Guo Jia has a lot of clever strategies in his life, and if he has to say which strategy is more subtle, I'm afraid Cao Cao can't say it.

But if you want to say which plan is the most mysterious, it must be predicting that Sun Ce will die at the hands of assassins on the eve of the Guandu War, and he really let him say it accurately.

So much so that later generations often say that Sun Ce will not die without the Three Kingdoms, because the big guys feel that as long as he does not die, he will definitely attack Xuchang during the Guandu War, and there will be no later Cao Wei.

Guo Jia's prophecy cast a veil of mystery over him.

But in fact, when seriously exploring Sun Ce's short life, Guo Jia did not predict casually, but made a reasonable and well-founded judgment.

Because Sun Ce has been working against the family for most of his career.

The princes of various places either adopted a policy of gentleness or a balancing technique for the families on their own territory, which even Lin Mo had learned to use.

But Sun Ce is different, he upholds one word, kill!

Life and death are downplayed, if you are not satisfied, you will do it, regardless of your four major families, the Huaisi Gang, and the Jiangdong Gang, if you dare to oppose it, you will kill.

In the context of the late Han Dynasty, when a family dominated the general trend, you are enemies of all families, so even if Xu Gong's disciples don't kill you, there will always be other assassins.

Looking at the world, which way can the princes become big does not depend on the family? The brothers of the Yuan family, Cao Cao, these are considered successful, because they can still suppress the families under their hands; Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, these are failures, and in turn they are controlled by the family.

Either way, there is one rule of the game that everyone has to abide by, and that is the United Family.

How capable Sun Ce is, he wants to overturn the deep-rooted family with just one overlord gun, and the three generations of the Sun family can't do it together.

On the level of confrontation with the family, in fact, Sun Ce's fate has already been doomed.

Zhou Yu, who was born in a family, had already understood this truth, and he had also persuaded Sun Ce many times, but he couldn't persuade him.

Of course, in addition to Sun Ce's own character flaws, there are some contradictions that have indeed reached the point of irreconcilability.

For example, the Lu family among the four major families in Jiangdong, in the second year of Xingping, Sun Ce was still subordinate to Yuan Shu, and was ordered to attack Lujiang, besieged for more than a few months, and finally killed Lu Kang from illness, so far the city was broken.

In that battle, half of the Lu family died, and the rest fled to Jiangdong to avoid trouble.

You know, at that time, Lu Kang was the Lujiang Taishou who was rightfully enshrined by the imperial court, but you forced him to death, and killed so many people in the Lu family, so that the rest of the people could only flee to Wu County, should this account be recorded on Yuan Shu's head or on your Sun Ce's head?

Then, he did Liu Xuan, the assassin of Yangzhou who was enshrined by the imperial court, and Sun Ce's behavior is actually no different from betraying the imperial court.

Originally, the blood debt of the Lu family made the major families dissatisfied with the Sun family, but after Liu Xuan's incident, the contradiction reached the extreme.

Therefore, even if Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong are well-connected and have enough face, it is difficult to raise enough food, grass and ordnance for Sun Ce, because the major families are powerful, and everyone hopes that the Sun family will die as soon as possible.

So much so that after Sun Quan died in Guangling and the Sun family army was defeated, the heroes of the major families not only did not give Sun Ce charcoal, but on the contrary, they made matters worse, and anti-Sun waves began to be set off in various places.

Families of all sizes began to turn away Sun Ce, and riots against Sun Ce appeared in Wujun, Huiji, and Yuzhang counties.

Fortunately, these people have not fully united, but they are fighting separately and refusing to deal with the Sun family.

According to Sun Ce's temper in the past, it must be a killing spree, so Zhou Yu even pulled Zhang Zhao and others to prepare to go to the door to persuade him.

After all, at this time, if violent means are still used to quell the chaos, it is likely to drive the family to a dead end, and in the end, the four major families stood up and asked for the alliance to confront, that time, it was really useless for the overlord to be alive.

But when he saw Sun Ce, he was unexpectedly calm, not only did he not go to the army to prepare for a big fight, but he didn't even put on armor, he just sat in the courtyard and couldn't give up.

When I asked him anything, he seemed absent-minded and answered what he was asking.

In the end, Zhou Yu took Zhang Zhao and the others away and returned to Sun Ce's side, and after some patient questioning, he was able to reveal his heart.

Guangling City was defeated twice, losing no less than 30,000 Jiangdong children, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Pan Zhang, Ling Cao, plus his younger brother Sun Quan, this blow is not a big deal for Sun Ce.

Then, after returning to Danyang, large-scale rebellions against the Sun family began in various places, which forced him to start re-examining his life.

In the past, did you really do something wrong?

In the face of the situation in front of him, the Overlord Spear was also beyond its strength, not to mention the Overlord Spear that had already lost to Fang Tian's halberd

In fact, when Sun Quan was still alive, like Zhou Yu, he repeatedly advised Sun Ce to be gentle with the family and really use it for himself.

There is such a saying that when Sun Ce was dying, in fact, many people wanted to support Sun Yi on the throne, because his personality was most like Sun Ce.

But before he died, Sun Ce became enlightened, he understood that his death was not an accident, and to truly gain a firm foothold in this land, it was far from enough to rely on force, what was needed was power and scheming.

And in this regard, Sun Yi, like himself, is far inferior to Sun Quan, so he changed his candidate.

History, the most followed its own track to move forward, the Sun Ce in front of him has not been seriously injured, but the trauma in his heart also makes him reflect on how he should go in the future.

Once upon a time, he always felt that there was nothing in this world that could not be solved by an Overlord gun, and reality gave him a blow. No, two resounding slaps in the face.

He began to understand that there are heavens outside the sky, there are people outside the people, and the strength of the individual will eventually be exhausted.

Therefore, this time, he doesn't plan to kill, what's the use of killing a river of blood in Jiangdong, everyone is expanding their territory, and he is still dealing with the backyard of wolf smoke, if it goes on like this, let alone expand the Sun family's business, in the end, I am afraid that it will be destroyed in his own hands sooner or later.

Of course, Sun Ce was very happy to have such an awakening, although he did not say it explicitly, but his words had already revealed that he was willing to compromise with the family.

Next, Zhou Yu started his operation to turn the tide.

At the moment, don't look at the three counties and twenty-eight counties all have different degrees of rebellion, but the dominance of this matter must be in the four major families, and they have been dealt with, and the other small families are just grass on the wall.

Zhou Yu first asked Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong to take people to the four major families to show goodwill, and even did not hesitate to go with heavy gifts, there is no shortage of this thing, but the attitude is very important.

After wandering around, Zhou Yu went on another trip in person, as Sun Ce's spokesperson, coupled with the influence of the Zhou family, his weight is not heavy, of course, it is inevitable to say some good things and flattery.

However, the people of the four major families are not a brain pump, and listening to some good words is considered a step, the family is always the first interest, and only when they are given what they want, can there be room for buffering this contradiction.

Therefore, the biggest move was about to start, Sun Ce personally came to the door, and promised that Lu Jun, the head of the Lu family, was appointed as the Taishou of Wu County, the head of the Gu family, Gu Yong, the head of the Gu family, was the Taishou of the Huiji, and Yuzhang was the Taishou of the Zhang family.

This can be regarded as a drastic change, you must know that the Taishou of these three counties was originally served by the Huaisi Gang, that is, the members of the Sun family, and they all gave it up in one go, which is equivalent to greatly contributing to the cost of the four major families to resist the Sun family.

As the leader of the Huaisi Gang, Zhou Yu took the initiative to propose, which made Sun Ce give it a go with the attitude of giving it a try.

The effect was very good, and in less than half a year, the riots in the counties were completely suppressed, and the previous bad attitude towards the Sun family was also changed.

However, this gift can only stabilize the situation in Jiangdong, and it can't make the four major families fully support Sun Ce, and you can only give such a gift once, because the six counties of Jiangdong in history have lost Lujiang and Jiujiang, and the only four Taishou positions have given up three, and they can't be given anymore.

Moreover, Huaisi also has to give you enough benefits, but people put their heads on their belts and charge for your Sun family.

"Gong Jin, this is just a delaying tactic, not a long-term strategy after all, I am only afraid that the hearts of the four major families are not enough to swallow the elephant, and in the end I will be devoured by them.

What's more, the brothers under my command are all fighting with their lives, but what I can give them is only 600 stones, and the location is limited, and after a long time, there will be complaints."

Sun Ce was very worried about this problem, he no longer thought about suppressing it by force, and began to prefer to use power to control the state and county, and to soothe people's hearts with mental tricks.

"There is no choice but to go to war." In fact, war has always been an extension of politics, and if you want to play politics, you will inevitably have to use swords.

Only when your cake is big enough can you keep everyone full.

"However, we have missed the best opportunity to go north." The Great War in the Central Plains had ended, and that was the most suitable time to go north, and it was okay for Sun Ce to even want to bypass Zhang Liao and attack Lujiang.

But at that time, there were riots in various parts of Koto, and he simply did not have the ability to wage war again.

Now it's time to do it, but the problem is that the timing is wrong.

It's annoying.

"Bo Fu, now is not the right time to go north, and even if we are really lucky enough to take Xuzhou, we can't stop Cao Cao's iron hooves."

"So that's what you're talking about." Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu with some surprise, Xuzhou has been blocking the main road in the northeast of the Yangtze River, if you don't take Xuzhou, could it be Jingzhou?

On the other side of Jingzhou, since the battle of Shaxian, Huang Zu did not dare to come out easily to fight them, and the siege of the city is not possible now.

"Jiaozhou!" Zhou Yu's eyes froze, and he read out two words firmly.

"Jiaozhou?"

Sun Ce thought he had heard it wrong, gouged out his ears, and sneered: "Jiaozhou is located in a remote area, the mountains are chaotic, the miasma is rampant, and the passage is blocked, and ten Jiaozhou can't compare to one Xuzhou." ”

"At present, this is true, but in the long run, Jiaozhou is of great significance to us."

"I want to hear about it." Sun Ce sat up again, ready to listen carefully to Zhou Yu's insights.

"If we talk about taxes, grain production, salt and iron, of course, these are not comparable to Xuzhou, but on the one hand, our current military attack on Jiaozhou has a chance to succeed, and Xuzhou and Jingzhou have a great possibility of defeat;

In addition, although a corner of Jiaozhou is sparsely populated, the people are not accessible and there are many mountains and forests, but Jiaozhou is not short of water veins, if it can introduce Quyuan plough and keel waterwheel, it will definitely change the decline after a few years, and it can become our granary.

Three, there are seven counties in Jiaozhou, although it is located in a reckless place, but this is the position of the seven Taishou, and there will be no place to settle the four major families in the future.

Fourth, the momentum of the four major families is too strong, it is difficult to compete with Huaisi alone, and it is necessary to integrate into the new forces, there are not many powerful families in Jiaozhou, but if they work together with Huaisi members, they may not be able to compete with the four major families. ”

These four directions were all carefully considered, and Sun Ce fell into deep thought.

At first, he really didn't look down on Jiaozhou, thinking that it was just a reckless place, and there was no meaning in getting it, Zhou Yu said this, the importance of Jiaozhou has risen to the height of the overall situation in Jiangdong's future, and for a while he felt that more than half of the darkness accumulated in his heart had been removed.

The use of troops against Jiaozhou, relieving internal pressure, expanding territory, building a future granary, and even shaking the absolute dominance of the four major families has to be said to be a wonderful move.

He even suspected that when he gave up the position of the three major guards, he had already targeted Jiaozhou.

Using Jiaozhou to balance the four major families, transfer contradictions, beautiful, the more Sun Ce thought about it, the more excited he became, he stood up and paced back and forth.

"Good! In what name does that do it? Sun Ce is completely awakened, knowing that in the past, only relying on likes and dislikes would bring endless troubles, and if this name is not established, the future Jiaozhou will be the current Jiangdong.

"Jiaozhou has always had no quarrel with the world, and there is nothing out of the ordinary, but they have not paid tribute for many years, so they can only ask Cao Cao to help." This is the benefit of coercing the princes of the Son of Heaven.

Now that Sun Ce wants to attack Jiaozhou, he has to rely on Cao Cao to give him a holy decree.

But why did they give you a holy decree? Naturally, it is inevitable to pay tribute, and the amount given cannot be too little, for Jiangdong, which is not rich, it is tantamount to adding insult to injury.

Sha Xian's victory in the first battle had already been defeated in Guangling, so he could only ask the four major families for help, but fortunately, the relationship has eased a lot now, and the three Taishou have just been given, Sun Ce plans to let Zhou Yu take Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao to the door to ask for it.

Most of the time, there is nothing wrong with this.

"Sikong, the Sima family has sent a letter, saying that the affairs of Hanoi are almost done, so that we can receive it at the beginning of spring."

When Guo Jia found Cao Cao with the letter sent by Sima's family, he was a little dazed.

In Cao Cao's prediction, it should be the Sima family who sent someone to the door, pretending to assist, and finally let himself lead someone to a sneak attack, and he opened the city gate to respond, just like Shouchun at the beginning.

But now, it seems that the other party does not intend to do this.

Because he said that he was taking over the city, not leading troops to attack.

"Can you see what the Sima family wants?"

Guo Jia smiled, "If the guess is good, it should be against Zhang Yang's subordinates, so that the family will not be involved, and the Sima family doesn't want to have the same heart as Sikong."

Of course, this also has an advantage, our original intention was not to tear our faces with Lu Bu immediately. ”

Cao Cao nodded, after Yuan Shao died, he didn't have much taboo about whether to tear his face with Lu Bu, Guo Jia didn't mention it, he even forgot his original request.

"I've done everything, and I want to clean myself up."

Cao Cao sneered, "It doesn't matter, who did he rebel against, when the time comes, hold this person in our hands, his Sima family will never want to be clean, I still have to push him to the opposite side of Lu Bu, if he doesn't share a boat with me, he still has the confidence to fight against Lu Bu." ”

After speaking, he sighed again, and his eyes became melancholy, "You say, the empty bag that was searched from Zhang Yang at the beginning, was it Lin Mo's suspicious plan, or was there really a way to save himself but it was put away by Zhang Yang?" ”

Guo Jia did not answer this question immediately.

Since An Feng, Lin Mo has actually become a shadow in Guo Jia's heart, especially the white horse capturing Yan Liang, the Guandu breaking the building, and the black nest robbery camp, all of which make people feel that Lin Mo has strange abilities.

Because of this, this time the breaking of Hanoi is even more important.

After all, if he succeeds, at least one thing is confirmed, Lin Mo definitely does not have the ability of an unpredictable prophet, he needs to sweep away the shadows, and Cao Cao also needs to regain his confidence, which is very important.

Moreover, even if he misses, there is the Sima family as the backer, so he will not lose anything.

After a while, Guo Jiacai restrained his messy thoughts, and said in a deep voice: "Yuan Shao is dead, Jing Xiang will not be able to take it for a while and a half, and Bingzhou can no longer be delayed, so Hanoi must be held in our hands, whether Lin Mo really has that heavenly ability, let the Sima family try it." ”

Cao Cao took a deep breath and nodded, "Reply, let him do it." ”

"Whoa."

(End of chapter)