Chapter 17 Chapter 3 Long Journey and Undercurrent

April 24th was Xun Xu's seventh day in Wuchang. Xun Xu walked out of the Dunmu Pavilion just as the sun was rising to the zenith, and walked towards the most prosperous Suzaku District in the city.He wore an unremarkable light yellow short robe today, and according to Wu people's habit, he unbuttoned half of his chest, and folded each side an inch towards the lining.This is because the weather in Jiangdong has warmed up, and the chest is untied to keep the wind unblocked, and people are not easy to sweat.He tied up the hem of his robe with a cloth belt around his waist, so that he could walk more flexibly.

From the moment he went out, Xun Xu noticed two men dressed as farmers stood up from the ground under the pagoda tree opposite the Dunmu Pavilion, and followed them from a distance.Knowing that these two people were sent by Soochow to monitor him, he was not surprised, and continued to walk slowly along the street with his usual expression—the monitoring of Dunmuguan personnel has long been a secret that both parties have tacitly understood.Zhang Guan even told him that if he got lost in Wuchang City, he could still ask these inseparable stalkers for directions. Zhang Guan also told Xun Xu an interesting fact: Once a clerk in the library went out to do business, and the place of business was adjacent to the home of one of the stalkers.The unfortunate stalker happened to see his wife having an affair with another man during the surveillance, so he couldn't control his emotions and rushed in to catch the rape.This incident has always left Wu Guo's intelligence agency in disrepute.

There is a total of five miles from Dunmu Pavilion near Xuanyangmen to Zhuquemen in Neihe, Wuchang. This street is called Yuyuan Road.On both sides of this road are the Soochow government offices and garrison camps; after Dangyuan Road reaches Zhuquemen, two branches extend left and right following the trend of the inland river, forming two commercial and residential areas, Changzhen and Qutang.It is the most prosperous area in Wuchang. Xun Xu walked unhurriedly along Yuan Road, the closer it was to Zhuquemen Street, the busier it became, and there were more and more pedestrians, vendors, and passing carriages.The two stalkers still followed closely behind. Every time Xun Xu turned his head, they immediately turned to look at the shops on both sides.

"Very clumsy." Xun Xu commented secretly, feeling a little impatient at the same time, and decided to get rid of these two annoying guys.So he quickened his pace, which made the stalkers a little panicked, and they couldn't help but followed closely, which completely exposed their stalking.Xun Xu turned his head, waved at them with a smile, and quickly turned right at the intersection ahead. The two trackers were taken aback and hurried to catch up.They saw Xun Xu's back flashing among the brocade clothes hanging in front of a brocade shop and then disappeared, they hurriedly and roughly pushed away the passers-by around them, striding forward in pursuit.Just at this time, a team of Wu officials came from the other side of the street. The whole team was about 60 steps long. Two honor guards holding five-colored wooden sticks walked in front, and cavalrymen holding whips on both sides ordered pedestrians to let go. The official's sedan chair is in the middle of the team.

The center of Yuan Road in Wuchang is paved with blue bricks, which is a special road for the emperor and officials to travel.There are locust trees planted on both sides of the road, and there are two rows of imperial ditches two or three feet deep and two feet wide to separate civilian passages and galloping roads on both sides.Xun Xu counted the timing, jumped over the ditch and rushed to the opposite side of the street just before the official team passed the intersection. His nimble attire helped a lot.The stalkers found him, but it was too late, and the guard of honor came between them and Xun Xu.They tried to jump over the ditch and rushed along the road, but they were immediately whipped back by the guarding cavalry, grinning in pain.

After the team of officials passed Chidao, Xun Xu on the other side of the street had disappeared.The two stalkers looked at each other, stood there for a while, then turned and left resentfully. "This is not normal..." Xun Xu, who was hiding on the second floor of the opposite restaurant, watched them leave condescendingly, feeling incredible.On the premise that both parties are aware of each other's existence, the purpose of the stalker is no longer to secretly track the target, but to stick to the target clearly and prevent the target from conducting any intelligence transactions or secret activities.In other words, such stalkers don't care whether they are discovered or not. The focus of their work is to keep up with the target and put pressure on it at all times.

But the two stalkers in front of them retreated after a brief defeat, which is really abnormal.According to common sense, they should immediately run to both ends of the street to confirm that the target is not lost, or call the backup team to enter the shops on this side of the street to find the target. Are they not professional enough, or... Xun Xu walked down the restaurant while thinking, and slipped out through the back door.He checked that there was no suspicious person around, and continued to walk forward with ease.In the past few days, he has memorized the map of Wuchang by heart, and he has walked a few times by himself, and now he can move freely without a guide at all.

He walked through two alleys, returned to the main street of Yuanlu, and turned to the "Qutang" area on the right, huddled with many civilians.There are many shops of various kinds along the way, and Xun Xurao stops and looks at them from time to time with interest, and sometimes chats with small vendors who sell things. It seems that he really just came to shop.He passed a bronze mirror shop. In order to attract business, the owner of the shop used silk threads to hang several bronze mirrors more than three feet wide outside the shop as a cover, which was very bright and eye-catching.Xun Xu seemed to be very interested in these bronze mirrors. He stopped and looked at them for a while, and suddenly smiled.

Through the bronze mirror, Xun Xu could find another follower hidden in the crowd behind him without turning his head.The tracker didn't know that Xun Xu was looking at him with a bronze mirror, and he was staring at Xun Xu's back without any hesitation. Obviously this is a trick of the Soochow intelligence agency.The stalker uses double tracking. First, two unprofessional trackers are sent to track the target; when they are deliberately thrown off, the target will relax his vigilance and go directly to the destination with confidence, often ignoring that he is actually still under arrest. Under the watchful eye of another group of covert stalkers.

"This is just some tricks of the Wu people." Zhang Guan commented that such tricks have no practical value, and a professional intelligence officer will not take it lightly just because he has lost one or two trackers. Xun Xu left the bronze mirror shop, continued to wander aimlessly in the street, and unknowingly strolled along Yuan Road to a ferry of Wuchang River. Jiangdong is famous for its water towns. In addition to the Yangtze River, there are countless large and small rivers. Wuchang City is also run through by a wide waterway. There are only a few pontoon bridges on this waterway called Wuchang Inner River, so most civilians still rely on ferries. Walk on both sides of the river.

When Xun Xu reached the ferry, more than 20 people were already waiting for the boat, and they were all crowded on the shore watching the sampan slowly coming from the opposite side.Xun Xu glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye, and saw that the stalker was also following him, hiding in the crowd. At this time, the sampan was about to dock, and the boatman at the ferry took a straw hat and began to collect money one by one.Xun Xu took out a Daquan copper coin from his pocket and threw it into the straw hat. The boatman thanked him, took out a seal carved with white radish, printed the word "water" on his wrist, and told him to go ashore before going ashore. Do not wipe it off for inspection.Seeing that he had bought a boat ticket, the trackers quickly took out the money to do the same. The sampan staggered to the shore, and the men on the shore put a wooden step between the boat and the pier.The passengers on the sampan got off the boat along the steps, and even some impatient people jumped directly from the side of the boat to the shore, and then walked away.When all the passengers had disembarked, the boatman waved his hand to indicate that those waiting for the boat could go up.For a while, there was a lot of people's voices, chickens and ducks were screaming, and two boatmen placed bamboo poles on both sides of the pedals to prevent people from being squeezed into the water. Xun Xu boarded the boat first, and more and more people crowded behind him, gradually squeezing him to the edge of the sampan.The stalker also squeezed into the boat, and there were about seven or eight people separated from him.The whole sampan was crowded, and he couldn't get any closer. When the boatman saw that people were almost on board, he asked the people on the bank to remove the pedals, and then connected the top of the sampan to the thick iron chains across the river with a thin iron chain—this was to prevent the sampan from being washed away too much by the current. Far away—with a big hand supporting the penny, the sampan slowly left the shore and drove towards the opposite side. When the sampan was three or four feet away from the ferry, Xun Xu suddenly jumped back to the shore from the side of the boat. This turn of events shocked everyone. The tracker was taken aback for a moment, and then pushed away the crowd angrily, but it was too late.At this time, the sampan was nearly two feet away from the ferry, and it was impossible for him to jump back to the ferry. The sampan couldn't turn back immediately, so the poor tracker could only helplessly watch Xun Xu who was standing at the ferry slowly go away... It took Xun Xu half an hour to get rid of these three pursuers.He looked at the sky and saw that it was getting late, so he turned around and left the ferry and walked quickly towards the scheduled meeting point. His real destination is Qinglong Field next to the East Lake in Wuchang City.This is a wide school ground by the East Lake. Today there is a big market here, and people from Wuchang and nearby counties all come to join in the fun.When Xun Xu arrived, the bazaar had already started for half a day, and there was a lot of people everywhere, yelling, shouting, snorting of mules and horses, and crying of children.The west side is full of small vendors' grocery stalls, including miscellaneous incense, fine kudzu, and pearls from various countries in Hainan, as well as ginseng and fur from Youyan; the east side is a variety of snacks, and there are many people in the middle Get together to watch the juggling of artists from the Western Regions, and exclaim from time to time. Xun Xu went to the place selling snacks and took a look around, then went straight to a stall selling tremella glutinous rice balls.The business of this stall is very prosperous, and there are seven or eight square tables lined up outside, all of which are full of customers, all of whom are holding steaming glutinous rice balls and eating happily.Xun Xu asked the boss for a bowl, and the boss agreed, put a dozen or so raw glutinous rice balls into the pot, boiled them for a while, stirred them with a slotted spoon, then scooped them up and put them in a large thick porcelain bowl. I poured another spoonful of molasses water on it. The bowl was very hot, so Xun Xu held the bowl with his two cuffs and went to a wooden table and said "excuse me", pulled a bed and sat down, slowly blowing the heat from the bowl. "You came?" A voice suddenly came from behind him, Xun Xu subconsciously turned his head to look, and the voice shouted again in a low voice: "Don't turn your head!" Xun Xu turned his head back, and continued to blow the hot air in the bowl as if nothing had happened. "Why didn't Zhang Guan come?" "He has another mission. I am the new Siwen Cao Gongcao. From today onwards, I will be in charge of contacting you." Xun Xu replied.The person sitting behind him now is an insider developed by Dunmuguan within the Soochow official office, and he often provides them with high-quality information for the Shu Han to use as a reference for Wu's decision-making.What's even more rare is that this insider doesn't work for money. He is a fanatical supporter of the Han Dynasty, so he has a high degree of reliability. This man was very cautious, and after exchanging several secret signals with Xun Xu, he was completely relieved of him.The two people just turned their backs to each other, each talking to their own glutinous rice balls.From a distance, it seems like two unrelated people. "Any news recently?" "Recently, there have been some incidents within the Wu State. These incidents will be announced through public channels later, but at this stage they are only circulated within the Jiangdong government office." The man was methodically playing with the glutinous rice balls with his chopsticks as he spoke. "What are these events?" "They found Huanglong." "Huanglong?" "Yes, on April 6th, someone in Xiakou claimed to have seen a yellow dragon; on April 8th, someone in Wuchang claimed to have seen a phoenix. Both of these sightings were recorded as official records and reported to the Sun Quan." "That sounds ridiculous." "Yes, but there is always a reason behind every absurd thing. These two incidents are likely to be ordered by Sun Quan himself or his trusted ministers. In fact, since the beginning of the year, similar incidents have been happening with a high frequency." Xun Xu didn't say anything, he swallowed a glutinous rice ball, his expression became serious. "Also, since mid-March, the amount of luxury goods and building materials flowing into Wuchang has increased significantly. The monthly average of fine fabrics has risen from 300 to 500; the number of pearls and emeralds has increased from 20 to 40." ; Jujube wood, sandalwood and copper materials have also risen to varying degrees, and all these materials were ordered by big companies closely related to the Sun family... just the night before, two black bulls arrived from Kuaiji In Wuchang, they were secretly sent to the inner stables of the palace city." "It looks like they're planning something big." "Didn't you get any news from the Dunmu Pavilion?" "At least not at all from legal channels." "Well, according to the agreement, the Han and Wu countries should inform each other before taking major actions. Now that they are hiding it from you, it is obvious that there is something related to Shu." "Wu people just like to do some clever tricks..." Xun Xu has had a deep understanding in the past few days. "The official notice has not yet been communicated to me, which means that the level of secrecy is still very high...but officials at all levels have been notified not to leave Wuchang for the time being." "Understood, what about Lu Xun and other military generals?" "Lu Xun himself has already left for Wuchang, but some of the naval forces stationed in Chaisang have begun to move to Wu, Zigui and other border areas between Shu and Wu." "It's really a 'little' action..." Xun Xu ate the last glutinous rice ball with emotion. After the conversation was over, Xun Xu asked the boss for another bowl of glutinous rice balls, which he devoured.When he patted his stomach and stood up in satisfaction, he found that the person behind him had disappeared.From the beginning to the end, Xun Xu kept his promise and did not turn his head to look, so now he has no way of knowing whether that person has left or is still watching him from a corner of the crowd. On the way back to the Dunmu Hall, Xun Xu ran into Xue Ying by "coincidence".Seeing him coming, Xun Xu greeted him pre-emptively: "Hey, Mr. Xue, are you all right?" Xue Ying also smiled, but she looked somewhat stiff: "Your Majesty Xun is so elegant, how did you go around Wuchang City today?" "It's okay, it's okay, I just walked around along the river and saw a few scenery." "Hehe, I heard that Master Xun originally wanted to cross the river for a stroll, but then changed your mind?" Xue Ying narrowed her eyes, apparently he had already received the report from his subordinates. "You know, I often change my mind suddenly at the end of the day; if there is any inconvenience, please forgive me." Xun Xu said solemnly, and the two looked at each other. tacit understanding. Xue Ying cautiously stretched out a finger and shook it in front of Xun Xu, and said meaningfully: "Master Xun, there are indeed many interesting things in Wuchang City, but if you walk around casually, you will get lost. What happens is out of your control." Xun Xu patted the dust off his body, and asked in a slightly mocking tone: "I wonder if Mr. Xue came to give me such advice as a friend or as a secretary in the secret mansion?" "Both." Faced with this meaningful answer, Xun Xu simply nodded. "Then, I wish you a good time in Wuchang City." But there was no trace of "blessing" on Xue Ying's face. The conversation between the two of them came to an end, Xue Ying bowed her hands and said goodbye, and neither of them made it clear.Since it is an ally relationship, the superficial friendly gesture still needs to be done.Xun Xu knew that Xue Ying would not dare to do anything to him as a diplomat as long as there was no reason to fall into Xue Ying's hands—any disrespect to the Shu Han ambassador and his staff was disrespect to the Shu Han government. Xun Xu suddenly thought that the intelligence activities of the Dunmu Pavilion in Wuchang had not been a day or two. Why did officials of Xue Ying's level come to negotiate in person this time?Thinking of "that person", the guess in his heart became a little more certain. After returning to Dunmu Hall, he went straight to Zhang Guan's office.Zhang Guan was negotiating with Quezheng about a draft statement requiring Soochow to open the four southern counties of Jingzhou as a free trade zone between the two countries. When he saw Xun Xu came back, he put down his brush and asked if everything was going well. "Received information went well, but the information itself was terrible." Xun Xu closed the door casually while talking.But Zhang Guanhe saw that he was speaking seriously, so he interrupted the work at hand and sat upright.But just as he wanted the servant outside to bring Xun Xu a cup of tea, Xun Xu stopped him with his eyes as soon as he picked up the bell—he had already drank two bowls of glutinous rice balls today. "What's the information this time?" Zhang Guan habitually put his hands in his sleeves and asked calmly. Xun Xu recounted the information he had received. After listening to it, Zhang Guanhe looked at each other with a gloomy expression. It seems that they probably realized the hint.After a long time, Zhang Guan said slowly: "Xun Gongcao, in your judgment, what does this mean?" "I think...Sun Quan probably intends to proclaim himself emperor." The other two people in the room nodded in unison when they heard what he said. To confirm, Zhang Guan turned his questioning gaze to Quezheng.The latter quoted classics and explained that when the emperors of all dynasties ascended the throne, they would all claim to have found auspicious objects such as yellow dragons and phoenixes in various places. "Xuan Mu" is a necessary sacrifice in the enthronement ceremony. "That is to say, they appeared in Wuchang at the same time, so it can't mean anything else?" Zhang Guan frowned. "From the point of view of the ancient etiquette system, that's exactly the case." But he nodded solemnly, but he raised another question, "Will it be another false alarm this time? It's not been a year or two since Sun Quan wanted to become emperor, almost Every year, courtiers come forward to persuade them to advance—including the beginning of this year—but every time Sun Quan is noncommittal.” Xun Xu shook his head, and tapped his finger on the case: "But this time, Sun Quan didn't disclose these things immediately, and he didn't inform us. It's obviously a guilty conscience; let alone judging from the supplies that have been shipped into Wuchang in the past few months , proclaiming the emperor has even reached the actual process of preparing for the enthronement ceremony—but we don’t know anything about it—I think Jiangdong is determined to create a fait accompli for us.” The room suddenly fell into an uneasy silence. It is not terrible for Sun Quan to proclaim himself emperor, it is just a false name, what is terrible is a series of political earthquakes triggered by it. Although Shu Han and Soochow are equal allies, theoretically speaking, this alliance cooperates under the framework of "reviving the Han Dynasty": Shu Han claims to inherit the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty, while Soochow is just the Han Dynasty The next separatist force was one level lower than the Shu Han; although Wu Guo was dissatisfied with this point, he did not explicitly object to it.If Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor now, it would be tantamount to denying the legal qualifications of the Han Dynasty, and upgrading from a local separatist power of the Han Dynasty to a formal country, which would be tantamount to slapping the Shu Han severely. From the perspective of the Shu Han, Sun Quan's proclaiming the emperor was essentially an illegal act of usurping the Han throne and arrogating the emperor just like Cao Wei. It was an intolerable rebellion.Sun Quan's behavior of teasing the political bottom line is very likely to trigger the second large-scale military conflict between the two countries, which will completely collapse the Shu-Wu alliance.In fact, the movement of the Soochow navy to Wu, Zigui and other Shu-Wu border areas indicated that the state of Wu had already begun to prepare for war. Thinking of this, the faces of the three people in the room were a little pale. This kind of matter is not something that the small Dunmu Pavilion can solve. "This matter is too involved. We can't just rely on one intelligence channel to believe it rashly. We need cross-confirmation..." Zhang Guan swallowed, and emphasized with a stern expression: "The only thing we can do now is to take this matter Find out what happened and notify Chengdu as soon as possible.” "I hope it's just a false alarm." He was muttering in a low voice, but the three of them knew in their hearts that the chances of this were too small. Next, the entire Dunmu Hall was mobilized urgently and began to use all the relationships to confirm.But this operation hit a snag from the very beginning. Xue Ying probably sensed the smell and sent dozens of people to monitor around the Dunmu Pavilion.Everyone who came out of the museum would be immediately followed by four to five stalkers, and they would not hide, but followed behind.It was almost dark at this time, and there were fewer pedestrians on the street, so it was quite difficult to get rid of them. In this way, the dark line of the Dunmu Museum in Wuchang cannot be used.Helpless, Zhang Guan had no choice but to go out in person and visit several senior Wu officials who were usually on good terms, hoping to pry something out of their mouths.He went to the mansions of Zuo General Zhugejin, Xicao Kanze, Prime Minister Gu Yong, and Fuyi Zhonglang General Zhang Wen successively, but Kanze and Zhang Wen were vague when confronted with Zhang Guan's questions; Zhugejin refused to answer directly , just repeated over and over again that "Wu State attaches great importance to the Wu-Han alliance, and believes that the good cooperation between the two countries is the cornerstone of overthrowing the puppet Wei rule"; as for Gu Yong, he simply said that he was sick and stayed behind closed doors. The ambiguous attitude of these senior officials, on the contrary, confirmed the possibility of Sun Quan becoming emperor from another aspect. The Dunmu Hall was busy until the early morning of April 25th. The staff inside and the watchers outside were exhausted.After a series of public and private, legal and illegal contacts and talks, Zhang Guan, Que Zheng and Xun Xu finally judged that the probability of Sun Quan proclaiming himself emperor was more than 90%. "It's not too late, Xun Gongcao, you and Quezheng are drafting a report immediately, and try to send it to Oxford before noon today, so that the diplomatic mail ship there will set off for Jiangzhou immediately." Zhang Guan didn't sleep all night, his eyes were a little red.He was in Wuchang all night last night, seeing all kinds of people and talking non-stop.After he ordered Xun Xu, he asked someone to bring a hot towel to wipe his face, swallowed a refreshing pill with warm water, and then left the Dunmu Hall in a hurry.He is going to the inner city of Wuchang, hoping to meet Wu Lord Sun Quan today and get his explanation. Xun Xu suddenly missed Hu Zhong very much at this time.If Hu Zhong was there, his wise thinking and sharp eyes would definitely be able to integrate these vague and fragmented information into a clear and concise report.It's a pity that Hu Zhong is still in Hanzhong, so Xun Xu has to do this job by himself.Xun Xu doesn't like paperwork. What he is good at is leading a group of subordinates to run around outside in person. Fortunately, Quezheng was responsible for editing the text.Xun Xu found that although this young man had mediocre intelligence analysis skills, he was very good at literary rhetoric.He can turn Xun Xu's dry and boring style of writing into a parallel prose with four parallels and six lis, which makes the report look much better. In addition to reporting "Sun Quan proclaims emperor", the report also needs to analyze the current situation, which is also a practice of the Shu Han intelligence department.While writing, Xun Xu thought that Prime Minister Zhuge didn't know how to deal with this diplomatic incident.Although Soochow proclaiming the emperor is a matter of embarrassment to the Shu Han, in fact the Shu Han cannot bear it, because the current international situation does not allow the Shu Han to fight on two long fronts at the same time, which will completely collapse the Shu Han's economy— - What's more, the strategy of the Northern Expedition also required Soochow's strategic cooperation on the southern front.Prime Minister Zhuge, who has always been pragmatic, will not rashly take substantive military actions just because of his status.Soochow broke through the political bottom line of the Shu Han, but stayed above the bottom line of national interests. This is a small trick Sun Quan was playing by taking advantage of this political gap. "Wu people's little tricks... Huh." Thinking of this, Xun Xu snorted contemptuously, and took a pen to write his own thoughts into the report.The person in charge of retouching was taking his manuscript and looking over it, with a very surprised expression on his face.But he was shaking the manuscript paper, and his tone seemed to be questioning Xun Xu: "Master Xun, how can you write like this? How can our country continue to be allies with such rebels? The name is not right, and the words are not good. They are simply arrogance." !" "That's so annoying, how do you think our country should deal with it?" Xun Xu asked back. "Of course it is to immediately break off diplomatic relations with the puppet Wu, and order the world to condemn their behavior in order to demonstrate our country's just position." "Hey, you can't do this..." Xun Xu shook his head, thinking to himself that this nerd only reads rote books, and his views on international politics are too superficial—no, not superficial, but too idealistic.If it is true to govern the country according to the words of the sages in everything, I am afraid that the Kingdom of Shu will be besieged on all sides long ago.Although Prime Minister Zhuge respected Confucianism on the outside, he was still a down-to-earth disciple of Legalism. Hearing Xun Xu's words, Zheng Zheng's eyes widened: "Why can't it work? Are we allowed to continue dealing with this country that has betrayed our ideals?" "Our primary enemy is Cao Wei. We must unite all forces that can be united. Otherwise, our country will fight on two fronts, how can the country stand it?" "Adhering to justice, based on orthodoxy, and obeying the destiny, how could the Han Dynasty lose?" But Zheng spoke so righteously, Xun Xu had no choice but to shake his head helplessly, declaring that this was just his personal opinion, and at the same time labeled him a "pedantic scholar" in his heart. The report was completed before noon. In addition to Xun Xu's analysis, he also attached an eloquent opinion. The central meaning is only one sentence: "It's not suitable for friends, and the name and body are good. It's better to show justice. Good alliance." But just as he was finishing the last sentence, he affixed the seal of the envoy of Dunmu on the place where the signature was signed.Xun Xu immediately rolled up the report, wrapped it in silk, sealed the entrance with wax, and put a copper ring engraved with "Han Imperial Postal Seal" on the scroll.This is a special seal for diplomatic official documents. Documents with this copper seal are regarded as imperial documents. During the transmission process, it is forbidden to be dismantled and inspected by anyone for any reason, and they are regarded as sacred and inviolable like the emperor himself. Xun Xu held the set of documents in his hand, and said to Que Zheng: "You wait here for Mr. Zhang to come back, and I will send the documents out in person." There is a grudge.Xun Xu didn't have time to pay attention to him, so he ordered the servants to get the horses ready, and then hurried out of the Dunmu Hall.The sooner the report is sent out, the better. Even if it arrives in Chengdu just one day earlier, it will have a major impact on foreign policy decisions. When he arrived at the door, the servant had already brought a horse over and planted the flag of "Envoy of Dunmu".Xun Xuli ignored the watchers on the side, and galloped towards Oxford with his legs on the horse's belly. Because of the flag of dunmu, the journey was unimpeded, and soon Xun Xu arrived at the Oxford diplomatic wharf.He got off his horse and hurried towards the pier. Halfway there, his heart suddenly sank, because there was no boat on the berth of the Oxford pier in the distance.According to common sense, there should be diplomatic clippers on duty 12 hours a day. Xun Xu hurriedly came to the gate of the pier, and woke up the guarding sergeant who was dozing off: "I am the director of the Han Dunmu Museum, and now there is an urgent document that needs to be sent. Where is the special express ship of the museum?" The soldier rubbed his sleepy eyes and replied, "I'm sorry, all the ships have been sent for maintenance today." "All the ships?" "Yes, it was shipped off this morning." "Then when will it be sent back?" "I don't know, maybe it will take two or three days." Seeing that Xun Xu was sweating profusely, the soldier kindly comforted him, "It's such a troublesome job to repair a ship, and it usually takes so much time for our army to repair ships." Xun Xu knew in his heart that this was definitely a good thing Xue Ying did.He didn't dare to intercept the imperial document, so he made a fuss about the carrier and deliberately chose to overhaul all the ships today. For Soochow, it is of great significance to intercept this document.If the Shu Han got the news before Sun Quan officially proclaimed the emperor and reacted first, he would take a greater initiative in diplomacy.This is why Sun Quan wanted to keep the matter of the emperor secret, and refused to notify the Shu Han in advance. The diplomatic connotations of "Notes Before Proclaiming Emperor" and "Notes After Proclaiming Emperor" are different.The former means that the move was consulted, albeit only symbolically, with allies and fully understood, which also hints at the influence of allies on this issue; Regarding the internal affairs of Soochow, other countries only need to accept the fait accompli. Therefore, the choice of the timing of the note is related to Soochow's self-esteem, but the blockade of news from the Shu Han exposed their inferiority complex.In Xun Xu's words: "Another small move." But this little move now stumps Xun Xu.