Sun Ce was very happy to see Wen Ping, and was surprised to see Lou Gui.

After getting Chen Yu, he did not kill Nanyang Haoqiang, but treated him coldly. The estates outside the city were gone, the property was divided among the generals, and the land was given to their former tribes, leaving only the mansions in the city, on the verge of bankruptcy. It stands to reason that Sun Ce could uproot them in one go, but he didn't do it, including Zong Cheng, who conspired with Chen Yu, he didn't kill them.

Zong Cheng closed his door and did not express any opinion on Sun Ce's administration. It can be understood as thinking behind closed doors, or it can be understood as non-violent non-cooperation. Whatever the reason, Sun Ce did not take action, he acquiesced to the example of Zong Cheng, so as not to exacerbate the conflict and deal with Xu Rong wholeheartedly.

Lou Gui used to be with Zong Cheng, after Chen Yu was defeated and fled, Lou Gui disappeared, Sun Ce originally thought that he had escaped, but he didn't expect him to be by Wen Ping's side. When he saw Lou Gui, he really looked at him twice.

Lou Gui was so flustered by him that he couldn't say a word of the words he had prepared, so he could only keep his head down and wait for Wen Ping to speak.

Wen Ping was also a little embarrassed, but he finally told Lou Gui in detail about how he appeared here, especially the credit for defending Licheng, he almost gave Lou Gui all the credit.

Sun Ce understood what Wen Ping meant. is also a township party, and Wenpin wants to pull Lougui to help, just like Deng Zhan wanted to pull him Wenpin at the beginning.

"This water is well poured." Sun Ce said as he looked at the melting ice. He had the impression that Lou Gui had also used a similar strategy for Cao Cao, but not in Nanyang. "I'll give you a task, stay in Licheng and repair the city walls. I estimate that Xu Rong may soon come to attack Licheng in person. ”

Lou Gui was a little disappointed. Sun Ce didn't let him lead the troops, only let him repair the city, which was far from the courtesy that Wen Ping received.

Wen Ping didn't want to go, and before he could talk about it, Sun Ce waved his hand and signaled not to speak for Lou Gui anymore. He actually doesn't like Lou Gui, this person is too snobbish, he has repeated it several times, and if he doesn't kill him, it's not bad, and reusing it will cause a bad example for others. He can tolerate Zong Cheng's non-cooperation, but he can't tolerate Lou Gui's speculation. Letting him be in charge of the repair of Licheng is not only to see his ability, but also to give him a chance to make meritorious contributions, of course, he is also deliberately beating him, if he is still restless, he will not even have such a chance in the future, and even kill him directly.

Sun Ce personally commanded troops to help, and repelled Duan Xuan like a devastating devastation, relieving the siege of Licheng, and the people of Licheng were nervous and happy. The nervous thing is that Sun Ce has a bad reputation and has killed a lot of people, but he is happy that Sun Ce can protect them. They elected a few respected old people as representatives to visit Sun Ce, test Sun Ce's intentions, and send the famous chrysanthemums in Licheng as a meeting gift.

Sun Ce met with these representatives as soon as possible, happily accepted their gifts, and talked about the customs and customs of Licheng. Seeing that Sun Ce was handsome and kind, no different from the boy next door, and there was no legendary fierce god at all, these old men also put down their nervousness and restraint, and enthusiastically introduced the situation in Licheng, talking and laughing, and the guests and hosts were happy.

——

Xu Rong held on to the edge of the case, motionless.

He was of medium stature, with a stout physique, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a lion nose and a wide mouth, a thick beard, and a few white hairs. When a person reaches middle age, half a life of vicissitudes of life, full of wind and frost, from an ordinary soldier step by step to the present, he has endured unimaginable hardships for ordinary people, and has also accumulated unimaginable experience for ordinary people, and penetrated Sun Ce's discord plan at a glance.

However, he couldn't resolve it, or even say it.

The contradiction between the people of Bingzhou and Liangzhou has a long history, and it is not something that he can resolve with a few words, and even Ding Yuan's death is just an intensification point, the root cause comes from the similar predicament and customs of the people of the two states, which not only does not make them sympathetic, but makes them hostile to each other, and always wants to suppress each other.

He believed that Zhang Liao was not lying, but he couldn't convince Duan Xuan and the others to believe Zhang Liao. He is a native of Youzhou, and he was able to command these Western Liang people to fight entirely because of Dong Zhuo's trust and previous military exploits, coupled with his cautious nature, he did not conflict with any Liangzhou people. If you want to help Zhang Liao speak, the people of Xiliang will even suspect him.

But he wanted to help Zhang Liao. When he saw Zhang Liao, he thought of his younger self. has no family background, no teacher, and even no friends who can help, only his own strength can be relied on. But only strength is useless, no one supports you, and you don't even have a chance to perform. He is such an example, he has been in the army for decades, hundreds of battles, large and small, and has meritorious service in every battle, but his name is not seen in the merit book every time, and even if he has merit, he only has a meager reward, and it is extremely difficult to be promoted. If it weren't for Dong Zhuo, he might have been just a small lieutenant in his life, and it would be impossible for him to become a lieutenant general who commanded tens of thousands of horses and horses.

Sometimes he was really jealous of Sun Jian. was also from a poor family, but Sun Jian's luck was so good that it made people red, and before the age of forty, he worshiped 2,000 stones and was crowned a marquis. Now he has such a good son, who is only sixteen or seventeen years old and commands tens of thousands of horses.

Why is God so unfair?

"Zhang Liao, how is Sun Ce's martial arts?" Xu Rong broke the silence, his voice was not loud, but it was cold.

Duan Xuan glared at Zhang Liao viciously, his eyes smug. Because of Zhang Liao's retreat, he suffered a crushing defeat, losing nearly half of his 4,000 foot cavalry, and only fled back more than 2,000 people, losing face, and even taking the face of Liangzhou people, he was complained by Li Meng, Fan Chou and others. He unceremoniously put all the responsibility on Zhang Liao, and strongly asked Xu Rong to deal with Zhang Liao with military law, and now he is about to get his wish.

Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment, his expression calm. "Okay."

"Can you beat him?"

Zhang Liao gritted his teeth. "Yes." He actually didn't really fight with Sun Ce, when Sun Ce played, he had just had a vicious fight with Huang Zhong, and his horsepower was exhausted. But even so, Sun Ce didn't have the upper hand, and later ran away when he turned back, and his martial arts should be average. If you are well prepared, you will have a chance to kill him. Besides, he knew very well that Xu Rong could give him the best opportunity this time.

Duan Xuan was stunned and looked at Xu Rong suspiciously.

Xu Rong stared at Zhang Liao with a sharp look in his eyes. "Leave your brother as a hostage, and lead your headquarters to challenge Sun Ce, either kill him, or kill the general under him, the two must be one of the two, otherwise you yourself will go to the Taishi to ask for guilt."

"Whoa!" Zhang Liao bowed down to receive the order and got up to say goodbye.

"Hey-" Duan Xuan got up, ready to stop Zhang Liao. Xu Rong looked at him and his tone softened slightly. "Zhongming, it is my responsibility to arrange Zhang Liao to be your lieutenant, and I will ask the Taishi for guilt. I will allocate another 5,000 people to you, and you will go to Champion and Sui County to collect grain and grass, and wait for the opportunity to cut off Sun Ce's retreat. ”

Duan simmered with great joy. Xu Rong took the responsibility, added people to him, and gave him such a beautiful difference, the sincerity was very strong, and he was naturally satisfied.

"Gentlemen, hurry up and attack the counties. Ten days later, we went to meet Sun Ce together. ”

The generals agreed.