After taking Lujiang County, Xu Rong returned to Xuzhou with his troops; Xue Rengui and his 10,000 Goguryeo Eight Banners army were left to guard here.

Liu Ye took advantage of the chaos to run out of Anhui City and went to Cao ****. No one cared where he went.

Gongsun Kang did not mention Liu Ye to Xue Rengui in advance, and now Gongsun Kang, the departure and retention of one or two talents has little impact on him. So he doesn't have any thirst for talent. On the contrary, those who obey me prosper and those who disobey me die, and those who do not surrender will be killed directly, and the steps of persuasion will be omitted!

So the imperial mentality is ruthless! Generations of emperors have killed many scholars and talents who could have been beneficial to social development.

After Gongsun Kang occupied Lujiang County, he faced Jiangdong across the river. At this time, Jiangdong was also in a scuffle.

Half a year ago, after Gongsun Kang helped Lu Bu lay down the Moling, Lu Bu sang all the way to Danyang County.

Sun Ce is not a soft persimmon, and immediately organized a counterattack. The two sides kept seesawing, and the war was in a stalemate.

At this critical moment, Zhou Yu secretly came back from Yuan Shu.

When Sun Ce heard that Zhou Yu had returned, he personally greeted him, awarded Zhou Yu Jianwei Zhonglang General, and allocated 2,000 soldiers to him and 50 horses. In addition, Sun Ce also gave Zhou Yu a band and built a residence for Zhou Yu, and the reward was so generous that no one could compare.

Sun Ce also said in the order issued: "Zhou Gongjin is heroic and talented, and he has a good relationship with me, flesh and blood." When I first arrived in Danyang, he led the soldiers and sent ships and rations to help me, so that I could achieve great things and reward merit and virtue, and today's reward is far from repaying his support to me at a critical moment! ”

Zhou Yu was twenty-four years old at the time, and everyone in Danyang County called him Zhou Lang.

Zhou Yu, the word Gongjin, a famous general in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, was born in Shu County, Lujiang. Luoyang Ling Zhou Yi's son, cousin Zhou Jing, cousin Zhou Zhong, uncle Zhou Zhong, all officials to the captain. Chang Zhuang has a posture and fine sound rhythm, and Jiangdong has the saying "the song is wrong, Zhou Lang Gu".

Zhou Yu is both civil and military, and very strategic. He suggested to Sun Ce: "Lu Bu, Tiger General!" We can't defeat him on our own, we must unite Liu Xuan and deal with Lu Bu together. ”

Sun Ce is also an understanding person, he said: "Gongjin is right. So he sent Zhang Zhao to persuade Liu Xuan.

Zhang Zhao, Zibu, a native of Pengcheng. Politician and Confucian scholar. Sun Ce was the general of Changshi and Fujun at that time. In the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", Zhang Zhao ranked first among all the ministers of Wu State, and all civil and military affairs were entrusted to Zhang Zhao.

Liu Miao is also a Confucian scholar, and he sent Zhang Zhao to persuade him to do what he liked, and he was a professional counterpart.

Zhang Zhao is still very famous in Confucianism, so Liu Miao welcomed him ceremoniously. set up a banquet and invited many local Confucian celebrities to accompany the guests. The atmosphere of the banquet was very warm, everyone did not talk about official business, but only about learning, discussed Confucian theories, and stimulated a lot of insights from each other. I drank until late, and then the excitement dissipated.

The next day, Yuzhang County Guard's Mansion Hall. Liu Xuan, Zhang Ying, Sun Shao, Zhang Zhao and others all knelt on the mat. In front of him is a low table, and there is only a cup of tea on it. This means that it is time to talk about things officially.

Zhang Zhao bowed his hand to Liu Xuan and began to explain the purpose of his mission: "My lord Sun Bofu intends to form an alliance with Liu Tingshi to fight against Lu Bu. ”

Liu Xuan's subordinate Sun Shao received Liu Xuan's signal, and first began to rebuke Zhang Zhao, he said: "My lord Liu Thorn History is the Yangzhou Thorn History of today's Holy Grace, and the entire six counties of Yangzhou should be under the jurisdiction of my lord of my family. Before Lü Bu invaded Jiangdong, Sun Bofu had already invaded Danyang County. As a rude aggressor, what is the difference between your lord and Lu Bu? ”

"The difference is that Lu Bu is strong, and my lord is weak." Zhang Zhao smiled and said: "Lu Bu has taken Danyang, and the next step will definitely be Yuzhang County." The two alliances of our two families can fight against Lu Bu together, and if they are separated, they will be wiped out by Lu Bu respectively. Lips and teeth murmured. ”

Zhang Ying is also Liu Xuan's subordinate, and he followed up with the question: "Sun Bofu unreasonably occupied Danyang County, but now he wants to form an alliance with us, I don't know what compensation will be given to us?" ”

Zhang Zhao calmly replied: "The general trend of the world, together for a long time, must be divided, and if it is divided for a long time, it will be united." Don't talk about the past. Now is the time for the two of us to work together. It's just to survive, so don't put obstacles in each other's way. ”

The conversation gradually became a bit of gunpowder, and Liu Miao had to come forward, because it was in his interests to form an alliance. He coughed and signaled his subordinates not to make things difficult for Zhang Zhao anymore. He said: "Zibu's words are reasonable, how exactly do the two of us form an alliance, and what is the way to ensure that Sun Bofu will not betray the alliance?" ”

Zhang Zhao said: "Due to past historical reasons, the two of us are wary of each other and do not believe in each other. It's not as good as this, Liu Tingshi went to seize Huiji County; Let's go and take Kure. Each does not belong to each other, and does his own thing. ”

Zhang Ying questioned again: "Lu Bu is now attacking Danyang County, do you still have the strength to capture Wu County?" ”

Zhang Zhao still kept a smile and said confidently: "Lu Bu's main force was pinned down by us in Danyang, which is just right for you to take advantage of the situation and take Huiji County." If Lu Bu goes to the rescue of Huiji County, we will attack Wu County. In this way, Lu Bu will be difficult to take care of, and he will inevitably fail. ”

Liu Miao and his subordinates thought that Zhang Zhao had a good idea, so they agreed to form an alliance, and this was the case.

A few days later, Liu Miao ordered 20,000 soldiers and horses, and began to attack Huiji County with Zhang Ying, Chen Heng and other subordinates.

The generals of the Lü Bu faction stationed in Huiji County were: Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Hou Cheng, all of whom were not generals. But Liu Miao and his subordinates Zhang Ying and Chen Heng are only third-rate generals. So the two sides are evenly matched.

After Liu Miao occupied the two county seats, he couldn't fight them. Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Hou Cheng firmly defended the remaining county towns and county seats. The two sides came and went, each side suffered casualties, and the war fell into a stalemate.

After Lu Bu received Wei Xu's distress letter, he wanted to immediately lead troops to rush to Huiji County, but Gu Yong stopped him.

Gu Yong said: "This is Sun Ce's plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao, Wen Hou will leave with his troops, then Sun Ce will inevitably fight back and attack Wu County." We will not be able to look forward to it. ”

Lu Bu asked anxiously, "Then what should we do?" ”

Gu Yong twisted his beard and said unhurriedly: "First, we will withdraw our troops and defend Moling; The second is to send General Gao Shun to support Huiji County and relieve Wei Xu from their crisis. ”

Lu Bu said in frustration: "Then aren't we falling short? ”

Gu Yong helplessly persuaded: "Jiangdong is vast and sparsely populated, and the grain production of our Wu County and Huiji County is only enough for us to use troops in one place. Now that Sun Ce and Liu Miao have united, we can only take a step back and be content with the status quo. ”

So, Gao Shun took 800 soldiers trapped in the camp and set off to rescue Huiji County. Gao Shun was good at defense, and first stabilized the situation in Huiji County without further deterioration.

After Lu Bu retreated to Moling, Sun Ce followed, and he was unable to attack repeatedly, and his troops were lost, so he had to retreat.

Lu Bu sent Cao Xing and Cheng Lian with 5,000 soldiers and horses to support Wei Xu. After Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Cao Xing and others converged, they began to fight back, and soon recovered the two county towns lost by Huiji County.

Liu Miao had no choice but to withdraw his troops, and Jiangdong once again entered a short period of peace.

Lu Bu was unwilling to do this, he said: "Mr. Gu, why can't we even unify a small Jiangdong?" ”

Gu Yong smiled bitterly: "The main reason is that you and Sun Ce are both fierce tigers." The two of you, either of you in Jiangdong, can quickly unify Jiangdong; But if two people are at the same time, then no one can be unified. ”

Lu Bu said: "Then I will call my son-in-law and attack Sun Ce together, there should be no problem, right?" ”

Gu Yong wanted to say: You are too young! But in fact, Lu Bu is in his 40s! So he had no choice but to say: "Champion Hou's eyes have been set on the world, will he come to help Wen Hou?" ”

It's impossible for Lu Bu to think about it, he used to pit Gongsun Kang too ruthlessly, and it is estimated that he doesn't want to see himself again in a short time, so he has to give up.

(End of chapter)