Cao Cao breaks through Yangping Pass, accepts Zhang Lu’s surrender and takes Hanzhong. When his registrar Sima Yi urges him to strike the west while the momentum lasts, Cao Cao sighs. The trouble with men is that they never know when they have enough. Having won the land of Long, shall I now want the land of Shu as well? Saying his soldiers are worn out from coming so far, he does not move.
The people of the west, sure that Cao Cao will come for them now that he holds the eastern lands, take fright several times a day. When Liu Bei grows anxious, Kongming speaks. Cao Cao keeps troops at Hefei because he fears Sun Quan. Return the three commanderies of Jiangxia, Changsha and Guiyang to Wu and send a man with a ready tongue to have Sun Quan attack Hefei. Then Cao Cao will surely turn his troops south.
Yi Ji, sent as envoy, speaks to Sun Quan. Hefei now stands empty, so if Your Lordship raises troops and strikes it, Cao Cao will withdraw and come south. If my lord wins the eastern lands, he will return the whole of Jing Province. Zhang Zhao says it is a scheme Liu Bei has hatched out of fear of Cao Cao. Still, he adds, striking Hefei while Cao Cao is in Hanzhong is a good plan. Sun Quan raises his troops.