Chapter 398
Chapter 398
Chapter 398 – Pacifism
Zhou Yu: "Accept the deal. "
Huang Gai: "Are you sure?"
Zhou Yu: "Never underestimate an emperor even if he is inept. He can ruin all of you at any time. Tell Zhang Tong that all four of you will join them the year that we disband our clan. As for us, we will follow you into the clan later. "
Huang Gai: "Alright. We'll surrender to Zhang Tong. "
Zhou Yu: "Of course. "
Zhou Yu closed the clan chat and gazed at Sun Ce and Sun Fang.
The two Suns looked back at their strategist, "Are we really surrendering?"
Zhou Yu smiled, "Not really. "
"What?"
Zhou Yu laughed and explained his scheme.
Tong might have oppressed them into surrendering by forcing Sun Jian into a disadvantageous position. However, Zhou Yu had also seized options for the Sun Clan by accepting to resign in three years.
First, had Tong been honest and kept his words that he would amend Sun Fang, then it would be a win-win deal. All clan members could survive this turbulent time by sheltering under Tong's wings.
However, in the case that Tong was a liar, Zhou Yu had an exit plan for the clan members. Although Sun Jian and the others might have to join Tong's clan, they could also act as spies inside Tong's ranks.
In this scenario, Zhou Yu analyzed that Tong would want Sun Fang dead, so he had to draw Sun Fang and others to Ye or one of his cities. For that purpose, he would not be able to harm any of the Sun Clan's members until he could kill the Sun Clan's immortal.
As for the last possible future, the worst-case-scenario, Tong could have executed Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu to weaken the Sun Clan before they got the times to prepare. This future would leave them no hope, which they might have to reconsider surrendering to Cao Cao or Liu Biao. And then, they would fight Zhang Tong to death.
Zhou Yu had prepared the schemes for the future in the second scenario. From his viewpoint, Tong had enough immortal subordinates, which Sun Fang and others were nothing but a nuisance. It was unlikely that Tong would allow Sun Fang to live.
In this plan, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and Zhou Yu had three years to strengthen their forces to the point that they could rival either Cao Cao or Tong. Within a limited time, they had to unify the entire Jiangdong and Wu, as well as stabilizing their finance and military power.
Once the fourth year arrived, they would act according to the trends and the movements of Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Yuan Shu, and the Xiongnu.
There were more sub-branches of the primary plan, but Zhou Yu kept it to himself for now. He wanted everyone to focus on their first priority.
Now, the problem, they lacked personal assets. From Sun Fang's testimony, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, in the other timeline, spent five years to conquer Jiangdong. However, they had only three years. Moreover, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu would not be there to help them, so their situation was worse than the original Sun Ce.
Zhou Yu pointed out their weaknesses, "We don't have enough talented officers to help us, so this expansion will be tough. Senior brother Fang, we'll need your power for our campaign, but you can leave the headhunting job to our two seniors and me. "
Zhang Hong and Zhang Shao laughed, "I know a few good men in the region. We'll handle this. "