Cheng Pu
When Zhuge Liang arrived, Cao Cao had sent Sun Quan a letter boasting of commanding 800,000 men and hinting that he wanted Sun to surrender. The faction led by Sun Quan's Chief Clerk, Zhang Zhao, advocated surrender by citing Cao Cao's overwhelming numerical advantage. However, on separate occasions, Lu Su, Zhuge Liang, and Sun Quan's chief commander, Zhou Yu, all presented arguments to persuade Sun Quan to agree to the alliance against the northerners. Sun Quan finally decided upon war by chopping off a corner of his desk during an assembly and stating, "Anyone who still dares argue for surrender will be [treated] the same as this desk." He then assigned Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Lu Su with 30,000 men to aid Liu Bei against Cao Cao.