Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1293 Thoughts

Sun Kuangzheng stood in front of Madam Xu leisurely and said, "Imperial Seal."

Madam Xu was pregnant, her lips trembling, and her petite and frail body swaying slightly. "Isn't Lord Sun afraid that the king will come back?"

Sun Kuang said: "Of course I am not afraid, because I am the king now."

Sun Shao advised: "Queen, please hand over the imperial seal. The country cannot be without a ruler for a day."

Madam Xu held the jade seal tightly in her arms, "Sun Shao!"

"It's a pity that the king thinks so highly of you, but I didn't expect that you are the most heartless one!"

Sun Shao said, "The queen is wrong. It is precisely because the king has done me a favor that I will support the new king to ascend the throne. Only in this way can the Sun family be preserved!"

"The Queen, don't you think about how bad the situation outside the city is now? Jin is the mortal enemy of Wu. The Queen also knows the reputation of the fierce tiger. If the city is breached, does the Queen think she can save herself?"

Naturally, what Madam Xu heard from Sun Quan were all bad comments about Yuan Xi. After hearing this, her face turned pale and she was speechless for a moment.

Sun Shao took the opportunity to say: "Now that Lord Sun ascends the throne immediately, we can integrate the military forces in the city in the shortest possible time to resist the Jin army from entering the city and ensure the safety of the Sun family!"

"The queen should understand what kind of character Sun Hou has been in these years. Forgive me for being frank, but if the king were to encounter such a situation, he would do something even more ruthless than Sun Hou!"

"Queen, don't think that this imperial seal is so important. If Marquis Sun really wanted to do whatever it takes, Madam would not be standing here long ago!"

After hearing this, Mrs. Xu completely lost the courage to resist. She stretched out her hand tremblingly, and on her palm was a small jade button that was two inches square.

In fact, according to the standard, the imperial seal is not large and can be placed in the arms most of the time. After Sun Shao took it and took a look, he handed it to Sun Kuang and said, "I will call the court officials now."

Soon, all the important officials of Wu State rushed to the palace. As the guards standing solemnly on both sides watched, they saw Sun Kuang sitting on the throne, Sun Shao standing beside him with the jade seal, and Madam Xu sitting on the other side with a look of grievance on her face. They were all shocked to realize that such a thing had actually happened in the palace!

Yu Fan frowned and asked, "Sun Shao, what do you mean?"

Sun Shao sneered: "Do you still need me to explain?"

"Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, the king is missing, and no new king is appointed, do we expect to be able to repel the Jin army?"

Zhang Hong said, "But isn't this a bit too hasty?"

"We need to carefully consider the selection of a new king, but..."

Sun Shao said, "I know, but he is far away in Danyang. Far water cannot quench near thirst. By the time he arrives, Nanchang may have already fallen!"

Sun Kuang said in a deep voice: "I know you don't trust me. After all, I was alone before, so I can make a promise in front of everyone."

"I am only acting as regent now. If I can find my second brother, I will give up my position immediately."

"All I want to do is to gather the forces in the city, to save the Sun family, to save your lives, and to save the Wu Kingdom."

"I swear here, if I break it, I will be struck by lightning."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, but Zhang Zhao was the first to bow and say, "I believe that Lord Sun is sincere, so I agree that Lord Sun is the regent."

Once these words were spoken, the overall situation was decided. Yu Fan, Kan Ze and others all spoke in agreement. An official from the Jiangdong faction wanted to object, but the people around him stopped him and said, "Are you stupid? Do you want to die?"

The man from before looked confused, "Why are you looking for death?"

The man behind sneered: "Stupid, stupid!"

"The two military advisors hold the military power in the city, but after Lu Ji's death, the military power will be taken over by the prime minister. Yan Jun is from the Xuzhou faction, and Zhang Zhao has already expressed his approval. We in the Jiangdong faction do not have military power now, so what qualifications do we have to object?"

"Why else do you think Sun Shao summoned us here? It's obvious that he has control over the military power in the city and is sure of victory. He is not afraid of our opposition!"

The man in front finally understood what was going on and reluctantly bowed down, cursing in a low voice, "What a ghost! Isn't Sun Shao from our Jiangdong faction?"

"And why would the Xuzhou faction stand on that side?"

"And Lu Ji was killed. It was too obvious. I really don't understand it!"

The latter was also depressed. What was the point of the Jiangdong faction's efforts being in vain?

So, amid the congratulations of his ministers, Sun Kuang temporarily took over the throne of King of Wu. The first order he issued was to send envoys to negotiate with the Jin army outside the city.

After hearing this, all the officials of Wu State breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, they had wanted to surrender for a long time, but no one dared to take the initiative. Now Sun Kuang actually took the blame on his own initiative, which made everyone overjoyed.

After everyone left, Madam Xu was also helped away by her maid, leaving only Sun Kuang and Sun Shao in the hall.

Sun Shao suddenly laughed, "Your Majesty, it seems that what you said in class is different from what you said yesterday."

"Before you killed Lu Ji yesterday, you said you hated the evil tiger so much that you wanted to be irreconcilable with it."

"Now the king suddenly wants to negotiate in the hall, and I don't have time to react."

Sun Kuang also laughed, "I'm sorry, Prime Minister, I lied to you." "Although Madam Wu is not my biological mother, she has always been very kind to me and treated me like her own child. I really don't want to embarrass her."

Sun Shao took a few steps slowly and said, "My king, my king, I really underestimated you."

"I have the soldiers left by Lu Ji. You were agreeing with me at that time, and I thought you were just an obedient and idle marquis."

"As a result, you first used the military power in your hands to prevent the Xuzhou faction, which held the other half of the military power, from acting rashly. Then you directly proposed peace talks, making the Xuzhou faction think it was my intention."

"Zhang Zhao is the one who cares most about the overall situation and does not want to see civil unrest. When the king said this, he immediately agreed. Moreover, peace talks also conform to the ideas of the Xuzhou faction, so Zhang Zhao stood on the king's side."

"At this point, the matter is settled. As a Cao supporter, I am alone and cannot make any move. I dare not reveal my true identity anymore, otherwise I will definitely be strangled by the two factions together."

"My king, you did a great job."

Sun Kuang smiled and said, "Thank you, but Prime Minister, you seem to be holding back on your words."

Sun Shao smiled bitterly and said, "I underestimated the king, so failure was inevitable. But I didn't expect that the king's acting skills were so good that I didn't even notice a single clue from beginning to end!"

Sun Kuang looked out of the hall and stretched out his arms. "Prime Minister, you should be able to guess more or less. Considering my second brother's suspicion, if I hadn't pretended better, would I have survived until now?"

Sun Shao was speechless for a moment after hearing this. After a long while, he smiled bitterly and said, "I have failed this time. How will the king deal with me?"

Sun Kuang shook his head and said, "What punishment? I am forced to clean up this mess now. Do you think I am willing?"

"The Prime Minister can no longer report to the Cao family. It is better to help me get through the next few days in peace. There is no need for Wu to continue fighting with Jin."

"From now on, whether you stay or leave is entirely up to you, Prime Minister. I will do my best to keep you safe, but this stigma is hard to get rid of."

Sun Shao did not respond, but asked: "How does it feel to sit on this throne?"

After hearing this, Sun Kuang slowly leaned back until his entire back was pressed against the throne. He raised his head, stared at the dome, and said slowly, "It's boring."

"There was no surprise at all as I thought. After I sat on it, I realized it was all empty and disappointing."

"What's so good about this position that attracts so many people?"

"The only benefit is that without my brother's pressure, I feel a little more relaxed."

Sun Shao said, "The one who bears the blame this time is not me, but the Marquis... the King."

"When the Wu Kingdom is destroyed, your name will be recorded in the history books. Don't you regret it?"

Sun Kuang said self-deprecatingly: "What do I have to regret? I have no ambitions. There is nothing wrong with surrendering. I have my second brother, so I am so persistent about this."

"To be honest, my biological mother died early, and it was Madam Wu who raised me. She has that kind of relationship with the King of Jin. I surrendered, so why would I fight against the stone with an egg?"

"Second brother has been aggressive in recent years, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the Wu Kingdom. Especially after the Chaohu battles, every family was in mourning. I'm afraid that my Sun family has offended countless people. I'm afraid that most of the people in Jiangdong would like to skin me alive."

"Now I will cut off the source, which can be regarded as putting an end to everything."

Sun Shao said in a deep voice: "But our actions this time are not fair. Lu Ji's death will be blamed on us sooner or later. I will die, so what? Isn't the king afraid?"

Sun Kuang said leisurely: "Prime Minister, you know that sometimes I feel worse than death in front of my second brother. Now, no matter what, it won't be any worse."

After hearing this, Sun Shao was speechless for a moment and turned to look outside the city.

What happened in the city, as well as the news that Wu had appointed a new king and was negotiating peace, soon spread to the military camp outside the city. Yuan Xi looked at the pale-faced Lu Xun and said, "Lu Ji wanted to resist to save the reputation of the Lu family, but he didn't realize that no one in Wu was willing to fight anymore."

"His death was really not worth it."

"Bo Yan, do you want revenge?"

Lu Xun gritted his teeth and remained silent for a while before he slowly said, "No, there is no need for more people to die."

"My uncle has achieved his wish, and his death has also shown that the Lu family has done their utmost to serve the Wu Kingdom, and there is no need to be loyal to them anymore."

"It's just that the people in the city are really a bit cold and ruthless."

Yuan Xi sighed, "The cruelty of Jiangdong is not on the battlefield, but in the court. If it can end here, it will be good for both countries."

"If Bo Yan can't handle the peace talks, I can find someone else to do it."

Lu Xun shook his head and said, "No, let me do it. I will put aside my personal grudges and put an end to all of this as soon as possible."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave the peace talks to Boyan."

Now that he is a king, he has to give priority to the overall situation in everything. As a party in the peace talks with Jin State, Lu Xun will occupy the moral and public opinion high ground because of the killing of Lu Ji. This will give him the upper hand in the negotiations, and the conditions proposed to Wu State will naturally be more beneficial to Jin State.

Yuan Xi suddenly felt a little disgusted with himself. He found that he seemed to be becoming less and less human.

(End of this chapter)