Chapter 839: Living is not easy (8)


    At this time, a grand banquet was being held in Runan, far south of Yuzhou.


    ?The candles are brightly lit, and the waiters coming and going are like fish swimming in an endless stream. Yuan Shu stood in the lobby, raised his wine cup, and shouted for victory. Then Yuan Shu and his subordinates, generals and civil servants, responded one after another, raising their glasses and drinking.


    At this time, Yuan Shu was at the peak of his powers!


    ??While Yuan Shao was still struggling with Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao was still busy pacifying Dongjun, and Liu Bei was still trapped in the plains, Yuan Shu had completed the general strategic layout and became the biggest beneficiary of this stage.


    At the beginning, Yuan Shu controlled only a small area south of Yuzhou and north of Jingzhou. At that time, Yuan Shu had the Shandong Allied Forces in Chenliu to the northeast, Liu Biao and Huang Zu to the south, and Dong Zhuo''s sphere of influence to the northwest. , was almost surrounded by everyone, and Sun Jian died unexpectedly during the crusade against Xiangyang, which made Yuan Shu even worse.


    ?At that time, Yuan Shao wanted to elect Liu Yu as emperor and wrote a letter hoping to get Yuan Shu''s support. But how could Yuan Shu agree? So it was rejected in the name of justice. However, this approach led to the rupture of the little warm bond between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.


    ??However, Yuan Shao relied on his reputation as the leader of the alliance to gain support from the gentry including Jizhou and even Yuzhou. This made Yuan Shu very angry and declared: "If you don''t follow me, you will be a slave to my family!"


    This sentence reached the ears of Yuan Shao in Jizhou in the north. Yuan Shao, who was most taboo in his life about being dragged out of his family background, was so angry that he immediately contacted Liu Biao in Jingzhou and sent Cao Cao south to fight for Yanzhou. On the other hand, he also wanted to attack Yuan Shu with Liu Biao from the north and the south.


    ?Under this situation, Yuan Shu, who only had such a narrow area in the north of Jingzhou and the south of Yuzhou, lost the strategic depth, instead of fighting with the surrounding princes, he immediately launched a series of clever maneuvers.


    First, he declared a truce with Liu Biao and withdrew from the battle in the northern part of Jingzhou. Then he quickly made good friends with Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan, and implemented a strategy of distant relations and close attacks. He even bribed the Yellow Turban bandits in Qingzhou, the Black Mountain Army, and the Wuhuan people in northern Jizhou, to give Yuan Shao continued to add firewood to his backyard, which also relieved himself of the huge pressure from the north.


    This strategy immediately relieved Yuan Shu''s original battlefield pressure, freeing up Yuan Shu to reserve grain and grass, recruit soldiers, and replenish the lost troops. Now Yuan Shao is fighting Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao is entangled with the Black Mountain Army, and Yanzhou is defeated by Qingzhou The Yellow Turban turned everything upside down, but Yuan Shu, who had been on hiatus for almost a year, got a rare time to fully repair.


    As for the next move, Yuan Shu is naturally keeping an eye on Yanzhou. However, there is also a young **** in Yanzhou, but this is not a big problem. This Cao Cao is also a figure like Zhao Kuo, and even Dong Zhuo''s subordinates Xu Rong can''t fight, so how can he resist Yuan''s army?


    Therefore, at today''s banquet, Yuan Shu celebrated the smooth start of spring plowing on the one hand, and expressed his favor to the civil servants and military generals on the other hand, and at the same time gathered people''s hearts and prepared for the next conquest.


    ??But in the banquet hall, not everyone was as happy as Yuan Shu...


    Sun Ce was sitting in a corner of the hall. Seeing that everyone was celebrating, he didn''t have much to think about, so he left the hall on the pretext of changing clothes and walked slowly along the path in the courtyard.


    The person who was most dissatisfied with Yuan Shu''s rest and recuperation this year was none other than Sun Ce.


    It''s very simple, Sun Ce wants revenge.


    Although from a general perspective, Yuan Shu''s current strategy is excellent and has achieved good results, for Sun Ce personally, he doesn''t care about anything else. He just wants to kill Liu Biao and Liu Biao with his own hands as soon as possible. Huang Zu''s head was chopped off.


    Logically speaking, dying on the battlefield is actually the fate of every soldier. There is nothing to complain about and nothing to hold grudges against. Sun Jian also killed a lot of people. Could it be that those who were killed had no parents, wives and children? Could it be that only Sun Jian was allowed to kill people but not others?


    ?But Sun Ce didn''t care about this. He only accepted death and wanted to attack Jingzhou. Although there are rumors that Sun Jian did not die at the hands of Liu Biao, but Fei Qian, the guarding general who had circulated a "revelation to the Yinshan Mountain" some time ago, Sun Ce believes that this was actually the result of the cowardly and incompetent Liu Biao. Avoiding guilt.


    Fei Qian, the general who was protecting the Hungarian army, was clearly in the north of Bingzhou. Bingzhou was more than a thousand miles away, so how did he get to Jingzhou to defeat and kill Sun Jian?


    Moreover, Sun Ce also asked in detail about this matter several generals who had experienced this battle at that time. These generals who were brothers and sisters with his father, although it was said that the vanguard of the Jingzhou soldiers at that time was not Huang Zu, but another unknown person. General Huang, but Sun Jian was indeed caught in an ambush because he was chasing Liu Biao''s chariot...


    So, does this matter need any other proof?


    But Sun Ce was helpless. After Sun Jian''s death, the status of the Sun family in Yuan Shu''s army dropped sharply. Even the soldiers were taken back by Yuan Shu. If Yuan Shu had not had some chivalry, he would not have attacked Sun Ce. But if he can continue to lead the personal guards of the Sun family and generals such as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, then he really has nothing...


    ?However, Sun Ce also has a good friend who has been accompanying him and encouraging him. Of course, this person is Zhou Yu.


    For example, at this moment, when he saw Sun Ce leaving the lobby, Zhou Yu followed him silently, "Bo Fu, why are you here?"


    "...I felt a little dull, so I came out to get some air..." Sun Ce saw that it was Zhou Yu and said without any concealment, "...Gong Jin, when do you think we can take Jingzhou and cut off Liu Biao''s head?"


    Zhou Yu can also understand Sun Ce''s disrespect for Liu Biao, but based on the current situation, it is still somewhat difficult. Zhou Yu looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to the two of them. He moved closer to Sun Ce and motioned to go out a little further. Then he whispered: "Mr. Yuan is now focused on competing with Yuan Cheqi. How can he have time to care about it?" ? This matter needs to be considered in the long term..."


    “Alas!” Sun Ce shook his fist violently in the air, but sighed helplessly.


    Zhou Yu patted Sun Ce on the shoulder, and then whispered: "...But you don''t need to wait too long..."


    ?Sun Ce’s eyes suddenly lit up, he turned around quickly, then looked at Zhou Yu with wide eyes and said, “Why? Why? Gong Jin, please tell me!”


    Zhou Yu smiled, with a hint of cunning at the corner of his mouth, and gestured slightly: "...Look inside the lobby...are they people from Yuzhou over there, right...Bo Fu still remembers that there was such a feast some time ago. Compared with it, there are so many nobles in Yuzhou now. More or less?”


    ?During this period, because they were dissatisfied with the close proximity between Yuan Shu and the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, Black Mountain Bandits and others, many of the gentry children who maintained traditional concepts left.


    “…” Sun Ce frowned, then counted and twirled his fingers.


    "Okay, okay, stop counting..." Zhou Yu interrupted Sun Ce''s counting helplessly and said, "...compared to the number of people before, the number of people who have left is much better now, Bo Fu, do you know what this means? "


    Sun Ce still maintained his finger-wrenching posture, and without thinking, he turned to Zhou Yu and asked, "What does it mean?"


    "Mr. Yuan is a chivalrous man, but he doesn''t know that the truth and the truth are now known to everyone... If one or two people from Yuzhou defect to Yuan Cheqi or Caodong County, it may be difficult for Mr. Yuan to go north to Yanzhou..." Zhou Yu shook his head slightly, Sun Ce had a clear mind. Yes, but why are you always reluctant to move when you are with him? However, he did not hide anything and continued to whisper, "...However, now that Mr. Yuan is in high spirits, he is eager to give advice for fear of causing trouble, so... But Mr. Yuan''s family The cause is great, and it doesn''t hurt to suffer a small defeat... Moreover, if Mr. Yuan fails to advance north, he will definitely turn south. In this case, Bo Fu''s opportunity will come..."


    (End of this chapter)