My Father in Law is Lu Bu-Chapter 677

The weapons and armor given to Sun Ce were not Yangzhou’s new equipment. These were the rejects that they had planned to melt into materials for farming tools. Now that Sun Ce was going to help capture Jiangdong, they were given to Sun Ce instead.

To Sun Ce this showed the trust Liu Mang had in him. Though the Yangzhou Army did not want these equipment, the Jiangdong Army still wanted it. The soldiers wore their armor happily. With those weapons and armor, Sun Ce simply expanded his army by twenty thousand men.

As one would expect from Jiangdong, their people were easily trained into elites. None of them had the problems most new recruits have such as fearing blood since they see it daily. After a little bit of training, Sun Ce was ready to advance on Huiji with fifty thousand men.

“What? My brother expanded his army by twenty thousand?” Sun Quan had just received the news from a spy.

“Yes Milord. That Lord… no. Marquis Wu has expanded his army by twenty thousand men.” The spy replied, still trying to get used to not calling Sun Ce as his Lord.

“Adding in the thirty thousand men he originally had, he now has fifty thousand men. What should we do?” Sun Quan started to become worried. Their own troops were originally no match for Sun Ce’s. If it was not because Sun Ce was unprepared and that they also have a city wall, they would already have been wiped out. Now, Sun Ce’s army grew bigger by another twenty thousand troops.

Sun Quan himself did not have much troops. None of the generals were willing to rebel with Sun Quan since these generals all had a good rapport with Sun Ce after many battles.

“Milord. There is no need to panic. Sun Ce expanding his army shows that he is afraid and maybe even no longer able to persevere.” Zhang Zhao said, having a clear insight on Jiangdong’s financial situation. Having thirty thousand men was already the limit of what Jiangdong could afford. They only have Jianye. If they were to expand their army any more, they would just be courting death.

“Milord. We just need to keep hold of this city for about a year and Sun Ce would be defeated on his own.” Zhang Zhao’s suggestion was good. Sun Ce did not have much provisions so he would not be able to support fifty thousand men. Sun Quan’s army don’t really need to do anything besides stall for about a year.

“Master Zhang Zhao is right.” Sun Quan calmed down after hearing Zhang Zhao’s words.

“No. Marquis Wu has…!” The spy started to worry even more after seeing Sun Quan calm down. At that moment, an official rushed in.

“Milord! It’s not good! Marquis Wu has issued an official denunciation!” The official shouted.

“What do you mean it’s not good? How dare you be so discourteous? Men! Drag this person out and beat him!” Sun Quan ordered. This official was so terrible at speaking it was as though he was implying that Sun Quan himself was not good.

“No Milord! Official denunciation!” The official continued to shout incoherently.

The official denunciation was dropped. Zuo Li walked over and picked it up. After reading it, Zuo Li started to tremble. “Milord. Marquis Wu has…”

Zuo Li was unable to say it so he handed over the official denunciation to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan read through it and then threw it away. “Sun Ce Sun Bofu! You are bullying people too much! I must kill your entire family!” Sun Quan shouted in anger, forgetting that he himself was Sun Ce’s family.

In the official denunciation, Sun Ce pinned the crimes of slaughtering the villages on Sun Quan. On top of that, it was written as though a brother was lecturing his little brother. It did not treat Sun Quan as a Lord at all. Sun Ce even wrote wanting to make Sun Quan repent on behalf of his father.

“Milord. This Sun Ce has ulterior motives.” Zhang Zhao furrowed his brows. Sun Ce’s actions has caused Sun Quan to lose popular sentiment. Though Sun Quan now held most of Jiangdong, these places were not completely loyal to Sun Quan. They were simply waiting to see who to surrender to. With this crime being placed on Sun Quan, Sun Quan would not only lose the people’s support. The soldiers would also lose morale.

“Didn’t they say the ones that did the massacre was Yangzhou?” One person asked. This person was one of Sun Quan’s newest skilled tactician, Yang Kui. “Is Marquis Wu not afraid that Yangzhou would take advantage of this? If they do, Marquis Wu would be attacked on two sides.

“Milord. That… Yangzhou gave Marquis Wu provisions and equipment.” The spy who was interrupted finally spoke.

“What!” Sun Quan was struck dumb. He initially thought that Sun Ce was simply getting himself into trouble but now he found that it was Yangzhou who gave Sun Ce resources. Has Liu Mang gone crazy?

“Marquis Wu has also changed banner.” The spy continued. Sun Ce’s troops were supposed to wear red. Their banner was supposed to say Sun or Jiangdong. But now, these troops wore black and the banner said Yangzhou.

“Sun Ce has surrendered to Yangzhou? The Yangzhou Army was coming to Jiangdong?” Sun Quan’s group of officials started to panic. It would not be so bad if their enemy was only Sun Ce. At most, they would only fight one battle. But Yangzhou was a different story. They were an enemy Jiangdong could not defeat even in its best condition.

“Impossible! My brother would not surrender to Yangzhou! Didn’t he hate Liu Mang after Liu Mang took his wife?” Sun Quan said incoherently.

“This must be a lie!” Sun Quan shouted. The nobles started to lose confidence. They wondered if their decision to join Sun Quan was correct. “Tell me! Tell me that this is a lie!” Sun Quan shouted as he descended from this throne. He grabbed the spy by the neck and lifted the spy up.

“Milord. I have personally seen Yangzhou’s ships coming to Jiangdong!” The spy said in a panic.

“No! It’s fake! What you saw were fakes!” Sun Quan said as he took out a sword and put it by the spy’s neck. If he had put in a little more strength, the spy would have already lost his neck.

“Mi…Milord… I…!” The spy did not know what to say. Making a false report was a capital offense. But it would seem that Sun Quan would also kill him for speaking the truth.

“Zhongmou. Calm down!” Zhang Zhao called out hoping for Sun Quan to calm down and snatched away the sword.

“Did you see and hear everything with your own eyes and ears?” Zhang Zhao turned to the spy.

“Yes! Yes! I saw it all with my own eyes. There were many ships arriving from Yangzhou. Marquis Wu’s banner have also changed color.” The others all knew that Sun Ce had probably surrendered to Liu Mang for real this time.

“The Little Conqueror? Hah! More like The Little Tortoise. Brother! I have already said that you are not worthy of being Jiangdong’s Lord!” Sun Quan roared loudly.

Some nobles started to think of a way to get out of this group. Sun Ce alone was difficult enough to deal with. Now they had to fight Yangzhou as well. Wouldn’t it be better to surrender to Yangzhou? After all, Sun Ce has already surrendered.

Zhang Zhao looked at these opportunists and immediately knew what they were thinking. “Hmph! Are you all thinking of joining up with that King of Shu, Liu Mang?”

The nobles who heard Zhang Zhao’s cold voice quickly waved their hand to show that they did not dare to do so.

“Haha. You don’t dare? You all seem really eager to me! If you want to surrender to the King of Shu, I am also unable to stop you! Go! I want to see you all lose your land! Let’s see how long you all can survive!” Zhang Zhao sneered.

All those nobles began to calm down after hearing Zhang Zhao’s words. It was true! Liu Mang has implemented a law where all the land must return to the government. No one is allowed to buy or sell land. Since most of their profit comes from land, they would go bankrupt with this law. More importantly, Liu Mang’s recruitment order meant that the nobles would no longer be able to monopolize government positions.

Originally, nobles could all become officials even if they were repulsive. If Zuo Li were to die, his position was simply handed down to his son, Zuo Jie. Even if Zuo Jie could not become a governor, he could at least become a military officer. But now, these positions are going only to the talented, regardless of their background. If the nobles had talent, then it would not be so bad. But if they do not have talent, and also loses their land, then what would they eat?

That was why Liu Mang were the noble’s enemy. Zhang Zhao’s words immediately made them all show their anger. “Lord Zhang. We will not surrender!”

“Lord Zhang! We will listen to you!”

“That’s right! We will do what you say! We pledge our life to go against Yangzhou Liu Mang to the end!”

Zhang Zhao laughed in his heart as he looked at these loyal nobles.

“It is not that there is no method. But it requires everyone’s cooperation.” Zhang Zhao said with a trace of madness in his eyes.

“Lord Zhang. Please tell us what to do. We will act precisely as ordered.”

“Good. These are the words I want to hear! This Zhang Zhao believes that Yangzhou has more troops, wealth and people. We must fortify the gates and gather all the provisions here. Use scorched earth policy and have all the common people hide behind the gates. I want to see how that King of Shu and Marquis Wu enters our city.” Zhang Zhao decided to use the same strategy as Liu Bei. Liu Bei did this but he wasn’t in the city. On the other hand, Zhang Zhao decided to use this strategy while still being in the city. This was a strategy that destroyed everything. If Liu Mang had the guts to attack, they would send out the common people to fight. Would Liu Mang have enough men to fight back?

“Then let us do it this way.” Sun Quan had also gone mad. Liu Mang would have no choice to retreat unless he wanted to fight Sun Quan to the death. In the past, Yuan Shao had to attack Gongsun Zan for three years before managing to break in. However, Yangzhou does not have three years to spare.

“Governor Zuo. I will leave the East gate of Huiji to you.”

“General Hao. General Cheng. The South and West gates will be handled by you two.” Zhang Zhao said to the others. “I will personally defend the North gate.”

“Understood!” The people in Huiji started to move to reinforce the walls. All the common people outside the city were unwilling but they were eventually forced to move into the city. The farms outside the city were all razed. They refused to leave anything for their enemy.

Yang Kui simply watched the people busy themselves. No one knew what he was thinking.

***

“This is strange.” Lu Meng was leading the army to Huiji. Along the way, he realized that he did not see anyone else. Even the villages were all deserted. What was going on?

“Brother Lu. There is no need to be too worried. The people must have noticed all the soldiers and decided to hide.” Ling Cao said in boredom. It was normal for the people to hide from soldiers. No one would be stupid enough to wander onto the battlefield. People started to leave after finding out that Huiji was going to turn into a battlefield.

“Is that so?” Lu Meng furrowed his brows. He still felt that something was wrong. If this was the case, why are there still traces of people living in the villages recently? It seemed more like the villagers were forced to leave unwillingly.

“Brother! Look over there! There is a fire!” Ling Cao suddenly pointed to a direction.

“A fire?” Lu Meng turned towards that direction and saw smoke rising up.

“Guards! Follow me!” Lu Meng immediately rode towards the fire.

“Understood!” A few of Lu Meng’s personal guards followed him. When they arrived, they saw that it wasn’t a forest fire. Instead, the farmlands were on fire. These were all food. If they were burned down, then the common people would not be able to eat for the whole year.

Lu Meng wanted to order his men to put out the fire when Ling Cao alerted him. “Brother. There is someone over there.” Lu Meng then saw about seven people wearing armor and holding torches.

“Men! Go and capture them!” Lu Meng shouted an order. His face was dark when he found out that this fire was man made.

“Understood!” Ling Cao took the lead and charged ahead, followed by several of Lu Meng’s personal guards.

“The Yangzhou Army is here! Run!” The arsonists began to run away but they could not outrun horses. A few were killed by Ling Cao while the rest were captured.

After interrogation, Lu Meng found out that these people were ordered to start the fires by the Second Lord inside Huiji.

“How hateful.” Lu Meng said with hatred. As Lu Meng was from a humble family, he understood that these farms were going to be the common people’s food in the coming year. It was their livelihood. If you burn it all, the common people would have nothing left to eat.

“What about the common people?” Lu Meng asked.

“The Lord already brought them into Huiji!” A few of the arsonists answered honestly as they had worked under Lu Meng before.

“Why did the Second Lord bring the common people inside the city?” Lu Meng furrowed his brows.

“Brother. This people…” Ling Cao asked subtly, wondering whether or not they should just kill the arsonists.

Lu Meng shook his head. “Take them into custody then release them once the war is over.”

“Thank you General for sparing our lives.” The arsonists shouted gratefully.

Lu Meng’s bad premonition continued to grow stronger until they arrived at Huiji, where the bad premonition turned out to be a reality.

He could tell that Huiji was heavily fortified by all the newly made iron sheets pasted on the walls. On top of that, the walls were full of soldiers. Huiji’s walls could accommodate a hundred thousand men but Sun Quan and the other nobles barely had thirty thousand men with them. So where did all this people come from?

Could it be that the Second Lord only placed all his soldiers on one side of the wall? That would leave the other three sides undefended.

“Ling Cao. Go and dispatch men to scout out the East, South and West gates!” Lu Meng ordered. He soon got the report that all the other walls were also full of soldiers.

“These are not the Second Lord’s troops. These are all the common people!” Lu Meng’s expression was gloomy. These people could not be here voluntarily. It was a different story if it was a foreign enemy as their survival hinged on the survival of the city. But Lu Meng’s army can be considered to be Jiangdong’s army as well. So the common people would not voluntarily be on the walls. They must have been forced to stand there.

“Despicable! To have the common people go up the walls!” Ling Cao cursed as he regarded Sun Quan in disdain. “Brother. What should we do now?”

“Pass down my orders to make camp. We will wait for the Lord… No. We will wait for the General.” Lu Meng was the vanguard scouting out Huiji’s conditions. Now that he saw the common people being forced to fight for Sun Quan, Lu Meng himself did not know what to do. He could only wait for Sun Ce to make a decision.

After setting up camp, Sun Ce’s soldiers started to arrive in succession and secured the camp.

Lu Meng told Sun Ce about what he saw.

“He made the common people go up the city walls?” Bu Lu could not help but laugh bitterly. The Second Lord must really want to force Marquis Wu to die. If Sun Ce dared to attack, the common people would definitely be injured. At that time, Sun Ce would lose the trust of the people. It would be as bad as slaughtering a few villages.

“This is not Zhongmou’s stratagem.” As one would expect of Sun Quan’s brother, he could easily tell that Sun Quan was not the real culprit. If Sun Ce were to lose the people’s faith in him, then Sun Quan would also suffer. After all, it was Sun Quan who forced them into that position to begin with. That was why this was not Sun Quan’s stratagem. The only person who would do such a thing is “Zhang Zhao Zhang Zibu.”

Sun Ce was filled with regret. He should have killed Zhang Zhao the last time instead of being softhearted. This incident was the result of that decision.

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

The sky started to turn dark with them being unable to come up with a proper countermeasure, Sun Ce’s Army began to cut wood and cook, as they prepare for a siege.

When the sky started to turn bright again, Sun Ce rode towards Huiji with Lu Meng and the others. “Sun Quan Sun Zhongmou! Come out quickly!”

Figures started to appear on the city walls. They were already guarded when Lu Meng arrived. On top of that, this was the North gate where Zhang Zhao was guarding.

“Who is that dares to speak the name of my Lord, the East Expedition General?” One person on the wall cursed.

“Haha. Then tell your East Expedition General that his brother is here! He should quickly come out to meet me!” Sun Ce sneered and replied.

“Marquis Wu? Marquis Wu is here?” The other soldiers the walls still feared their previous Lord, Sun Ce. This is because Sun Ce’s prestige was still there.

“What proof do you have that you are Sun Ce?” The officer on the wall was anxious. If this were to go on, morale of the troops would be affected.

“Evidence is it?” Sun Ce said indifferently. “Bring me a bow!” Sun Ce then took and smoothly fired an arrow. The arrow flew up the city walls and collided against the helmet of the officer.

“General! Are you alright?” Panicked voices could he heard on the walls. If it was not because of the helmet, the officer would have already died from being shot in the head.

“Marquis Wu is formidable!” Sun Ce’s troops cheered loudly. The soldiers on the walls were dispirited but they have indeed confirmed Sun Ce’s identity. After all, the only person in Jiangdong with this level of skill in archery was Sun Ce.

While Sun Ce was laughing, a cold snort came from atop the city walls. “It would be rude not to reciprocate. Sun Ce! You must also receive an arrow from me!” At that moment, an arrow flew towards Sun Ce.

“Milord! Be careful!” Lu Meng who was worried forgot to change the way he addressed Sun Ce.

Sun Ce did not bother to dodge and simply shot an arrow back. The two arrows collided. After that, the arrow that was flying towards Sun Ce split into two and landed at his feet. To shoot an arrow flying towards you in midair was definitely not an easy feat.

“Milord!” Lu Meng had finally rushed forward to stand protectively in front of Sun Ce.

“Long time no see, Zhongmou. Your skill in archery is not bad.” Sun Ce said towards the archer without a care.

“This is thanks to Brother’s guidance.” The archer replied. Aside from the color of his hair and eyes, he looked quite similar to Sun Ce.

“Second Lord!” Lu Meng called out, realizing that the archer was Sun Quan Sun Zhongmou.

“Zhongmou, come back. There is still time. Mother is waiting for us at Jianye.” Sun Ce said sincerely.

“Mother.” Sun Quan had a pained expression when he heard this. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened his eyes, that pain was already buried. Instead, it was replaced with a cold glare.

“Marquis Wu. Where do you intend we go back to? Jianye or Shouchun?” Sun Quan asked mockingly.

Sun Ce took a deep breath. “Zhongmou. Do you still not understand? We have already lost. We have already been defeated. It is better to admit to reality rather than continue to struggle. Our mother and little sister are still waiting for us. They would not want to see us kill each other. Is there a difference if we go to Shouchun? As long as they are around the Sun Family would continue to exist. Do you still remember the time when Father was alive? Come back, Zhongmou.” Sun Ce stretched out his hand towards his little brother. When Sun Jian was alive, they were all living together in harmony. At that time, Sun Jian was also just a small official waiting for someone else’s favor. Sun Ce considers that moment to be the happiest moment in their lives. He had his whole family with him. He and his little brother worked together towards a common purpose. However, things slowly changed after his father died.

“Sun Ce! You are do not deserve to be a Lord! You do not deserve Jiangdong! You should have given Jiangdong and everything to me! I would have definitely make the Sun Family stand at the top! But you did not understand this! You took away everything from me and threw everything away!” Sun Quan shouted hysterically.

“Yes you still come back? You surrendered to Yangzhou and came to attack your own little brother! Is there an elder brother like you?” Sun Quan shouted.

“Zhongmou.” Sun Ce muttered with a pained expression. Sun Quan may criticize him but Sun Quan does not understand. Was there really an elder brother who attacks his own little brother? Liu Mang had Sun Ce attack Sun Quan to give Sun Quan a chance to survive. If Sun Ce were to attack Huiji, Sun Quan still had a chance to live. If Liu Mang was the one who attacks Huiji, Sun Quan would definitely die.

“Zhang Zhao Zhang Zibu! Come out! Don’t think I don’t know that you are here! You are the main reason Zhongmou turned out this way!” Sun Ce shouted.

“Marquis Wu. I trust you have been well.” Zhang Zhao appeared and said.

“Zhang Zhao Zhang Zibu! I will give you a chance to surrender. If you do, I can still spare your life. Otherwise, I will definitely wipe out the whole Zhang Family!” Sun Ce was really angry this time. He regretted allowing Zhang Zhao to instruct Sun Quan. Under Zhang Zhao’s instruction, Sun Quan became ambitious. This was beneficial to Zhang Zhao as Zhang Zhao could use Sun Quan to get what he wants.

“Haha. Marquis Wu. This Zhang Zhao’s life is just here waiting for you to take.” Zhang Zhao laughed, showing his attitude.

“Fine!” Sun Ce said coldly. “You all better not regret. Pass down my orders! Prepare to attack!”

“Understood!”

“Marquis Wu. You better reconsider your actions. On top of the city walls are the common people of my Jiangdong! Or is Marquis Wu going to ignore their lives after becoming Liu Mang’s dog?” The thing Sun Ce did not want the most has happened. Zhang Zhao has threatened Sun Ce with the lives of the common people. If they were to attack, the common people would definitely not be able to avoid their fates.

The common people and the soldiers on the walls of Huiji all looked at Sun Ce. They too, did not want there to be war. Huiji and Jianye weren’t that far from each other so it was not strange for connections to form between the two cities. It would not be strange if one of the soldiers on the walls to be a relative of one of Sun Ce’s men.

“Zhang Zhao. Do you know what I regret the most?” Sun Ce said towards Zhang Zhao.

“Maybe you regret losing to that whelp Liu Mang?” Zhang Zhao continued to provoke.

“No! I regret being merciful at that time. I regret not killing you!” The killing intent in Sun Ce’s eyes could not be concealed.

“Haha. Like I said. My head is right here waiting for you to take!” Zhang Zhao said. He was gambling on the fact that Sun Ce would not dare to attack. If Sun Ce were to attack, the people of Jiangdong would treat Sun Ce as an enemy. Sun Ce would no longer have the support of the people.

“Zhang Zhao. You think I do not dare to attack? Haha! You are wrong! Jiangdong’s popular sentiment is important but I am going to become a Patriarch of some rich family. Why would I need their support for?” Sun Ce sneered.

Hearing Sun Ce’s words, Zhang Zhao started to have a bad premonition.

“Pass down my orders! Attack!” Sun Ce roared loudly.

“Understood!” Lu Meng received and repeated the order. “Pass down the order! All units! Charge! Kill!” The Jiangdong Army began to charge towards the city gate.

“Master Zhang Zhao. What do we do now?” Sun Quan asked. Their plan was to threaten Sun Ce with the lives of the common people to stall for time by making Sun Ce procrastinate. They did not expect to stall Sun Ce for only a few sentences.

“So be it! Sun Ce has soldiers, so do I! Men! Prepare for battle!” Zhang Zhao shouted wildly. He already had no way out. If he still loses this time, it would be the end. That was why Zhang Zhao had to put in his utmost effort. At the very least, he must make Sun Ce accompany him in death.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” The shouts continued from below the city.

Previous

LikeLoading...