After listening to Zhou Yu's words, Sun Ce took a big gulp of wine and said, "What kind of hidden tiger is there, pretending to be a ghost?"
"I don't know where this mountain liar came from. He and I are both called tigers. Does he deserve to be called a tiger?"
Zhou Yu advised: "I have checked specifically. Among the Jiyan nobles, this Hidden Tiger has a great reputation in private. He is good at stargazing. It is said that he is a strange person in the world. He wrote a letter to Bo Fu. Obviously, it is not groundless.
,Afraid of seeing something?"
Sun Ce said disapprovingly: "Gong Jin also believes in the alchemist's bluff?"
"It's all done by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans to deceive people!"
"Then Yu Ji was also killed after I exposed him, and he's fine so far?"
"That Yinhu said he wouldn't kill him, but I decided to kill him. After a while, I went to the prison and chopped off Xu Gong's head with my own hands!"
Seeing that he couldn't persuade him, Zhou Yu secretly sighed in his heart and thought that if he wanted to kill him, he should kill him. If he didn't kill him, Bo Fu would not have a clear idea, and Xu Gong was not an important person anyway.
Everyone was drinking and drinking, and Sun Ce was already seventy or eighty percent drunk. A guard came in and whispered a few words to Sun Ce. After hearing this, Sun Ce was surprised and asked, "Is this happening?"
He was deep in thought for a while. Seeing Sun Ce's tangled expression, Zhou Yu said, "Bo Fu, what happened?"
Sun Ce shook his head: "Someone is coming, Gong Jin must not have thought who it is."
Zhou Yu was confused and heard Sun Ce say: "It's Mr. Qiao who's back!"
Zhou Yu was surprised when he heard this: "Mr. Qiao?"
"Didn't he get caught by a fierce tiger?"
Sun Ce said: "Indeed, he followed Yuan Yao to attack Anyi and was captured. I thought he would never come back, but I didn't expect him to come to me."
"What's even more strange is that I heard that he came here with an edict from the Han court!"
At this point, Sun Ce's face turned gloomy, "Aside from Xu Gong, is there anyone else who wants me to be a capital official?"
"If I find out about these people who are causing trouble, I will definitely kill them all and leave no one behind!"
Zhou Yu said: "Bo Fu, don't be impatient. Why don't you let Mr. Qiao come in and explain it clearly?"
Sun Ce nodded, stood up and said to the generals in the hall: "I'm drunk!"
"I'll have a drink with my brothers tomorrow!"
When all the generals heard this, they all left and went out, leaving only Zhou Yu alone.
When Sun Ce saw that everyone had left, he and Zhou Yu walked out of the hall and walked around to the backyard. In the room next to the door, Qiao Rui had already been led in and was waiting inside.
As soon as Sun Ce entered the house, he walked up to Qiao Rui in two steps, took his hand and said, "Mr. Qiao! I didn't expect to see each other today!"
Qiao Rui also looked excited, "I am incompetent, but unexpectedly I can see Bo Fu, it's like in a dream!"
Zhou Yu also stepped forward and asked, "We were shocked to hear that Mr. Qiao had been captured. Bo Fu and I were worried every day. We didn't expect Mr. Qiao to return safely. What a lucky man."
After hearing this, Qiao Rui smiled bitterly and said: "Forget it, it's hard to talk about the heavenly signs. Counting the last time, these two times, I relied on the fierce tiger to let me go."
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were both startled. Sun Ce looked unkind, "Ferocious tiger? Why are you involved with him again?"
Zhou Yu knew that Sun Ce lost his temper when he mentioned the fierce tiger because of the disappearance of his biological mother, Mrs. Wu, and hurriedly interjected: "Why did Mr. Qiao come to see Bo Fu?"
"Qiao Gong is a general under the envoy. If he was released by the vicious tiger, he should meet the envoy to explain the reason. Why did he bypass Shouchun and come to Yangzhou to see Bo Fu?"
Qiao Rui sighed: "It's a long story. After I was captured, I was still fierce and overcame everyone's opinions. I was asked to be the envoy of the Han Dynasty to announce the emperor's secret edict to Bo Fu."
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked at each other, it was a secret edict?
Sure enough, this thing is not that simple!
The three of them sat down, and Qiao Rui explained the whole story, and finally sighed: "Because of the envoy's attack on Huaicheng, all the ministers in the Han Dynasty suggested that I beheaded. When my life was hanging by a thread, it was the fierce tiger who saved me.
I am truly ashamed of my life."
Zhou Yu said curiously: "I didn't expect that fierce tiger to appreciate Mr. Qiao so much. If I didn't know Mr. Qiao as a person, I would have thought that Mr. Qiao was his spy."
"But if this is really the case, what Mr. Fangqiao did was too deliberate. It's not like a fierce tiger's behavior."
Qiao Rui was grateful. He knew that Zhou Yu was trying to clear himself out of suspicion by saying this, because the matter of his release was unclear to begin with. If Sun Ce really became suspicious, it would be difficult for him to convince Sun Ce.
He quickly explained: "The reason why I was able to come back was a coincidence."
"The first time I was captured in Guangling City, Fierce Tiger released me. That day he had the intention of testing Bo Fu, because Fierce Tiger suspected that Bo Fu must have an agenda when he attacked the city like this, so he simply released me.
Use this to guess Bo Fu’s intention of attacking the city.”
After hearing this, Zhou Yu suddenly said: "Sure enough, I thought that Xiu Hu would never make a mistake. He really has a deep mind!"
"Did Fierce Tiger tell you this himself?"
Qiao Rui smiled bitterly and said: "Gong Jin's guess is correct, but the fierce tiger is so calm with me, not because he wants to befriend me, but because in his eyes, I still have value."
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked at each other and secretly accepted this statement. Although they had a good personal relationship with Qiao Rui, it was just a personal relationship.
Privately, the two of them felt that Qiao Rui was just worth wooing in terms of ability and reputation, not that it was absolutely necessary.
Sun Ce's men were full of talents, both as counselors and generals, and Qiao Rui was not outstanding among them. Therefore, when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu interacted with him, most of the time, most of them only valued Qiao Rui's reputation.
When Zhou Yu saw Qiao Rui speaking, his expression was magnanimous, and he did not show the slightest hint of timidity or guilt. Looking at this, Qiao Rui's words were quite credible.
Sun Ce opened his mouth and said: "The fierce tiger let Mr. Qiao come back, so he asked him to be his lobbyist?"
Qiao Rui sighed: "Yes, and no."
"Fierce Tiger indeed expressed his intention to be on good terms with Bo Fu."
After hearing this, Sun Ce snorted coldly. The grudge between him and Xiu Hu could not be explained clearly in just one or two sentences.
His biological mother, Mrs. Wu, is still missing because of the fierce tiger.
Moreover, Sun Ce had a vague feeling that Fierce Tiger might not be unaware of Madam Wu's situation. What was even more frightening in his heart was that in the worst case scenario, Madam Wu had already fallen into Fierce Tiger's hands!
He is now most afraid that the other party will use Mrs. Wu as a trump card to threaten him at the most critical moment!
If the fierce tiger makes this matter public to the world at that time, no matter what he does at that time, it will be the Sun family who will be embarrassed.
Therefore, Sun Ce could only play dumb to avoid overstimulating the fierce tiger and putting himself in a dilemma.
Now when Sun Ce hears the name Fierce Tiger, he gnashes his teeth with hatred in his heart, but he feels that he can't do anything to him!
Zhou Yu naturally knew what Sun Ce was thinking, and quickly said: "I heard that Duke Qiao came here with an imperial edict. It is said that the ferocious tiger is highly regarded by the emperor. Did the edict come from the ferocious tiger?"
Qiao Rui knew that Sun Ce hated Fierce Tiger very much, so she smiled bitterly and said: "I would be lying if I said that Fierce Tiger had no involvement in it."
"The emperor's edict is indeed closely related to the fierce tiger, but I think this edict will also be of great benefit to Bo Fu's future hegemony."
"It's useless for me to say more about the rest. I'll just wait until Bo Fu reads the edict and makes his own judgment."
When Sun Ce saw Qiao Rui hand over the edict, he nodded slightly, grabbed it and unfolded it, read it carefully, then handed the edict to Zhou Yu and said, "Gong Jin, please take a look at it."
Zhou Yu took it over and read it word for word. He stood up suddenly, walked back and forth in the room, and began to think deeply.
After a while, he took a deep breath and said: "Bo Fu, this emperor's edict is very sincere, and it is much more generous than Cao Mengde's previous conditions."
"And after all, this is the emperor's personal seal, so it's justifiable."
Sun Ce was also silent, but he was also moved.
Without him, the conditions in the edict were very generous to him.
Liu Xie promised to make Sun Ce the governor of Yuzhang, the general of Zhendong, inherit the title of marquis of Sun Jian, and open a mansion!
Although these are all false names, what Sun Ce lacks is false fame. He now has strength, but the family foundation is too weak, so he can only rely on Yuan Shu to work for his life.
However, Yuan Shu's popularity was so small that he was not even willing to serve as a county guard for Sun Ce. Although Sun Ce was filled with hatred, he could only swallow his anger.
Although he is powerful now, he is still weak against Yuan Shu, who claims to have 300,000 troops.
Now Liu Xie sent him what he wanted most, and more importantly, the price Sun Ce had to pay for accepting the canonization of the Han court was very small.
Rather, this price is what Sun Ce had to do.
When the time was right, he raised an army to rebel against Yuan Shu, and together with other forces in the Han court, destroyed Yuan Shu.
This is what Sun Ce wants. He is the closest to Yuan Shu and the most convenient to take action. If Yuan Shu is destroyed, he will be the one who benefits the most.
This condition was so favorable that Sun Ce had a moment of doubt. Was there some trap in it?
Zhou Yu saw Sun Ce's doubts and said: "Bo Fu, our current strength is enough to become the target of all parties."
"Cao Cao did not hesitate to use marriage as a condition before, wasn't it just to establish a relationship with Bo Fu and attack Yuan Shu together?"
"Cao Cao's plot is also Yuan Shu's, and the intention of the Han court is the same!"
"Choose between the two, whichever is more important!"
After hearing this, Sun Ce said: "I heard that Cao Cao was also canonized by the Han court. If this is the case, what are the conditions for me to agree to both him and the Han court at the same time?"
Zhou Yu listened, thought about it, then shook his head and said: "This matter is not that simple."
"Things should be prioritized."
“If you eat both sides, you may not be able to eat both sides.”
"Besides, if this edict was written by Fierce Tiger, I'm afraid he and Cao Cao have thought of the same thing, but the two of them are definitely not on the same side, otherwise they would have pointed out this matter long ago, so why bother."
Sun Ce snorted: "Ferocious tiger!"
"Does he think that if I accept a favor from him, all grudges will be resolved?"
Zhou Yu sighed: "Bo Fu, it's not a bad idea to put the latter aside for the time being, between world hegemony and personal grudges."
"The edict also said that the canonization of Bo Fu is a secret. Only when Yuan Shu becomes independent and Bo Fu comes out with the edict can we attack Yuan Shu to the maximum extent."
"Before that, Bo Fu must stay dormant and be patient."
Sun Ce listened and nodded slowly, "I will consider Gong Jin's words carefully."
He turned to Qiao Rui and said, "I am very happy to see that Mr. Qiao is fine now. I will ask people to put the wine on the table again to help Mr. Qiao wash away his dust!"