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Chapter 44 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms – titled “Zhuge Liang Provokes Zhou Yu; Sun Quan Vows to Resist Cao Cao” – marks the dramatic crystallization of the Sun-Liu alliance against Cao Cao, while simultaneously planting the seeds of a rivalry between two master strategists: Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. With Eastern Wu…
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In Chapter 44 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, titled “Zhuge Liang Uses Wit to Provoke Zhou Yu,” one of the novel’s most celebrated episodes unfolds. Seeking to solidify the fragile Sun-Liu alliance against Cao Cao on the eve of the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang employs a daring rhetorical gambit: he deliberately…