12.
Zhou Que walked through the streets of Jiangdong. He looked at the people. They were busy, and working, but happy. It had been a quiet time. There hadn't been a great threat for five years now. Zhou Que was now officially a part of the 'Wu family' that lived in the castle. He felt like he was home, he was happy. When he came first to the city of Jiangdong, he was only a 18 year old boy. In the seven years that passed since then, he truly grew into an excellent general. He was proud of himself, and he was glad that he was such a lucky man, to find a home like this. Suddenly he woke up from his thoughts. A guard walked to him. "Lord Zhou Que, emperor Sun Quan has just received a message from Cao Cao, he wants to gather every able general to discuss it." the guard quickly said. "What does it say?" Zhou Que asked. "I'm sorry, my lord. I don't know. If you would follow me, please?" And he walked to the palace.
Cao Cao was a warlord who ruled the northwest of China, which he conquered at an enormous speed. Now he had conquered the north, he'd turned his gaze south. He first marched to the centre of China, the so called Jing province. Liu Zong, who ruled over Jing, immediately surrendered before Cao Cao, giving him Jing province. With that, he was the greatest warlord at the moment, and a threat to everybody. But what was the message about?
As he entered, he saw various generals already sitting around a table. Zhou Que took place next to Huang Gai, an old veteran, but still an excellent officer. "So, is everyone here?" Sun Quan spoke. "Then let us begin." He turned around. "As you all know, I've received a message from Cao Cao. I won't fence about it, it's a demand to surrender." Various faces went from curious to shocked. Zhou Que's face as well. A demand for surrender, he thought. This was a problem, if they surrendered, they wouldn't have a place of their own anymore, but if they didn't, they would face Cao Cao's fury by force of arms. And judging on large his army was, they were sure to lose. Suddenly lord Huang Gai stood up. "Who does he think he is?" He yelled with a low, loud voice. "He thinks we're just going to push our pride aside, and surrender? He's a madman!" He banged his hand on the table. "Huang Gai calm down!" Sun Quan said. We must think reasonable, and make the decision all together." Huang Gai regained himself and sat down. "I'm sorry my lord, I spoke out of my place." Sun Quan made a forgiving gesture and continued. "As you all know, this isn't a decision to be made instantly, we must think this through. Cao Cao has given us two weeks to answer his demand, so we're not drawing conclusions yet. If we…" Sun Quan was suddenly interrupted, slightly to his irritation. A messenger walked inside. "Forgive me to interrupt you my lord, but there is a message from lord Liu Bei." And as he spoke those words, another man walked inside. He wore a long white coat. His face looked very intelligent, an on it was a straight pointed mustache, and a straight little beard. What was remarkable that he also wore a fan with him, made of feathers. Zhou Que wasn't sure what bird they were from. The fan also had a red gemstone on its hilt. The man started to speak, with a calm and gentle voice. "Greetings, my lord. I bring the message from lord Liu Bei. My name is Zhuge Liang." Zhou Que noticed that some officers gazed in awe upon hearing that name, and started to mutter things to each other. Zhou Que asked Zhou Yu, who sat at his left side who he was, to Zhou Yu's astonishment. "You never heard of him? That's the legendary strategist Zhuge Liang. He is famous in all of China, maybe even beyond." Despite the fact that Zhou Yu still remained calm, Zhou Que could obviously see the admiration in Zhou Yu's face. With a man like this in our ranks, we should have a chance to win, Zhou Que thought. And as he thought those words, Zhuge Liang continued. "Lord Liu Bei has also seen the threat of Cao Cao, and he would like to request an alliance. To defeat Cao Cao together."