On this day, it was the monthly fixed time to pay homage to Sun Jian. Sun Ce came to Sun Jian's grave as usual, burned incense to worship, burned incense and discounted his hair, and swept the weeds and soil around the tomb.
The rules of the ancients were complicated, and a short memorial process took almost an entire morning. By the time everything was done, it was already approaching noon.
Just when Sun Ce had just finished paying homage to Sun Jian's tomb, he saw a carriage in the distance slowly driving towards Sun Jian's tomb. On the carriage, there was an extremely handsome man, so handsome that men would blush when they saw him.
The young man was smiling friendly at Sun Ce.
Sun Ce was stunned when he saw the person coming.
After a while, the carriage approached, and the man got off the carriage and ordered his servants to place the offerings in the food boxes in front of Sun Jian's tombstone, and then bowed respectfully.
"Uncle Sun, my nephew has come to see you."
The handsome man's tone was sad, and a little tears flashed in his eyes.
Sun Ce had come to his senses at this time. He sighed and said to the handsome man: "Gong Jin, why are you here?"
Zhou Yu wiped away his tears, turned to look at Sun Ce, and said with emotion: "After Uncle Sun left, my brother moved my aunt out of Shu County and returned to Fuyang. There has been no letter for more than a year. I am thinking about my brother, so I
Taking the opportunity to visit my father, I came to Fuyang County to meet him... I just went to the Sun family's ancestral home, and after meeting my aunt, I learned that you were fulfilling your filial piety in front of my uncle's mausoleum."
Sun Ce suddenly said "Oh" and said with emotion: "Brother Xian is really thoughtful. Brother Yu is here to thank Xian brother Gaoyi for my father."
Zhou Yu smiled when he heard this, and that handsome smile seemed to be able to melt icebergs, warm the world, and illuminate the earth.
"Brother, when I came, I ordered my servants to prepare some side dishes. Let's sit down and talk. I have something I want to say to my brother."
Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were born in the same year, but Zhou Yu always regarded Sun Ce as his younger brother.
At noon, the two of them rested and chatted in the reed shed next to Sun Jian's tombstone.
"Brother, do you know that after Dong Zhuo's death, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao became extremely popular, and the Tao family in Xuzhou also became famous because of their participation in this battle."
Sun Ce's expression was neither happy nor angry, and he said calmly: "Although I am in mourning, I do not dare to be negligent in the slightest about world affairs. Naturally, I know what my dear brother said."
Zhou Yu said eagerly: "In this case, how can my brother still stay here?"
Sun Ce replied with a wry smile: "What can I do if I can't sit still? My brother is still in the mourning period. How can I go out and fight with them..."
Zhou Yu shook his head firmly and said: "The pottery merchants in Jinling City are not like you. I heard that before his teacher Huangfu Song died, he strictly ordered the pottery merchants to mourn him for only three days, otherwise he would no longer be a disciple.
Master and disciple, this matter is known to the whole world... Why are they like this? Because Tao Shang and Huangfu Song both know that the current troubled times are different from those of the Qing Dynasty. There are instant changes at all times, just like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao led Guandong, Yuan Shu
The defeat of Ruxu, the rise of Prince Taiping to the southeast, the defeat of Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao, the death of Dong Zhuo at Guguan, and the struggle for supremacy among the various parties in Chang'an almost all happened during the time of thunder. In this time of great chaos, if the elder brother just sits there blindly, he will only
Missed opportunity!”
Sun Ce did not speak when he heard this. He was quietly thinking about the meaning of Zhou Yu's words.
"Gong Jin's words are very reasonable, but even if I can ask my mother and clan members to come forward and save me the rest of the year of mourning, what is difficult to do is that my father's old army is now commanded by Sun Ben.
, I am under the command of Yuan Shu, even if I want to succeed, but if I can’t get my military power back, I’m afraid it will be difficult for me to spread my wings.”
Zhou Yu laughed heartily after hearing this.
He pointed at Sun Ce, then at his feet, and said: "Since my uncle passed away, my brother has been living in Fuyang these years. But you haven't seen Yuan Shu for a long time. How can you know what he is thinking?"
But Brother Yu has been living in Shucheng and is very familiar with Yuan Shu's current situation. He is no longer the high-spirited Yuan Jiujiu who was sweeping the south of the Yangtze River!"
Sun Ce was surprised when he heard this: "What does Gong Jin mean by this? How is Yuan Shu different now from before?"
Zhou Yu replied with a smile: "In the battle of Ruxuwu, Yuan Shu was defeated by the potters one after another, and Liu Biao took the opportunity to attack Nanyang County. Not only did he lose the battle, but he also lost his foundation. With Yuan Gonglu's narrow-minded temperament,
How could he swallow this tone? However, the pottery merchants in Jinling City were developing rapidly and were very powerful. I heard that in the battle at Shouyang Mountain, Lu Bu's red rabbits and horses were surrendered by him! With such power, even if Yuan Shu wanted to conquer it,
But he didn’t dare to move lightly, he was very afraid of losing like last time.”
Speaking of this, Zhou Yu paused and said: "There is a shortage of people under Yuan Shu's command."
Speaking of this, Sun Ce seemed to understand what Zhou Yu meant.
"What Gong Jin means is that if Brother Yu goes back to help Yuan Shu now, Yuan Shu will most likely reuse Brother Wei and Brother Wei can take advantage of the opportunity..."
Zhou Yu was very happy when he saw that Sun Ce had understood Sun Ce with just one point. He praised him: "Brother is wise! Yes, the person surnamed Yuan hates the most in his heart is the pottery merchant. As long as his brother goes to him and tells his story that he has nothing to do with the pottery merchant, he is willing to do it for him."
I believe it will not be difficult to get back the old soldiers and horses. Moreover, if my brother wants to achieve great things, he must occupy the territory of Jiangdong... In this way, the pottery merchant occupied Danyang County and held Yangzhou Governor Liu Yao hostage. I am afraid that he had the same idea.
If you intend to take over Jiangnan, this person will be your brother's opponent sooner or later."
Sun Ce sighed helplessly: "It's a pity that I am alone now, but I may not be able to compete with the pottery merchants."
"There is a foolish brother here to recruit the heroes from the south of the Yangtze River for my brother. With Yuan Shu as his backing, my brother may not lose to that young master Taiping."
When Sun Ce heard that Zhou Yu was willing to help him, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.
It should be noted that although Zhou Yu is young, he is talented and full of resourcefulness. He can be said to be the top young talent in the Jianghuai area.
What made Sun Ce even more excited was that the Zhou family was a wealthy and prominent family in Lujiang County and definitely not an ordinary wealthy family.
Although the Lujiang Zhou family has not been famous for a long time, only more than a hundred years ago, starting from the Zhanghe period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhou Jing has been included in the Zhou family for nearly three generations. Two people, Zhou Zhong, have served as Taiwei, and Zhou Jing has also served as Sikong.
, and for more than a hundred years, the Zhou family has had an endless stream of ministers, Guanglu officials, agricultural ministers, generals, governors, prime ministers, and county magistrates. The Zhou family has a great influence on the famous families on both sides of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.
If Yuan Shao is said to be the descendant of the Fourth Generation and the Three Dukes, then Zhou Yu can be regarded as the descendant of the Second Generation and the Three Dukes.
With the help of such powerful people, Sun Ce naturally gained a lot more confidence than before in recruiting talents and obtaining political resources.
It seems that the time has come for me to go out and compete for world supremacy and compete with the heroes!
…
…
After the pottery merchant sent Wang Yun away, he immediately started his next move in Jinling City.
He didn't know whether Wang Yun could become an immortal, but there was a man in Xiapi State who was living like an immortal. This man was the immediate target of the pottery merchant.
People who live a more prosperous life than Mr. Taiping usually don't end well.
This person who nourishes life is Tao Qian's old friend, Xia Pi Xiang Zuorong.
This person is currently pretending to be Zhao Yu, the prefect of Guangling, which is equivalent to independent the two counties of Xiapi and Guangling in Xuzhou. He cuts off the taxes and taxes of the two armies, embezzles them privately, builds Buddhist temples, requires the people of Xiapi to recite Buddhist scriptures day and night, and also
Recruiting monks everywhere caused monks, nuns and Buddhists from nearby counties of Xiapi to move into Xiapi, with more than 5,000 households in total.
This guy simply wants to learn from the Western Heavens!
Wang Yun had just become a Taoist priest, and Tao Shang, as his son-in-law, should help Immortal Wang clean up the fake monk Zuo Rong and create an ideal paradise where monks and Taoist priests can coexist.
Crackdown on fake monks is a must!
In addition, there is Sheng Xian of Wu County. He had already placed the water bandit leaders who were unwilling to belong to Wang Hua to various counties in Wu County a long time ago, and in the name of Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, so at least
On the surface, there was no way Sheng Xian could disobey the potter's arrangement.
Now, it's time to finish.
Guangling County, Xiapi State, Wu County... take this opportunity to capture them together.
The opponents are not very powerful people, they can be described as scabies and leprosy. Since it is scabies and leprosy, the pottery merchant does not want to waste too much time on them.
When they went to the Central Plains to attack Dong Zhuo, the pottery merchants entrusted Chen Deng and Han Hao with all the follow-up work in Wujun and other places. Now it was time to ask them for their explanations.
In the land of three counties, Wu County is the first to be promoted, and in Wu County, there are water bandit leaders who have been planted by pottery merchants and want to rule the county alone...
"Except for Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin and the other three, how are the water bandit leaders who led troops to Wu County and wanted to rule the county alone now? Can Sheng Xian get along well with them?" Tao
Shang asked Chen Deng and Han Hao.
After listening to the potter's question, Chen Deng and Han Hao looked at each other meaningfully.
"Well, how should I put it?" Han Hao stroked the beard on his chin and said slowly: "You can't advance, you can't retreat. I'm not an official, I'm a bandit."
"What do you mean?" The potter was a little confused.
Han Hao began to slowly explain to the pottery merchant: "The young master appointed them to various counties under Wu County as garrisons, and at the same time supplemented them with the sealing and ribbon edict of Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou. It can be said that it is justified.
Xian, no matter in name or in practice, was unreasonable and could only let it go. However, Sheng Xian was the head of a county after all. There were some things that he could not resist openly on the surface, but he could still resist secretly in private.