Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Such swift and decisive combat speed, and such abundant results, inevitably aroused Bian Lan's suspicions.

However, the signature of Liu Ye, the Vice Privy Councilor, and the seal of the Privy Council in the Privy Council documents could not be faked, and no one dared to forge them.

It took Bian Lan an hour to calm himself down. Then, following Liu Ye's instructions in the document, he personally wrote letters to Sun Lin, the garrison commander of the city, and Wei Jing, the prefect of Wuchang in Wu Kingdom. The contents of the letters were simple: first, to guarantee the safety of Sun Lin and Wei Jing; and second, to guarantee the safety of all the soldiers and civilians in the city.

No additional conditions were offered.

The Great Wei no longer needs to pay any additional conditions for opening the city.

Only four days had passed since the army set out on the 19th, and Sun Lin was still directing the soldiers and civilians in the city to strengthen the city's defenses and prepare for war, when his subordinates unexpectedly delivered Bian Lan's letter of surrender.

A rank-one Sima hurriedly ran to Sun Lin's side: "General, this letter was shot into the city by Wei troops outside the city with powerful crossbows. I dared not open it myself, so I brought it to you after I found it."

"What could the Wei army possibly want? They just want to trick me into opening the city gates." Sun Lin laughed a few times, then took the letter with a show of generosity. He opened it in front of everyone, and after reading just the first line, he smiled and waved the letter of surrender at Sima: "See what I told you? Just as I expected!"

"General, your strategy is brilliant," Sima said with a forced smile.

“The Wei army has run out of tricks.” Sun Lin nodded slowly and placed the letter of surrender in front of him again. After reading only two lines, his face froze instantly.

The messenger, Sima, sensed something was amiss: "General, what has happened?"

Sun Lin was stunned for a moment, then his face darkened and he scolded, "Why are you so talkative? Go and stand guard over the east wall right now, and don't forget your job!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I know I was wrong." Sima left dejectedly.

As soon as Sima left, Sun Lin's panic was evident. He looked around and headed towards the prefect's mansion in the city. He walked faster and faster until he started jogging.

"This letter...this letter must be half true and half false." Prefect Wei Jing of Wuchang leaned closer to the document, carefully examining the handwriting and the seals of the Privy Council of the Great Wei, Emperor Sun Quan of Wu, and General Wei and King Quan Cong of Yue. He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave: "General Sun, I have seen His Majesty's seal, and it is exactly the same as the one on this letter. However, the content written on it is too exaggerated. How could His Majesty and King Quan of Yue's 40,000 troops be defeated in a single day?"

Sun Lin looked flustered. The more he outwardly acted tough, the more insecure he felt inside. After hearing Wei Jing's words, he swallowed hard.
"Lord Wei, I also think this book doesn't seem like a forgery. If it were, how could it describe the inner workings of a large army so clearly? Which general leads which unit, how many ships, how many troops—it's all written down so clearly..."

"Lord Wei, do you think... do you think it might be true?"

Wei Jing shook his head, pointed to the line on the document that read "Sun Quan's head was confiscated," and glared at Sun Lin: "It must be a forgery! Perhaps a scout from the Wei army obtained information about His Majesty's troop deployment and came to Wuchang to deceive the city. General Sun, do not make a mistake!"

“Yes, it must be a forgery.” Sun Lin gritted his teeth. “I understand. In that case, if Wei soldiers send someone with a message or say anything else, neither of us should do anything?”

“That’s exactly right. You and I will hold this city and wait for His Majesty to send someone!” Wei Jing said firmly. Sun Lin left with the letter, and Wei Jing watched Sun Lin walk away, then burst into tears on the spot.

Wei Jing had already discerned whether it was a forgery or not. How could a forgery be so elaborate? To claim His Majesty was dead to deceive people?
Having accepted this task, I shall die in Wuchang...

Bian Lan waited all night outside the city, but received no news. The next day, he continued to shoot arrows into the city to urge them on, but still received no reply. By the third day, Bian Lan finally understood the determination of the people inside Wuchang, so he sent someone to Wuhan to report the whole matter.

Unlike Sun Lin in Wuchang, Sun Deng, the crown prince of Wu, suffered a minor defeat on the Xiakou River. Knowing that he could not defeat his enemy, he fled upstream until he reached Baqiu.

Similar to Chaisang and Wuhu, Baqiu was also a classic military garrison location for the Wu Kingdom. Located midway between Jiangling and Xiakou, Baqiu was where Zhou Yu once stationed his troops for a long period, and he ultimately died there. With its fortified villages and wharves, it was a suitable place for Sun Deng to temporarily station his army.

At any time, annihilating the enemy is a low-probability and extremely difficult feat, and this is also true for naval warfare. On his way back to Baqiu, Sun Deng also received several retreating warships and small boats from the Wu army, thus gaining a basic understanding of the battle on March 21st.

On the 25th, a ship from Wuhan broke the tranquility of Baqiu. It was a warship that could carry a hundred people. Lu Xun sent men to select twenty Wu soldiers who were still able to sail and eighty Wu laborers who had surrendered, and ordered them to sail upstream. He also sent them a letter of persuasion to surrender.

This letter was written in the name of Cao Zhen, the Grand General of Wei. It not only describes the entire course of the battle in detail, but also includes the seals of Sun Quan and Quan Cong, just as it persuaded Wuchang to surrender. It also describes the details of the sacrificial ceremony at Miankou on the 22nd.

That's right, it naturally includes a description of the process of beheading Sun Quan to appease Emperor Wu of Wei.

In the final paragraph, Cao Zhen clearly states that the Wu Kingdom has now effectively perished, and how long this warlord force can survive depends entirely on when the Great Wei plans to attack Jiangling. However, the Great Wei Emperor has always been benevolent to his people, and if Sun Deng and Zhuge Jin surrender with the army of Jiangling and the remaining prefectures and counties, the Great Wei is willing to forgive them and grant them the titles of kings in accordance with the system of the Han Dynasty, by granting them Fuchun County of Wu Commandery and Yangdu County of Langya Commandery.

Objectively speaking, the Wei dynasty did kill Sun Quan rather quickly in this battle. Keeping Sun Quan alive for a while longer might have been useful, but even a dead Sun Quan has his purpose: he can serve as a deterrent to foreign powers and appease domestically.

Even as emperor, Cao Rui could not ignore the surging desire of his ministers to kill Sun Quan.

Now that Sun Quan has been captured, if we do not kill him quickly to appease the world, then who have we been fighting for the past thirty years?

Upon reading the letter, Sun Deng was overcome with tears and could barely stand. He had personally led his naval fleet down the river and was defeated by Lu Xun's navy off Parrot Island; he understood the implications all too well. Today's letter merely settled his doubts.

He did not pretend to be stupid like Sun Lin and Wei Jing.

Pan Zhu and Meng Zong, who were standing beside him, were also overcome with grief.

Pan Zhu was the son of Pan Jun, and Meng Zong was the famous filial son of Wu, known for his story of "bamboo shoots sprouting from his tears." Both were selected by Sun Quan to serve as guests under Sun Deng after Zhang Xiu and Gu Tan were sent home to study. (End of Chapter)