At this time, a grand banquet was being held in Runan, far south of Yuzhou.
The candles were brightly lit, and the waiters coming and going were like fish swimming in an endless stream. Yuan Shu stood in the lobby, raised his wine cup, and shouted "Winning Drinks". 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 he refused in the name of justice. However, this approach led to the only conflict between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
All the bonds of tenderness were broken.
However, Yuan Shao relied on his reputation as the leader of the alliance to gain support from the nobles in 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, without strategic depth, instead of fighting with the surrounding princes, 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, implemented a strategy of distant relations and close attacks, and even bribed the Yellow Turban bandits in Qingzhou, the Black Mountain Army and the Wuhuan people in the northern part of Jizhou, giving them
Yuan Shao continued to add firewood to his backyard, which also alleviated 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, was given a rare opportunity to fully recuperate.
As for the next move, Yuan Shu is naturally keeping an eye on Yanzhou. However, there is also a young eunuch in Yanzhou, but this is not a big problem. This Cao Cao is also a figure like Zhao Kuo. Even Dong Zhuo's subordinates
Xu Rong couldn't fight, so how could he resist Yuan's army?
Therefore, at today's banquet, Yuan Shu celebrated the smooth start of spring plowing on the one hand, expressed his favor to the civil servants and generals on the other, and at the same time gathered people's hearts in preparation 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 lobby. Seeing everyone celebrating, he didn't have much to think about, so he left the lobby 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 year of recuperation and recuperation 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, death on the battlefield is actually the fate of every soldier. There is nothing to complain about and nothing to hold grudges. Sun Jian also killed many people. Didn't those who were killed have parents?
, has no wife or children, is it possible to only allow Sun Jian to kill people, but not allow others to kill Sun Jian?
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 general who protected the Huns who had circulated a "revelation to the Yinshan Mountain" some time ago, Sun Ce believed that this was actually the result of the cowardly and incompetent Liu Biao.
Avoid guilt.
Fei Qian, the general who was protecting the Huns, 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 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 car hood...
So, does this matter need any other proof?
But Sun Ce was helpless. After Sun Jian's death, the Sun family's status 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, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and other generals, 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 could also understand Sun Ce's disrespect for Liu Biao, but according to the current situation, it was still a bit difficult. Zhou Yu looked around and saw that no one noticed the two of them, so he moved closer to Sun Ce and signaled
After walking a little further, he whispered: "Mr. Yuan is now bent on competing with Yuan Cheqi, so how can he have time to care about it? This matter must be discussed in the long run..."
"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...They are people from Yuzhou over there, right...Bo Fu still remembers that there was such a feast some time ago. Compared with it, Yuzhou is now
Are there more or less nobles?"
During this period, because they were dissatisfied with the close proximity between Yuan Shu, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban, and the Black Mountain Bandits, many of the nobles who maintained traditional values left.
"..." Sun Ce frowned, then counted and twirled his fingers.
"Okay, okay, stop counting..." Zhou Yu interrupted Sun Ce's count helplessly and said, "...compared to the number of people before, there are already many more people gone now, Bo Fu, do you know what this means?
What?"
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 is 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 this time..." Zhou Yu shook his head slightly, Sun Ce
He actually has a good mind, but why is he always reluctant to move when he is with him? However, he did not hide anything and continued to whisper, "...However, now that Mr. Yuan is in high spirits, he may bring disaster upon himself if he speaks eagerly, so...
…However, Mr. Yuan’s family has a great cause, so a small defeat will not hurt...and if Mr. Yuan fails in his northward advance, he will definitely turn south. In this case, Bo Fu’s opportunity will come..."
