When we came together the next day, it was quite noisy outside, with human voices everywhere. Zhou Yu got a hangover and a headache, got up with difficulty, sat on the couch, and yelled. A young man rushed in, hugged Zhou Yu, and laughed.
"Coming?" Zhou Yu said exhaustedly.
Zhou Yu met the boy face to face, it was Sun Quan, and said with a smile, "Get up quickly and see the navy that Brother Lu and I brought to you."
"Where is it parked?" Zhou Yu asked.
"In Taihu Lake." Sun Quan said with a smile, "Mother asked me to bring you something to eat."
"Yeah." Zhou Yu patted Sun Quan's head and said, "I've grown a lot taller."
Sun Quan looked like a teenager, and said: "There are still guests today, guess who is here?"
Zhou Yu guessed several times but couldn't guess, and asked, "Where's your brother?"
Sun Quan said: "When I heard that the navy arrived, I was so excited that I went out with Brother Lu early in the morning."
Zhou Yu got up to wash, and Sun Quan looked around in the room, reporting to him the family affairs one by one, including the health of Sun Mu and Zhou Mu. Sun Quan was also very excited, and finally he was able to come out without restraint. He was a young man, and he just wanted to wander around.
"Have you read the book?" Zhou Yu took the time to glance at him.
"Read."
"Have you practiced martial arts?"
"Practice every day."
"Let's be clear first." Zhou Yu said, "It's not like being at home here. I can't neglect my studies every day. I spend two hours in the morning studying and two hours in the afternoon practicing martial arts."
Sun Quan said: "I have to accompany Zihuan, let's discuss it, brother, can we do it with less time?"
"Who?" Zhou Yu asked inexplicably.
"Cao Zihuan," said Sun Quan, "he just arrived today."
Zhou Yu was taken aback for a moment, then changed his mind, Cao Pi is here? I only discussed with Sun Ce yesterday, but now it seems that Cao Cao is still very smart, he knows how to send his eldest son, and he is very clear about their position.
At noon, when Sun Ce and Lu Su came back, Zhou Yu was almost a headache from their quarrel. Cao Pi is also here, just arrived this morning, his martial robes are covered with dew, obviously he traveled day and night and traveled all night.
"Borrow soldiers." Cao Pi said, and then slapped a letter on the table.
"You are one or two now," Sun Ce said in a bewildered manner, "Your tone is astonishing!"
Cao Pi and Sun Quan laughed, and Zhou Yu said, "Look at you, you look like a painted cat all the way, does your father treat you as a son?"
Cao Pi went to wash his face. He had grown to the height of Sun Ce's shoulders. The two children had sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain in the past few years. Sun Quan was also a little shorter than Cao Pi, and also a little smaller than him.
"My father is looking for the whereabouts of His Majesty." Cao Pi said, "Yuan Shu will be the first to attack him. Yuan Shao and Yuan Benchu are also sending people to find the emperor. There is a lot of chaos in the Central Plains. The whole world wants to form an alliance to attack Yuan Shu .”
While wiping his face, Cao Pi said, "My father said that when you enter Shouchun, you get half of each person."
Sun Ce said: "Your father, your father, I promised to borrow your soldiers?"
Cao Pi said: "It's not possible! You still need this kind of people!"
Zhou Yu had nothing to say to the two of them, but Sun Quan just smiled and asked, "Can you take me with you if you send troops?"
"You..." Zhou Yu said, "Be quiet, Cao Pi, go down and rest first."
"Don't you have to eat?" Cao Pi said, "I came here quickly."
Sun Ce had no choice but to arrange for dinner to be served first. Sun Ce, Lu Su, Cao Pi, and Sun Quan had porridge and side dishes. Lu Su talked about the water army's control and defense, and he didn't avoid Cao Pi. He handed over the general's affairs one by one, stretched himself, and said, "I just want to rest for a few days."
"Where's Zhao Zilong?" Zhou Yu asked Cao Pi.
"Uncle Zilong went to his brother's funeral." Cao Pi said, "Last time I sent a letter saying that he went to Liu Bei."
"Uncle Liu?" The corners of Sun Ce's mouth twitched and he smiled, "Is he still alive?"
Cao Pi said: "Zheng is too prosperous. I asked Zilong to come to Yecheng, but he couldn't live or die. He followed Liu Bei to Xuzhou."
"Is your father going to trouble Tao Qian?" Zhou Yu suddenly asked. Everyone knows that Tao Qian, the prefect of Xuzhou, killed Cao Cao's father and Cao Pi's grandfather. I am afraid that this bloody case cannot be easily settled.
"Yes." Cao Pi replied, "He wants to seek revenge on Tao Qian. Lu Bu is heading towards Xuzhou, maybe you have to fight."
Lu Su said: "If I were Tao Qian, I wouldn't be the governor of Xuzhou either. Run quickly, I can't beat your father."
Cao Pi smiled and said nothing, Sun Quan patted him on the back as a sign of comfort.
"Is it okay to borrow troops?" Cao Pi asked.
"How much to borrow and what to pay back?" Sun Ce asked.
Cao Pi said: "My father sent me here. He wants to fight Yuan Shu first, and then fight Yuan Shao after the fight. If anything happens, you chop me up."
Zhou Yu said: "Nonsense, since your father sent you to me, he expected that I would not take you as a hostage. His business is very good."
Taking Cao Cao as a person, he knew that Zhou Yu would definitely not embarrass Cao Pi. He not only expressed his sincerity, but most importantly, the handwritten letter Cao Pi sent was an imperial decree under the name of the false emperor, and Sun Ce sent troops as King Qin. After the matter is completed, there must be no shortage of being crowned king.
"I have to think about it." Sun Ce said, "It's not that I don't want to borrow your soldiers. This matter is too complicated."
Lu Su said: "Yuan Shu is still watching from the sidelines. Shouchun is very close to this place. If there is a counterattack, the consequences will be disastrous."
"Think about it," Cao Pi said.
Zhou Yu said: "I want to send a letter to your father and talk to him."
Cao Pi said: "No need, just tell me. He said it before going out. Whatever I say is what he says."
Zhou Yu didn't speak any more. After dinner, he discussed with Sun Ce and Lu Su for a while.
After Sun Ce and Zhou Yu agreed, Zhou Yu finally negotiated with Cao Pi.
"Frankly speaking," Zhou Yu said, "you can't borrow troops, at least not recently."
Cao Pi just woke up and looked at Zhou Yu without saying a word.
"It's not that I can't trust you." Zhou Yu said again, "It's our own problem. To tell you the truth, soldiers can't do it, and we can't send them out."
"Oh." Cao Pi said.
Sun Quan asked next to him, "When will it be better?"
Zhou Yu replied, "At least half a year."
Cao Pi took a look at Sun Quan, knowing that it was not the two colluding to deceive him, and it was probably what Zhou Yu said, so he could only nod and accept.
"As compensation," Zhou Yu said, "Sun Ce and I will use other methods to contain Yuan Shu. You immediately send a letter to your father. The letter is here. I have written it. I cannot send more troops, but I will send troops to attack Yuan Shu." rear, make him exhausted."
Cao Pi nodded again, and Zhou Yu said, "I will tell you the specific tactics, and you and Sun Quan can go out with the army."
"Great!" Sun Quan said.
"No!" Sun Ce said, "Sun Quan is only fourteen years old!"
"Fifteen." Zhou Yu said, "Fifteen years old."
Sun Ce said: "What can fifteen years old do! Let him lead the army?"
Zhou Yu casually commented on the military parade book and said: "Brothers fighting tigers, father and son soldiers in battle, you don't train Sun Quan to fight, what do you let him be bored at home all day? You come to pay respects, and let him take Sun Quan with him. In addition to training, I don't believe you have other ideas."
Sun Ce said: "But Fifteen is too young. A flying arrow has no eyes. It's fine if Cao Cao's son is dead. My own brother, if something goes wrong, my mother won't kill me!"
"What do you mean it's fine if Cao Cao's son dies?" Zhou Yu couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry, "How old were we when we chased from Gushan to the edge of Chaohu Lake? Say it yourself?"
Sun Ce stopped talking. The first year he and Zhou Yu met again, he was only sixteen years old.
He looked thoughtfully at the kites hanging in the hall, and suddenly said, "It's been five years in the blink of an eye."
That year, Zhou Yu's father passed away. Sun Ce took the string of the kite, stood on the bamboo raft, and rowed slowly across Chaohu Lake in the broad and clear sky, facing the thousands of miles of autumn wind.
Looking back on the past, it seems like a lifetime away.
"Okay." Sun Ce said, "You have to keep an eye on them and don't make any mistakes."
A few days later, Sun Quan joined Sun Ce's Wu army. According to Zhou Yu's idea, let him take over Sun Ce's personal soldiers, others may not be trusted, only Sun Quan is the most reliable.
Of course, Zhou Yu knows best in his heart that sometimes even brothers are not necessarily reliable. Are there few cases of brothers fighting against each other and brothers fighting each other in history? But he was very sure that nothing would happen if he watched by himself. After all, half of Sun Quan was brought up by Sun Ce, and half by himself.
Watching Sun Quan join in the drill and Cao Pi assisting at the side, Zhou Yu had the feeling of watching his apprentice grow gradually. When he saw him for the first time, Sun Quan was still running a fever, thin and small. Unexpectedly, a few years later, wearing the armor, although the brows and eyes are immature, the heroic spirit is not inferior to Sun Ce.
Shouchun's courier also arrived, and the courier sent by Yuan Shu was tied up by Zhou Yu as soon as he arrived. The messenger looked innocent and didn't know what happened. Then Sun Ce wanted to behead the messenger, put his head in a box and hand it over to Cao Cao. Zhou Yu still didn't want to do more killings, so he just ordered his men to tie up the messenger and send it to Cao Cao.
In this way, it is equivalent to completely turning faces with Yuan Shu. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu discussed and drafted a call to action against Yuan Shu, formally forming an alliance with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.
At the end of June of this year, Yuan Shu ascended the throne as emperor in spite of obstruction and condemnation from many parties.
Zhou Yu had a premonition when the six-way allied forces challenged Yuan, and it was time to pick up the leak.
Zhou Yu handed over 8,000 cavalry to Sun Ce, and asked him, Sun Quan, and Cao Pi to lead troops to attack Shouchun along the rear road, restrain Yuan Shu with guerrilla warfare, and buy time and buffer for Cao Cao.
But Zhou Yu stayed alone in Wujun, assisting Sun Ce in handling internal affairs. After bidding farewell to Sun Ce, Zhou Yu specifically told Sun Quan not to be impulsive in everything. This campaign against Yuan Shu focused on harassment and the main purpose was to make Yuan Shu have no time for others.
"You should rest more when you are at home." Sun Ce said, "If you succeed in overthrowing Yuan Shu, and the coalition forces from all walks of life join forces, maybe I have to trouble you to make a trip."
Zhou Yu frowned deeply and nodded. Sun Ce pinched his brow with his fingers and asked, "What, do you have something on your mind?"
Zhou Yu waved his hand. Since the short period of rainy season in the spring of this year, the entire Jiangdong has entered the dry season. It is already June, and the water level in Taihu Lake is getting lower. This year's grain harvest is bound to fail. The entire Central Plains, including the east and south of the Yangtze River, are suffering from drought, and the severe drought, which is rare in ten years, will be followed by severe floods.
Wu County is backed by Taihu Lake. Although the production has been reduced, it can still support the people of the county. However, in the north of Xuzhou and other places, there will only be more and more victims. If the preparations are not made early, the consequences will be disastrous.
Lu Su's army sacrificed wine, Sun Quan and Cao Pi left and right military school lieutenants, Zhang Zhao joined the army, Zhou Yu poured Zhuang Xing wine for Sun Ce himself, thought about it and said, "Be careful."
"Okay." Sun Ce patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder.
Zhou Yu told Lu Su repeatedly, saying: "Bo Fu is a man who doesn't care about the front and the future when fighting. He likes to charge forward. You should drag him more."
Lu Su smiled and said, "No problem."
Zhou Yu said to Sun Ce again: "I prepared some herbs for you, just in case you suffer from heat stroke..."
"Okay, okay." Sun Ce didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Cao Pi and Sun Quan left with the vanguard, Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu explained a few words, it was nothing more than a matter of soldiers, horses, food and grass, and finally even Zhang Zhao left, leaving Zhou Yu and Sun Ce holding hands and standing behind the large army.
This was the first time in several years that Sun Ce went out alone.
"I'm not worried about you." Zhou Yu said, "I'm afraid you won't be able to control Sun Quan and Cao Pi. It's fine with Sun Quan, but Cao Pi, you have to take it easy. You must not let them rashly use troops."
"Don't worry." Sun Ce said, "It's not like I've never seen me run an army. When it comes to the battlefield, they can't let them have the final say."
Zhou Yu said: "If you want to launch an attack, you must discuss it in detail and repeatedly, and it is forbidden to exceed your authority. If there is any indecision in military affairs, you can ask Zhang Zhao."
"Yeah." Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu with a smile, and said after a while, "I just wanted to say that you are no longer a mother-in-law, but I didn't expect you to be a mother-in-law again."
Zhou Yu stared at Sun Ce, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything, but just mentioned: "Lu Zijing is good at dealing with people, so you can ask him about this kind of thing. When it comes to sending troops and marching, your thoughts are the same as Zhang Zhao's." When you disagree, you must listen to him."
Sun Ce said, "You can ask Zhang Zhao if you can't decide on internal affairs. If you can't decide on foreign affairs, you can ask Zhou Yu."
Zhou Yu laughed, let go of Sun Ce's hand, and said, "Go, we'll talk about it when you come back from victory."
Sun Ce said, "Take care of yourself."
Sun Ce's expression seemed to want to take a step forward, but he held back in the end.
"Let's go." Sun Ce waved his hand.
"Get lost," Zhou Yu said.
It was past noon when Sun Ce set out with his army. Zhou Yu returned to the prefect's mansion. During this period of time, he had full power to handle Sun Ce's internal affairs and logistics. As soon as Sun Ce left, Zhou Yu didn't know what to do.
Sun Ce led his troops to Shouchun, and joined forces with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's allied forces. When he arrived in Danyang, Zhou Shang finally dispatched all his troops to join Sun Ce's team. As a result, the burden of food and grass doubled again. Zhou Yu sent food and grass to Sun Ce for the first time when Sun Ce arrived in Huainan. At the same time, the situation in Wu County became more and more serious.
In the summer of this year, the drought was unprepared, and the water level of Taihu Lake often dropped, and there were dead fish and shrimp in the mud. Zhou Yu moved the warship to the center of the lake again, and ordered the piles to be driven again to build a new pier.
There are two rice seasons, and the early rice is almost useless, and the neighboring counties have started to suffer from grain shortages, but Wu County has a surplus of grain. The cicadas outside are making people restless. In midsummer, Zhou Yu was sweating all over, wearing only single clothes, reviewing the military situation in the room.
Sun Ce's troops also encountered the most severe test in history. The land they passed was nine out of ten, especially in the Central Plains. Sun Ce's letter from home mentioned that it might rain in the near future. Once it rains, he will cooperate with Cao Cao and start a two-way attack on the city.
The army has no water to drink, the streams have dried up, and the water level of the wells has dropped across the board. The soldiers' mouths are parched and their lips are cracked and bleeding. Zhou Yu's reply to the letter said: You must never wait for the rain, you must take the initiative to find water sources. At the same time, disaster victims from all directions have also entered Wu County from the Central Plains, Xuzhou and other places.
A total of 400,000 people, without food or water, gathered outside the moat leading out of Taihu Lake to catch fish and shrimp for a living. Zhou Yu began to face another problem—opening warehouses for disaster relief.
The food stored in Wujun is only enough for three years, and Sun Ce's army food has to be supplied. Once the rear opens a warehouse to provide relief, the front line will be unsustainable.
At the same time, the troops of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had successfully joined forces with Sun Ce, and the entire Jiangdong area was completely hollowed out by Sun Ce. An army of 60,000 gathered outside Shouchun City, just waiting to attack Yuan Shu.
Zhou Yu took a sip of plum tea to relieve the heat. The summer was scorching and unbearable. When a gust of wind blew, the kite hanging on the wall moved slightly, and then calmed down again.
"Zhou Hujun." Zhu Zhi said, "There is a mutiny outside the city, and it must be resolved immediately."
Zhou Yu packed up the food book, got up and came out. The sky was clear and cloudless, and the sky was dazzlingly blue. Under the city, it was dark and full of people.
Zhu Zhi glanced at Zhou Yu.
"By the Taihu Lake?" Zhou Yu asked.
"A lot of people died," Zhu Zhi replied. "For fear of polluting the water quality, I asked people to move the corpses to the mountain behind the city in the morning."
"How much?" Zhou Yu's eyes reflected a little Taoist in yellow walking back and forth among the crowd.
"More than two thousand people." Zhu Zhi said, "Some died of starvation and some drowned."
"No open position." Zhou Yu said, "The news from the lord hasn't come yet."