Sun Ce stood at the door of the big tent, and an inexplicable sadness swelled in his heart.

The ancients valued blood, not to mention whether it was their own kind was very important, even if it was a son-in-law and a concubine, they could be clearly distinguished, otherwise Yuan Shu would not look down on Yuan Shao, they were the same biological father. Yuan Shu himself has two daughters and a son, and his son is called Yuan Yao, who has just come of age, and Yuan Shu loves him very much. Ordinary people have to inherit the family business, let alone Yuan Shu, who has ambitions. It is not the habit of Han people to think that their heirs are not as good as other people's children, even if Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are indeed the best among young people. Yuan Shu has this kind of regret again and again, which shows that he really appreciates them.

Although he decided that Yuan Shu was not successful, Sun Ce was still grateful for this appreciation. If it was a peaceful and prosperous era, he would not object to being friends with a gentleman like Yuan Shu.

"General, will you go back to the camp?" Dian Wei leaned over and said softly.

Yuan Shu was drunk, and Sun Ce originally wanted to go back to his camp, but for some reason, he sat down again, cut off two pieces of roasted mutton, and chewed it slowly. The bonfire was bright in front of him, the wind was blowing slowly in his ears, and the sound of fighting was heard from time to time. Nanyang is surrounded by mountains, blocking the cold air in the north, and it is not cold in winter, drinking hot wine, eating barbecue, and without Yuan Shu's scolding and nagging in his ears, Sun Ce enjoyed it very much.

Cao Cao sent people to negotiate, Cai Yong came from Guanzhong again, and his father Sun Jian successfully controlled Yuzhou, and it seemed that the situation was very good, but Sun Ce was faintly uneasy in his heart, always feeling that something was going to happen, but he couldn't think of what it would be. He had something in his heart, and after drinking two more glasses for a while, the wine swelled up, and he became a little in a trance, and the bonfire and tent in front of him were a little blurred, and a noisy sound sounded in his ears, mixed with a strange roar, which he carefully distinguished, but he couldn't tell it clearly. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and there was an air in front of him, and several war horses galloped from a distance, and a person on the back of the horse was sword-eyed and starry-eyed, heroic, holding a halberd, and rushed to the front of him, twisting the halberd and stabbing it.

"Give me my life!"

Sun Ce subconsciously dodged over, stretched out his hand to grab the halberd, his palm burned for a while, he couldn't help screaming, and suddenly woke up.

There was silence in front of me, only the quiet tent, the warm campfire, and the browned mutton. Dian Wei stood aside and looked at him in surprise. Sun Ce settled down, and then he felt some pain in his palm. What surprised him even more was that Yuan Shu, who was originally drunk and unconscious, was sitting opposite him with his arms open, wearing a big coat, and poured a large glass of wine into his mouth.

"Nightmare?" Yuan Shu wiped the wine stains on his beard and said with a smile: "Why don't you go back to rest and keep vigil for Naigong?" Don't worry, although the dwarf is an assassin, he doesn't dare to come and tease Naigong's tiger whiskers. ”

Sun Ce was silent. The person he had just dreamed of looked very familiar, but it was certainly not Cao Cao.

"The general is sober?"

Yuan Shu smiled. "This little wine can be regarded as nothing, pour it, drink some soul wine, and nothing will happen. It's you, who seem to be fine, but sit outside the tent all night, is it the first taste these days, playing too hard, and emptying your body? Young people are quitting, and the days are still long. Although He Xian's woman is good-looking, she is not the best. ”

Sun Ce's mind was dizzy, and he didn't understand what Yuan Shu said, but he noticed that the sky was already slightly bright, and his body was a little cold. He stood up and shivered. "Now that the general is fine, I'll go back to the camp."

"Go, go, go back and sleep with the woman's hot body in your arms, and the wine will wake up."

Sun Ce couldn't cry or laugh, arched his hand, turned around and was about to leave, took two steps, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration and turned back. "General, with what you know about Cao Cao, what will he do at this time?"

Yuan Shu looked at Sun Ce blankly, puzzled.

Sun Ce scratched his head, thought for a moment, and then said, "If the general and Cao Cao change places, you are trapped in the city, and he is outside the city, what will you do?" ”

Yuan Shu understood at this time, tilted his head, thought carefully for a while, and felt that something was wrong. "Bo Fu, you're right, it seems too quiet during this time. With that dwarf's virtue, even if he is trapped in the city, he can't sit still, and he must find some trouble. But nothing has happened lately, and even the scout's losses are too small to be true, which is not like his style. ”

The more Sun Ce thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. When the two armies are fighting, the eyes and ears are scouts, and they must be indispensable, and while trying to find out each other's news, they must also cover the eyes and ears of each other as much as possible, so reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance are everywhere, and the mutual fighting of scouts on both sides occurs almost every day, and there will be scouts who cannot come back every day. As far as the current situation is concerned, Cao Cao has a well-formed cavalry, fast speed, strong attack power, even if he can't win, he can quickly withdraw, and occupies a clear advantage, and the scouts under Yuan Shu's command are not opponents at all, and the losses will be very large. He didn't know what happened before, but now that he has been incorporated into the Chinese army, he often meets with Lei Bo, Chen Lan and others, and knows more about the situation, knowing that the losses of the scouts are not as big as expected.

So the question is, did Cao Cao narrow the scope of reconnaissance, or was there another reason?

The more Sun Ce thought about it, the more uneasy he became, and immediately reminded Yuan Shu to pay attention. Yuan Shu was also uneasy, and sent someone to call Lei Bo to inquire. Lei Bo counted the list of casualties in the scout camp again, and only then did he find a problem: about seven or eight days ago, the casualties of the scouts had changed significantly, and suddenly decreased by more than seventy percent.

Sun Ce and Yuan Shu, you look at me, I look at you, and they all feel a strong uneasiness. The most fearful thing on the battlefield is to encounter such a sudden change, which often means a situation: the opponent makes a move, and they do not know anything.

"Quick, call the scouts who have been on missions these days." Before Yuan Shu could finish speaking, he stood up again and strode towards the scout camp. "Stop grinding and go to the scout camp."

Lei Bo didn't dare to slack off, and took Yuan Shu and Sun Ce to the scout camp, just as a group of scouts had just completed their tasks and were about to rest. Yuan Shu called them over and questioned them carefully. Soon, the scouts mentioned a problem: almost all of the Cao scouts they encountered these days were foot soldiers, and there were no cavalry.

"It's broken." Yuan Shu was frustrated and slapped his thighs continuously.

Sun Ce was also shocked. Cao Cao had six or seven hundred cavalry under his command, fought several times, lost some, and there should be about five hundred. Where did these hundreds of cavalry go? If you wander around Wancheng, the people and horses attacking the various manors may be attacked at any time, and if you are not near Wancheng, the trouble is even greater.

Yuan Shu was furious. It was a bad feeling for five hundred cavalry to be watching in the dark. Especially Cai Yong is coming, if he is kidnapped by Cao Cao, Cao Cao knows that he wants to form an alliance with Dong Zhuo, and his reputation will be stinky. He turned to Sun Ce and said, "Bo Fu, you immediately send someone to pick up Gong Jin, and you must ensure Cai Bo's safety." ”

Sun Ce was also worried about Zhou Yu's safety. Zhou Yu only brought two hundred foot soldiers to meet Cai Yong, if he was attacked, he had no chance of winning, and he didn't even have time to send the news. He wanted to set off immediately, but reason told him that this seemingly most likely conclusion was often not the truth, and if Cao Cao really wanted to do this, someone should have been attacked in seven or eight days. Cai Yong had just arrived in Wuguan, and it was impossible for Cao Cao to make preparations seven or eight days in advance.

Sun Ce pondered for a long time and put forward his own suggestions. "General, Cao Cao is treacherous, false and real, everything is possible. Now the most important thing is to send people into the city to make sure that the cavalry is not in the city. Maybe the cavalry didn't go anywhere, just recuperating and waiting for an opportunity, a chance to raid. ”

Yuan Shu gasped. "But how can you send people into the city? That dwarf is cunning, and since he has the intention to hide it from us, he will definitely be on guard. ”

"Messenger, of course. Since you can't sneak into the city secretly, you can simply go in openly. Hundreds of horses are not so easy to hide. Cao Cao wanted to exchange hostages, so the general sent a man into the city to see if the cavalry was there in the name of visiting the hostages' safety. ”