After listening to Sun Ce's words, Zhou Yu was also speechless.
Qiao Rui issued an edict on behalf of the emperor and persuaded Sun Ce. Afterwards, Sun Ce secretly wrote a letter to the Han court and agreed to join the Han court. Liu Xie was overjoyed after receiving Sun Ce's letter and sent someone to choose a girl of the right age from the clan to marry Sun Ce.
.
But Sun Ce was quite loyal, and out of various concerns, he still wrote a letter to Yuan Shu, persuading Yuan Shu not to stand on his own feet.
Of course, Sun Ce wrote this letter not only for Yuan Shu's sake, but also for his own position. After all, his current relationship with Yuan Shu is not simple.
Sun Jian was originally attached to Yuan Shu, and the relationship between the two was similar to that of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Sun Ce inherited Sun Jian's legacy and continued to rely on Yuan Shu, which was actually very similar to Yuan Shu's adopted son.
Of course, the adopted son's situation was very embarrassing. Yuan Shu had his own son and son-in-law, and Sun Ce could never fit into the inner circle. This gave Yuan Shu a lot of territory in vain, but the actual benefits were not much.
Moreover, the more capable Sun Ce was, the more Yuan Shu had to be on guard against him, lest he lose his power.
So there is no reason for Sun Ce to feel dissatisfied. Now he finally took the opportunity to seize Jiangdong, making Yuan Xi no longer able to control him.
But Sun Ce must have an honest excuse to break away from Yuan Shu and sever ties with him. Now this good opportunity has been placed in front of him.
Yuan Shu established himself on his own, but the Han court won over him.
For Sun Ce, this was like giving him a pillow for a nap, but in order not to follow the truth, Sun Ce still asked Zhang Hong to write a letter to Yuan Shu.
Zhang Hong, courtesy name Zigang, was born in Guangling, Xuzhou. Together with Zhang Zhao, he was collectively known as "Er Zhang". He was once made a vassal by General He Jin, Taiwei Zhu Jun, and Sikong Xun Shuang, but they all refused and took refuge in Jiangdong.
Before Sun Ce pacified Jiangdong, he personally visited many times to invite him. Zhang Hong felt his intention and became an official.
Sun Ce had long wanted to be self-reliant. When he asked Zhang Hong for advice, he proposed to "collect the scattered people, occupy Wuhui in the east, avenge the humiliation, and become a vassal outside the imperial court." Based on Sun Ce's idea, Zhang Hong proposed the idea of having thorns across the road and raising the Yangtze River.
, the strategy of completely occupying the Yangtze River defense line was also a strategy consistently pursued by Soochow in later generations.
For the princes from all over the world, Jingzhou is extremely important, and everyone wants to take it as their own.
It's just that Liu Biao relied on the Cai family and other local wealthy families to manage Jingzhou very well, and Jingzhou itself was an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place. Yuan Shu's attacks were repeatedly frustrated, and Sun Jian was also killed in battle.
This letter from Sun Ce to Yuan Shu was the idea of his advisers. This not only safeguarded his reputation for protecting Yuan Shu, but also expressed his loyalty to the Han Dynasty. It can be regarded as the most benevolent and righteous thing.
After the letter was written, Qiao Rui volunteered to deliver the letter. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu advised: "Mr. Qiao, Yuan Shu was planning to use you to establish his authority. Now that he goes back, wouldn't he be throwing himself into a trap?"
Qiao Rui sighed after hearing this: "Of course I know it, but the news came that Yuan Shu is ready to operate on my family members. If I don't go back, I'm afraid Yuan Shu will kill him."
Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "With all due respect, if Mr. Qiao goes back, he will only be trapped together with his family."
"I remember Mrs. Qiao died early. There are only two daughters in the family and no sons, right?"
"As long as the green hills are here, you won't have to worry about not having firewood. The Qiao family will be in dire straits. But with Qiao Gong here, there will be hope for the Qiao family."
"Now that Mr. Qiao returns, if the whole family is killed together, wouldn't it be all over?"
After hearing this, Qiao Rui finally gritted her teeth and said: "It is true that I only have two daughters, but they were entrusted to me by my wife before her death."
"If I give up on them, how can I treat my wife right?"
"So I thought about it and decided to find an opportunity to send him to Wancheng for refuge after returning to Shouchun."
Sun Ce saw that he had made up his mind and said, "In that case, if Duke Qiao is killed, I will avenge him in the future."
After Qiao Rui thanked him, he got up and went.
After Qiao Rui left, Zhou Yu sighed: "Those who achieve great things don't stick to trivial matters. Mr. Qiao is only afraid of more misfortune than good."
Sun Ce had a complicated look on his face. He didn't know why, but he thought of his missing biological mother, Mrs. Wu, and said in a daze: "Everyone has his or her own ambitions, but I can understand."
"If he is killed, all we can do is find an opportunity to rescue his family."
Afterwards, Qiao Rui returned to Shouchun and brought Sun Ce's letter. Yuan Shu was furious after reading it. In addition, some people pointed out that there was something wrong with Qiao Rui's capture, so Yuan Shu immediately imprisoned Qiao Rui.
Originally, Yuan Shu wanted to kill Qiao Rui as a warning to others, but many ministers tried to persuade him, saying that Yuan Shu was self-reliant at this time and it would be unlucky to kill someone. Moreover, Qiao Rui, as a general of Yuan Shu, had made many meritorious deeds over the years. If he was killed, he would only be killed.
I'm afraid it will also chill everyone's hearts.
Moreover, Qiao Rui is delivering a message on behalf of Sun Ce this time. If he is severely punished, won't this force Sun Ce to fall out even more?
Finally, after many considerations, Qiao Rui was released home, but the mansion was surrounded by soldiers, making it look like a prison, no different from a prisoner.
After Sun Ce heard the news, he was powerless for the time being. After all, Yuan Shu was now powerful, and Sun Ce alone could not openly break up with Yuan Shu.
But now Sun Ce has received an edict from the Han court, which openly asked Cao Cao, Sun Ce and others to attack Yuan Shu!
While Sun Ce scolded the Han court for being untrue, he also understood that this was actually a golden opportunity for him.
The only people close to Yuan Shu's base camp, besides Liu Bei in Xiapi, is Sun Ce in Wu County. This means that it is easier for him to seize the territory in Yuan Shu's hands as the foundation for future hegemony!
Moreover, now that Yuan Shu is being attacked by people from all sides, the pressure on Sun Ce is undoubtedly much less, and with the emperor's edict as a legitimate excuse, he can legitimately fall out with Yuan Shu!
While he was discussing with Zhou Yu, he saw Lu Su walking in.
Lu Su, courtesy name Zijing, was from Dongcheng, Linhuai. He was a powerful local landowner and was widely praised for his charity.
When Zhou Yu was the chief of Juchao, he came to Lu Su's house to borrow grain. Lu Su directly gave away three thousand dendrobium rice, half of the grain stored in the house. From then on, the two became friends. Later, Zhou Yu defected to Sun Ce and recommended Lu Su, who then summoned him.
For the genus.
Lu Su hurried in, paid homage to the two of them, and said, "There is another urgent message from the Han court."
Sun Ce took the bamboo slip from Lu Su's hand, unfolded it, and said with a smile: "This is a good thing." After saying this, he handed it to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu took a quick look and saw that it was the Han court who sent Yilang Wang to bring the canonization of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.
The edict comes.
Zhou Yu looked at it and said with a smile: "The Han court came in such a hurry, obviously they are asking for help from Bo Fu."
"In this case, we can discuss the terms with him."
Sun Ce laughed and said: "That's right!"
Jicheng, Youzhou.
In Yuan Xi's mansion, everything was going full swing, because as the Han court's edict reached Youzhou, everyone knew that Yuan Xi was leaving again.
This is the case in the city, and it is also the case in the military camp outside the city. Inside a tent, Zhang Fang is explaining the mission of this trip to the other four people.
Although they formed a team of five and formed the smallest establishment, no one dared to look down upon them.
Not only were they all members of Yuan Xi's bodyguards, but they had also made many military exploits. It was only because the five of them did not want to be separated that they refused to be promoted to military positions and still went into battle together to kill the enemy.
Zhang Fang held a simple linen map in his hand, squatted on the ground, held a branch in his hand, and wrote and drew on the land in front of him.
When he wrote the word Guangling, he accidentally wrote the word "ling" wrong. He realized it and quickly erased and rewritten it. When the other four people saw it, they burst out laughing, "Boss, you made the wrong word.
Several times!”
Zhang Fang blushed, "You know how to hold on to me and not let me go!"
"I will tell you the marching route and location later, and you will write them down one by one!"
"If you don't write well, the number of words you will write silently will be doubled in the next few days!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone immediately cried out, "Boss, this is too cruel!"
Zhang Fang ignored them and explained to everyone, from the marching target location, to several possible routes, as well as the time it would take, as well as the place where accidents had occurred and where to regroup.
This is an important step before the departure of the Youzhou Army. As long as it is not a secret operation, all plans for dispatching troops, no matter how big or small, must be implemented at the lowest level of the unit, so that every soldier can know what to do.
Initially, the generals and counselors of an army gather together all the people from the corps commander and above to centrally explain and issue orders. After the corps commander and corps commander return, they convey the message to their troops, making sure that everyone understands the purpose of sending troops.
and intention.
This was also one of Yuan Xi's initiatives. At first, Lu Xun and others were puzzled. They thought it was unnecessary. As long as the soldiers went to the battlefield and obeyed orders, they would be considered qualified. Why do they do these unnecessary things?
Yuan Xi did not explain too much. Instead, in the subsequent field exercises, two parties of equal strength, one who was informed of the tactical arrangement and the other who was not aware of it, were allowed to carry out the exercises in different terrains and unexpected situations.
confrontation.
Ju Shuo and Lu Xun were surprised to find that if it was a head-on battle on the battlefield, the two sides were indeed about the same, but when encountering unexpected situations such as sneak attacks, changes in plans, temporary changes in combat objectives, etc., the situation of the latter was far stronger than that of the latter.
Not only can they work hard to gather together after being scattered and continue marching towards the goal, they can also come up with targeted solutions to avoid the enemy or change a faster route in order to complete the final goal.
The latter, because they cannot understand the details of the combat plan, can only run around like headless flies. Even if they can gather together, there will be many differences, resulting in a greatly reduced combat effectiveness.
While Jushou and Lu Xun were amazed, they also understood that this approach actually places high demands on every soldier.
The first is that everyone has the most basic tactical literacy, and the second is that everyone can read. These two points alone are extremely difficult to achieve.
But Yuan Xi's soldiers, under constant and purposeful guidance for two years, were able to do almost everything. Anyone among them would be at least qualified as a centurion or above under the command of other princes!
Only then did Jushu and Lu Xun understand why Yuan Xi had limited his elite soldiers to a few thousand. No matter how many people there were, Youzhou couldn't do it.
Even so, the two of them understood the horror of this approach. If Yuan Xi could pull out a team of tens of thousands of soldiers, these thousands of soldiers could immediately serve as mid-level officers and form a considerable combat force in a short period of time!
Moreover, this kind of military training method can also maintain military discipline. When there is no fighting on weekdays, soldiers can reunite with their families at night, but they need to enter the camp during the day to practice point-and-shooting, and then learn written and tactical tactics. During wartime, they train during the day and hold conversations at night, with no training at all.
The soldiers left time to cause trouble.
While Ju Shou and Lu Xun were perfecting the military training method, they gradually understood its profoundness and admiration for Yuan Xi who was able to create this method.
This time when he sent out troops, Yuan Xi took Ju Shou and Lu Xun with him, and left Guo Jia, who was good at political strategy, in Youzhou.
At this time, Guo Jia and Tian Yu went to Beixin City to examine the labor education situation of the Montenegrin Army prisoners of war in the past six months.