Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 431
After listening to Zhou Yu's words, Sun Ce took a big gulp of wine, "What kind of hidden tiger and shady tiger, pretending to be a ghost!"

"I don't know where the mountain liar came from. He is also called a tiger with me, so he deserves it?"

Zhou Yu persuaded: "I checked specifically, and this Yinhu has a great reputation in private among the Jiyan clan. He is good at star-gazing. , I'm afraid I saw something?"

Sun Ce said disapprovingly, "Gong Jin also believes in alchemists' bluffing?"

"It's all made by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans to deceive people!"

"Isn't Yu Ji also killed after being exposed by me, and he is fine so far?"

"That hidden tiger said he wouldn't kill him, but I wanted to kill him. After a while, I went to the prison and chopped off Xu Gong's head with my own hands!"

Seeing that Zhou Yu couldn't be persuaded, he sighed secretly in his heart, thinking that if you kill him, you should kill him. If you don't kill him, Bo Fu's thoughts will not be clear, and Xu Gong is not an important person anyway.

Everyone was drinking and drinking, and Sun Ce was half drunk. A guard came in and whispered something to Sun Ce. After hearing this, Sun Ce said in surprise, "There is such a thing?"

He thought for a moment, Zhou Yu saw Sun Ce's face was tangled, and said, "Bo Fu, what happened?"

Sun Ce shook his head: "Someone is here, Gong Jin must not be able to guess who it is."

Zhou Yu was at a loss, and heard Sun Ce say, "It's Mr. Qiao who is back!"

Zhou Yu was also surprised when he heard this, "Mr. Qiao?"

"Didn't he be caught by a fierce tiger?"

Sun Ce said: "Indeed, he followed Yuan Yao to attack Anyi and was captured. I thought he would never come back. I didn't expect him to come looking for me."

"What's even more strange is that I heard that he also brought the Han court's edict!"

Having said that, Sun Ce's face was a little gloomy, "Could it be that besides Xu Gong, is there someone else who has offered me to be a Beijing official?"

"If I find out about these perpetrators, I will definitely kill the whole family and leave no one behind!"

Zhou Yu said: "Don't be impatient, Bo Fu, why don't you let Mr. Qiao come in and make it clear?"

Sun Ce nodded, stood up and said to the generals in the hall, "I'm drunk!"

"I'll have a drink with my brothers tomorrow!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals took their leave and went out, leaving only Zhou Yu alone.

Seeing that everyone had left, Sun Ce walked out of the hall with Zhou Yu and went around to the backyard. In the room by the door, Qiao Rui had already been brought in and was waiting inside.

As soon as Sun Ce entered the room, he walked up to Qiao Rui in two steps, took his hand and said, "Mr. Qiao! I don't think we can meet again today!"

Qiao Rui also looked excited, "This old man is incompetent, but unexpectedly I can still see Bo Fu, it's really like a dream!"

Zhou Yu also stepped forward and asked, "We were shocked to hear that Duke Qiao had fallen, and Bo Fu and I were also worried every day. We didn't expect that Duke Qiao would return safely. It's really auspicious people have their own destiny."

Qiao Rui smiled wryly after hearing this and said, "Don't mention it, it's hard to say what kind of astronomy, counting the last time, these two times I relied on the fierce tiger to let me go."

Both Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were taken aback, and Sun Ce's expression was unkind, "Fierce tiger? Why are you involved with him again?"

Zhou Yu knew that because of the disappearance of his biological mother Mrs. Wu, Sun Ce lost his composure when he mentioned the fierce tiger, so he quickly interjected, "Why did Mr. Qiao come to see Bofu?"

"As a general under the envoy's command, Duke Qiao should meet the envoy and explain the whole story to the envoy if he is sent back by the fierce tiger. But why did he bypass Shouchun and come to Yangzhou to see Bofu first?"

Qiao Rui sighed: "It's a long story. After I was captured, the fierce tiger tried to resist all opinions and asked me to be the envoy of the Han court to proclaim the emperor's secret edict to Yu Bofu."

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked at each other, was it a secret edict?

Sure enough, this matter is not that simple!
The three of them sat down, Qiao Rui explained the ins and outs of the matter, and finally sighed: "Because of the envoy's attack on Huaicheng that day, all the officials in the Han court suggested that I beheaded. When my life was on the line, it was the fierce tiger who rescued me." I am so ashamed to die."

Zhou Yu wondered: "I didn't expect that fierce tiger to appreciate Mr. Qiao so much. If I didn't know how Mr. Qiao is, I would have thought Mr. Qiao was his spy."

"However, if this is really the case, what Master Qiao did was too deliberate. It's not the style of a fierce tiger."

Qiao Rui was grateful in his heart. He knew that Zhou Yu said this to help him remove the suspicion, because it was not clear that he was released back. If Sun Ce really became suspicious, it would be difficult for him to convince Sun Ce in the future.

He quickly explained: "The reason why I was able to release it back is also a coincidence."

"The first time I was captured in Guangling City, the fierce tiger released me with the intention of testing Bofu that day, because the fierce tiger suspected that Bofu must have a plan for attacking the city like this, so he simply released me. Use this to guess Bofu's intention to attack the city."

Zhou Yu heard this, and suddenly said: "As expected, I thought that the fierce tiger would never shoot the target indiscriminately, and he really has deep thoughts!"

"Is this what the fierce tiger told you personally?"

Qiao Rui smiled bitterly and said, "Gongjin's guess is correct, but the fierce tiger is so calm with me, not because it wants to befriend me, but because in its eyes, I still have value."

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked at each other, but secretly accepted this statement. Although they had a good personal relationship with Qiao Rui, it was only a personal relationship.

In private, the two of them felt that Qiao Rui was only worth wooing in terms of ability and reputation, but not to the point of being absolutely necessary.

Sun Ce's subordinates, whether they are counselors or generals, are full of talents, and Qiao Rui is not outstanding in any of them. Therefore, when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu met him, most of the time, most of them only valued Qiao Rui's reputation.

Seeing Qiao Rui's words, Zhou Yu's expression was magnanimous, without showing the slightest timidity, and he thought to himself that Qiao Rui's words were very credible.

Sun Ce said, "The reason why the fierce tiger let Duke Qiao back is to let him be a lobbyist for him?"

Qiao Rui sighed, "Yes, and no."

"The fierce tiger did express his intention to befriend Bo Fu."

After hearing this, Sun Ce snorted coldly. The grievances between him and the fierce tiger cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences.

His biological mother, Mrs. Wu, is still missing because of the fierce tiger.

Moreover, Sun Ce vaguely felt that the fierce tiger might not be ignorant of Mrs. Wu's situation, and what he was even more afraid of was that in the worst case, Mrs. Wu had already fallen into the hands of the fierce tiger!
Now he is most afraid that the other party will use Mrs. Wu as a trump card and threaten him at the most critical moment!
At that time, if the fierce tiger makes this matter public, no matter what he does at that time, the one who will lose face will be Sun.

So Sun Ce could only pretend to be stupid, so as not to overly stimulate the fierce tiger and make himself in a dilemma.

Now when Sun Ce heard the name of the fierce tiger, he gritted his teeth with hatred in his heart, because he had nothing to do with the other party!

Zhou Yu naturally knew what Sun Ce was thinking, and hurriedly said, "I heard that Lord Qiao came here under an imperial edict. It is said that the fierce tiger is highly valued by the emperor. Is this edict written by a fierce tiger?"

Knowing that Sun Ce hated fierce tigers, Qiao Rui smiled wryly, "If I say that fierce tigers didn't get involved, I'd be lying."

"The edict issued by the emperor is indeed closely related to the fierce tiger, but I think this edict will be of great benefit to Bofu's future hegemony."

"It's useless for me to say more about the rest, just wait for Bo Fu to read the imperial edict and make his own judgment."

Seeing that Qiao Rui had submitted the edict, Sun Ce nodded slightly, grabbed it and unfolded it, read it carefully, then handed the edict to Zhou Yu, and said, "Gong Jin, just watch it."

Zhou Yu took it over and read it word by word. Suddenly he stood up, walked back and forth in the room, and fell into deep thought.

After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Bo Fu, the emperor's edict is very sincere, and it is much more generous than Cao Mengde's previous conditions."

"And after all, this is the emperor's personal appointment, so it's justified."

Sun Ce was also silent, and he was also moved.

Without him, the conditions in the edict are very generous to him.

Liu Xie promised to make Sun Ce the prefect of Yuzhang, the general of Zhendong, inherit the position of Marquis Sun Jian, and open the mansion!
Although these are false names, what Sun Ce lacks is the false name. He has strength now, but the family foundation is too weak, so that he can only rely on Yuan Shu to work his life.

But Yuan Shu's popularity was so small that even a county guard was unwilling to give it to Sun Ce. Although Sun Ce hated him so much, he could only swallow his anger.

Although he is strong now, he is still weak against Yuan Shu who claims to have 30 troops.

Now Liu Xie sent what he wanted most, and more importantly, the price Sun Ce had to pay for accepting the canonization of the Han court was very small.

Rather, this price is what Sun Ce was going to do.

When the time is right, raise troops to rebel against Yuan Shu, and together with other Han court forces, destroy Yuan Shu.

This was something Sun Ce wished for. He was the closest to Yuan Shu and the most convenient to do it. If Yuan Shu was destroyed, he would benefit the most.

The conditions were so favorable that Sun Ce had a momentary suspicion. Is there some kind of trap in it?
Zhou Yu saw Sun Ce's doubts and said, "Bo Fu, our current strength is enough to be the target of all parties."

"Earlier, Cao Cao did not hesitate to use marriage as a condition. Wasn't it just to establish a relationship with Bo Fu and attack Yuan Shu together?"

"Cao Cao's scheme is also Yuan Shu's, and it's the same intention as Han Ting's!"

"Choose between the two, whichever is more important!"

After hearing this, Sun Ce said, "I heard that Cao Cao was also conferred by the Han court. If so, what are the conditions for me to agree to both him and the Han court?"

After hearing this, Zhou Yu thought about it, then shook his head and said, "This matter is not that simple."

"Things have to be prioritized."

"Eat both sides, it is possible to eat neither side."

"What's more, if this edict was written by a fierce tiger, I'm afraid he and Cao Cao would think of going together, but; the two of them must not be on the same side, otherwise they would have pointed out this matter long ago, so why bother."

Sun Ce snorted coldly, "Fierce tiger!"

"He thinks that I will let go of all grievances by accepting his favor?"

Zhou Yu sighed: "Bo Fu, it's okay to put the latter aside for the time being, as well as domination of the world and personal grievances."

"The edict also said that the canonization of Bo Fu is a secret. Only when Yuan Shu becomes independent and Bo Fu takes out the edict can he hit Yuan Shu to the maximum extent."

"Before that, it is best for Bo Fu to lie dormant and forbear."

After hearing this, Sun Ce nodded slowly, "I will think about Gongjin's words."

He turned to Qiao Rui, "I'm very happy to see that Mr. Qiao is fine today. I'll order people to set up the wine again to clean up Mr. Qiao's dust!"

(End of this chapter)