Chapter 47: The Brave and Fierce Sun Jian

  "Oh?" Hearing that the newcomer was a messenger of good news, Huangfu Song's face involuntarily lit up with joy. He immediately asked: "What is the good news? Quickly report it!"

  "Hello!"

  He swallowed his saliva, and the newcomer couldn't help but notice that his lips were completely dry, joyfully saying: "This afternoon, General Zhu Jun and 5,000 Yellow Turban vanguards clashed in battle. Assistant Army Advisor Sun Jian beheaded the demonic Taoist Zhang Jiao's disciple - Tianzui Xing Tang Zhou. The Yellow Turbans suffered a great defeat and retreated, our army killed over a thousand people!"

  "Good!"

  Huang Fu Cong slammed his hand on the table and stood up, laughing loudly: "The first battle is won, what a wonderful victory!"

  He sighed and immediately turned his head and shouted: "Where is Yuan Shu, the Zhonglang General of the Tiger Guard?"

  "The end is near!"

  "Order you to quickly pass on this message to all soldiers in the army, to boost military morale!"

  "Yes!" With a bow and a response, Yuan Shu also walked out of the main tent with a joyful face.

  Yuan Shu hastily departed, and only then did Huangfu Song turn his head to smile at the soldier, saying: "You go find the guards outside, they will take you to rest!"

  "Promise!"

  After the soldier who was waiting for news left, Huangfu Song sat back in his command position and smiled as he asked: "We've won our first battle, what do you all think we should do next to achieve victory?"

  As soon as Huangfu Song finished speaking, the tent quickly fell into a lively atmosphere. The various generals, overjoyed by their initial victory, eagerly expressed their own opinions, although most of these ideas were useless nonsense!

  Wang Xu was naturally uninterested in participating in such a meaningless discussion. When he heard that Sun Jian had executed Tang Zhou, he had already fallen into deep thought.

  Huangfu Song, who was sitting high on his commander's seat, listened attentively for a long time and saw that everyone's opinions were either to take advantage of the victory to attack or to encircle and capture, but there was no tactic worth considering. The joy in his heart due to the victory also diminished somewhat.

  His eyes accidentally swept over Wang Xu, but found that he was frowning and thinking, with a changing expression! He couldn't help but wave his hand to stop the other generals from continuing their discussion, and curiously asked: "Wang Xu, I see you're frowning and thinking deeply, without saying a word. Do you have any unique views on the current situation?"

  "Huh?"

  Wang Xu, who was suddenly called back to his senses, stared blankly for a moment, seeing everyone's eyes fixed on him, and only then did he react. "Oh! I was just thinking about the current situation, but because I'm not very familiar with the specific situation and circumstances of the army at present, I haven't had any good ideas yet, so please forgive me, General!"

  "It's not your fault, after all you've just arrived in the army and don't know much about things yet. Even if you were cleverer, it would be hard to do anything." The words were reassuring, but Huangfu Song still shook his head slightly in disappointment.

  Seeing Huangfu Song's disappointed look, Wang Xu hesitated for a moment before continuing: "Although I haven't come up with a way to defeat the bandits yet, I feel that the current situation is not right and the prospects are not optimistic."

  Upon hearing Wang Xu's words, Huang Fu suddenly became suspicious again. "What do you mean by this? Have you discovered some ulterior motive?"

  Unfortunately, Wang Xu could only smile wryly and shake his head secretly at this moment. He knew the reason in his heart, but he couldn't say it.

  After a moment of contemplation, he let out a sigh and reluctantly said: "General, this is just my intuition. I was thinking deeply just now to find the inappropriateness, but there's no gain!"

  As soon as they heard this, the generals inside the tent burst out laughing one after another. Even Huangfu Song couldn't help but shake his head with a mixture of laughter and tears.

  Yuan Shao, seeing Wang Xu's embarrassment, spoke up to relieve him: "Although Wang Xu has quick wit, he is after all young and new to the army, not very familiar with military matters. It's forgivable that he made this kind of mistake."

  He said, turning his head to look at Wang Xu and saying: "You must never again mention intuition, after all there's no joking around in the military!"

  Wang Xu also knew that his words could not convince everyone, so he didn't make any further explanations, nodded and remained silent.

  Huangfu Song didn't mind either and immediately began discussing with the other generals again.

  But in the end, they couldn't come up with a good plan and made a lukewarm decision: to discuss further depending on future circumstances...

  After being escorted back to the camp specially arranged by Huangfu Song, Wang Xu saw Zhou Zhi sitting alone on the ground in a daze again.

  He thought for a moment and then said to Wang Fei who was following closely behind him, "Second Brother, you go to the military camp first and make some inquiries about the situation and arrangements of each department for me!"

  "Ah, okay!"

  Wang Fei always listened to Wang Xu's words and followed his advice. Although he didn't understand why he was being asked to do this, he quickly turned around and left.

  Xu Shu, who had been silent all along, finally couldn't bear the many questions in her heart when Wang Fei was sent away. She immediately opened her mouth and asked: "Husband, what's going on? Why did you say that just now? And how did Tang Zhou appear here, and Sun Jian too?"

  Upon hearing these words, Zhou Zhi, who was originally still in a daze on the other side, suddenly came to life, quickly lifted his head and asked excitedly: "Huh? Judging from your expressions, is something big happening?"

  Wang Xu glanced at Zhou Zhi and didn't hide it from him. He immediately told him about the situation he had just heard.

  "What! Has something gone wrong? Tang Zhou was actually killed by Sun Jian?! What's going on here?! How did Sun Jian end up coming here anyway? It doesn't seem to be in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!"

  Without paying attention to Zhou Zhi's exaggerated expression, Wang Xu casually found a position and sat down before slowly saying: "According to the historical records, Sun Jian should be here at this moment."

  "The Sun family had been officials in Wu for generations, so Sun Jian became a county official in his youth. At the age of 17, he accompanied his father on an outing and encountered bandits robbing merchants' goods. He single-handedly killed them all, and was subsequently summoned by the provincial government to serve as a Commandant. Later, he was recommended by Governor Zhuo Ying for suppressing the rebellion in Xuchang and became the Magistrate of Yandu County. Afterwards, he successively served as Magistrate of Quxian County and Xiapi County. During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was appointed by Zhu Jun as his Assistant Military Advisor. If you say he is not here now, where should he be?"

  Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhi suddenly revealed a look of "I told you so" and said: "I knew it! When I watched TV before, those lords always talked about Wen Tai's bravery. I've always suspected that Sun Jian had some previous achievements, and it turns out to be true."

  Looking at Zhou Zhi's self-satisfied appearance, Wang Xu immediately glanced at him with disdain: "To gain recognition from those vassals, is it enough to just have this little achievement? In history, Sun Jian not only had outstanding merits in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but later also followed the then-Prime Minister Zhang Wen to suppress the rebellion of Bian Zhang and Han Sui, only then did he become famous throughout the world!"

  Moreover, according to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, when the vassals attacked Dong, Hua Xiong was also killed by Sun Jian. He was still the only vassal who made every effort to attack and defeat Dong Zhuo's army. The cause of his death was not something about the imperial jade seal, but because he listened to Yuan Shu's words and attacked Jingzhou in 191 AD, and was shot dead by Huang Zu's general with a hidden arrow!

  But then Wang Xu hesitated again. "However, those are just records in books, and I'm not sure what the actual situation is now. Maybe Liu Guan Zhang really did participate in the vassals' rebellion against Dong? In that case, things might be different."

  "Ah!"

  Zhou Zhiwen's eyes widened in surprise and he exclaimed: "You mean to say that Liu, Guan, and Zhang did not participate in the campaign against Dong in the official histories?"

  Wang Xu looked at Zhou Zhi, who was surprised and suspicious, and said disapprovingly: "What's so strange about this? The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is after all a novel, and Luo Guanzhong has made so many embellishments in it. Don't you know that at all? If you don't believe me, go and read 'Records of the Three Kingdoms' or 'Zizhi Tongjian' yourself!"

  But as soon as Wang Xu's voice fell, Zhou Zhi stretched out his hand with a sly smile: "Great! Now you give me the book, I guarantee to read it every day, ten times, a hundred times!"

  "Uh! This..."