Chapter 162 Sun Ce Goes to Jiangdong
Sun Ce was a decisive man. He acted as soon as he said he would. He took the imperial seal and went straight to Yuan Shu.
When Yuan Shu saw the imperial seal, his eyes widened. He lent Sun Ce three thousand soldiers and five hundred horses without hesitation, and also lent in generals such as Zhu Zhi, Lu Fan, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai.
In Yuan Shu's opinion, it would take Sun Ce half a year to capture Lujiang. Now the situation in Jiangdong is even more complicated, so Sun Ce would not be able to achieve anything even if he went there.
When all the troops are defeated, they have to come back and work for you.
With a strong base, Sun Ce led Zhou Yu and other generals to Jiangdong in high spirits. Along the way, as if it was destiny, people kept coming to join him, and he easily recruited famous people such as Zhang Hong.
When he arrived in Jiangdong, the number of soldiers under his command had doubled, and they were all brave volunteers.
With the assistance of Zhou Yu and Zhang Hong, Sun Ce began his entrepreneurial journey in Jiangdong.
On the Yangtze River, after learning that Sun Ce was heading south to Jiangdong, Gan Ning did not send troops to stop him. He just smiled calmly: "Sun Bofu, you are not someone who will stay under someone else's command for long. It's a pity that it's too late."
Although Liu Yao, Wang Lang, Xu Gong and others in Jiangdong were weak, they had a deep foundation.
Gan Ning knew Sun Ce's abilities, but when Sun Ce attacked Lujiang, he had already offended the Jiangdong aristocratic families. It was not easy to take over Jiangdong, and it would be impossible to do so without two years.
Two years was enough for him to move nearly half of Jiangdong's population away.
Nowadays, except for Youzhou under the rule of Tian Ze, nearly half of the people in other places are actually controlled by aristocratic families.
At this time, Jiangdong, which had just been developed and was still regarded as a wild land, was even more powerful because the people needed to rely on the aristocratic families in order to survive, and they controlled a higher proportion of the people.
Gan Ning realized that Sun Ce's going to Jiangdong might not be a bad thing for him.
When the noble families were united, he could only plunder the people who were not under their control, and the harvest was meager, and he had to share part of the profits with the noble families. But once war broke out, it was different.
Given Sun Ce's personality, he would never submit to the aristocratic families, nor would he compromise, so there would inevitably be a violent conflict between the two sides.
Regardless of the outcome, the turmoil in Jiangdong would make it convenient for Gan Ning to recruit refugees and take advantage of the chaos.
Even if the Jiangdong family and Sun Ce realized this, they could do nothing about it.
Naturally, the Jiangdong noble families would not easily surrender to a young boy like Sun Ce, and Sun Ce would not give up the opportunity to occupy Jiangdong.
Gan Ning's strength and background were there, and they were unwilling to provoke him easily. As long as Gan Ning did not go too far, they would mostly maintain a certain tacit understanding and turn a blind eye.
"You guys fight as you please. The fiercer the better. I will be the one who benefits in the end." Gan Ning murmured.
Then he looked in the direction of Jingzhou and Yizhou, and said with a hint of amusement: "It is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone. How about finding something for these two to do?"
Tian Ze, who was far away in Youzhou, had no idea that Gan Ning was trying to cause trouble again.
However, out of caution, he ordered Chen Gong to increase the speed of shipbuilding and recruited a number of fishermen and young and strong people as backup.
Preparation is the key to success. If not, there will be no success. If something big happens in Gan Ning's place and people need to be transported urgently, these people can be used to supplement the situation.
"My lord, something happened in Chang'an." Just as Tian Ze was concentrating on his development, Jia Xu delivered the latest information.
Tian Ze took the information, scanned it quickly, and couldn't help but let out a light exclamation.
He looked at Jia Xu with a strange look and said, "Wenhe, you are not involved in this."
Dong Zhuo died anyway, killed by Wang Yun's scheme. Tian Ze was not surprised by this.
Because Dong Zhuo's death was almost inevitable, it was just a matter of when and how he would die. When he had the idea of giving up the world and enjoying his old age, and actually did so, his fate was already determined.
As a result, not only the officials in the court would be offended and killed, but also people under his command such as Lu Bu and Li Ru who were unwilling to accept the status quo.
Lu Bu betrayed Ding Yuan and bore the infamy of being a "slave of three surnames", not just to be Dong Zhuo's bodyguard.
Li Ru planned so many things carefully, even bearing the eternal infamy of poisoning the young emperor and murdering the empress dowager, not for the purpose of controlling the so-called "court" behind closed doors in Chang'an.
A wise bird chooses the right tree to roost in. When Dong Zhuo lost his enterprising spirit, his most capable civil and military officials were no longer his supporters. Only some short-sighted people who were content with the status quo remained.
What Tian Ze found strange was that with Jia Xu under his command, Li Jue and Guo Si were able to capture Chang'an. Given their intelligence, they should not have been able to do so.
Hearing Tian Ze's words, Jia Xu shook his head calmly, and then said: "Xu has a friend who asked for advice on something, and Xu gave some advice."
Tian Ze heard this and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly: "You are such a kind friend."
The case is solved! It turns out that this guy was behind this.
Jia Xu was in charge of intelligence work, and he had spies and secret agents almost all over the world. It was not surprising that Tian Ze had placed some people under Dong Zhuo.
What's more, Jia Xu himself was born in a poor family in Xiliang. Although he did not do well in the court and could not even hold an official position after being selected as a filial and incorrupt official, he was still a rare person in a place like Xiliang, so it was normal for him to know some people.
"It's good for everyone if the court is controlled by the warriors from Guanxi," Jia Xu said with a smile.
A world without an emperor oppressing the world is what everyone wants.
If Liu Xie was really allowed to escape control, then all the princes in the world would be in trouble. This included the Yuan family, the Xun family and other noble families, because they had already been eliminated and it was impossible to return to the original situation. Therefore, the noble families basically unified their thoughts.
This is probably one of the reasons why no one stopped Wang Yun from expanding his power. Of course, there were many other reasons behind this, including Wang Yun's own suspicion and carelessness, the secret confrontation between the two factions in Guandong and Guanxi, and Dong Zhuo's secret suppression of the Bingzhou Army and the Central Army.
"In the end, Chang'an fell into the hands of Li Jue and Guo Si." Tian Ze sighed.
After so long, he also discovered that whenever he did not intervene, everything would always return to its original historical trajectory.
"But Li Ru and Lu Bu are still alive, and they fled Luoyang together. Moreover, they have thousands of Bingzhou cavalry under their command, and they are heading towards Bingzhou." Jia Xu said.
Tian Ze frowned slightly: "What you mean is..."
"This may be the work of Yuan Shao." Jia Xu said.
"Lü Bu is fine. But Li Ru, according to common sense, he should not be alive."
Li Ru was the one who single-handedly led the Luoyang Incident and cleverly stole the fruits of the aristocratic families' labor. The aristocratic families would certainly want to get rid of him as soon as possible.
How could Li Ru still be alive when Dong Zhuo had fallen and Wang Yun was in power?
The only possibility is that the aristocratic family intentionally kept Li Ru.
"Li Ru, will he form an alliance with Yuan Benchu and become my enemy?" Tian Ze asked.
"If he wanted to live, he must have made certain deals with the aristocratic families. Lu Bu was unwilling to be inferior to others, so it was impossible for him to listen to him completely. We have taken over the Taihang Mountains. Lu Bu is from Bingzhou, and there is no conflict between Bingzhou and Yuan Shao." Jia Xu calmly gave three reasons.
He knew too well what kind of person Li Ru was. He was just like him, and he put self-preservation first. It was not surprising that he temporarily served Lu Bu in order to survive.
(End of this chapter)
