Sun Shao couldn't cry or laugh, Sun Shao seemed to be addicted to playing scoundrels, and this made the king of Yue not only did not restrain a little, but had a tendency to get worse. He grabbed Sun Shao and shook his head again and again: "Fengxian, my Royal Highness King Yue, don't make me embarrassed?" You have a legitimate reason for sending troops to Qingxu, I can't do it, once I send troops, I will become a sinner who destroys the current good situation. Don't talk about me, even King Wu can't afford this notoriety. ”

"Who said you sent troops?" Sun Shao looked at Sun Shao inexplicably: "What can you do with those thousands of people?" ”

Sun Shao was stunned: "Then what do you mean?" ”

"I just want to ask you to move your troops north, just to prevent pirates from crossing the border and hiding, and not letting you cross the border to fight." Sun Shao said confidently: "Of course, if you are willing to lend me a few people who can use it, I am also very welcome." ”

Sun Shao smiled bitterly: "Fengxian, you even calculate with me?" ”

"What are these words?" Sun Shao disagreed: "Wu Yue was originally a family, and you and I are brothers, I didn't ask King Wu to ask you to come over, which is already regarded as a painful cut, and now I just let you help me bravado, how can it be called calculation?" Brother, I think you're prejudiced against me. ”

Sun Shao couldn't say anything about Sun Shao, so he had to turn around and recruit a middle-aged general with a strong figure and smart eyes: "This is my subordinate general Gao Zhongyuan, who is the most capable of fighting under my subordinates, I will let him take a thousand battalions to follow you, is it okay?" ”

Sun Shao had known about Gao Qian for a long time, but he didn't expect Sun Shao to let Gao Qian follow him, after all, this was his cronies, Sun Shao said this, he was overjoyed, and nodded again and again to express satisfaction.

"To help you, I want to ask King Wu for instructions, this is the rule, I think you can understand it." Sun Shao smiled: "Others, as long as it is within my ability, even if you speak, I can help." ”

"Thank you very much." Sun Shao smiled, "I have already submitted a request to King Wu for a joint ban on the sea, and it is estimated that he will agree, of course you are no exception here, prepare in advance." However, your people should not stay more than ten miles away from the coast, or I will not be responsible for any accidents. ”

Sun Shao rolled his eyes, on the one hand, the lion opened his mouth, and on the other hand, he was stingy and outrageous, these two expressions actually blended so naturally on Sun Shao's face, it was really an eye-opener for him. He said angrily: "Don't worry, my people don't have that much ability, and they won't invade your Yue King's territorial waters." ”

"That's good, that's good, so as not to hurt the harmony between brothers." Sun Shao nodded again and again.

"By the way, Fengxian, you have to take care of Wang Zideng, and you must not make any mistakes."

"Who can say for sure?" Sun Shao smiled and said: "I can only try to pay attention, but I can't guarantee it, the battlefield is dangerous, and no one can protect it, right?" ”

Sun Shao was completely speechless. Although he believed that Sun Shao would not deliberately harm Sun Deng, Sun Shao's appearance made him never feel at ease, and he always felt uneasy.

In late February, Sun Shao led his army to an unnamed island outside Guoqu County in the East China Sea of Xuzhou. This island is about ten miles away from the coast of Qu County, and the place is not small, about fifty or sixty miles long from east to west, and about thirty or forty miles long from north to south. Su Thicklegs, who had been stationed on the island for several months, said that there were some Yi people on the island, but there were not many of them, and after the arrival of the army, most of them hid in the mountains, except for some skirmishes and captured a few prisoners, they basically did not deal with them.

Sun Shao was very satisfied, and asked Su Thick Legs to bring the captives, and these barefoot Yiren looked very vigilant, gathered together, hugged the torn clothes on their bodies tightly, and did not say a word.

"Do you have anyone who can speak Chinese?" Sun Shao asked with a pleasant face.

Several Yi people looked at each other, and finally deduced an old man who was bent like a bow. Although the old man's Chinese is very awkward, he can still distinguish it to some extent. Sun Shao said to him, I am the king of Yue who was personally sealed by the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and in the future, the islands in the sea are all my feudal kingdoms, and you are all my people, I hope you can go back and tell your relatives, I will not be unfavorable to you, the previous things were all misunderstandings, send a little gift to you, to apologize. When you return, let your leaders send to me, and I will have more rewards.

The old man listened to the previous words very indifferently, but when he heard the back, his cloudy old eyes turned a little, and when Sun Shao really asked people to take out the gifts, not only the old man's eyes lit up, but also the eyes of those who couldn't understand Chinese.

"Give...... To us? The old man grinned toothlessly and smiled.

"For you." Sun Shao smiled, a few daily necessities and a few horses of silk made them so happy, which shows that the people in the mountains are not happy. "Go back and ask your leader to send some more, I have more gifts for you. If you still have doubts, I can send someone to show you my fleet. ”

Sun Shao asked Sun Song to take the old man and them to the beach to see his fleet. Although Sun Song was only eighteen years old, he was very good at dealing with people, and knew that Sun Shao intended to appease these Yi people and occupy this island, so he was very attentive to the old man. He very politely showed them the cargo ship full of goods, and then showed them the mighty warship, and finally arranged for them to have a meal, and gave them a wheelbarrow, so that they could push back the gift given by Sun Shao. These Yiren were first dazzled by the mountains of cargo on the huge cargo ship, then frightened enough by the majestic soldiers on the warship, and finally tempted by the fragrant food to almost swallow their tongues.

Sun Song successfully completed the task and came back to report to Sun Shao, who was very satisfied. Su Thick Legs was a little puzzled, those Yi people were at most two or three thousand people, why bother with so much effort, just send people to fight directly. Sun Shao disagreed, he said to Su Thick Leg and the others, although there are not many people on this island, it is an excellent transit station, if you can spend a lot of money to envelop these Yi people and turn this place into a stable base, what's wrong? If they really don't know what to do, it's not too late to send troops to kill them.

Su Bu Leg didn't matter, he had never taken those Yi people in his eyes, he happily said to Sun Shao that in the past few months, he had tossed Zang Ba miserably. Zang Ba's sailors were beaten by him and did not dare to go to sea, and this long coastline was a paradise for him to gallop freely.

"However, Cao Pi is here." Su Thick Legs finally said.

"What is he doing here?" Sun Shao was a little puzzled.

"I guess I'm afraid that we will take the opportunity to swallow Qingxu." Su Rough Legs guessed: "Zang Ba is now afraid of beating wolves with a hemp pole, afraid of both us and Cao Pi." ”

"That's right." Sun Shao touched his chin, thought for a moment, and said to Shi Bao: "Zhongrong, when you go to see Zang Ba, just say that I invited him here...... Lianyungang came to discuss the joint conquest of pirates. ”

"Lianyungang?" Shi Bao's eyes lit up: "Good name, clouds in the sky, water in the sea, good name." ”

Sun Shao smiled, and said in his heart, of course you don't know that this place will be called Lianyungang after a thousand years, and there is a Huaguo Mountain on it, and that monkey used to be the hero he admired most in his childhood. It's just that thousands of years later, Lianyungang has been connected with the land, and now it is still lonely in the sea. If you don't take advantage of Zang Ba and Cao Pi to get this island when they are each pregnant with ghosts, it's just a shame on conscience.

Zang Ba was having a headache, Su Thick Legs came to find a field, and he was harassing on the coast for several months, in order to protect his own territory and show that he still had the strength to occupy Xuzhou, he joined forces with Sun Guan, the Thorn of Qingzhou, but after fighting with Su Thick Legs a few times, he tragically found that his sailors were not comparable to these pirate-born Aurora sailors at all. Speaking of warships, he also has a few warships in his hands that were taken from Jiang Qin, but when it comes to the cunning of fighting, he is obviously not on the same level as Su Thick Legs. Seeing the shadow of Su Thick Legs on the sea a few times, he just couldn't bite him, but Su Thick Legs seized the opportunity several times, swallowed the bait before the main force of the ambush arrived, and then fled the arrow, and the timing was well controlled, as if Su Thick Legs participated in his military deployment, or could predict the prophet, and knew his ambush circle well.

Later, he vaguely heard that Su Thick Leg had a tube called clairvoyance in his hand, which could see far away, and he vaguely understood something.

After several wars, the warships taken from Jiang Qin's hands were lost, and only with his original warships, Zang Ba had no ambition to compete, and honestly asked Cao Ying for help, but Cao Ying sent several generals to fail to solve the problem, and the matter became bigger and bigger, and finally even affected the negotiation of Wancheng, and was blackmailed by Yang Biao to go to Sanhe.

Of course, Cao Ying was not convinced, and he was also very annoyed with Zang Ba, so he sent Cao Pi to supervise the war, and he must exterminate this group of pirates.

Cao Pi came to Xuzhou with more than 10,000 troops, Zang Ba panicked, Cao Pi really came to suppress pirates, or did he come to suppress Zang Ba? Just when he was uncertain, Sun Shao, the king of Yue, arrived with the sailor and formed a flanking attack on him with Cao Pi.

Zang Ba is not stupid, of course he knows who the pirates in the sea are, and he also knows that Sun Shao is not good, and the good ones are not coming.

Who isn't harboring evil intentions these days? Including himself.

When he saw Shi Bao, Zang Ba was amazed by Shi Bao's handsomeness, and was surprised by Sun Shao's intentions. Of course, he didn't believe Sun Shao's talk about uniting the bandits—because Su Thick Leg was his subordinate—but he saw another solution from Sun Shao's suggestion, and perhaps, they didn't need to use force.

Zang Ba immediately passed the news to Cao Pi to see what Cao Pi's attitude was. Cao Pi listened, smiled slightly, and sent Sima Yi and Shi Bao back to Lianyungang to meet Sun Shao and discuss the plan.

"Where's Brother Zihuan?" Sun Shao smiled as soon as he saw Sima Yi, "Why didn't he come to see me directly?" ”

"The prince is preparing a banquet in Qu County to catch the wind for the king." Sima Yi said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Sun Shao pursed his lips, and said in his heart, Cao Pi took Zhang Liao and others to ride more than 10,000 steps in Qu County to catch me in the wind? It's almost as good as preparing to kill me. He quietly diverted the topic: "When will he go to the Western Regions?" ”

"After pacifying the East China Sea."

Sun Shao glanced at Sima Yi, was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "How is His Royal Highness King Wei's body lately?" ”

The corners of Sima Yi's mouth twitched, and his face became much more respectful: "His Royal Highness King Wei's health has not been good recently. ”

Cao Ying spent two years, pouring all his strength, intending to conquer Yizhou in one fell swoop and then go down the river and unify the world, seeing that Liu Bei's oil was exhausted, Yizhou could collapse at any time, and when he was about to strike the last blow, he didn't expect Guan Yu and Sun Shao to break through from the middle road, and march all the way, capturing Xu County at an unexpected speed, and crushing his ambitions. The Son of Heaven broke away from his control and re-established the capital of Luoyang, and the spread of the Han Gazette connected the voices of resistance that had been fighting alone, although it was not enough to shake his foundation, but most of his thirty years of efforts can be said to be in vain.

Cao Ying fell ill, and he had a premonition that he would not have much to do, so he was even more anxious to choose one of Cao Pi and Cao Zhi to be his heir. Cao Zhi has always performed well after his meritorious service in Bajun, and he seems to have found his place on the battlefield and become a different person - just like Cao Ren, he was dissolute and uninhibited when he was young, but after becoming a general, he put military law on the desk, and governed the army strictly and meticulously. In contrast, Cao Pi was slightly inferior militarily, but he was quite talented in mediating the government, and judging from the Wancheng negotiations, he was able to seize the opportunity and solve the potential danger.

Which one to choose? Cao Ying found that he was still unable to decide, and the two sons had their own strengths and a group of supporters, but neither of them was perfect. Whenever this happens, Cao Ying thinks of Cao Xiu and Cao Chong, especially Cao Xiu. If he feels sorry for Cao Chong, then he feels more guilty about Cao Xiu, if it weren't for his absurdity, there would be no change in Wancheng, Cao Xiu would not have died, and there would be no such problem now.

People are old, often fall into memories, and Cao Ying's memories have too many regrets and regrets, in the dead of night, he often tears all the time, he dreams of Cao Xiu, dreams of Cao Chong, dreams of his younger brother Cao De, dreams of his wife Liu and Ding, countless people appear and disappear in front of his eyes, so that he can't sleep at night.

His body was rapidly weakening.

At this time, Cao Pi was anxious, he knew that he had not yet secured the position of crown prince in his father's mind, and there was not much time left for him, and he urgently needed a reasonable victory to show that he also had considerable military talent, so as not to be threatened by Cao Zhi. He thought about it, and finally locked his eyes on Qing Xu.

Qingxu is a piece of Cao Ying's heart, although Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others surrendered to Cao Ying, but it was to surrender to him personally, not to Wei. As soon as Cao Ying died, Zang Ba and Sun Guan were likely to disagree, or be separated, or thrown into the arms of Luoyang. Xuzhou is desolate, and the impact of gains and losses is not great, but Qingzhou is different, Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Yuzhou are the main sources of strength of Wei, and once Qingzhou is lost, the strength of Wei will be greatly affected.

So Cao Pi took the initiative to ask Ying and rushed to Xuzhou, nominally to cooperate with Zang Ba to fight, but in fact he wanted to find an opportunity to replace Zang Ba. While replacing Zang Ba, he also has to remove the threat of pirates to Qingxu, and ensure a smooth transition for Qingxu, rather than stabbing a hornet's nest. The reason why Cao Pi has this confidence is that Sun Shao believes that Sun Shao can help him, not out of morality, but out of interests - marrying Xiahou Hui to Sun Shao, Cao Pi never felt that this could make Sun Shao and him have one heart, he just wanted Cao Zhi and others to feel that his relationship with Sun Shao was very good, and that was enough. And from the current point of view, he has achieved this goal.

Sun Shao asked about Cao Ying's body, Sima Yi knew that Sun Shao knew no less about the situation in Yecheng than him, and he could inadvertently provoke a civil strife in Yecheng, so it was not surprising to know that Cao Ying's health was not good.

Asking about Cao Ying's body is not the point, the point is that Sun Shao knows that Cao Pi is in a bad situation now and urgently needs his help.

Sima Yi is not stupid, the so-called listening to the string song and knowing the meaning of elegance is what he means.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sun Shao said straight to the point.

"Childe needs a big win." Sima Yi didn't hide it anymore, and said very frankly: "A big victory that can be compared to the battle of Langzhong." ”

Sun Shao smiled, supported his chin with one hand, and looked at Sima Yi with a smile: "What benefits can he give me?" After a while, he added: "I'm a businessman, and I don't do anything that is not beneficial." ”

"What benefits does King Yue want?" Sima Yi asked rhetorically.

"Hahaha......" Sun Shao laughed, he stood up, slowly paced behind Sima Yi with his hands behind his back, and suddenly reached out and patted Sima Yi's shoulder, Sima Yi was startled, his body did not move, but his head twisted back half a circle, looking straight at Sun Shao. Sun Shao looked naughty: "Sure enough, it's the wolf Gu Zhixiang, I said Zhongda, I heard that Cao Gong had intended to kill you because of you, the wolf Gu Zhixiang, but is it true?" ”

Sima Yi was a little embarrassed by him, this King Yue didn't have the dignity of a king at all, he claimed to be a businessman for a while, and he was affectionate like a friend for many years, which made him a little at a loss, and he didn't know what kind of opponent to deal with him. Sun Shao's question, he felt very difficult to answer, so he had to answer vaguely.

"Zhongda, I haven't figured out what benefits I want yet." Sun Shao touched his nose and thought for a moment and said, "In this way, I'll talk to Zang Ba's envoy again to see what kind of benefits he can give me, and then talk to you, how about it?" ”

Sima Yi frowned, and stopped talking.

Zang Ba's messenger was his son Zang Ai. Zang Ai is in his thirties, with a strong figure, a face very similar to Zang Ba, two slightly small eyes that are shining, and a thin mouth hidden in the thick beard, tightly closed.

"Sima Yi didn't say it, but I guess he should be able to promise me one or two counties." Sun Shao said very calmly: "If it goes further, I estimate that it will be Quxian and Haixi." I wonder what the major general thinks? ”

Zang Ai blinked his little eyes and nodded silently, admitting that what Sun Shao said was basically reliable, and their father and son also estimated it this way, but Sun Shao's frankness made him a little unsure of what Sun Shao's bottom line was.

"I'm not interested in Quxian and Haixi." Sun Shao said: "The young general probably also knows that I like to do business, and I don't like farming - farming is too slow to make money, so these two counties don't mean much to me." I am willing to make friends with these two counties and the major general. ”

Zang Ai was at a loss, he looked at Sun Shao vigilantly, Sun Shao's Yue Country has the smallest territory, it is said that he should have land to fight for, why doesn't he want to? Is it because you can't look down on it?

"Then what does Your Highness want?"

"I want a promise from Major General." Sun Shao leaned forward, staring at Zang Ai without moving, and after a while, he continued: "I want the major general to promise me that when my merchant ships anchor in Qingzhou and Xuzhou in the future, you must ensure the safety of my ships and will not be disturbed by any accidents." Please rest assured, the young general, I will not lose any money in the taxes you collect, but if anyone wants to slaughter me as a fat pig, I will never agree. ”

Zang Ai gritted his teeth, his cheeks squirmed for a moment, nodded and said: "I can promise Your Highness, as long as my father and son are still in Xuzhou, I will definitely ensure the safety of His Highness's people, as for Qingzhou, I want to ask Uncle Sun's consent, I think he should not refuse His Highness's kindness." ”

"Good." Sun Shao stomped the ground hard: "Also, this island is my territory, the major general won't have any doubts, right?" ”

Zang Ai's eyebrows trembled, her eyelids jumped involuntarily, pondered for a moment, and gritted her teeth: "Yes." ”

"Well, we're partners." Sun Shaolang laughed loudly: "I'll give the major general a big order first, I don't know if the major general is interested." ”

Zang Ai smiled, and said in his heart that he had long heard that Sun Shao, the king of Yue, liked to do business, and sure enough, he did not leave the bank in three sentences. He nodded and said, "I don't know what Your Highness needs, as long as we can meet it, we will definitely reassure Your Highness." ”

"Well said." Sun Shao's mouth crooked: "I want iron, a lot of iron." I know that there are several iron officials in Xuzhou, and now they are all controlled by your father and son, and Qingzhou also has them, I want you to give me all the pig iron that meets my requirements now, the price, it's easy to discuss. ”

"So much?" Zang Ai was a little embarrassed. Xuzhou is not as good as before, it is supported by these iron mines, Sun Shao wants a lot of iron, they must not ask for a high price, which is equivalent to losing a lot of money. He hesitated: "This iron is controlled by the government, if Your Highness wants less, we can also send some to Your Highness in private, but Your Highness wants so much, we ......"

"I don't want you to give it away for nothing." Sun Shao understood what he meant, and shook his head again and again: "Just according to your market price." He casually took a piece of paper from Sun Song's hand and sent it to Zang Ai: "This is the iron price of several iron officials in Xuzhou last year, what is wrong with the young general?" ”

Zang Ai took it and was taken aback, there were several iron officials with different grades of iron prices written on it, which was clear and unpleasant. He smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness knows my Xuzhou well." ”

"To do business, of course, you have to find out the market first." Sun Shao didn't think it was upset, and returned to his seat: "If the young general can't be the master, you might as well go back and ask Gong Zang, I have time anyway, and it's okay to wait another month." The scenery on this island is good, and I am planning to build a few small buildings and live for a few days. In the future, those who often come and go will have to bother the major general. ”

"Welcome." Zang Ai smiled politely, and then asked the most critical question: "Dare to ask Your Highness, how can you ensure that my father and son can sleep peacefully in Xuzhou?" ”

"Cao Pi wants war merits, not to cause chaos in Xuzhou, I give him a war merit, and he can be satisfied if he wants to." Sun Shao smiled and comforted Zang Ai and said: "He is in a hurry to make meritorious service and go back to fight for the throne now, and he will not be willing to fall into the quagmire of Qingxu." ”

Zang Ai suddenly realized and paused again and again.

(To be continued)