Even the King of Wu of Great Wei Reads the Newspaper?

"What brings Xing Zhen to Jianye?" Sun Quan asked, puzzlement on his face.

The Tiger Warrior clasped his fists and replied, "The visitor says he has come on the Wei emperor's orders, bearing an edict to enfeoff Your Lordship as King of Wu and grant you the Nine Bestowals."

As soon as the words fell, the hall erupted in an uproar. Sun Quan being enfeoffed as a king was a great honor, but being named the King of Wu of Great Wei was somewhat ironic. The ministers glanced at the Yangtze Daily in their hands and whispered among themselves. Their lord was really going to accept Cao Pi's title? Zhuge Liang might well put the Sun Family in the paper to curse them in the next issue.

At that thought, Zhuge Jin felt as if he'd been left sitting on a bed of wax. He hurried out of the ranks to remonstrate. "Cao Pi's own claim to the throne is illegitimate. If Your Lordship accepts the title of King of Wu now, won't you become the laughingstock of the realm? Your hopes of declaring yourself king in the south will vanish, too."

"Mr. Ziyu, you overstate the case," Lu Ji immediately retorted, stepping forward. "After the great battle in Jing Province, Jiangdong's strength was badly diminished. To the west, we can't break through Gan Ning's defenses at Wuchang; to the north, we can't capture the fortified city of Hefei. How can we speak of declaring ourselves king in the south? We'd do better to ally with the strong and wait for the right moment."

Historically, Sun Quan had appointed Lu Ji as governor of Yulin. Unable to adapt to Jiao Province's climate, Lu Ji had died young. In this world, however, he was doing quite well in Jiangdong.

"Gongji, you're