In July of the 18th year of Yanxing, the humidity and heat in the south have not gone away with the summer, and the weather is still unpredictable. Since May, Chaisang has entered the rainy season, but it has become more and more serious during this period. Sometimes there are dark clouds in the city, and sometimes the sun shines brightly. Either the heavy rain makes it difficult to walk, or the heat is so steaming that it makes people feel dizzy. Even farmers who grew up here often complain about God.
Wu Hou Sun Ce was in a bad mood at this time, not because of the weather, but because of several state affairs. One is a matter of establishing the capital. As ties with the imperial court were severed and the country's territory spread across four states, there was gradually talk of establishing a capital in the palace. This was something Sun Ce had been thinking about for a long time, so he passed the matter down to his staff for discussion, but unexpectedly it aroused great controversy.
All the scholars knew the principle of building a tower near water, so the mansion was divided into three factions. Zhang Wen of Wu County said: "The terrain of Moling is like a tiger sitting on a dragon's plate. It is expected to be kingly." But Huang Shou of Jiangxia said: "I heard that there is an ancient legend: 'If there are hundreds of Jingzhou Islands, the emperor will be born', but now Zhijiang Open the river, and the number of hundreds will soon be full. It is better to establish the capital in Hubei and obey the people." Liu Ye advised: "The emperor should not live in the south of the river. Since the emperor has the ambition to swallow up the world, he might as well live in Shouchun temporarily. , in order to plan the Central Plains."
The three parties each held their own sides and argued endlessly. In the end, there were faint signs of party struggle. Sun Ce realized that something was wrong, so he stopped the matter, put it aside for the time being, and started discussing the establishment of a reserve.
Considering Sun Ce's age alone, it would be too hasty to establish a heirloom, but since he was in troubled times, he had to prepare for the worst. Sun Ce had four brothers and one legitimate son. In fact, there were only two who could be his heirs. One is Sun Shao, his direct descendant. Sun Shao is handsome in appearance, and his personality and behavior are very similar to Sun Ce. Sun Ce personally taught him how to practice swordsmanship and martial arts. In the past few years, he has participated in wars with the army and has made some achievements. Logically speaking, he is the best candidate to inherit. However, the second brother Sun Quan is really outstanding. He is benevolent and decisive, advocates chivalry, never let go of books, and accumulates good deeds and talents, so he is very popular among scholars. Sun Ce's subordinates such as Lu Su, Liu Ye, Zhuge Jin, Deng Dang and others all Highly respected. Since we are in troubled times, sometimes we do not follow common sense when establishing a reserve, so the two are equally matched, which makes Sun Ce quite difficult.
At the end of March this year, Liu Fan launched a large-scale attack on Mianbei as promised, and sent his brother Jianwei Zhonglang to send Liu Dan to Chaisang, requesting that the wedding be held as promised, which seemed to urge Sun Ce to send troops. So Sun Ce had a sudden idea. He mobilized 80,000 soldiers from the country and divided them into two groups: one was led by Sun Quan and attacked Ruyin and Xincai from the north; the other was led by Sun Shao and attacked Yulin from the south. , Hepu. Let's see how the two perform, compare their strengths and weaknesses, and then decide on the candidate for the crown prince.
Although on the surface each of them had an army of 40,000, Sun Ce could not be said to be unbiased. After all, he had competed with Liu Biao for Jiaozhou several times before and had captured Linhe, Gaoliang and other places. Jiaozhou Shixie was already too frightened to resist. force. As long as Sun Shao makes no mistakes and attacks the city along the coast by boat, Jiaozhi will be easily captured. On the other side, the Western Dynasty has been operating Yuzhou for a long time. Although there are few soldiers now, the city defense is very tight. When Sun Quan attacks the city, he also has to worry about the return of Liu Bei's main force from the north. Even if there are achievements, it is difficult to compare with Sun Shao.
In mid-April, the two armies moved forward and back. In the past few days, Sun Quan had presided over the wedding of Liu Dan and his younger sister, and battle reports from the front line were coming back one after another.
The battle situation in Huaibei was as Sun Ce expected. After Sun Quan set out from Shouchun, he flowed from the Huai River into the Ying River, and went upstream to attack Shen County and Ruyin. Since Wu Jun's large-scale material mobilization had been detected in advance, the Westerners were well prepared for this and had moved the surrounding people to the Song Dynasty. After Wu Jun's navy arrived, the guard Chen Dao simply abandoned Shen County and chose to concentrate two thousand soldiers In Ruyin. This caused the Wu army to go too deep alone, so Sun Quan was not determined to attack the city. His subordinates Lu Meng and Zhuge Jin took turns to attack, but there was no sign of breaking the city.
Sun Ce wrote a letter to Sun Quan to clarify his opinion: Although the Wu army penetrated deeply, its supplies relied entirely on water transport, and the Westerners were unable to stop it. The Western Dynasty army went to surround Yecheng again, and Ruyin was nothing compared to it. It was profitable, so he would not return easily. Even if the army retreated, the enemy had no navy, and Sun Quan could also take a boat and go down the river, and there was no danger. Therefore, Sun Ce suggested that he give it a try. The courage of the general's three armies requires great courage.
But unexpectedly, the situation in Jiaozhou was not good either. Sun Shao's initial attack went smoothly. Since the Wu army captured eastern Hunan last year and became famous in Lingnan, Hepu and Yulin counties were afraid of the Wu army's momentum, and eight cities surrendered without a fight. Sun Shao took advantage of the opportunity to cross the sea, headed straight for Jiaozhi County, and successfully surrounded Longbian. Just traveling across the sea, it was difficult to meet with the grain and fodder, so Sun Shao began to collect rents and taxes in the local mountains and mountains. Unexpectedly, it caused a great chaos. People from Ding'an, Wugong, and Jufeng all over the country raised troops and cited Shi Xie. Sun Shao was surrounded by enemies both inside and outside. Besieged in Quyang, he was in a dilemma.
This situation greatly disappointed Sun Ce. Contrary to Sun Quan, Sun Shao was indeed bold in his march, but he was too ill-considered in his actions. He then went to Xinjiaozhou, and in his letter emphasized to Sun Shao the principle of defeating the enemy without fighting. The commander should not only focus on military achievements, but must also put the whole army first in order to obtain the death of the soldiers. When dealing with Shanyue in Jiaozhou, we should not treat them as barbarians. We should first appease the surroundings and open a passage, and then talk about conquest. Sun Ce specifically emphasized: "The people are the swords, the people are the boats, and the people are the city." Fearing that Sun Shao would not listen, Sun Ce sent an order to Wu Fen, the deputy general of the South Road, to force the troops to withdraw if the soldiers were seriously injured.
The war on both the northern and southern fronts was not going well, which made Sun Ce in a bad mood throughout June, but it was not without good things. For example, Sun Ce heard that the emperor had fled from Guanzhong and was trapped in Qishan for Liu Xie. Sun Ce was still pondering what impact this political turmoil would have, but there was no doubt that if used properly, he could gain a lot of political benefits. Another example is the marriage between Xiao Mei and Liu Dan. Liu Dan was slightly older than Sun Ce, but he was elegant in conversation and knowledgeable, so he was admired by Sun Ce. In addition, Liu Fan did have an advantage in politics now, so Sun Ce did not hesitate to spend time getting close to him.
At first, the two often talked about the local people and anecdotes in Shu or Guanzhong in the early years. Later, they gradually talked about the state affairs in Jiangbiao, and Liu Dan had quite a lot of insights. One day, Sun Ce accidentally mentioned the war on the two fronts. When it came to the pros and cons of Sun Quan and Sun Shao, no one in the house dared to say anything. Only Liu Dan looked thoughtful. Sun Ce asked him his opinion, and he said, "I don't know them well." His character and character are all outstanding in what he hears and does. If one of them is missing, it would be unworthy, so he is thinking about how to tolerate each other and serve the country." Sun Ce laughed when he heard this and made a decision in his heart.
On this day in July, the weather was particularly good. There was a layer of light white clouds in the sky. Although there was no daylight, the mountains around Chai Sang were particularly bright because of the dewdrops on the forest leaves, and the breeze was blowing through the hall. At this time, you can feel the slightly cool water vapor from the sleeves, which makes people feel more comfortable and comfortable. It's great hunting weather.
Seeing this, Sun Ce called Liu Dan, Sun Lang, Hongzi and others, and said with a smile: "I haven't moved my muscles for a long time, and I feel like there are worms all over my body. How can we not go hunting in such a good weather?" So the group of ten The rest of them took their bows and arrows, butcher's knives, wine vessels, barbecue utensils, etc., rode on their horses, and headed south to Mount Lu.
In order to prevent getting lost and to facilitate drinking water, they chose a small river to swim upstream. In this way, we gradually entered the unknown deep mountains. The mountains were lush with trees, the riverside was covered with grass, and there were layers of thorns along the way. It became difficult to move. They covered their horses with animal skins to prevent them from being scratched by thorns.
After shooting some wild deer, pheasants and other prey in this way, it soon became afternoon. The light gradually dimmed, and the mottled light and shadow through the branches above the head also became faint. A deep and moist breath came from the deep forest. The air came out, and there was a sudden chill all around. Everyone suddenly realized that they had entered an inaccessible old forest.
Some people say that there should be bears and tigers in this kind of forest. They are all hiding in the dark, with limited visibility and no time to shoot arrows. It is better to follow the river back to the pasture in the mountainside valley, where there are many deer.
Sun Ce thought it made sense, but he also wanted to capture a bear and use the bear's complete face and scalp to make a hood. This kind of complete bearskin hat is not easy to come by, and he didn't want to buy it, so he said: "It doesn't matter, we will use the previous prey as bait and go back after catching a bear."
So they left a servant riding by the river to guard the horses and baggage, then put a young elk about half a year old into a wooden cage, carried it away from the water source, and walked into the forest on foot, which lasted about two miles. , they found a boulder covered with moss, and placed the cage on the grass not far from the stone. They leaned behind the boulder and held their bows in their hands. Hongzi crossed his hands to his mouth and made a roaring sound to attract the beast.
After a long time like this, I heard a soft sound of Haloxylon, like a big guy coming through the leaves and grass on the ground. Sun Ce cautiously stuck his head out and looked ahead. I discovered that it was a tiger more than ten feet long, peering between the woods and the open space. He was extremely excited and almost immediately shot the arrow. With a whoosh, the hunting arrow penetrated the tiger's back butt. The tiger roared in pain, and everyone around him was startled. Before he could move, he heard a violent movement in the jungle. It was obvious that the tiger was running back. Sun Ce, holding a bow in one hand and a knife in the other, immediately stood up and faced It gave chase.
Sun Ce struggled to advance through the thorns and thorns in the dark dense forest. In front of him, he could only see the silhouette of the tiger rising and falling. After running for a while, they caught up to a blind corner with many rocks. The tiger was exhausted from the pain, and Sun Ce was also out of breath. At this time, he thought of turning around to greet the others, but found that only Liu Dan reluctantly followed him. He couldn't help but became furious and cursed secretly in his heart. After Liu Dan came closer, he also stopped, holding his bow and breathing heavily. There are dense forests all around, and without knowing the direction, you can hear the vigilant roar of the tiger and the rustling of the surrounding forest leaves.
Liu Dan said to Sun Ce: "If you want to fight a tiger, I'm afraid it will be difficult. You might as well wait until future generations come up to see it." These words aroused Sun Ce's desire to win. He smiled and said: "It's just a matter of time." It's just a tiger. I'm determined to kill it all over the world." Then he said to Liu Dan, "Just stay here with your bow and watch me peel off the tiger's skin with my knife!"
He turned around and stood at attention, walking slowly towards the tiger that was roaring at him in the blind corner. Seeing him approaching, the tiger held its breath for a moment, and then pounced on Sun Ce, like a huge boulder pressing down on Sun Ce. Sun Ce's spirit was tense. He immediately jumped to the side. At the moment when the tiger didn't turn around, he flew on the tiger's back. His left hand pressed firmly on the neck of the prey. His right hand took the opportunity to draw the knife from his waist and slashed at the tiger's waist like a thunderbolt. . Blood flowed in an instant, and the tiger was aroused to the last bit of its ferocity, but it still could not throw Sun Ce off. Its strength gradually disappeared, and in the end it could only lie on the ground and moan continuously.
Sun Ce personally suppressed the tiger. After the success, he couldn't help but feel exhausted. He turned to look at Liu Dan and saw that he was holding a bow and arrow, but he forgot to shoot. He had a stunned and convinced expression on his face, and he was very proud of himself. He asked Liu Dan, "How does Shuyu think of my skills?"
Liu Dan lowered his head and replied: "It's amazing, the king is really a man of heaven!" After saying that, he suddenly raised his hand and shot the arrow, which missed. This arrow came without any warning, and it came with a whizzing sound. Normally, Sun Ce would have been able to react, but now that he was out of strength, he watched helplessly as the arrow hit his face. It was like Kunlun collapsed. In an instant, Sun Ce, who had just managed to capture the tiger, fell on his head. The huge wound made his face unrecognizable. The dark blood covered his fair skin. The scene was breathtaking. Can't bear to watch.
When Liu Dan saw that he succeeded with one blow, he couldn't help feeling ashamed and remorseful, but time waited for no one. Since he succeeded according to Liu Fan's plan, he didn't think about it. He decisively threw down the bow and arrow, equipped only with a waist knife, and quickly disappeared. In the mountains and forests to the west.
