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Lu Su already knows Sun Quan very well. He knows that Sun Quan will not easily appoint a high-ranking official, but once he says it, it is the result of his careful consideration. He also knows that if he refuses, it will be pretentious. Lu Su no longer refuses and kneels down to bow and bows, "There is a gentle minister who obeys the order."

Sun Quan appointed Lu Su as the Grand Governor not entirely because of Zhou Yu's recommendation. He also had his own considerations. The person Sun Quan really wanted to appoint was Lu Xun. On the one hand, Lu Xun was Sun Ce's son-in-law, and on the other hand, the Lu family was the largest family in Wujun, and Wujun was the foundation of Jiangdong.

However, Lu Xun's qualifications are still insufficient. Many people are afraid that they will not be convinced by him as the chief general, especially those senior military generals. At the same time, Lu Xun is a pioneering general, and now he needs to recuperate and maintain his success. Lu Xun is obviously not suitable.

Lu Su is very suitable for maintaining success. He is cautious and advocates harmony with Jingzhou without fighting. More importantly, Lu Su's loyalty can also reassure Sun Quan. Moreover, Lu Su is generous and has good popularity. He belongs to Zhou Yu's Lujiang Sect. He is the Grand Governor. Whether it is Zhang Zhao, Cheng Pu's northern Sect, or Zhang Hong, Gu Yong, Lu Xun and others' local factions, it will not destroy the current balance of power in Jiangdong.

So Sun Quan thought carefully overnight and decided to let Lu Su succeed to the position of Grand Governor. Sun Quan helped him up and said with a smile: "Now I want to ask Jing, Sima Yi asked Jiangdong to send troops to Hefei. Should I save him or not?"

Lu Su pondered for a moment and said, "What about the lord's own thoughts?"

Although Sun Quan was sad about Zhou Yu's departure, he was not addicted to grief. When talking about the serious matter, his mood was exactly the same as usual. He said lightly: "Actually, it's okay to send troops, but I don't want to save him in vain. I want Liu Jing to let go of some of the treaties of that year. Do you think it's OK?"

Lu Su thought for a while and said, "The suggestion of the empress should send troops without hesitation. After the danger to Jingzhou was lifted, then negotiate the treaty issue with Jingzhou. I think Liu Jing would also relax the restrictions on Jiangdong out of gratitude."

Sun Quan nodded, "Let me think about this matter."

Back to Jianye Palace, Sun Quan had just walked to his official room, and a guard reported at the door: "Report to Duke Wu, the military advisor asked for a meeting."

The military advisor of Jiangdong is Zhang Zhao. Sun Quan knew that he was asking for a meeting at this time, which must be for the Jingzhou matter. He pondered for a moment and said, "Please come in."

After a moment, Zhang Zhao hurried into the official room, bowed and said, "I am going to see the lord."

"Military advisor, please sit down"

Sun Quan asked Zhang Zhao to sit down and ordered the guards to serve tea. Zhang Zhao said anxiously: "Has the lord agreed to send troops in Jingzhou?"

"I haven't officially agreed yet, I just expressed my opinion. I will put the righteousness of the Sun and Liu families first, but how to do it is still to be discussed."

"I am here for this matter. I advise my lord not to offend Cao Cao for this matter."

"You mean, I refuse to send troops," Sun Quan asked with a frown.

"I don't mean this. I just think that in the current situation, it is better for Jiangdong to remain neutral. Jiangdong should seek the greatest benefit between Liu Jing and Cao Cao."

Sun Quan walked to the window with his hands behind his back and stared out for a long time. Although he decided to appoint Lu Su as the Grand Governor, his ideas coincided with Zhang Zhao's suggestions in his attitude towards Jingzhou.

Now Liu Jing's power is no longer the small force that monopolized Jiangxia and was depressed with Jiangdong, but a large force that could compete with Cao's army. In this case, Jiangdong must judge the situation and choose his own position.

In Sun Quan's opinion, it will take many years for Liu Jing and Cao Cao to fight for hegemony to have a result. In this case, whether it is helping Liu Jing or Cao Cao, it is not the best choice. The best choice is neutrality and seeking the greatest benefits for Jiangdong in the battle between these two major forces.

After pondering for a long time, Sun Quan turned around and asked, "Is there any plan for the military advisor?"

Zhang Zhao smiled and said, "The plan is very simple. Since Cao Cao has enthroned the lord, it has given us benefits. Liu Jing should also express it. We can put forward conditions to Sima Yi. If the other party agrees, we can send troops to Hefei symbolically, at least not turn against Liu Jing on the surface."

Symbolizingly sending troops, Sun Quan couldn't help but laugh and asked again: "What are the specific conditions?"

"We can put forward a condition, one is to abolish the constraints on the upper limit of our warships, the second is to return it to Qichun County, and the second is to cancel the inland river trade."

Sun Quan was speechless. He could understand the first two conditions. The first condition was that Zhang Zhao represented the interests of some senior officials. If the inland river trade was abolished, the merchants in Jingzhou could not go deep into Jiangdong counties to purchase goods directly, but had to trade with big merchants in Jiangdong, which meant that big merchants in Jiangdong had remonopolized the inland river in Jiangdong again.

However, Sun Quan also knew that Zhang Zhao always takes care of both public and private affairs and would not abandon public because of private affairs. If public and private affairs cannot be both, Zhang Zhao would definitely give up his selfishness and do his best to serve the public.

Sun Quan asked again: "If Jingzhou really agrees to this condition, can we send troops to Hefei?"

Zhang Zhao shook his head, "The conditions are harsh, Jingzhou will never agree, especially Qichun County. They will definitely not agree, so we send troops just to do something, so we gain benefits from both sides."

Speaking of this, Zhang Zhao smiled meaningfully and said, "Don't the lord want them to suffer both defeats?"

"I see"

Zhang Zhao's last sentence touched Sun Quan's heart.

Sun Quan thought about it and said with a smile: "It's better to do this. The military advisor will talk to Sima Yi on behalf of me and see what conditions they can agree to."

After pausing, Sun Quan said again: "I have another thing to tell the military advisor that I have decided to appoint Jing as the chief military commander."

Zhang Zhao was stunned. It was Lu Su who served as the governor, but his heart was slightly relieved. Lu Su was fine, as long as it was not Lu Xun who served as the chief.

Zhang Zhao left Jianye Palace and turned to Guibin Station. He had a sense of enlightenment in his heart. Although the lord appointed Lu Su as the Grand Governor, he still let himself take the lead in the negotiations with Jingzhou. This shows that he was still not at ease with Lu Su, or that Lu Su's proposals did not meet his wishes.

Needless to say, Zhang Zhao also guessed what Lu Su’s suggestion was, and he must have sent troops unconditionally. If it was before the New Year, such a proposition would be considered more rational, but now it is still sending troops unconditionally, which seems a bit out of place.

It concerns the fundamental interests of a country, and it cannot be achieved by talking about feelings. At least in Zhang Zhao's opinion, it is impossible. What is the most fundamental interests of Jiangdong? It is security.

Liu Jing and Cao Cao were both injured, so Jiangdong had a security guarantee. Unfortunately, Lu Su did not understand this. Fortunately, Wu Gong understood in his heart that whether it was the powerful Han army or the powerful Cao army, it was a huge threat to Jiangdong.

Zhang Zhao was led into the Guibin Post Office by the postmaster. At this time, Sima Yi also came out to welcome him. He was just telling Liu Min that among the important officials in Jiangdong, who would make things difficult for Jingzhou to ask for help this time. Both of them thought of Zhang Zhao at the same time. He had always been unfriendly to Jingzhou, but he did not expect that Zhang Zhao would actually visit.

This made Sima Yi realize that this time the mission to Jingzhou was as they were worried before, and Jiangdong had no sincerity to provide Jingzhou. Although he was a little unhappy, Sima Yi still enthusiastically welcomed Zhang Zhao into the inner hall.

The two exchanged a few greetings, and the maid gave them tea. Zhang Zhao took the initiative to turn the topic to the matter of Jingzhou. He pondered: "Actually, we have also heard about the Cao army's going south, but based on the information we obtained from Yedu, the Cao army's southern expedition was not fully prepared for this time. Therefore, we judged that Cao Cao's real purpose was not Jingzhou, but Longxi. As long as the governor of Liuzhou was willing to suspend the northern expedition of Longxi, Cao Cao would definitely withdraw his troops and return to Nanyang."

Sima Yi secretly called Zhang Zhao really powerful, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he put his morality in a passive position.

Zhang Zhao means that the troubles you can solve on your own are now asking for help from Jiangdong. If Jiangdong sends troops, it will become a helping the Han army in the north. This is not a timely help, but a icing on the cake. It should morally be free to help, but it is not a price to add icing on the cake.

Sima Yi smiled and said, "Actually, we also know that Cao Cao's strategic purpose is for the Western Front, but now the two armies on the Western Front are in a stalemate. Cao Cao has also deployed more than 100,000 troops in Guanzhong and Longxi. If we give up the Western Front and instead help Xiangyang, it will cause the Western Front to be empty, which will cause Cao's army to attack Hanzhong and even threaten Yizhou, so we dare not easily mobilize the Yizhou army."

Zhang Zhao smiled, "I know that your army has 200,000 people. In fact, 100,000 people defend Hanzhong, 100,000 people confront Xiangyang, and even temporarily recruit militia groups. With the strong strength of Jingyi and the two prefectures, it should be more than enough to deal with Cao Cao's southern expedition. In fact, there is no need for Sima military advisor to work so hard."

Sima Yi was silent and said coldly for a while: "I understand what Mr. Zhang means, that is, Jiangdong rejected Jingzhou's request, right?"

"No, no," Zhang Zhao waved his hand quickly and said with a smile: "We two families have a marriage relationship, how could we refuse? This makes it difficult for the princess to live in Yizhou. I just give a few suggestions."

Sima Yi also understood Zhang Zhao's intention. After all, it was necessary to have conditions. However, Zhang Zhao was not easy to speak. He thought about it and said, "In order to show the sincerity of both sides, we will not let Jiangdong send troops for free. We promise that as long as the Jiangdong army occupied Hefei, once Cao's army counterattacked, we will support us from the western front to repay the favor."

Liu Min next to him did not speak, but was listening quietly to the negotiations between the two military advisors. He was quite moved in his heart. He was worthy of being a military advisor. The two were fighting across the air, both seizing moral high ground. Although Zhang Zhao's move was sharp, Sima Yi's counterattack was not weak. He told Zhang Zhao very clearly that if Jiangdong did not save Xiangyang this time, then don't expect Jingzhou to save Jiangdong next time.

Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "I am not hiding the Sima military advisor. Now the Jiangdong army is fighting against the Shanyue people in Jian'an County. It is not impossible for us to assist Jingzhou. We just can't draw out many troops for a while, and we are worried that we will not be able to solve the danger of Jingzhou."

Sima Yi sneered in his heart. After all, Jiangdong did not have the sincerity to send troops. If he gave many conditions but Jiangdong refused to do his best, it would be that he would cut his flesh and feed the tiger in vain. How could such a good thing happen in the world

Thinking of this, Sima Yi bowed and said, "My family governor also knows that Jiangdong is in trouble, but he still hopes that Jiangdong can send troops to Hefei. Please ask Mr. Zhang to tell Wu that if Jiangdong is willing to send troops, Jingzhou can promise that Jiangdong will no longer be restricted by the Thousand Stone Warship."
Chapter completed!