A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

At dusk, the setting sun was like blood.

Sun Ce was panting heavily. After fighting for so long, he still hadn't been able to capture the Lu family's fortified village.

Moreover, all the powerful families in Wu County had rebelled, and the entire county was in chaos. He couldn't even distinguish between enemies and civilians.

In the past, Sun Jian would arrange everything for him, and he only needed to lead his troops into battle.

When it came to planning, his good brother Zhou Yu helped him. Now that he was all alone, he realized that fighting a war was not so simple, and that he was still too young.

"Your Highness, what should we do next?"

Zhou Tai walked to Sun Ce's side, covered in blood, some of his own, but mostly from his enemies.

"Youping, I will definitely conquer the Lu family today!"

Sun Ce, wielding a long spear, led the charge.

"it is good."

Zhou Tai responded and rushed forward.

It wasn't until midnight, when the bright moonlight bathed the entire city, that the sounds of fighting within gradually subsided.

Sun Ce looked at the raging fire with resentment. In the end, he was still outmaneuvered by Lu Kang.

A great fire burned the entire Lu family estate to the ground, reducing all their money and provisions to ashes. Apart from destroying the Lu family, Sun Ce gained nothing.

"Let's go, to the Zhang family!"

After Sun Ce destroyed the Zhang family, the Zhu and Gu families, who had already received the news, contacted Yan Baihu and the barbarian tribe, who were closest to them, respectively, and prepared for battle.

Helpless, Sun Ce had no choice but to ask Sun Jian for help. He originally wanted to wipe out the four families with lightning speed to ensure that the news would not be leaked, but he did not expect that the Lu family's defenses were so complete that he could not break through them after a long time.

At this time, Liu Bei also rushed to the front line, with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, and Wen Pin all by his side.

Wen Ping, in particular, was originally a subordinate of Liu Biao. If it weren't for Sun Jian, his former master would not have died. He fought bravely and climbed Sun Jian's city wall several times.

The pressure on the front lines was immense, and there simply weren't enough troops available to support Sun Ce.

Therefore, Sun Jian ordered Sun Ce to switch from offense to defense to prevent Yan Baihu and the barbarians from affecting the battle at the front.

……

Ye City, Jizhou.

Thanks to the high walls of Ye City, Yuan Shao prevented Cao Cao from making any progress.

But a steady stream of bad news came from Youzhou and Yunzhou. Since his defeat at Guandu, his soldiers had suffered heavy losses and it would be difficult to raise an army capable of resisting Cao Cao in a short period of time.

In order to resist Cao Cao, he ordered the withdrawal of troops from Youzhou. Within a month, almost the entire territory of Youzhou fell into Cao Cao's hands.

On the grasslands, they were suffering defeats every day, and the days when they held five states seemed to be nothing but a dream.

Even his hometown of Bohai is now under siege by Cao Ren's army.

Two months ago, he was the most powerful warlord in the land, but now he is a homeless dog, living in constant fear.

"This is a sea of ​​suffering; my life has been like walking on thin ice. Do you think I can safely reach the other side?"

Wei Ya fell silent for a moment; Yuan Shao was now at a great disadvantage.

Liu Bei is currently thinking of taking advantage of Yuan Shao's last opportunity to conquer the entire south, fully occupy the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, and divide the country with Cao Cao. It is absolutely impossible for him to attack Cao Cao's rear under his persuasion.

Unless Sun Jian is defeated and killed as quickly as possible, allowing Liu Bei to unify the south, in order to prevent Cao Cao from becoming too powerful, Liu Bei, after unifying the south, will definitely send troops north to relieve the siege of Wei and force Cao Cao to withdraw his troops.

"Benchu, there is only one plan at present: use the prestige of the Yuan family, which has held high office for four generations, to contact the powerful families in Jiangdong, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and Yizhou, and get them to fully assist Liu Bei in destroying Sun Jian. Then, Liu Bei can send troops north to attack Yuzhou, which is in the hands of Cao Cao, and advance on Luoyang."

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Yuan Shao thought about it. Ever since Yuan Shu declared himself emperor and was destroyed, he had taken over the entire Yuan family's estate.

In addition to money and grain, the Yuan family's legacy also included a large number of protégés, former officials, and connections.

This is the Yuan family's accumulated wealth over many years. Now that he's almost dead, what use are these things? They might as well make the most of them.

Yuan Shao mobilized all the goodwill the Yuan family had accumulated over the years. The Yuan family was still alive, and Yuan Shao's request was beneficial to all the powerful families in the land, so they were willing to grant Yuan Shao's request.

With the assistance of these powerful families, Sun Jian's army rebelled at a crucial moment, helping the families' private armies open the city gates and let Liu Bei in.

Sun Jian led his trusted generals in a bloody battle, leaving his army almost wiped out.

In this struggle for supremacy, Sun Jian, the Tiger of Jiangdong, was eliminated.

"Wuya, I'm sorry, I failed to unify the world."

Sun Jian looked back at Jiangdong, reflecting on his life.

He came from a poor family and served as a county official in his youth. He was known for his bravery in the surrounding counties and was therefore recruited as a temporary lieutenant.

Later, when barbarian tribes rebelled, he was conscripted as a military commander, recruited terracotta warriors, and participated in suppressing the rebellion, which is how he met Zhu Jun.

Only then did he realize that Zhu Jun also seemed to come from one of the four great families of Jiangdong.

Later, when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he led the Jiangdong troops and was recruited by Zhu Jun. He made many meritorious contributions and was appointed as the prefect.

Later, he participated in the campaign against Dong Zhuo, fought in the south and the north, was enfeoffed as the King of Chu, and commanded Jiangdong. At that time, he was still one of the top feudal lords in the world.

Now that we have been defeated, how can we face the elders of Jiangdong?

"There is no need to apologize. There are countless heroes in the world. It's just that we are having bad luck now."

"Does Wentai still have ambition?"

Wei Hai placed his hands on Sun Jian's shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"Wuya, what does this mean?"

Sun Jian asked in confusion, a glint in his eyes.

"Do you perhaps have a plan that allows me to turn the tide and win?"

Wei Hai shook his head. "There is no place for us to stand in the country anymore, but there is still boundless land abroad for us to roam freely."

"Brother Wentai, are you interested?"

"foreign?"

Sun Jian's eyes were filled with confusion. Although he had heard of the name of overseas fiefdoms many times, he had never been abroad and his impression of foreign countries was only from the words in books.

"The Parthian Empire boasts vast fertile plains and tens of millions of people. General, are you interested?"

Wei Hai said with a smile.

"Wuya, you yourself said it, that's an empire with tens of millions of people. How can we, a mere remnant of a defeated army, possibly conquer it!"

Sun Jian gave a bitter laugh. Although he was known as the Tiger of Jiangdong, his martial prowess was not even among the top in the Central Plains, let alone in another great empire.

In his prime, he couldn't even defeat Liu Bei, let alone now that he's just a remnant of his army.

Hahahaha!

"As expected of Brother Wentai, he actually thought he could conquer the Parthian Empire with his own power. He truly lives up to his reputation as the ambitious and fierce Sun Wentai!"

Wei Hai laughed heartily, thinking, "How could Sun Jian possibly conquer the Parthian Empire?!"

"So what do you mean?"

Sun Jian asked in confusion.

"Gather the power of half of our overseas vassal states and destroy the Parthian Empire!"

"Let's make that place another gathering place for the Chinese nation!"