The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

"My lord, something terrible has happened..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the anxious voice of Zuo Sima Gu Yong came from outside the hall, startling Sun Quan so much that he stumbled on the spot.

Gu Yong is a steady person and would never be so impatient in the face of trouble. His current anxiety can only mean one thing: the matter he has encountered this time has exceeded his psychological capacity.

Yu Fan realized this as well and quickly turned to look at the palace gate.

Under the watchful eyes of Sun Quan and Yu Fan, Gu Yong sprinted towards the hall at top speed. However, he was running too fast and did not pay attention to his footing. When he entered the door, he tripped over the threshold and was thrown into the air, sliding several meters on the ground.

This move was like a heavy hammer blow to Sun Quan's chest, causing his heart to sink to the bottom instantly.

Something that could make Gu Yong lose his composure must be quite significant. Could it be that Liu Bei or Cao Cao have attacked?

Yu Fan was an impatient person, and before Gu Yong could even get up, he asked impatiently, "Yuan Tan, what exactly happened?"

Gu Yong, panting heavily despite the pain, said, "My lord, news has just come from Jiangdong that Guan Yu led his army to launch a surprise attack on Jianye, and Jianye has fallen."

"What? Say it again." Sun Quan's vision went black, and he almost fainted from the dizziness.

Yu Fan suddenly turned around and looked at Sun Quan, his face extremely ugly.

Damn it, you jinxed it! Did your mouth get blessed?

Seeing that Sun Quan seemed about to faint, Yu Fan forgot all about complaining and quickly went up to support Sun Quan, comforting him, "My lord, my lord, are you alright?"

Sun Quan was seeing stars, and the echoes of Yu Fan's words kept replaying in his ears. He asked unconsciously, "How could this be? How could Jianye have fallen? Where did Guan Yu get his troops to attack Jianye?"

The frontline battle report clearly states that when Guan Yu was defeated at Maicheng, he had less than 300 men left with him. How could such a small number of men possibly have been able to capture Jianye?

That was Jianye City, which he personally oversaw the construction of; it wasn't some small county town with walls no taller than a person.

Gu Yong said with a bitter expression, "According to the news sent back from Jianye, Guan Yu is leading bandits from the Dabie Mountains. As you know, my lord, Guan Yu has always liked to associate with bandits, so it's not surprising that bandits from the Dabie Mountains have defected to him."

Upon hearing this, Yu Fan quickly walked to the map, drew a line between Maicheng, Dabie Mountain, and Jianye with his finger, and angrily cursed, "Damn Guan Yu! After his defeat at Maicheng, we all thought he would flee back to Shu, so we transferred all our troops to the west. But this bastard did the opposite and went east to Dabie Mountain, recruiting bandits to attack Jianye."

This blow was too fatal; it practically wiped out Eastern Wu. But what's the use of only realizing it now?

Sun Quan's head was buzzing, and he didn't hear a single word. Only one thought remained in his mind: It's over!

He took Jiangling, and Guan Yu seized Jianye. It seemed like an equal exchange with neither side suffering any loss, but that was not actually the case.

Jiangdong was the old stronghold that the Sun family had built up for three generations, while Jingzhou was a newly acquired territory. How could they be of the same value?

He has only just captured Jiangling, and his control over Jingzhou is as thin as a cicada's wing. If the gentry of Jingzhou knew that he had lost his home base of Jianye, they would probably turn against him immediately.

There's also Wu Jun. The families of Wu Jun's soldiers are all in Jianye. If they knew that Jianye had fallen, who would still have the will to fight?

And those unruly Jiangdong gentry, they're probably already figuring out how to show their loyalty to Liu Bei or Cao Cao.

Losing Jianye would be too dangerous; a slight misstep could lead to certain death.

On the other hand, Guan Yu's seemingly dangerous situation of venturing deep into enemy territory alone was actually aided by Liu Bei. If Liu Bei knew that Guan Yu had captured Jianye, wouldn't he have led his entire army on an eastward expedition?

That damned Guan Yu, that attack hit his own Achilles' heel, he had no intention of leaving himself any way out.

Realizing the danger, Sun Quan abruptly raised his hand and slapped himself hard, forcing himself to calm down. He stared at Gu Yong and asked solemnly, "Yuan Tan, who sent the message? Is it reliable?"

Gu Yong had already stood up and bowed, saying, "It was sent by the strategist. The messenger was exhausted as soon as he delivered the message. My lord, there is no need to question the message sent by the strategist. The most urgent task is to come up with a solution. We need to come up with an idea as soon as possible."

Sun Quan paced back and forth anxiously, pondering for a long time before finally saying, "After being defeated at Maicheng and trapped in a desperate situation, instead of trying to escape back to Shu, they launched a surprise attack on Jianye in the east. This is not a plan that Guan Yu could come up with. Whose idea was it?"

Now that things have come to this, the first thing to do is figure out who defeated us.

He had studied Guan Yu for many years and knew him better than he knew his own wife. He knew that Guan Yu couldn't have come up with such a crazy plan, so the strategist must be someone else. Who was it?

Gu Yong replied, "The messenger said it was Guan Yu's second son, Guan Xing. When the Grand Commander captured Jiangling, he rushed from Chengdu to the front line and returned to Guan Yu's side."

“Uh…” Sun Quan said speechlessly, “Isn’t that Guan Xing, the one who ran over a child with his horse and killed him, but then blamed it on his elder brother Guan Ping and was almost killed by Guan Yu? Isn’t he a universally acknowledged good-for-nothing?”

Before the Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Xing rode his horse and knocked down a grandmother and grandson who were on their way to a temple to burn incense. He trampled the child to death on the spot. Fearing punishment, he shifted the blame to his elder brother, Guan Ping.

But how could such a thing deceive Guan Yu? Upon learning the news, Guan Yu was furious and immediately took Guan Xing to the execution ground to be beheaded. It was only thanks to Guan Ping's timely acquisition of the child's grandfather's forgiveness that Guan Xing was saved.

After this incident, the Jiangdong rulers and ministers unanimously agreed that Guan Xing was a good-for-nothing and not worth paying attention to, so they focused all their attention on his elder brother Guan Ping. And now you're telling me that this universally acknowledged good-for-nothing stole my house?

Gu Yong smiled wryly and said, "Very likely. These kinds of spoiled brats never play by the rules, so it's normal for them to do one or two unexpected things from time to time."

Sun Quan rolled his eyes. "This unexpected move almost cost me my life!"

He asked impatiently, "So how should we deal with this? What suggestions do you have?"

Gu Yong said, "The strategist said that Guan Yu has driven them out of the city, and it is clear that he is preparing to hold out for reinforcements. Jianye has plenty of food and supplies and soldiers. According to Guan Yu's ability, it will not be a problem to hold out for one or two years, but we cannot hold out for that long."

"It seems that Jingzhou is a treasure trove that is difficult to conquer. I suggest that the Grand Commander lead the army back to Jianye and launch a full-scale attack to retake Jianye, but we should also be prepared that we may not be able to take it back."

"If we can't take it back, we'll have to compromise. First, we need to send an order to Zhou Tai, the governor of Ruxu, to guard the Ruxu Pass and not give the Wei army any opportunity to take advantage of it."

"Secondly, send an envoy to Chengdu to meet the King of Hanzhong and return Jingzhou to him, using this as leverage to restart the Sun-Liu alliance."

They could still negotiate with Liu Bei, but if the Wei army marched south, there would be no way to negotiate. They could only watch helplessly as the Wei cavalry trampled the south of the Yangtze River.

"Return Jingzhou back?" Sun Quan gritted his teeth, utterly unwilling.

He finally managed to capture Jingzhou, and now he wants to give it back before he can even enjoy it?

So what was the point of all that fuss?

Gu Yong sighed, “Jingzhou must be returned, otherwise our situation is too dangerous, because we have no way to control Jingzhou. At present, Guan Ping and Sha Moke are causing too much trouble in southern Jingzhou, and the gentry of Jingzhou are pretending to comply while waiting for a better price. If Liu Bei leads his army east again, the Wei army will definitely interfere. At that time, we will not be able to withstand such a storm of attacks.”

"Moreover, the primary purpose of attacking Jingzhou was to stop Guan Yu's northern expedition and prevent Liu Bei from becoming too powerful. Now that the primary purpose has been achieved, there is nothing wrong with restoring the pre-Battle Xiangfan situation."

The reason Sun Quan launched a surprise attack on Guan Yu was because Liu Bei had defeated Cao Cao in Hanzhong and captured the three eastern commanderies, making him ready to attack Xiangyang at any time. His power was too intimidating. Sun Quan was afraid that Liu Bei would turn around and destroy him after defeating Cao Cao, so he launched a surprise attack on Jingzhou.

From this perspective, Jiangdong's strategic objective has indeed been achieved, and whether or not it gets Jingzhou is no longer important.

Sun Quan closed his eyes, caught in a mental struggle. After a long time, he sighed and said, "Then I will do as you say. Order the Grand Commander to mobilize troops back to Jianye and retake the city as soon as possible."

“Yuan Tan, you should go to Chengdu yourself and sound out the King of Hanzhong’s opinion.”

"Yes..." Gu Yong bowed and took his leave.

Sun Quan felt his heart bleed as he watched his retreating figure. He naturally did not want to return Jingzhou, but now his only two sons were in Guan Yu's hands, and he had no choice but to return it.

But he forgot that if he returned it at this time, would Liu Bei still want it?