Chapter 75 4. Sun Ce: The fastest growing star

Let's go back to the third year of Chuping (192), when Sun Jian, a famous general, died in an attack by the enemy in Xianshan, outside Xiangyang City, Jingzhou, at the age of 37.At this time, Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, was only sixteen years old, and his second son, Sun Quan, was nine years old. They were living with their younger brothers Sun Yi, Sun Kuang, Sun Lang, and their mother Wu in Shu County, Lujiang County. When Sun Jian died, there should have been tens of thousands of people under him. These were the teams pulled together by Sun Jian, including Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zhu Zhi and other famous generals in the future.However, due to Sun Jian's sudden death, without any warning, and without leaving any political last words, these soldiers of his were later annexed by Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu disrupted the establishment of these teams and organized them separately.After Sun Jian's death, the only spokesperson for the Sun family in the army was Sun Jian's nephew Sun Ben. At first he succeeded Sun Jian as the governor of Yuzhou. Soon, Yuan Shu named him the captain of Danyang County and sent him to the south to fight guerrillas.The team that Sun Jian pulled up completely made Yuan Shu hacked. It was partly Sun Jian's decision to keep Sun Ce's mother and son in Shu County, and the other part was because there was a great person in Shu County who had a particularly good relationship with Sun Ce.This person is Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu, courtesy name Gongjin, is a native of Shu County.The Zhou family is the largest family in Shu County. His grandfather's brother, Zhou Jing, was a Taiwei. Zhou Jing's son, Zhou Zhong, is currently serving in the court of Chang'an.Zhou Yu's father, Zhou Yi, was a Luoyang magistrate.Zhou Jing had a high reputation among scholars and had promoted Li Ying, Chen Fan, Du Mi, Xun Yu, Zhu Yu and other famous party members. Zhou Yu is handsome, and he is the same age as Sun Ce, so they are very close friends.After the Sun family arrived in Shu County, Zhou Yu gave them the best Nan Mansion in the mansion to live in, and the two families became good friends.

After Sun Jian's death, Sun Ce suddenly provoked the burden of the entire family, and he was at a loss as to how to develop next.Zhou Yu suggested that he go to the famous scholar Zhang and listen to his advice. Zhang Zigang, a native of Guangling County, went to Taixue in his early years, worshiped Han Zong as his teacher, specialized in studying and "Shangshu", and became a scholar.This person does not read dead books, but likes to learn and apply book knowledge, has a broad vision, and is very insightful when looking at problems.Sun Ce ran all the way to find him, just as Zhang was staying at home because of his mother's funeral. After meeting Zhang and explaining his intentions, Zhang politely refused.

Sun Ce was in a hurry.According to the book "Wu Li", Sun Ce was so anxious that he burst into tears, and said to Zhang: "I have heard about your name for a long time, and only you can give me an idea about today's affairs (the decision for today's affairs is up to you), please." Be sure to give suggestions so as to live up to my high expectations of you. If I can develop my ambitions and get my revenge, this is your achievement, and it is also what I hope for in my heart!" Sun Ce's sincerity moved Zhang.Zhang helped Sun Ce analyze the situation and pointed out the next action plan.This conversation between them is very important. Some people think it is Sun Wu's version of "Longzhong Dui", because the place of this conversation is in Jiangdu, Guangling County, also known as "Jiangdu Dui".Zhang said:

"The fate of the Zhou Dynasty declined in the past, but Qi and Jin came to restore it. This is the duty of the princes and kings. Now that you have inherited your father's career and have a reputation for being brave and good at fighting, if you now go to Danyang County With the development of Wu County and Kuaiji County in the south of the Yangtze River, Yangzhou and Jingzhou will not be a problem in the future. They will guard the Yangtze River, strive for virtue, punish the county's filth, and help the Han Dynasty. Wouldn't their achievements be the same as those of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin? In this way, I am willing to contact good friends from all over the country and cross the river to assist the general."

After hearing this, Sun Ce woke up like a dream, very excited. In this plan, Zhang told Sun Ce not to waste time with Yuan Shu, but to develop south of the Yangtze River in time.There are six counties in the Yangzhou Governor's Department, of which there are two counties in the north of the Yangtze River, namely Lujiang County and Jiujiang County; four counties in the south of the Yangtze River, namely Danyang County, Wu County, Kuaiji County and Yuzhang County.After Yuan Shu moved to Shouchun, the two counties in the north of the Yangtze River were basically under his control, while the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River were basically out of Yuan Shu's control.

The sheriffs or actual controllers of the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River were Wu Jing, Liu Yao, Wang Lang and Zhuge Xuan respectively.Wu Jing and Zhuge Xuan belonged to Yuan Shu in name, but Wu Jing was Sun Ce's uncle, and Sun Ben, the captain, was Sun Ce's cousin, so Danyang County had great independence; Yuan Shu listed Zhuge Xuan as the prefect of Yuzhang County, but The situation in Yuzhang County was very chaotic, and various forces wanted to get involved. Zhuge Xuan failed to control the situation when he took office, and Yuan Shu lost control of Yuzhang County.The remaining actual controller of Wu County, Liu Yao, was originally the governor of Yangzhou. After Yuan Shu came to Shouchun, he drove him to the south of the Yangtze River. It can be regarded as a son planted by Yuan Shao behind Yuan Shu. Wang Lang, the prefect of the county, was originally Tao Qian's subordinate, and was officially appointed by the Chang'an court. His political inclinations were not clear, and he was not yet a member of Yuan Shu's camp.

The four counties in the south of the Yangtze River were in chaos at this time. Yuan Shu wanted to swallow it all at once, but he couldn't do it. The other forces were far away and beyond their reach.Therefore, Zhang advised Sun Ce to cross the Yangtze River in the south, use Danyang County as a base, and unify the south of the Yangtze River.Sun Ce thought it was reasonable, so he ran to Shouchun, saw Yuan Shu, and wanted to return to the soldiers left behind by his father Sun Jian, and then cross the south of the Yangtze River. According to "Jiang Biao Zhuan", Yuan Shu admired Sun Jian's son very much, but "would not return his father's soldiers".Sun Ce searched a lot, and Yuan Shu came up with an idea, saying that Danyang County is a place where elite soldiers are produced, and your uncle is serving as the prefect there, so you might as well go to Danyang County to recruit soldiers.Sun Ce had no choice but to cross the river to Danyang County. With the help of his uncle Wu Jing, he quickly recruited hundreds of people. However, when he arrived in Jing County (now Jing County, Anhui), he was attacked by the local bandit Zu Lang, and the team was beaten. Sun Ce almost died.Jing County is where the Southern Anhui Incident occurred. It seems that the forest is deep and dense, and the terrain is steep. Since ancient times, it is easy to encounter ambushes when marching here.

Sun Ce failed to recruit soldiers, so he returned to Shouchun, and went to find the team Yuan Shu wanted his father to leave behind every now and then.Yuan Shu got annoyed, so he returned to Sun Ce the more than 1,000 people who had not been dismantled from Sun Jian's team back then.Although the number of this team is not large, it includes Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zhu Zhi and others, which means a lot to Sun Ce. Yuan Shu also had conditions for giving people to Sun Ce. He asked Sun Ce to help him pacify Jiujiang County, and promised to appoint Sun Ce as the prefect of Jiujiang County afterwards. Sun Ce helped Yuan Shu, but in the end Yuan Shu appointed Chen Ji as the prefect of Jiujiang County.Yuan Shu asked Sun Ce to help him pacify Lujiang County, and specifically stated that it was his own fault for breaking his promise last time, and this time he must appoint Sun Ce as the prefect of Lujiang County.Sun Ce helped Yuan Shu pacify Lujiang County again, but Yuan Shu seemed to have amnesia and could no longer remember what he had said before, so he appointed Liu Xun as the prefect of Lujiang County.This Liu Xun was Cao Cao's good friend in his early years, and later he also joined Cao Cao.

Sun Ce really felt hurt and helpless by this kind of leader who was in a hurry and had no credibility at all. He decided to leave Yuan Shu and follow Zhang's suggestion to develop in the south of the Yangtze River. Sun Ce told Yuan Shu: "I am willing to go to the south of the Yangtze River and help my uncle Wu Jing to pacify the counties in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, I can recruit at least 30,000 soldiers for you to help you complete the great cause of assisting the Han Dynasty." Yuan Shu was very happy when he heard that, and approved The action plan proposed by Sun Ce.Around the beginning of the second year of Xingping (195), that is, when Cao Cao returned to Xuzhou for the second time and fought hard with Lu Bu, Sun Ce crossed the Yangtze River and started his own journey to expand the frontier. When the Yangtze River flows into Anhui, there is a section of oblique flow in the northeast direction. The ancients used to use this section as a standard to determine east, west, left and right.The south bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River below Wuhu City in Anhui Province today, that is, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, parts of southern Anhui, and northeastern Jiangxi in today's Jiangxi, are called Jiangdong.In Sima Qian's "Historical Records", there is "Qiji crossed the river to the west with eight people from Jiangdong's children, and no one has returned. Zongjiangdong's father and brother pity me and king me, how can I see him".At the same time, the ancients regarded the east as the left and the west as the right. Jiangdong is also called Jiangzuo, and Jiangxi is called Jiangyou. Sun Ce's battle to open up Jiangdong was fierce and magnificent. With the help of Cheng Pu and other veteran generals, Zhou Yu, Zhang, Zhang Zhao and others, relying on the full support of his uncle Wu Jing, cousin Sun Ben and others, he killed Liu Yao. , drove away Wang Lang, repelled the attacks of Chen Deng, Liu Xun and others, wiped out Yan Baihu, Zou Ta, Qian Tong, Wang Sheng, Xu Gong and other bandits in the territory, and subdued Hua Xin, Yu Fan, Tai Shici and others. , Zu Lang and others basically owned the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River in only three or four years. Regarding this period of history, there will be additional descriptions related to future narratives, and only a brief explanation will be made here. The rise of Sun Ce was one of the most important historical events in the late Han Dynasty. Relying on his outstanding military talent and personal appeal, Sun Ce took advantage of the inability of other separatist forces to intervene in Jiangdong, and quickly pacified the Danyang County, Wu County, and Kuaiji County. Most of them and a part of Yuzhang County have their own footholds, and in fact broke away from Yuan Shu's control, becoming the fastest rising separatist force. The rise of Sun Ce is beneficial to Cao Cao in a short period of time. Sun Ce is gradually out of Yuan Shu's control, which provides a new idea for Cao Cao's next strategic layout.Facing the enemy Yuan Shu, Cao Cao can restrain Yuan Shu by wooing Sun Ce. In the long run, Sun Ce and his successor, Sun Quan, would end up being one of Cao Cao's most formidable opponents.