Chapter 173: The highest virtue is like water, Zhou Yu's wisdom Danyang, Chungu County, Sun Ce’s military camp. However, after Sun Ce returned to his army that day, he took advantage of the opportunity when Qin Zhen eliminated Liu Xun to quietly return to his army. In one battle, he not only defeated Taishi Ci and regained control of Danyang, but also raided Liu Xun's camp and captured a lot of ships. Seeing that Liu Bei's army had obtained the warships but was blocked by Sun Ce in the north of the Yangtze River and unable to move south, Sun Ce was overjoyed. He immediately gathered all the generals and held a grand banquet. Sun Ce felt extremely relieved in this battle. Although he did not cause any damage to Liu Bei's army, he at least stopped Qin Zhen's plan of marching south in time. He naturally praised Zhou Yu, the hero of this battle. At the banquet, he took Zhou Yu and said to everyone with a smile: "The reason why our army won this battle is entirely due to Gongjin's strength!" "If Gongjin hadn't reminded us, how could we have known Liu Bei's army's plan?" "If I don't know his plan, I might be controlled by Qin Zhen again."

"Please bring some good wine and congratulate Gongjin on his achievements." After hearing this, everyone smiled and toasted Zhou Yu with a full glass of wine. Seeing everyone like this, Zhou Yu smiled modestly and said: "Please don't do this, brother, I'm overpraising you!" "The reason why we were able to win this battle is all due to your dedication." "I am truly ashamed of what you have done. I am so ashamed!" Seeing him like this, Han Dang stood up and said with a smile: "Gong Jin has made great contributions, but he is still ashamed. How can we who have made no contribution in this battle be ashamed until we die?" "You must not want to drink the full amount, so you are asking for more wine. I will punish you by drinking three cups!" When everyone saw this, they started to make a fuss. Zhou Yu had no choice but to drink three full cups. He was already handsome, and after drinking three glasses of wine, his face turned slightly red, making him look even more handsome. When everyone saw him, they immediately applauded and praised him, saying that he was a handsome Zhou Lang. Only one person was unhappy when he saw this, and said in a deep voice: "Although our army has won a victory, it is only a small victory. Liu Bei is still in Jiangbei. Why are you so obsessed with wine and women?" "Those who know the reason know that our army has captured some warships and defeated Taishi Ci." "But if those who don't know see this, they will probably think that it was us who defeated Liu Xun and captured Lujiang, not Qin Zhen!" At the banquet, this sound was extremely harsh. Everyone turned around to see who was spoiling the fun. But when they saw the person who was speaking, they all stopped talking. He was about fifty years old, with a long beard, a solemn and dignified look.

This person is the general under Sun Ce, the Wujun Commandery Commandant Cheng Pu, Cheng Demou! Because Sun Ce captured Kuaiji, he was worried about the threat of the Shanyue people, so he appointed Cheng Pu as the commander of Wujun and stationed him in Qiantang. This time when Jiangdong was in chaos, it was Cheng Pu who led his troops to station in Qiantang, which made Yan Baihu have no way to retreat and was blocked by Sun Ce in Wujun and besieged. Later, after pacifying Wujun, in order to mobilize troops to return to Danyang, Sun Ce brought the veteran general Cheng Pu with him. But Cheng Pu was a generous person by nature and loved to make friends with scholars and officials, except for his conflict with Zhou Yu. Seeing that Sun Ce praised Zhou Yu so highly, and that Zhou Yu looked like a pretty boy, he was naturally quite unhappy. The words "wine" and "sex" in his words were implying that Zhou Yu was like a sissy. After hearing this, everyone dared not say anything more. Only Zhou Yu smiled slightly when he saw this, poured a glass of wine himself, and brought it to Cheng Pu, saying: "Mr. Cheng is right. Although our army has achieved a lot in this battle, it is a fact that Lujiang was taken by Qin Zhen!" "Qin Zhen is a man of great military strategy, and now he is helping Liu Bei to occupy Lujiang. He is truly a formidable enemy to our army!" "With a powerful enemy in front of us, we shouldn't be celebrating like this." "But this time, it was because of my fault that our army suffered a great defeat in Shouchun and caused chaos in Jiangdong. Now that we have won a few battles, it is time to boost morale!" "To be honest, my contribution this time was only insignificant, and my faults were not even worth it. How can I take credit for it?" "Mr. Cheng has defended Qiantang this time, but has not yet been honored. As a junior, I would like to offer a toast to Mr. Cheng!" As he said this, he bowed deeply to Cheng Pu with a smile on his face, and then handed him the wine. Seeing Zhou Yu like this, Cheng Pu couldn't take advantage of his seniority, so he stroked his beard and said: "I am not blaming you, I just can't get used to seeing them behave this way." "You toasted me, but I dared not accept it. I hope you will accept this gift and not do it again!" As he said this, he pushed away the glass of wine Zhou Yu offered him and poured himself a drink. Even though he was so rude, Zhou Yu was not angry. Instead, he nodded and smiled: "Mr. Cheng is indeed a man of great generosity, and his majesty remains as great as ever!" "I'm afraid that Lian Po in the past could not have the appearance of a general. I am a junior, and today I am drinking with heroes, so I should toast again!" As he spoke, he handed the wine glass to Cheng Pu. When Cheng Pu saw this, he thought that Zhou Yu was quite magnanimous, so he snorted coldly and drank the wine in one gulp. Zhou Yu grinned when he saw this, then turned around and said: "According to Yu's opinion, what Mr. Cheng said is something we should be concerned about!" "Now that a powerful enemy is still around, we can't drink too much. Why don't we stop here today and drink again when the situation is settled tomorrow?" After Cheng Pu's interruption, everyone naturally lost the desire to drink anymore, and they all stood up, bowed and left. Seeing that Zhou Yu was not angry but also followed his wishes to persuade everyone to return, Cheng Pu nodded secretly and left as well. Only Sun Ce was in high spirits, but was interrupted by Cheng Pu. He threw the wine cup to the ground, sat down and began to sulk.

It was Cheng Pu who was causing trouble. If it were someone else, Sun Ce would have cursed and expelled him long ago! Cheng Pu was a senior official and had saved his life before. Although Sun Ce was angry, he could not curse him and could only sulk. Zhou Yu heard this and turned around, lowered his head to pick up the wine cup and said with a smile: "Brother Bofu, why are you doing this? Are you angry at me?" Seeing him like this, Sun Ce said in a muffled voice: "We have been fighting since we came north last year, and we haven't had a break yet." "Now that we have finally defeated Qin Zhen, what's wrong with having a feast?" "I just drank two more cups, and I was bullied by this old soldier. If I hadn't thought of him as a loyal and brave man, today would have been a disaster!" Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce like this and couldn't help laughing: "Brother, why are you like this? The person Mr. Cheng is targeting is me. I am not angry yet, so why are you like this?" As soon as he opened his mouth, Sun Ce's brows moved, and thinking of what happened just now, he frowned and said: "Yes, Cheng Pu just insulted you, why aren't you angry, and why are you acting like this?" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yu sat down beside him and said with a smile: "Because what Mr. Cheng said is true, our army really shouldn't have a banquet right now!" "Brother is just happy because he thinks he got something good from Qin Zhen this time!" "In fact, Qin Zhen had no idea that our army was here this time." "The person our army defeated was Taishi Ci. Although he was allied with Liu Bei, he had nothing to do with Qin Zhen." "The boats our army captured belonged to Liu Xun. Although Lujiang has been occupied, Qin Zhen has not yet taken over this stronghold." "Except for these two things, Lujiang was taken by Qin Zhen, and Liu Xun's navy was captured by Liu Bei's army." "Compared to Qin Zhen's gains, our army only recaptured two cities and captured three or four hundred ships, which is not a big achievement!" "And now that Qin Zhen has achieved such a great feat, he has not slacked off at all and is still mobilizing his troops." "Our army has gained very little, how can we be so happy and have a feast here?" Listening to Zhou Yu's words, Sun Ce couldn't help but frown. He originally thought that Cheng Pu's words were very disappointing, but now that he thought about it, they really made sense. The battle was fought by Qin Zhen, and the meat was eaten by Liu Bei. They just picked up some scraps and drank some soup. What right do they have to celebrate? Did he defeat Qin Zhen directly tactically? Or did he suppress Qin Zhen strategically? In a sense, none! They didn't even fight with Qin Zhen, how could they be considered to have defeated Qin Zhen? Thinking of this, Sun Ce felt a little ashamed for a moment and said: "As the saying goes: 'Good medicine tastes bitter, and honest advice is unpleasant to the ears'. If it weren't for Gongjin, I'd be surprised at how loyal and good he was!" "Now that I think about it, it's no wonder Mr. Cheng was so angry!" As he spoke, he couldn't help but think that he had become more narrow-minded since he met Qin Zhen.

He might not have been so happy even after defeating the enemy. But now, even if he only got a little benefit from Qin Zhen, he was so excited. It can be seen how much shadow this guy Qin Zhen cast on them. But while thinking about this, he said in a deep voice: "That being said, Mr. Cheng, no matter what, you shouldn't humiliate me like this!" "You must know that without your assistance, my quest to quell the rebellion would not have been so smooth." "My dear brother, you have never done anything wrong, only great things. How can you be insulted like this?" The reason why he was angry was partly because Cheng Pu spoiled his fun, and partly because Cheng Pu insulted Zhou Yu. After all, in his heart, although Cheng Pu was indeed a hero, Zhou Yu was his pillar of support. If it weren't for Zhou Yu's help, he would probably have been killed by Liu Bei and Lu Bu in Shouchun. Even after he retreated back to Jiangdong and lost his will to fight, Zhou Yu did not slack off at all and continued to help him regain his confidence and capture cities. Even this return march was entirely Zhou Yu's plan! This kind of contribution and dedication should not be blamed in any way! So he admitted that Cheng Pu was right, but he couldn't bear to see his good brother being bullied like that. But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yu picked up the wine jar, poured himself a glass of wine and said: "If you follow my advice, should I have had a quarrel with Mr. Cheng?" Seeing this, Sun Ce took the wine and drank it all in one gulp. "Even if you don't want to curse at each other, you should at least say something in reply!" Seeing this fellow snatching his wine, Zhou Yu was not angry at all. Instead, he smiled and picked up the wine glass that Sun Ce had discarded, wiped it casually, and filled another glass with wine. He said: "In my opinion, most of the problems in the world are caused by this kind of irritability and anger." "Don't you know what the ancient sages said: 'The softest thing in the world can overcome the hardest thing in the world.'" "Brother, you only think that when others insult you, you should respond. Don't you know that the upright are easily broken?" "I heard that Liu Bei got Qin Zhen, which is like a fish taking to water!" “What is water? It benefits all things without competing with them. It stays where people hate it.” "Qin Zhen was able to do this, so he was able to help Liu Bei carry out the kingly way." "Although I have no special talents, I am willing to assist you in this endeavor, so I will follow your example!" "I treat Mr. Cheng with sincerity, and sooner or later Mr. Cheng will treat me with sincerity!" "So I am not angry today, but very happy. If this continues, Mr. Cheng will definitely be kind to me." Having said that, he drank the wine in the glass in a casual gulp. Seeing this, Sun Ce couldn't help but exclaimed: "Liu Bei got Qin Zhen, which was like a fish in water. I got you because of a perfect match!" Having said this, he turned around and looked at Zhou Yu, smiled, refilled the glass with wine, and drank from it.

As the two of them drank like this, they were even happier than before. At this moment, someone outside the tent suddenly reported: "My lord, there is a letter from Qin Zhen in Jiangbei!" "Oh? Is this happening?" Hearing this, Sun Ce couldn't help but stand up and said to Zhou Yu with a smile: "This person and I have never communicated with each other!" Zhou Yu nodded upon hearing this and shouted outside: "Please bring the letter here for me to read!" Upon hearing this, the man hurried out and soon took Qin Zhen's letter into the tent. Sun Ce took a closer look and saw that there was not much content in Qin Zhen's letter. It was not as sarcastic as Lu Bu's, but on the contrary, it was extremely kind. First, he congratulated Sun Ce on his success in pacifying Wujun. He then reflected on the fact that he had made a big mistake by not taking Sun Ce and Zhou Yu into consideration, which led to the two of them returning to Danyang. He was caught off guard and suffered a great loss. After expressing his personal wishes, Qin Zhen attached a piece of advice: "Now that the Chu River is occupied by the Sun clan, our army is unable to move south. I will return to Shouchun." "I am only worried that the food supply of Jingzhou is the lifeline of the refugees in Huainan." "Their food has been accumulated for many years and is not enough for the army. I hope Sun Lang will consider the people and not intercept them!" "If this wish comes true, I will remember this favor and repay it one day!" Looking at the letter, Sun Ce smiled and said: "Look, Gongjin, Qin Zhen has given in!" "He knows that he can't defeat my army, so he wrote this letter to ask me not to stop their food supply!" When Zhou Yu heard this, he stood up and walked forward to take a look. With just this one glance, he frowned and said: "Brother, don't be happy too soon. This is Qin Zhen's plan!" (End of this chapter)