Chapter 292: Zhang Fei in power, three days of separation Sun Ben, whose courtesy name was Boyang, is not well-known in history, but he is the best general under Sun Ce! The first one does not refer to his ability or official position, but to his qualifications. Because although Sun Ben is Sun Ce's cousin, the age difference between them is huge. Long before Sun Jian launched his rebellion, Sun Ben had already served as the county inspector and county magistrate. Later, when Sun Jian raised an army, Sun Ben resigned from his official position and followed him, fighting in many battles from south to north. Until Sun Jian's death, his subordinates such as Cheng Pu and Huang Gai were actually led by Sun Ben. Unfortunately, Sun Ben had no ambition to dominate. After seeing Sun Jian die in battle, he led his generals to join Yuan Shu, where he was highly valued. Otherwise, if Sun Ben really had ambitions, Sun Ce and Sun Quan would never have been the head of the Sun family. How could such a person be defeated and captured by Zhang Fei?

The story of this has to start from before Liu Bei went south. At the end of December last year, as the situation in Jiangdong improved, Zhang Fei entered Wanling City and took up the post of acting prefect. Speaking of being a prefect, it is naturally a new thing for Lao Zhang. Even if he was acting as the prefect, it was an unprecedented and rare thing. So Zhang Fei entered the city and drank every day to relieve his alcohol addiction that had been suppressed in Shouchun. If it were the original Zhang Fei, he might have been able to live so carefree for several months. But since Qin Zhen encouraged him to study, Lao Zhang has also learned a lot about self-cultivation. After a few days of indulgence, I felt something was wrong. I always feel that he is letting down Liu Bei and Qin Zhen's expectations of him by indulging himself here. After thinking about it, he simply began to learn how to handle government affairs. But after dealing with it for two days in a row, he felt dizzy and irritable, so he simply handed it over to his scholars. At this point, Zhang Fei wondered how his second brother Guan Yu came to be in charge of Runan? Apart from drinking, how did Guan Yu persist in such a boring job? While he was thinking, he called his minor officials to question them and asked them how to govern the county. Although Zhang Fei had restrained his temper and would beat people, he still had a hot temper and was feared by minor officials. When everyone saw him asking questions, they naturally did not dare to be perfunctory. Some said that they should be diligent in their duties, and some said that they should actively handle the case. Zhang Fei listened to everyone talking at once and suddenly said angrily: "You guys can handle the miscellaneous stuff. You still need to train your troops, so you don't have the time to do this kind of thing!" "How can my second brother, who trains soldiers all day long, rule a county?" When the officials heard this, they reacted and said quickly: "The reason why you are able to govern a large county is that you are good at employing people!"

"Since the general has to train the troops, why not entrust others to govern the people?" Zhang Fei heard this and suddenly slapped his head, and suddenly realized: "That's right. I'm not good at this, so why not recruit talented people?" Since he can't do the job, wouldn't it be enough to recruit a few more talented people to help? Lao Zhang may not be good at doing the job, but he is good at recruiting people! After all, he had seen with his own eyes the Talent Recruitment Hall set up by Qin Zhen in the north in the past. He knows everything about how to recruit talents and the basic process! Zhang Fei did what he thought of. He simply set up a talent recruitment hall in his mansion, similar to how Qin Zhen set questions in his mansion. For example, for liberal arts, they are asked to memorize the Spring and Autumn Annals, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and Wei Liaozi. It doesn't matter if you can memorize a lot. If you can memorize a passage, you're considered a talent. Mr. Zhang may not be able to remember that much. As for the military subject, all you have to do is carry a millstone and walk in front of him. After this arrangement, Zhang Fei would wait outside the government office every day with a wine jug to recruit people. I didn’t expect that after waiting for more than half a month, I still didn’t recruit a single talent! This made Lao Zhang very angry, so he brought a group of petty officials to ask: "I have been recruiting talents here, why is there no one coming? If I continue to recruit people like this, how long will it take for me to recruit people?" Seeing that he was angry, the minor officials were terrified and immediately gave Zhang Fei another idea. To be frank, they have no reputation here and the people are still unaware of this. Since we can’t recruit them, we might as well offer some money as an inducement, and that will attract them. After hearing this, Zhang Fei nodded and simply hung fifty strings of money on the yamen. If you can solve a problem or lift a millstone, you will be rewarded with ten strings of cash! After issuing this order, he continued to sit at the door and wait for talents to come. As a result, people started coming to try it from the next day. Zhang Fei was delighted and tried it himself regardless of the person's identity. After a few visits, he actually became famous and even found a few strong men. As long as Zhang Fei saw someone as suitable, he would give him money and let him join the army. When the people saw that Zhang Fei was really willing to give money, they spread the word and brought their relatives into the city for interviews, causing the Recruitment Hall to be crowded with people. When Zhang Fei saw this, he seemed to have found a new interest, so he simply stopped drinking and just focused on the interviews every day. This test lasted for more than a month. Suddenly one day, a man came to the door, first lifted the millstone, and then went inside to answer questions. After passing two checkpoints in a row, you have to ask for twenty taels of silver from a minor official. When the minor official saw this, he naturally felt reluctant to leave and started arguing with him, which led to Zhang Fei coming over. Zhang Fei was overjoyed when he heard that this man was a man of both civil and military talents. Seeing that he wanted twenty taels of silver, he said: "This office of mine is set up to recruit talented people. Others are offered ten taels, but you want twenty taels?" Upon hearing this, the man explained that Zhang Fei had set the question and only said that one could get money by answering it, and there was no upper limit.

He came for the interview because he heard there was money to be made. If he had known he would have to join the army, he would definitely not have come. Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei pointed at the man's face and shouted: "A real man should put national affairs first. Now that the country is in crisis, how can you not think about serving the country and only care about money?" Seeing that he was angry, the man couldn't help but look ashamed and sighed: "I used to be a county official, and I knew the name of Envoy Liu, and I had long intended to join him." "But my mother is still ill and I have no money for treatment, so I came to ask for help." Hearing that this man was asking for money in order to show filial piety to his mother, Zhang Fei's attitude immediately softened, and he summoned the man into the mansion to question him in detail. After asking, I found out that this man's name was Lü Dai, with the courtesy name Dinggong, and he was originally from Guangling. He had fled south to avoid disaster and had been serving his mother in Jiangdong. After hearing the whole story, Zhang Fei felt guilty and said: "For this reason, it is my fault. But your mother is ill, how can she live in the countryside? Why not bring her to the mansion to take care of her?" "I will personally hire a famous doctor to treat you, and I will also show my filial piety to you." As he said this, he personally followed Lu Dai on a fast horse to visit his mother and brought her into the mansion to provide for her. Seeing such courtesy, Lu Dai was moved and decided to join his army. Seeing Zhang Fei's eagerness to recruit talents, he suggested to him: "Nowadays, there are many scholars from Xuzhou in Jiangdong, and most of them know the good reputation of Liu Shijun." "But since we didn't know you were here, you might as well spread the word and invite you to come and use your skills!" Zhang Fei was overjoyed when he heard this, thinking that he had indeed chosen the right person. Afterwards, he followed Lu Dai's advice and asked merchants and common people to spread the matter, and at the same time posted notices in various counties to recruit talents. This method was indeed effective. As soon as the notice was issued, Shi Gan from Runan came to surrender first. Later, he successively gained the support of Bu Zhi and Wei Jing from Guangling and Pei Xuan from Xia Pi. In a short time, Zhang Fei had both civil and military forces under his command, and he managed Wanling and the southern counties in order. More than 2,000 elite soldiers from Danyang were recruited and all were transferred to the command of Lu Dai. At the beginning of February, it was heard that Jin Qi and Mao Gan, two Shanyue people in the south, had rebelled, so Zhang Fei appointed Lü Dai as his deputy general and led his troops to suppress them. He followed Lü Dai's strategy of dividing and defeating them, and first attacked into Anle Mountain where Jin Qi was, and then broke into Wuliao Mountain where Mao Gan was stationed. The two tribes were defeated, more than 6,000 heads were beheaded, and 26,000 Shanyue people were captured. Upon seeing this, Bu Zhi suggested to Zhang Fei that they should recruit the strongest and most able-bodied men to join the army, and incorporate the rest, the old and weak, into the household registration. Zhang Fei followed his advice and incorporated 5,000 of the best and strongest soldiers among them into his own army. At this point, the 8,000 soldiers and horses Liu Bei left for Zhang Fei had grown to nearly 13,000. Zhang Fei was very happy to get such results, but he didn't want to report it yet. After Liu Bei went south, he personally led his troops to give Liu Bei a surprise. Unexpectedly, before Liu Bei could head south, he received a military order, ordering him to attack Wujun immediately! Apart from this, there were no other requirements, not even any specific city for him to capture. Old Zhang had always been accustomed to following orders, but faced with this military order he was somewhat at a loss as to what to do, and hurriedly called everyone over to ask questions.

Everyone was also confused when they saw the military order Liu Bei issued according to Qin Zhen's plan. Only Bu Zhi pondered for a long time and gave Zhang Fei a definite answer: "Mingsong's order is probably due to Sun Ce's troops gathering in Wujun." "If we concentrate our forces to attack, it will probably take a long time." "Therefore, I have given full authority to all the generals to march forward and disrupt Sun Ce's deployment." Zhang Fei understood Liu Bei's intention, but he didn't know how to act. He sighed: "Although my elder brother has told us to march confidently, Sun Ce has tens of thousands of troops. How can we defeat him?" When Bu Zhi's good friend Wei Jing heard what he meant, he gave him some advice. Since we don't know how to advance, we might as well take a look at how other generals act. After hearing this, Zhang Fei stopped his troops and then saw Liu Ye feinting in the south, defeating the troops of Kuaiji and occupying Shanyin County. Then I heard that Sun Ce divided his troops into north and south, and was defeated by Taishi Ci in the north. After watching everyone's movements, he also knew the general idea of ​​how to move, and hurriedly called on everyone: "Now that all the troops are moving together, Sun Ce's troops are divided into north and south, so our army can move now!" His original intention was to lead his troops to capture Guzhang, march to Yangxian via Wucheng and join Liu Bei's retreat. However, when Lu Dai heard this, he told him that it would be better to take Wucheng and launch a surprise attack on Youquan instead of taking Guzhang. Once Sun Ben is defeated, Wu County will have no strategic location to defend and can directly threaten Sun Ce's rear! After hearing this suggestion, Zhang Fei took Lu Dai, Wei Jing and 9,000 soldiers with him and launched a surprise attack on Wucheng via the mountain road. At that time, Liu Bei was besieging Qu'a and had no idea that Zhang Fei had already advanced into the territory of Wujun. The magistrate of Wucheng County was originally an unknown person. Facing Zhang Fei's army, he was so frightened that he opened the city and surrendered. After taking Wucheng, Zhang Fei ordered Wei Jing to lead more than a thousand soldiers and horses to return, while preparing to plan to capture Youquan. But at this time, a minor official in the county offered Zhang Fei a plan, saying that he was willing to go in person to falsely report that Sun Ben was sending reinforcements. When Zhang Fei asked the man's name, he found out that his name was Wucan. He came from a poor family, but he was very talented. He was worried that this was this man's plan, so he sent someone to inquire about Wu Can's home. When he saw that his parents were still alive, he believed it for the most part and ordered Wu Can to go and make a false report. After receiving the order, Wu Can went straight to Youquan County and reported that the Shanyue were invading and asked Sun Ben for reinforcements. Sun Ben himself didn't really want to send troops, but Wu Can said with a firm face: "Now that the enemy is outside, we are all here to protect the general." "Only with us here can the general hold on. If you don't come to the rescue now, you will lose the support of the people." "Tomorrow everyone will surrender to Liu Bei, and the general will guard the lonely city alone, okay?" Sun Ben was greatly surprised when he heard what he said. After asking in detail, he led 3,000 troops out of the city. Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by Zhang Fei halfway through the journey. All 3,000 soldiers were wiped out, and even Sun Ben himself was captured by Zhang Fei.

To be honest, Sun Ben is much more aware of the current situation than Sun Ce. Originally in history, when facing Cao Cao's army, some people sent their sons as hostages in order to protect themselves. After being captured, he did not put in much resistance and helped Zhang Fei persuade You Quan to surrender. So when Liu Bei and Sun Ce were fighting in Piling County, Zhang Fei actually broke through Sun Ce's army's defense line first. At this time, looking at the military report sent by Zhang Fei from the south, Liu Bei was stunned for a long time before saying; "To my surprise, before we could defeat the enemy, my third brother took the credit!" Qin Zhen was filled with emotion when he read the military report, and said to Liu Bei with a smile: "You know, a man who has been away for three days should be looked at with new eyes. You know this too late!" "Now that Yide has captured Sun Ben, he can help us!" "I have come up with a plan that may be able to defeat Sun Ce here in one fell swoop!" (End of this chapter)