I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 919 Whose thugs
Why does the attempt to hide something only make it more obvious?

Xun Yu's words immediately brought everyone back to their senses. They were so busy thinking about Su Yao's arrangements that they forgot about the contradiction in the initial battle report.

In the two battle reports, there was no mention of Sun Ce surrendering, but instead he escaped.

"Yes, why did General Taishi put it this way?"

"Oh, this."

Su Yao laughed:
"You know, it will take a long time to get people from Luoyang, right? Before that, we can't let Sun Ce sit idle for nothing."

"So I sent him a secret mission in exchange for the so-called bargain, so that he wouldn't think everything was too easy."

"Secret mission?"

Wucheng, the county magistrate's office.

"What? Sun Bofu escaped to our place?!"

The prefect Xu Gong was shocked when he heard the report from the chief clerk.

Obviously, he knew very well that Danyang Prefect Zhou Shang had taken in Sun Ce and was surrounded and attacked by the imperial army. When he heard that Sun Ce had escaped, his first reaction was that disaster was coming.

"Quick, issue a warrant to arrest Sun Ce and bring him to the imperial court!"

Xu Gong was eager to capture Sun Ce, but it didn't necessarily mean that Sun Ce was loyal to him. He was more worried that this disaster would attract the imperial army.

Wujun was previously infiltrated by Yuan Shu. In order to fight against Su Yao's new policies, many local powerful people such as Yan Baihu secretly attached themselves to him.

As the local governor, Xu Gong was indifferent to this matter. Not only was he weak and unable to control the local area, but he also had secret interests connected with these powerful people.

The Jiangdong counties are far away from the Central Plains. There are no aristocratic families like those in the north, and they were not affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but the local powerful people are very powerful.

These people have no political status and limited advancement in their careers. They often rely on military force to dominate a region, or even openly oppose the government.

Although Xu Gong was the prefect, he had to pretend to be friendly with these people and maintain superficial peace.

Now that the imperial army is approaching and the new policy is in full swing, Xu Gong is worried about how to protect himself. How could he dare to take in a hot potato like Sun Ce?
However, he didn't know that he had completely misunderstood the situation.

The reason why Sun Ce came here quietly was to help Su Yao solve this problem.

He personally took the risk and used himself as bait, giving Taishi Ci's army a reason to continue to advance into various parts of Jiangdong.

Their first target was Yan Baihu, who was entrenched in Wucheng, Wujun.

Wucheng was originally the fief of his father Sun Jian, located on the south bank of Taihu Lake southwest of Wu County, close to the mountainous area.

During the turmoil in the country in recent years, the local wealthy family Yan not only took advantage of the chaos to raise troops and gather more than 10,000 people in the mountains and forests, but also "piled stones to build a city" at the foot of Shicheng Mountain in Wucheng County, becoming the largest armed force in Wu County.

Perhaps it was the stone city and the troops in his hands that gave him confidence, or perhaps it was the reward from Yuan Shu that made him more ambitious.

This man even openly challenged the prefect Xu Gong this year, calling himself the King of De of Eastern Wu, and began to extend his tentacles beyond Wucheng to control prefectures and counties.

Therefore, Sun Ce took more than 200 "remnant soldiers" to surrender to this short-sighted and arrogant person.
"King Yan, Sun Ce wants to see you!"

At the foot of Shicheng Mountain in Wucheng, Sun Ce came to surrender with more than 200 "remnant soldiers". Upon hearing the news, Yan Baihu immediately summoned his men to discuss.

"Sun Ce? The Sun Bofu who was hunted by the imperial court?" Yan Baihu touched his chin, a trace of greed flashed in his eyes, "How many people did he bring?" "About two hundred people, and they all look elite." The spy reported.

Yan Baihu laughed loudly: "Great! Sun Bofu is the bravest among the three armies. If I can use him, I won't have to worry about not accomplishing great things."

His younger brother Yan Yu frowned and said, "Brother, Sun Ce is a wanted criminal of the imperial court. If we take him in, I'm afraid it will attract a large army to attack us."

"What are you afraid of!" Yan Baihu slammed the table and stood up. "The imperial army is far away in Danyang. As long as you and I don't tell anyone, who would know that Sun Ce is coming?"

This is not because Yan Baihu is blindly confident, but it is a result of the times.

In this era of poor information flow, there are countless unsolved cases, and the closed nature of the manor economy makes it as easy for aristocratic families and local tyrants to shelter wanted criminals as drinking water and eating.

Not to mention famous exiled fugitives like Guan Yu and Dian Wei, there were more than a hundred wanted men for murder and robbery under Yan Baihu's own command. He was not afraid of one more Sun Ce.

On the contrary, in his opinion, Sun Ce, who had just proved his strength in Danyang in the north, was an absolutely powerful fighter.

As long as he changes his name and stays out of the spotlight for a while, once the imperial army leaves, it will be no problem for him to dominate Jiangdong with the help of Sun Ce.

The more Yan Baihu thought about it, the more he felt that this was a godsend opportunity. He waved his hand and said, "Quickly invite Sun Bofu in. I want to greet him in person!"

Soon, Sun Ce strode into the hall with his head held high, followed closely by two hundred soldiers. Although they were in ragged clothes, they could not hide the murderous aura on their bodies.

"It's true that a good father will have a good son!"

Yan Baihu looked Sun Ce up and down, his eyes full of admiration:
"We have long admired the name of Wucheng Hou, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong. It is a great honor for our Yan family that our nephew has come to seek refuge with us today!"

Sun Ce clasped his fists and bowed, speaking earnestly: "Thank you, King Yan, for not abandoning me. I have nowhere else to go. I heard that your majesty is recruiting talented people, so I came to you. I am willing to serve you like a dog and a horse!"

Yan Baihu laughed and stepped forward to hold Sun Ce's hand: "You are too polite, my dear brother! With your help, we will be in our hands sooner or later! Come on, set up the wine to welcome General Sun!"

At the banquet, Yan Baihu kept urging Sun Ce to drink, and his words were full of attempts to win him over. He even went so far as to promote Sun Ce, who had just come to join him, to the rank of vanguard general, a position second only to the two Yan brothers. He also promised that once Sun Ce had conquered the entire Wujun, he would assign the three counties east of Wucheng to Sun Ce's jurisdiction.

Sun Ce secretly laughed at Yan Baihu's solicitation and promises, thinking that this guy was indeed very ambitious.

While Sun Ce was pretending to be friendly with him, he took this opportunity to observe Yan Baihu's core team.

After the banquet, Sun Ce felt relieved, knowing that these people were opportunists with great ambition but little ability, and were nothing to worry about.

So, in the next few days, Sun Ce used his status as the third in command to patrol the city with his troops to look for defensive loopholes.

At the same time, after resting, Taishi Ci led his troops south again and went deep into Wujun. He was suspected of having a conflict with the prefect Xu Gong, and accused the local prefect of harboring a wanted criminal.

Yan Baihu was overjoyed when he heard the news:

"Hahaha!"

"The people in the court are really incompetent fools."

"Let them fight to the death!"

Yan Baihu laughed loudly, hoping to reap the benefits without much effort, but he never expected that two days later, the imperial army that had been preparing to besiege the city suddenly marched south, rushed all the way, and surrounded his Stone City overnight.

The presence of Sun Ce inside shattered his hope of holding the city.

(End of this chapter)