Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2949: The inside story of Liu Yu's enthronement and Lu Zhi's timely advice
Chapter 2945: The inside story of Liu Yu's enthronement, Lu Zhi's timely advice
Liu Xiu's attack on Wu not only opened the eyes of Liu Yu, but also amazed heroes all over the world. After all, Sun Wu has never been a weak country.

During the reign of Sun Jian, the Wu Kingdom not only defeated the State of Chu many times, but even suppressed Liu Xiu to the point where he could not raise his head.

You have to know that that was Liu Xiu.

If Liu Ji was the biggest obstacle on Liu Yu's road to rise, then Sun Jian was Liu Xiu's strongest opponent except Ying Hao. Apart from Ying Hao, only Sun Jian could suppress Liu Xiu in all aspects.

No one expected that after Sun Jian's death, Sun Quan would be defeated so easily by Liu Xiu and almost destroy his country after he succeeded to the throne. This was beyond everyone's expectations.

Although Liu Yu also wanted to replicate the success of Liu Xiu's attack on Wu in the Nanman area, he knew that the possibility was not great. After all, the reason why Liu Xiu could do it so easily was because of the right time, place and people.

In addition to Liu Xiu's sufficient preparation and in-depth layout before the war, the disunity of the Sun Wu people, and Sun Quan's blind command, there were also some unrepeatable coincidences.

Leaving aside other things for now, just the internal strife within Sun Wu, Sun Ce's timely return, seizing power and imprisoning Sun Quan, and Sun Quan's lucky escape, which eventually led to the complete division of Sun Wu, this was too much of a coincidence and could not be replicated at all.

Liu Yu also wanted to learn from Liu Xiu and split the Southern Barbarians, but firstly, he did not have a spy as good as Sima Yi, and secondly, Chi You had the final say in the Southern Barbarians, and no one could threaten his position.

As for these three, Chi You not only has incredible martial power and superb military tactics, his strategies are also first-rate in the world, far beyond the reach of a fake like Sun Quan.

Among the opponents Liu Yu has faced so far, the pressure caused by Chi You is even greater than that of Ying Hao, and is second only to Liu Ji.

The reason why he is higher than Ying Hao is naturally because Liu Yu has never faced Ying Hao directly. Although Liu Ji's ability is not as comprehensive as Chi You's, he really forced him to the point where he had to become a monk.

Today's Liu Yu is no longer the man who had to endure hardships, so even though Chi You is much more capable than Liu Ji, the pressure on him is actually not as great as Liu Ji's.

But even so, Chi You to Liu Yu is almost equivalent to Liu Che and Li Shimin to Ying Hao. Both are among the strongest opponents they have encountered on the road to hegemony.

Facing such an opponent with high martial arts, high command and high strategy, how could he let the Nanman fight among themselves without making any noise under his nose? The difficulty would probably be greater than directly sending troops to destroy the Nanman.

Although Liu Yu knew this clearly, it did not mean that he would give up. After all, if he wanted to concentrate all his efforts on dealing with the Qin Dynasty, he had to solve the problem of the Southern Barbarians first.

Therefore, it was not that Liu Yu had to deal with Chi You, but that Chi You was determined to be his enemy and blocked his way.

If Chi You was not eliminated, Liu Yu would be facing a dead end. And since there was no way around this huge rock, he could only move it or smash it.

In fact, Liu Yu was not afraid of losing to Ying Hao. After all, Ying Hao was also a hero. Although Ying Hao was a thief who usurped the Han Dynasty, he still admired his actions. He believed that Liu Xiu must have felt the same way, so even if he lost to Ying Hao, it was not that shameful.

What Liu Yu was really afraid of was that he would struggle desperately but not even be qualified to have a decisive battle with Ying Hao. This was what he felt was the most embarrassing thing.

It is hard to believe that Liu Yu, who was not afraid of death, would be afraid of losing face. After all, he had once experienced sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, and had already tasted all the humiliation in the world. His dignity and face had long been lost.

But it was precisely because of this experience that Liu Yu, after defeating Liu Ji and regaining his dignity, became more concerned about his face, which he originally didn't care about.

The reason why Liu Yu proclaimed himself emperor, apart from the fact that he believed that the benefits outweighed the disadvantages at that time, was also because he wanted to hold his head high, vent his emotions, and thus regain his lost dignity.

Of course, it seems that Liu Yu was a little hasty in this matter, but even Su Qin did not think that Liu Yu was necessarily wrong.

Except for his strategist Su Qin, probably no one noticed that although Liu Yu looked like a normal person on the surface, he actually had mental problems.

Liu Yu endured humiliation for so many years, and not only was his spirit always in a tense state, but his mind was also on the edge of distortion. He was almost driven insane by Liu Ji.

Perhaps for ordinary people, they don't think that sleeping on straw and tasting gall is difficult, thinking that it's just a little injustice, not a death sentence? As long as you can endure it, you can still survive.

King Gou Jian of Yue even ate shit. No matter how excessive Liu Ji was, he never made you, Liu Yu, eat shit. So since Gou Jian could survive it, why can't you, Liu Yu?

People who think this way are ultimately thinking too simply. Sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall is not just about enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens. It is an extreme spiritual self-humiliation and self-abuse, falling completely from the noble clouds to the mundane world, even to the point of being lower than the soil.

In this situation, if you cannot explode in silence and completely wash away the shame and the world, then you can only perish in silence.

Therefore, don’t just look at Gou Jian’s pride after his success. If he had failed to avenge his humiliation, even without Fu Chai’s action, he would not have been able to overcome the hurdle in his heart, and the best outcome for him would have been to go crazy.

The same was true for Liu Yu. For a man of his talent and pride, giving up his dignity and begging for mercy from his enemies would cost him half his life, and failing to avenge his humiliation would cost him the other half.

Although Liu Yu finally washed away the shame completely with his strong will and endured hardships like Gou Jian, the pressure in his heart increased instead of decreased because an opponent ten times stronger than Liu Ji emerged, Ying Hao.

In this situation, if you don't vent your emotions properly to relieve the pressure in your heart, the strong pressure will really drive you crazy. Su Qin actually helped Liu Yu to relieve his psychological pressure. The way for normal people to relieve pressure is nothing more than looking for women, fighting, etc., but how can an emperor like Liu Yu figure it out with the mentality of a normal person?

Anyway, Su Qin tried every possible way but to no avail, and then he realized that the only way might be to become emperor.

Because Ying Hao was the emperor, Liu Yu could only achieve equality with Ying Hao in status by becoming emperor.

Only when both sides achieve equality in status will Liu Yu care more about his dignity and honor, and then burst out with stronger determination and willpower, suppress his inner anxiety and fear, and fight Ying Hao wholeheartedly.

Therefore, Liu Yu's enthronement was not so much a desire to completely control Shu Han as it was a spiritual salvation by Su Qin. However, he did not expect the price to be so high and the revenge of the Qin Dynasty to be so quick and fierce.

However, although Shu Han lost Hanzhong because of Liu Yu's enthronement, it also gained a wise and powerful monarch. Overall, it was not a loss. After all, if Liu Yu really became mentally ill and made many stupid decisions, it would be a real disaster for Shu Han.

Just look at Sun Jian and Sun Quan. It was clearly the same country, but because of the different monarchs in power, the gap in strength displayed before and after was so huge.

Liu Yu did not disappoint the hopes of Su Qin and others. After he became emperor, his abilities were indeed stronger than before. However, although he had grown, his opponents were also very strong. Not to mention Ying Hao, Chi You alone kept him awake for many nights.

Sometimes Liu Yu really envied Liu Xiu. How could he be so lucky to meet an opponent like Sun Quan? He also wanted to fight against low-rank opponents like Sun Quan, but he met top hunters like Liu Ji, Ying Hao, and Chi You, none of whom were easy to deal with.

If Cao Cao knew what Liu Yu was thinking, he would probably hug him and cry. The opponents he met were all very strong, and Cao Wei's geographical location was very bad. So it was not that he was incompetent, but that anyone in his position would be powerless to turn the situation around.

Liu Yu didn't know what Cao Cao was thinking, nor did he care. He only knew that he didn't have much time left.

Liu Yu had a vague premonition that he might only have one last chance to destroy the Southern Barbarians, which was to cooperate with Liu Xiu in his second expedition after Liu Xiu conquered Wu.

If he fails again this time, the only fate that awaits him is to be conquered by the Qin Dynasty. After all, if he cannot deal with the Southern Barbarians, he will not be able to concentrate all his strength, and naturally he will not be able to stop the full-scale attack of the Qin Dynasty that has already occupied the Central Plains.

Therefore, Liu Yu must seize this last opportunity to completely eliminate Chi You, the greatest threat to him, so that he will not be disqualified from even having a decisive battle with Ying Hao.

In order to defeat Chi You, Liu Yu also made sufficient preparations, such as placing spies in the Nanman to find out their troop deployment, spreading rumors to bribe their front-line generals, etc., but the most important thing was to completely recover the losses of the Yinnan Battle. After all, it was impossible to win by relying on these tricks alone. In the end, the only way to defeat Chi You was with real swords and guns.

In order to maximize the advantage of the decisive battle, Liu Yu was ready to lead the army in person. He worked so hard that he even called out Chi You's name in his dreams. But even so, he was still not 100% sure of victory.

"Chiyou, Chiyou..."

"Your Majesty, this is a dream. You are having a nightmare again."

Seeing Liu Yu waking up from a nightmare with sweat all over his forehead, although Lu Zhi, as his bedmate, felt complicated, she still tried to comfort him kindly.

After Liu Yu killed Liu Ji, Lu Zhi was forced to marry Liu Yu for the sake of her son Liu Ying. At first, she was unwilling and even hated Liu Yu.

But as time passed, Lu Zhi discovered that Liu Yu did not break his promise. Not only did the humiliating scene she imagined did not happen, but he really treated Liu Ying as his own daughter and was very good to her.

The most important point is that Liu Yu was not as lustful as Liu Ji, who took in many wives and concubines. She was the only one in the harem. This made Lu Zhi completely fall in love with her and she became Liu Yu's virtuous wife.

Liu Yu had some wives and concubines before Lu Zhi, but he was forced to become a monk by Liu Ji and had no choice but to divorce all of them. However, after he regained power, he did not recall those wives and concubines. Instead, he favored Lu Zhi alone for political reasons.

Liu Yu favored Lu Zhi not because he loved her so much, but simply because Lu Zhi still wanted to use him. But later, Lu Zhi took the initiative to help him appease Liu Ji's old subordinates and provided advice on some issues that gave him a headache. This really made him look at his former sister-in-law and now his wife with a new respect.

At this point, Liu Yu finally understood why, among the three thousand beauties in Liu Ji's harem, only Lu Zhi could firmly occupy the position of mistress. Liu Ji also valued Lu Zhi's wisdom.

This woman is smart and sensible, virtuous and knows when to advance and retreat. It can only be said that she is worthy of being a woman of the Lu family.

If it weren't for the high pressure of Liu Ji's abuse that sealed his heart, Liu Yu would probably have been attracted to Lu Zhi. After all, who could not love a woman like this?

Liu Yu’s evaluation of Lu Zhi cannot be considered wrong, but the premise is that Lu Zhi did not turn evil. If she really turned evil to the extent of Empress Lu in the original history, then she would really be cruel and ruthless.

"Your Majesty has been having nightmares because of Chi You. I am also very worried about this. I want to share some of your worries. After much thought, I finally came up with a plan that may help your Majesty solve your worries."

Hearing what Lu Zhi said, Liu Yu smiled indifferently, obviously not believing what Lu Zhi said. After all, he couldn't do anything about Chi You, and a great man like Su Qin didn't have any good ideas. So what good ideas could a woman like Lu Zhi come up with?

Although Liu Yu didn't believe it in his heart, he thought that Lu Zhi had good intentions after all and was the Queen of Han Dynasty, so he had to listen to her.