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  "Whose idea was this?" Liu Feng's tone turned serious, his furrowed eyebrows showing that he had some reservations about Liu Bei's plan, but Xu Shu beside him couldn't see it.

  Xu Shu lowered his voice even further: "This is what Zhuge Liang strongly advocated for, and it was jointly decided by the lord and us after discussion."

  "Has Mr. Kongming returned?"

  Since the Battle of Changban, Zhuge Liang has been playing the role of diplomatic liaison, shuttling between Jiangxia and Hanzhong, it's been over a dozen days since Liu Feng last saw him.

  Xu Shu nodded: "Before Kongming left Jiangxia, he had reached a preliminary agreement with Lu Xiang of Jiangdong to join forces against Cao Cao."

  The news of the alliance between Sun and Liu did not come as a surprise to Liu Feng, what he couldn't understand was why Liu Bei would take action against Liu Qi ahead of time. According to his knowledge of history, Liu Bei only took over Liu Qi's estate after Liu Qi had passed away due to illness.

  "Zi De is Liu Jing Sheng's eldest son, and he still has some influence in Jingzhou. If his father were to take action against him at this time, wouldn't that chill people's hearts?"

  Liu Feng did not want history to deviate from its original trajectory here, of course, because Liu Qi blocked that arrow for him, he also had a few more grateful feelings towards Liu Qi, so he even more did not want to take action himself and become the vanguard who repays kindness with enmity.

  "We have considered these factors, but under current circumstances, we are forced to take this approach."

  "What does this mean?" Liu Feng couldn't understand the profound meaning in Xu Shu's words for a moment.

  Xu Shu sighed: "The Cao army is powerful, with our own strength, even if we add the more than 10,000 troops of Master Zi De, it will be absolutely impossible to resist. The only way is to join forces with Jiangdong, and we will have a chance to defeat the Cao army and survive. However, the Sun family in Jiangdong has been at war with Jingzhou for over ten years, if Master Zi De sticks to the old grudges and refuses to cooperate with Jiangdong, when the time comes, we won't get any help from Jiangdong, and Cao Pi's large army will attack Jiangxia from both Jiangling and Xiangyang, following the river downstream, and we will be in danger of being defeated. The decision made by our lord now is also for the overall situation."

  Liu Feng suddenly realized and muttered: "Zi De has an army of 10,000 men under his command, with strength comparable to ours. Moreover, Jiangxia is his territory. If we can't persuade him before arriving in Jiangxia, Father will have no choice but to take drastic measures. Otherwise, once we arrive in Jiangxia, we won't even have the chance to use force. Is that right, Mr. Yuanzheng?"

  Although he was just a university graduate before crossing over and had not experienced any political struggles, he had sat in an office before crossing over. Although it was a small office, there were also open and secret struggles within it, and Liu Feng learned a lot from them. Now that Xu Si has pointed this out, the clever him quickly understood the situation.

  Xu Shou's eyebrows revealed a hint of helplessness: "It seems that the young master has come to understand the lord's difficulties. The lord has always used benevolence and righteousness to win over the hearts of people, but at this critical moment of life and death, all actions must give way to survival, even if it means sacrificing the reputation of benevolence and righteousness."

  Survival, everything is for survival. Liu Bei's decision, Xu Shu's words are cruel and ruthless, but in this era of the strong preying on the weak, it seems to be reasonable.

  As Liu Bei's son, Liu Feng's fate was closely tied to his. To survive, even if he hated the decision, at this time, he had to firmly stand on Liu Bei's side.

  After a moment of silence, Liu Feng nodded heavily: "I understand, please tell Father that I will arrange everything at the right time."

  After a brief courtesy visit to Liu Qi, Xu Shu took a small boat to Liu Bei's flagship. After nightfall, the entire fleet began to quietly change formation in preparation for tomorrow's crucial meeting.

  Guan Yu, citing his familiarity with the waterways of Jiangxia, requested that the 3,000 naval troops loyal to Liu Feng and over a hundred warships be transferred to the vanguard of the entire fleet. To this seemingly reasonable request, Liu Feng did not detect any ulterior motives and readily agreed.

  At the same time, Liu Bei believed that his uncle and nephew should keep in touch with each other at all times, so their ships shouldn't be too far apart. Therefore, Liu Qi's flagship did not follow his Jiangxia naval forces to the front line, but remained in the middle of the fleet, thus being under the "protection" of Guan Yu's dozens of warships.

  The blazing torches illuminated the vast fleet, and in the darkness, it was like a golden giant dragon floating on the Han River. Liu Feng stood on the deck, gazing into the distance, where the warships were silently changing positions in the flickering light, the waves crashing against the hull, and Liu Feng vaguely felt a hidden killing intent spreading throughout the fleet.

  Footsteps sounded from behind, Liu Feng put away his solemn expression and turned around to see Liu Qi walking towards him with a big smile on his face, carrying a jar of wine.

  "Afeng, why aren't you sleeping on such a late night? What are you doing blowing cold wind here?" Liu Qi's voice was bright and friendly, exuding the vitality of youth.

  "It's stuffy in the cabin, let's get some fresh air." Liu Feng replied with a smile, deliberately showing a relaxed expression to avoid arousing Liu Qi's suspicion.

  "I think it's not sulking, but thinking of women, right?" Liu Qi smiled with good intentions and casually threw the wine jar over a few steps.

  Liu Feng caught the wine jar but didn't drink: "Brother, what are you talking about? What's with thinking of women?"

  Liu Qi leaned in close, his arm stretched out to hook around his neck, his eyes narrowed into a slit: "Don't pretend in front of me, brother. I, Liu Qi, have wandered through the flower clusters and know Miss Yue Mei's little thoughts. Do you think you can deceive my wise eyes?"

  Through these days of real understanding, Liu Feng finally knew the true Liu Qi, who was actually not the weak and incompetent person in the book. This man not only had a strong sense of chivalry but also had some talent. Otherwise, when Huang Zu was killed by the Jiangdong army, Liu Qi took over as the governor of Jiangxia after succeeding him, and it would not have taken only one year to stabilize the situation in Jiangxia, making the arrogant Sun family dare not attack Jingzhou further.

  Liu Qi's body also has the common surname of the young masters - lust. Of course, this is just a rumor, but after Liu Feng heard Liu Qi's proud self-proclaimed words earlier, he believed it.

  Liu Feng shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Brother, don't joke with me, I think you've had too much to drink. Besides, there's still an arrow wound on your body, how can you drink so heavily? Be careful not to hurt your body."

  "It's just a gunshot wound, it's nothing. Liu Qi snatched the wine jar from his hand and took a few more gulps, patted him on the shoulder and seriously advised: "To be honest, that Miss Yuemei is a beauty, she's a good girl. If Ah Feng has taken a liking to her, he should boldly go for it, don't be timid or someone else will steal the opportunity."

  It's unclear whether he was drunk or just being straightforward, but this kind of blunt and tactless remark was the first time Liu Feng had heard it since crossing over to this era.

  However, Liu Feng liked his straightforward and sincere attitude.

  "Alright, I'll listen then." Liu Feng responded with relish.

  Liu Qi burst out laughing: "That's right, I said it, with me as her military advisor, she'll definitely take the bait. I'm not bragging, brother, I've been through a hundred battles..."

  The river wind blows gently, the fragrance of wine accompanies the bright and clear laughter, drifting into the depths of the night.

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