Sun Quan put down the urgent report in his hand, let out a long sigh, supported his forehead with one hand, rubbed his eyebrows with his fingers, and was full of sorrow.

After the capture of Kunyang, the Wei army retreated on all fronts, and the heavy troops were gathered in the area of Yingchuan and Qiupei, Sun Shao and others drove straight in, almost occupying most of Xuzhou, and saw that they were about to come to Yanzhou, but because of the lack of rear strength, they could not continue to expand the results.

This kind of taste of watching the fruit hanging on the tree, only a stone's throw away, but not getting it at all, was so uncomfortable that it almost made Sun Quan uneasy.

Just when Sun Quan was thinking about how to accumulate strength and attack again, Zhou Yi and Chen Biao sent him a message: Wei Ba was building a ship in Jiaozhou. There is nothing unusual about shipbuilding, Wu Guoshui dominates the world, there are three large shipyards, and Panyu is a shipyard second only to Yuzhang Shipyard in Nanhai County. Wei Ba did not master the South China Sea, and it was expected that he would change to Hepu Shipbuilding.

But there was a problem in Zhou's report: by all indications, Wei Ba seemed to be focusing on improving the ship's ability to withstand wind and waves.

That's a big problem.

After several years of melee, especially the just-concluded Battle of Nanyang, as long as anyone with a little insight realizes one thing, that is, the emergence of a new jishu often brings an unexpected result. Back then, Wei Ba was able to break the Wei Army's naval division, and now he can conquer Wancheng in one fell swoop, all because he has mastered the new jishu. This jishu is something that others don't have, so as soon as he makes a move, he takes the lead and achieves great achievements that others can't.

It's the same as gambling, everyone wants to have a handful of chips in their hands that others can't think of, and take them out at a critical time. Hit the other party by surprise. But no one wants their opponent to have a chip in their hand that they can't think of, and this possibility alone is enough to make people panic.

What's more, Sun Quan has seen the power of Wei Bajishu many times.

Sun Quan himself has tried the ship many times, and he knows how important the ability of the warship to resist wind and waves is for the sailor. In a way, the ability to resist wind and waves may be more important than the ability to resist blows. Because the power of heaven and earth is much stronger than that of Yashi, a gust of wind blows, and once the warship capsizes, no matter how powerful the weapon is, no matter how elite the soldiers, they will lose their usefulness. You can only resign yourself to fate.

Weiba Shipbuilding. The goal seems to be clear, and that is the state of Wu.

Sun Quan himself also knows that there is no two days, after the destruction of Wei. In order to compete for the world. Wu Shu will have a battle. It's just a matter of time. The current alliance is only to destroy the Wei State first, and there is no real morality. So while cooperating with each other. Sun Quan's defenses against Shu Han were no looser than those against Wei.

But what made him very disappointed was that among the Three Kingdoms, he was still the weakest one, even if Wei lost Guanzhong, Longyou and Nanyang one after another, Wei's strength was still stronger than Wu's. Losing Longyou, after all, Wei still has Yu in hand, and he can still maintain a part of the cavalry, but he is attacked on both sides, and they are both strong enemies.

If Wei Ba makes a breakthrough on the warship and surpasses Wu in an all-round way, who can guarantee that Shu Han will not destroy Wu before destroying Wei?

Thinking of the battle between Li Yan and Zhuge Liang, Sun Quan felt that this possibility was even greater. In addition to attacking Wu State, what other opportunities could Li Yan have for meritorious service? As for Wei Ba, his miraculous rise was completely on top of the humiliation of the monarchs and ministers of the Wu State.

Sun Quan thought about it and sent someone to ask Fei Yi: You promised, after capturing Wancheng, you will give me the stone bullet making jishu, and now Nanyang has also succeeded, and the rewards of the imperial court have also come down, should I give the stone bullet making jishu, right?

Fei Yi promised, and I will report back to the general to see when he will fulfill his promise.

Sun Quan was so angry that he almost flipped the table, it's been a few months, you haven't decided yet, you still have to procrastinate, do you still have some credit?

Fei Yi helplessly stalled his hands. King, this matter was decided by the general at the beginning, if he doesn't agree, I can't help it in a hurry. I won't tell you anything, these jishu are the secrets of our country, and I am not sure if the general can give them to you. In my opinion, you'd better do something else first. Another thing seems to be at least more reliable than making jishu with stone bullets, and you can take this opportunity to talk to the general and the prime minister again.

Sun Quan only remembered another thing at this time: to be the emperor.

That's right, Zhuge Liang promised him at the beginning to help Li Yan take Nanyang, and Shu Han agreed to Sun Quan as emperor. It's really time to be called emperor now, but Sun Quan feels that this emperor needs to think about it again. There are two tigers lying next to me, and I am a fawn that may be eaten at any time and is called the emperor, isn't it asking for trouble for myself?

It seems that any ally is unreliable, and if you really want to be the emperor with peace of mind, you need to have strong strength.

Sun Quan found Zhang Fen. He told Zhang Fen about Wei Ba's shipbuilding in Jiaozhou, and then said, can you find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible, at least not behind Wei Ba.

Zhang Fen's face was embarrassed. Recently, in order to conquer the stone bullet to make jishu, he has forgotten to sleep and eat, and another improvement of the warship is to split him in half, which is not enough.

Seeing Zhang Fen's embarrassed face, Sun Quan sighed. Zhang Fen is smart, but it is still a bit difficult for him to compare with Wei Ba.

Talent, those who win people will win the world, and those who lose people will lose the world. Sun Quan completely comprehended this sentence at this time, but he was even more melancholy. There is also a genius Ma Jun in Wei State, where will Wu Guo find talents who can compete with Wei Ba for a while?

……

Sun Quan was helpless, so he had to come to consult Lu Xun again. Lu Xun listened to Sun Quan's worries, and quietly thought about it for a while: "Great King, the minister thinks of a person, can he compare with Wei Ba, the minister does not dare to assert, but his jishu should not be under Zhang Fen." ”

"Really? What kind of talent, why hasn't Bo Yan mentioned it before? ”

Lu Xun smiled helplessly, and said lightly: "Has the king heard of the Eight Uniques?" ”

Sun Quan thought about it for a while, and couldn't help frowning: "Are they a few warlocks who are called the same as Wu Fan, Liu Dan, Zhao Da and others?" ”

Lu Xun said: "Although the person I'm talking about is not a warlock, his intelligence is especially above these eight people. The armillary sphere he made was ingenious, and even Yu Zhongxiang was full of praise. ”

Sun Quan somewhat understood: "Wu people? ”

Lu Xun nodded and didn't say any more. Sun Quan was a little embarrassed and opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say. He also accused Lu Xun of not recommending it to him just now, but now that he knows that this person is a Wu person, he knows how difficult it is for Lu Xun to do it. He sighed and said, "Who else?" ”

"My lord, the minister thought that it was of course necessary to find a skilled craftsman, but he pinned his hopes on one person, but the minister felt that something was wrong. Wei Ba's improvement on the thunderbolt car, Chen thought that it was not his own work, but the efforts of the craftsmen in the school. ”

Sun Quan was very surprised, and hurriedly urged Lu Xun to speak in detail.

"King, you must have noticed the similarities and differences between the Battle of Xiangyang and the Battle of Wancheng." Lu Xun cleared his throat and said unhurriedly: "During the Battle of Xiangyang, Wei Ba was not on the scene, but if he had such a jishu, he would not have provided it to Li Yan at that time. Li Yanxing's division mobilized the crowd to conquer Xiangyang and Fancheng in one fell swoop, which can greatly boost morale and quickly advance the war to the area around Wancheng, which can save a lot of time, and Zuihou will not have to borrow grain from our country. It can be seen that Wei Ba didn't know this jishu at that time. After that, he has been busy with the battle, and how can he have time to make these jishu improvements, but when he arrived in Wancheng, he suddenly invented a new tactic, isn't this suspicious? “

Sun Quan pondered for a moment, his face even more ugly. One Wei Ba is already difficult to deal with, plus so many skilled craftsmen, how can he fight?

"Great Wang, compared to Wei Ba's personal jishu outstanding, he cultivated craftsmen in the academy, which is the real mastery. After all, the power of one person is limited, and only by making good use of the power of many people can we be truly invincible in the world. ”

Sun Quan frowned and looked at Lu Xun vigilantly. He wondered if Lu Xun was turning a corner again to persuade him to relax his suppression of the Jiangdong clan and promote a large number of talents from the Jiangdong people. Lu Xun is right, although the Jianghuai people still occupy an important position in the court of the Wu State, but the number of people is too small after all, and in terms of the number of talents, it is natural that they cannot be compared with the Jiangdong clan. But Lu Xun only considered the problem from the perspective of the Jiangdong clan, how could he not think about it, as the king of Wu, he could not help but engage in checks and balances, otherwise he would lose control of the court.

Seeing that Sun Quan was silent, Lu Xun secretly sighed and changed the topic.

"My lord, I heard that Wei Ba is not only proficient in mechanical arts, but also proficient in metaphysics. The reason why he is superior in mechanical art is because he is also familiar with metaphysics. ”

Sun Quan will be skeptical.

"Regarding metaphysics, the minister has another candidate to recommend to the king, and the king can pay attention to one or two."

"Who?" Sun Quan was already a little impatient. He estimated that this person was Wu again.

"Huiji Zhao Shuang, Zhao Junqing."

Sun Quan's eyes flashed, thoughtful. "I seem to have heard of this man, but I can't remember who recommended him."

"Zhao Junqing and Yu Zhongxiang are fellow villagers, and they have a good relationship, could it be that Yu Zhongxiang mentioned him?"

Sun Quan nodded repeatedly. Thinking of Yu Xuan, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional. Yu Tuo is a learned, capable, and loyal person, but his temper is so stinky that he has repeatedly broken his face in public. Otherwise, he wouldn't have driven this person to Jiaozhou. Yu went to Jiaozhou, and did him a great favor before he died. If it weren't for Yu Translation, maybe the South China Sea would have been lost by now.

Thinking about Yu Flip, and then looking at Lu Xun in front of him, Sun Quan suddenly found that Lu Xun had a few more gray hairs on the edges of his beard, thinking of what he had happened to in the past few years, Sun Quan couldn't help but feel soft.

"I immediately sent someone to summon Ge Heng and Zhao Shuang, as for the matter of the school. Boyan, let's think long-term. ”

Lu Xun nodded silently, but a wave of sadness surged in his heart. When is this coming, Sun Quan is still nervous that the string of the Jiangdong family is still tight, and he refuses to relax in any way. If you don't use these talents, then others can use them, and it's too late for you to regret it. He wanted to admonish him, but he understood his current situation better, and he was afraid that it would backfire, making Sun Quan even more suspicious of his intentions.

Do your best, obey the destiny of heaven. Perhaps, this is providence...... (To be continued......)