In the evening, Lu Su brought Kong Ming to see him. Zhou Yu greeted him at the center door, and after a few moments, he sat down with his guests and hosts. Lu Su said, "Cao Cao's invasion of the south, the Lord can not make up his mind, what is the general's opinion?" Zhou Yu pointed out that Cao Cao's army was strong and he was marching in the name of the Son of Heaven, so he should surrender. Lu Su argued with Zhou Yu that he should firmly resist and should not surrender. The two argued fiercely, and Kong Ming only laughed coldly. Lu Su was confused and asked, "What are you sneering at?" Kong Ming said, "I'm laughing at your lack of understanding of the times. Gong Jin's desire to surrender makes perfect sense." Zhou Yu said, "Still, Kong Ming is insightful and of one mind with me." Lu Su chided, "Kong Ming, why do you say such things?" Kong Ming said, "Cao Cao is good at using his army; in the past, Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao dared to take on the enemy, and they were all wiped out by him. Only Liu Yuzhou did not recognize the times and ended up fleeing to Jiangxia, with his survival in jeopardy. General Zhou is determined to surrender to Cao, so that he can protect his wife and his wealth, and as for the rise and fall of the country, what does he care!" Lu Su was furious and accused, "Are you teaching my lord to bend the knee and be humiliated by the traitors of the country?" Kong Ming said, "I have a plan. I don't need to bring a sheep and wine, or offer a seal, nor do I need to cross the river myself. Just send an envoy and two men across the river in a small boat, and Cao Cao's million-strong army will retreat." Zhou Yu said, "With which two men can Cao Cao's army be retreated?" Kong Ming said, "When I was in Longzhong, I heard that Cao Cao had built a magnificent bronze sparrow platform on the banks of the Zhang River. He heard that Jiangdong Qiao had two daughters, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, who had the face of a sunken fish and goose, and the appearance of a closed moon and shy flowers, and threatened to say: 'I wish to sweep away the four seas, and I wish to get two Qiao from Jiangdong, and put them on the Bronze Sparrow Terrace, to enjoy my twilight years, and I would have no hatred even though I die.' The reason for him to go down to Jiangnan with millions of soldiers is for these two girls. Why don't you go and find Mr. Qiao, and buy them for Cao Cao with a thousand pieces of gold?" Zhou Yu asked, "What is your basis?" Kong Ming said, "Cao Cao's youngest son, Cao Zhi, whose name is Zi Jian, once composed the Bronze Bird Terrace Fugue, saying that his family should be the son of heaven and vowed to take the two Qiao." Zhou Yu asked, "Can you write it down?" Kong Ming said, "I love its exquisite writing and can memorize it." So he recited the Fu. One of the lines is: "Take the two Qiao in the southeast, and be happy to be with **** in the morning and in the evening." In fact, the assignment refers to the connection between the Jade Dragon, Golden Phoenix three platforms of the two flying bridges, Kong Ming intentionally borrowed the harmonic misinterpretation of the meaning of the "two bridges" said "two Qiao", in order to provoke Zhou Yu. Sure enough, Zhou Yu was furious, pointing to the north and cursing: "The old thief deceived me too much!" Kong Ming said: "When the Emperor of the Han Dynasty promised the princess to make peace with the Xiong Nu, why do you regret the two daughters of the folk?" Zhou Yu said, "Mr. I do not know, big Qiao is the wife of General Sun Bofu, small Qiao is my wife." Kong Ming pretended to be terrified, and apologized, "I really do not know, nonsense, death penalty death penalty!" Zhou Yu said, "I am sworn to be at loggerheads with the old thief!" Kong Ming again put him on the spot: "Think twice about this matter, so as not to regret it." Zhou Yu said, "I have been entrusted by Sun Bo Fu on his deathbed, how can I surrender to Cao? I have long had the intention of going on a northern expedition, and I will not change my mind even if the sword and axe are added to my head. I ask Kong Ming to help me."
The next day Sun Quan ascended to the hall, with more than thirty civil officials standing on his left and more than thirty military generals standing on his right. Zhou Yu entered to see him, and after Sun Quan offered his condolences, Zhou Yu first asked Sun Quan what he thought of Cao Cao's southern invasion. Sun Quan said that there were those who advised him to surrender and those who advised him to fight, and he had not yet made up his mind. Zhou Yu then asked Zhang Zhao to go over the reasons for surrender, then refuted them, and finally listed four major taboos of Cao Cao's soldiers: first, Cao Cao himself led a large army to the south, and Ma Teng and Han Sui occupied Xiliang, which was an afterthought; second, the northern army was not accustomed to water battles, and competed with the Eastern Wu, which was good at water battles; third, in the midst of winter, the horses lacked forage; and fourth, the soldiers of the Central Plains were not used to the southern soil and water and were sick in large numbers. Cao Cao had violated the four taboos of the military school, and although he had many soldiers, he was bound to lose. He was willing to lead his elite troops into Xiakou and break Cao Cao's army. Sun Quan stood up and swore an oath, "I and the old thief are sworn to be enemies!" Zhou Yu said, "I am willing to fight to the death for General, but I am afraid that General will hesitate." Sun Quan drew his sword and cut off a corner of the zheng case, saying, "If any of the officials say they want to surrender again, this case will be an example!" Saying this, he made Zhou Yu the great governor, Cheng Pu the vice-governor, and Lu Su the lieutenant of the praetorian army, and gave the sword to Zhou Yu, so that any civil or military official who disobeyed his orders could be killed immediately with this sword. Zhou Yu collected the sword and said to all the officials, "I am ordered by my lord to lead the breakthrough of Cao, all of you will be at my camp on the riverbank tomorrow to listen to the order, and if you are late, you will be punished according to the seven prohibitions of fifty-four beheadings!"
Zhou Yu returned to his lodgings and invited Kong Ming to deliberate, saying, "Today General Sun has resolved to fight against Cao, so please advise me, sir." Kong Ming said, "General Sun still has doubts and cannot make decisions." Zhou Yu did not believe him, and Kong Ming told him to see Sun Quan immediately. Zhou Yu met with Sun Quan, who really had doubts. Zhou Yu analyzed the strength of Cao Cao's army and confirmed with sufficient evidence that Cao Cao claimed to have millions of soldiers, but in fact only 400,000 to 500,000, and was tired from a long battle, so although there were many of them, it wasn't scary, and he only needed 50,000 elite soldiers to break Cao Cao. Sun Quan then made up his mind and asked Zhou Yu to march in as soon as possible, and he led his men to support him; if he couldn't win, he would fight Cao Cao himself. Zhou Yu withdrew, secretly thinking, "Kong Ming's schemes are one step above mine, and he is a great danger to Jiangdong, I will kill him. Zhou Yu ordered his men to invite Lu Su to discuss how to kill Kong Ming. Lu Su couldn't persuade him, so he suggested Zhuge Jin to persuade Kong Ming to join the Eastern Wu. The next day, just after dawn, Zhou Yu sat in the center tent and gathered civil and military generals to listen to his orders. Cheng Pu, a veteran of Sun Jian's army, was unhappy that Zhou Yu's rank was greater than his, so he said he was sick and asked his eldest son, Cheng Zi, to go in his place. Zhou Yu commanded the army well and dispatched the troops well. When Cheng Jian went home and told his father about it, Cheng Pu admired Zhou Yu as a real general and went to the camp to apologize. Zhuge Jin invites his brother to his home, and before he can persuade him to join the Eastern Wu, Kong Ming sees his brother's intention and persuades him to join Liu Bei first. Zhuge Jin was speechless and had to give up.