Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 105.

Before we pick up where we left off, I have a quick announcement.

Around the beginning of the year, I appeared on the Seneca podcast, where I had a great time

chatting with Kaiser Guo and Jeremy Goldcorn about the Three Kingdoms podcast and about

the cultural significance of the novel.

That episode went live last week, so go over to the S- podcast that spelled S-I-N-I-C-A,

and check it out. And now, back to the show. Last time, Liu Bei was riding high as he crushed

Dong Wu in one battle after another in his quest to avenge his slain brothers.

It got so bad for Dongwu that Sun Quan offered up a really sweet peace deal.

He delivered into Liu Bei's hands the two guys who had assassinated Zhang Fei,

and he also promised to return Jing province and Lady Sun, Liu Bei's wife,

and Sun Quan's sister. He also offered to be Liu Bei's ally for all of eternity if Liu Bei would

just call off his war, especially seeing how most of the people directly involved in his brother's death were now themselves dead.

But when the envoy and Liu Bei's officials broached the topic of peace, Liu Bei flew into a rage.

The one I despise most is Sun Quan. If I ally with him now, I would be turning my back on my oath with my brothers.

I shall exterminate Dong Wu first and then wipe out Wei.

Liu Bei even wanted to execute Dong Wu's envoy to show that he really meant business,

but his officials managed to talk him out of that,

and the envoy scampered back to Dongwu to tell Sun Quan that Liu Bei refused to talk peace

despite his own official's advice. This sent Sun Quan into a panic, but the advisor Kan Zhe told

him, you have a pillar that can prop up heaven at your disposal.

...