Sun Ce left Shouchun and came to Liyang with great joy, and his uncle Wu Jing and cousin Sun Ben waited at the city gate early, lined up to welcome Sun Ce's arrival.

At the gate of Liyang City, Sun Ce was excited when he saw his uncle Wu Jing and his cousin Sun Ben.

Wu Jing and Sun Ben were also excited, and then after Sun Ce, they were directly brought into the city, and then complained to each other, talking about the pain of missing for more than two years.

Since Sun Jian's death, after Sun Ce led the old troops to join Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu adopted a divisive strategy, broke up all Sun Jian's old departments, and sent people to secretly monitor them, so as not to let them have any chance to interact.

Now that the three of them meet again, there are naturally endless topics.

In the following days, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zhu Zhi and other Sun Jian's old subordinates came to Liyang, and Sun Ce also wrote a letter to invite his cousin Sun He, as well as his friend Lu Fan, a native of Runan, who he met in Shouchun, and his sworn brother Zhou Yu, a cadre of people gathered in Liyang to discuss the plan.

After more than two years, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zhu Zhi and others are still loyal and obedient to Sun Ce, which moved Sun Ce.

In addition, his uncle Wu Jing, cousins Sun Ben and Sun He, as well as his friend Lu Fan and his brother Zhou Yu are also looking forward to Sun Ce.

Sun Ce gathered with these people, said what he thought in his heart, and wanted to lead them to Jiangdong to work hard.

Everyone agreed with Sun Ce's idea, so after planning together, they immediately began to put it into action.

First, Sun Ce sent someone to tell Yuan Shu that Liu Xuan had been repulsed, and then wrote a letter in which Chen said the benefits and disadvantages, saying that he would seize Jiangdong for Yuan Shu.

Although Yuan Shu agreed, he also kept an eye on it, fearing that Sun Ce would turn his back on him, so he proposed to let Sun Ce send his family to Shouchun to live temporarily, and only in this way would he be willing to let Sun Ce attack Jiangdong.

After Sun Ce received Yuan Shu's reply, he hurriedly glanced at it, and immediately became angry, and in anger, he directly crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it to the ground.

It just so happened that Zhou Yu walked in from outside, and when he saw Sun Ce so angry, he picked up the letter, and after reading it, he knew what was going on.

Zhou Yu walked up to Sun Ce's side and asked, "Brother Bo Fu, are you angry about the contents of this letter?" ”

Sun Ce said sharply: "I was about to break away from Yuan Shu, but the old fox of Yuan Shu offered to let my family live in Shouchun, isn't it obvious that he wants my family to be a hostage?" If I really did that, wouldn't I be able to get rid of Yuan Shu for the rest of my life? ”

Zhou Yu laughed and said, "A little thing is not worth Brother Bo Fu's anger. If you want Yuan Shu to let Brother Fu leave, it's not impossible. ”

When Sun Ce heard this, he immediately asked: "Gong Jin, you have always been resourceful, I know you must have a way, tell me quickly, what should I do now?" ”

"I heard that Brother Bo Fu has a treasure in his hands...... Zhou Yu asked.

Sun Ce said: "You mean the jade seal of the country? ”

Zhou Yu nodded, and then said: "I heard that Yuan Shu has always coveted the heirloom jade seal in the hands of Brother Bo Fu, if Brother Bo Fu can use the heirloom jade seal as collateral, it may be more convincing than sending his family to Shouchun as a hostage, I believe that Yuan Shu will definitely give Brother Bo Fu money, food, soldiers and horses, and go to attack Jiangdong." ”

After hearing this, Sun Ce frowned, his face was a little gloomy, and he said slowly: "The heirloom jade seal is a relic left by my father, and it is also a treasure that my father has been protecting, if I give the heirloom jade seal to Yuan Shu, my father will definitely not be blind under the nine springs......"

Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "Brother Bo Fu, you are so confused, the jade seal of the country is in the hands of my brother, it is a hot potato, Yuan Shu has always coveted this thing, even if the general sends his family to be a hostage, Yuan Shu may not be willing to let go of Brother Bo Fu." Moreover, this heirloom jade seal can't be eaten or drunk, what's the use of keeping it? It is better to use him to exchange some soldiers, horses, money and food from Yuan Shu as the capital for Brother Bo Fu to start a business, and when Jiangdong is captured, it is not too late to ask Yuan Shu in the future. I believe that General Sun is under Jiuquan, and if he knows that you have exchanged the jade seal of the country for the entire Jiangdong, he will also be happy for you. ”

After Sun Ce heard this, he was silent, but he had been fighting in his heart.

Zhou Yu saw Sun Ce's thoughtful look, and continued to persuade: "Things are dead, people are alive, whether Brother Bo Fu wants the jade seal of the country to never lose the light in his hands, or does he want him to radiate the light he deserves, and achieve a hegemony for Brother Bo Fu, everything is in Brother Bo Fu's thoughts." That's all I have to say, what should I do, just ask Brother Bo Fu to have an idea, right? ”

After saying this, Zhou Yu arched his hand towards Sun Ce, turned around and left.

Sun Ce returned to the room, took out the heirloom jade seal, and carefully examined it, and found that there was nothing abnormal about this thing, and in his eyes, it was just a stone. But this is a treasure that his father desperately protects, if he gives this to Yuan Shu, what will his father think?

Sun Ce fell into bitter thinking and couldn't make up his mind.

Subsequently, Sun Ce found his friend Lu Fan, as well as his cousins Sun Ben and Sun He, to discuss what to do together.

As a result, Lu Fan, Sun Ben, and Sun He all agreed with Zhou Yu's opinion, thinking that it was useless for this heirloom jade seal to be in Sun Ce's hands.

Zuihou, Sun Ce made a decision. He first went back to the room, knelt in front of his father's spiritual seat, told his father about his difficulties, and told his father that he was going to exchange the jade seal for soldiers, horses, money and food, to achieve his kingship, hoping that his father would forgive him for what he had done.

That night, Sun Ce had a dream in which he dreamed of his dead father, Sun Jian, in which instead of blaming Sun Ce for what he did, Sun Jian encouraged him to do what he wanted to do.

After waking up from the dream the next day, Sun Ce took the jade seal of the country, rode alone, left Liyang, and went to Shouchun in person, preparing to exchange the jade seal for soldiers, horses, money and food.

Sun Ce came to Shouchun to use the jade seal as collateral, hoping to gain Yuan Shu's trust.

After Yuan Shu learned about it, he was overjoyed, and he couldn't put it down with the heirloom jade seal, and his eyes showed a greedy look.

In Yuan Shu's opinion, Sun Ce's use of such an important treasure as collateral had already shown his sincerity, so Yuan Shu immediately gave Sun Ce 2,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, 3,000 gold, and 3,000 stone of grain, and asked Sun Ce to take Jiangdong for himself.

Sun Ce took the soldiers, horses, money and food he got from Yuan Shu, left Shouchun, and went straight to Liyang.

When Yan Xiang, the chief bookkeeper, heard that Sun Ce had exchanged the jade seal for soldiers, horses, money and grain to capture Jiangdong, he immediately came to find Yuan Shu, and hoped that Yuan Shu could take back his life.

But Yuan Shu was only focused on Yuxi, and in his opinion, the soldiers, horses, money and food he gave Sun Ce would definitely not be a big deal, so he didn't take it to heart, and said that Yan Xiang was too suspicious.

Yan Xiang strongly recommended Yuan Shu, but instead angered Yuan Shu and was driven out of the hall by Yuan Shu.

Yan Xiang was also helpless, and in a fit of anger, he decided not to offer a plan for Yuan Shu from now on.

Sun Ce returned to Liyang with soldiers, horses, money and grain, and more than 1,000 soldiers and horses in Liyang with Wu Jing and Sun Ben, a total of 3,600 people, all of whom were under Sun Ce's command.

At the same time, Zhou Yu recruited another 400 people from Shucheng, and all of them belonged to Sun Ce.

So, Sun Ce took Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zhu Zhi, Wu Jing, Sun Ben, Sun He, Lu Fan, Zhou Yu and others, as well as 4,000 soldiers and horses, crossed the Yangtze River by boat, and officially captured Jiangdong, preparing to achieve a kingship.

……

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei took twenty followers from Qingzhou to Jingzhou, but in order to avoid the disaster of war, the road they chose was also very tortuous.

He set out from Beihai, passed through Langya and Pengcheng, and then entered Peiguo and Runan in Yuzhou.

When the group walked to Pingyu in Runan County, they saw a young man fighting against more than 20 thieves with his own strength, and he was fearless and brave. So, Liu Bei killed the gang of thieves with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others and saved the young man.

Liu Bei asked the name of the young man, and then he learned that the young man's name was Chen Dao, and the gang of thieves killed Chen Zhi's family and the people in the village, so Chen Zhi came to seek revenge on the gang of thieves.

Liu Bei saw that Chen Zhi was brave and good at fighting, so he wanted to collect it for his own use, so he followed Chen Zhi to the thieves' lair with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others, and killed all the thieves.

After eradicating this gang of thieves, Liu Bei knew that Chen Zhi was homeless, so he asked Chen Zhi to go with him, and Chen Zhi thanked Liu Bei for saving his life, so that Liu Bei could go on the road together, and followed Liu Bei's side from then on.

After that, Liu Bei and others hit the road again, entering Jingzhou from Runan, and passing through Nanyang County to Nanjun where Liu Biao was located. After a long journey, Liu Bei and others finally arrived in Jingzhou.

So, Liu Bei sent Jian Yong, a fellow countyman, with a letter of recommendation from Kong Rong, to Xiangyang to pay homage to Liu Biao, the pastor of Jingzhou.

Liu Biao first met Jian Yong, saw that Jian Yong was dignified and sincere, and read Kong Rong's letter of recommendation, and learned that Liu Bei was a relative of the Han family, so he sent a carriage to let Jian Yong pick up Liu Bei to Xiangyang.

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, Chen Zhi and others arrived in Xiangyang and went to meet Liu Biao together, and Liu Biao and Liu Bei hit it off at first sight.

Subsequently, out of care for his fellow sects, Liu Biao appointed Liu Bei as the Taishou of Wuling. Liu Bei was grateful to Liu Biao, and thanked him again.

The next day, Liu Bei took Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, and Chen Dao, bid farewell to Liu Biao, and went to Wuling, where he had a foothold in Jingzhou.

……

Xuzhou, Pengcheng.

In the blink of an eye, a few months passed, and autumn followed.

During these months, Cao Cao was busy digging graves, raising funds, and sending small troops disguised as thieves to carry Yuan Shao on his back to Jizhou to rob homes and houses to accumulate grain and grass.

Lu Bu used the grain and grass sent by Zhang Yan to recruit troops and train them.

Zhang Yan devoted himself to managing and consolidating Xuzhou, during which he repelled Yuan Shu and captured Qingzhou, but he never used troops in Yanzhou.

Therefore, the three-legged territory of Yanzhou was as calm as water, and no war broke out for several months.

Now that summer is going to autumn, the weather has become cooler, and Lu Bu, who is stationed in Dingtao, can no longer bear the loneliness, and is ready to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Puyang, where Cao Cao is located. and wrote a letter to Zhang Yan, inviting Zhang Yan to attack Cao Cao together, and attacked him twice.

The short-lived peace in Yanzhou is about to pass, and war is on the verge of breaking out......