Sun Jian, who said that he was angry and walked away, scolded angrily all the way: "Hmph! This rabble is really angry! When has it been, and you are still having fun! Damn it! Disgusting! Such invective accompanied Sun Jian's footsteps all the way to a pavilion in the depths of the Yuan Mansion Garden.

At this time, it was already the wax moon, and in the garden of Yuan's mansion, the green silk was already dipped in snow and the fragrance was exhausted, only the green bamboos on both sides of the stone path were still standing proudly in the cold wind. The current incomplete Han rivers and mountains are like the scenery of the northern kingdom in the wax moon - frozen three feet: the indifferent and unkind princes of the ranks, like a thousand flowers and grasses in the cold winter wax moon, welcome the way of heaven; General Wentai, who bowed his head and was silent, was like a green bamboo in the cold west wind - immovable.

"The minister is like ten thousand fangs, and the king is like the four seasons; Virtue is like winter, and mediocre ministers are in charge; The virtuous minister is like a bamboo, and he bathes in the cold wind alone. Sun Jian couldn't help but sigh.

"Father, the way of heaven is like this, it is beyond the power of man, and relax." Sun Ce persuaded him.

"Well, let them go!" After a sigh of relief, Sun Jian turned to ask, "Shicai is above the Huimeng, why is my son asking?" Do you know that Zhou Hui? ”

"Father, Zhou Hui is Zhou ......" Sun Ce's words were just halfway through when he was interrupted by a voice of "Brother Wentai" behind him. The father and son looked back and found that it was Yuan Shu, who was coming in the dust.

"What is General Yuan looking for me?" Sun Jian said.

"Brother Wentai doesn't have to be polite, just call me the highway." Yuan Shu also bowed to the Tao.

"Brother Highway, what are you looking for me?" Sun Jian asked again.

"Alas!" Yuan Shu sighed, and said with a long sigh: "Brother Wentai forgives his sins." ”

Sun Jian was a little confused, so he had to help Yuan Shu up first, and said, "Brother Highway, why is this?" ”

"In the Fit Talent Alliance, I shouldn't turn to Du Kui, if there is anything inconsiderate, I hope Brother Wentai will forgive me." Yuan Shudao.

Yuan Shu's self-guilty apology made Sun Jian, who has always eaten soft and not hard, unable to refuse: "I didn't mean to target anyone, I was just anxious to please Dong Daji." ”

"Discuss Dong's plan! Hum! Discuss Dong's plan! Yuan Shu thought to himself. He clearly had something to say, but he stopped talking, as if he was worried about something. In order to eliminate Yuan Shu's scruples, Sun Jian promised: "Brother Highway has something to say, although he speaks bluntly, after listening to it, he will definitely keep his mouth shut." ”

At this point, Yuan Shucai said bluntly: "Don't hide it from the two of you, my brother's organization of the coalition army against Dong this time is completely to avenge the revenge of being chased by Dong Zhuo in Luoyang City that day. In my brother's heart, personal enmity was much more important than public enmity. And my participation in the fight against Dong Lianjun was entirely to support the Han Dynasty. If Brother Wentai does not give up, he is willing to form a brotherly alliance with Brother Tai to jointly assist the Han Dynasty. ”

At this moment, Sun Jian did not want to form another alliance with Yuan Shu, if you investigate the reasons, there are three main reasons:

First, in the year of war, people's hearts are unpredictable, and the grass and trees are soldiers. If the matter of forming another alliance with Yuan Shu was known to the rest of the princes, it would inevitably cause many suspicions between the allies, and then form internal factional struggles, which would affect the implementation process of the strategy of discussing Dong.

Second, most of these covenants are unequal covenants. When an alliance is made, the inferior party is often constrained by the stronger party. Now Yuan Shufang's financial resources, military strength, and power are obviously stronger than Sun Jianfang's, and once the two sides form an alliance, Sun Jian must be at a disadvantage and subject to others.

Third, the reason why Sun Jian worked tirelessly and traveled thousands of miles to attend the meeting was to eradicate Dong Thief and restore the Han Dynasty. If Yuan Shu is the same on the outside and sincerely assists the Han, even if Sun Jian is a little wronged, he will not have a second word. But if Yuan Shu is inconsistent on the outside and is not really assisting the Han, then Sun Jian is not going to act for the tiger and help the abuse.

In view of the above three points, Sun Jian wanted to refuse. But just as Sun Jian was about to speak, Yuan Shu hurriedly added: "In order to express my sincerity, during the existence of the covenant, I will supply my brother Tai in batches every month according to the grain and grass required by the 20,000 army every year. ”

"Ahh Sun Jian couldn't help but be stunned.

When he was young, Sun Jian, who had not yet recovered his senses, asked innocently: "Is this true?" ”

After Yuan Shu heard this, he couldn't help but "hehe" and said: "How can it be true for the husband to speak." ”

"Father, since General Yuan is so sincere, you can agree." Sun Ce persuaded.

Although Sun Jian's intuition has always admonished that "Yuan Shu must not really assist the Han", the actual benefits promised by Yuan Shu made Sun Jian have to relax and say: "Okay, as long as Brother Highway agrees to my two conditions, I will sign an alliance with Brother Tai." First, in order to ensure the stability and unity of the Dong coalition army, I also ask my brother Taiwan to form an alliance with my brother Taiwan and refrain from making public announcements about it for the time being. Second, my alliance with Brother Tai was reached on the premise that Brother Tai wholeheartedly assisted the Han Dynasty, and if Sun Jian found out that Brother Tai did not really assist the Han Dynasty, Sun Jian's alliance with Brother Taiwan would no longer exist. ”

"Okay, I promise you." Yuan Shu agreed very simply. In order to avoid long nights and dreams, Yuan Shu also made a special request: "After the alliance is over, please also ask my brother to go to my residence immediately and sign the covenant together." ”

In this regard, Sun Jian also made another request: "Three thousand arrows - as a condition for signing the contract immediately, Brother Highway needs to transfer me another three thousand arrows." ”

For Yuan Shu, three thousand arrows are not worth mentioning at all, and in Yuan Shu's opinion, it is still very cost-effective to exchange the insignificant three thousand arrows for a written covenant that will be signed and effective immediately. He couldn't wait to say: "Okay, after the covenant is signed, three thousand arrows and the first batch of grain and grass will arrive in Changsha County in ten days." ”

According to common sense, a prince who is both a famous family and a prince should not easily change his original intention by supplying grain and grass for this area; He shouldn't let these few 3,000 arrows cut off his slightest room for maneuvering.

But behind Sun Jian's father and son, there is an unknown bitter story:

According to rumors in the market, Sun Jian's ancestor was the most holy soldier and the famous general Sun Wu of Wu. As a soldier saint, King Wu's father and son must treat him well, and the family background of the Sun family can be seen from this.

No matter how big the family background is, it can't withstand the waste of dozens of generations. When the family history of the Sun family was passed on to his father, Sun Zhong, it was already in decay. In order to make a living, Sun Jian's father, Sun Zhong, is just a hidden melon farmer who grows melons for a living.

Due to his poor family background and lack of money to honor his superiors, Sun Jian's career when he was young can be described as extremely bumpy. Before his thirties, Sun Jian only briefly served as an acting lieutenant when the county government was in danger, and most of the rest of the time, Sun Jian was able to get by in the position of county leader.

In order to find a way out, Sun Jian resolutely embarked on the road of joining the army to quell the Yellow Turban Uprising at the age of thirty. In this battle, Sun Jian was extremely brave, often putting life and death out of the way, and made a lot of achievements. Because of this, Sun Jian received the attention of the Eastern Han Dynasty after the war.

When Sun Jian was thirty-three years old, a civil uprising occurred in Changsha County. The imperial court remembered Sun Jian's courage in battle, so he appointed him as the Taishou of Changsha, and led 2,000 local officials and troops to exterminate the rebellious people. Soon after, the Changsha Rebellion subsided, and Sun Jian also secured the position of Changsha Taishou.

Later, the remnants of the Yellow Turbans revolted again. When most of the princes supported their own troops and no longer paid taxes to the imperial court, Sun Jian did not disobey the imperial decrees like most princes did - and withheld taxes privately. In October, Dong Zhuo entered the government of Ji, and the imperial power was completely lost, and Sun Jian began to disobey the decree of the "imperial court" - no longer pay taxes.

The vast majority of this tax was used as military expenses to recruit soldiers and purchase weapons and armor. With the support of this money, the defenders of Changsha County also grew rapidly from more than 2,000 people to more than 20,000.

After wantonly recruiting troops and placing weapons, this originally huge military expenditure is not much left. But the rations of the 20,000-strong army, and the feathers and arrows of the crossbowmen, have not yet landed.

In desperation, Sun Jian had no choice but to forcibly confiscate the property of his local bullies and corrupt officials, and used it as military rations and feather arrows to survive with hard support.

In fact, Sun Jian, as a prince, can get through the current difficulties by increasing taxes-this is exactly what most princes are doing. However, Sun Jian, who takes the world as the most important rule and the people's livelihood as his own responsibility, would rather offend the eunuchs than exploit the Li people of Changsha, who were already strapped by the war.

With the passage of time, Sun Jian's noble sentiment of serving the country and the people has gradually turned into the soul of the army and injected into the body of every soldier of the Sun family.

Because Sun Jian was rigorous and well-trained in managing the army on weekdays, this army, which was mostly recruits, also formed a strong combat power in just a few months.

In actual combat, this 20,000-strong army is often able to defeat a strong enemy and win more with less. Therefore, even a great prince like Yuan Shao, who had more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, did not dare to provoke Sun Jian easily.

For Sun Jian, no matter how strong or weak the princes are, they are not enough to fear. The food supply that tens of thousands of soldiers and horses need every day is Sun Jianzheng's true enemy. No, now Sun Jian is worried about the grain and grass needed for Dong again.

Due to problems such as transportation and rationing, the army needed far more grain and grass to go out on expeditions than it needed in peacetime and non-wartime, and this was undoubtedly worse for Sun Jianjun, who was already eating a lot of food.

Although Han Fu had promised to supply grain and grass for the 180,000 coalition troops, Han Fu was forced to agree under the coercion of everyone after all. In case Han Fu only supplies a few days of grain and grass, and then shirks the matter, Sun Jian will face the embarrassing situation of having no food in his hands and the whole army starving to death.

It is no wonder that Sun Jian will not hesitate to easily form an alliance with Yuan Shu for the sake of grain and grass; It is no wonder that Sun Jian would cut off the last room for maneuver for the sake of few feather arrows.