Sun Ce returned to his position, Xu Chu and Dian Wei appeared from their hiding place one after another and followed Sun Ce. This scene would naturally fall into the eyes of the cavalry who followed him, and reported to Yuan Tan, proving that what Sun Ce said was true, and this might indeed be a trick to lure the enemy.

It is difficult to determine whether the real or false on the battlefield is true or false, but it is even harder to determine whether the real or false is true in the deep hearts of the people. Sun Ce and Xin Pi are tacitly aware of it, and I believe that Yuan Tan would be happy to see it, but these are all speculations, and no one can fully believe the other party, and the necessary precautions are still needed. Sun Ce returned to the position and immediately promoted Liu Bei to the commander, allowing him to select soldiers from the captives, make up for the amount of 500, and he was responsible for collecting food and grass.

Liu Bei suffered many defeats and had great experience in picking prisoners. He quickly picked out hundreds of strong prisoners, threatened and tempted them to manage the people and speed up the collection of food and supplies. He was injured and could only sit and command. Zhang Fei and his men ran away and were busy and happy. Sun Ce's words were fulfilled. Liu Bei was promoted, and he had a cavalry and personal guards, and he also made contributions. It was the first time that he had fought so well for so many years in the army.

Looking at Zhang Fei's unconcealed happiness, Liu Bei was mixed with all kinds of feelings. He did not doubt Zhang Fei's loyalty, but his sense of crisis was very strong. Zhang Fei was conquered by Sun Ce's personality charm for only two days after being with Sun Ce. After a long time, who knows what it would be like.

Taking advantage of Zhang Fei's busy break, Liu Bei called Zhang Fei over.

"Have Sun Haoni met Yuan Envoy?"

Zhang Fei's head shook like a rattle. "No, I only saw Xinpi." He curled his lips. "Envoy Yuan is timid and dare not see him."

"What did they all say?"

"I said some inexplicable things, but I don't understand them very much."

"Tell me."

Zhang Fei thought about it carefully, picked up what he remembered and said a few words. He didn't understand it at the time, and now the retelling was a little different. Liu Bei was confused and confused. He looked at Sun Ce who was catching the time to eat breakfast in the distance, thinking about it. The breakfast was prepared by Xinpi and Jiang Qi didn't have time to eat it, so he took Sun Ce all the money. But Sun Ce was the last one to eat. He only ate it after almost all the soldiers finished eating it. There was only a little bottom left in the pot, and even the bowl was used by others.

"Yi De, have you seen it? Why can the general who is seeking rebellion get his subordinates and soldiers to die?" Liu Bei signaled Zhang Fei to look at Sun Ce. "Learn to learn, don't whip his subordinates when they get angry in the future. If you treat them as human beings, they will work hard for you."

Zhang Fei laughed twice, and there was no refutation. Liu Bei saw it and was both happy and uncomfortable.

After breakfast, Sun Ce received news from Guo Jia that they had conquered Xiao Huang. Guo Ting led two thousand guards and two thousand powerful crossbowmen to pick him up. Sun Ce was overjoyed and immediately ordered a retreat. He also had a lot of important transportation, so he discussed with the captured civilians and asked them to help transport them. After delivering to Xiao Huang, they asked them to leave and paid some travel expenses to them. The civilians were overjoyed. According to the court system, the army passed through the border and recruited the civilians to transport food and grass without any revenge. This was their obligation and was part of the corvee service. Sun Ce was willing to pay them travel expenses, even if they didn't have much money, it was a good thing for the first time.

The people were energetic and full of energy, leading the cow and pushing the cart, and walking towards Xiao Huang.

Sun Ce asked Liu Bei to escort the baggage and cut off the rear himself. Zhang Fei wanted to stay and fight with Sun Ce, but Liu Bei was injured and had difficulty moving. He had been struggling for a long time and left with Liu Bei.

Not long after, Yuan Tan sent people to chase him up, and Sun Ce led his troops to fight. The two sides fought fiercely. After a few fierce battles, Sun Ce took the initiative to retreat. Yuan Tan rectified his men and horses, pursued him again, and the two sides fought again. The cavalry rushed back and forth, and the drum sounded across the sky. When they reached a tense point, Yuan Tan took the battle himself and led the personal guards to the battlefield. Sun Ce lost, threw down some of the newly seized spoils and prisoners, and once again took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield.

Within two days, Sun Ce fought and retreated. The two sides "fighted" several times. It was not until Guo Ting arrived that Yuan Tan led his troops to retreat. He sent people to clean the battlefield and counted the losses. He found that there were indeed a lot of harvests. Not only did he rescued many prisoners, but he snatched Jiang Qi's supplies and food. He even snatched Jiang Qi's head back, and finally let his entire body be buried. Yuan Tan mourned Jiang Qi, beat his chest and stamped his feet, stroked the coffin and cried bitterly, blaming himself for being too late and unable to save Jiang Qi. The three armies shed tears and were moved by Yuan Tan's responsibility.

Yuan Tan immediately sent someone to send Jiang Qi's body back to Runan for a grand funeral, and wrote a handwritten letter to Yuan Shao, detailing the entire battle, sincerely apologizing to Yuan Shao, and saying that he would continue to fight until he defeated Sun Ce and drove him out of Yanzhou.

——

Sun Ce had just arrived at Xiao Huang, and before he could enter the city, Zhang Chao arrived in a hurry.

"General, please go back to Junyi quickly, you can't stay with Xiao Huang."

Sun Ce was puzzled. "Why?"

"Envoy Yuan ordered the conscript of several surrounding counties to besiege Xiao Huang. If you don't leave, it will be too late."

Sun Ce pressed Zhang Chao's shoulder and told him not to be excited. Zhang Chao did not care about his safety, he felt sorry for food and supplies. The counties that Yuan Tan recruited were all subject to Chenliu County, and they were probably regarded as private property by their brothers, for fear that Yuan Tan would not leave, and even more so that he would not leave.

"Don't worry, I am dragging the main force led by Yuan Tan to win the opportunity for Grand Marshal Zhu. As long as Grand Marshal Zhu takes Heishan Army out of the city, I will break through immediately. At that time, please ask Xian Kunzhong to borrow a way out of my life."

Zhang Chao felt relieved. "General, Yuan Tan left Junyi, but Junyi City could not be surrounded. It was just that Grand Marshal Zhu was determined to wait for the general to return, so he waited until now. If he had attacked with all his strength, he would have defeated Zhu Ling long ago and helped the Heishan Army out of the city."

Sun Ce quickly asked Zhang Chao to tell the situation, which was the most precious of internal information. In fact, he knew that Zhu Ye could completely defeat Zhu Ling and respond to Yu Du and others leaving the city, but he did not dare to fight to the death. He only had a few people and fought all out, so what else would he use to fight to the king? After Zhang Chao explained the situation under Junyi City, he had an idea.

"Since that's the case, why are you hesitating? Come and Xiao Huang besiege me."

Zhang Chao shook his head inexplicably. "General, you misunderstood. We are friends but not enemies, so how could we besiege you?"

Sun Ce smiled and muttered a few words in Zhang Chao's ear. Zhang Chao woke up like a dream, smiled and left excitedly.

After seeing off Zhang Chao, Sun Ce called Zhang Fang again.

"You rush back to Junyi, meet Taiwei Zhu, contact Wulu, and ask him to find a way to enter the city. It is best if you rush into the city by yourself and take over command. Three days later, I will rush to Junyi and attack you inside and outside to help you out of the city."

Zhang Fang was overjoyed and discussed contact signals with Sun Ce and hurriedly left with a few personal guards.
Chapter completed!