chapter 269

{Kuaiji}

[?]: The Sun clan is renowned in the Eastern region, and my master Sun Ce was even appointed by His Majesty to unite the Eastern region. No civilian rebel can compare to him.

[?]: If we all work together, the Eastern region will forever enjoy peace and prosperity!

[?]: We have finally calmed them down.

chapter 269 Battle of Wits Between the Old and Young

[Zhou Yu]: The wealthy merchants are still here. The common folks will return eventually.

[ZY]: Speaking of settling internal affairs, you have more to learn from Zhong Mou.
(Zhong Mou is Sun Quan’s courtesy name)

[Sun Ce]: I only know about warfare, so of course he’s better at these things. Right now all I can think about is conquering Jiangxia.

[ZY]: Haste makes waste. You have to consider our current strength even if you long to avenge your father.
{Jiangxia is the military base of Liu Biao‘s subordinate Huang Zu. Huang Zu is the man responsible for the death of Sun Ce’s father.}

[ZY]: We have just managed to bring peace to the Eastern region. What we must do now is to win the hearts of the people so we stand a chance in future conflicts.

[ZY]: Let’s go. The award celebration is about to begin. The newly surrendered men are waiting.

[ZY]: Did you hear me?

[SC]: Yeah, I’m going to meet the guests.

[?]: Look, they’re all down there.

{crowd noise}

{sfx: ta. ta}

[ZY]: That’s no ordinary man. Who is he?

[?]: Officer Li, is your son (getting) better?

[Li]: Thanks to your treatments my boy has fully recovered. I owe you my life, Great Saint.
(“…your favor to us I can only repay by painting the ground using my liver and brain”)

[?]: No need to thank me. Join my (religion) cult. But if you harbor wicked thoughts and do unrighteous things,
[?]: this serious illness will just return.

[?]: Sir Zhou.
[Zhou]: Here!

[?]: I have time tomorrow. Bring the sick family member to the preaching place.
[Z]: Thank you, Great Saint!

[?]: How are you, Great Saint?
[?]: You look good as always!
(“no different from when we departed”)

[?]: Kowtow, repent, and drink the enchanted water. Then you’ll be fine.

[?]: Eat less meat and shun the wine during this celebration. You will get better.
[?]: Th… thank you for the guidance, Great Saint!

[?]: Great Saint, General Cheng Pu requests a meeting.
[Cheng Pu]: Your Saintly name precedes you.

[?]: Sun clan’s star man. I have heard much about you.
[CP]: If you have time after the celebration, I respectfully request your presence at my humble abode.

[?]: It is so rare to see you. I will host you at my house too!
[?]: Please stay a few more days, Great Saint!

[ZY]: Two thirds of the guests are tripping over themselves to kiss up to him. Even Cheng Pu…

[Sun Quan]: Brother, this man here is Yu Ji. Do you know how much effort it took me to lure him here?

[SQ]: Now that Cheng Pu has lured him onto the stage, Yu Ji’s death is for certain.

[SQ]: And his followers have showed themselves among the crowd. I have planned to take action tomorrow.

[SC]: Too soon, no?

[ZY]: Zhong Mou is right. This man has too many followers. No good can come of it if we let him live.

[SC]: You two may have Zhang Liang‘s tactical reflexes, but this man must have thought of his getaway too if he dared to come.
(“…a ladder that reaches over/above the wall”)

[SQ]: Oh.

{Sun Jian’s wife, Mrs. Sun}
{Sun Jian’s daughter, Sun Shu}

[SQ]: Mother, (older) sister Shu! How…
(note that he’s younger than this sister; compare that to Romance of Three Kingdoms)

[SC]: He’s no run-of-the-mill when it comes to mind games either.
(I almost want to say “social engineering”)

[ZY]: Looks like he will grab a hold of the matron.

[SC]: Yu Ji is it?

[SC]: Hearing can’t beat seeing.
(“Hearing the name cannot surpass seeing the face”)

[ZY]: Don’t be hasty, Zhong Mou. One wrong move… and we’ll be in a heap of trouble if his followers revolt.
[SC]: Haha, look at those dogs.

[SQ]: It’s a dangerous season now, brother, and yet you can still laugh?

[Zhang Zhao]: Your brother is just thinking about something else.

[ZZ]: He’s thinking, this man has followers all over the Eastern region, probably numbering in tens of thousands at the least.

[ZZ]: If we are eager to get rid of Yu Ji, it could lead to internal conflicts and lose tens of thousands of people.
{Sun Ce’s military Advisor, Zhang Zhao}

[SC]: What’s your take on this, Zhang Zhao?

[ZZ]: We need time to recover from the massive loss after the war to bring peace to the Eastern region.

[ZZ]: Liu Biao of Jingzhou knows full well of this problem,

[ZZ]: hence he hasn’t increased defense measures at Jiangxia.

[ZY]: Do you mean to say, master (teacher) Zhang, that we should let the Taiping Daoists and Liu Biao go at it?
(not sure; it’s colloquial for “split up”)

[ZZ]: Precisely. Quickly absorb these tens of thousands of followers to become our army. Take Liu Biao by surprise.

{sfx: pa}

[SC]: No wonder Master Watermirror is favoring me. It seems that Zhou Yu will take care of external threats,

[SC]: while Zhang Zhao will take care of the internal ones.

[?]: Why did you come, Great Saint?

[Yu Ji]: What am I afraid of?

[?]: Sun Jian used to be the main opponent against Yellow Turbans, and you are a believer of the Taiping Daoism. His son has every reason to kill you.

[YJ]: Didn’t he treat me politely during the celebration just then?

{Xu Gong}
[Xu Gong]: I really don’t understand, Great Saint…

[?]: This boy just wants to use our army of followers to take Jiangxia for him.
[XG]: Why would you agree to it, Great Saint?

[YJ]: It’s mutually beneficial. I also want to use his extraordinary abilities to expand the territories for the Taiping Daoism.

[YJ]: Great minds think alike.
(“heroes’ views, we clicked“)

[XG]: Great Saint, Sun Ce must have prepared the endgame…

[YJ]: Like we didn’t?

[YJ]: (If you) Win the people’s support, (you) win the world.

[YJ]: He will conquer the world; I will conquer the populace.

[YJ]: Let’s see whether he gets to eliminate Yellow Turbans for his father,

[YJ]: or I get to send him on his way to hell!

After that, the Eastern region suddenly quieted down.

Every revolting civilian vanished overnight.