Vol 2 Chapter 2546: Sun Zhong plans to seize power, Sima Yi's plan

Chapter 2546 Sun Zhong plans to seize power and Sima Yi’s plan

Chapter 2542: Sun Zhongmou seizes power, Sima Yi’s plan

As Sun Quan expected, on the day he returned to Jianye, Sun Jian issued an edict to deprive Sun Ce of the crown prince position on the grounds that the prince Sun Ce was reckless and unwise, which caused heavy losses to the Chu army and brought humiliation to the state of Wu when he was captured.

Of course, this is just a way to save Sun Ce. In Sun Jian's heart, Sun Ce is still his only successor.

Subsequently, Sun Jian chose an auspicious day to canonize his second son, Sun Quan, as the prince. However, in order to prevent the second son from having too many other ideas, Sun Jian had a special conversation with Sun Quan before the ceremony of canonizing the prince.

The father and son chatted all night. Sun Jian's words can be summed up in one sentence, that is: Don't expect anything else. When your eldest brother comes back, your position as prince will be over.

After hearing this, Sun Quan felt a mixture of resentment and resentment in his heart. He knew his father's thoughts clearly, but he didn't expect that his father would be so direct. He didn't even give himself the slightest hope, and he no longer had any luck in his heart. At the same time, for Sun Jian's Resentment has completely turned into hatred.

Sun Quan clearly knew how bold what he was going to do was, but he could no longer look back. If any of the things he secretly planned were known to Sun Jian, they would be dead.

Therefore, whether it was for power or survival, Sun Quan had no second choice. He could only survive by sitting on the throne of King Wu.

"I, Sun Quan, swear to God that I will never have any thoughts about the throne. When my eldest brother comes back, I will resign from the position of crown prince. If I violate this oath, I will die from a thousand arrows piercing my heart."

Sun Quan ostensibly promised Sun Jian respectfully, and made a righteous oath that he would never compete with his eldest brother Sun Ce for the throne, and would give up the crown prince position when Sun Ce came back.

But in fact, what Sun Quan was thinking about at this time was how to isolate his father Sun Jian after becoming the prince, and how to prevent Sun Ce from returning to Soochow.

As long as Sun Ce can't come back, it doesn't count as breaking his oath.

Sun Jian couldn't help but feel a little guilty when he saw that Sun Quan was forced to swear such a poisonous oath by him, and said:

“Quan’er, it’s not that my father didn’t give you a chance, but that these are troubled times, and only those who are good at military affairs can make Soochow go further in these troubled times.

And Quan Erqian's prestige in the army is too low, and the arrogant and brave generals in the army will not obey you. "

Sun Quan couldn't help but lower his head and said in a deep voice: "How can my son not understand what my father said? Even if the eldest brother was captured, his prestige in the army is still beyond the reach of my son. Only he can inherit Wu." The throne of king.”

Seeing that Sun Quan’s expression didn’t look like he was being hypocritical, Sun Jian was completely relieved. He patted Sun Quan on the shoulder and said with a pleased expression:

"Quan'er, I'm very relieved that you have this awareness. My father's health is getting worse. Sooner or later, the country of Wu will be handed over to your brothers. My father has nothing to ask for, I just hope that your brothers will not kill each other."

“Father, please rest assured that I have long since given up on competing with my eldest brother. Whether it is for Soochow or my Sun family, I will help my eldest brother wholeheartedly from now on.”

“Well, with the civil and military talents of you two brothers, Soochow will definitely be more prosperous.”

After Sun Jian left with a hearty smile and laughed, Sun Quan's face instantly turned as cold as ice, and his fists clenched involuntarily, and he felt no pain when his nails dug into his flesh.

“Father, I will prove to you that I, Sun Quan, am better than him, Sun Ce.” Sun Quan said to himself through gritted teeth.

The next day, King Sun Jian of Wu issued an edict in public, canonizing his second son Sun Quan as the prince of Wu, and Sun Quan also moved into the prince's mansion that he had dreamed of, even if it was only temporarily.

Although Sun Jian believed in Sun Quan's oath, he did not relax his supervision of Sun Quan. Apparently he was afraid that Sun Quan would become more lustful for power after becoming the prince and thus violate his oath.

However, after a period of supervision, Sun Jian discovered that after Sun Quan became the prince, he did not win over the military generals to gain military power, and did not win over the civil servants of the DPRK and China to gain political power. Instead, he focused on negotiating with Echu State to redeem his eldest brother Sun Ce. There is absolutely no sign of taking power.

At this point, Sun Jian no longer had any worries or doubts in his mind, so he entrusted all the negotiations with Chu to Sun Quan.

After taking over the important task, Sun Quan went to Jiangxia to preside over negotiations while secretly planning to seize power.

Sun Jian was the biggest obstacle to Sun Quan's desire to take power, but he had no military power and no political power. The only thing he had was the title of prince, so the road to seizing power through a coup was obviously unworkable.

Under such circumstances, even Sun Quan's wisdom could not imagine how to accept the power of Wu through peaceful means, but his subordinate Sima Yi had already planned the next path for him.

On the fifth day after Sun Quan left Jianye, Sun Jian suddenly vomited blood and fainted while handling government affairs, and fell into a coma.

 After diagnosis by many famous Jiang doctors, they all came to the conclusion that Sun Jian was sick due to overwork, old injuries recurred, and his body had reached its limit, so he vomited blood and fainted.

Sun Jian was unconscious. Although he was still alive, he could only lie on the hospital bed to recuperate. Obviously, he could no longer handle government affairs.

Seeing this, the officials of Sun Wu quickly summoned Prince Sun Quan to return to the country to take charge of all domestic affairs in Soochow, and sent another minister to be responsible for negotiations.

Sun Quan showed his fangs as soon as he returned to the country. On the grounds of protecting Sun Jian, he did not allow anyone except the Sun family to visit the doctor. At the same time, he used the name of the prince to win over the domestic civil and military forces, and began to formally accept the military and political power of Wu State, and obtained Won the unanimous support of Wu Guo’s civil servants and the Jiangdong family.

Although the military generals of Wu State are more sympathetic to the deposed eldest son Sun Ce, now Sun Ce is captured and trapped in another country, Sun Jian is critically ill and may die at any time, and Wang Shu Sun Wu has not returned abroad. No one in Wu State except Sun Quan can take charge of the overall situation. , can only acquiesce to Sun Quan to take over some military and political power.

Seeing that Sun Quan's power in Wu State was getting stronger and stronger, the generals who were interested in Sun Ce began to worry. After all, if Sun Quan's power continued to increase, what would happen if Sun Quan did not delegate power after Sun Ce came back?

But Sun Quan is now the crown prince of Wu. The generals of Sun Ce and his group have neither reason nor good way to prevent Sun Quan from taking over the power, so they simply send a message to Sun Wu abroad, hoping that Sun Wu can return to the country to check and balance Sun Quan.

Sun Wu, who was far away in Zhangling County, learned that Sun Jian was ill and the new prince Sun Quan was in charge of domestic affairs. He immediately realized that something was wrong, so he decisively wrote a letter requesting to lead his army back to the country. However, Sun Quan thought that the Chu-Wu negotiations had not yet concluded. by rejection,

This is a critical moment for Sun Quan to seize power, and Sun Wu is the most prestigious person in the army in Soochow except Sun Jian. If Sun Wu comes back at this time, it will inevitably affect Sun Quan's plan, so Sun Quan will naturally not let Sun Wu come back. Therefore, Sun Quan, in his capacity as the prince of the Wu Kingdom and the supervisor of the country, directly ordered Sun Wu not to return to the country until the negotiation between Wu and Chu was completed.

 Sun Wu was the governor-general of Wu State and had the status of Wang Shu. Even if he disobeyed orders and returned to the country without permission, Sun Quan would not be able to do anything to him.

After thinking about this, Sun Wu prepared to say goodbye to Huang Feihu, Cao Bin and others, and then borrowed a road from the Song Dynasty to return to Lujiang via a detour from Runan County, but before leaving, Sun Quan's envoy came.

Sun Quan also knew his order and had no binding force on Sun Wu. However, he was afraid that Sun Wu would come back, so he ordered his brother-in-law Bu Zhao to serve as his envoy and go to Zhangling County to lobby and stabilize Sun Wu so that he would not come back yet.

How can people like Sun Wu be easily persuaded by Bu Zhi once he has made up his mind?

No matter how kindly Bu Zhi tried to persuade him, Sun Wu decided to return home first. Seeing this, Bu Zhi had no choice but to play his trump card.

“The governor is returning home at this time. Could it be that he sees that the new crown prince’s position is unstable and wants to compete for the position of King of Wu?” Bu Zhi said seriously.

After hearing this, Sun Wu couldn't help but be stunned, and then suddenly realized why his nephew Sun Quan did not agree to his return.

Sun Wu is also a direct descendant of the Sun family, and has outstanding achievements. His prestige is second only to his brother Sun Jian. He is also qualified to inherit the throne of King Wu.

 Therefore, if Sun Wu disobeyed orders and forcibly returned home, once Sun Quan determined that he was going to seize the throne, the civil war in Soochow would immediately break out.

 Sun Wu had no ambition to become the King of Wu. He wanted to return home because he was afraid that Sun Quan would not be able to control the situation. He was also afraid that if Sun Quan's desire for power expanded, he would not return the power to Sun Ce when Sun Ce came back, which would eventually lead to fratricide.

But if he goes back and causes Sun Quan's misunderstanding and causes civil strife in Wu, this is something Sun Wu would not want to see anyway.

When thinking about Sun Ce's reckless temperament and his poor performance in Jiangxia, Sun Wu was also a little disappointed with Sun Ce, and he couldn't help but have the idea that Sun Quan's succession would be good.

Although Sun Quan's military ability is far inferior to that of Sun Ce, it is precisely because of his incompetence that he will definitely rely on himself in the military aspect after he succeeds to the throne.

 At that time, he will be in charge of the army and fight abroad, and Sun Quan will be in charge and sit in the rear. This may not be a bad thing for the state of Wu.

But if Sun Ce succeeds to the throne, with his passion for marching and fighting, he will definitely lead the army in battle himself, and then there will be fewer opportunities for him to lead the army.

It would be fine if Sun Ce could really win, but although his military ability was stronger than Sun Quan, it was still far behind Liu Xiu and Guo Ziyi. Otherwise, Guo Ziyi would not have been easily captured alive.

Why has Soochow Wu won successive battles against Chu over the years, but the national strength of the two countries has always been about the same, and Chu's national strength is even slightly stronger than Wu's?

It is not that Sun Jian and Sun Ce, father and son, both liked to lead the army in battle themselves. Instead, Sun Wu, who had the strongest military command ability, was appointed as his deputy. The only time Sun Wu was appointed as the general failed due to other reasons.

If Sun Jian had always let Sun Wu serve as the general to attack Wu, even if the Chu State could not be completely destroyed, it would certainly not have allowed the Chu State to become so strong. How could there be so many things happening now?

 So, if Sun Quan becomes the king of Wu, it may not be a bad thing for the country of Wu and Sun Wu.

At this point, in order to show that he had no ambitions for the throne, Sun Wu decided not to return home for the time being to prove his innocence.

Although the situation of Wu State towards Chu is excellent now, the internal regime may change. If civil strife breaks out at this time, the good situation will be completely ruined.

Seeing that Sun Wu had given up the idea of ​​returning home, Bu Zhi was relieved and immediately sent a letter to Sun Quan.

After Sun Quan heard the news, he was naturally overjoyed. He smiled and said to Sima Yi next to him:

"Haha, Mr. Zhong, you are really good at predicting things. After Uncle Wang learned that the prince suspected that he coveted the throne, he decided not to come back for the time being."

Sima Yi smiled slightly: "Grand Governor Sun Wu is a gentleman, and a gentleman can bully him."

Sun Quan nodded in agreement. If Sun Wu doesn't come back, the biggest obstacle to his taking power will be gone.

 Next, as long as the eldest brother Sun Ce does not come back, his father Sun Jian does not wake up in the hospital bed, and the drugging of Sun Jian is not discovered, no one can stop Sun Quan from seizing power.

“Your Highness, the Qin Ambassador to Wu Xiang Tiao said that he has something important to do and wants to see you, my lord.” A guard in black reported.

“Ambassador of Qin to Wu, Xiang Tiao?”

Sun Quan couldn't help but frown, and said to himself in confusion: "What does he want from me? Let him in."

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After a while, Xiang Tiao, dressed in the official uniform of the Qin Dynasty, walked into the main hall and saluted Sun Quan: "Xiang Tiao, the envoy of the Qin Dynasty, has met the two princes. No, he should be called His Highness the Crown Prince now."

Sun Quan waved his hand disapprovingly, pretending to be self-deprecating, and said: "There is no need to be polite to your lord. Besides, no one in Wu knows that my position as the crown prince is only temporary."

 (End of this chapter)