xymnovel Chapter 56 This wave of Sun Ce in the atmosphere
Chapter 56 This wave of Sun Ce in the atmosphere
Lu Yi, also known as Lu Boyan, is from Fu County, Wu Commandery. He was sent by Sun Ce to Hua Xin in Yuzhang to act as a spy.
Yuan Yao: "A spy?"
Lu Yi: "Yes."
It must be admitted that Sun Ce had many merits, one of which was his ability to admit and correct his mistakes.
Last time in Huainan, Sun Ce suffered a great loss because he underestimated Yuan Yao. Naturally, he could not make the same mistake again in the Battle of Yuzhang. Hearing that Yuan Yao had also gotten involved and formed an anti-Sun alliance, Sun Ce took this matter very seriously and was on high alert.
To this end, Sun Ce not only increased the size of his forces invading Yuzhang, but also sent Lu Yi as an undercover agent to try to cause trouble from within the alliance.
Yuan Yao asked, somewhat puzzled, "Then why didn't you go and complete Sun Ce's mission, but instead confessed to this matter?"
Lu Yi's expression darkened: "Young Master Yuan, do you truly not know?"
Hua Xin quickly explained, "Boyan is the great-grandson of Lu Jining, the former prefect of Lujiang."
Yuan Yao finally remembered this.
Lu Jining, also known as Lu Kang, had a falling out with Yuan Shu, so Yuan Shu sent Sun Ce to attack him.
Coincidentally, Sun Ce also harbored a grudge against Lu Kang. He had been turned away when he visited Lu Kang before, and he had long held a grudge and wanted to take revenge.
The war lasted two years, resulting in the death of nearly half of the more than one hundred members of the Lu clan due to the war and famine.
Incidentally, Yuan Shu had promised to appoint Sun Ce as the governor of Lujiang once Sun Ce conquered Lujiang, but he went back on his word and appointed Liu Xun instead, thus sowing the seeds of a rift between the two sides.
It can truly be said that every drink and every bite is preordained.
In short, Lu Yi and Sun Ce were practically blood enemies, so it's not surprising that he betrayed them on the battlefield.
It would be strange if it weren't!
If it were someone else, like Liu Ji last time, Yuan Yao would have reluctantly believed this explanation.
But the person in front of him is one of the eight ancient gods, known as the magnificent god general Lu Boyan. How could he be so simple?
Moreover, while Sun Ce was indeed Lu Xun's enemy, wasn't Yuan Shu also an enemy?
Lu Yi now claims to be eager for revenge and says that Sun Ce fears Yuan Yao the most, so he wants to cooperate with the son of his enemy to avenge the Lu clan.
This reason seems plausible, but it fails to convince Yuan Yao at all.
Therefore, Yuan Yao was not particularly excited. He merely feigned compliance, indicating that he would cooperate with the other party and stage a double agent act.
After Lu Yi left, Yuan Yao didn't rush to leave, but instead called out to Hua Xin.
"Lord Hua".
"What advice does Young Master Yuan have for me?"
"We still need to be more cautious about Lu Boyan."
"Ah, does Young Master Yuan mean that he is feigning surrender?"
Hua Xin was shocked. He really didn't have much military talent. It wasn't until Yuan Yao reminded him that he realized Lu Yi might be a weakness that Sun Ce had betrayed.
"That's not necessarily true. I'll verify his identity further later," Yuan Yao quickly reassured him. "But before that, I have a new idea."
"What?"
"Lu Boyan is right about one thing: right now, Sun Ce's greatest fear is none other than himself."
Hua Xin asked, puzzled, "And then?"
Yuan Yao patiently persuaded, "Why don't we start here and create a diversion?"
After saying that, he brought up the old topic again and proposed his idea of playing Dou Dizhu (a card game).
Yuan Yao suggested that since Sun Ce was afraid of him, he should simply remain still and not appear on the front lines, but instead go to the rear, such as Haihun, and take the opportunity to eliminate any unstable factors in Yuzhang. This way, Sun Ce would not be able to see him and would have to be constantly on guard, thus reducing the pressure on defenses from all sides.
Upon hearing this, Hua Xin immediately fell into thought.
Yuan Yao did indeed propose a very good strategy, which can be considered a calculated move in some ways; it all depends on how each party interprets and utilizes it.
Hua Xin was on the second floor. A few days ago, Liu Yi had reported Yuan Yao's idea to him and even showed him some evidence of collusion between the powerful local gentry of Haihun and Sun Ce. Hua Xin did not believe it completely, but it was a fact that the local gentry of Haihun did not respect him. He could use Yuan Yao to help him deal with these troublemakers.
Lu Yi might be on the third level. Depending on whether he is feigning surrender or not, he can freely adjust how to report this news to Sun Ce. On the battlefield, a slight difference can lead to a huge error. Perhaps a difference of just a few words can determine the outcome of a battle. There is a lot of room for maneuver.
Sun Ce, on the other hand, was in the atmosphere. Given his abilities, he must have taken into account Lu Yi's family feud with him. He might have deliberately instigated Lu Yi to betray him, thus luring Yuan Yao into being clever and leaving his elite troops behind, especially the invincible Guan Yu, which greatly reduced the threat to the front lines.
No one could have imagined that Yuan Yao was actually in the basement.
From the very beginning, all he cared about was making money. Even his initial motivation for participating in the Yuzhang War was simply that he had heard the local powerful families in Haihun were quite wealthy and had their eyes on these fat sheep.
As for the encirclement and encirclement by Sun Ce, these were all just pretexts and opportunistic actions.
After all, the comprehensive reform plan he implemented in Huainan was too expensive and urgently needed a large amount of capital investment to get it running.
Yuan Yao was very confident that as long as his new policies gradually took effect, they would definitely revitalize Huainan and at least no longer have to worry about the military threat from Jiangdong. For this, he could give way to other matters and focus on making money as his primary task.
In conclusion, after considering all parties' opinions, Yuan Yao successfully reached an agreement with Hua Xin that he would not have to go to the front line to fight against the Jiangdong army for the time being, but would instead be responsible for maintaining stability in the rear to prevent the powerful clans of Yuzhang from rising up in response to Sun Ce.
Now Yuan Yao can finally unleash his full potential and make a big splash.
Even Haihun alone couldn't satisfy Yuan Yao's appetite. He had already inquired about Shangliao, which wasn't far from Haihun. The powerful families there also had considerable wealth, making it worthwhile to make another trip there.
So for the next period of time, Yuan Yao went west of Pengli Lake to make quick money, only taking the time to inquire about the situation on the eastern front.
Soon news arrived that the garrison of Yuzhang was engaged in battle with Taishi Ci's forces in Poyang. The two sides fought fiercely for the city, and in the end, the Jiangdong army won a great victory, and the anti-Sun coalition was defeated and lost thousands of men.
The Allied Commander-in-Chief, Huang Zu, berated his allies for their incompetence and for only dragging them down. However, the enemy was too powerful, so he had no choice but to retreat to Qiyang, not far from Nanchang, to regroup and hold his position.
Several days after the great battle, a man came all the way from Nanchang and searched all the way to Haihun, only to find ruins everywhere. It took him a lot of effort to find Yuan Yao.
It's still Lu Yi's opinion.
When Lu Yi arrived, Yuan Yao was directing his men to load cart after cart of money and grain onto ships, which would then be transported back to Lujiang by water. He seemed to be completely lost in a sea of money, his eyes almost glazed over.
There was no other way. Back in Huainan, Yuan Yao couldn't be too ruthless because of the local impact. But this time, on someone else's territory, and with Hua Xin's righteous cause, he had no choice but to stand up and kick them hard, like a locust plague.
Seeing that Yuan Yao was still eager to continue searching for wealthy scoundrels, Lu Yi quickly stepped forward and said, "Young Master Yuan, Lord Hua sent me to inquire about the Jiangdong army's overwhelming advance. Only the Huainan army can stop them. What are your plans?"
In high spirits, Yuan Yao laughed and said, "So Boyan came to spy on military intelligence."
Lu Yi immediately became anxious: "Young Master Yuan, what do you mean by this? Are you suspecting me of being a spy for the Jiangdong army? More than half of the hundred-plus members of my Lu family in Wu County have died. Could it be that I—"
"Don't get agitated." Yuan Yao waved his hand, signaling the other party to calm down.
In fact, Yuan Yao had already found out what was going on with Lu Yi through Yang Hong's channels.
However, before that, he still had some heart-to-heart talks to tell the other party.
"Boyan," Yuan Yao sighed earnestly, "what are the gains and losses of Jiangdong? Are they in those few weak and powerless clans within? Or in those few warlords outside, each with their own ulterior motives? What a joke! So many counties have been captured by Sun Ce, so many heroes have been slaughtered by him, and why? We're still here discussing spies, investigating intelligence, and catching internal traitors—isn't that ridiculous?"