Later, Sunx Quan inquired of Zhou Yu why the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families would surrender to them so easily, to which Zhou Yu merely smiled.

Previously, the Vice Army led by Li Yan had made the aristocratic families aware of Sunx Ce's strength. The Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families barely had the capital for mutual destruction, but the problem was Sunx Ce had over a hundred thousand soldiers. What would happen next time when Sunx Ce comes back?

Under such immense pressure, the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families could only choose to seek peace. Moreover, when Li Yan acted earlier, it was agreed that the severity of the documents would increase every three days delay.

Zhou Yu had calculated the tolerance limit of the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families, and even if they still held out when that limit was about to appear, Zhou Yu would have the families he'd already subdued step down and accept the documents, leading only to the disintegration of the alliance blinded by imitation.

The integrity of the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families was even lower than Zhou Yu's estimation. Under Li Yan's amazing ability to command troops, along with the constantly changing documents, most of the families lasted less than a month before giving up resistance and awaiting judgment. At least surrendering to Sunx Ce would not necessarily mean death, while not surrendering definitely would.

As a result, when Sunx Ce personally arrived at Eastern Wu, the documents received by the families were much less restrictive than what they had imagined.

Though in the beginning if Sunx Ce had given such contracts they might have tussled and negotiated, now when the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families had no room to struggle, Sunx Ce offered such "lenient" terms, all the families were delighted beyond measure, none dared to undermine themselves by negotiating with Sunx Ce.

This was referred to in Zhou Yu's words as the benevolence of the strong, and it was his early intention to keep all the Eastern Wu Aristocratic Families hanging, and at their most anxious moment, let Sunx Ce grant this group of scheming families the so-called benevolence, thus gratefully accepting.

"Zhongmou, remember, there is a solution to every problem in this world, but the simplest solution to all problems is always to step out of this level." Zhou Yu smiled and patted Sunx Quan on the shoulder and said.

As for Sunx Quan, Zhou Yu was relatively satisfied, even though he didn't have the charisma like Sunx Ce, Sunx Quan's intelligence and power scheme far exceeded that of Sunx Ce. Of course, surpassing Sunx Ce was not much, but in Zhou Yu's opinion, Sunx Quan had a mind in strategy and politics that amazed him.

It was just that for some reason, Zhou Yu always felt that Sunx Quan's approach to power schemes and politics was somewhat inclined toward darkness, lacking Sunx Ce's sense of the grand way. Simply put, the same thing that Sunx Ce could do with grandeur, for Sunx Quan, it felt somewhat crooked and sinister.

Thus, what Zhou Yu now intended was to guide Sunx Quan towards the right path. Though ghostly tricks and relying on power schemes may achieve temporary success, they can never make it to the stage; only with grandeur, combining surprise and directness, can one proceed steadily.

Sunx Quan frowned, not quite understanding why a problem that could be resolved at this level needed to be solved from another level of height, yet he didn't realize the hidden meaning in Zhou Yu's words—that no matter how many calculations at the same level, none could compare to elevating one's own level to overlook others.

It's like if two people are both county officials, competing for power and profits with each other, constantly deploying various ghostly tricks, but even if one eventually completely suppresses the other, how much progress can be made? Is it surpassing the other one and rising to Prefectural Governor?

Whether absolute power truly exists, Zhou Yu did not want to spend time thinking about it, but one thing he was clear about was to have a long-term vision and not be tempted by small immediate gains, that all calculation on the same layer level is not as good as rising one's level.

In Zhou Yu's view, Sunx Quan's problem was that he was accustomed to haggling at the same level, even to the point where it was not even the same level of haggling, but lowering his own status to haggle with lesser figures, which was entirely different from Sunx Ce's indifference to trivial matters, calculating trivial details day in and day out...

This gave Zhou Yu a tremendous headache. He hoped Sunx Quan would grow and support Sunx Ce, but with such a disposition from Sunx Quan, Zhou Yu felt even if there would be talent later it might also be troublesome, as vision determines height!

No matter how foolish Sunx Ce was, it could not change Sunx Ce's broad-minded temperament, especially after avenging his father, his temperament became perfect, seeing many things very clearly, while Sunx Quan seemed noticeably brooding, leading Zhou Yu to have no choice but to simultaneously teach Sunx Quan while pondering how to adjust Sunx Quan's mindset.

Sunx Ce was completely unconcerned about these matters, not being ranked on the Heroes Ranking, he was adamantly planning to conquer Jiaozhou and fight Nanyue.

He didn't seek anything else, he just wanted to reclaim the territories in Nanyue lost by the Han Dynasty in those years, at least by doing so, he would have no disgrace in righteousness, and he could confidently declare that he had also expanded territories for the Great Han Dynasty in future battles of insults.

In regards to this, Sunx Ce had also discussed with Zhou Yu, following Zhou Yu's proposal, though it was said that the Soldier Rebellion in Jiaozhou was difficult, once the issue of the terrain was resolved, a smooth advance wouldn't face much difficulty, afterward also explaining how to deal with Soldier Rebellion.

Under such circumstances, subduing Shanyue and Wu Creek Barbarians became the current priority task, if one were to conquer Jiaozhou by military force, then relying on Shanyue and Wu Creek Barbarians was the superior choice.

After all, these two tribes had lived in places with high heat, humidity, and miasma for years, naturally having ways to deal with such a peculiar hot and oppressive environment, at that time as long as they could be intimidated into submission, then select and train a force specializing in this battlefield, conquering Jiaozhou wouldn't be a problem.

Thus, in the next step, intimidating Shanyue and Wu Creek Barbarians must not go wrong, as the first step in territorial expansion must be taken from this moment.

High above, Yu Ji and others who had been following Sunx Ce and Zhou Yu's party had become somewhat agitated, clearly they had already stimulated Sunx Ce's Vitality Number to the extreme, yet Sunx Ce's Vitality Number seemed endless, nonsensically enduring for so long without showing weakness.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Azui, a traitor to Zuo Ci, asked Yu Ji in great anger.

"I don't know, but the high fortune situation is bound to have an end, Sunx Ce's Vitality Number ending is just a matter of time." Yu Ji stated calmly.

Although now Sunx Ce seemed as if aided by divine assistance, like Heaven and Earth Cooperation, it was ultimately due to Yu Ji extracting the fate of Sunx Ce and forcibly stimulating the effect, it will eventually have an end, needing to be paid back.

"Eh?" Zhou Yu and Sunx Ce simultaneously looked at each other, both feeling a sense of going away, and simultaneously felt some unusual emotions.

"The Vitality Number is nearing its end..." Yu Ji displayed a slight smile, Sunx Ce enduring for this long was already a miracle, but alas, the mandate of heaven is limited, no matter how favored by heaven, one cannot indefinitely owe to one's future, eventually debts need to be repaid! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)