During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Sun Quan ordered a water and land ceremony to be held for his brother at Ganlu Temple during the day, and a banquet to celebrate with all the civil and military officials in the evening.
While they were reciting the scriptures, news arrived that Cao Cao had been promoted to King of Wei, and everyone started cursing.
Sun Quan was secretly delighted. Cao Pi had pushed Cao Cao to the forefront, and his ambition was obvious. At this time, his biggest rival was Liu Qi, so it was reasonable for him to send an assassin.
Lu Su looked at Sun Quan burning incense and worshipping outside the palace, shook his head and sighed: "If the Marquis of Wu had not met with disaster, and had taken Xuzhou into the Central Plains, how could the father and son of the Cao family have been so arrogant and tyrannical?"
Zhang Zhao twirled his beard and said, "Cao Pi is still a little young after all. Cao's army has been defeated repeatedly, and the whole world hopes that Liu Qi will revive the Han Dynasty. Now is the time to appease the people's hearts, but he wants to increase his rank and pressure the court. This is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire, which is counterproductive!"
Lu Su was quite surprised and turned to look at Zhang Zhao: "Mr. Zhang, do you also think that Cao will be defeated?"
Zhang Zhao sneered, "Cao Mengde welcomed the emperor and obeyed the emperor's order to fight against the rebellion. The whole country was united and he was a hero. But now he is abusing power and plotting rebellion. He is even worse than a reckless thief. He is unpopular, so how can he not fail?"
Lu Su nodded slightly and looked at Gu Yong and others calmly. He agreed deeply with Zhang Zhao's argument. The change in attitude of those who once advocated surrendering to Cao was enough to show that Jiangdong had completely lost the desire to compete for supremacy in the world.
While they were discussing, the guards reported that Liu Qi and his party had arrived, accompanied by Zhang Cheng, and had come to the temple. As the son-in-law of the Sun family, Liu Qi also went to the front of the temple to burn incense for Sun Ce.
Wu Guotai sat on a cushion to the right of the Buddha statue, chanting scriptures and praying with the monks. The ceiling of the hall was covered with yellow brocade curtains, and the solemn Buddha statue had its eyes slightly closed, creating a peaceful scene.
After offering incense, Liu Qi sighed and said, "The thief Cao's claim to the throne is a shame to the Han Dynasty! If my brother were alive again, he would surely invade the Central Plains. The two of us, with our combined strengths from the East and the West, have long been devoted to the restoration of the Han Dynasty. How could we allow the thief Cao to monopolize power?"
Wu Guotai was meditating with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes upon hearing this and said unhappily, "Bo Wei is saying that the defeat of Eastern Wu and Huainan was caused by Zhongmou's incompetence?"
Liu Qi shook his head and said, "I don't mean to belittle you, brother. Everyone has his own strengths, just as you said: deciding the outcome between the two armies and competing with the world is your strength; appointing talented people and protecting the rear is your strength! Jiangdong and Huainan have suffered repeated defeats, although it is not the fault of the war, but because of the lack of good generals. If you had your brother in command, how could Zhang Liao be so powerful at Xiaoyaojin? How could Sima Yi dare to flood Shouchun City twice?"
Wu Guotai looked uneasy, but she did not blame Liu Qi. She said calmly, "It's a pity that the dead cannot be resurrected. Otherwise, with Bo Fu's ability as a tyrant, he would have already recovered the Central Plains and rescued the king. There would be no need for Bo Wei to endure humiliation and compromise."
"What the Queen Mother said is absolutely right!" Liu Qi seemed not to have heard the Queen Mother's sarcasm. He clasped his hands together and said, "May the heroic spirit of my deceased brother protect us and help us restore the Han Dynasty as soon as possible."
Wu Guotai slowly closed her eyes, and a ray of cold light disappeared in an instant. Liu Qi's contempt for Sun Quan was really too much.
At this time, Sun Quan was personally arranging the banquet in the east meditation room. After all, Liu Qi was the lord of Jingzhou and had an equal status with him, so the banquet had to be grand and dignified so as not to lose face for Jiangdong.
Although he had guessed that there would be an assassin today, he didn't know when he would appear, so Liu Qi didn't dare to move around casually. He went back to the meditation room to rest first, and Zhuge Jin also came to accompany him.
At this time, Ganlu Temple seemed to be peaceful, with the sound of bells and Buddhist chants, but in fact, undercurrents were surging, and the air was filled with swords and murderous intent.
By evening, a bonfire had already been set up in the square in front of the temple, eight candles as thick as arms were lit in the incense burner in the courtyard, and the atmosphere became even more lively with lights and decorations.
The sky was high and the clouds were light, and the evening in the south of the Yangtze River was a time of refreshing weather. As a bright moon rose over the eastern mountain, all the civil and military officials and celebrities from Jiangdong arrived and took their seats according to their seats.
Amidst the sound of cheerful drums and music, Liu Qi and Sun Quan accompanied Wu Guotai onto the stage. Everyone stood up and saluted. Sun Quan ordered a banquet to be set up. Tonight, they should only talk about love and romance, not state affairs, and not until they were drunk.
Naturally, there was singing and dancing to liven up the banquet. To Liu Qi's surprise, the dancers from Feng Xiang also had a chance to perform. Their dance, which was quite Indian in style, amazed everyone present and received endless applause.
Liu Qi smiled and said, "The Fengxiang is indeed worthy of its reputation. It can actually establish contact with the Wu Hou Mansion."
Ma Liang whispered, "In fact, it was all thanks to our lord's foresight. It was because he had established a good relationship with Lü Yi that he was able to receive this honor. Without his help, it would have been difficult for our people to sneak into the mansion and assist Taishi Xiang."
Liu Qi nodded slightly, indicating that there was no need to make a fuss. At this time, Lu Yi was standing behind Sun Quan. Seeing everyone's infatuated expressions, Sun Quan also nodded frequently and looked very satisfied. His face was flushed and his pride was beyond words.
Soon, two more teams of soldiers came forward to dance with swords. Zhao Yun, who was standing next to him, immediately became alert and secretly grasped the hilt of the sword. Although Sun Quan did not dare to harm Liu Qi's life, swords have no eyes. If he failed, the hatred of losing Liu Bei would be repeated.
However, this was not the Hongmen Banquet, and Sun Quan would not be so stupid. After the soldiers withdrew, Zhang Wen and other famous scholars from Jiangdong drank and wrote poems. After the two men came on stage, they asked Liu Qi to write a poem as well.
Although Liu Qi's prestige in the literati circle was far inferior to that of Liu Biao, his five-character poems were unique and loved by everyone. Cao Cao commented that he was comparable to Cao Zhi, and Kong Rong also praised Liu Qi's talent.
Liu Qi knew that this part was inevitable for tonight's event. He looked at the bright moon in the sky, like a jade plate hanging over the Qinhuai River, and the long river was like the Milky Way falling to the ground.
After a moment of thought, he raised his finger to the moon and chanted aloud:
"The bright moon rises over the sea, and people all over the world share this moment.
The lover complains about the long night and misses his lover all night long.
I put out the candle, feeling pity for the full light; I put on my clothes and feel the dew.
I can’t bear to give it to you, so I go back to sleep and dream about the good times.”
"What a great poem!" Zhang Zhao was the first to stand up and applaud. He raised his glass and laughed, "General Liu is indeed very talented. This poem is full of vigor and tenderness, and it really speaks volumes!"
Everyone nodded in agreement. Even Zhang Wen, who always thought highly of himself, felt inferior to him. Although he knew that Liu Qi came prepared, he was still impressed and picked up the glass of wine in silence.
"The bright moon rises over the sea, and people all over the world share this moment..." Wu Guotai was sitting in the main seat, somewhat absent-minded, gazing at the bright moon in the sky with a dazed look, and a thin layer of mist formed in her eyes.
Just as everyone was toasting and discussing the meaning of Liu Qi's poem, the soldier who was pouring wine for Liu Qi suddenly raised the jar of wine and smashed it on Liu Qi's head.
Clang—
The wine jar was knocked away before it fell, and the wine spilled on the table. The soldier took advantage of the chaos, growled, pulled out a dagger from his arms, and pounced on Liu Qi.
Bang-
The soldier had just jumped up, and while he was still in the air, he was hit by a bench in the chest, and he flew backwards like a sandbag.
It turned out that Zhao Yun was well prepared. He first raised his sword to knock the wine jar away, but when he drew his sword again it was too late, so he simply picked up the bench under his butt and hit it.
"Oh no, there's an assassin!" Zhang Cheng, who was accompanying him, finally reacted and wiped the wine off his face and shouted, "Protect Marquis Wu and General Liu, and catch the assassin!"
Zhang Zhao and the others were horrified, threw away their wine glasses and ran to the meditation room, shouting, "Protect the emperor, protect the emperor!"