Zhou Ping looked back from time to time, and was relieved until he saw Zhang Wu riding a red rabbit horse behind him.
But he did not dare to stop and ordered everyone to continue running. If Sun Ce knew his identity, he would probably send troops to chase him. He had to run faster.
Sun Ce led his generals to the place where Han Dang fell from his horse and stopped. When he saw Han Dang lying on the ground, he quickly jumped off his horse and walked to his side.
But he saw an arrow stuck between Han Dang's eyebrows, and he was already dead.
"Zi Lie, lead your men and continue to chase them. No matter where they escape, they must follow them and never let them escape." Sun Ce ordered Chen Wu.
"promise."
Chen Wu was still frightened when he thought of the situation just now, but he still had to chase. It was impossible for so many people to be frightened by just one bow. He mounted his horse again and continued to chase with more than a hundred soldiers.
However, he also knew that the man riding the red rabbit horse on the other side was an excellent archer, so he did not dare to chase him too fast, and he always paid attention to the front to see if anyone was stopping on the road waiting for him.
"Gong Jin, if that person is really Zhou Wen'an, why do you think he is here?"
Sun Ce stood next to Han Dang and turned to Zhou Yu and asked.
Zhou Yu thought for a while and replied: "There are so many of them here, so they are definitely not here to gather information. Maybe, as he said, they are here to pick up people back to Xuzhou, or maybe they are here to meet someone. However, if they are here to pick up people,
There should be no need for him to take the risk to come here personally, he can just send someone. In my opinion, he is most likely to meet someone."
"If I meet anyone, it will only be Wang Jingxing who is in Kuaiji, or Taishi Ziyi who gathered thieves in Jing County and claimed to be the prefect." Sun Ce said.
Huang Gai next to him nodded and replied: "Liu Xuande defeated General Yuan Jiujiu and destroyed Lu Bu. Now that Xuzhou has a strong army, he must have set his sights on the land east of the Yangtze River. Perhaps he wants to advance troops from the north and south at the same time as King Jingxing of Kuaiji.
, jointly attack us, so let Zhou Wen'an go to Kuaiji to meet Wang Jingxing."
Sun Ce shook his head slightly: "It's impossible. Wang Jingxing's troops in Kuaiji are not strong and the defense of the county is not enough. How could he send troops to attack me?"
"Yes, I guess he must have gone to Jing County to meet Taishi Ziyi and Yan Baihu from Wu County. Liu Xuande must have wanted to send troops south to let Taishi Ziyi, Yan Baihu and other thieves respond in the county, so he let
Zhou Wen'an came to meet them."
Zhou Yu felt that he had guessed Liu Bei's intention.
According to what he thought, if Liu Bei wanted to expand his territory now, he would first look to the land east of the Yangtze River.
The governor of Yuzhou is Chen Gui, and the governor of Qingzhou is Kong Rong. Both of them were recommended by Liu Bei, and it is impossible to seize their land.
Cao Cao in Yanzhou is still strong in military strength and has good relations with Yuan Shao. Liu Bei should not be an enemy of him at the moment.
Only Yangzhou in the south could Liu Bei send troops under the banner of retaking the state and county for Liu Yao.
To recapture the prefectures and counties for Liu Yao, the first step is Danyang and Wu counties.
Sun Ce has just pacified these two counties, the people's morale is not yet stable, and there are so many bandits from across the mountains gathered in the counties to cause chaos, which can be used by Liu Bei.
However, Sun Ce now has more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, and it will not be easy for Liu Bei to attack.
Xuzhou does not yet have a naval force. If they want to establish a navy, it will take several years. Without a navy, it will be difficult for them to cross the river from Guangling.
Although Zhou Yu thought of Liu Bei's difficulties, judging from the fact that Liu Bei sent Zhou Wen'an to Danyang, it must be like this.
He never imagined that Zhou Wen'an came to Danyang just to let Tai Shici lead troops to assist Liu Bei in attacking Jiujiang.
This was something no one could have imagined, because they didn't know that Zhou Wen'an wanted to take Tai Shici away, mainly because he was afraid that he would be captured by Sun Ce, so he surrendered to Sun Ce.
If you don't understand this, it's hard to figure it out.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Taishi Ci would be more useful to Liu Bei if he stayed in Danyang than if he went to Jiujiang.
Sun Ce also thought so, and he agreed with Zhou Yu's point of view.
He glanced at Han Dang, who was lying dead on the ground, and said solemnly: "Since he wants Taishi Ziyi and other thieves to respond to him, then I will kill the thieves first, and then go to attack Kuaiji."
More than ten days ago, Wu Jing, Sun Bi and others advised him to kill Yan Baihu and other thieves first, and then attack Kuaiji. However, Sun Ce decided to attack Kuaiji first and then pacify the thieves when he came back.
But now it seems that Liu Bei may be colluding with the thieves. When the Xuzhou army presses on the border, and tens of thousands of thieves from Danyang and Wu Commandery are involved, it will not be easy to deal with. Therefore, he has to change his strategy, first fight against the thieves, and then
Go and attack Kuaiji.
A few days ago, because he had defeated Liu Yao, Sun Ce had asked Wu Jing and Sun Ben to go to Shouchun to report to Yuan Shu.
Sun Ce is still nominally a subordinate of Yuan Shu.
He had Han Dang's body returned to Qu'a. After the burial, he ordered Cheng Pu to lead three thousand troops to garrison Dantu to guard against the enemies of Liu Bei and Chen Deng in the north.
Liu Bei's soldiers and horses are in Xiapi. If the soldiers and horses go south, they will be rewarded by scouts. But Chen Deng has 5,000 soldiers and horses in Guangling, and we must guard against him suddenly sending troops across the river to capture Dantu.
If Dantu is occupied, Liu Bei's troops and horses can easily cross the river, which would be bad.
Zhang Zhao, Sun Fu, Lu Fan and others were left behind to garrison Qu'a with 5,000 soldiers as reinforcements for the Dan disciples. Sun Ce then commanded more than 30,000 soldiers and horses and led Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin and other generals to attack
Marching south, first go to Jingxian County to conquer Taishi Ci.
Zhou Ping led everyone to run thirty or forty miles in one breath before stopping.
Zhang Wu knew that his shot was effective in blocking the pursuers. He stayed again and immediately shot three more chasing enemy soldiers in the middle of the road. Once again, the pursuers did not dare to pursue them. By this time, the pursuers had been
Five or six miles behind.
"Young Master, I shot one of their generals to death."
Zhang Wu said to Zhou Ping, with a bit of pride in his tone.
He felt that he had made a meritorious deed again.
When Zhou Ping heard this, he thought he had shot Sun Ce to death, and asked anxiously: "Who did you shoot to death?"
"I...I don't know."
Zhang Wu really didn't know who the person he shot to death was.
"How old is he?" Zhou Ping asked again.
"Maybe in his thirties," Zhang Wu replied.
Zhou Ping seemed a little disappointed. The person shot to death was definitely not Sun Ce or Zhou Yu. It was possible that he was one of Cheng Pu or Huang Gai and Han Dang.
These people were all veterans who had fought under Sun Jian, and Sun Ce also valued them, and it was impossible to just give up.
"Sun Ce may lead his troops to pursue him. Let's leave quickly."
After resting for a while, Zhou Ping asked everyone to get on the road quickly and continue running southward.
There were still four to five hundred miles to Jingxian County, and there were pursuers behind him. Zhou Ping and his men rarely stopped, and if they did, they would only rest their horses for a while.
To the north of Jing County is a plain, but to the south are mountains. More than a hundred miles away is Mount Huangshan.
Mountains are where thieves gather. If the army comes to suppress you, they will hide in the mountains so that you cannot find them.
After the officers and soldiers left, they came out of the mountains again, and this Jing County, like Shanmen City, became a gathering and supply place for the bandits in Danyang Mountain.
Zhou Ping left three guards behind on the way to inquire about the situation of the pursuers. He also sent people to Jingxian County in advance to inform Taishi Ci that he was visiting.
