This Black Brute Was No Simple Man

After meeting with Hu Ke, Sun Quan felt much more at ease. Once Cao Pi and Liu Bei resumed their fighting, Jiangdong would be able to reap the benefits from the sidelines.

Sun Quan couldn't hide his good mood. The moment Hu Ke turned away, he even began humming a little tune from Wu and Kuaiji.

Hearing it, Hu Ke couldn't help sneering inwardly. You think Jiangdong is at peace now? Sun Quan had sent him to Jing Province to buy grain. It seemed he still wanted to stir up trouble behind the scenes. Hu Ke wouldn't let him have things so easy; the conflict between Han and Lu could be exploited at any moment.

Back at the Yu Family Trading Firm, Hu Ke wrote a secret letter to Lan Tian while dispatching a merchant ship to follow Xing Zhen. He also had it "inform" Chen Qun that Sun Quan suspected Sima Shi of hiring an assassin to kill Lu Ba, giving Sun Quan trouble on several fronts.

At the end of the second year of the Wei Huanglong era (221), Xing Zhen set out from Jianye. Changing boats and horses along the way, he reached the capital, Luoyang, twenty days later, bringing Sun Quan's unusual gift to Emperor Cao Pi.

After reading the Yangtze Daily, Cao Pi flew into a rage. With Xing Zhen fanning the flames beside him, Cao Pi hurriedly summoned the civil and military officials to court to discuss military affairs.

The ministers thought Cao Pi planned to send troops to Liang Province, and most had prepared arguments to address that. But Cao Pi opened with, "I regret not listening to Ziyang (Liu Ye) and enfeoffing Sun Quan as a king. This man is a wolf with wild ambitions, showing no gratitude at all. Instead, he