Chapter 57: Attack and Defense (Seeking Follow-up Reading) Cao Zhen understood that the emperor was going to hold another meeting. But Cao Zhen felt a little confused when he saw the emperor's solemn expression. It was just a matter of accepting or not accepting the surrender of a prefect of Wu. Why was it so serious? In fact, Cao Zhen and the emperor were not on the same channel at all. What Cao Zhen was thinking was that no matter whether Zhou Cang's surrender this time was true or false, the biggest consequence would be another war. In the third, fifth, and sixth years of Huangchu, Cao Pi fought against Wu three times during his six years in office. Fighting against Wu! Although it was not easy, there were traces to follow from combat to logistics to dispatch. It was nothing more than another battle. But Cao Rui's concerns were completely different from Cao Zhen's. In the original history, Zhou Cang pretended to surrender in the second year of Taihe. However, the chain reaction caused by Sun Quan's failure to attack Jiangxia and Han Zong's defection led to Sun Quan letting Zhou Cang pretend to surrender two years earlier than in the original history. There are good and bad. The downside, of course, was that Cao Wei was not prepared. Cao Rui had been on the throne for less than half a year, and the reign title he used was still the seventh year of Huangchu during the reign of his predecessor, Cao Pi. The last time Cao Pi returned to Luoyang from his expedition against Wu was in the first month of the seventh year of Huangchu.
The central army had been resting for less than a year, and the troops in the southeastern provinces of Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou had also been resting for a year. Using troops now was a bit hasty. Of course there are benefits. The most important ones are two: the first is that the scheduled battlefield is near Wancheng and Shiting, and the second is that Zhuge Liang will not send troops. You know, in the original history, in the second year of Taihe, Cao Wei fought the Battle of Shiting with Sun Quan in the east, and successfully guarded against Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition in the west. Zhou Cang's false surrender happened two years earlier, which meant that Zhuge Liang had no time to move his troops to Hanzhong and prepare the food and military supplies needed for the Northern Expedition. Isn’t this a good thing? However, Cao Rui had no way of saying these things to Cao Zhen, nor could he explain them to his ministers. Xin Pi and Huang Quan, who were on duty today, had already arrived at the study. According to the new system of the Shizhong Temple, two people were on duty in the side room of the emperor's study every day. The remaining two people were in the duty room of the Shizhong Temple, waiting for the emperor to call. Xin Pi and Huang Quan entered the study. After greeting the emperor and Cao Zhen, Xin Pi asked, "May I ask what you would like to discuss, Your Majesty?" Cao Rui was silent for a moment and said, "Wait a moment, everyone is not here yet." Seeing this, Xin Pi and Huang Quan did not say much and stood aside waiting. Seeing that Xin Pi and Huang Quan were still standing, Cao Rui pointed to the corner of the study and signaled the eunuch to bring two stools. Then he lowered his head and looked at the seven pieces of letter paper from Zhou Cang. Xin Pi and Huang Quan hurriedly thanked him. This was the first time for both of them to sit on the stool and they found it quite novel. After a while, Liu Ye and Chen Jiao arrived, and like Xin Pi and Huang Quan, they sat on the stools and waited. After a while, the two Zhongshu Liu Fang and Sun Zi, as well as Sima Yi who was in the Shangshu Tai, finally arrived. Seeing that everyone was present, Cao Rui did not delay any longer: "General, please tell everyone about the situation." This was the first time that so many people sat in the emperor's study for a meeting. When Cao Zhen first came in, he sat on the emperor's left. When Xin Pi and Huang Quan came, they sat behind Cao Zhen. The remaining two attendants and two secretaries also sat near Xin Pi and Huang Quan. When Sima Yi arrived, he saw that Cao Zhen was sitting closest to the emperor, so Sima Yi sat opposite the emperor. Cao Rui did not arrange seating, but these eight ministers found seats for themselves according to their own behavioral instincts: Cao Zhen and Sima Yi were closest to the emperor, followed by four attendants and two secretaries. The eight people stood on both sides. Cao Zhen, the leader, cleared his throat and began to introduce the latest situation from Yangzhou. First, Zhai Dan, the defender of Pengze in Eastern Wu, led a thousand men across the river to surrender to Wei. Second, Zhou Cang, the prefect of Poyang in Eastern Wu, sent people to Cao Xiu, claiming that he would lead Cao Xiu across the river in Poyang.
After Cao Zhen finished explaining the situation, Cao Rui began to ask questions to his ministers: "General, you have explained the situation clearly in Zhou Cang's letter. I think Zhou Cang is pretending to surrender. Do you think Zhou Cang is trustworthy?" Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing why the emperor could be so sure that Zhou Cang was faking his surrender. First, Han Dang's son Han Zong surrendered to Wei, and then Pengze's garrison commander Zhai Dan crossed the river. Why was Zhou Cang definitely faking his surrender? Xin Pi bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, war is a matter of great importance to a country. Whether Zhou Cang surrendered for real or in a false way, how can we send troops across the river just because of a letter from a Wu surrenderer?" Liu Ye glanced at Xin Pi. In the past, whenever the emperor asked a question, Liu Ye was the first to answer, but this time, Xin Pi got there first. Liu Ye then said: "I think the key to defending against the Eastern Wu is in Hefei, Guangling and Xiangyang, not in Poyang. Poyang is located between Wuchang and Jianye. If we attack Poyang, the enemy can come to our aid from both upstream and downstream. Poyang is really not a good place to go." The attitudes of Xin Pi and Liu Ye both indicated that Poyang, where Zhou Yu was sitting, was not a good place to fight. Chen Jiao was in charge of government affairs, and Huang Quan was discussing the war with the emperor for the first time, so they did not want to express their thoughts in front of their colleagues. Therefore, both Chen Jiao and Huang Quan remained silent. Seeing that everyone was silent, Cao Rui looked at Sun Zi and said, "Secretary Sun, I remember that before Zhou Cang, someone in Poyang also surrendered?" Sun Zi heard the voice and replied: "As early as the 21st year of Jian'an, You Tu, a Poyang citizen, received the seal of Emperor Wu. In addition to Poyang, Lingyang, Shi'an, and Jingxian all responded to You Tu's move. But because we could not cross the river, our Wei did not go south to Poyang, and eventually You Tu was defeated and died." Cao Rui said: "There has been such an example in the 21st year of Jian'an. If Zhou Cang's surrender is true, occupying Poyang will not be of much use to our Wei. If Zhou Cang's surrender is false, then the person behind it must be Sun Quan. Sun Quan wants to fight against Wei." Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi, wanting to hear his thoughts: "Sima Qing, regardless of whether Zhou Cang's surrender was true or false, should Wei pay attention to Zhou Cang?" Sima Yi was silent for a moment before responding, "Your Majesty, whether Zhou Cang's surrender is true or false is not important. Even if he really surrenders, we should prepare for war as if it is a false surrender. The key to this matter is Sun Quan's attitude." "I would like to ask you to take a closer look at Zhou Qian's letter of surrender." Cao Rui picked up the letter with his right hand and handed it to Sima Yi. Sima Yi took it with both hands and sat down to read it. Seeing Sima Yi silently looking at the letter in his hand, Cao Zhen said impatiently: "If it was Sun Quan who ordered it, then what good intentions could Sun Quan have? He just wants to go to war with our Great Wei." Sima Yi looked up at Cao Zhen, then lowered his head again: "General, Sun Quan certainly wants to fight, but when, where, and with whom, we still need to carefully identify." (End of this chapter)