Great Han Empire

Chapter 742: A Storm of Troubled Heroes

In February, Luoyang.

Chen Guoxiang's senior officials and Yingchuan County's prefect Xin Pi had just sent the news of the failure to intercept the Chen King Liu Chong to Luoyang, and the joint letter of Cao Cao, Tian Kai and Liu Bei also reached Yuan Shao's hands.

After Yuan Shao read the letter, he was very regretful and very angry.Cao Cao's unexpected blow not only made himself passive, but also pushed the general situation of the world into a dangerous situation.

Now, King Chen Liu Chong has arrived in Yanzhou. It is a foregone conclusion that Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Bei will form an alliance to rebuild the imperial line. The opportunity to re-establish the emperor's control of power, not to mention the self-reliance of the Han Dynasty.His hesitation finally led to catastrophe, and the process of hegemony was severely damaged. What is even more frightening is that Cao Cao's deliberate promotion of the three-legged confrontation will inevitably push the big man into the abyss of collapse immediately, and the flames of war will continue to pacify the world It has become an unattainable dream.

Yuan Shao felt sorry for himself, sighed, and was at a loss for a while.

=

Jushou, Tian Feng and others gathered together day and night to discuss countermeasures.

Cao Cao's purpose is very clear, to use the rebuilding of the imperial lineage to gather the power of the states and counties to fight against Li Hong, contain Yuan Shao, force Yuan Shao to give up his attempt to stand on his own in the Han Dynasty, and find a way of survival for himself and the weaker forces such as Tian Kai and Liu Bei.At the same time, it can also greatly weaken Yuan Shao's power, isolate Yuan Shao, and push Yuan Shao into a dilemma where he must not only try to preserve his own strength to achieve hegemony, but also respect the new emperor and join forces with Cao Cao and others to fight against Li Hong.

At present, Yuan Shao has lost the best opportunity to rebuild the monopoly power of the imperial system. The previous "Decree of Chengzhi" has no effect, and he is no longer able to command the states and counties.Secondly, the alliance of Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Biao has become an independent force, and Yuan Shu never listened to Yuan Shao. As for whether Liu Biao will maintain a close relationship with Yuan Shao, it depends entirely on Yuan Shao's attitude towards the new emperor.Yuan Shao's power has been severely weakened so far.

How to quickly change this passive situation?How to turn disadvantages into advantages?How to achieve hegemony and calm the world?
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In order to appease the anger of the officials in Luoyang, Yuan Shao reluctantly killed Geng Bao, but in today's situation, Geng Bao's suggestion was brought up again.If it really doesn't work, the Han Dynasty will stand on its own, and the world will be divided into three parts.

Li Hong's usurpation is already a fact. The reason why he still wants to establish a baby emperor and hold the eldest princess in his hands is purely to stabilize Hebei and unite with the officials of the prefectures and counties south of the Yellow River, and to set up a new foundation for the pacification of the world. With a magnificent facade, everyone in the world knows what he actually wants to do and what he thinks in his heart.

The three alliances of Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Bei are not strong enough to compete with Li Hong on their own. The three alliances must join forces with us to maintain the three-legged situation. The reason why they want to rebuild the imperial line before us is their real purpose Not for ZTE Dahan, but for their own survival, or in other words, for their own hegemony.Sooner or later, the three alliances will fight and split because of power and territory.

Now that the Han society has actually been overthrown, the emperor of the Han has actually disappeared, and the majesty of the Han has actually disappeared, why are we still clinging to this meaningless facade?Maybe Dai Han will stand on his own, tear off the veil covering the faces of all forces, and completely expose the greedy and despicable faces of all forces, but it will lead to a three-legged confrontation and a three-party war faster. In this way, we can completely control Ping Ding The initiative of the world.

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This suggestion was immediately rejected.

Li Hong is powerful, and he also has the powerful cavalry of the Hu clan as backup. If he wants to stand on his own in place of the Han, there will be very little resistance, but why doesn't he do it?He, a vulgar warrior, knows the truth, don't we know?

The self-reliance of the Han Dynasty means becoming the target of public criticism, and it is bound to be spurned and besieged. The outcome can be imagined.Neither we nor the three alliances can compete against Li Hong alone. Once we are defeated and the three-legged situation is broken, the world will belong to Li Hong.This is why Cao Cao dared to form an alliance with the three clans to publicly weaken our strength, and why he ignored our threats and took the lead in rebuilding the imperial line. This is why he concluded that we dare not stand on our own in place of the Han, and that we would be subject to that meaningless new Son of Heaven, it is determined that we will join forces with him to fight against Li Hong.

Now if we want to change from passive to active, we must first regain the imperial authority and regain power, and secondly, we must severely injure Cao Cao, break his three-family alliance, and bring Tian Kai and Liu Bei back.As long as the emperor is in hand, other forces such as Jingzhou Liu Biao and Yizhou Liu Zhang will naturally become our right-hand men.

The risk of regaining the imperial line is too great, and it is easy to trigger wars among the states and counties, giving Hebei a chance to sweep the world, so some people suggest that Cao Cao should be ignored.We have enough strength, and we will build another imperial system ourselves.There are three emperors in the big man, and the three-legged confrontation will be achieved immediately. Whoever can persevere to the end will be able to own the world.

This suggestion was immediately rejected.

There are three emperors in the big man, and the three parties are enemies to each other. Li Hong, who is the strongest, can defeat each of them. It won't take long for us and the three alliances to be wiped out.

=

To regain the imperial line, we must first hit Cao Cao hard and destroy his three alliances.

Yuan Shao and the officials in Luoyang racked their brains and devised various plans, but in the end they had to give up one by one due to various difficulties.

Tian Feng finally thought of Yuan Shu.

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When the words of prophecy and the five virtues were spread all over the states and counties, Yuan Shu was also moved.Although Yuan Shao is powerful, he is a concubine in the Yuan Clan, and the real successor of the Yuan Clan is Yuan Shu who is a concubine.There are obviously many people who hold this view. Yuan Shu's subordinates still followed Yuan Shu when Yuan Shu was very difficult, and no one turned his back on him. It can be seen that there are still many people who support Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu and many of his subordinates believed that the "Yuan family" who replaced the Han Dynasty in Chenwei's prophecy should be the direct monk of the Yuan clan.In addition, the "Tu Gao" in this prophecy came to Yuan Shu, not only the saying "Yuantao Tu is the ancestor of the Yuan family". "Tu" and "tu" are interchangeable, "tu" is interpreted as a road, and Yuan Shu's character happens to be "road", that is to say, this prophecy has clearly pointed out that the person who replaced the Han was Yuan Shuyuan highway.This explanation was accepted by many people in the Yuan Clan who supported Yuan Shu, but the current situation told Yuan Shu and his supporters that he wanted to replace the Han Dynasty and stand on his own.

Yuan Shao wanted to replace the Han Dynasty with self-reliance but was afraid to do it due to the situation. Yuan Shu had this idea but did not have the courage. However, some members of the Yuan clan proceeded from their own interests and instigated and encouraged the Yuan brothers to consider self-reliance.

Yuan Shao had given up this extremely unwise approach since Chen Bing of the Northern Frontier Army was stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River, but Yuan Shu did not.

Now Sun Ce has helped him take down the two and a half counties in Jiangdong of Yangzhou, and will soon defeat Liu Yao and Hua Xin to occupy all four counties in Jiangdong. In this way, Yuan Shu has the entire territory of Yangzhou and the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and he can attack In the Central Plains, retreating and guarding Jiangdong, it has the strength to ascend the throne and become emperor, but the problem is that this strength is too fragile.Without Yuan Shao's support, he guessed that he had just passed the emperor's addiction, and then he was defeated.

If Yuan Shao can support him to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, the two forces will merge into one, and the strength will be extraordinary.The two can first attack back and forth to occupy Jingzhou, then point their swords at the Central Plains, occupy all the states and counties south of the Yellow River, and finally fight Hebei on both sides of the Yellow River.Even if they can't defeat Li Hong, at least they can stand with Li Hong with the Yellow River as the boundary.

Yuan Shu told Yuan Shao his thoughts through some members of the Yuan Clan. He wanted to find out what Yuan Shao meant so that he could decide whether he wanted to "accept the order of heaven" and stand on his own in the Han Dynasty.

Yuan Shu had feuds with Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and even Yuan Shao, but they were brothers after all, and some things were easy to discuss, and the grudges between each other could be settled after the world was settled.Yuan Shu thought so, but what about Yuan Shao?
Now Jiujiang County and Lujiang County owned by Yuan Shu are close to Runan County, which is connected with the foundation of Yuan Clan, so he has always maintained close contact with many small forces in Yuan Clan.Yuan Shao's relationship with Yuan Shu has improved in the past two years, which is entirely due to the mediation of these small forces in the Yuan Clan.However, Yuan Shu has always been a serious problem for Yuan Shao. The existence of Yuan Shu not only split the Yuan Clan and weakened Yuan Shao's power, but it will also be a major obstacle to Yuan Shao's achievement of dominance in the world, so Yuan Shao has always wanted to kill him.

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"My lord let Yuan Shu stand on his own in place of the Han Dynasty, so as to get rid of the current predicament, regain control of the initiative, regain the imperial line, and take the opportunity to eradicate Yuan Shu with the help of Cao Cao and Liu Bei," Tian Feng suggested, "In this way, your lord can achieve hegemony. The world can be decided."

Yuan Shuzhi is a talented man with a strong desire for power and money. As long as he gets the promise of the adults, he will definitely risk the world and stand on his own in the Han Dynasty.The reason is very simple, once Yuan Shu becomes self-reliant, the Yuan Clan will be dragged into the vortex of usurpation. No matter whether it is an adult or other forces in the Yuan Clan, there is no way to escape.

After Yuan Shu became independent, the situation in the world changed drastically.

Your Excellency can suppress Liu Biao in Jingzhou while making an appointment with Yuan Shu to attack Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

Cao Cao's three-family alliance has just rebuilt the imperial lineage and needs to maintain the authority of the imperial lineage. He wants to attack and kill Yuan Shu under the banner of countering the rebellion, and he wants to help Liu Bei defend Xuzhou to maintain the three-family alliance. Eyeing.Your Excellency neither expressed support for Yuan Shu's self-reliance, nor expressed his support for Cao Cao and Liu Bei's attack on Yuan Shu. Your Excellency's silence will make Cao Cao terrified and unable to move.

If Cao Cao couldn't put down the rebellion immediately, the imperial system would be useless, and the power of the imperial system would be greatly reduced.As time went on, Liu Bei in Xuzhou was beaten into a mess by Yuan Shu, and the three alliances might split.The three alliances split, and Cao Cao could neither keep the imperial line nor ensure the stability of the Central Plains, and the consequences would be disastrous.At this moment, Cao Cao can only turn to adults for help.

The adults threatened to move the emperor to Luoyang, forcing Cao Cao to give up his control over the emperor.

In order to survive, Cao Cao had no choice but to give up his power to maintain the imperial line of the Han Dynasty, and chose to help Liu Bei to maintain the strength of the three alliances.The adults took the opportunity to sever the relationship with Yuan Shu, and killed Yuan Shu under the guise of Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

Your lord has won the royal line and power, and the Yuan clan has reunited as one, and your strength and prestige will increase unprecedentedly.With Yuan Shu's death, Cao Cao and Liu Bei's strength has been greatly reduced. Even if the three alliances still exist, they will not be able to compete with the adults. In this way, the adults can form an alliance with states and counties to jointly fight against Hebei.At this time, it is not an easy task for my lord to kill Cao Cao and occupy the Central Plains.
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"What about Hebei? We are going to fight in the Central Plains. Could it be that Hebei will ignore it?" Yuan Shao shook his head, thinking that although Tian Feng's idea is good, it has too many loopholes.Yuan Shu is smarter than a ghost, will he be fooled?With the flames of war raging in the Central Plains, Li Hong in Hebei is bound to take the opportunity to cross the river and attack.

"Let's go to fight Hebei now." Tian Feng smiled, "Didn't your lord forget that you have spread the word to all states and counties that you will join the alliance in Dingtao, Yanzhou in the near future, and the coalition forces will attack Hebei?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten it." Yuan Shao smiled wryly, "But now it is Cao Cao who is rebuilding the imperial line, so I am afraid that my call for alliance will be useless."

"My lord, without your support, if Cao Cao wants to rebuild the imperial line, he will only be hit head-on by Hebei." Tian Feng pointed to Cao Cao's letter on the case table, and said with a smile, "My lord has always insisted on rebuilding the imperial line. Now Hebei Li Hong has rebuilt the imperial lineage, and Cao Cao is about to rebuild the imperial lineage. Your lord can either recognize Li Hong’s rebuilt imperial lineage, join forces with Li Hong, declare Cao Cao and the three alliances as rebellious, and allow Li Hong to capture the Central Plains; you can also recognize Cao Cao’s rebuilt Huangtong joined forces with Cao Cao to fight against Li Hong and went north to attack Hebei. Although my lord lost the opportunity to control the power and command the various states and counties, my lord still controls the initiative to change the situation of the world."

Ju Shou nodded again and again, "Cao Cao seized the opportunity to rebuild the imperial line, in fact, to stabilize the Central Plains and seek hegemony, so his top priority is not to rebuild the imperial line, but to establish an offensive and defensive alliance with the adults so as to fight Hebei together. The adults deliberately formed by Cao Cao In the situation of the three-legged confrontation, it is an important one."

Yuan Shao remained silent.Tian Feng continued to analyze.

Judging from the current situation, gathering a large army to quickly attack Hebei is the best chance to hit Li Hong hard, and it is also the only way for your lord to regain the imperial line and power.

In order to get Cao Cao and the other three alliances to agree to send troops to attack Hebei, your lord must not only actively cooperate with Cao Cao to rebuild the imperial line, but also spare no effort to help.

Once the army crosses the Yellow River, the forces of Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Bei will inevitably be damaged, and this is the prerequisite for inducing Yuan Shu to fall into the trap and declare the self-reliance of the Han Dynasty in Yangzhou.As long as Yuan Shu can't feel the danger, he will be deceived.

At this time, regardless of whether the army can defeat Li Hong, Liu Bei will withdraw his army first, followed by Cao Cao.That is to say, if the army defeats Li Hong, Jizhou may be occupied by us, and if the army is defeated by Li Hong, Li Hong's strength will be greatly damaged, and he will not be able to cross the south of the river in the short term, so that we can survive after Cao Cao and Liu Bei kill Yuan Shu. , Taking advantage of their exhaustion, they quickly captured the Central Plains.

Yuan Shao was horrified, "If you have this kind of thinking in the battle of Hebei, it may be a defeat."

"So what if we lose?" Tian Feng waved his hand indifferently, "Although the battle was defeated, our goals have all been achieved. Li Hong temporarily lost the ability to attack south, Yuan Shu was killed, the three alliances were broken, and we captured the Central Plains , Your Excellency and Li Hong formed a situation of confrontation between the North and the South, and your Excellency's hegemony came into being."

Yuan Shao accepted Tian Feng's suggestion, wrote back to Cao Cao, and immediately rushed to Dingtao, Yanzhou. One was to form an alliance and gather troops to attack Hebei, and the other was to rebuild the imperial line and the court.

Yuan Shao wrote another letter to Yuan Shu, ordering Xu You to bring the letter to Shouchun, Yangzhou immediately to meet Yuan Shu.

After discussing the details with Jushou and others, Yuan Shao arranged for Jushou to be stationed in Luoyang, ordered him to go to Guanzhong to assist Yuan Tan, and asked Tian Feng, Guo Tu and others to go to Yanzhou with him.

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In early March, Xu You arrived at Shouchun in Jiujiang County, Yangzhou.

Yuan Shu and Xu You had a very good personal relationship. They hadn't seen each other for many years, and they were very happy to meet again.

Xu You presented Yuan Shao's letter and explained in detail the purpose of his visit.

Yuan Shu's face darkened, and he slapped the table vigorously, "Is Ziyuan going to kill me?"

Xu You laughed loudly, "Is there a way to avoid disaster on the highway?"

"Of course I have a plan to avoid disaster." Yuan Shu sneered, "Yuan Benchu, that bastard, plotted against me, and I told him to lose everything."

Xu You looked at him and asked, "Do you want me to bring this to Brother Benchu?"

"Yes." Yuan Shu nodded, "Go back and tell Yuan Benchu ​​that since he intends to be my subject, he must give me something to show his sincerity."

"What do you want?" Xu You pointed at him and smiled, "Accordingly, you should thank Brother Benchu ​​for his help and give him something."

"Of course, of course I want to give him benefits." Yuan Shu sneered, "He wants to unite all states and counties to attack Hebei, okay, I promise him, I will send troops north to attack Hebei, and I will give him money and food, but he will also Give me something, give me Peiguo."

Xu You froze for a moment, and asked strangely, "What do you want Pei Guo to do?"

"I can transport soldiers, horses, money and food to the Central Plains unimpeded." Yuan Shu laughed.

Xu You looked at him thoughtfully and didn't speak for a long time.

"If my army can't go north to the Central Plains, Liu Bei will definitely leave heavy troops to garrison Xiapi and Guangling. This will not do me any good." Yuan Shu patted Xu You on the shoulder with a smile, "You can't trust me?"

"Of course I can't trust you." Xu You said without thinking.

"Haha..." Yuan Shu laughed loudly, "When I become the lord of the world, I will cut off your head first."

=

Xu You took Yuan Shu's letter and hurried north to Yanzhou to join Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shu summoned his son Yuan Yao, his close friends Li Ye, Yang Hong, Yan Xiang, Xun Zheng, Ji Ling, Liu Xun and others to discuss the grand plan.

While everyone was reading Yuan Shao's letter, Yuan Shu asked Li Ye in a low voice, "How is Zheng Tai's funeral going?"

Since Zheng Tai escaped from Guanzhong, he has been following Yuan Shu. Not long ago, Yuan Shu asked him to go to Jiangdong to serve as the governor of Yangzhou, but he died of illness on the way.Li Ye briefly said that Zheng Tai's younger brother, Zheng Hun, had rushed to Shouchun from Kaifeng, Henan, and was going to return to his hometown with his coffin for burial.

"Spend more money and make the funeral more grand." Yuan Shu shook his head sadly, "His family has had a very good relationship with our family since Zheng Zhong, a master of Confucian classics, and has five generations of friendship."

Li Ye nodded, and said with a little sadness: "I also received news that Zhuge Xuan died of illness in Xiangyang during the first lunar month."

Yuan Shu was taken aback, "Really?" Then he let out a long sigh, "We are getting older, and many old friends have started to leave."

Zhuge Xuan’s ancestor, Zhuge Feng, once served as a lieutenant in Sili in the reign of Emperor Xiaoyuan. Later, he was demoted to a commoner by Emperor Xiaoyuan because he offended a powerful official. However, Zhuge’s family is still well-known in Langya County, Xuzhou, and it can be regarded as a history of more than 200 years. Officials are gone.Zhugexuan's older brother Zhuge Gui had served as the magistrate of Taishan County, and Zhugexuan had served under Taiwei Yuanfeng in his early years, so he was regarded as an old official of the Yuan family.Because of the war, Zhuge Xuan took refuge in Yangzhou with his nephew and went to his old friend Yuan Shu.Yuan Shu asked him to serve as the prefect of Yuzhang. Later, Yuan Shu and Liu Yao fell out, and the two sides fought, and Zhuge Xuan had to return to Yangzhou.At that time, Yuan Shu was at war with Liu Bei. Zhuge Xuan felt that Yangzhou was too chaotic to be a safe place to live, so he bid farewell to Yuan Shu and went to Jingzhou to join his friend Kuai Yue.Unexpectedly, this farewell was forever.

"Are his nephews okay?" Yuan Shu asked with concern, "I remember his two nieces should be married."

"I heard that one is married to Pang Degong's son Pang Shanmin, and the other is married to Kuai Yue's younger brother Kuai Qi." Li Ye said, "Both the Pang family and the Kuai family are well-known families in Jingzhou. Passable."

Yuan Shu smiled gratifiedly, "When you have the opportunity to meet these old friends, please help if you can."

=

Yuan Shao's letter aroused controversy among the officials in Yangzhou. Obviously, Yuan Shao's purpose was not to help Yuan Shu become emperor, but to have other plans.With Yuan Shao's strength, how could he give up the throne of emperor?

Yuan Shu had a plan in mind, "I know what Yuan Benchu ​​wants to do. He wants to use me to dominate the world, but why don't I want to use his strength to achieve my career of dominance?"

Yuan Shu's words were very light, but a group of big officials were very realistic.The 400-year-old foundation of the Han Dynasty has been completely overturned after repeated destruction by Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Li Hong. Now in this land, who would not want to seize the world and become the king and emperor?Although there are prophecies of prophecy and the theory of replacement that the five virtues have always said, these things cannot replace strength. To be a king requires strength. If you want to be an emperor without strength, you are purely looking for death.Yuan Shu's strength is not strong, and currently he has no capital to claim the title of king and emperor, so hastily proclaiming himself emperor will surely suffer defeat.

"If Cao Cao, Tian Kai, and Liu Bei all died on the battlefield in Hebei, if I can occupy the Central Plains, if I stand up to the throne with Yuan Shao and Li Hong, can I become emperor?" Yuan Shu asked with a smile.

The faces of Li Ye and others changed slightly.Yuan Yao looked at his father in horror, and said in a low voice: "After this battle in Hebei, although the vitality has been severely damaged in the short term, in the future..."

"In the future, it will depend on Yuan Benchu ​​whether my Yuan family can stabilize this country." Yuan Shu said with a sneer, "Brothers have one heart, and the world can win. If brothers kill each other, it's hard to say who owns this country. "

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Everyone knew that Yuan Shu had made up his mind, so they stopped trying to persuade them and concentrated on discussing the strategy of capturing the Central Plains.

"My lord, after Yangzhou's army goes north, who will Yangzhou's garrison be handed over to?" Yan Xiang asked.

"Let Sun Ce come back." Yuan Shu pointed to Yan Xiang and said, "Go to Wu County yourself and tell him to return to Jiujiang immediately with the army."

"Then if Liu Yao and Hua Xin take the opportunity to counterattack..."

"Leave this matter to Sun Ce, he knows what to do." Yuan Shu waved his hand and said indifferently, "I told him long ago that if he can conquer the four Jiangdong counties, then the Jiangdong four counties will be his. His territory He doesn’t care, do you want me to help him manage it? You tell him that as long as he can help me take down the Central Plains, Yangzhou will be his.”

"My lord, is it too rash for you to entrust him with the important task of capturing the Central Plains?" Yang Hong asked worriedly, "After Sun Jian died, although your lord tried his best to protect his family and subordinates, he did not treat Sun Jing, Sun Ben, Sun Ce and the others are also particularly dependent and trusting, but judging from what Sun Ce has done in Jiangdong in the past two years, this kid doesn't seem to have feelings for you, and sometimes he will be obedient and clever, and play tricks. In my opinion, adults should still It would be better for Mr. Ji or Mr. Qiao to stay in Yangzhou."

Yuan Shu lowered his head and thought for a while, then looked at the crowd, and asked solemnly, "If Sun Jian is still alive, do you believe him?"

Li Ye and the others looked at each other and nodded.

Yuan Shu smiled slightly, "Sun Ce is just like his father, absolutely trustworthy."

That night, Xun Zheng took Yuan Yao and Liu Ye to Liyang and left Yangzhou by boat.

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In March, Sun Ce was ordered to travel day and night from Qu'a in Wu County to Shouchun.

Sun Ce was young and handsome, tall and burly, very much like his father.Yuan Shu looked at him for a long time, and a sudden sadness welled up in his heart, "Is your mother okay?"

"Thank you, my lord, for your concern." Sun Ce bowed and thanked, "Before I left, my mother asked me repeatedly to take her to greet my lord."

"I'm fine, thank you mother for remembering me." Yuan Shu smiled and patted Sun Ce's shoulder, "After you grew a beard, you looked more like your father. Back then..." Yuan Shu's voice trembled, and he turned his back The words were swallowed back.

Sun Ce walked silently with Yuan Shu for a while.

"When you got married, I was too busy, so I had to ask Yuan Yao to go to Jiangdong to congratulate me." Yuan Shu turned to look at Sun Ce, and asked with a smile, "Do you like the gift I gave you?"

"I like it, thank you, my lord." Sun Ce bowed gratefully and said, "Since my father died, it's all up to you to take care of us, if not for your lord..."

Yuan Shu waved his hand and stopped Sun Ce's words, "Back then, I invited your father to Nanyang to attack Dong Zhuo. If I hadn't invited him, he must still be alive, and he must still be in Changsha. Your family can live a comfortable life. I owe you too much, brother Wentai, your mother, and you."

With tears in his eyes, Sun Ce said excitedly, "My lord, I am willing to attack Hebei with your lord."

"No, I won't take you there." Yuan Shu stopped and said decisively, "Help me defend Yangzhou. If I die in Hebei, Yangzhou will be yours."

"My lord..." Sun Ce leaned over and knelt down, tears rolling down in an instant.

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(End of this chapter)