My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 84 Lu Su's Letter
That's why Liu Ye appeared before Huang Li, warmly welcoming him and showing concern for his well-being, completely unlike his previous behavior of shouting for violence and treating him coldly.

Huang Li was both angry and bitter, but he dared not show it on his face.

Liu Ye's ruthlessness truly frightened him.

He had campaigned and recruited officials more than a dozen times before, but Liu Ye was truly unique in his willingness to fight and kill, and to actually take action.

This instilled in him an instinctive fear of Liu Ye, forcing him to bury his resentment deep within his heart. He pondered how to file a complaint against Liu Ye before the governor of Xuzhou, exposing this audacious scoundrel to the scholars of Xuzhou.

Just because Liu Ye dared to treat him like this, he could make sure that Liu Ye had no place in the entire Huai-Si gentry circle!
But soon, things took a turn for the better.

When Liu Ye took out a whole small box of gold ingots, Huang Li's anger miraculously disappeared.

He suddenly realized that it was unbelievable that someone as magnanimous as him would get angry over such a trivial matter.

No one is perfect. Huang Li has always been magnanimous and generous, and he loves to help younger generations. When has he ever become so narrow-minded?
Subsequently, Liu Ye demonstrated his sociability by arranging a fine meal and personally and warmly entertaining Huang Li.

By the next day, Huang Li and Liu Ye were like close friends, chatting and laughing happily.

He instructed his father and elder brother to be careful and discreet at home, and to deal with Yuan Shu's grain requisition if possible, and never to have any conflict with Yuan's officials.

Only then did he reluctantly get into the carriage and follow Huang Li northward.

At almost the same time, Zhou Yu, who was in Danyang City, also received a letter from Lu Su.

This surprised Zhou Yu greatly, because the letter was sent directly from Tancheng in Xuzhou, and just a month ago, he was still living a leisurely life and studying in his hometown.

It wasn't until a month ago, when he heard that his childhood friend Sun Bofu was in trouble on the Yangtze River, that he rushed to Danyang to ask his uncle for help, hoping to lend Sun Ce a hand.

At this time, Sun Ce was in Liyang confronting Liu Yao's generals Fan Neng, Yu Mi, and Zhang Ying.

It wasn't that Sun Ce didn't want to cross the river, but rather that he was so rebuffed by the other side that he couldn't cross.

Sun Ce's arrival did indeed unite Wu Jing, Sun Ben, and other core members of Jiangdong, and in terms of both the quantity and quality of his troops, he surpassed Liu Yao's army on the other side of the river.

Embarrassingly, Liu Yaojun also had a powerful backer.

Under the guidance of a master, Liu Yao's army, though merely an alliance of powerful clans and minor warlords, held its ground very firmly, leaving Sun Ce with no way to deal with it.

Last time, Sun Ce concentrated all his elite troops to cross the river and launch a strong attack, but he suffered a crushing defeat. Sun Ce himself was also wounded and had to retreat, and the morale of his army plummeted.

Sun Ce was trapped in Liyang and made no progress. In his predicament, he could only write to Zhou Yu for help.

In a battle involving tens of thousands of people, what help could Zhou Yu possibly offer?

Of course, only influence matters.

To put it bluntly, even if Sun Ce were replaced by Zhou Yu and he were put in command, he still wouldn't be able to cross the river, let alone defeat Liu Yao.

However, Zhou Yu had an advantage that Sun Ce did not: Zhou Shang, the governor of Danyang Commandery, was his uncle.

Liu Yao was appointed by the imperial court as the governor of Yangzhou. When he arrived in Yangzhou, the prefect of Danyang Commandery was Wu Jing, who was appointed by Yuan Shu without authorization. Wu Jing was also Sun Ce's uncle.

However, Liu Yao later broke with Yuan Shu and launched a surprise attack on Wu Jing, driving him and Sun Ben across the Yangtze River in one fell swoop.

At this time, the position of Prefect of Danyang Prefecture became vacant.

Liu Yao directly dismissed Wu Jing from his post as governor and then appointed Zhou Shang as governor of Danyang Commandery.

Zhou Shang was Zhou Yu's cousin, and the Zhou family was the leading aristocratic family in Lujiang, a powerful family that had produced three dukes for two generations, even more powerful than the Chen family of Xiapi. Unfortunately, the Zhou family encountered Yuan Shu, the eldest son of the Yuan family, a powerful family of the Han dynasty with four generations of dukes.

At this time, Yuan Shu was stationed in Shouchun and occupied Lujiang Commandery, and the Zhou family almost depended on him for survival.

If Yuan Shu turns against them, they can send troops to exterminate the Zhou family at any time.

If that's the case, why did Liu Yao dare to appoint Zhou Shang as the governor of Danyang?

Isn't he afraid that Zhou Shang will betray him?

The answer is that I'm not afraid, or rather, I can't be afraid for the time being.

Liu Yao's surprise attack on Wu Jing and Sun Ben was a tactic of striking directly at the heart of the enemy's territory.

This has a huge drawback: although Liu Yao succeeded in driving Wu Jing and Sun Ben out of Danyang City and even across the Yangtze River,

Danyang Prefecture has a total of sixteen counties under its jurisdiction, and these all require manpower to manage.

Liu Yao didn't have that many people, and even if his allies shared the spoils, they couldn't digest them all. Moreover, there were forces loyal to Yuan Shu in these areas, so someone needed to suppress these people.

The Zhou family was a local power in Lujiang, possessing immense strength and a large retinue.

Furthermore, since large families wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket, Zhou Shang naturally joined Liu Yao's side, helping Liu Yao quell the rebellion in Danyang, mobilizing various resources, and continuously supporting the front lines.

Otherwise, how could a coalition of powerful clans of about 10,000 men in a turbulent Danyang County have defended itself without a single breach against the Sun family's 20,000-strong army for two years?
Given this, Sun Ce could easily draw a conclusion.

If Zhou Shang were to betray Liu Yao, Liu Yao's Yangtze River defense line would immediately collapse.

So how do we get Zhou Shang to turn against us?
Who else could we ask besides Zhou Yu?

It was under these circumstances that Zhou Yu received two letters from the Northeast and the Northwest.

The letter from the Northwest was naturally sent by Sun Ce, earnestly requesting him to come out of seclusion and help persuade Zhou Shang to betray his allies, launch a surprise attack on Niuzhu, and seize the supply stronghold of Liu Yao's coalition forces in one fell swoop.

Historically, it was Zhou Shang who stabbed Liu Yao in the back, allowing the Sun family to escape their predicament and sweep across six prefectures and ninety-two counties in Jiangdong.

This is also the six counties and eighty-one prefectures of Jiangdong in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhou Yu was currently reading the second letter, in which Lu Su invited him to Xuzhou to speak of the abilities of the Liu family father and son, as well as their ability to recognize and utilize talent and their eagerness to seek out capable individuals.

Most importantly, he also frankly stated in the letter that he would present Liu Bei with a strategic plan to establish a foothold in Guangling, sweep across Jiangdong, take the Huai and Si rivers as a base, and establish a foothold in the southeast.

In fact, Lu Su was neither threatening Zhou Yu nor leaking military secrets.

This is actually a code word used by the gentry, meaning that the next direction for our group's development is the Huai and Si Rivers, which is the old stronghold of your Zhou family.

If you have faith in us, you can jump ship right now to welcome the mighty army; that would be an immense achievement.

If you're hesitant, you can come over and have a chat. Anyway, we don't mind if you're two-timing us. We'll need your help to take Lujiang in the future, and we'll also need your help to govern Lujiang after we've taken it over.

This is because the Zhou family is large and powerful, owning a large amount of land, shops, mulberry trees, mines, logging sites and other real estate in Lujiang.

In most cases, it is impossible to leave one's hometown to choose a lord.

Historically, the Zhou family ultimately invested heavily in the Sun family because they were optimistic about Sun Ce's military strength, his strategy of the Northern Expeditions, and his control over Lujiang County.

(End of this chapter)