After conquering Lu Bu, the pottery merchant still had one more important thing to solve, which was the Sun family guarding Lujiang County.
Like Lu Bu, the Sun family was also a vassal of the pottery merchants, but the pottery merchants had a certain degree of confidence in making Lu Bu surrender, but they did not have the confidence to make Sun Ce surrender.
Fundamentally speaking, Lu Bu's age and ambition have almost been exhausted. He is not from a noble family at this age, so he will naturally give up his ideals and ambitions after the general trend of the world becomes clear.
But Sun Ce was different. His father used to be the governor of Changsha and claimed to be Sun Wu. He always had great ambitions in his heart.
At that time, Sun Ce made himself a vassal. To a certain extent, it could be said to be a delaying strategy. As for how long this delaying strategy would last, it is hard to say.
After Tao Shang surrendered Lu Bu's soldiers, he immediately welcomed Lu Lingqi into the house according to the rules. While handling this matter, he also wanted to test the attitude of his Sun family more or less.
He first issued a letter in the form of an official document inviting Sun Ce to come to Pengcheng to attend his wedding to Lu Lingqi. Then he imitated Xiaoqiao's notes and wrote a letter to Zhou Yu. In the letter, he stated that he wanted to take advantage of Sun's family for this intermarriage between Tao and Lu.
Come to Pengcheng and meet Zhou Yu.
Over the years, the pottery merchant has been pen pals with Zhou Yu from time to time, of course in the capacity of Xiaoqiao.
If Zhou Yu knew that his pen pal was a man, he doesn't know if he would go crazy.
But Tao Shang also thought that Zhou Yu might be using Xiaoqiao as his pen pal to observe his movements from time to time, or to arrange a enchantment array for himself.
In the political struggle between forces, no means or tricks can be used too much.
The marriage between Lu Bu and Tao undoubtedly caused a turmoil in the Sun family.
Sun Ce called his subordinates Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, Lu Fan, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others to discuss the matter.
"The marriage between the pottery merchant and Lu Bu's daughter, judging from this situation, I'm afraid Lu Bu has completely surrendered to the pottery merchant. To a certain extent, the marriage may be just a means for Lu Bu to surrender and protect himself."
Sun Ce listened to Lu Fan's story and suddenly said: "The pottery merchant invited me to Pengcheng to attend his wedding. Does he also want me to surrender?"
Zhou Yu nodded and said: "During this period, Tao Shang's daughter of the Qiao family, who has been corresponding with me all year round, also wrote to me to find out secretly. I think this must have been instructed by Tao Shang."
Sun Ce thought seriously for a moment and then said: "Gong Jin, the pottery merchant tried every means to invite me to his wedding. Why?"
Zhou Yu said solemnly: "Be polite first and then attack with force."
Sun Ce said: "What does Gong Jin mean by this? Can you please explain it clearly?"
Zhou Yu looked around at the crowd and finally explained to him: "The pottery merchant invites Bo Fu to attend the wedding. He will definitely hit you with words and ask you to follow Lu Bu's example and lead everyone to surrender. Bo Fu, if you agree to him, then
This matter is easy, but if you don't agree to him... I guess given the nature of a pottery merchant, I won't let you come back."
Sun Ce whispered: "You mean, the pottery merchant will detain me?"
Zhou Yu nodded and said, "It's very possible."
"He has the reputation of being a gentleman, isn't he afraid that the world will talk about him behind his back?"
Zhou Yu shook his head and said with a smile: "Based on his current position, if he wants to make up a reason to let you stay in his power, Bo Fu, it seems very simple. I can just change you to another position in the court.
It’s a legitimate move.”
Sun Ce stood up and walked around the hall.
When he was young, he saw Sun Ce suddenly stop and said loudly: "If that's the case, then I won't go."
Zhou Yu smiled bitterly when he heard this: "If we don't go, the pottery merchant will definitely be suspicious, and I'm afraid he will find a way to deal with us in the future... Liu Biao and we have a feud. If even the pottery merchant attacks us, just because of the land of Lujiang County
, we’re afraid we won’t be able to sustain it for long.”
Sun Ce punched the table hard and said angrily: "Does my Sun family army have to dedicate both hands to the pottery merchants? From now on, we all become other people's generals?"
Zhou Yu couldn't think of any good solution for a while, so he could only sigh helplessly.
At this time, below Sun Ce, a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old stood up and said to Sun Ce: "Brother, I have a way to temporarily alleviate this crisis."
The person who spoke was Sun Quan, Sun Ce’s younger brother.
Sun Ce looked at Sun Quan and said, "What can Zhongmou do?"
"Brother can report illness to the court, and then my brother will go visit the pottery merchant on your behalf."
Zhou Yu listened to Sun Quan's words, thought about it for a while, and figured out everything.
He clapped his hands in time: "Zhong Mou, your plan is good! I'm just afraid that I might wrong you... You are being held hostage by the pottery merchant, what should you do in the future?"
Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu without knowing why.
Zhou Yu explained for him: "Bo Fu claimed to be ill, whether it was true or not, Tao Shang would not believe it, but as a descendant of the Sun family, if Zhongmou could go on behalf of Bo Fu, Tao Shang... would definitely detain the second young master, but
As for us, the Sun family, we have nothing to worry about for the time being."
When Sun Ce heard this, he suddenly came back to his senses.
"You mean, the pottery merchant will take my second brother as a hostage."
Zhou Yu nodded.
"No! It's absolutely impossible! Then what should we do?" Sun Ce turned around hurriedly and said to Sun Quan: "Zhong Mou, this is absolutely impossible."
Sun Quan chuckled and said, "Brother, don't worry. Zhongmou is with the pottery merchant and will not delay my brother's work. Even if my brother breaks up with the pottery merchant in the future, it will never affect my brother's safety."
Sun Ce frowned and said, "Why?"
"After all, my younger brother is just an unknown person. Although he has the identity of a descendant of the Sun family, it is not important. In the future, my elder brother will not care about my younger brother's safety. The pottery merchant will not kill me. After all, I am a
An unknown person, even a pottery merchant will take care of feathers... At the moment, this is the only feasible strategy."
Sun Ce looked at Sun Quan deeply, and finally nodded helplessly: "Brother... take care!"
…
According to ancient rituals, it took half a year for princes to get married, but the pottery merchant was marrying someone other than the royal family, and he was in a hurry to obey the authority, so he held the wedding quickly and married into the palace.
On the Sun side, Sun Quan was also sent as a representative to congratulate the pottery merchant.
After the wedding, the potter personally received Sun Quan.
"Why doesn't your brother Sun Ce come?" Tao Shang looked at Sun Quan and said with a smile.
Sun Quan said: "My elder brother was suddenly seriously ill and could not travel, so I had to ask my younger brother to come on his behalf to bless the prime minister and give me a small gift as a congratulation."
The potter's smile was still warm, but there was a glint in his eyes.
"You two brothers are very smart. I heard someone from the school affairs office say that when you came to Pengcheng this time, you prepared all the clothes for spring, summer, autumn and winter. Do you plan to be a hostage in Pengcheng for a long time?"
After saying this, Sun Quan was stunned.
He had heard about the reputation and strength of the school affairs office, but he didn't expect it to be so powerful. He even found out what season he was wearing?