Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 143: No War in Wancheng
Qiao Yuan is a native of Wan County.
Just like Zhou Yu was from Shu County, not "Shucheng", Shu County and Wan County were larger in scope, including the county town and the countryside.
Usually these large clans live in the countryside, and only those who serve as officials or act as brokers between the government and the clan live in the city...
Because of the remote and secluded location of Wan County, Yuan Shu agreed to let the Qiao family, a prominent family in Wan County, serve as the county magistrate. In normal times, they only had to ensure that grain taxes and manpower were paid on time and in full... no, it should be said that they had to ensure that they exceeded the payment limit.
When the country was founded, Qiao Yuan, like other county magistrates in Huainan, was granted the title of Guannei Hou. However, although Qiao Yuan did not show any obvious determination, he kept all the titles and did not touch them. He would never wear the robes of Dazhong Guannei Hou.
This time, Yuan Shu and Liu Xun had no intention of rescuing Wan County, so naturally Qiao Yuan did not think that he should die for them - Wan City had only 3,000 defenders.
However, Qiao Yuan had other ideas. If they simply surrendered, the Qiao family would at most still be the Qiao family of An County. Compared with the local tyrants, they were much poorer and usually relied on "being kind and charitable" to accumulate a reputation that was higher than their strength.
However……
Qiao Yuan had no sons, only daughters who came to him in his old age... two of them.
Although the Qiao family is not limited to Qiao Yuan, in Qiao Yuan's opinion, the new generation of male descendants are not capable of achieving success.
Whether considering the Qiao family or his own branch, Qiao Yuan felt that... finding two good sons-in-law was important!
As for Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, Qiao Yuan was also very familiar with them, especially the former - Shu County and Wan County were adjacent to each other, and although it was difficult for a large army to pass through, when the world was not so chaotic before, it was still easy for ordinary people to travel between the two counties.
Before Zhou Yu became famous for his talent and wisdom, his nickname "Beautiful Zhou Yu" was known throughout Luling.
Zhou Yu was impeccable both internally and externally. Qiao Yuan had naturally heard of Sun Ce from Wu County before. After all, he was the son of Sun Jian and had previously served under Yuan Shu, but now he had switched to Bai Tu...
In terms of age and potential, both seem good?
It’s just… he didn’t expect that these two little bastards would give him a place to play right away - Sun Ce was right, Qiao Yuan really did prepare a new banquet every day!
Seeing Zhou Yu's magnanimous demeanor, not worrying at all about cheating, and drinking the wine he prepared openly, Old Qiao was very satisfied. Then he looked at Sun Ce... like a fool, drinking the wine prepared by the enemy without any precautions, Old Qiao was a little angry.
"Oh, I'm getting older and older, and I'm a little unsteady when holding a wine glass... Bofu, what do you think I'd do if I lose my grip and drop the glass?" Qiao Yuan said deliberately.
People of this era always lack creativity. "Smashing the cup as a signal" is the symbol of the classic banquet ambush and murder drama.
"Huh? This cup is very valuable? Ah... they don't say 'smashing the cup as a signal'? There's no murderous aura around here ..." Sun Ce had a puzzled expression on his face, which made Qiao Yuan want to smash the glass in his face.
"Haha, are you going to enter the enemy's city just by relying on your own confidence?" Qiao Yuan sneered.
"Mr. Qiao is joking. We see that the people in Wan County are farming normally and in an orderly manner, without any intention of clearing the fields. We know that Mr. Qiao must be a loyal and righteous person, and he will definitely agree with Mr. Bai's benevolent and righteous army." Zhou Yu explained.
Upon hearing this, Qiao Yuan slapped the table and said, "Great! As expected of Zhou Lang, your observations are indeed meticulous!"
Sun Ce: ...
In short, Qiao Yuan's surrender... no, it should be said that he abandoned darkness and joined the light, which was genuine. The reason why he let Sun Ce and Zhou Yu enter the city was mostly for testing . Even if they didn't dare to come in, Qiao Yuan would have other reasons to directly surrender the city. It's just... in this way, the two of them might miss a lot.
In fact, when Qiao Yuan was having a feast with the two men, he had already ordered the soldiers at the city gate to open the gate without even making any requests.
With Bai Tu's current reputation, Qiao Yuan was not worried at all. If he rashly let the enemy in, would it harm the people?
But on the night of the banquet, Zhou Yu was tortured and couldn't sleep all night in Qiao's house - although it shouldn't be so troublesome to be a guest in someone else's house, but Zhou Yu couldn't stand it, the devilish sound coming from outside filled his ears.
And he couldn't do that either, as Sun Ce, who lived in the next room, was already snoring...
Zhou Yu stood up in the courtyard, looking for the source of the evil sound, and saw... a beautiful seven-stringed harp, which was playing a hysterical sound like a shrew's scolding in the street!
Zhou Yu, who was particular about music, could only respond to such behavior with an angry look.
[Eh? Does this guy like me? He is so impressed just because he listened to my music. What a superficial person!] Behind the beautiful lyre, the equally beautiful girl looked at Zhou Yu with some surprise and some disgust.
Or should normal people just see the beautiful girl directly?
…
In Jinling City, Bai Tu was in Cheng Ji's mansion again, chatting with Jinling Ji.
In addition to Bai Tu, Lu Lingqi and Yu Ji were also present - the city wall of Jingkou had been almost built, but there was nothing else, so there was no point in Yu Ji moving in.
However, just as Yu Ji had expected, Jinling Ji had been in a state of panic because of the previous "Xian Shi Zhiwen" and had not recovered at all.
Fortunately, it's just because of the three no's, so he looks stupid and his reaction is slow, but his intelligence has not decreased...
Just at this time, important military intelligence came, and Bai Tu left Cheng Ji Mansion.
In any case, in the eyes of the people in this world, local dignitaries staying in Chengji Mansion are definitely a model of "hard work".
After all... there aren't any entertainment activities in Chengji Mansion. Apart from using the Chengji system and taking care of government affairs, what else can one do?
Bai Tu thought the same thing - isn't it a big deal to care about Xia Chengji?
The important military intelligence sent back came from Wancheng!
Cheng Pu led his troops into Wancheng. The news was first sent back to Wankou by express horse. Wankou used a temporary signal tower to pass it to the other side of the river. After that... all the way from Chaisang to Jinling, there were either signal towers or flat official roads suitable for express horse traffic. In just two hours, the news had been sent back to Jinling!
This news did not come earlier than Bai Tu had imagined. After all, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu had illusions about Jiashi Road at the beginning, so it was delayed for some time.
However, being able to capture Wancheng almost without any damage is still something worth celebrating...
After replying to the rewards in an orderly manner, Bai Tu specifically told Sun Ce and Zhou Yu that they could start to reclaim wasteland and cultivate farmland in Wancheng. Although it was only spring plowing and it was a bit late, which would definitely affect the already low harvest, it was better than nothing.
Another half month passed, and Taishi Ci, who had been on a business trip for more than half a year, finally returned from Liaodong, bringing back Guan Ning, Bing Yuan, and their families...
