He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Liu Bei also knew that he couldn't use people like a pile of firewood, but at the moment, Liu Bei's side was too short of talent. Objective conditions really didn't allow Liu Bei to slowly cultivate talent, and others could understand that.

The work pressure in Xuzhou is still very high. Apart from people like Chen Qun and Chen Jiao who are trying to realize their self-worth, everyone else is just trying to make a living and would love for someone to suffer with them.

The three men were surprised that Liu Bei had given them such high-ranking positions so soon. They quickly declined, saying that they were newcomers and had not yet made any contributions, so they were really not worthy of the honor.

Tian Yu and Tian Guorang were appointed as Commandant with a rank equivalent to 2,000 shi (a unit of grain measure), almost on par with a Prefect. Zhao Yun's position as Chancellor of Pengcheng was practically equivalent to a Prefect. Liu Bei offered them such generous terms for two reasons: first, it was the return of veteran players, as they had prior experience under Liu Bei; second, the country was in crisis and needed capable leaders.

In comparison, Qian Zhao's position as Chief Clerk of Pengcheng was relatively low. However, Liu Bei knew that if he immediately appointed his brother to a high-ranking post, Qian Zhao might not be able to handle it. Rather than causing a rift between the two sides, it was better to let Qian Zhao adapt first.

"The three of you should no longer refuse. Now that Xuzhou has been pacified, we are in dire need of manpower. I hope the three of you will not decline."

Just as the four were enjoying a harmonious relationship as ruler and minister, Lu Wan finally arrived at the prefectural capital. He was holding a roll of paper in his hand and quickly ran to Liu Bei, saying:

"My lord, something terrible has happened!"

"Wen Yuan? What happened? What's wrong?"

The three exchanged a glance and were about to take their leave when Liu Bei reassured them, "It's alright, you are all my brothers, it won't hurt you to see."

"My lord, look," Lu Wan said, unfolding the letter in her hand. "It was sent by Chen Yuanlong."

The group craned their necks to look and discovered that new developments had emerged in Huainan.

This happened too suddenly; it's a major event that could change the current strategic direction.

--------

The situation in Huainan was expected to gradually cool down, as most people predicted. However, what happened next proved that the truth lies in the hands of a minority.

The reason is that the two sides went to war at the wrong time and in the wrong place, lacking strategic resolve.

Although Sun Ce and Liu Xun were at war initially, neither of them launched the first attack; only small-scale clashes broke out between their scouts.

One day in early December of the first year of Jian'an (200 AD), a scout team led by Liu Xun was patrolling near Shu County as usual. As was the case, there was nothing around except withered trees and grass. So their task was simple: to quickly patrol the area and then return to rest.

Today was clearly not a good day to go out, and they ran into another group of Sun Ce's scouts who were on patrol. The two sides spotted each other almost at the same time.

There was an initial silence, followed by fierce fighting. Both sides simultaneously opened fire on the enemy and immediately sent messengers back to call for reinforcements.

The incident happened suddenly, so neither side had any brilliant battle plan. Everything was done in the most primitive way: gouge eyes and kick groin. No matter how good or bad the move was, as long as it could take down the other party, that was enough.

Surprisingly, Liu Xun's soldiers gained the upper hand in the ensuing battle.

That's actually normal. When Sun Ce marched north to Guangling, he didn't bring many elite troops. After fighting in Yangzhou for so long, his men and horses were exhausted, so Sun Ce left them in Jiangdong instead of bringing them with him.

Sun Ce not only wanted his soldiers to get plenty of rest, but also wanted them to keep a close eye on the powerful families of Jiangdong to prevent them from causing trouble again.

This has resulted in most of the soldiers under Sun Ce's command being former soldiers of Yuan Shu's army who were taken over from Wu Jing. They need to train a few more times before they can truly unleash their full potential.

According to Zhou Yu's plan, this battle would begin after the spring planting season, so the training program would focus on basic training without consuming too many resources. Such small-scale conflicts placed great emphasis on the soldiers' basic skills, and in this short period, Sun Ce's army, while not exactly renowned, had at least completely lost its prestige.

This small-scale conflict ended in a major defeat for Sun Ce's side, leaving behind more than twenty corpses. The few lucky survivors of Sun Ce's army slipped away without looking back.

This incident was likely just one of many minor conflicts, and even Li Feng, the military commander in charge of the area, didn't pay much attention to this small victory. He even wrote in a letter to his family: "Today, there is no war in Huainan."

Sun Ce started to ponder. In the small conflicts that had been going on, Sun Ce's side had suffered more defeats than victories, and it wasn't good for the Little Conqueror to keep losing. What would people say then? That the Little Conqueror was nothing special, just someone who bullied the people of Jiangdong, and who was easily defeated once he entered the Central Plains.

In order to regain face and for the sake of international reputation, Sun Ce decided to personally step in and teach the people of Huainan a lesson on what it means to be a reincarnation of a hegemon.

He deliberately dressed up as a common soldier and led his personal guards to ambush Liu Xun's patrol.

Sun Ce looked at the corpses scattered on the ground and nodded in satisfaction. He even peeled off the bark from the nearby trees and wrote on it: "The killer is Sun Ce of Wu Commandery!"

In Sun Ce's mind, this was merely a retaliatory action. After all, he was not prepared for a full-scale war, and compared to Liu Xun's nearly 30,000 men, Sun Ce's nearly 20,000 men were still at a slight disadvantage, especially since the quality of his soldiers was uneven.

Then he heard some shocking news: Liu Xunfang's army had left the city and was heading towards Chaoxian.

Actually, Liu Xun didn't take it to heart at first. After all, only a few people died, and he could just grab some able-bodied men to serve in the army later.

However, his strategist Liu Ye offered his own perspective: the fact that Liu Xun had won more conflicts than he lost proved that Sun Ce's army was currently a weak force, only possessing a capable commander. Liu Xun should seize this opportunity to eliminate Sun Ce; otherwise, once the main force of Sun Ce's army marched north in the spring, defeating Sun Ce would become even more difficult.

Liu Xun agreed with this reasoning. If it was already difficult to defeat an ordinary soldier, then there would be no way to fight when the main force of Jiangdong arrived. So he immediately communicated with Huang Zu and agreed to send troops together.

In addition, Liu Ye offered Liu Xun a strategy: to build fortifications all the way from Shuxian to Chaoxian. Liu Ye was indeed very astute, because the primary condition for this strategy was self-awareness. He understood that his own training level was actually quite low, and only by gradually advancing through fortifications could he avoid being defeated in open battle.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were indeed disgusted by this move. Liu Xun's troops only marched thirty li a day, and they advanced in shifts. As soon as they arrived at a place, they immediately began to build camps, leaving Sun Ce in a dilemma of whether to attack or let them go.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu thought that if they could build a road all the way to the foot of Chao County, they could directly surround it. Liu Xun, with the supplies from Liu Biao, wouldn't have to worry about food at all, while Sun Ce would be in a very difficult situation. The food reserves in the city might not even be enough to outlast them.

But then a sudden inspiration struck him: Liu Xun had demonstrated the solution to this tactic from the very beginning. If Liu Xun could build fortifications, so could our army. Sun Ce's army then began a massive construction campaign, and fortifications rose up across the Huainan plains like wildflowers blooming on a grassland.