Huang Yueying knelt in the tent, reading a book, and when she heard Sun Ce's footsteps, she quickly stood up to meet her.

"General, do you still have to study so late?"

"I'll talk about reading later. Achu, go and invite your father over. I have something to discuss with him."

Huang Yueying responded sensiblely, put away the book, and hurriedly walked out. Sun Ce called Lin Feng, who wanted him to invite Liu Pi, but then he thought about it, but gave up. After a while, Huang Chengyan walked over quickly. Sun Ce invited him to the tent and sat down, signaling Lin Feng to be alert outside.

Huang Chengyan was surprised when he saw it. "Captain, something happened?"

"I plan to go on the battle myself tomorrow."

Huang Chengyan frowned slightly and thought for a moment. "Then you have to be careful not to show off your courage. Although Xiangyang City has not experienced war for many years, Liu Biao and Kuai Yue have some experience. They must have been trained for so many days of confrontation."

Sun Ce nodded. Huang Chengyan did not dissuade him, but reminded him to be careful, which means that he knew that this matter was necessary, so he would not say those useless polite words. He reminded him to be careful of safety, which is sincere, unlike Xi Zhu, who is a pang Shanmin who disobeys the situation and observes success or failure.

"What I am worried about is not the head of Xiangyang City. What I am worried about is the Yang family, Xi family, and especially Xi family. After Xi Zhu entered the city, his attitude changed. I believe that he did not tell us everything that Kuai Yue had said to him."

Huang Chengyan laughed. "The lieutenant should think about it, it's nothing more than coercion and temptation. The lieutenant is very thoughtful, but there's no need to worry too much. General Sun is in charge of the camp, and they dare not make any changes. The lieutenant just put his mind on how to attack the city. If you win, even if they have a strange intention, they can only hold it in their hearts. If you lose, no matter how good you are to them, they will not be able to support you."

Sun Ce also smiled. "Sir, it makes sense." He paused and said, "How is the preparations for the Cai family Blacksmiths' Knife Racing Club progressing?"

"After a heavy reward, there must be a brave man. Anyone with some skills in the Cai family is fighting for that gold. Unfortunately, so far, no one has been able to shoot a real good knife."

"Do you know why?"

Huang Chengyan raised his eyelids and looked at Sun Ce. Sun Ce's mouth slightly raised, smiling, revealing a hint of mystery. Huang Chengyan's heart moved and immediately realized that there was something big about it. He asked tentatively: "Captain, why?"

"First of all, they know too little, it's just a little experience taught by the master and accumulated over the years. Secondly, they can't do it here." Sun Ce raised his hand and pointed to his temple. "They haven't read books, and they don't know how iron tools have developed step by step to today, and they don't know how to summarize the rules."

Huang Chengyan rolled his eyes and pondered for a while. "But... there are indeed not many records about iron treatment, most of which were passed down by blacksmiths."

"Captain, do you mean to practice more?" Huang Yueying suddenly said: "I heard that the best knife is a hundred-smelling knife. Is the number of times it is the secret to creating a good knife?"

"Yes or not, you have to think about it yourself." Sun Ce smiled even more mysteriously. He pointed his temple again. "Sir, Achu, the advantage of scholars should not be rote memorization, judging words, but studying things to learn, and knowing with clever skills. There were iron tools in the pre-Qin period, and Nanyang was the place where the iron officials were. The history of iron smelting exceeded five hundred years, so we should summarize it."

Huang Chengyan stared at Sun Ce for a moment and laughed silently. "Okay, I'll think about it first. If I can't figure it out, I'll ask the captain for guidance."

"Okay." Sun Ce nodded. The battle was imminent, and he had to throw out some tempting interests, and at the same time he hinted that he had some tricks to ensure that Huang Chengyan would not change his mind at the moment. "Sir, the armament of tens of thousands of troops is a big business, and it would be impossible to do without any thoughts."

Huang Chengyan understood it and bowed back. Huang Yueying saw it in her eyes, curled her lips and muttered to herself. "Pretending to be clever and annoying."

After seeing Huang Chengyan off, Sun Ce called Pang Tong. "Let's go and see General Liu."

——

After finishing washing, Liu Pi was about to rest, but was inexplicably a little annoyed and sat on the marching couch, in a daze.

Sun Ce gave him 1,300 hectares of land, which could solve the livelihoods of at least 2,000 households. This is a good thing. But there is no free benefit in the world. Sun Ce not only suggested that Sun Jian select the elite Yellow Turbans to join the war, but also took him to attack Xiangyang.

Siege is a thankless task, with great danger and high casualties. He is not sure whether the three thousand soldiers he brought with him survived in this battle. Ruying's Yellow Turbans have limited strength, and the old and weak have only about 300,000 people, and no more than 50,000 people can fight, and the maximum number of elite troops is 200,000. Cheng Pu and Wu Jing have to pick 10,000, and most of the elite troops have been drawn away. If these three thousand people are also seriously damaged, more than half of the elite troops will be taken away by Sun Jian. Isn't this a big price?

At this time, someone came to report that Captain Sun had arrived.

Liu Pi was shocked, quickly put on his clothes, pushed the woman on the couch back, and hurried out of the big tent.

Sun Ce stood outside the tent, with Pang Tong standing beside him, except that, there was not even a single guard. Liu Pi was very surprised and stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance. Sun Ce smiled and said, "General Liu, stop looking, we are just the two of us. Why do you think I am bringing the army to seize your military power?"

Liu Pi shivered and was cold all over. "Capital, how dare you?" Liu Pi said, and signaled to Xie Guanglong with his eyes. Xie Guanglong quietly raised two fingers to show that Sun Ce's words were true, and there were indeed only two people. Liu Pi felt relieved when he saw this. If Sun Ce really had this intention, he would never come to his camp lightly and simply, so he would not have to be nervous.

"If you don't wear shoes, aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Sun Ce smiled even more kindly. Liu Pi is not the kind of person with great ambition. Now he just wants to survive and not be harmed, but he has no intention of harming others. "The cold starts from his feet. General Liu has just settled down. There are still many things to do and he needs to take care of himself."

Liu Pi looked down and realized that he was too anxious to come out. He was neither wearing shoes nor footwear, and stepped on the ground barefoot, no wonder he was so cold. He smiled awkwardly and quickly turned to invite him. "Captain, it's cold outside, let's talk inside."

Sun Ce rubbed his hands and said with a wicked smile: "I won't go in, so as not to see anything I shouldn't see. General, the moonlight is better. Let's have some wine in front of the tent and chat. How about it? It's going to go into battle tomorrow, I want to talk to you."

There was a woman hidden in Liu Pi's tent. She didn't want Sun Ce to see her. She was just right in front of the tent and quickly arranged for someone to set up a bonfire, put on a hanging pot, warm wine, and roast the sheep. Sun Ce came to visit alone, and Liu Pi was not so nervous and chatted with Sun Ce.

The wine in the hanging pot slowly heated up, emitting the aroma of wine, and the sheep gradually roasted golden. Sun Ce held his knees and looked at the fire, and suddenly said, "General, if you have wine but not singing, it's not beautiful. Why not go to the baggage camp to find a few women to dance to help you liven up, how about it?"

When Liu Pi heard this, he was not afraid of him and nodded repeatedly. "Okay, okay." He immediately called a personal guard and asked him to take orders to dispatch people to the baggage camp. The baggage camp was not only responsible for the maintenance and distribution of baggage supplies in the battalion, but also for the officials and slaves. He was not only responsible for cooking and washing clothes, but also for the cultural and entertainment activities of the generals, and also imprisoned prisoners. Kuai Yue's family was locked up there.

Not long after, more than a dozen young women were brought to Sun Ce and Liu Pi. Sun Ce was mentally prepared and had no reaction. When Liu Pi looked at the women, his eyes were straight. Compared with these flowers-like women, the woman in the tent was simply a weed.

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Chapter completed!