Fu Gan 傅幹

In Chapter 66 of the Romance, when Lu Su, following Lü Meng's advice to seek a decisive battle with Guan Yu, reports that his scheme to recover Jing Province has failed once again, Sun Quan flies into a rage and discusses raising the whole strength of the state to attack Jing Province. Just then word comes that Cao Cao is again advancing with a great army of 300,000, and Sun Quan, alarmed, shifts his troops to Hefei and Ruxu to resist Cao Cao. Romance, Ch. 66 §30

When Cao Cao is about to set out on his southern campaign, the Army Adviser Fu Gan submits a letter of remonstrance. The Romance records that his courtesy name was Yancai. In the letter Fu Gan says that in using arms one puts might first and in using letters one puts virtue first, and that only when might and virtue complement each other is the royal enterprise achieved. In the past, when the realm was in great disorder, the Illustrious Lord drove it back by force of arms and pacified nine parts in ten; those who now do not accept the royal command are only Wu and Shu, but Wu has the barrier of the Yangtze and Shu the obstruction of high mountains, so they are hard to overcome by might alone. Romance, Ch. 66 §31

Fu Gan urges him to cultivate civil virtue further for a while, to keep the armour stored and the weapons laid down, rest the army and nurture its officers, and wait for the right time to move. If he now raised a host of several hundred thousand and halted it on the bank of the Yangtze, and the enemy relied on the strongholds and hid deep, his soldiers and horses could not display their ability and unusual stratagems would have nowhere to be used, and his heaven-like might would be humbled. Cao Cao reads it, at last abandons the southern campaign, establishes schools and receives men of letters with courtesy. Romance, Ch. 66 §32