Chapter 52: Brothers Contest For Position
Although Sun Quan has become the New Marquis of Wu, he still has a huge hidden danger unsolved, that is his third brother Sun Yi. Sun Yi was appointed Prefect of Kuaiji by his elder brother and holds an elite army of twenty thousand under his command.
Sun Quan has received news that Sun Yi is leading an army of twenty thousand to Wu County to mourn, but the army has already passed Youquan County. This is clearly not coming to mourn, but plainly to contest for position with him.
This is another piece of news Sun Quan received: Sun Ben is leading an army of ten thousand to garrison Yangxian, obviously to support Sun Yi.
Youquan County is today’s Jiaxing. Sun Yi’s army has passed Jiaxing and is very close to Wu County.
Yangxian is today’s Yixing, located to the west of Taihu Lake.
What annoyed Sun Quan even more was that the Seal of the Marquis of Wu was still in his mother’s hands and had not been handed over to him. His mother had only verbally agreed to let him ascend to the throne, without any written signature.
His mother could retract her verbal promise at any time. The root cause was that Sun Yi’s strength was still there, and his mother had not given up hope. Moreover, there was the Prefect of Wu Commandery Zhang Hong, Sima Hua Xin, and others supporting Sun Yi.
Sun Quan was at a loss in his heart and had no choice but to send someone to invite Zhang Zhao.
Zhang Zhao replaced Lv Fan as Strategist. This was also because Sun Quan did not fully trust Lv Fan, so he let Lv Fan handle government affairs and gave the position of Strategist to Zhang Zhao.
Only after Zhang Zhao became Strategist did Sun Quan truly obtain his elder brother’s military power.
Zhang Zhao arrived at Sun Quan’s official residence and saw Sun Quan looking worried. He smiled and said, “The Marquis of Wu has already ascended to the throne, why are you still unhappy?”
Sun Quan sighed and said, “Sun Yi’s army has already passed Youquan and entered Wu County territory. Sun Ben’s army has garrisoned Yangxian to support Sun Yi. How can I be happy? Does it really have to erupt into civil war?”
Zhang Zhao smiled faintly and said, “Sun Yi is simple-minded and hot-tempered, actually not worth worrying about. I can take him down with a minor stratagem. The real trouble is Sun Ben, but although Sun Ben is cunning, his elite army has been eliminated by Gan Ning. He is like a clever woman without rice to cook with. Although he has ten thousand troops, in reality he only has five thousand elite soldiers; the other five thousand are newly recruited troops.
He also knows his own strength is insufficient, so you can see it from the garrison location in Yangxian. Nominally he has entered Wu Commandery, but he is very close to Danyang Commandery and can retreat back to Danyang Commandery at any time. It is a position where he can advance or retreat. This shows that Sun Ben is just here to boost Sun Yi’s morale and will never provide substantial support.”
Zhang Zhao’s analysis made Sun Quan breathe a sigh of relief. He asked again, “How should I deal with Sun Yi?”
Zhang Zhao now realized that the new lord before him had extremely deep schemes and had been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along. He had saved Chen Wu’s mother’s life with a thousand-year-old ginseng a month ago, thereby winning over Chen Wu. Chen Wu commanded ten thousand City Defense Army in Wu County, so Sun Quan had effectively controlled this army long ago.
This also showed that Sun Quan had known early on that his elder brother would be assassinated and had laid out plans in advance. As soon as the Marquis of Wu died, Lu Family’s Lu Ji and Gu Family’s Gu Yong immediately pledged loyalty. What did this mean?
It was laughable that Sun Ben had busied himself back and forth for so long, only to end up making a wedding dress for Sun Quan in the end.
Once he grasped military power, Sun Quan immediately removed Lv Fan from the position of Strategist, showing his ruthless heart and unwillingness to show mercy for the sake of seizing power.
Having figured these things out, Zhang Zhao no longer dared to underestimate this young new lord.
Zhang Zhao said in a low voice, “Sun Yi’s reliance is nothing more than the support of the Old Madam and Zhang Hong and others. The Marquis of Wu can claim illness to lower Sun Yi’s vigilance, and then……..”
Sun Quan nodded repeatedly. He hesitated and said, “I’m just afraid Zhang Hong won’t easily change his stance.”
Zhang Zhao stroked his beard and smiled, “I have a backup plan. Zhang Hong’s attitude doesn’t really matter.”
Zhang Zhao whispered two sentences, and Sun Quan sighed in his heart. This old fox was indeed formidable.
……….
That noon, news spread from the Marquis of Wu’s Manor that Marquis of Wu Sun Quan had fallen ill from overwork.
At this time, news also came that Sun Yi was leading his army north. For a moment, the people inside Wu County city were in panic, all worrying that a power struggle between the two brothers would erupt, which would be a devastating disaster for the citizens of Wu County.
At the same time, Zhang Zhao visited the Prefect of Wu Commandery Zhang Hong.
The carriage slowly stopped, Zhang Zhao stepped out of the carriage, and Zhang Hong’s second son Zhang Jing, waiting at the door, hurriedly came forward to greet him, “Nephew pays respects to Uncle!”
“Is your father in?”
“Father is waiting in the Guest Hall, Uncle please!”
Zhang Zhao entered the inner hall, the two exchanged greetings, and Zhang Hong invited Zhang Zhao into the Inner Hall, where they sat down as guest and host.
Zhang Zhao got straight to the point: “Sun Yi is leading troops north, and it seems the two brothers will soon turn against each other. Does Elder Brother have any good strategy to stop this impending family tragedy?”
After a long pause, Zhang Hong said indifferently, “The Marquis of Wu always thought his third brother resembled himself. The Old Madam hopes Sun Yi will succeed to the position. Personally, I also favor Sun Yi leading Jiangdong to become the hegemon of the South. I just can’t understand why not let Sun Yi inherit the position of Marquis of Wu?”
Zhang Zhao shook his head and said, “The Marquis of Wu is only twenty-six years old. Of course he thinks he can strive for at least another twenty years and will naturally let his own son inherit the great position. He will never consider Sun Yi succeeding. He praises Sun Yi only because Sun Yi supports his Northern Expedition. Sun Yi is simple-minded and hot-tempered; how could he possibly lead Jiangdong to become the hegemon of the South? Younger Brother really dares not compliment Elder Brother’s judgment of character!”
Zhang Hong sneered, “Hot-tempered is just a personality issue. Wasn’t the Marquis of Wu hot-tempered back then? But at least Sun Yi is much more straightforward than Sun Quan, and at least more trustworthy than Sun Quan. If he ascends to the throne, he will definitely let Sun Shao inherit his position. Would Sun Quan do that? He verbally promised Lv Fan that he would let Sun Shao ascend in the future, but as soon as he took power, he removed Lv Fan from the Strategist position. Younger Brother believes his promises? Anyway, I don’t. As for the hegemon of the South, not to look down on Sun Quan, but he is absolutely no match for Gan Ning!”
Zhang Zhao sighed, “I respect Elder Brother’s choice, but the urgent matter now is to get the two brothers to sit down and talk. No matter who ascends, they must not engage in armed conflict, otherwise it will be a catastrophe for the citizens of Wu County!”
Zhang Hong agreed with this point. He pondered and said, “I will write a letter to advise Sun Yi to exercise restraint and absolutely not act rashly to cause disaster of war.”
“Sun Yi’s army has already entered the Wu County border. When will Elder Brother write the letter?”
“I will write it now!”
Zhang Zhao rose to take his leave, and Zhang Hong had his second son see him off.
Zhang Jing saw Zhang Zhao out of the manor gate. Zhang Zhao got into the carriage and said in a low voice to Zhang Jing, “I will wait for you at the Sanwu Restaurant!”
Zhang Jing nodded lightly and respectfully saw Zhang Zhao off.
Zhang Jing returned to the study, where Zhang Hong had already written a letter and handed it to him, saying, “Go quickly to see Sun Yi, deliver this letter to him, do not stay there long, and return immediately.”
“Son obeys the order!”
Zhang Jing took his father’s letter and left, but he did not go to South City. Instead, he first went to the Sanwu Restaurant, had his subordinate wait downstairs, and went upstairs himself.
Although Zhang Hong was extraordinarily talented, his two sons were quite mediocre. The eldest son Zhang Xuan had barely been appointed County Commandant of Liyang County, and the second son Zhang Jing had no opportunity to enter officialdom.
Zhang Jing was already twenty-six years old, and his greatest dream was to enter officialdom. Zhang Zhao had secretly approached him and given him hope of entering officialdom.
Entering the private room, Zhang Jing saluted Zhang Zhao and handed him his father’s letter.
Zhang Zhao opened the letter, read it once, immediately took up his pen to imitate Zhang Hong’s handwriting and rewrote a letter, sealed it in an envelope, handed it to Zhang Jing, instructed him a few more words, and said with a smile, “Go! After success, the Marquis of Wu promises to appoint you as County Assistant of Wucheng!”
Zhang Jing was overjoyed and bowed, saying, “This junior will certainly not fail Uncle’s entrustment!”
Only then did Zhang Jing put away the letter and hurriedly go to deliver it to Sun Yi.
