"Lord, we took Jingzhou not only to have an extra rich prefecture and county. Strategically, we have obtained a strategic position to directly attack the heartland of the Central Plains. We can only break through on the front line of Hefei. With Jingzhou, we have more choices. And after occupying Jingzhou, we can use Jingzhou as a buffer when Cao Cao goes south, have a strategic depth, and have many more choices for combat." Pang Tong said.

After hearing this, Zhou Yu expressed a different opinion and said, "I don't think we need to seize Jingzhou before Cao Cao. Compared with Cao's army, our advantage is the navy. We can let Cao Cao get Jingzhou first, then confront Cao Cao on the Yangtze River, use the advantage of the navy to defeat Cao Cao, and then take advantage of the victory to defeat Jingzhou. In this way, Cao Cao will not go south again in the short term, but we can greatly strengthen our strength after we get Jingzhou. The key is to use the advantages of the navy to win greater chances of winning."

"Anyway, Jingzhou must be taken, but when to take it is something we need to consider. Teacher, what do you think?" Sun Quan asked.

"Lord, since we want Cao Cao to destroy Liu Biao first, then we can occupy Jiangxia before that. Jiangxia is in the lower reaches of Xiangyang and will not affect our naval advantage, and we can also gain a favorable position to attack Xiangyang Nanjun later." Zhang Zhao said.

"The teacher is very good, what do you think?"

"Lord, I think Liu Biao may not surrender. Although Liu Biao is afraid that Cao Cao is Liu Bei is not afraid. Now Liu Bei is in charge of Xinye to fight against Cao Cao, and he has also received the assistance of Zhuge Liang. They will definitely let Liu Biao fight against Cao Cao. If we attack Jiangxia, Liu Biao will probably send Liu Bei to command the army to aid under the instigation of Cai Mao and others. Cao Cao will benefit. So I suggest that we either choose to take Jingzhou directly, or let Cao Cao take Jingzhou and then move again." Pang Tong's analysis makes sense.

After hearing this, Zhou Yu praised Pang Tong and said, "Lord, I agree with Shi Yuan's view. If we want to take Jingzhou, we can either have military advantages or consume Cao Cao's power. If we consume the power to fight against Cao Cao, it would be no good. Liu Bei's resistance to Cao under Liu Biao's command will be much stronger."

"Then is there a way to kill Liu Bei?" Sun Quan said.

"Why should I kill Liu Bei? Lord, the most powerful person in the world is Cao Cao now. We should unite all anti-Cao forces. Liu Bei is a person who firmly opposes Cao Cao." Lu Su said.

"But Liu Bei is an ambitious person, with the same ambition as me, and is my enemy. If he lives, one day he will be strong, and we will not be able to deal with it." Sun Quan was still very afraid of the people in history who could divide the world.

"Lord, Liu Bei is now in a county. Even if Zhuge Liang is powerful, he will not be able to become a weather. How could he be our opponent? But lord, we can take Jiangxia." Xu Shu spoke, and looked at everyone's puzzled eyes and continued: "The daughter of Jiangxia Huangzu is now the lord's sister-in-law. We can let Huangzu surrender to us. As long as Huangzu announced that Jiangxia changed its flag, it would be useless even if Liu Biao wanted to send someone to rescue him."

After hearing this, everyone thought it was feasible and expressed their support, and looked at Xu Shu, the new chief of staff, with admiration.

"Okay, since everyone thinks it's feasible, it's almost the end of the year anyway, let Ayi take his wife and children to visit his father-in-law, and then get the matter done. As Huang Zu's son-in-law, Ayi is all relatives, and there will be no danger when he goes there. Then arrange some people to help secretly. Will the specific matters be made? The Military Affairs Office will make a detailed plan, but Ayi can't handle it alone."

Not to mention Sun Yi went to Jiangxia to visit relatives, Sun Quan had been in this palace for a long time and had not been out. He really wanted to find out how the people are living now. Is the situation below consistent with the reports, but I was afraid of assassination and other things happening. After thinking about it, I thought that I couldn’t go and let others go for me. So I called Chen Nian and gave him instructions, asking him to take people to the homes of the people near Shitou City to learn about the lives of the people and the implementation of various policies.

Chen Nian brought an imperial guard named Li Xiaoniu to a village near Shitou City, and thought he was a passing businessman. Seeing that each family was preparing some firewood for the winter, while many old people were gathering together to bask in the sun. Chen Nian ran over to chat with the old man and asked, "Uncle, it's a sunbathing, hello you! We are passing by, so let's ask you for a while."

An old man asked, "Young man, what are you doing? Where are you going?"

"We just came out of Stone City and were planning to find a place to buy something and go back to celebrate the New Year!"

"Then just buy it here. Let me tell you that our village has grown peanuts, sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkins and potatoes this year. We can't finish it myself and the taxes are low. We can save it and sell it to you."

"Uncle, but I mainly want to buy some pigs and mutton to eat. The meat in the city is too expensive."

"Young man, our family in our village only raises two pigs. It's hard to buy piglets, so we usually don't have to sell pork to you. Everyone keeps them to cook lard and cook. They eat some oil and have a lot of energy to work. The mutton is gone. My old man has never seen a few sheep even though he has grown up."

"Does the old man know where to buy pork?"

"You are from the city. I don't know that there is a large pig farm near the Stone City. Go and buy it there."

"Aren't the pigs there from the army? Where can we buy them?"

"That's just that you don't know. Many of them are selling outside now. I heard that the chief of the pig farm is the same as the chief minister, so he took out the pigs and sold them and didn't know."

"Then he isn't he afraid of someone checking the accounts?"

"Young man, you're quite enthusiastic, I'll tell you, but don't talk about it everywhere. I only know because someone here works in that pig farm. The person in charge reported that the pigs there died of illness and death. In fact, they sold the pork on the market and made a lot of money."

"Thank you, uncle. Do you know which market they sell meat in? I'll go buy some too."

"It's sold in the south of the city called Darong Butcher Shop, go quickly."

Chen Nian and Li Xiaoniu all the way to Darong Butcher Shop, and a donkey cart was brought over with two pigs. Chen Nian followed the donkey cart and found that the donkey cart was back to the back door of the Shitou City military pig farm. Then Chen Nian couldn't follow in, so he found a place to live first. The next afternoon, the donkey cart sent the pig out again, so Chen Nian took down the driver directly, and then showed his identity as an imperial guard.

Under Chen Nian's intimidation, the coachman told everything, and then signed the letter and took it away. Chen Nian rushed back to report to Sun Quan. After hearing this, Sun Quan asked Chen Nian to give a copy of the mouth to Zhou Yu, and called Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu over.

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!