After Sun Ce defeated Liu Xuan, Yuan Shu transferred Zhou Shang, Wu Jing, and Sun Ben back to Shouchun to stay by his side to help him, and then Yuan Shu was determined to become emperor, although Sun Ce persuaded Yuan Shu but Yuan Shu did not listen, and the two broke up.

【Personnel Transfer】

After Sun Ce defeated Liu Xuan, his power developed rapidly, and his troops had expanded to tens of thousands. So he said to Zhou Yu: "I already have the troops, finance, and food to pacify Shanyue. You'd better go back and guard Danyang. Zhou Yu then led his troops back to Danyang to help his father Zhou Shang.

After Yuan Shu learned that Sun Ce had killed Liu Xuan in Shouchun, he asked Sun Ce to be the acting general of the Kou Dynasty. Recall Wu Jing, Sun Ben, Zhou Shang and others to Shouchun for use. sent his cousin Yuan Yin to replace Zhou Shang as the Taishou of Danyang, and Zhou Yu followed Zhou Shang to Shouchun. Yuan Shu found that Zhou Yu was talented, so he wanted to accept Zhou Yu as a general. Zhou Yu saw that Yuan Shu would not achieve anything in the end, so he only asked to be the magistrate of Juchao County, and wanted to wait for the opportunity to defect to Sun Ce, but Yuan Shu agreed to Zhou Yu's request.

Yuan Shu's move was thought by many people to be deliberately weakening Sun Ce, objectively speaking, after withdrawing Wu Jing and Sun Ben, Sun Ce's strength was indeed weakened, but from all aspects, Yuan Shu was really not targeting Sun Ce.

First of all, Yuan Shu issued the order after Sun Ce had already defeated Liu Xuan, and Wu Jing and Sun Ben themselves were sent by Yuan Shu to deal with Liu Xuan from the beginning, and now that they have defeated Liu Xuan, it is normal for Yuan Shu to transfer them away;

Secondly, if Yuan Shu really wants to target Sun Ce, he doesn't need these detours, he can just transfer Sun Ce back, after all, Sun Ce was far from independent at that time, and he didn't want to give Sun Ce an official promotion and let him stay in Wu County, in fact, Yuan Shu had already expressed his acquiescence to Sun Ce's further actions in the south;

In the end, Sun Ce didn't need the help of Wu Jing, Sun Ben and others very much at that time, after Liu Xuan was defeated, Yangzhou no longer had a second state pastor appointed by the imperial court, and Sun Ce let Zhou Yu go north It was already very telling, and Sun Ce was more than enough to protect himself at that time.

After Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei then became Xuzhou Mu, Yuan Shu always wanted to take the opportunity to seize Xuzhou, but because of the stalemate with Liu Xuan, he didn't pull out his hand before, and now Liu Xiang failed, Yuan Shu was determined to crusade against Liu Bei, so he recalled Wu Jing, Sun Ben, Zhou Shang and others.

On the other hand, Yuan Shu has already begun to prepare to become the emperor and stand on his own, so by the way, it is reasonable for him to send his relative Yuan Yin to serve as the Taishou of Danyang.

【Rupture】

In the second year of Jian'an (197), Hanoi Zhang Shu divined the hexagram for Yuan Shu, thinking that he had the order of the emperor, and Yuan Shu was already ready to stand on his own at that time, so he officially claimed the emperor with a jade seal, appointed Jiujiang Taishou as Huainan Yin, and placed the courtiers of the public secretary and established the name Zhong.

Sun Ce was strongly opposed to this matter, and he used Dong Zhuo as an example to advise Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu believed that he had the army of Huainan, and Sun Ce had only just occupied Wu County at that time, so he did not take Sun Ce's advice seriously, but thought that Sun Ce would eventually give in to him.

But Sun Ce was Sun Jian's son, and after seeing that Yuan Shu was really self-reliant, Sun Ce immediately severed relations with Yuan Shu, and also sent letters to persuade Wu Jing, Sun Ben, Sun Xiang and other relatives to break with Yuan Shu and return to Jiangdong. At that time, Wu Jing served as the Taishou of Guangling under Yuan Shu, and Wu Jing immediately gave up Guangling and returned to Sun Ce. Sun Ben was appointed as the Taishou of Jiujiang by Yuan Shu, who was already preparing to be the emperor, that is, the later Huainan Yin, but Sun Ben abandoned his wife and children, refused to take office, and returned to Jiangdong, Sun Xiang was Sun Ce's brother, and served as the Taishou of Runan under Yuan Shu, only he failed to return to Jiangdong because the road was too far away.

In addition to Wu Jing, Sun Ben and other relatives, Zhou Yu also came to join Sun Ce.

Yuan Shu originally wanted to keep Zhou Yu by his side, but Zhou Yu saw that Yuan Shu could not achieve a big thing, so he asked to be released, and Yuan Shu let him be the head of the nest. In the third year of Jian'an (198), Zhou Yu returned to Wu County through Juchao. 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. Zhou Yu was twenty-four years old at the time, and the people of Wu County called him Zhou Lang.

According to the "Biography of Jiangbiao", at that time, in addition to giving Zhou Yu soldiers and war horses, Sun Ce also gave Zhou Yu a drum band and built a residence for Zhou Yu. Sun Ce also said in the order issued: "Gong Jin is heroic and talented, and he has a good relationship with me, flesh and blood." When I was in Danyang, he led the soldiers and sent ships and rations to help me, so that I could achieve great things, and I was rewarded for merit, and today's reward was far from repaying him for his support at the critical moment! ”

When Zhou Yu went south, in fact, Lu Su was also there, and met with Sun Ce, Sun Ce also appreciated him, but later because Lu Su's grandmother died, Lu Su went back to Dongcheng to handle the funeral, and finally fell in love with Sun Ce.

【Pingding Danyang】

Danyang County is one of Yuan Shu's territories in Yangzhou, and after he sent Wu Jing to defeat Zhou Xin, the former Danyang Taishou, he first appointed Wu Jing to replace Zhou Xin to manage Danyang, and then let Zhou Yu's father Zhou Shang take over, and finally chose his younger brother Yuan Yin to govern the place.

Yuan Shu was very dissatisfied with Sun Ce's behavior, and he co-opted Zulang and other local forces in Danyang, and encouraged Shanyue to jointly deal with Sun Ce. At that time, Tai Shi Ci also occupied Jing County and called himself Danyang Taishou.

In the third year of Jian'an (198), Sun Ce sent Xu Kun to expel Yuan Yin, seized Danyang County, and pacified all parts east of Xuancheng. He attacked Lingyang (now southeast of Qingyang County, Anhui) first, captured Zulang, and then attacked Yongli (northwest of present-day Jing County, Anhui) and captured Tai Shici. When Sun Ce pacified Danyang and returned to the division, Tai Shici and Zulang led the army, and the whole army felt very honored. After returning to Wu County, Sun Ce worshiped Tai Shi Ci as the general of Zhonglang and awarded Zu Lang as the thief Cao. So Danyang was pacified.

In the process of crusading against Zulang, Sun Ce was once surrounded by Zulang's army, and it was Cheng Pu and a cavalryman who protected Sun Ce at that time, drove the horse to rush violently, stabbed the enemy with a spear, and separated the Zulang army on both sides, so that Sun Ce was able to break out of the encirclement with Cheng Pu.

According to the "Biography of Jiangbiao", after capturing Zu Lang, Sun Ce said to him: "You used to attack me and cut my saddle, but now I have established an army and started a career, hoping that we can get rid of the old hatred between us, and I only hope that you can be used by me, so you don't need to be afraid, I will not target you." Zu Lang immediately kowtowed and apologized, and Sun Ce had his torture instruments broken, clothes to him, and appointed him as a thief.

After the capture of Danyang, Sun Ce's power in Jiangdong further expanded, and he had become a rising star.