Chapter 23 Night Talk

Although Cao Chong's face was shiny and his eyes were also shiny. He stared at the official document in front of him and said to Deng Zhan, Chen Jiao, Huang Chong, Wang Su, Deng Ai, and Ma Zhong who were surrounding him: "The development of the war was beyond our expectations. Zhang Yide, a crude guy, was determined not to come out in Linyuan. Our plan to attack Linyuan is about to fail. Look, what should we do now."

Chen Jiao said immediately without thinking: "General, the plan to attack Linyuan is based on Zhang Yide's division of troops. Now that Zhang Yide does not divide troops, we cannot conquer Linyuan. It is better to withdraw all the troops to avoid accidents."

Cao Chong smiled and stared at Chen Jiao, but he didn't say yes, and he couldn't say bad things. He glanced at the others and smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, it doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter if you say something wrong."

Deng Ai shook his head gently: "I don't agree with Chen Gongcao's opinion. The war has just begun and Zhang Yide did not divide his troops. Maybe it was because he was still observing our intentions, or maybe he had not received the news yet. At this time, he hurriedly withdrew his troops and everything he did was in vain."

Chen Jiao was a little unhappy: "Shizai, I know that I am old and I am not as aggressive as you. But war is not a trivial matter. The saint said that the country's major affairs are only sacrifices and military affairs. Even the military saint Sun Wu said that military affairs are the major affairs of the country, the way of life and death, and the principles of survival and death. You must not ignore it. You cannot instigate the general to take risks just because you want to make more military achievements."

Cao Chong knew that Chen Jiao was talking about Deng Ai, but in fact he was talking about him. He was not angry either, but just smiled and said to Chen Jiao: "Ji Bi, isn't this a discussion? Don't be angry."

Chen Jiao snorted, helpless. He knew that Cao Chong did not agree with his opinion. He had to say it out of his consideration. He sighed softly and bowed, "General, Chen Jiao is tired and wants to leave first."

Cao Chong smiled and said, "Don't worry, Ji Bi, it's already midnight. It's time to have a midnight snack. You can eat some before leaving. If you are hungry, you may not be able to sleep."

Chen Jiao smiled bitterly and had to sit back again. He heard Deng Ai say his opinion. As he was speaking, Sun Shangxiang pushed the door and brought a few female guards with a few trays in and smiled in: "Come on, come on, let's talk about it later. I'll eat first. This is my own hand. You must try it and give me some advice."

The female guard smiled and handed the wooden bowls one by one to everyone. Among the black and red wooden bowls, four round and white things were lying, emitting a faint sweet fragrance. When everyone saw this, they hurriedly took it, scooped up the dough ball with a wooden spoon, while looking at Sun Shangxiang strangely. Deng Ai smiled and said, "Madam, what kind of thing is this? It looks extremely tempting."

"You will know if you eat it." Sun Shangxiang smiled and said, "But be careful, it's very hot. If you are anxious to get scalded, don't blame me for not saying anything." As she said, she picked up a bowl with her own hands, raised the orchid with one hand and held a wooden spoon with one hand, scooped one out of the bowl and sent it to her mouth and blew it. Then she handed it to Cao Chong's mouth and smiled, "Try it, how does it taste this time."

Cao Chong smiled, and he took a bite gently. Before he could speak, Ma Zhong screamed. Ma Zhong hurriedly put down the bowl, raised his head and opened his mouth, and slapped the wind with his hands. He slapped twice, and saw that everyone was looking at him, he quickly closed his mouth, but the things in his mouth were indeed very hot, so he had to keep turning in his mouth.

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed, and even Chen Jiao was in a bad mood.

"Madam, why are there anything else here?" Ma Zhong had a bitter face and used a wooden spoon to pluck the food he bit in the bowl. The white face showed a black and red liquid.

"This is called dumplings, and the lard seeds are wrapped in it." Sun Shangxiang chuckled, "Is it hot?"

"No, it's so hot that I'm not careful." Ma Zhong sucked the cold air and said vaguely: "But the things here really smell good. When you bite it, you'll have oil."

"Of course, this is something I made after making it for several days." Sun Shangxiang said proudly. She saw Cao Chong looking at her with a smile, shrank his head, stuck out his tongue, pinched his little finger and said, "Of course, my husband also gave me a little advice."

Deng Ai and others knew her temper well, but they didn't say it out loud, but just held back their smiles and lowered their heads to deal with the dumplings in the bowl carefully. Huang Chonggang followed Cao Chong for a while, but he couldn't figure out the situation and dared not talk nonsense, and even buried his head in his meal.

After eating the midnight snack made by his wife, Chen Jiao was in a better mood. After putting down the bowl and wiping his mouth, he bowed to Sun Shangxiang and said, "I am so grateful to you for your cooking. Chen Jiao is old and can't explain the military affairs clearly. The wife is good at military affairs, so he asked the wife to persuade the general more. Chen Jiao will leave first."

Seeing that he was a little unhappy, Sun Shangxiang knew that he had said something that everyone didn't like to listen to during the military discussion. She glanced at Cao Chong who was smiling and turned to Chen Jiao and said, "Mr. Gongcao is tired, so let's go back and rest first. I will advise my husband."

Chen Jiao accused Cao Chong again, and then slowly went out. Sun Shangxiang sat next to Cao Chong, looked at the rogue pot next to him and said, "Husband, you are already three more. You are not tired, and others are tired too. Let's discuss it tomorrow."

Cao Chong suddenly realized, raised his eyes and looked at Deng Ai and others. Seeing that although they were very excited, their faces were bleak, he smiled and said, "Okay, the late-night snacks made by the lady are all over the place. You should take a break early and discuss this matter tomorrow."

Deng Ai and others saw Sun Shangxiang Ni beside Cao Chong, and they smiled at each other and stood up to say goodbye. When they all left, the female guards came over to clean up the case and then retreated. Sun Shangxiang asked someone to bring in water, wipe Cao Chong's face, wash his hands, and then brought in a large copper basin of warm water to wash his feet. While rubbing Cao Chong's white feet, they asked Cao Chong's content of the matter.

Cao Chong grinned comfortably and said, "Just let the servants do these things, why do you have to do them yourself."

Sun Shangxiang pouted: "I can't do it with Xiao Yu'er, big and small," he said.

Cao Chong shook his head and did not continue her topic. Sun Shangxiang rubbed it carefully for a while, then wiped his feet with cloth, rubbed the soles of his feet for a while, then took off Cao Chong's coat, pushed him into the tent, and washed himself. Then he lay beside Cao Chong, crawled into Cao Chong's arms, pillowed on his arms, hugged Cao Chong's waist, curled up like a cat.

"Do you know?" Cao Chong hugged Sun Shangxiang in his arms, and his hands unconsciously stroked her slippery shoulders. He looked at the top of the tent silently, and suddenly said, "Erlang has arrived from Moling to Yuzhang, and is in Luling."

Sun Shangxiang's hand froze for a moment, then relaxed her body, circled her arms hard, hugged Cao Chong tighter, and said "Oh" unconsciously, as if she was a little indifferent and indifferent.

"Erlang promoted a group of local people from Wujun. Gu Yuantan (Gu Yong) became Zhang Zibu's deputy, Lu Xun became the lieutenant of the Zan Army. He led the army to fight and was stationed in Poyang. This young man..." Cao Chong stopped halfway, and he felt that it was not easy to say about Lu Xun. Lu Xun had the ability, and he knew that he could not say it now. He vaguely knew Lu Xun's attitude in the early battles, and felt that this kid's attitude was a bit ambiguous. Later, when people heard about the Battle of Lujiang, they realized that the Lu family and the Sun family had a grudge.

If this is true, then Lu Xun's leadership of troops would not be a good thing for Sun Quan, but for him, it would be a good thing, at least for the time being. As long as he does not provoke Lu Xun, then Lu Xun will not provoke him on his own initiative, and both sides can be at peace.

Cao Chong glanced at Sun Shangxiang. She closed her eyes, but her long eyelashes kept flashing. Cao Chong smiled, patted her shoulder and said, "Okay, don't pretend to be asleep. I know what you are thinking. Just ask what you have."

Sun Shangxiang opened her eyes a little embarrassedly and looked at Cao Chong, put her face in front of Cao Chong, and said with a smile: "Yongnian has not shown up recently. Did he trip over Erlang? Jiang Ziyi has disappeared for a long time. Have you gone to Jiangdong to lobby again?"

Cao Chong was surprised and half supported himself and looked at Sun Shangxiang: "You have always seen it, but you can tolerate it now. You are really much more calm."

Sun Shangxiang blushed and buried her head in Cao Chong's arms. Cao Chong lay back on the pillow, thought for a while and smiled, "Do you think this is good?"

"It's good, I'm afraid Erlang won't appreciate it." Sun Shangxiang sighed sadly: "Can you still ask me how I feel. My brother has never thought about what I would think when you fight. Maybe...ah!"

Cao Chong did not respond to her, and he scratched his head a little. He married several wives. Big Shuang was Liu Bei's daughter, and Sun Shangxiang was Sun Quan's girl. But these two were both the ones he must fight, and they were both the kind that could not surrender. Of course, he would not abandon his great cause because of women, but when he was caught in the middle, he felt sad and felt a little uncomfortable. Of course, he sent Jiang Gan to lobby in Jiangdong, not to expect Jiang Gan to persuade Sun Quan to surrender, but to delay Sun Quan's decision and shake his confidence in supporting Liu Bei. Zhang Song went to Yuzhang for this purpose. He was to contact the thief Youtu in Poyang, and to grant Youtu the official position, so that he could raise an army and cause chaos in Poyang to attract Lu Xun's attention. He didn't know if it was effective, but Lu Xun did indeed work here. Lu Xun had not left Poyang and was fighting guerrillas with Youtu.

Sun Shangxiang was silent for a long time. Seeing that Cao Chong had no sound, she looked up and saw that Cao Chong was still open his eyes and was looking at her without turning his eyes. His eyes showed three points of pity and seven points of gentleness. She felt ashamed and said without saying anything: "Look at what I'm doing? It's so late, let's go to bed quickly. We have to discuss matters tomorrow."

Cao Chong smiled and said, "Chen Gongcao asked you to persuade me, but did you forget about this?"

Sun Shangxiang shook his head: "I ignore him. The older he is, the less courageous he is. He is afraid of something happening every day. It is not that you are afraid of something happening to you, but that you are afraid of something involving him. I don't understand, why do you keep him here? Isn't it better to let him go out to prepare for military supplies?"

Cao Chong shook his head: "You don't understand. A decision-making person cannot be surrounded by people with the same opinions as him. Someone must object and remind himself to consider other issues at any time. He cannot be wishful thinking. Although he is a little timid, what he says may not be unreasonable. Don't you think that with Chen Gongcao here, Shi Zai and others should think more carefully about their words? If he was not here, they would definitely strongly advocate the advancement, and the consideration might not be so comprehensive."

Sun Shangxiang suddenly realized that she didn't like Chen Jiao, and always felt that Chen Jiao was sing a different tune with her husband. Now that she heard Cao Chong say that, she understood Cao Chong's intention. She raised her head and pointed Cao Chong's nose with her finger and smiled: "It seems that you have no idea. This battle was beyond your expectations. Are you no longer confident?"

Cao Chong shook his head and nodded again: "What we began to think was indeed a bit wishful thinking. But the general direction was not wrong, but it might be a little harder to fight. The originally planned to seize Wuling and Changsha's military farmland, and seize all the enemy, and we have nothing to do. Now it seems a bit unrealistic. But the army divided Liu Bei's army into two parts and defeated them separately. This plan is still feasible. Shi Yuan used the complex terrain of Nanzhong to trap Liu Xuande's 20,000 troops in the territory of Jingke. The problem now is that he hoped to break the troops in Zhang Yide's hands again, so the casualties would be much smaller. Originally, if Erlang had not come to Yuzhang, I could attack from Yiling and Jiangxia, and Zhang Yide would have to divide his troops, but now Erlang has arrived in Yuzhang, and my navy was not sure to send Han Sheng and the others to Jiangnan safely. If the retreat was cut off, it would be miserable."

Sun Shangxiang blinked and thought for a while and said, "The navy is mainly in the hands of Lu Zijing and Lu Ziming. Lu Ziming is just a common man, and there is nothing to worry about. Lu Zijing uses troops steadily and is difficult to deal with. However, he has a good relationship with Zhou Gongjin. Now Zhou Gongjin is a guard guard in Xu County. You can take advantage of this and send someone to persuade him to surrender."

Cao Chong thought for a while and said with some uncertainty: "Can this work?"

Sun Shangxiang laughed and said, "You don't know that Lu Zijing is an ambitious person. When he first arrived in Jiangdong, he persuaded Erlang to divide the world and become king. Later, the Prime Minister took Jingzhou and issued an edict to Jiangdong. The ministers in Jiangdong surrendered, and he tried to persuade Erlang to refuse his orders. What was he thinking? Isn't he just trying to follow Erlang to climb up the dragon and phoenix and be able to be a marquis and generals? But now Erlang has been defeated several times in succession, and even Zhou Gongjin, the toughest sect in the battle, surrendered. Can he still have hope for Erlang?"

"You mean, will Lu Su be shaken?"

"No matter whether he will shake it or not, at least Erlang will worry that he will shake it." Sun Shangxiang curled his lips and said, "Don't look at Erlang's appearance, but he is very slim. He only learned from Dalang's appearance and did not have the temperament of Dalang. Moreover, Lu Su is very arrogant and does not get along well with Erlang's confidants and Erlang's confidants, and he has a very poor popularity. Erlang heard a lot of things that are not good for him in his ears. If you send someone to contact him, it would be strange if Erlang doesn't feel suspicious."

Cao Chong smiled and had an idea in his heart. He knew Sun Quan's temper, but he was not sure. Now he was sure after hearing what Sun Shangxiang said. He hugged Sun Shangxiang on his body, wrapped his hands around Sun Shangxiang's slender waist, gently kneaded the elastic soft flesh on her waist, and pushed the tip of his nose to her Qiong Nose and smiled: "You are so tricking Erlang, if he knows in the future, will he eat you alive?"

"Then it depends on whether he can escape from you." Sun Shangxiang smiled, but was a little reluctant, and stopped talking. She just quietly leaned on Cao Chong and pressed her face against Cao Chong's face. Her long eyelashes made Cao Chong's skin itchy, and her plump breasts pressed against Cao Chong's exposed chest. Cao Chong couldn't help but react. Sun Shangxiang felt it. She grinned and smiled silently, turned over and lay beside Cao Chong, patted Cao Chong's face and said, "Hehe, stop thinking about it, go to bed early, there is something to do tomorrow."

Cao Chong smiled bitterly, turned his head to look at her eyes, owed to her trembling lips and pecked her gently, and sighed softly: "Sleep, let's talk about what's going on in the future."

Sun Quan looked at Lu Xun, who was kneeling in front of him with his head down, panting like a bellows. He rushed to Yuzhang from Moling, on the one hand, to command nearby, and joined forces with Zhuge Liang to prevent Cao's conflict from entering Jiangnan, but on the other hand, to see Lu Xun. After Xiling was defeated, the veteran Jiangdong suffered heavy losses, and even the Grand Commander Zhou Yu was captured. Huaisi's military strength was greatly damaged. In desperation, he had to use the local tribes in Jiangdong while vigorously cultivating Lu Meng. In order to prevent the Jiangdong tribe from surging its strength, he caused trouble for himself.

He carefully arranged the appointment. Although he was a non-cooperative faction like Yu Fan, he only allowed them to serve as civil servants in the shogunate. Gu Yong was his confidant. Since he was the prefect of Kuaiji, he regarded Gu Yong as the chief and acted as the prefect. He was a trusted person, so he was the deputy of the chief Zhang Zhao, preparing to replace him as soon as the time was ripe. He vaguely heard the news that Zhang Zhao's nephew Zhang Fen was now in Cao Chong's army, and Zhang Zhao had never pushed him. Obviously, he had a different ambition in his heart and could no longer trust him.

Lu Xun is also a person he can trust. Although the Lu family and the Sun family have a grudge, it has been in the past ten years, and Lu Xun has also become Sun Ce's son-in-law. He has been following him for a long time and has been doing his best. He should be a trustworthy person, so he gave him a soldier and let him station in Poyang. Lu Xun is indeed very capable. Soon after he arrived in Poyang, he beat Shanyue, which had been scrupulous for a long time, and his own strength has also improved by leaps and bounds a thousand miles a day. Last year, he only had 500 soldiers, and now he has nearly 2,000 elite soldiers in Shanyue.

It was precisely this reason that made Sun Quan a little unsure. Lu Xun became more and more decisive in fighting the mountain, but he refused to support Changsha this time and wrote many letters to him to express his reasons, but he did not move forward. After his cousin, Lu Ji, the prefect of Yu Lin, stepped down because Guan Yu arrived in Yu Lin, returned to Jingkou, Sun Quan was originally planning to let him work in the shogunate, but he did not expect Lu Ji to be merciless and was studying in the mansion. Recently, he heard that he was determined to attend a forum at Xiangyang Academy and study the I Ching with Zhou Qun and Zhangyu. This made Sun Quan even more annoyed. The first thing he did when he came to Yu Zhang was to attract Lu Xun, ask him what he thought, and ask him what the Lu family was thinking. If he couldn't satisfy him, he would not object to the complete completion of what Dalang had not done before their Lu family was full.

Although Lu Xun lowered his head, he was not nervous at all. He just sat quietly and listened to Sun Quan roar. Sun Quan was very steady in front of others, especially in front of those old ministers, but in front of Lu Xun, he was often furious, and Lu Xun was already used to it.

"You said, why didn't you listen to my order to reinforce Changsha?" Sun Quan sat down angrily. Peng slapped the desk. The ink on the desk jumped up, and a few drops of ink splashed on his sleeve, and soon turned into a big black dot. Sun Quan became even more annoyed, swept his arm across, swept all the things on the desk to the ground, and the halberd pointed Lu Xun and shouted angrily: "Speak quickly, otherwise I'll deal with you today."

When Lu Xun learned that Sun Quan personally led a large army to Yuzhang and rushed to Luling, he knew what Sun Quan was thinking, so he was not panicked at all. When Sun Quan finished yelling, he replied: "Encourt..." Now Sun Quan is also the governor of Xuzhou, so he has to call him Encourt.

"The envoy, Xun did not intend to disobey the envoy's orders, but Poyang was in a state of dissatisfaction recently, and the rioters suddenly claimed that they were assigned by the court and rebelled. Xun was worried that they would become more and more trouble, so he led his troops to fight. Now they are fleeing into Danyang. Xun was about to seek orders with the envoy and work with He Gongmiao to quell the rebellion, but the envoy came here in person."

"How big can some mountain people cause?" Sun Quan was a little surprised when he heard about Youtu's incident. The rebellion of Pan Lin in Kuaiji was finally quelled. When did Poyang Lake become chaotic again? "It's more attentive than guarding against Cao Chong?"

"Empress, although their number is not large, if they are not in time to fight, they will become bigger. When the time comes, they will need to spend a lot of effort." Lu Xun said, "Besides, if our army lets them be in the rear and goes to Changsha to guard against the Cao army, the rear will be unstable and the soldiers and families are in Poyang. How can morale be boosted? How can we win with uneasy soldiers and fight against the Cao army of tigers and wolves?"

"Then when will you be able to suppress them and march into Changsha?" Sun Quan spoke a little better.

"Envoy, Xun... feels that it is inappropriate to enter Changsha..." Lu Xun was silent for a while, and said firmly.

"What does it mean?" Sun Quan frowned his eyebrows and looked at Lu Xun with dissatisfaction.

Lu Xun's head lowered and almost lay on the ground. "The envoy, Liu Bei's monarch and minister, are more deceitful than cunning. Since Liu Bei's debut, he has been rejected by Gongsun Zhang, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Biao. Which time hasn't been backfired? They were driven to the death by Cao's army. They reached a helping hand to save them from overthrowing, but what did they do? Zhou Gongjin attacked Jiangling, and they secretly seized four counties. Mrs. Sun was robbed. He shouted and wanted to take revenge. As a result, he sat under Xiling City to observe success or failure and asked him to save Cheng Demou. He delayed time on the road, so that Cheng Demou died. The envoy ignored past grudges and married him again. Instead, he forced Yulin and Cangwu. The envoy thought, if he really succeeded in taking Yizhou, will I live in Jiangdong in the future? The envoy, this is a scam with a tiger."
Chapter completed!