent. If the fighting continues, surpassing Han and Bai will probably not be a problem."
Deng Hong said speechlessly, "General Fei, please stop with this nonsense and get down to business. The young general told me to listen to you, that you are in full charge of matters in Jiangling City before he arrives, and I must cooperate unconditionally."
Fei Yi was deeply moved upon hearing this. He was not familiar with Guan Xing, but he did not expect Guan Xing to trust him so much at this critical moment. Since that was the case, Fei Wenwei could not betray this trust no matter what.
Fei Yi was greatly encouraged and eager to make a big splash. After thinking for a long time with his eyes closed, he finally came up with an idea. He looked at the two men and said, "First of all, we must send a messenger to Longxi to report the victory to the King. The victory here can boost the King's morale and help the King achieve victory."
"Although General Zhou Cang has already left, since we have received the news, we should report it to the King. This is the way of a subject. Xiuxu, I entrust this matter to you. Select a few trustworthy brothers to leave the city as soon as possible and go to Longxi to meet the King."
Dong Hui nodded and accepted the order.
Fei Yi continued, "Secondly, we need to win over the Jingzhou gentry, led by Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan. However, since the Jingzhou gentry tacitly approved of Mi Fang and Fu Shiren's betrayal, they will definitely worry that Your Majesty and General Guan will settle scores with them later. They will certainly have concerns about surrendering to Liu again. What we need to do is to dispel their concerns. As long as their concerns are dispelled, the possibility of them surrendering to Liu will greatly increase."
Dong Hui frowned and said, "How can we dispel their concerns? I'm afraid this matter requires the King's personal order; we can't make the decision ourselves, can we?"
Fei Yi shook his head and said, "In urgent situations, one must act expediently. I will presume to make this decision for Your Majesty. If Your Majesty blames me afterward, I will bear all the responsibility. As for General Guan, General Anguo has already arrived, and he can make the decision for General Guan."
He was Liu Bei's envoy, and in a sense, he was Liu Bei's representative. At crucial moments, he could make decisions on Liu Bei's behalf. It should be noted that envoys represent the state and have a great deal of authority.
Guan Xing was Guan Yu's son. As the eldest son of the legitimate heir and with his military achievements, he was fully qualified to make decisions on behalf of Guan Yu. If Guan Xing truly forgave the Jingzhou gentry on Guan Yu's behalf, Guan Yu would have to swallow his pride and accept it, no matter how dissatisfied he was.
What else can we do? We can't let this trivial matter embarrass Guan Xing and cause a rift between father and son, can we?
As long as Liu Bei and Guan Yu make guarantees, no one else will dare to bring up the matter, even if they want to investigate the betrayal of the Jingzhou gentry.
However, this guarantee only applies to the gentry of Jingzhou, and does not include the two traitors, Mi Fang and Fu Shiren. Mi Fang and Fu Shiren are doomed to die, and no amount of pleading will help them.
If they are not punished as they should, where is the law and discipline? If everyone follows suit, what is the point of having laws and discipline?
Dong Hui nodded and said, "And what's next?"
Fei Yi replied, "The next step is naturally to win over the Jiangdong gentry and persuade Sun Quan to surrender. The first one to win over is Zhang Zhao. If Zhang Zhao is willing to surrender to Liu, we can persuade Sun Quan to surrender by a combination of coercion and inducement. As long as Sun Quan writes a letter ordering Yu Fan to surrender and releases the Han army that attacked Nanchang to take over Jiangling, everything will be perfect."
"Xiuxu, time waits for no one. I'll go see Zhang Zhao now. First, write a letter to the King to report, and then arrange for me to meet with Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan. We'll visit them one by one."
After saying that, he got up to leave, but Deng Hong said anxiously, "Then what should I do?"
Fei Yi replied, "You should rest first. After you've rested, contact General Guan's spies and try to eliminate the spies of the School Affairs Bureau in Jiangling to prevent them from carrying out assassinations. At the same time, use these spies to gather information about the situation in the city for me. Report back to me as soon as you have any news."
Deng Hong said, "I don't need to rest, I'll go now."
The two men got up and left side by side. As soon as they opened the door, two members of the delegation rushed over and bowed, saying, "Ambassador Fei, Zhang Zhao requests an audience, saying he has important business to discuss with you immediately."
Fei Yi was stunned for a moment and then said, "It seems that Zhang Zhao has already received the battle report from the front. Deng Hong, go to the inner room and hide while I go to greet Zhang Zhao."
It is still unclear why Zhang Zhao came, so we cannot let him know about Deng Hong's existence or Guan Xing's imminent arrival.
Deng Hong did as he was told and stepped back. Fei Yi straightened his robes and hurried to the gate. When he saw Zhang Zhao waiting at the gate, he immediately ran up to greet him and bowed, saying, "What brings you here, strategist? Please come in, please come in."
After inviting Zhang Zhao to sit in the study, Zhang Zhao got straight to the point without any pleasantries: "The matter is like this..."
Upon hearing this, Fei Yi widened his eyes and feigned surprise, saying, "What? The entire Eastern Expeditionary Army was annihilated, and even Lu Xun was captured?"
This battle report was so incredible that anyone who heard it for the first time would be shocked like never before. Therefore, Fei Yi felt that he had to show great shock. It would be too unreasonable to have a mediocre reaction.
His idea was correct, but the problem was who Zhang Zhao was. In front of Zhang Zhao, he was just a greenhorn. How could his clumsy acting skills possibly fool an old fox like Zhang Zhao?
Zhang Zhao said meaningfully, "The Eastern Expeditionary Army has been completely wiped out. Eastern Wu has completely lost its chance to contend for hegemony and has only one path left: surrender. At this time, my coming to see you is a way of making my position clear. So Ambassador Fei, there's no need for you to play dumb with me. Have you received the battle report from the front? Could you tell me in detail?"
Fei Yi touched his nose and laughed awkwardly, "Nothing can be hidden from you, sir. Here's what happened..."
He recounted everything that needed to be said to Zhang Zhao in detail. After listening, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but exclaim, "I never imagined that Lu Xun would actually be captured, and even Lü Dai was captured. It's unbelievable how badly they lost."
"Let's get down to business. Gu Yong is determined to surrender to Cao Cao. He has already gone to Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, and may even try to win over Zhu Ju and Zhu Yi, uncle and nephew, in order to gather more Wu generals to force Cao Cao to abdicate. What are your plans?"
Fei Yi explained his plan to win over Pan Jun, Huang Chengyan, and others by vouching for Liu Bei and promising not to pursue the matter further.
After listening, Zhang Zhao frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's not optimistic. Putting Huang Chengyan aside for now, Pan Jun is ambitious for an official career. A mere promise to drop the investigation may not be enough to satisfy him."
"The problem is that the King of Hanzhong may not hold Pan Jun accountable for abandoning Jingzhou, but he will definitely not reuse him. No monarch dares to use someone who has betrayed him a second time. Both the King of Hanzhong and Pan Jun are aware of this, so Pan Jun is unlikely to be won over."
"In addition to being held accountable by the King of Hanzhong, Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan are also worried that Your Majesty will carry out land reform in Jingzhou. You can promise Your Majesty not to pursue their crime of tacitly approving Mi Fang and Fu Shiren's betrayal, but can you promise the King of Hanzhong not to carry out land reform in Jingzhou?"
Fei Yi: "Uh..."
He didn't really have the authority to make this promise; he could only rely on Liu Bei and Guan Yu to guarantee it personally. But Liu Bei and Guan Yu were far away, and there was no time to ask for their approval now.
Guan Xing may be qualified to make this promise, but don't forget that the land reform in Jiangdong was proposed and implemented by Guan Xing. As a staunch supporter of land reform, Guan Xing would never make a promise to anyone to abandon land reform. He might already be formulating a land reform implementation plan for Jingzhou.
Zhang Zhao continued, "Although the King of Hanzhong and General Guan may not implement land reform in Jingzhou, as long as they do not make a clear statement, they cannot completely dispel Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan's concerns. They are very likely to side with Gu Yong and Mi Fang because they are worried about land reform. Therefore, we must make the worst-case scenario plan and be prepared to take Jiangling by force. Are your delegation's hundreds of guards up to the task?"
Fei Yi was speechless. How many guards did the delegation have? To think that they could control Jiangling City with such a small number of people, Old Zhang, you must be dreaming.
Fei Yi smiled wryly and said, "You think too highly of me, madam. My small force might not even be able to defeat Mi Fang's personal guards. On the other hand, how many people can you win over in an instant?"
The two started calculating on their fingers, but after a long time, they tragically discovered that they had no troops at their disposal. Moreover, because Zhu Huan had surrendered to Wei, the probability of the Wu generals in the city surrendering to Wei was much higher than that of surrendering to Liu. As for the powerful generals like Zhu Ran and Bu Zhi who might surrender to Liu, they were all stationed in other places and would not be able to return in a short time.
In other words, if things really come to a complete breakdown and they fight Gu Yong, Mi Fang, and the others to the death, they are no match for them. In that situation, let alone Jiangling, even their own lives would be in danger.
How to do?
After pondering for a long time, Zhang Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "There is only one way left now: persuade Lord Wu to surrender to Liu. As long as Lord Wu is willing to surrender to Liu, we can suppress all the dissent in the city. We don't even need to make any promises to the Jingzhou gentry such as Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan. As soon as the army arrives, we can immediately implement land reform in Jingzhou."