Yuan Shujun's scouts moved very quickly, and within a few days, they found out the real news about Sun Jian's camp.
The news is very chilling. Sun Jian did indeed receive 200,000 stones of food and grass from Kong Ni, but other items have not been found yet.
This is what the pottery merchants deliberately arranged. The so-called false and true, true and false, three points of truth with one part of falsehood, can sometimes play a better role in sowing discord.
The horses, halberds, and arrows were all made up, but the most important thing, the two hundred thousand stones of food and grass, were real!
If both are true, that's enough.
Yuan Shu consulted with Yan Xiang again.
"Two hundred thousand stones... Two hundred thousand stones... Only two hundred thousand stones of food and grass were found. What's going on?" Yuan Shu asked Yan Xiang.
Yan Xiang lowered his head and thought for a while, then said: "Two hundred thousand stones of grain and grass is a huge baggage, which is difficult to hide! The remaining one hundred horses, three hundred pairs of leather armor and other items are small numbers and are easy to hide."
Yuan Shu clenched his fists and said angrily: "What does Sun Jian mean by hiding military supplies and not repaying them...?"
Yan Xiang smiled bitterly and said, "My Lord is wise, so why bother asking more questions?"
"Hmph!" Yuan Shu slammed the table and said angrily: "Sun Jian's son, how dare you have different intentions!"
Yan Xiang pondered for a while and said: "This is also expected. Although Sun Jian is nominally under the lord's tent, his character is like a fiery fire. He is strong and warlike, and he is good at killing. How can he live under others for a long time?
"Senior? He killed Zhang Zi and Wang Rui on behalf of my lord last time. I can see that this person is a cruel and vicious person, and is by no means easy to deal with. How can such a person serve my lord for a long time?"
Yuan Shu hurriedly said: "Since Sun Jian is determined to be independent, what should we do now? Denounce Sun Jian, or directly send troops to deal with him?"
"No, now the Eighteen Route Princes are about to attack Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian is in the front line of the lord's command, and he himself is a brave general! Moreover, Sun Jian only made a slight movement at this time and has not yet revealed his identity. The lord must not act too hastily.
If it is pressed too hard, it will be bad."
Yuan Shu nodded and said, "Then what do you think we should do?"
Yan Xiang thought about it carefully, and then said: "Doesn't Kong Ni want to submit to the lord? Now that Nanyang has been settled, Jingzhou is not at peace, and Sun Jian has done something like this again, we should not touch the land of Yuzhou for now.
Well... in that case, we might as well accept Kong Ni's surrender and ask him to help us contain Sun Jian."
Yuan Shu closed his eyes, raised his head and thought quietly for a long time, and said slowly: "It's feasible...but what should we do about Sun Jian? Do we want Yuan to pretend to be stupid with him?"
Yan Xiang smiled bitterly and shook his head silently.
Yan Xiang had also seen Sun Jian several times. Yan Xiang respected and feared this tiger. What he respected was that he was extremely brave and heroic.
The fear is that he dares to kill anyone, no matter it is the Yellow Turbans, thieves, water bandits, or court officials, he is not afraid of anyone who comes.
For such people, if they don't weigh things carefully, it may be a dead end.
After being silent for a long time, Yan Xiang said slowly: "I always feel that at this time, it is better not to anger Sun Jian for the time being."
Yuan Shu was silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "I can ignore his guilt, but I can't let him do whatever he wants! I have to beat him so that he knows what he's doing!"
Yan Xiang looked at Yuan Shu's expression and hesitated: "Ming Gong...how do you plan to beat Sun Jian?"
Yuan Shu said slowly: "Didn't he receive 150,000 stones of grain, grass, leather armor, horses, ordnance and other supplies from Kong Ni? I wrote a letter saying that Kong Ni was already my vassal, and ordered him to give these supplies to him.
Return it to Kong Ni!"
Yan Xiang said hurriedly: "If this is the case, wouldn't it reveal that Duke Ming already knew that Sun Jian was hiding the materials donated by Kong Ni behind our army's back?"
Yuan Shu solemnly said: "I just want him to know! If Yuan doesn't expose this matter directly, it can be regarded as leaving him a little bit of trouble... I asked Sun Jian to return these materials to Kong Niao on my behalf. This is to win over Kong Niao, and it is also a warning.
Sun Jian... I think he knows it well."
Yan Xiang sighed: "If Sun Jian doesn't agree to return it, what will Duke Ming do?"
Yuan Shu sneered several times and said: "I told him in my letter that he will be declared as General Polu in the near future... One reward and one punishment, this is the step I gave him, he must get down! Otherwise, he will be dead.
In Yuzhou, I immediately sent people to cut off his return route to Changsha and cut off his food and grass to see if he would listen or not!"
Yan Xiang felt helpless, knowing that Yuan Shu had made up his mind, so he couldn't say more.
"correct!"
Yuan Shu suddenly thought of another thing: "Reply Xu Jing for me in the future, and take back the 50,000 stone grain that Sun Jian sent me. I will not miss his grain and grass. If Sun Jian has other ideas, Kong Niao will have to win over him."
! Please Xu Jing escort 50,000 stones of grain and grass back to Kong Ni for me, and comfort him with good words, and ask him to convey to Kong Ni that I am willing to accept Kong Ni's surrender and let him take good care of Sun Jian for me. If it becomes a big thing in the future, I will
Don’t treat him badly!”
"promise."
…
…
Yuan Shujun acted very quickly, and almost all of these matters were completed within ten days.
After receiving the news from Yuan Shu, the two families had different reactions.
Needless to say, Kong Niao was so happy that he almost burst into tears. Not only did he get Yuan Shu's promise to resolve the crisis, but he also returned the 200,000 stones of food and grass that he had sent out intact!
What's even more surprising is that not only did they get back the food and grass, but they also got a hundred war horses, three hundred leather armors, three hundred halberds, three thousand arrows and other sundries for nothing. Although the amount was not large, the hair was not considered bald.
, I don’t want second-rate stuff delivered to my door.
On the other hand, Sun Jian's situation was completely different.
The moment he received the letter from Yuan Shu, Sun Jian almost pushed the messenger out and beheaded him.
But at least he still has some sense... Yuan Shu is currently his largest shareholder!
Not to mention Yuan Shu's current prestige in the south, just because he can now strangle his own retreat and food route from the rear, Sun Jian cannot offend him and does not dare to offend him.
I’m really holding my breath!
"Yuan Shu is really capricious!" Sun Jian's eyes bulged with anger, and his cheeks were inflated, like a violent bullfrog. It was extremely scary: "I was asked to find a way to get rid of Kong Niao before, and now I have suffered Kong Niao again.
If you accept the surrender, please accept it, why do I need to give it to him when I retreat?"
Sun Jian bowed his head, and Cheng Pu sighed and said: "It seems that Yuan Shu knew that our army had received 200,000 shi of food and grass from Kong Ni, but only gave him 50,000 shi as a punishment and warning."
Sun Jian banged the slip on the case: "Okay, even if he finds out about this and he wants to punish me, then I will just give back 150,000 shi of grain and grass to Kong Ni!... But why should I give it again?"
Kong Ni sent war horses? Leather armor? Ordnance?... I didn’t get any of these things from Kong Ni!"
Under Sun Jian's tent, all the generals looked at each other in shock.
No one has figured this out, and they don't know what kind of medicine Yuan Shu is selling in his gourd.
After a while...
Army Commander Ma Handang said hesitantly: "Could it be that Kong Ni deliberately lied to Yuan Shu and falsely reported these things...to blackmail our army?"
Cheng Pu blinked: "That Kong Ni is a well-known scholar with a good reputation, and he is very gentlemanly... How can he do such a shameless thing?"
Zu Mao also shook his head: "I don't believe it. Let's not say whether Kong Ni is a gentleman or not. He can't come up with such a cunning and shameless plan. I think this is just a misunderstanding.
"
Zhu Zhi, Huang Gai and others also shook their heads: "Yes, it doesn't look like Kong Niao did it, it doesn't look like it, it doesn't look like it."
Sun Jian's eyes were evil, he clenched his fists, and the veins on the back of his hands were exposed: "If so, then Yuan Shu deliberately used this to humiliate me. I have long seen that he is narrow-minded, and I did not expect that he has reached such a situation. This person must have doubts about me.
It’s counter-intention! So do it.”
Cheng Pu matured and said solemnly: "My lord, even so, we cannot afford to offend Yuan Shu at this moment, and Yuan Shu is still our support. After all, the Yuan family is extremely powerful and is deeply entangled throughout the Central Plains. At this moment, it is entrenched in us."
At the rear of the army, if my lord does not respect Yuan Shu's orders, the consequences will be disastrous, so please think twice before doing so."
Sun Jian closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said: "De Mou, I understand what you said...I swallowed this breath! I will have to repay you twice as much from Yuan Shu and Kong Ni in the future!"
Several ministers under Sun Jian's tent looked at each other worriedly.
Although they each knew in their hearts that with Sun Jian's personality, he would definitely not stay under Yuan Shu for a long time. However, in the current situation, it is indeed the best choice to join the fourth generation and third master Yuan Shu! The benefits can also be maximized!
After all, with Sun Jian's stubborn temper, the princes in the world may not be able to tolerate him just by killing the governor of Jingzhou and the governor of Nanyang. But with Yuan Shu protecting him, others would not dare to say anything.
But this incident accelerated Sun Jian's idea of becoming independent. Sun Jian now had the heart to break away from betrayal, which is something Sun Jian's generals don't want to see yet...