Chapter 330: Vow to Destroy Shanyue
"Is he crazy!"
After a long silence, a roar broke out in the room.
They were indeed quite dissatisfied with Sun Ce's appointment of Zhu Zhi, who was from the Zhu family of Pei State, as the prefect of Yuzhang County. However, Zhu Zhi's appointment to the office was already a clear matter in the Chang'an court. He was a real court-appointed official. How could they reverse this appointment decision, let alone kill Zhu Zhi like a thief?
But Huang She just did it!
Not only did he do so, he also sent gifts to Wujun. It was simply ridiculous!
This move undoubtedly dragged the Wujun family into trouble.
It would be fine if Sun Ce hadn't found out, but if he really found out any clues, given Sun Ce's temper, he would definitely take action against them.
He had been worried about not having a suitable opportunity to take action, and now this was a perfect handle handed to him!
Who else but a madman could do such a thing without considering the consequences or even the feelings of the person he is visiting?
Huang She is obviously such a madman.
When he was brought here by the doorman, the impression that the other party was going crazy became increasingly clear to everyone.
It was nearly a month ago that Yuzhang County was captured. Huang She went from being the son of a prefect to a fugitive in exile overnight. His face had become much thinner, and his eyes were particularly noticeable.
In those extremely dark eyes, everyone saw a hidden deathliness, as if he didn't care at all about the consequences of his actions.
"you……"
As soon as Zhu Gong opened his mouth, he saw Huang She bowing towards them and saying, "To avenge my father, I have no choice but to do this. I hope you can forgive me."
"This is not a last resort, it's simply..." The man from the Wujun Gu family gritted his teeth and didn't say the rest of the words.
He wanted to say that the other party was a bastard who was even crazier than Sun Ce, but when he thought that this man had the courage to assassinate Zhu Zhi, who knew if he would suddenly pull out a knife from his arms and attack them with such fury that blood would splatter five steps away, he swallowed back what he was about to say.
"You want to say that I am a madman who is willing to sacrifice my life," Huang She replied calmly, "but a person who is desperate will not care whether he has a way out for himself."
After the Battle of Yuzhang, Sun Ce not only wanted to kill his father Huang Zu, but also intended to behead him and display his head to the public.
Let everyone in Yangzhou know that he, Sun Ce, is the well-deserved lord of Yangzhou, and when he is fully grown, he will not allow anyone to question his decisions.
He not only wanted revenge, but also wanted to ensure that he would not die easily at the hands of Sun Ce.
If the final result is still death, he can take a few people with him, so overall he won't lose out!
Especially...
If the person he dragged down as a scapegoat was a character like Sun Ce, it would be even more of a win!
After he escaped from Yuzhang County, boarded Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting's boat and arrived in Jing County, he met Zu Lang who was there.
Although Zu Lang did not make any sarcastic remarks about his experience, he also did not intend to provide him with any help during this first meeting.
According to him and Huang She, "It is true that the lips and teeth are connected, but the lips and teeth are connected in a certain way. The existence of you, who are as high as the governor, is another kind of relationship."
If that was the case, why would he believe that this sudden proposal of cooperation was not intended to take advantage of him, but was really intended to join forces with him to deal with Sun Ce?
Even Zuo Rong, who was not much different from him in social class, had no intention of telling him the truth. Instead, he treated him as a fool who was easy to be deceived. Then why would the Wujun family, who might be their helpers according to Huang She, take them seriously?
Zu Lang did not change his hostile attitude towards Sun Ce, but he did not like being suddenly led astray.
At most, he could assign a few subordinates who were familiar with the terrain of various counties in Yangzhou to Huang She to ensure that he would not be discovered by Sun Ce before he could come up with a reason to convince himself.
At the beginning, Huang She was just thinking that since Zu Lang wanted to see sincerity, he would send the support of Jiangxia Huang family to Jingxian while trying to talk to the Wujun family.
Who knew that problems would arise at the very first stage.
It was not that Sun Ce blocked the Yangtze River waterway, preventing Huang She from returning to Jiangxia, but that as soon as he returned to Jiangxia, before he reached Huang's old house, he was chased by a group of people.
Fortunately, he had the protection of the people given to him by Zu Lang, and he managed to escape with his life.
He also immediately decided to return directly to Yangzhou.
The identities of these assassins were not revealed in their clothes or faces, but Huang She felt that as long as he was not a fool, he would be able to guess their origins.
They could only be from the Jiangxia Huang family.
Whether Liu Biao or Sun Ce wanted to silence him, there was no need to do it so covertly.
Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others were hoping that he would return to the Huang clan's territory first so that they could make mistakes and there would be no need to stop him.
What does it mean for a young man to lose his father and then be backstabbed by his family? Huang She gave an extremely extreme answer.
Su Fei originally wanted to persuade him that since he could not get support from the Jiangxia Huang family, he might as well flee to Jiaozhou and cherish the life saved by Huang Zu. However, Huang Sheruo was just a mediocre and incompetent person, so it would be fine for him to make such a decision. But he still had some skills, so -
The act of kicking him when he was down in order to protect themselves by the Jiangxia Huang family just intensified his determination to fight it out.
It also allowed him to find a way out of this extreme predicament.
It doesn't matter if one party loses support, as long as he can replace the role and get help from the other party.
He had to let these people see that Sun Ce was not invincible.
He returned to Yuzhang from Jiangxia and heard that the counties of Yuzhang were no longer allowed to have any unnecessary discussions about Huang Zu's death. Instead, he heard the news that a new prefect of Yuzhang was about to take office.
Huang She made a decision in his heart.
He was going to do what a mortal man should do, making himself a target while also becoming the hub connecting all the forces that were at odds with Sun Ce!
Killing Zhu Zhi—this was the most appropriate action he could think of!
Not to mention that the Wujun family felt that Huang She's behavior was so crazy that it was shocking. Even Su Fei, who was asked by Huang Zu to look after Huang She, felt that this was simply not a way to break the impasse that a normal person could think of.
However, because of Huang Zu's kindness in promoting him, Su Fei decided to help Huang She one last time and then escape to Jiaozhou by himself.
They found Zu Lang again, and exchanged a group of people from him with a batch of property that Huang Zu left to Huang She in his early years, and then began to ambush and kill Zhu Zhi.
Zhu Zhi was from Pei State in Yuzhou, but his father moved to Danyang County in Yangzhou in his early years, so he could also be considered a native of Danyang.
After Sun Ce took control of Yangzhou, he naturally stationed here.
This time, due to the job transfer, he rushed from Danyang to Yuzhang County.
Since Huang Zu was dead, only Huang She and Su Fei were left on the run. Apart from the Shanyue people entrenched in the counties, there was basically no additional danger inside Yangzhou. Zhu Zhi thought that if a large number of followers followed him, people would easily mistakenly think that he was going to launch a crusade, so it would be better for him to set out with a small group.
Anyway, he himself was born a military general. Even if he really encountered some bandits, it would not cause any real impact and it would not be difficult to escape.
But he never imagined that Huang She, who saw the hope of revenge, was no longer the young man who loved to talk about literature, but a poisonous snake lurking in the dark.
To go to Yuzhang from Guzhang County in Danyang, one must first go to Liyang, and then go west along the Lishui River to enter the Yangtze River waterway. This section from Guzhang to Liyang is the best time for Huang She to take action!
Zhu Zhi was completely unaware of the danger. The moment he passed the hill, several trip ropes suddenly appeared under his horse's hooves, knocking him to the ground.
The subordinates that Zu Lang assigned to Huang She were even more mobile than Sun Ce's army in this mountainous environment, not to mention Zhu Zhi's private soldiers.
Amid the chaos, Huang She, under the cover of several other people, chopped off Zhu Zhi's head.
Afterwards, after bidding farewell to Su Fei, he led his men to retreat into the neighboring Wu County without hesitation and found the four surnames of Wu County there.
He informed the people present of this action without hiding anything.
"...What exactly do you want to do?" Zhu Gong finally recovered from the shock brought by Huang She's bizarre behavior and asked.
He didn't believe that Huang She didn't know that even if his current action could gain their temporary support, it would at most be a sharp knife in their hands that they could use, and sooner or later they would discard it or even kill him. But he still did it without hesitation.
This is what makes him the most terrifying!
Huang She's eyes moved, and he replied: "A person who doesn't care about his life will become your most useful weapon to break the deadlock, but this weapon still needs to be polished--"
"He needs your attitude so that he can pull the Shanyue forces into the alliance. He also needs you to find some people for him, for example, the retainers of Xu Gong, the governor of Wujun who was killed by Sun Ce."
These two points were indeed not difficult for them. Even if they wanted to intentionally avoid Sun Ce's eyes and ears in contacting the Shanyue, it would not be difficult.
Huang She continued: "It is natural for a son to avenge his father and for a minister to avenge his lord. I ask the elders to help us."
The phrase "the son avenges his father" was uttered by another person almost at the same time.
Sun Ce looked at the young man in mourning clothes in front of him with a gloomy expression.
The boy was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, and his pale face revealed a stubborn air.
He said to Sun Ce again: "General, please help me avenge my father."
The young man's real name was Shi Ran, but because Zhu Zhi had no children, he adopted his sister's son under his own name when he was in his thirties. He then changed his name from Shi Ran to Zhu Ran, and it has been seven or eight years since then.
To him, Zhu Zhi was no different from his father.
It was also because Zhu Zhi worked for Sun Jian and his son Sun Ce that Zhu Ran was able to become a companion to Sun Quan, who was born in the same year as Zhu Ran, because he met the age requirement.
It is said that his adoptive father was appointed as the prefect of Yuzhang and was promoted under Sun Ce. He and Sun Quan became closer during their school years and became good friends who could talk about anything. All of these made their situations develop in a better direction.
But why did such a sudden change happen?
The assassination attempt in Danyang County was discovered by passers-by shortly after it happened and reported to the county government.
Zhu Zhi was a prominent official in Danyang County, but he died suddenly, and even his head was missing. He even died on the way to take office as the prefect of Yuzhang. This was not only a provocation to Sun Ce, but also a provocation to Qiao Yan!
The county magistrate of Guzhang County did not dare to delay at all and directly sent the news to Sun Ce, and also informed Zhu Zhi's family of the news.
"General, I don't believe my father died at the hands of the bandits in the mountains," Zhu Ran said, trying to hold back his sobs. "During the Zhongping period, during the Guanhu Rebellion in Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang counties, my father served as a military commander under General Wentai. He made great contributions in the expedition and was recommended as a captain."
"During the campaign against Dong Zhuo during the reign of Guangxi, General Wentai attacked Luoyang, second only to Marquis Leping's attack on the city. My father also participated in the battle and assisted, and was rewarded as a military commander and allowed to lead an army on his own."
"Since the general took charge of Yangzhou, apart from the Shanyue people, no other bandit has had the guts to do such a cruel thing to my father. They are the only ones who have the ability to do this!"
He knelt down and said, "General, please allow me to join the army as soon as possible, and work with my uncles to wipe out the rebellious bandits in Danyang and avenge my father!"
"Yifeng, you..."
Sun Ce looked at the child helplessly. The other party's firm tone almost said directly that if Sun Ce did not agree to this condition, he would kneel on the ground and not get up.
But he is indeed too young.
He is younger than the children from Leping Academy who came out for the trial. If something happens to him again, how will Sun Ce explain to Zhu Zhi?
He knew what Zhu Ran said, especially the past events he mentioned.
This past promotion experience was mentioned again in front of Sun Ce, which made his heart, which was already filled with anger after hearing the news of Zhu Zhi's death, almost boil over.
How dare these people!
If he dared to kill even the prefect, what else would he not dare to do?
The Zhu Ran in front of him at this moment was very similar to the situation he faced when his father died. It was precisely because he saw his own shadow in this young man that Sun Ce wanted to pick up his knife and go to Danyang right now to find the murderer of Zhu Zhi.
"General, I am not young anymore. I have read all the books on etiquette, filial piety, loyalty and trustworthiness with Zhongmou. If you think I am not old enough to wield a sword or a gun, please send me to the barracks."
Just as Zhu Ran was about to kowtow to Sun Ce again, he was grabbed by the collar and said, "Get up. I promise you, but you have to promise me one thing—"
Facing Zhu Ran's earnest gaze, Sun Ce felt that his tone had become heavier. "There are many Shanyue forces in Yangzhou. Once they hide in the mountains, it will be difficult to hunt them down. Zu Lang's occupation of Jing County may seem easy to attack, but he can change his position at any time. We must hit him right away this time."
"General Zhu has followed my father and I for ten years, but now his head and body are separated. I will definitely avenge him!"
Sun Ce said this with gritted teeth.
Zhu Zhi's death destroyed in an instant his sense of accomplishment after his previous surprise attack on Yuzhang County and his joy of annihilating Huang Zu.
If he didn't avenge himself, how could he be worthy of the title of Governor of Yangzhou who was supported by these soldiers!
It's also unfair to the friendship between him and his subordinates!
But what he never expected was that a few days later, Zhu Zhi's head was sent to Nanchang, the capital of Yuzhang County.
There were a few words written on the box containing the head, which read "Congratulations on taking office."
Sun Ce was almost mad with rage.
This action was undoubtedly a mockery and provocation to him in the face.
What does congratulations on taking office mean?
Zhu Zhi's body remained in Danyang County, waiting to be buried together with his skull after it was found, but his head suddenly appeared in Yuzhang and "took office".
Sun Ce slammed his fist on the table in front of him and asked his subordinates in a cold voice: "What did you find out?"
Since the head was sent to the provincial capital, there must be traces.
However, the person who delivered the box had no idea that what he delivered was such a thing. He could only explain under the questioning of the government that someone asked him to deliver the thing. Then he used all his descriptive abilities and cooperated with the portrait painters under Sun Ce to draw the appearance of the client.
The subordinate handed the portrait to Sun Ce.
It is extremely difficult to capture even 30% of the essence of a person in a bounty portrait these days, but if this portrait looks familiar to Sun Ce, he will still be able to recognize the person's identity at a glance.
He grabbed the paper beside him, on which were drawn the images of Huang She and Su Fei. The newly completed painting was surprisingly similar to Huang She's.
"So this is the fish that slipped through the net..." Sun Ce felt that the blood in his chest was about to rush straight to his head.
After Huang Zu's death, he didn't think that Huang She, a son who relied on his father's influence, would show any resistance. Unexpectedly, the other party actually gave him a "surprise"!
He originally thought that this was the support that Jiangxia Huang family was giving to Huang She behind the scenes, but he soon heard that the other party had long ago drawn a line between themselves and Huang She and no longer considered him a member of Jiangxia Huang family. So there must be another force behind Huang She backing him up.
Sure enough, he later found out that someone who looked like Huang She had entered the territory of Shanyue in Jingxian County.
Great, it turned out that they were the ones who did it!
The newly captured Yuzhang still needed some settlement and governance, but this did not affect his order to immediately mobilize troops to attack Zulang as soon as the autumn harvest season was over!
But it is not so easy to conquer the Shanyue in the autumn and winter seasons.
As descendants of the ancient Yue people in Yangzhou, they not only occupied county towns like Jingxian, but also had their own fortresses in the mountains. When the autumn harvest came in, they immediately completed their migration to the mountains.
The crisscrossing terrain of Danyang made it almost impossible for Sun Ce to launch a surprise attack like he did when he attacked Yuzhang County.
As he listened to his subordinates' reports, his face was filled with anger.
The vanguard troops that went into the mountains to look for the Shanyue camp were counterattacked and encircled by Zulang's followers, and only one in ten managed to escape.
He immediately slammed the table and stood up, "Yifeng, follow me to Jing County, and we will personally avenge your father's blood debt!"
If we don't put down Zu Lang and other Shanyue bandits, they will really become lawless in this area!
This may not be an appropriate move at this time, but it is a necessary move!
At the same time, Qiao Yan was also doing what she had to do in Bingzhou.
After Cao Ang returned to Yanzhou, she informed Cao Cao of her bargaining chips.
This unexpected way of doing business was not something Cao Cao had considered at all, and he was well aware of what tricks Qiao Yan was playing.
In order to prevent the cultural invasion that had already begun with the emergence of Leping Monthly from showing any further signs of progress, Cao Cao decided to temporarily shelve the transaction.
Qiao Yan was not in a hurry either.
The clowns in Chang'an provided her with a lot of entertainment, allowing her to pass the time while waiting for the change of seasons.
Besides, she already had her next thing to do.
After the first batch of urgent editions were printed and promoted, it was time for the second issue of books and periodicals to be launched.
Qiao Yan wrote the last word on the memorial to be submitted to Chang'an, and said to Xi Zhicai: "If Cao Mengde doesn't make a decision, I will be sending cotton to him in a hurry."
This is the price of hesitation.
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