After Sun Ce participated in the campaign against Yuan Shu, in recognition of Sun Ce's achievements, the imperial court awarded him the title of General of the Conqueror and the title of Marquis of Wu.
After receiving recognition from the Han court, Sun Ce finally secured his position in Jiangdong.
In addition, Sun Ce put down his personal status and often visited his home in person to seek talents. As a result, his subordinates gradually began to have children from aristocratic families serve as officials to help him.
After nearly a year of concentrated development, Sun Ce's power has gradually grown stronger.
Recently, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu came to Wancheng, and Duke Qiao (whose surname was Qiao, later shortened to Qiao) and his two beautiful daughters are now living in a remote bamboo house in the eastern suburbs of Wancheng.
Sun Ce is "beautiful" and Zhou Yu is "good-looking". Both of them are first-class handsome guys, and they are also young and promising young men.
They came here with the reputation of defeating Yuan Shu in order to marry Qiao Xuan's two daughters, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao.
After successfully carrying the beauty back, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were in high spirits. At this moment, news came from the Central Plains that Cao Cao had obtained the sacred potato. Sun Ce immediately discussed with Zhou Yu and planned to send troops to capture Lujiang County.
Lujiang County is surrounded by the Yangtze River in the south and blocked by the Huai River in the north, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Moreover, the prince Liu Xun who occupied Lujiang was powerful and ambitious because he had accepted many soldiers from Yuan Shu's command.
Xiahou Dun, who was guarding Huainan, sent people to test several times, but Liu Xun's generals relied on the geographical advantage to defeat him, so Xiahou Dun finally had to settle down and engage in internal affairs.
Sun Ce from Jiangdong wanted to capture Lujiang, which was more difficult than Xiahou Dun's. Therefore, attacking by force was not the solution, and only outsmarting him was the final solution.
Wujun, in the general's mansion.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu sat opposite each other, with Xiao Qiao accompanying them, adding tea and wine, creating a picture of a hero and a beauty.
"Gong Jin, have you thought of a plan to capture Lujiang?" Sun Ce asked without hesitation.
Zhou Yu picked up the "priceless" glass teacup and took a sip of the latest tea from Chenliu. He first sighed at Lu Yan's whimsical idea, and then replied to Sun Ce's question: "I got something from me yesterday.
But the idea is not yet mature.”
Sun Ce's eyes lit up and he quickly asked: "Tell me and listen!"
Zhou Yu watched Xiao Qiao refilling his tea cup, and after thanking him gently, he replied: "Liu Xun has two weaknesses, that is, he is arrogant and greedy for money, and he is extremely greedy for money!"
"Well..." Sun Ce nodded, and after thinking for a moment, he asked, "What next?"
"Hasn't Liu Xun always coveted Shangliao?
We can show him weakness by saying that Shangliao often sends troops to harass us, but we are too weak to go on expeditions...
At the same time, I will give him a generous gift and ask him to send troops to surrender Shangliao." At this point, Zhou Yu showed a confident smile on his lips and said: "As long as Liu Xun leaves Lujiang, Lujiang will be in our pocket and our meal!"
"Good!" After listening to Zhou Yu's plan, Sun Ce couldn't help but clapped his hands and praised: "What a trick to 'show the enemy weakness and lure the tiger away from the mountain'!"
The Shangliao area is very prosperous, and there are mountains of food in the city.
Liu Xun had actually wanted to seize the upper material Shangxiao for a long time, but because he was worried about Sun Ce behind him, he had been holding back and did not dare to take action.
If Sun Ce showed weakness and incompetence, Liu Xun would be relieved of his worries, maybe he would really send troops to attack, eat the fat that he has been coveting for a long time, and look at the entire Yuzhang County.
Zhou Yu was handsome and resourceful, and Xiao Qiao couldn't help showing admiration in her eyes when she looked at him.
Da Qiao was also very satisfied with Sun Ce, his eyes were full of admiration. After all, he was known as the Little Overlord of Jiangdong, he was really fierce.
...
After Sun Ce and Zhou Yu made a plan to capture Lujiang, Zhao Xue, the captain of the Shadow Guard Ding Battalion, came to Luyang City alone.
She came here to meet someone, Liu Ye, who was mentioned by Lu Yan inadvertently and was known as the 'talent of the world'!
Liu Ye, courtesy name Ziyang, was born in Chengde, Huainan. He was a descendant of Fuling King Liu Yan, son of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, and was an orthodox descendant of the Han Dynasty.
Liu Ye had been very courageous since he was a child. He listened to his mother's dying words and killed his father's favorite waiter at the age of thirteen.
Later, when I was twenty years old, there were many powerful and powerful people in Yangzhou who supported their own troops, but most of them were cunning and cruel, and they preyed on the common people.
At that time, there was a powerful man named Zheng Bao who wanted to rob the people and cross the Yangtze River to the south of the Yangtze River. Because he was interested in Liu Ye's reputation, he wanted to force him to advocate this strategy and persuade the people to cross the river.
However, Liu Ye set an ambush and cut off Zheng Bao's head with his own sword during the banquet. Then he went to Zheng Bao's military camp alone and reported the blessings and disadvantages to some leaders. In the end, Liu Ye
After successfully persuading Zheng Bao's men, they all surrendered and elected Liu Ye as the new leader.
But Liu Ye saw the decline of the Han Dynasty, and he was a member of the royal family and did not want to support troops to oppose the Han Dynasty, so he handed over all those tribes to Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang.
From all these, it can be seen that Liu Ye was a very influential figure in Lujiang.
Liu Ye was rated as a "talent who helped the world" by Xu Shao, and what impressed Zhao Xue most about him was Lu Yan's words: "Liu Ye of Yangzhou is as knowledgeable as a god. He has an insight into the world situation and his heart is towards Cao Cao."
camp."
Although this was a casual remark made by Lu Yan while chatting with Guo Jia, it was remembered by Zhao Xue who was with them at the time.
You must know that the people who can be favored by Lu Yan are all world-famous talents, such as Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia, Dian Wei, Tai Shici, Huang Zhong... They are all vivid in his mind.
What Zhao Xue didn't expect was that when she came to Jiangdong this time, she would actually use this piece of information.
Zhao Xue and his party secretly contacted many aristocratic families, bandits, and even assassins such as Xu Gong's disciples in Jiangdong who opposed Sun Ce.
But they have been lacking a good opportunity to take action, so they have been dormant in secret.
A few days ago, Zhao Xue learned from a bribed servant of the Sun family that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu intended to seize Lujiang County, and she was keenly aware that this was a good opportunity.
Therefore, Zhao Xue left Ding San, Ding Si, and others to stay in Jiangdong and secretly lead the opposition forces; she herself went to Lujiang alone, intending to reveal the news to Liu Ye and ask him to remind Liu Xun and contain Sun Ce.
As long as Liu Xun can fight with Sun Ce, Jiangdong will be empty in the rear, and the opposition forces that have been dormant for a long time will have an opportunity to take advantage of it.
...
It was a cloudless night and the bright moon hung high.
The evening breeze was mixed with a hint of coolness, blowing away the lingering heat of the summer night.
Liu Ye was reading at night in his study room, holding a candle, when he suddenly felt a cool breeze blowing in.
Before Liu Ye could raise his head, a clear female voice with a hint of sharpness came: "Prime Minister Cao's envoy Zhao Xue is here to visit Liu Ye and Liu Ziyang!"
Liu Ye committed murder at the age of thirteen and cut off people's heads at the age of twenty. It can be said that he was very courageous.
At this moment, someone suddenly broke into his home and his life was in danger at any time, but he was still able to calm down.
Slowly put down the copy of "Dream of Red Mansions" produced by Chenliu Workshop,
Liu Ye looked calmly at the cold-tempered Zhao Xue in front of him, and asked: "Are all Prime Minister Cao's envoys so unique?"