Chapter 514 Coming from behind
“So, Sun Zhongmou cut off his own roots?” Liu Fan said in a complicated tone.

“No, maybe not necessarily.” Huang Quan said thoughtfully.

“Sun Zhongmou is not Sun Bofu.”

Huang Quan’s light words were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples, and everyone was pondering the deep meaning behind these words.

Sun Quan has a way out.

After completing this task, he could retire and continue to be his number two, putting Sun Ce in the front while he retreats behind the scenes and becomes a pure strategist again.

Sun Quan’s problems are not the same as the problems of the Sun family in Jiangdong. There is a subtle difference between the two.

Li Yan sighed: “Gong Heng is right, but this is only part of the reason. The more important reason is that we are here.”

Li Yan was chosen by Liu Bei, a man with a keen eye, as a person to be entrusted with the care of his son alongside Zhuge Liang. This was not simply because he was the leader of the Dongzhou faction. Li Yan did have talent, but it pales in comparison to Zhuge Liang.

Under Liu Fan’s command, Li Yan was still the undisputed number one think tank, his status was similar to that of Xun Yu under Cao Cao and Chen Qun under Liu Bei.

Even though Li Yan had “made mistakes” before, it still could not shake his position.

“Zheng Fang, what do you mean?” Liu Fan asked in confusion.

Huang Quan and Zhang Song thought about it for a moment before their faces changed drastically after hearing this.

“My lord, at the current speed, how long will it take for us and Sun Quan to completely conquer the southeast?” Li Yan asked.

“It will take at least two years.” Liu Fan said after a little thought.

“Will the war in the Central Plains be over by then?”

“Of course.” Liu Fan said firmly.

He knew Tian Ze’s strength very well. With Tian Ze’s ability, if he was determined to unify the Central Plains, half a year would be enough. However, he slowed down the pace due to various considerations.

But two years is definitely Tian Ze’s bottom line, because Tian Ze doesn’t leave him much time, and in the future they will have to go west to fight against the Kushans.

“Two years later, if Sun Quan is defeated by us, what will be the outcome?” Li Yan asked in an inexplicable tone, with an elusive light flashing in his eyes.

“What are you kidding? We and Sun Zhongmou…” Liu Fan frowned and was about to refute, but his words stopped abruptly. His eyes widened in an instant, his face full of astonishment.

“What do you mean? Could it be?” Liu Fan already had the answer in his mind, but he didn’t dare to believe it.

Li Yan nodded slightly and said in a deep voice: “My Lord, don’t forget that we and Sun Quan are ‘enemies’.”

Sun Quan’s declaration of being an enemy of Liu Fan was not only an excuse to gain a foothold in the southeast, but also a good way to get rid of these peripheral barbarians in the future.

These peripheral barbarians are deeply lazy and difficult to change, and they do not have the bravery of the Yizhou barbarians. At this moment when time is precious, it is absolutely impossible to recruit them for one’s own use.

After the barbarians in the southeast were completely eliminated, Sun Quan naturally had to find a way to get rid of them.

“Two years later, the situation will be determined, and that will be the time for Sun Quan to have a ‘decisive battle’ with us. By then, Sun Quan will send out all the troops from the outer barbarians, and then ‘lose’ and flee, and it will be natural for him to ‘hastily’ retreat to the west with his trusted men.” Li Yan said in a deep voice.

If there is no enemy, create one.

If you can’t divest yourself voluntarily, then create a defeat and flee in a hurry.

It is true that these peripheral forces are nominally under Sun Quan’s command, but they do not exist under Sun Quan’s rule.

Sun Quan now only occupies the area around Rinnan County. It would be very reasonable for him to just walk away after being defeated.

It’s not about betrayal, but about being powerless.

It was also legitimate for Liu Fan to take advantage of the situation to kill Sun Quan’s “accomplices”.

When Liu Fan heard this, his head was buzzing and he was unable to react for a while.

After a while, I finally sorted out my thoughts.

“In other words, I was there to take the blame for Sun Quan?”

Li Yan nodded: “But Sun Quan did not let us take the blame for nothing. The millions of barbarians left behind are a benefit to us.” “In fact, this may not be the last time we take the blame for Sun Quan. There is still a long way to go in the future.”

Liu Fan fought with Sun Quan and defeated the barbarians in the southeast.

To put it bluntly, that’s it.

One was being “bullied” and came here to seek revenge, but he didn’t intend to make such a big fuss.

At least Liu Fan’s current claim to the outside world is that he is only dealing with the barbarian tribes along the Maritime Silk Road, and has not taken any action in other places.

One is “good-hearted”, coming to uphold justice, but doing bad things with good intentions. Coming to uphold justice, the result is to arouse the anger of the enemy, forming an opposition situation, and intensifying the conflict.

If any one of them came, the situation wouldn’t get so bad so quickly.

But two of them came, and as the fighting went on, the barbarians were soon wiped out.

“This approach is a bit…”

Liu Fan was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to describe Sun Quan’s action. He always felt it was a bit immoral.

But from the perspective of an uninformed outsider, there seems to be nothing wrong with it.

Liu Fan just wanted to deal with the barbarians who robbed his caravan. Is that a problem? No.

Sun Quan couldn’t stand it and felt that it was not the fault of the entire barbarian tribe. He came to uphold justice for the barbarians and fight against Liu Fan. He spent money and effort and asked for some captives. Is there a problem? No.

Liu Fan was provoked, and after cleaning up the barbarians that needed to be cleaned up, he also cleaned up Sun Quan who had provoked him. Was there a problem? No.

Sun Quan was defeated and fled away in disgrace. Is that a problem? No.

Everything makes sense.

Neither side did anything excessive and both were understandable, it’s just that the result was “unsatisfactory”.

When Tian Ze learned about this operation later, he couldn’t help but exclaimed, “Wow!” The operations of some countries in later generations were already figured out by Sun Quan without any instruction.

For a strong country that wants to quickly and legitimately deal with a weak country, this method is the most suitable.

“If he really does this, Sun Zhongmou will be able to escape unscathed. What a good move!”

After careful deduction, Huang Quan couldn’t help but sigh.

The one who takes the first step may not be the final beneficiary.

Later, Sun Quan happened to step on the most appropriate node.

Only Sun Quan could do such a thing.

If they had adopted this method from the beginning, Sun Quan would have been out of luck. But at the same time, there would be no way to end it.

In this kind of situation, two people must play a duet, one plays the good guy and the other plays the bad guy.

As the first ones to leave, they have no choice but to play the good guy.

However, Sun Quan did have a forward-looking vision in politics and strategy to come up with this method.

By doing this, Sun Quan achieved three goals at one stroke.

Not only did he win the favor of Tian Ze and help complete the task of pacifying the southeast ahead of schedule, but he also did Liu Fan a favor and deepened their cooperation.

While giving up the initial and final benefits, it quickly used its remaining strength to eat up the fattest piece of meat in the middle period.

The future life is terrible!

The Sun brothers are both outstanding people!

(End of this chapter)