— Qi Ji Frozen are all the trees; Your warm root will not freeze. In the village’s deep snow Last night your branch did blow. Fragrance oozed in wind light; Birds peep at you still white. If you blossom next year, You will foretell spring’s near.
In the turbulent spring of 200 AD, as Cao Cao and Yuan Shao locked horns at Guandu, a bold plan was unfolding in the southeast. Sun Ce, the “Little Conqueror” who had unified the six commanderies of Jiangdong in just a few years, saw an opportunity: with Cao Cao’s rear defenses weakened, he aimed…