Hu Zong did not dare to hesitate or neglect anything as it was such a big matter as becoming emperor.
The two men first returned to the residence outside Wuchang City, and then rode two fast horses into the city at high speed. When they arrived outside the Wu Palace, the two men hurriedly walked to where Sun Quan was, one in front and one behind.
Hu Zong went in first and spoke a few words to Sun Quan before getting permission to bring Jiang Wan into the palace.
"How are you, Gongyan?"
Sun Quan sat in the middle of the hall and greeted Jiang Wan in a deep and magnetic voice.
Jiang Wan bowed and saluted: "Han envoy Jiang Wan greets the king!"
Sun Quan asked, "Gong Yan did not leave until after the New Year's Day, did he? Did the Emperor of Han and Prime Minister Zhuge receive the two New Year's gifts I sent to Chengdu and Baishui?"
Jiang Wan bowed and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I have received all the gifts. I heard from Brother Weize that Your Majesty was ill. Now I see that Your Majesty is in good health, which is really a happy thing."
Sun Quan was not embarrassed at all, and said, "After hearing that the envoy had arrived, my minor ailment is no longer worth mentioning."
"Gong Yan, please stop lying in front of me. Tell me frankly, what is Prime Minister Zhuge's plan?"
Jiang Wan clasped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty is willing to issue an edict to divide Han and Wu into two countries, neither of which is subordinate to the other, in order to help our allies achieve their imperial cause!"
Although Sun Quan had heard this from Hu Zong a long time ago, it still felt different when he heard it from Jiang Wan in person.
Sun Quan instinctively wanted to lower the price, and sneered and retorted: "The Sun family has established the foundation for three generations. I am already the King of Wu. If you want to become the emperor, it is just a matter of raising your hand."
"Besides, the officials of the Great Wu have urged me to advance several times, but I have rejected them all. Why should I ask you to make suggestions for me?"
Jiang Wan shook his head: "If your Majesty says so, I have nothing to say."
"Please allow me to stay here and pay my respects to you once again."
Sun Quan was slightly puzzled: "What does Gongyan mean by this?"
Jiang Wan replied solemnly: "The Wei thieves have occupied the north, and both humans and gods are angry. The ruler and his ministers in our court have been dishonest for a long time."
"Your Majesty and the Prime Minister originally thought that the King of Wu was a great hero in the southeast, with great ambitions to conquer the world. We do not want to sit back and wait and see, and let the northern bandits take advantage of us."
"Now that I see that the King of Wu has no ambition, I will return to Chengdu to present myself to Your Majesty and request troops to close the Yong'an Road and sever the alliance between Han and Wu."
"Shu has its own natural defenses. We should wait and see how China changes. Please let the king and Wu work hard on their own!"
After saying this, Jiang Wan bowed, took three steps back, turned around and walked out.
Sun Quan frowned, but couldn't speak to persuade him to stay, so he looked in Hu Zong's direction. Hu Zong was also shocked by Jiang Wan's words, and looked at Jiang Wan's leaving back, and was confused for a moment, and didn't see Sun Quan's gaze at all.
Sun Quan coughed lightly: "Wei Ze!"
Hu Zong finally looked over. Sun Quan frowned and waved outside the hall, signaling Hu Zong to quickly bring Jiang Wan back.
Hu Zong understood, trotted forward a few steps, and grabbed Jiang Wan's sleeve: "Brother Gongyan, why are you so fierce? Why are you leaving?"
Jiang Wan stood still and shook his sleeves: "Brother Weize only asked me to be honest, but Brother Weize was not honest with me!"
"If Brother Weize really has no requests, then I, Jiang Wan, have misjudged you!"
Faced with Jiang Wan's obvious indirect criticism, Hu Zong bowed slightly to express his apology, then turned his head to look at Sun Quan.
Sun Quan laughed out loud: "Gong Yan is really a bit too aggressive!"
"I just asked you to test me, but I don't know if you are sincere and have no intention of objecting."
"Please stay, Gongyan."
Jiang Wan sighed, turned around and walked back to his original position.
Sun Quan said, "I will not speak lies to Gong Yan any more."
"The national conditions of Wu are different from those of Han and Wei. Since Cao Zihuan and Liu Xuande both proclaimed themselves emperors, I have been delayed for so many years because of these matters of etiquette and law."
"What do the Chengdu government and the Baishui Xiangfu think? I hope Gong Yan can explain it clearly."
Jiang Wan said, "Last autumn, the Prime Minister and Your Majesty agreed that there are three things that can be requested from the King of Wu."
"First, Your Majesty can issue an edict to divide Han and Wu into two countries to help the King of Wu achieve his imperial ambitions."
"Second, abolish the terms Eastern Ruler and Western Ruler, and allow the Han Emperor and the Wu Emperor to coexist in the world."
"Third, Han and Wu will stand guard and help each other, and then they will go north to defeat the Wei bandits, and then divide the world equally."
Sun Quan stood up and responded with a serious face: "I must listen to the words of the Han Emperor!"
"But how will the world be divided equally?"
Jiang Wan bowed and replied, "Yu, Qing, Xu, and You belong to Wu, and Yan, Ji, Bing, and Liang belong to Han. The land of Sili is divided into two, with Hangu Pass as the boundary."
"What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Sun Quan listened carefully for a few moments, then smiled and said, "Okay, I have no objection to this distribution. But if the Wei thieves are destroyed, will the world still be divided between the two rulers?"
Jiang Wan bowed and replied, "There is no two suns in the sky, and no two masters for the people. If the king does not recognize the will of heaven after conquering Wei, there will be a war between Han and Wu."
"Hahahaha." Sun Quan laughed, "Gong Yan is really sincere to me." "I have heard everything the Han envoy said, and I have accepted it all."
"But this is not a one-time effort. In September this year, please ask the Han envoy to come to Wuchang again!"
Jiang Wan took a deep breath and said, "I wonder why the Han envoy came to Wuchang again?"
Sun Quan replied arrogantly: "It is what the Han envoy just said!"
Jiang Wan cupped his hands and said, "I have written down all your words, Your Majesty."
"But I wonder if the King of Wu is willing to agree to my previous proposal to attack Wei?"
Sun Quan nodded and said, "I can support you in attacking Wei, but I don't want to attack Hefei, I want to attack Xiangyang instead! If Gongyan can't make a decision, you can go back to Chengdu to ask for instructions when you have time!"
Jiang Wan cupped his hands and said, "I will report back to you when I return to Chengdu next time."
Sun Quan's enthronement was no small matter for both the Eastern Wu and the Shu Han. It was February now, and Sun Quan had given himself more than half a year, which was also to leave enough time for preparation.
Jiang Wan came to Wuchang as an envoy with such conditions. The heavy pressure in his heart was definitely not as light as he looked on the surface.
Between Shu Han and Eastern Wu, although both were defeated by Wei once, the extent of the damage to Shu Han was much greater than that to Wu.
Not to mention the loss of military strength.
Shu Han was originally a state of Yizhou, and lost the northern barrier of Hanzhong the year before last, barely retaining half of the state. When Liu Zhang was in Shu, it was no more than this.
If it weren't for the title of Han Emperor, I really don't know what name I should use to continue.
Although the Eastern Wu suffered heavy casualties, the two countries were fighting in the north of the Yangtze River. Ruxu was intact, Dajiang was intact, and Jiangling was intact. The foundation and strategic locations of the Wu State were still in their hands.
The extent to which Shu Han needed Eastern Wu was actually greater than Eastern Wu needed Shu Han.
Since the title of Han Emperor is the most precious thing to me, if I still hold on to conservative and old-fashioned ideas and refuse to compromise in the slightest, I will really take it to the grave.
With Zhuge Liang's wisdom, he naturally saw this point.
People who can accomplish great things and accomplish great things will not be restricted by such things.
In the eyes of Zhuge Liang and the officials of Shu Han, if you, Sun Quan, can attack Cao Wei after you become emperor, it will be a matter of paramount importance.
As for recognizing Sun Quan now, they may not recognize him after destroying Wei! The next one is Sun Quan!
Sun Quan was no fool, and of course he knew this.
All decisions made by both sides were nothing more than rational judgments based on the reality that Wei was a powerful state.
Since Sun Quan had agreed on September, Jiang Wan had already made up his mind to come to Wuchang again in September.
As for whether to attack Xiangyang or Hefei, how much difference would it make to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang?
……
Cao Rui arrived at Yecheng, where he lived as a teenager, and there was still a lot to do.
For example, he received the Cao clan members living in the city, and selected some of them to serve as palace officials in Luoyang, so that they could be awarded official positions in the future.
For example, he received the descendants of Cao Wei's old ministers during the Jian'an period, including Wang Xiu's eldest son Wang Ning, youngest sons Wang Zhong and Wang Yi, as well as the sons of Mao Jie, Liang Mao and other old ministers.
Those whose talents surpassed those of the average people were granted official positions through imperial favor.
For example, he sent Sima Yi, the Minister of Works, as an envoy to offer sacrifices and worship at the tomb of Empress Wen Zhao in the west of Yecheng, on the grounds that he was not fit to be overly sad. He also ordered all the Zhen clan members in Yecheng to move to Luoyang.
All in all, when the Emperor of Wei visited Yecheng for the first time, he had nothing but meetings, and he met five or six groups of people every day.
The emperor's job is so boring.
On the afternoon of February 7, Cao Rui met with people in key positions near Yecheng at the Tongque Tower. Among them were Guan Cheng, the commander of the Licaoqu Canal, and his son Guan Lu, who were also summoned at the same time.
After the Minister of Works Fu Xun arrived in Guantao, while inspecting along the canal, Guan Cheng asked many questions about the transportation of materials.
Fu Xun was surprised. Normally, such a confidential matter was not something that Guan Cheng, a 1,000-stone official, could know.
After careful questioning, Guan Cheng told his immediate superior in detail about his son Guan Lu's divination.
Fu Xun was a learned man who had a good understanding of prophecies and the Book of Changes. After hearing what Guan Cheng said, he summoned Guan Lu to ask him about the principles of morality. Only then did he realize that this man was a genius. Therefore, in the report he sent to Yecheng, he mentioned Guan Cheng and Guan Ke in detail.
Although Cao Rui never believed in these things, he was still very interested in the supernatural and divination. Being an emperor was so boring, and meeting strange people in the countryside was a rare change.
In the Feiguang Hall on the Bronze Sparrow Tower, these officials with high official rank answered the emperor's questions carefully one by one, not even daring to look around.
Being summoned by the emperor for a court hearing as a 1,000-stone official was something he could brag about for at least twenty years. Whether the emperor asked one question or two was irrelevant.
After asking all the questions, Li Caoqu Duwei Guan Cheng ranked last. After asking Guan Cheng, Cao Rui looked at Guan Ke who was kneeling on the ground and said softly: "Your name is Guan Lu, right? Raise your head and let me see what you look like."
Upon hearing this, Guan Lu raised his head for two moments, then lowered it again, not daring to look the emperor in the eye.
Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi and said with a smile: "This man is good at divination. I am very surprised by it."
"Sikong, do you think this person is Xu Fu or Dongfang Shuo?" (End of this chapter)
