Chapter 315 Chaos in Wu Nan
In the middle of the year, Guzhang and Wucheng became independent.
This matter has to start with Sun Ce crossing the river, and it also involves the four major surnames in Jiangdong.
As mentioned before, there are actually five families of the four major surnames in Jiangdong, and the last one is the Guzhang Zhu family.
The Zhu family of Guzhang originated from the Zhu family of Pei State, and only moved to Guzhang for a few generations.
The head of the family is Zhu Zhi, who started his career as a small official and followed Sun Jian in the southern and northern wars. He is a loyal minister of the Sun family.
After Sun Jian's death, Zhu Zhi became loyal to Sun Ce and assisted Sun Ce.
Sun Ce later decided to go to Shouchun to rely on Yuan Shu. Zhu Zhi saw that Yuan Shu had no political integrity and was not a successful person, so he persuaded Sun Ce to simply return to Jiangdong and start a business from scratch.
But Sun Ce considered that his father's work was still in Yuan Shu's hands, and he was not the head of the Sun family. In addition, his uncle Wu Jing and cousin Xu Kun were all in Yuan Shu's hands. Effectiveness of subordinates.
If he returned to Jiangdong, he might not be able to find any help, so he declined Zhu Zhi politely.
Under such circumstances, Zhu Zhi left alone and returned to Jiangdong.
When Ma Rixi arrived in Jianghuai the next year, at the recommendation of Yuan Shu, Zhu Zhi was given the official position of Wujun Commandery. This was the official position of Xu Gong, the prefect of Wujun, before he took office.
For Zhu Zhi, this official position is actually quite good, because Zhu Zhi's hometown is Guzhang County, just next to Wu County, and it happens to be separated from Wu County by the entire Taihu Lake.
It is these reasons that make Zhu Zhi very powerful in Nanwu County, and he was even able to bring Sun Ce's family members to Guzhang for protection under the threat of Xu Gong and Liu Yao.
After Sun Ce crossed the river, Zhu Zhi actively acted in Wu County to cooperate with Sun Ce.
"This time Xu Gong was defeated miserably in Youquan and was almost captured alive by Sun Ce. It was because Zhu Zhi raised troops in Qiantang and attacked from a flank."
As Zhou Shang spoke, his face was already filled with sadness: "Gu Zhang At this time, the Zhuzhi tribe was in control and no longer obeyed his uncle's orders. Wucheng was even more chaotic. The county was occupied by the powerful Zou Ta, Qian Tong and others. At the same time, Wang Sheng, the former Hepu governor of Jiaxing, was appointed as the leader. With more than ten thousand soldiers, they divided the area. "The Zhou and Shen clans of Yangxian also defended themselves, but for the time being they remained submissive. The prince of Kuaiji gathered a large number of troops, hoarded them in Guling, and marched south to Yuhang. There is a confrontation between Sun Ce's army in Qiantang, and there is no news yet about whether there will be a war."
Zhou Shang shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Sun Bofu Ruhu crossed the river, which caused unrest in the entire Jiangdong."< br>
After hearing this, Zhou Yu was quite shocked.
Yuquan was Jiaxing in later generations, Wucheng was Huzhou with water, so Zhang was Anji County, and Qiantang, Yuhang, and Guling were all the locations of Hangzhou in the future.
It can be said that they are all the best places.
Even during the Eastern Han Dynasty, apart from the bad climate, this place was still a land of plenty and a blessed place.
Boil the sea to make salt, farm the fields to make food, there are lakes, abundant fish and shrimps, and there are also mines. It can be said to be a gifted land, except for the poor climate.
Yes, the South at this time was a miasmatic place, far less comfortable than later generations.
Fortunately, the main force going south was the Xuzhou Army, and it was late autumn. In addition, the army carried a large amount of medicinal materials and military doctors.
The most important point is that Liu Feng strictly required his troops not to drink anything other than boiling water. He did not hesitate to consume a large amount of firewood, but also ensured that the drinking water of the army was cold boiled water after boiling. This brought about While it is not a small burden, it also greatly reduces the acclimatization in the team.
Most of the acclimatization problems in the Eastern Han Dynasty are directly related to drinking water. After all, the germs are different in different places. In this era of drinking raw water, isn't it just acclimatization?
Zhou Yu originally planned to go south via Guzhang and Wucheng to sneak attack on Sun Ce's flank. It was only when we arrived at Wanling that we found out that Sun Ce's flanks had already been severely beaten.
This made Zhou Yu stunned and his head grew bigger.
Zhou Shang advised: "Gong Jin, I know you are very talented, but the land of Wu is really in chaos at this time, so you still have to be cautious."
Zhou Yu nodded slowly, analyzing in his heart.
Liu Feng sent him to Wanling not to sit back and wait for success or failure. If he stayed here and waited for Liu Feng to go south, but failed to do anything, how could the Zhou family and Zhou Yu himself stand out in front of Liu Feng? ?
Liu Bei has many talents under his command, including clouds of counselors and fierce generals like rain.
If Liu Bei and his son hadn't admired him very much, how could he have been given such a good opportunity to stand alone with his father?
This opportunity should be cherished, and should not be thrown away due to danger.
Now it seems that Xu Gong is nothing to worry about. When he first came to power in Wu County, he was unpopular because he targeted Sheng Xian, and everyone in the gentry did not like him very much.
Now he has been defeated by Sun Ce again and again, especially the recent defeat by Youquan, and he almost escaped alone.
Such an empty-headed governor with no reputation and no troops might still have some value if replaced by someone else, but in the eyes of Liu Bei and his son, he is really worthless. .
According to this logic, Zhou Yu quickly divided these grass-head kings into three factions.
Among them, Zhu Zhi's faction was the enemy, so the Zhu family had invested so much in the Sun family that they would almost never look back, and they could not offer any benefits to win over the other party.
After Zhou Yu studied the relationship between Zhu Zhi and the Sun family, he even felt that even if he made the decision and gave up the position of Danyang County Governor to Zhu Zhi, Zhu Zhi would not leave Sun Ce.
Zhou Yu knows very well that most people in this world can talk about interests, but there are some people who are destined to be unable to fight for them with interests.
Zhu Zhi's army had about six to seven thousand men, divided into three groups. There were two thousand men in Zhang's hometown, one thousand men in Yuhang, and the remaining four thousand men were led by Zhu Zhi northward to Yuquan. , joined Sun Ce.
The second wave of people was Yan Baihu. After the Xu Gong Free Fist City was defeated, he also fled to Wucheng and joined Yan Baihu.
Yan Baihu gathered a crowd of more than ten thousand, and there were four to five thousand people in his tribe, but it would be quite difficult for Yan Baihu to fight against Sun Ce.
The last wave was the powerful ones in Wucheng County. They jointly elected Wang Sheng as the leader and occupied the county. They were naturally more submissive to the imperial court and easy to win over. Moreover, Wang Sheng is still a member of Youquan. Once he is persuaded to help him, subsequent attacks on Youquan will also benefit greatly.
"From my father, can I fight for Wang Sheng?"
Zhou Yu set his sights on the powerful people of Wucheng, so Wang Sheng became the breaking point.
Just after hearing Zhou Yu's words, Zhou Shang's expression was quite strange.
Zhou Yu couldn't help but urge: "Congfu?"
"Congfu doesn't know whether he can fight for it."
Zhou Shang shook his head, tutted and said, "Do you know this person? Is he Sun Wentai’s brother?”
“Sun Wentai’s brother?”
Zhou Yu took a breath. Brothers in this era were not like those in later generations who could shout at the same time.
To be brothers, we must either tell the world and become brothers like Liu Guan, Zhang, Kong Rong, and Sheng Xian.
Either you go to the palace and take care of your wife and children.
Most of the brothers in the Eastern Han Dynasty were closer than their own brothers.
After all, biological brothers cannot choose, but sworn brothers can choose.
Of course, since they are brothers, there are examples of turning against each other. During the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony, Zhang Er and Chen Yu had a dead brotherhood, but they also turned into a life-and-death battle.
Wang Sheng was able to be supported by Wucheng powerful men such as Zou Ta and Qian Tong. Could it be that he also fell out with Sun Jian?
Seeing what Zhou Yu was thinking, Zhou Shang shook his head: "Wang Sheng was never unhappy with Sun Jian, but he did not support Sun Ce and regarded Sun Ce as a rebellious official and a traitor."
Zhou Yu suddenly realized that Wang Sheng was the former governor of Hepu, a conservative scholar and loyal to the emperor of Han Dynasty.
Sun Ce was not only a subordinate of Yuan Shu, but also committed many killings after crossing the river. He also became an enemy of Liu Yao, the Yangzhou shepherd appointed by the imperial court, and even made Xu Gong, the governor of Wu County, run away with his head in his arms.
Wang Sheng naturally couldn't stand it, and besides, he was above Sun Ce in seniority, so it was not surprising that he would raise troops to oppose the opponent.
"But Wang Sheng is quite embarrassed right now."
Zhou Shang suddenly looked sad and said in a sad voice: "His sons all supported Xu Gong in the Battle of Youquan. After the city was defeated, they all Sun Ce captured and killed him."
Zhou Yu looked shocked: "How could Sun Ce be so cruel?"
Many people thought that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce became like brothers after they met in Jiujiang.
But in fact, the relationship between the two families is actually very clear.
In the original time and space, Sun Ce was able to break through Niuzhu's defense line and enter Jiangdong solely by relying on the Zhou family's backstabbing.
But many people have overlooked one point, that is, after Sun Ce crossed the river, he pursued Liu Yao all the way, and after capturing Qu'a County where Liu Yao was located, he began his first reward based on merit.
In this time of merit-based rewards, Cheng Pu, Lu Fan, and Jiang Qin all received heavy rewards for their bravery in battle and repeated meritorious deeds, and each received a piece of music. However, Zhou Yu and the Zhou family, who were the first to succeed, were sent out by Sun Celi and invited to go to Yuan Shu in Jiangbei.
What’s even more interesting is that in the future, when Yuan Shu became frenzied and proclaimed himself emperor, Sun Ce immediately announced his separation from Yuan Shu and claimed his own system. He wrote to his uncle Wu Jing and his cousin respectively. Xu Kun, his cousins Sun Bi and Sun Fu, and even his distant brother Sun Xiang all received letters from Sun Ce.
But only Zhou Yu, whose sworn sworn relationship had grown small, who was as close as a brother and who was the first to cross the Yangtze River, was forgotten.
Later, Yuan Shu was defeated, and the Zhou family crossed the river to defect to Sun Ce. Although they received a warm welcome, they actually did not give Zhou Yu much opportunity to make meritorious deeds.
Just imagine, if Sun Ce is really close to and trusts Zhou Yu, treating him as a brother, and Zhou Yu recommends Lu Su, Sun Ce will be full of praise, but not even give him a chance to try it out?
Contrary to what many people imagine, in fact it was Sun Ce who had been suppressing Zhou Yu. Sun Quan, who used Zhou Yu to check and balance his uncle Wu Jing and his cousin Xu Kun, really gave Zhou Yu great trust and let go. Use the Mingzhu.
Of course, this does not mean that Sun Ce is wrong.
In fact, what Sun Ce did was absolutely right. If he had let go of the Zhou family when crossing the river, and used Zhou Yu's ability to stab Niuzhu in the back, would Jiangdong still be named Sun in the future?
If things go wrong, it will be a situation where Sun and Zhou share Jiangdong.
It’s just that Sun Ce died unexpectedly before he could give Zhou Yu a chance to spread his message. If Sun Ce had lived a few more years, maybe Zhou Yu would have a turn for the better.
But at this moment, the relationship between Zhou Yu and Sun Ce is actually still superficial brothers.
Both of them have worked hard for their families, how could they sacrifice the interests of their families for the sake of brothers.
Hearing that Sun Ce was so cruel, he actually attacked his brother who had entered the house of his father and entrusted his wife and son to him.
If it’s a fight in battle, then forget it. If you’re captured and killed, you’ll be caught and then ordered to be killed. This is already merciless.
"It is true."
The reason why Zhou Shang looked sad was obviously because he was sad for the death of a rabbit and a fox. He thought of the three generations of elites who were all killed by Dong Zhuo after his family went north.
"Sun Bofu is cruel and has a murderous personality. I don't think he can last long."
Zhou Shang sighed, put away his Qi Rong and said: "Wang Sheng is indeed someone who can win over. If Wucheng surrenders, Guzhang will be the turtle in the urn."
Wucheng is on the right of Guzhang, with his fist The left is the only way between Guzhang and Youquan.
Therefore, Zhou Shang made such a judgment.
Zhou Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "Does my father have any contact with Wang Sheng?"
"No contact at all."
Zhou Shang shook his head, then changed the subject and said, "But I do know one person who can definitely persuade Wang Sheng."
When Zhou Yu heard this, he was overjoyed: "Father, who can do this?"
"It is Lu You, the contemporary head of the Lu family in Wanling. This person is the great-great-grandson of Situ Lugai of the Imperial Dynasty. Lu You met Wang Sheng as a young man and became a close friend. If he is willing to take action, Wang Sheng will "
When Zhou Shang said this, he couldn't help but remind him: "However, in Wucheng County, Zou Ta and Qian Tong gathered thousands of people, and their strength was especially higher than that of Wang Sheng. Gong Jin must not do it. Look down on them.”
Zhou Yu respectfully thanked Zhou Shang for his advice.
Later, before the dinner, Zhou Yu hurriedly wrote a long letter, recording the chaotic situation in the southern part of Wu County, Sun Ce's movements, as well as his current predicament and the proposed response method, and planned to send it to Qu Ah, the face is like Liu Feng.
********
Youquan, the county government.
Cheng Pu, dressed in military uniform, walked to the entrance of a courtyard, followed by Huang Gai. He glanced at Lu Fan and Chen Wu who were standing outside the door, and asked with a frown: "Is Bo Fu still in there?"
Chen Wu and Lu Fan looked at each other, both shaking their heads. shook his head.
Cheng Pu's expression froze. Ever since Sun Ce received the news, the Xuzhou army moved south in large numbers and defeated Yuan Shu in January.
Liu Feng, the general who conquered the south, had crossed the river from Liyang and entered Niuzhu under the welcome of Liu Yao.
Sun Ce locked himself in the room and saw no one. It has been three days.
"No, we can't let Bo Fu go on like this. I have to see him today!"
Cheng Pu's qualifications are undoubtedly the oldest in the Sun family army, although he cannot compete with Sun Bi. , Wu Jing, Xu Kun and others are compared to each other, but among Sun Jian's old songs, he is indeed the well-deserved number one.
Even Sun Ce had to respectfully call him Uncle Cheng. Although it was not as high as Guan Zhang's status before Liu Feng, it was still somewhat similar.
Seeing that Cheng Pu was about to force his way in, Chen Wu and Lu Fan wanted to stop but did not dare to stop. Huang Gai behind Cheng Pu also looked confused. He didn't know whether to go up and hold Cheng Pu or follow him. Break in.
Huang Gai was also quite worried about Sun Ce at this time.
"Uncle Cheng, please come in!"
At this moment, Sun Ce's voice came from the room, which lifted everyone's spirits.
Since Sun Ce had already agreed, Chen Wu and Lu Fan dared to stop him. They immediately got out of the way and invited Cheng Pu in.
Cheng Pu took the lead, followed closely by Huang Gai. Chen Wu and Lu Fan looked at each other and followed quietly.
After entering the room, everyone noticed that Sun Ce looked calm and his eyes were bright and there was no hint of discouragement.
Originally, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and even close associates such as Chen Wu and Lu Fan doubted whether Sun Ce had been attacked by the Xuzhou Army. Now when they saw Sun Ce, they immediately realized that this was all their own random thoughts. .
"Uncle Cheng, Uncle Huang, are you worried about your nephew?"
Sun Ce has a strong character and speaks his mind. Even if he is Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, the right-hand men left by his father, in the army, the final decision-maker can only be Sun Bofu.
Listening to Sun Ce’s smiling questions, Cheng Pu and Huang Gai felt a little guilty.
In the end, Cheng Pu gritted his teeth and said: "Exactly."
Sun Ce's expression turned cold, and a trace of anger flashed across his handsome face: "The two uncles are too much for the nephew. Are you being underestimated? "
Cheng Pu and Huang Gai were startled and wanted to explain, but they knew Sun Ce's temper. Explanations would not only be useless, but might even have the opposite effect.
So, Cheng Pu and Huang Gai simply admitted defeat: "I have worried too much. I hope Bo Fu won't take offense!"
As soon as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai were convinced, Sun Ce immediately changed his face and said: He burst out laughing, and stepped forward to hold one person in his hand: "What are the two uncles talking about? My uncle also cares about Bo Fu. How could I not know? I'm just a little aggrieved."
"Uncle, come with me. ! ”
Although Sun Ce is only 1.78 meters tall, he is very strong, and he directly pulled Cheng Pu and Huang Gai to the front of the case.
At this time, there was a large map spread out on the table, which was the topographic map of Jiangdong.
In this picture, there are many rice grains placed in the Youquan area, and there are also two large groups of rice grains, respectively placed at Wucheng and Guling, which are just to the west and southwest of Youquan.
After winning Youquan before, almost everyone persuaded Sun Ce to march west first to deal with Yan Baihu, Wang Sheng and others entrenched in Wucheng.
After eliminating the threat on the flanks, we can naturally move south calmly and attack Kuaiji.
What if Wang Lang goes north when attacking Wucheng?
That is a great thing. Not to mention that Zhu Zhi has Qiantang and Yuhang counties and can cut off Wang Lang's retreat at any time. Even Cheng Pu and Huang Gai are confident that they can defeat Youquan City in a single battle. enemy.
Sun Cejun was full of confidence from top to bottom and did not take Yan Baihu and Wang Lang seriously at all. He even felt that Wang Lang would be seeking death as long as he dared to send troops.
Objectively speaking, Sun Cejun's idea is not an exaggeration. After all, Youquan is a fortified city, Sun Cejun's fighting force going south is strong, and Wang Lang's flank is threatened by Zhu Zhijun. But Sun Cejun's arrogance existed objectively. Sun Cejun, who had won consecutive battles, even reached the point where he was somewhat desolate.
Originally, this is not a big problem.
Although the art of war states that Yunjiao's soldiers will be defeated, they still have to fight against normal armies.
Jiangdong's army is extremely poor, even far inferior to the arrogant Sun Ce's army, which is quite joyful.
It happened that at this time, Sun Ce proposed a unique plan.
"Two uncles, I intend to go south with all my strength, first conquer Guling, and then cross the Qianjiang River!"
(End of this chapter)