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The stars are bright and the moon is like a hook.

The north wind is howling, and the night is cold.

The sycamore tree is lonely, with leaves falling all over, and a few crows perched on the branches, enjoying the bitter north wind.

Thirty miles outside Dongyuan City, the Allied Pioneer Camp.

In the big tent, Sun Cegao, who had just changed his brocade robe, sat in the upper seat, holding up the bottle and drinking with a smile on his face while feasting on a large piece.

This is the closest Zhendian to Dongyuan City. It was captured by Sun Ce's army an hour ago with almost no effort. It happened to be late, and the army immediately set up camp outside the west gate of Zhendian.

The reason why Sun Ce chose Ximen to camp was to prevent the Xiliang army from attacking at night. If someone else was leading the army, he would have chosen to camp in Zhendian, but Sun Ce was different from ordinary generals. He went the other way, and after capturing Zhendian, he left immediately and moved to the camp outside Zhendian to set up troops.

A moment later, when Sun Ce was full of wine, four veterans including Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang and Zu Mao walked into the tent together, bowed and sat down.

In fact, Cheng, Huang, Han and Zu are not old. The so-called veterans are just relative to Sun Ce, who was young and leading the army. These four are generals who have followed Sun Ce's father for many years. They are brave in fighting, experienced many battles, and are loyal to the Sun father and son. They are all people of the same age as Sun Jian, at least in their thirties and in their early forties, which is the age of a young and strong person. On weekdays, Sun Ce respects them very much, regards themselves as younger generations, and performs the rituals of sons and nephews when they meet. The so-called "upward and downward effect" is what Sun Ce respects these four people, so the soldiers in the army naturally respect them as "old general". The word "old" may be very unhappy for older generals; but it is used in Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others, which means that they are respectful and respected.

After the personal soldiers left for tea, Cheng Pu put down the teacup and asked suspiciously: "The young master is a little strange tonight. Why don't he camp on the ground in the town but set up a village outside the town? The last time he was stupid, please let the young master make a clear statement."

Sun Ce smiled when he heard this, his eyes flashed across Huang Gai, Han Dang and Zu Mao, but he saw that they were also confused.

Immediately, Sun Ce's eyes raised slightly, revealing an unpredictable and profound smile. He smiled indifferently: "The reason is very simple, because I don't believe that the people in the town will welcome us into the garrison army, and I don't believe that the guards of Dongyuan City will hand over the frontier positions outside the city to me so easily. You must know that the Zhendian I captured tonight is the last barrier on Dongyuan City's road to resist our army's advance. The fall of this place means that Dongyuan City has been exposed under our army's iron hooves; when our army breaks through Dongyuan City tomorrow, we can go straight to Anyi City. The troops are at the city!"

Speaking of this, Sun Ce's tone suddenly changed and he sneered: "Where is Anyi City? It is the base camp where Li thieves stationed troops in Sili! Li thieves stationed 100,000 troops in Sili, and most of them gathered in the Anyi Camp. As long as our troops are at the city, the Xiliang army will never shrink and fight like before. They have to retreat and have to fight!"

"Ah!" The four generals under the tent were shocked when they heard this. Cheng Pu said anxiously: "Does the young master want to attack Dongyuan City quickly and then directly fight the Anyi army?"

"Yes! It's imperative, what's wrong?" Sun Ce nodded disapprovingly and said.

Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and four other veterans were very anxious when they heard this. Cheng Pu, the leader, waved his hand and said, "No, no, no!"

Sun Ce's eyes were slightly angry and said in a deep voice with an unhappy expression: "Does the four uncles think that I, Sun Ce, cannot conquer Anyi and are afraid of the Xiliang army?"

"No. No, the young master calm down." Seeing Sun Ce getting angry, Cheng Pu's expression changed and he hurriedly explained: "We have absolutely no intention of despising the young master, but we are uneasy, worried that the young master will repeat the mistakes of the old master Gongsun Jian and will fail!"

Sun Ce's expression changed slightly. The anger on his face diminished slightly, and he asked in a deep voice: "Why did Uncle Cheng say this? We have been sieging cities and villages for several days, and we have been invincible in the battle, and our morale is high. We are full of fighting spirit. There is a saying: Opportunities must not be missed, and we will never come again. At this time of great victory, it is a great opportunity for us to take advantage of the victory to capture Anyi. How can we stop suddenly and miss the opportunity to fight?"

Cheng Pu was stunned when he heard this, and his expression became more and more anxious. He continued, "Everything that said the young master is true. Because of this, we came to dissuade the young master from continuing to march, but should garrison the troops to rest. When the Chenliu alliance was in the past, the old master Gongsun Jian also attacked the city and the village without any disadvantages. He went deeper alone, and eventually exhausted the food and grass and was attacked by the thief army at night, and failed! This happened on the boundary of Henan, and was only a river from us. It was only five years before and after. Does the young master remember it?"

Sun Ce's expression changed when he heard this, but he was not panicked, but a look of anger, and he was quite angry. However, due to his affection, he did not get angry immediately. However, his heavy breathing and blushing cheeks all mean that he was very angry inside. However, Cheng Pu was a veteran who followed the Sun family's father and son for two generations, which made him furious and deeply helpless.

Seeing Sun Ce silent, Cheng Pu's eager expression calmed down a little and continued to persuade: "The old lord Gongsun Jian was despised by the combat power of the Xiliang army and believed that the Xiliang army was scared by the Allied forces, and the army was weakened, so he chased and fought relentlessly. He captured more than ten camps of the Xiliang army within half a month. Unexpectedly, just when our army was advancing, the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were in trouble in the rear and cut off our food and supplies, which caused our army to be short of food and supplies. The Xiliang army took the opportunity to rob the camp and returned.

The situation we face now is very similar to that of the past, almost exactly the same, exactly the same. At this time, the young master led the front army to attack cities and capture the villages, bravely and invincible, and had already made great achievements in combat. However, I wonder if the young master had noticed that almost all the cities we captured had encountered stubborn resistance, and they were conquered in one fell swoop, which was unstoppable. Is the Xiliang Army, which is so powerful that it is so weak?"

"Huh?" Sun Ce raised his eyebrows lightly, his eyes suddenly opened wide, and he pondered: "What does Uncle Cheng mean? Do you want to say that these cities were deliberately left to us by the Xiliang Army? How can there be such a good thing in the world?"

"The General of the Mo has no intention." Cheng Pu shook his head and said, "Young Master is calm, and we will report the truth. This time, we followed the Young Master Lian Zhan and Gong Fu. At first, we were very happy. We thought that the Young Master was not inferior to the Old Master, and that his wisdom was not inferior to that of the Old Master, and that he was also not inferior to that of the Old Master, and that he was expected to follow the Old Master's will, establish himself in Jiangdong, and achieve great fame and fortune. However, our army was still invincible in the future, and even captured ten cities in ten days. However, we never encountered decent resistance. This made the General of the Mo Master and others feel that everything was too easy, and they would win the attack without any effort. Is this the so-called Xiliang Army with strong troops?"

As he spoke, Cheng Pu's face showed a strong sense of worry. After calming down his mind, he continued, "So, the four of us secretly paid attention to the subsequent battle. We found that whether it was the defenders stationed in the city or the soldiers in the camp and town, the combat power was extremely limited, and the weapons in our hands were rusted. Some of the soldiers even had already been broken. After this discovery, we immediately went to the prisoner-of-war camp and asked in person about the reason for the surrender.

From the surrendered soldiers, all the defenders were ordinary county soldiers who were not included in the Xiliang Army's sequence. On weekdays, they were only responsible for guarding the city gates and checkpoints. They had almost never participated in the war in the past two years, and had no strict training. The military discipline was scattered and their combat effectiveness was extremely poor. It is said that as long as they did not do evil and bully the good, they could still receive some food and salary every month, and the treatment was good enough for the whole family to fill their stomachs. Because of this, these county soldiers guarded the city gates every day and handed over on time. They lived a comfortable and comfortable life for two years. Over time, the weapons in their hands were rusted, and their combat effectiveness could be imagined. Therefore, in the face of the attack of our Allied vanguards, they were vulnerable and could not resist the powerful attack of our army."

Cheng Pu seemed to have not finished his words, but he suddenly kept silent. He seemed to be waiting for Sun Ce's response, with a faint sense of taking the exam. Obviously, although he and Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zu Mao and others were very loyal to Sun Ce, they were still doubtful about whether Sun Ce had the ability to lead them to reappear the glory of the past. They were not sure about it. Therefore, they would not explain it thoroughly on many issues, and they would deliberately wait for Sun Ce to make a judgment before they could explain the whole story.

This behavior seems to be a bit contemptuous of Sun Ce, and it seems that they don’t take Sun Ce seriously. In fact, they do this out of good intentions and sincerely love Sun Ce. This is precisely the real manifestation of their loyalty and the Sun father and son. The reason why Sun Ce respects them and regards himself as his younger generation is because they have always been loyal, taught earnestly, guided them step by step, and helped Sun Ce grow up quickly.

"As a result, the ten cities that our army had captured before were actually city checkpoints that the Xiliang army intended to abandon, and were not as important as we thought?" Sun Ce said with a gloomy face.

Cheng Pu nodded slightly when he heard this and responded in a low tone: "Although the last general didn't want this to be true, it was the fact that it was. At the same time, the few slightly tenacious resistances that our army encountered in the attacks and sieges were actually the fact that some county soldiers were loyal to the Li thief and would rather die than surrender. Therefore, in ten days, our army suffered tens of thousands of soldiers, and the defenders in the ten cities and villages were all only 20,000, of which more than 8,000 were young and strong men and women temporarily organized in villages and towns along the way."

"How could this happen? What about the Xiliang Army? Where did they hide? Could it be that they all hid in the Anyi camp and avoided fighting, watching us attack the cities and villages along the way but turned a deaf ear?" Sun Ce said furiously.

Cheng Pu was sad when he heard this, and didn't know what to say. At this time, Huang Gai said, "Young Master, don't be angry. In fact, this matter is not difficult to understand. The Allied forces were huge this time, with 500,000 troops, claiming to be 700,000. At the beginning of the alliance, the troops were in full swing. No matter who faced the fierce Allied forces, they chose to avoid the edge and wait for an opportunity to fight. Just like the battle situation in Hedong in front of him, the generals under Li Zhe moved the people along the way to other places in advance. Only some of the people were unwilling to leave their hometowns, so they took up weapons and resisted our vanguard army with the defenders.

As for where the Xiliang army retreated in Hedong County, this is self-evident. The Anyi camp is backed by the Yellow River, with a mountain cliff to the north and a Yellow River to the south. It guards the throat of the three prefectures of the three prefectures of Bing, You and Ji, and have always been the important garrison of the Xiliang army stationed in Sili. Previously, the Anyi camp stationed 40,000 troops, and then the Xu Rong's troops in Henan also secretly moved here. In addition, the Hedong counties have reduced their troops, and these soldiers and horses have a total of 100,000. Therefore, the last general said that the 40,000 to 50,000 troops in our hands are not enemies of the Anyi army at all. If we go to fight against it rashly, we will definitely be defeated and there is no reason to win!"

Compared to Cheng Pu, who spoke implicitly, Huang Gai was indeed straightforward. Although his words were not listened to, he told the truth without any concealment.

After hearing this, Sun Ce said with a gloomy face and said angrily: "After all, your real purpose here is to persuade me to temporarily postpone the attack on Dongyuan City and miss the opportunity to take advantage of the victory to advance. Am I not wrong, right?"

"That's right, that's exactly what I mean!" Huang Gai continued.

As soon as these words were said, Cheng Pu, Han Dang and Zu Mao were shocked and repeatedly frowned at Huang Gai, signaling him to change his words and accus him of the crime as soon as possible, otherwise it would be punished by Sun Ce.

"Hahaha!" Just as Cheng Pu and four veterans were in fear, they saw Sun Ce who was still angry just now laughing loudly, and there was no sign of anger on his face. He smiled very happily, and he was really laughing happily.

"Young Master, what's wrong with you? Please don't be angry. The last sentence is to be accused of the crime. The words are too intense. Please punish the young master!" Seeing the moment when Sun Ce laughed wildly, Huang Gai, who had been hard on his neck and refused to bow his head to admit his mistake, suddenly panicked and claimed the crime urgently. He thought Sun Ce was madly angry, and actually laughed wildly in his anger. This is a sign of hysteria!

"Young Master, Young Master, you must not have something to do!" While Sun Ce was raising his head and laughing, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang and Zu Mao hurriedly got up and ran to the upper stairs, shouting loudly, for fear that Sun Ce would lose something if he was angry.

Seeing the four veterans running to the front with eager expressions, Sun Ce was quite moved and smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm very good, I'm never been better! Hahaha!"

"Young Master, are you okay?" Huang Gai asked in surprise. Cheng Pu, Han Dang and Zu Mao also looked at Sun Ce eagerly, and his care was fully revealed.

Sun Ce kept his laughter and said with a smile: "Thank you, Uncle Huang, for your concern. I am fine. Although I, Sun Ce, am young and energetic, I am not as narrow-minded as this. The four uncles are the brothers of life and death of my father during his lifetime, that is, my elders of Sun Ce. No matter who I am angry with, I will never be angry with you. What's more, your loyalty can make me feel the sun and the moon. The care makes me remember it for the rest of my life. Come, I will speak under the seat."

While talking, Sun Ce got up and walked down from the position of commander, walked to the tent to sit with Cheng Pu and others. However, Cheng Pu and others were shocked and looked at each other inexplicably, unable to understand why Sun Ce's temperament changed suddenly and became so reasonable.

—————————————— (To be continued)
Chapter completed!