Fa Zheng had finished coughing, and his complexion had improved considerably. He dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, then calmly said, "Your Majesty, this plan is difficult, but it will give hope to others who are considering surrendering.
"As long as Your Majesty makes Sun Quan Marquis of Wu and Zhang Zhao Marquis of Yue, I don't believe Zhang Zhao will continue supporting Sun Quan wholeheartedly after receiving a marquis title of his own!
"I believe that once a rift opens between them, even if we can't defeat Jiangdong this time, we'll eventually be able to take them down one by one."
Liu Bei thought the plan was quite good. It only required an imperial edict to plunge Jiangdong into internal strife, and they wouldn't have to sacrifice anything. He looked to the other ministers for their opinions.
The other ministers all nodded at once. Even the Jingzhou faction thought Fa Zheng's proposal was a good one.
The Jingzhou faction couldn't offer no suggestions at all, though, or they'd look useless. So Ma Liang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I think Earl of Fangcheng should be appointed Governor of Yangzhou!
"That would give you a legitimate reason to deal with the military affairs of Wu Commandery and Kuaiji.
"After all, Wu Commandery and Kuaiji both belong to Yangzhou. It would be entirely proper and lawful for Earl of Fangcheng to take charge of them!"
Liu Bei thought this was a good idea, too. The problem was, Guan Yu was already Governor of Jingzhou. If Wang Yue became Governor of Yangzhou as well, the territory controlled by this father-in-law and son-in-law would be far too vast.
Liu Bei had no doubts about his sworn brother Guan Yu, but Wang Yue was still an outsider, and he