In Xiakou, the Jingzhou Army and the Jiangdong Army had fought more than 50 battles in the past few days. The entire area was dyed red with blood, and corpses floated in the water from time to time.
"Damn it!" Sun Ce looked at the Jiangdong Army's naval camp across the river. Originally, there was no one in Jiangxia that could stop him after Xiakou. Who knew that Liu Biao would send out his entire army. Just the navy alone had more than 70,000 soldiers, and Sun Ce was helpless against the general. The general was still Huang Zu, but the deputy general was changed to someone called Wen Pin.
Sun Ce had never fought with Wen Pin before, but his general, Taishi Ci, could not take him down after a hundred rounds. Not only that, he was also extremely good at naval warfare. With the cooperation of Huang Zu, they made the Jiangdong Army suffer. In a few days, Jiangdong had lost more than 7,000 soldiers, and the Jingzhou Army had also lost more than 10,000 soldiers.
Jiang Xia was difficult to conquer, and the loss of Lujiang made Sun Ce even more irritated.
"Milord, Zhou Hujun requests an audience!" The guard outside the door asked.
"I don't want to see him!" Subconsciously, Sun Ce replied irritably.
"Yes!" The guard was about to retreat, but Sun Ce stopped him. "Wait! Let Gong Jin in! "Sun Ce knew that Zhou Yu must have a reason for coming.
"Milord!" Zhou Yu entered the tent and cupped his fist towards Sun Ce. He knew that Sun Ce was very irritated recently, but there were some things that had to be said. This matter was too important.
"Gong Jin, why are you hesitating? If you have something to say, say it! "Sun Ce waved his hand. He hated hesitation the most.
Zhou Yu took a deep breath and organized his thoughts. Then, he said, "My lord, I have bad news and good news!"
"Good news and bad news?" Sun Ce froze for a moment.
"I will say the good news first!" Zhou Yu acted on his own initiative. "The good news is that Chen Rui's clan in Wancheng City was exterminated by Lü Bu!"
"Exterminated?" Sun Ce froze for a moment, and then his face showed a trace of anger. "Gong Jin, are you making fun of me? Uncle Zizheng, it is I, Sun Ce, who have harmed you! " Chen Rui was the retainer of the Sun family when Sun Jian was still alive. Later, Sun Jian died in battle, and the original Sun family's diners scattered. Only Chen Rui and a few others were still by Sun Ce's side. They were the ones who helped Sun Ce walk out of the valley. It was under their planning that Sun Ce was able to conquer Jiangdong.
Now that he heard the news of Chen Rui's clan being exterminated, Sun Ce's heart could not help but hurt.
Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce's expression and knew that Sun Ce misunderstood him. He quickly said, "My lord, I am also very sad about the death of Mr. Chen Rui and his clan, but people need to look forward. A general's success is built on thousands of bones. To become a great businessman, one cannot only look at the front. Mr. Chen Rui's Chen family is the representative of Wancheng City's nobles. Now that Lü Bu has exterminated the Chen family, not only did he offend us, but he also offended the entire Wancheng City's nobles and even lost the hearts of the entire Jiangdong's nobles!"
Zhou Yu's words made Sun Ce's eyes light up. He himself was the one who offended the nobles the most. When he was young and frivolous, the Lu Family lost most of their Lu Family. Although it was not done by Sun Ce, it was Sun Ce who made them starve to death.
The bigger the territory, the more Sun Ce regretted it. Why? Because the Lu Family represented the nobles. They represented the power of the entire Great Han Dynasty.
Those nobles who had a relationship with the Lu Family did not give Sun Ce any less suffering. From time to time, they would raise the price of food for Sun Ce, or they would inform each other to not become an official in Jiangdong. Just this alone made Sun Ce a little unbearable.
Territory needs people to govern it. How can it be done if no one becomes an official? If the price of food was raised, the people would naturally not be able to afford it. What if they starved to death? Naturally, it would be troublesome.
And now, the nobles had a lot of private soldiers. If you offended them, they would not dare to play with you on the surface, but they could secretly collude with other nobles to seize your city and destroy your foundation.
In the past, the Chen Family did this. They pulled Lao Cao and drove Lü Bu out of Xuzhou.
But they did not expect that Lü Bu did not learn from his mistakes. Now, he even destroyed the Chen Family.
Nobles who did not have the support of the nobles were like boundless water. Sooner or later, everything would turn to nothing. Did you not see Gongsun Zan killing Liu Yuzhi?
After losing the support of the nobles in Youzhou, he could only turn into a pile of bones.
If that was the case, then it was really good news.
Chen Rui was truly worthy of being an old official of Jiangdong. Even if he died, it was a worthy death. He contributed his last bit of strength to his master.
"Give Chen Duan a grand funeral, as an uncle!" Such an old official was truly worthy of a bow. If they did not bury him as an uncle, then they would be letting him down. Even Sun Ce had to wear mourning clothes. This was already the greatest treatment for Chen Rui.
"Does the Chen Family still have any clansmen?"
"There's also a concubine's grandson. He's studying at Huiji, so he managed to escape!" Zhou Yu said. The Chen family's mansion had been completely destroyed, and only this one clansman had managed to escape.
"Let him follow me after he finishes his studies!" Those who could follow Sun Ce were all talented people. For example, Lu Meng and Jiang Qin would become the pillars of Dong Yue Wu in the future.
"What about the bad news?" After saying the good news, there would naturally be bad news.
"The bad news is!" Zhou Yu hesitated. Did he really have to say this news?
"Say it! When did you learn how to make things difficult for Gong Jin! " Sun Ce was a bit indifferent. Worse news than losing Wan Cheng and failing to capture Xiakou would make him even angrier. In addition, Chen Rui's contribution made him feel a lot better.
Zhou Yu gritted his teeth. Such news could not be hidden from Sun Ce. Instead of letting Sun Ce suffer for a long time, it was better to shorten the pain.
"Brother!" Zhou Yu did not call him Milord. His change of address made Sun Ce startled. He had a bad premonition in his heart.
"Brother, restrain your grief. Sister-in-law has passed away!" Zhou Yu half knelt on the ground and lowered his head.
"What? What did you say?! " Sun Ce suddenly grabbed Zhou Yu's shoulder. He unconsciously increased the strength of his hand. He was a refinement martial artist. Although Zhou Yu could be regarded as a scholarly general, his shoulder could not withstand Sun Ce's full strength.
Zhou Yu could not help but hear the sound of bones dislocating in his arm. Enduring the pain, he repeated, "Brother, my condolences. Sister-in-law has passed away!"
"You lied to me! You lied to me!" Sun Ce was going crazy. "Did she not go to Jianye? She is not! " On the second day of Sun Ce's wedding, Sun Ce left Wan Cheng with his troops. He wanted to make preparations. Before leaving, he asked Big Joe to go to Jianye. Lü Bu occupied Wan Cheng, but Big Joe was in Jianye.
"Sister-in-law has not left!" Zhou Yu explained.
"How did she die!" Sun Ce closed his eyes and loosened his hands. This kind of thing, Zhou Yu would not lie to him.
His eyes flickered as he looked at Zhou Yu. He was really afraid that Zhou Yu would say something about dying from humiliation or some other way of dying.
"She hanged herself to death!" This was the information that Zhou Yu got. After the Lvbu's Army captured Wan Cheng, his sister-in-law hanged herself to death.
"Hanged herself to death?!" Sun Ce was stunned. Da Qiao's face was still floating in front of his eyes. Although he came to the Qiao family to propose marriage because he wanted to conquer Da Qiao, but he had to admit that he fell in love with the girl in white at first sight. After he married her, the girl in his heart who he spent only one day with was gone just like that.
"Hanged herself to death! Haha, hanged herself to death! Big Joe, Big Joe! "Sun Ce suddenly laughed wildly. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were glowing red.
"Brother? Brother! "Zhou Yu wanted to come forward and comfort Sun Ce, but he did not know what to say.
"Return to the army!" Sun Ce dropped these two words, and a murderous intent reverberated in his heart. "Lü Bu, Lü Fengxian, I want you to pay a blood debt!"
"What return to the army?!" Zhou Yu was not calm. At this time, returning to the army was courting death. The 70,000 Jingzhou Army in Xiakou was like a tiger watching its prey. Once the Jiangdong Army had a problem, they could immediately send their army to the south. At that time, they would really suffer a crushing defeat.
"Brother, you still put the great cause first!" Zhou Yu knelt down. If he knew that Sun Ce would be so extreme after hearing the news, he would not do this even if he was beaten to death.
"Great cause, hahahaha!" Sun Ce laughed wildly. "For this cause, I can't even protect the woman I love. What's the use of this cause?!"
"But!" Zhou Yu wanted to say something, but Sun Ce pulled him up. "Gong Jin, I, Sun Ce, do not have many friends in my life. You are one of them. It was you who gave me confidence and strategies during my most difficult time. That was how I became the hegemon of Jiangdong! Today, I beg you. Don't stop me. Just let me be willful for once. Please! "Sun Ce suddenly knelt down.
"Brother, you can't. You can't! Get up. Get up. "Zhou Yu was also panicking. Sun Ce knelt down in front of him? They were brothers, but Sun Ce was the master. He was the general.
Sun Ce did not respond. Zhou Yu could not pull Sun Ce away. He gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! Brother, I promise not to stop you. You can return to the army, but you can only take 30,000 people with you! "
"Gong Jin, you?!" Sun Ce was a little stunned. Sun Ce brought less than 60,000 troops with him. In the past few days, they had lost more than 10,000 troops. If Sun Ce took 30,000 troops with him, there would be less than 20,000 troops left. The Jingzhou Army had more than 70,000 troops.
"Brother, don't worry. I will be at Sanjiangkou. I will not let the Jingzhou Army disturb brother's return to the army!" Zhou Yu had his own confidence, "Yu was unable to help elder brother pacify Jiangxia and Jingzhou, but in Yu's hands, I will definitely not lose elder brother's hegemony!"
"Gong Jin!"
"Go. Remember to bring back Lü Fengxian's head. We will admire it together!"
"Okay! Gong Jin, you can wait here for my good news! " Sun Ce nodded his head. Between brothers, there is no need to talk much. Sun Ce turned around and was about to leave.
"Linhuai Lu Su, you can bring him along. This person is very talented!"
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