Chapter 103: Sun Ce sighs, Zhou Yu plans again At the same time, a great battle had just ended in the north of Shouchun. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were both covered in blood, and Jiang Qin even had an injured arm with his hand wrapped in white cloth. Soldiers were fishing out bodies from the river and burying them on the spot. It has to be said that although Sun Ce won this battle, he paid a high price. Almost two-thirds of Jiang Qin's 3,000 troops were killed. In order to break through Ji Ling's rear wing as quickly as possible, Sun Ce almost used the method of exchanging his life for his own, resulting in more than a thousand casualties. Only Zhou Yu's men suffered the least casualties, but they also suffered many casualties when they tried to stop Ji Ling from breaking out. According to a rough calculation, in this battle, Sun Ce's army lost at least three thousand people! This only includes those who were slightly injured! If all of them were counted, the casualties under Sun Ce's command would have reached as many as four to five thousand. In this era, even minor injuries need to be treated well. It can be said that in this battle alone, Sun Ce lost a quarter of his troops.

The only consolation was that they had quite a few prisoners. As Ji Ling left, the soldiers under his command could not resist for long. Except for those who escaped or died in battle, more than 4,000 of the 5,000 soldiers surrendered. Now the prisoners were being tied up and taken to the camp. After a great battle, Sun Ce's anger gradually subsided. Seeing Jiang Qin covered in wounds, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Gong Yi fought really well this time!" "Originally, when I heard that more than 10,000 people were heading north, I was worried that Gong Yi would not be able to compete!" "It seems that even if another ten thousand came, they would not be able to break Gong Yi's army formation!" "But I don't know how serious his injuries are. Can he still fight?" Jiang Qin was also a veteran under Sun Ce. Upon hearing this, he shook his head and complained: "My lord, don't laugh. The enemy has 10,000 troops and our army is almost unable to stop them. If another 10,000 come, I'm afraid I won't be able to see you again!" "As for whether we can fight or not, my lord, just watch it yourself. If you want to fight, I will fight to the death!" Sun Ce heard his words and laughed: "So we know Gong Yi is capable of fighting. With Gong Yi here, even if Ji Ling burns his boats, he may still find it difficult to break through the formation." "Gongjin, what do you think, yes or no?" Zhou Yu heard this, nodded and smiled: "General Gongyi is a great general, so we must not lose him!" The two of them were talking to each other, but Jiang Qin was confused. Thinking of what happened that night, he couldn't help but ask: "Speaking of which, I haven't asked yet, what happened last night?" "Why did Ji Ling suddenly lead his troops here?" In fact, until now, he is still a little scared. After all, if Sun Ce hadn’t notified me, I’m afraid Ji Ling would have really taken over the dam! Whether he lives or dies is secondary. He is just afraid of disappointing Sun Ce's trust.

But when he asked this question, the smiles on Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's faces disappeared immediately, and they both looked serious. Seeing the two's expressions, Jiang Qin thought he had said something wrong, and hurriedly said: "If there is another reason, I won't say any more!" But as soon as he finished speaking, Sun Ce sighed: "To be honest, we are the ones who are sorry to Gong Yi!" "In the final analysis, this matter is all our fault for not being prepared and falling into Liu Bei's trap!" "Fell into Liu Bei's trap? Why?" Jiang Qin was immediately more confused. Wasn't Liu Bei a friendly army? How could they fall into the trap set by a friendly army? Seeing his confused look, Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu, who then told Jiang Qin about what had happened in the past few days. At the end, he sighed: "It was my fault for not investigating. I never thought that Qin Zhen would use this to plot against our army!" "This time, the general was exhausted from building the dam, and we almost got attacked by the enemy. I really feel ashamed of the general!" After hearing the whole story, Jiang Qin was furious and said: "I wondered why this happened, it turns out it was Liu Bei who planned it!" "We are still friendly forces, but he is plotting against us like this. He is really not a son of man!" When Sun Ce heard this, he nodded and said in a deep voice: "That's why I discussed with Gongjin that after we return this time, no matter whether we can capture Shouchun or not, we must not make peace with Liu Bei!" "If Gong Yi is still able to fight, we will have to borrow his strength this time!" Seeing this, Jiang Qin immediately stood up and said: "My lord, rest assured. These are just minor injuries. They won't cause any major problems. I can still fight, but I don't know how to mobilize the troops. I am willing to be the vanguard!" Seeing Jiang Qin like this, Sun Ce secretly thought that the army's morale could be used, but Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "General, please don't be anxious. Even if we need to make a plan, we have to return to the army first and gather you all to make the plan!" "We don't know the situation in Shouchun, so we shouldn't talk nonsense and cause trouble!" The two of them listened to Zhou Yu's words and naturally nodded in agreement. However, since the troops were to be withdrawn, the simple dam that had been built needed to be disposed of. Jiang Qin thought for a while and said: "My Lord and Gongjin go first. I will come back after I demolish the dam!" But Zhou Yu saw this and shook his head: "The dam doesn't need to be demolished for now, it may be useful in the future!" Upon hearing this, Sun Ce was startled and looked at Zhou Yu and said: "Could it be that Gongjin intends to dig up this water?" "That's right! Since our army is guarding the dam, we can't use it!" Zhou Yu said with a serious expression: "You can have someone stay here and wait until we return to see how the situation develops." "If we can't resolve this peacefully, then we'll dig up this place and don't let Liu Bei live here!" At this point, he was no longer prepared to hold back. Since Qin Zhen was using the dam to plot against them, they would use the dam to plot against him back.

Unable to capture Shouchun, they dug a dam and left. In short, Liu Bei cannot be allowed to have an easy time! When Sun Ce heard this, he was shocked, but when he thought about Qin Zhen's actions, he became angry again. He simply left two thousand soldiers to continue guarding the dam, and then marched towards Shouchun. But before he reached his own camp, he saw a soldier coming to report: "My lord, Liu Bei and Lu Bu have already taken Shouchun and have moved their camp into the city." Hearing this, Sun Ce glanced at Zhou Yu and said with gritted teeth: "When did they enter the city? Where are Ji Ling's defeated soldiers?" He knew that Liu Bei's army would take the city while they were out fighting, but he didn't expect them to act so quickly! Furthermore, although they stopped Ji Ling, didn’t Ji Ling break through with his troops? With thousands of soldiers and horses to support them, Shouchun City should not have fallen so quickly. When the soldier heard this, he was stunned and said: "I don't know where Ji Ling's defeated soldiers are. I only know that the enemy broke into the city at four o'clock yesterday morning!" "Already entered the city at four o'clock?" Sun Ce was even more surprised. It was only four o'clock in the morning when they had just fought with Ji Ling, but Liu Bei had already taken Shouchun! In other words, the thousands of soldiers and horses left in the city might not have been able to hold on for an hour! Could it be that Liu Bei’s army is cheating? When Zhou Yu saw this, he shook his head and said: "Brother, you don't know that Qin Zhen is not only good at strategy, but also good at using troops!" "Since he dares to seize the city, he must have a way to do it!" "Although Shouchun City is large and has few soldiers, it is still difficult to defend. It is not surprising that we can only hold out for an hour!" When Sun Ce heard this, he was secretly shocked. In the past, he had never noticed Qin Zhen's name. Now that I've observed him up close, I realize how powerful he is. While thinking, he worried again: "Liu Bei and Lu Bu have both entered the city, what should our army do?" As the two families entered the city, problems arose! So now should they enter the city or not? If I enter the city, will I fall into Qin Zhen's trap again? If they did not enter the city, they would be in the wild and Liu Bei would be in the city. Once they fell out, they would be unable to do anything to Liu Bei even if they dug a dam. Facing Sun Ce's worries, Zhou Yu thought for a moment and said: "Brother, don't worry. Go back to the camp first and find out what happened yesterday. It won't be too late for our army to deal with it later!" After hearing this, Sun Ce simply followed Zhou Yu's suggestion and sent out spies to investigate yesterday's news, while he returned to the camp to rest. As a result of this exploration, I realized how exciting yesterday was. First, Zhang Fei ambushed Chen Lan's troops and killed Chen Lan. It was Lu Bu who attacked the city gate fiercely again. Liu Bei took advantage of the opportunity and pretended to attack the north gate and then broke into the city from the west gate. What's more, after Lu Bu entered the city, he found that there was no money or food, and the two families almost burned each other down.

In addition, the whereabouts of Ji Ling's defeated troops were also discovered. It turned out that after they defeated Ji Ling, Ji Ling went south and was ambushed by Liu Bei. Ji Ling died and all his subordinates were captured by Liu Bei. To put it simply, they and Lu Bu were fooled by Qin Zhen that night, and both families suffered heavy casualties. In the end, Shouchun City was taken by Liu Bei. Even Ji Ling's defeated army was taken advantage of by Liu Bei! There were 20,000 troops in Shouchun City, including Liu Bei's family who surrendered and the captives, totaling more than 7,000 people! Therefore, after hearing the news, Sun Ce forgot his anger, and his advisers were also shocked. They, Lu Bu, and Yuan Shu's army in the city, all three families were actually played around by Qin Zhen. All the benefits belong to Liu Bei, and all the bad things belong to them. Although Qin Zhen was indeed not kind to them, he did his job to perfection! Thinking of this, Sun Ce couldn't help but sigh: "Qin Zhen's ability to plan is truly extraordinary!" "I'm afraid even if Liu Hou is reborn, he may not be able to do this!" Liu Hou is Zhang Liang, one of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty. Sun Ce's evaluation of him is not low. But when everyone heard it, no one refuted it. There is no other reason, because Qin Zhen’s Shouchun plan is almost impossible to replicate. Even if Zhang Liang came, he might not be able to do better than Qin Zhen. Only Zhou Yu listened, stood up with a serious face and said: "Brother, it seems that Liu Bei is a bigger threat than Yuan Shu now!" "Now Shouchun has been taken by this man. If we allow him to take control of Huainan, we will never be able to make a name for ourselves in the future!" Huainan is too important to them! As the saying goes, to guard the Yangtze River, one must guard the Huai River. It turned out that Yuan Shu was in charge of Huainan, and Zhou Yu was not panicked at all. And now with the arrival of Liu Bei, they can finally be said to have met their nemesis. Because Yuan Shu only had a large number of soldiers and horses, but he was not good at fighting or governing. Liu Bei, on the other hand, was the opposite. He implemented benevolent policies and was extremely good at winning people's hearts. He also had the assistance of a cunning strategist like Qin Zhen, who was capable of both fighting and defending. Once they have secured Huainan, they will be like an iron wall that they cannot break through! Sun Ce heard this and naturally understood Zhou Yu's intention. He sighed: "But Liu Bei has already entered the city, what can our army do?" Of course he wanted to stir up trouble, but the current situation did not allow it. Thinking of this, he looked at everyone and said: "Everyone, please tell me, what should our army do now?" Seeing him asking this question, Chen Duan couldn't help but step out and say: "My lord, Liu Bei is now very powerful. Why don't we follow Gongjin's previous strategy and go south to seize Hefei, and then settle accounts with Liu Bei? How do you think?"

But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yu shook his head and said: "No, my plan may deceive others, but it cannot deceive Qin Zhen!" "Now that Shouchun has fallen, Qin Zhen will definitely not sit idly by and watch our army seize Hefei!" Originally, according to his idea, he wanted to use the march north as a cover to go south to take Hefei. But as soon as they arrived outside Shouchun City, they fell into Qin Zhen's trap. Led by Qin Zhen, Shouchun was captured in just a few days, and there was no chance to turn back. Judging from this situation, if we suddenly go south, we may fall into Qin Zhen's trap. In this case, it is no longer realistic to take Hefei alone. "Besides, Liu Bei's army may have already attacked our army in Jiangdong, and our army doesn't have much time to get involved with Liu Bei now!" Hearing Zhou Yu talking about the rear again, Sun Ce felt a headache and looked at Zhang Hong and said: "Mr. Zhang, did Ziheng catch any spies from Liu Bei's army?" Zhang Hong saw this, shook his head and sighed: "There is no news from Wujun yet, which shows that we still haven't discovered the enemy's plan!" When Sun Ce heard this, he couldn't help but think hard: "How strange! What means is Liu Bei using to plot against our army's rear?" "There can't be no clues at all!" Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yu said in a deep voice: "Brother, you must know that Qin Zhen has a very detailed plan. Our army may not be able to find out anything just by investigating!" Upon hearing this, Sun Ce hurriedly asked: "Then according to Gongjin's opinion, what should we do now?" Seeing this, Zhou Yu said coldly: "From my humble opinion, it is useless to plot secretly, so it is better to act openly!" "Since Liu Bei is plotting against our two families, we should instigate Lu Bu to rebel and cooperate with him from inside and outside to attack and kill Liu Bei here, so as to resolve the current threat to our army!" He also thought it through. Since he couldn't do it secretly, he would do it openly. He just couldn't believe that Liu Bei could occupy Shouchun safely after betraying two families? No matter what, Liu Bei will have to pay the price this time! (End of this chapter)