Three Kingdoms: I, Liu Feng, do not want to die

Chapter 56: Sun Quan uses sovereigns, Liu Feng sends troops to Maicheng
Linju.

Linju Mayor Du Pu reported this year's autumn harvest to Liu Feng in detail.

Since Dupu had lost Linju once, this left a black spot on his promotion, so he has been stuck in the position of Linju chief in the past few years.

Since there is no hope of promotion, I might as well live the rest of my life in mediocrity.

Originally Dupuyt was ready to give up, but he never thought that there would be a possibility of promotion now.

For Dupu, it didn’t matter whether Liu Feng was an adopted son or not. It was a blessing to be able to work for Liu Feng.

Although Liu Chan was an adopted son, Du Pu's qualifications and connections meant that he could not even meet Liu Chan, let alone work for him.

Liu Feng was also very satisfied with Dupu's positive work attitude.

Although Du Pu cannot be considered a great talent, he is able to serve as the head of a county among more than ten cities in Nanjun, so his ability is not low.

More often than not.

People like Dupuyt and others lack opportunities.

Liu Feng praised him generously and reminded him, "The battle of Jingzhou is imminent, and food will become scarce. If you collect too much military rations, it will easily cause instability among the people. You will have to worry about the resentment among the people in Linju City and other villages."

"You must remember: this is our fault, not the people's. Therefore, when pacifying the people, you must not rely on your power to bully the weak. Your father is a man of benevolence and justice, so you must not follow Cao's cruelty and brutality."

Du Pu responded repeatedly: "General, rest assured, I will carefully instruct the officials and will never let your plan go awry."

After instructing Du Pu, Liu Feng immersed himself in studying the geographical map of mountains and rivers.

The battle in Jingzhou had not yet officially begun, and Liu Feng did not dare to relax his vigilance at all.

Only by memorizing the geographical map of mountains and rivers can you gain advantage in the details.

After a while.

Seeing that Du Pu had not left and seemed to be hesitant to speak, Liu Feng could not help but frown: "County Magistrate Du, what else do you want?"

Du Pu gritted his teeth and said, "Today, I got a piece of news that Governor Pan Jun has surrendered to Sun Quan."

Ok?
Liu Feng was slightly surprised: "Where did you get this information?"

Du Pu said truthfully: "The clerk I sent to the villages to collect taxes and grain reported back that 'Sun Quan heard that Pan Jun was ill, so he went to Jiangling City to inquire about him and boiled medicine for Pan Jun to wipe his face. Pan Jun then surrendered to Sun Quan.'"

Liu Feng sneered: "What a good trick."

Liu Feng did not fully believe the news that Du Pu "accidentally" obtained.

Although history records that Pan Jun surrendered to Sun Quan after Guan Yu's death, the overall situation in Jingzhou had already been decided by that time.

It is not surprising that famous officials like Pan Jun chose to surrender to Sun Quan in order to save their lives and make further progress in their official careers. After all, Pan Jun used to follow Liu Biao, and after Liu Biao's death, he followed Liu Bei.

He followed Liu Bei not because of loyalty or admiration, but because Liu Bei gave Pan Jun benefits that he could not refuse.

When he followed Liu Biao, Pan Jun was just a county magistrate. But when he followed Liu Bei, Pan Jun became the governor of Jingzhou. The difference in interests between the two was not small.

And now, Sun Quan had just taken Jiangling not long ago.

The news said that "Pan Jun is ill", which was not surprising to Liu Feng. In the unclear situation, it was the best strategy for Pan Jun to claim illness and stay at home to wait and see the outcome.

Liu Feng also had no doubt that Sun Quan would "personally go to Jiangling City to inquire and make medicine for Pan Jun to wipe his face." What Liu Feng suspected was that the news spread too quickly and too detailed.

It seemed that he wanted to let the people inside and outside Jiangling City know: Sun Quan is respectful to the wise and humble, even Pan Jun, the governor of Jingzhou, has surrendered, what are you still hesitating about?
It is also possible that he deliberately wanted to let Liu Feng in Linju and Guan Yu in Fancheng know: Pan Jun has surrendered, you have no internal support, so don't even think about taking back Jiangling.

And a deeper purpose: counter-espionage!

It was no secret that Pan Jun and Guan Yu were not on good terms, and it was also possible that Sun Quan knew about Pan Jun's refusal to meet Liu Feng's letter.

On the battlefield, it is not uncommon to use "discord between opponents" to instigate conflicts and carry out counter-espionage. As long as Liu Feng and Guan Yu believe that Pan Jun has surrendered, it does not matter whether Pan Jun "truly surrendered", "fake surrendered" or "did not surrender".

Blocking Pan Jun's retreat route, Pan Jun had no choice but to "truly surrender".

Think of this.

Liu Feng stroked his hand and praised, "County Magistrate Du, you have done a great job. From now on, if you have any news that you think should be reported, you can report it directly without hesitation."

Dupu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Pan Jun was not only a famous official in Jingzhou but also the governor of Jingzhou. If Du Pu, a small chief of Linju, went to spread the news that Pan Jun had surrendered, an unreasonable person might have punished Du Pu.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Feng instructed again: "County Magistrate Du, send people to spread the news from Linju to Jiangling, saying that 'Sun Quan is licentious and loves beauty. Not only did he forcibly marry the daughter of his former master Yuan Shu, he also imprisoned his deceased brother Sun Ce's concubine in a golden house to satisfy his lust. He was also angry and attacked Jiangling because he coveted the daughter of the former general. His bandit habits are outrageous.'"

Du Pu was surprised: "Didn't Sun Quan ask for the former general's daughter to marry his son?"

Liu Feng glared at Du Pu and said, "Sun Deng is only ten years old. The former general's daughter is five years older than Sun Deng. How could Sun Quan be asking for her son's hand in marriage?"

"Is it strange that Sun Quan dared to seize the daughter of his former master and the concubine of his deceased brother, and did such dirty things under the pretext of seeking a marriage for his son?"

"Why do you think the former general shouted, 'How can a tiger's daughter marry a dog'? It's because the former general knew that Sun Quan was a lustful and immoral dog, so he was unwilling to push his daughter into the fire pit."

"Just spread it like this. The faster the news spreads and the more people know about it, the greater your contribution will be."

"do you understand?"

Liu Feng, who had experienced the era of great public opinion in later generations, knew very well that rumors that were too serious were not easy to spread, and rumors that were not serious were the easiest to spread.

For example, "Sima Zhao wanted to have sex with the emperor in the street, but the emperor refused, so Sima Zhao killed him" is far more eye-catching than "Sima Zhao killed the emperor in the street".

Sun Quan deliberately spread the news that "heard that Pan Jun was ill, so he went to Jiangling City in person to inquire about him and also boiled medicine for Pan Jun to wipe his face, so Pan Jun surrendered." Whether Liu Feng refuted it directly or indirectly, it would not have much effect.

In Sun Quan's main public opinion arena, Liu Feng has no advantage at all.

Any response could be taken out of context by Sun Quan to carry out a "counter-espionage plan."

I want to make Sun Quan lose face, but I can't just ignore it.

The best way is to cover the old public opinion with new one, so that Sun Quan can take the initiative to come to Liu Feng's public opinion home turf.

After Liu Feng's advice, Du Pu suddenly realized what was going on and hurriedly said, "General, you are wise. I will do it right away."

Du Pu had been in Linju for many years and had his own retainers who did things for him in exchange for money.

For these retainers, who mostly came from bad backgrounds, it was difficult to spread anything too serious or profound, but it was too easy to spread secrets like Sun Quan was a pervert.

Two days later.

Military marquis Yu She sent someone to report that Zhao Lei, the commander-in-chief under Guan Yu, had led his troops to Maicheng.

Liu Feng was overjoyed when he heard this: "Zhao Lei arrived so quickly!"

What Liu Feng feared most was that Guan Yu would withdraw his troops too slowly and miss the opportunity to compete with Sun Quan for Jiangling.

Now that Zhao Lei has arrived in Maicheng first, Guan Yu will certainly not be too far away.

The situation in Jingzhou was developing as Liu Feng had expected, so Liu Feng did not hesitate and beat the drum to gather his generals.

"Pass my order and march to Maicheng."

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(End of this chapter)