Chapter 24: Lv Fan's Ideal

  Sun Ce ordered one of the guards to go down the mountain to bring a lactating horse up the mountain, and informed the people below that the horses could gather. Now we can't find wolf's milk. We had to use horse's milk instead, after all, we couldn't let the two little wolf cubs starve, Sun Ce would be heartbroken.

  Very soon, Zulang and Sun Ce arranged for the crowd to lift their blockade. Each rested, that group of mountain bandits heard they didn't have to die, naturally cheering loudly, in their simple minds.

  As long as they can survive, hardly anyone will consider where this team came from, why they attacked them, and why they didn't kill them. All they know is that their heads are safe today and they have food to eat.

  The common people in a chaotic world are pitiful and tragic. Ordinary people only ask for a peaceful and safe full meal!

  Sun Ce was discussing with Zulong about the arrangements he would make next, while waiting for Nai Ma to come up the mountain. Before the crowd dispersed, Sun Ce had already sent another guard with his own letter from the back door to report to Zhou Yu.

  After arriving in Danyang, Zhou Yu had his guards bring back a letter. Apart from expressing his feelings, he also said that Diaochan was indeed very skilled in lightness kung fu and had great abilities in the realm of espionage. The advantages her exceptional lightness kung fu brought to espionage were not to be denied.

  Moreover, he arranged for him to bring a group of newly recruited orphans to train them in their agility, stealth, close combat, reconnaissance and other skills. These children were trained from a young age, preparing them for future use in the Jiangdong army's vanguard troops. People who have been cultivated since childhood, as long as they strengthen ideological education, are absolutely loyal and have no problems with loyalty. Haven't you seen the dead soldiers of this dynasty roaming around?

  Zhou Yu took him as his confidant and even let him change his surname to Zhou, so he was called Zhou Shan from then on. Sun Ce couldn't help but think that the name Zhou Shan sounded a bit familiar, where had he heard it before? He couldn't remember, so he stopped thinking about it.

  In less than two hours, two cavalrymen rushed up the mountain path, one of whom was the guard who had been sent to lead the horses. The two horses galloped quickly into the mountain stronghold's gate. The rider on the second horse dismounted as soon as he arrived at the main hall.

  Kneeling in front of Sun Ce, with a slight choke, he said: "Young Master! The leader of the small squad, Jia Hua, reports to you."

  He had several wounds on his body that were hastily bandaged, and some places even had seeping blood. Looks like he was seriously injured.

  Sun Ce's heart skipped a beat, something had happened in Shouchun! He handed the two wolf cubs to Lü Meng and told him to feed them. Hurriedly stepping forward to help him up "Jia Hua, you've worked hard, sit down, speak slowly, what exactly happened?"

  Listening to Jia Hua's account, Sun Ce finally slowly understood the cause and effect of things. It turned out that in the month since Jiangdong army went on an expedition, the Central Plains were in a state of chaos. First, in April of the first year of Ping (192), Dong Zhuo was murdered by Wang Yun and Lü Bu, and then Niu Fu was also killed. When Li Jue and others returned, they had nowhere to rely on, and they wanted to disband their troops and escape back to their hometowns, but they were afraid that they would still not be pardoned. At that time, Jia Xiu from Wuwei was serving in Li Jue's army.

  Jia Xu advised Li Jue, saying: "I've heard that the people of Chang'an are discussing plans to exterminate all the people from Longzhou. If you abandon your army and travel alone, even a small village head could capture you. Why not lead your troops westward, attack Chang'an, and avenge Dong Zhuo?

  "If it doesn't work out, it's not too late to leave."

  Li Jue and others adopted Jia Xu's suggestion, spreading rumors among the soldiers: "The imperial court will not pardon us, we should fight to the death. If we capture Chang'an, everything will be fine. Even if we can't capture it, we'll plunder the women and property of the areas around the capital, return west to our hometowns, and become rich men."

  His subordinates responded one after another, and then formed an alliance with Guo Si, Zhang Ji and others. They led their troops of several thousand men to march day and night towards Chang'an. When Wang Yun heard about it, he sent Hu Zhen and Xu Rong, former generals under Dong Zhuo, to resist Li Jue in Xin Feng. Xu Rong died in battle, and Hu Zhen surrendered with his troops. Along the way, Li Jue gathered more troops, and when he arrived at Chang'an, he already had over 100,000 men.

  In May, Li Jue and others joined forces with Dong Zhuo's former subordinates Fan Chou, Li Meng, Wang Fang and others to besiege Chang'an. More than a dozen days ago, the last news received was that the rebels had surrounded Chang'an and were fiercely attacking the city. Lü Bu's troops in Chang'an were not numerous, and it is likely that they would be unable to hold out.

  Sun Ce thought to himself: "Chang'an must have fallen by now. This Xu Rong, who had once defeated my father with a smaller force and also defeated Cao Cao's superior forces, was indeed a capable general. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to personally defeat him and avenge my father before he silently died in the chaos of war."

  It's true that a good general will always die in battle, but as for me, I'd rather die on the battlefield than be captured and humiliated.

  Sun Ce just felt that a great general like him would not die so quietly and suddenly, it was somewhat strange.

  Sun Ce shook his head suspiciously and asked Jia Hua: "The capital is in great chaos, how did you get injured? You didn't go to Chang'an to rescue the emperor, did you?"

  Jia Hua shook his head in anger and said, "I have never been to Chang'an. This wound was inflicted more than ten days ago by Chen Yu, the newly appointed Yangzhou Governor under General Yuan."

  "Ten days ago, he suddenly sent troops into our camp and captured all the brothers who were left to guard. I took advantage of the chaos in the camp to slip out, but was discovered when I was stealing a horse. After fighting with his soldiers, I managed to escape and come find you, young master."

  Sun Ce was shocked: "What's going on, Chen Gongwei? What does he want to do? Hmm! I understand this matter, don't talk nonsense with others for now, I'll see what Chen Gongwei is up to."

  Jia Hua nodded and said, "He must be planning to rebel! On that day, after we read the imperial edict, we learned about the situation in Chang'an. Not long after, a military report came from the front lines, saying that our allied army had suffered a great defeat."

  General Gongsun Zan's troops were defeated in the Battle of Jieqiao by Yuan Shao's army. His most elite 20,000 White Horse Volunteers were ambushed and annihilated by Yuan Shao's general Xu You's strong crossbowmen during the attack. The cavalry retreated in disarray, scattering the infantry that followed closely behind, causing the entire army to collapse, with only a few soldiers remaining.

  Even Ji Zhou's governor, Yan Gang, was captured alive by Qu Yi and beheaded. Gongsun Zan has also escaped to Jixian County. It is said that General Yuan is currently stationed in Fengqiu with his army. For the time being, he does not dare to act rashly, saying that he will contact Xu State's Tao Governor first and then launch a joint attack.

  Sun Ce couldn't help but scold, are all the men under Yuan Shu useless? At this time, one side of the alliance has already suffered a disastrous defeat, and they can only quickly launch an attack, taking advantage of the current situation where their forces have a local advantage, to completely destroy Cao Cao's troops who have just occupied Yanzhou and are still unstable. Only then can some of the decline be reversed, how at this time do you still want to slowly contact external aid?

  In this era, communication is slow. By the time you've made contact, the enemy has already fled. What's more, by the time your troops begin their attack, Yuan Shao will have already reinforced and Cao Cao will be fully prepared, just waiting for you to walk right into his trap.

  But Sun Ce just held Jia Hua's hand and said: "Jia Hua, you've done well, I understand. You're tired, go with Song Qian to bandage your wounds and rest well tonight. We'll set off back to camp tomorrow. I'd like to see what kind of tricks that Governor Chen is up to."

  Sun Ce's mind was racing: "This Chen Yu, I haven't heard much about him! Just looking at his gentle and weak appearance, it's hard to believe that such a person also has ambition. Which faction does he belong to? Is he just temporarily blinded by ambition, wanting to take Yuan Shu's place? This time when I return, I must get to know him well."

  Not long after the Battle of Jieqiao, Zhao Yun should have returned home to mourn his brother's death. Was he watching Gongsun Zan's defeat and taking advantage of an excuse to leave Gongsun Zan? It seems that he didn't join Liu Bei's camp until 200 AD, or the fifth year of Jian'an.

  As for what he did in those seven or eight years in between, was he just staying at home waiting for others to come find him, or was he observing and waiting for a wise ruler to appear?

  It can't be that he's been at home mourning his brother for eight years, can it? It just doesn't make sense! How many heroes have eight years to waste?! If there's an opportunity, I should go and get acquainted with him. This ultimate general of the lifelong system will be a legendary general in the future, and a great name that can be passed down through the ages must have outstanding abilities.

  It's still best to receive one's own subordinates, after all! However, since my own territory hasn't been settled yet, it will have a great impact on the development of my future career. This time when I go back, I'll try to sound out Yuan Shu's intentions and see when he can let me take office in Jiujiang. But if I ask him myself, it may arouse his suspicion. It seems that this time I still need to ask Zhang Yun to do this for me."

  "Alas, there are many things to do, but the usable literary talents under my command are not many! Currently, there are only Zhang and Lü Fan, these two usable people. It's still necessary to recruit more literary officials."

  Currently, the situation is that there are more generals than soldiers. The personnel positions are really hard to arrange. There are almost twenty big and small generals, but only a thousand soldiers, which is not enough to go around. It's not possible to let all the big and small generals become platoon leaders! If this continues, it won't be good! It's all because of the land that's causing trouble.

  This matter is currently the most important thing. Go back and let Zhang Xun urge Yuan Shuai, this matter cannot be delayed any longer.

  "Bottleneck, bottleneck, what a deadly bottleneck! This Yuan Shu won't have been defeated in battle and gotten dizzy, forgetting the promise he made to me!"

  Thinking of Lü Fan, Sun Ce hastily called for Lü Meng to be let in. Now Xu Province was also on the verge of a great war and it was extremely unsafe.

  It seems like Cao Cao will also attack Xuzhou soon.

  "All I remember is that old man, for the sake of his even older family member's unexpected death, was like he had taken stimulants and went crazy, wanting to go on a killing spree in Xuzhou."

  Although it can be said that this is just an excuse to occupy Xuzhou, Cao Cao's attitude towards the life and death of his relatives is still quite heavy. He can say "I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me", but he cannot accept his father being killed without recklessly wanting to kill all the people in Xuzhou. This is also an extremely self-centered hero.

  His bottom line in his heart is his relatives. So, he completely ignored the advice of his advisors, didn't care that the grain and grass were not yet prepared, and didn't even care that his foothold in Yan State was still unstable. He hastily dispatched troops, which is probably Cao Cao's biggest impulse in decades of war.

  It can also be seen that this hero who is cold-blooded towards ordinary people has a thread of warmth in his blood, but only for his family.

  And this time he went out, can only be a futile return, just killed all the people of Xuzhou. Just to vent his own evil temper.

  "What a mess! The originally peaceful Xuzhou, which was governed by Tao Qian, has become a bloody land. He's dead, and now tens of thousands of innocent people will be buried with him. It's really treating the common people as if their lives are worthless! Such a brutal person, how can he be allowed to hold China's state power? Can't we make a big deal out of this?"

  At this time, Lü Fan came in and bowed: "Young Master, what can I do for you regarding Zi Heng?"

  Sun Ce stepped forward and grasped his hand warmly, saying: "Brother Zi Heng, during this period of time, you have followed me on a long and arduous journey, it's really been hard on you."

  Lü Fan said nonchalantly, "Your Excellency is too polite! When Zi Heng first acknowledged you as his master, he said that following Your Excellency was to achieve great things and have a better life in the future. If we can't even bear this little hardship, how can Zi Heng live up to your expectations?"

  "Good! Good! Zi Heng is indeed a straightforward and honest man, Bo Fu also speaks clearly here. But one day when you achieve success and establish your career, I will definitely let you, Lu Zi Heng, have a life of wealth and glory that everyone envies. However, first and foremost, you must not violate the law."

  Two people shook hands and shared a silent laugh of mutual understanding.

  Sun Ce thought: "Someone like Lü Fan must have something to say beforehand. What he needs is a wealth and nobility that no one can match."

  Rather than saying he's my follower, it would be more accurate to say that he's my partner and venture capitalist. From the moment he invested in me as a stock with potential, putting all his energy into me, we became two people bound together by fate, with no turning back and no getting off the boat.

  Victory is shared by both, defeat means death for all!

  Any deception or concealment will damage the close and supportive relationship between each other. I like his straightforwardness, telling me directly what he wants. I will definitely give him what I can give, and cooperate fully to meet each other's needs.

  This person has a modern business temperament, somewhat like Lü Buwei. Both surnamed Lü, will Lü Buwei be able to?

  It was his family's ancestors!