“Second Lord! You can’t do this!” Ling Cao wanted to explain things to Sun Quan but addressing him as Second Lord only made things worse.
“Ling Cao, step aside. Since the Second Lord wants to kill me, I, Lu Meng, have nothing to say. This mistake was mine.” Lu Meng prevented Ling Cao from pleading for mercy for him. Lu Meng had never expected fire to be used that way. As he was already depressed, he wasn’t bothered even if Sun Quan wanted to kill him.
“What are you guys waiting for? Drag him out and behead him!” Sun Quan said with a cold expression. Lu Meng and Ling Cao had been dispatched by his brother to help him. However, Sun Quan preferred to be in power. He wanted to be in control of the military. Originally, Lu Meng and Ling Cao did not need to suffer this fate but since they did not give Sun Quan any face, Sun Quan wouldn’t bother giving them face as well.
“I want to see who dares to do so!” Ling Cao shouted anxiously as he drew out his sword. Lu Meng was his childhood friend. He would not allow Lu Meng to just die like this.
“Ling Cao! What are you trying to do?” Everyone else took out their weapons as well. They were in Sun Quan’s tent and most of them there were Sun Quan’s guards. The guards moved to protect Sun Quan naturally the moment Ling Cao took out his sword.
“Ling Cao! Put down your sword! Do you want to die?” Lu Meng shouted to his friend. Sun Quan’s guards were not easy to deal with. They may not be generals but they were all around Ling Cao.
“You even dare to point your sword at your General! You must truly want to experience military law! Men! Arrest these two immediately! If they resist, kill them on the spot!” Sun Quan shouted.
“Wait!”
“Lu Su! What do you want now?” Sun Quan coldly looked at Lu Su.
“Ling Cao. Put down your sword!” Lu Su said as he stepped forward. He knew of Sun Quan’s character. Sun Quan was a ‘good’ Lord but only the brazen and black hearted ones would succeed in this chaotic era. “Milord. If you want to continue being Second Lord then go ahead and execute these two!”
“Hm?” Lu Su’s words confused the others around.
Lu Meng simply thought to himself quietly. Ling Cao was confused because the Second Lord is the Second Lord. How could he be anybody else? The only thing that mattered to him was protecting Lu Meng. He would have done the same even if the person in front was Sun Ce.
Ling Cao watched in disbelief as Sun Quan forcibly restrained his anger and sat back down. Sun Quan then waved his hand and ordered his guards to withdraw.
“General Lu Meng must also be tired. Go and take a rest with Ling Cao.” Lu Su said to Lu Meng and Ling Cao.
“General! We will take our leave!” Lu Meng looked at Lu Su for a while and then cupped his fist at Sun Quan.
After Lu Meng and Ling Cao left, Lu Su cupped his fist towards Sun Quan and said, “Milord. If you want to forever remain as the Second Lord, it is alright to execute both Lu Meng and Ling Cao. Lu Meng had disobeyed military orders and deserved to be executed. Ling Cao had pointed his sword at you and deserved to be executed. As for me, I have placed my trust in the wrong people and also deserve to be executed.”
“Alright, alright! I am the one in the wrong!” Sun Quan immediately responded the moment Lu Su said this as he suppressed all the unhappiness in his heart.
Sun Quan wanted to be in power. He wanted to take Lu Meng and Ling Cao’s soldiers and give these soldiers to the Generals serving him such as Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang. Sun Quan had no choice but to listen to Lu Su’s words. Lu Su was his strategist. Lu Su was like Sun Quan’s ‘Zhou Yu’.
“Milord. I understand that you want military power but you are too impatient.” Lu Su had spoken harshly earlier as Sun Quan would not listen otherwise.
“Milord. Marquis Wu is the one that dispatched Lu Meng and Ling Cao to us. Although they are your subordinates right now, we do not have the authority to punish them. You may be able to obtain their twenty thousand troops but you would not be able to use them as they would no longer be united. Right now, the soldiers still thought of Sun Ce as their Lord. Lu Meng and Ling Cao were the ones keeping them together. If they were executed, the army would scatter and become useless.
“Besides that, Milord. Lu Meng was not at fault this time.” Lu Meng was not at fault. Even Pan Zhang and Zhu Ran would not be able to commander fifty thousand troops. What Sun Quan wanted was to control the troops. What Lu Su wanted was for Lu Meng and Ling Cao to serve Sun Quan as well.
“Hm?” Sun Quan fell into deep thought after hearing Lu Su’s wrods.
