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Watching Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao leave, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu couldn’t help feeling a sense of loss, so much so that even the nearly one billion in goods they had captured today were not on their minds. They exchanged glances, each noticing the other’s somewhat dazed expression, and were taken aback.
"Let’s go. It’s time to prepare the betrothal gifts. I’m going to marry her!" Zhou Yu turned to Sun Ce and said.
"Don’t you already have a fiancée?" Sun Ce was taken aback.
"Isn’t she still unmarried?" Zhou Yu said calmly, "A mere marriage agreement can’t stop me. Don’t you want to marry Qiao Wei?" 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"Aren’t you afraid of offending the Zhang Family?" Sun Ce said, surprised.
"In terms of family, my Zhou family has produced three Dukes over three generations. In terms of talent, I, Zhou Yu, believe myself to be second to none in the Zhang family. What is there to fear? I have made up my mind to marry Qiao Ying," Zhou Yu said nonchalantly.
"Let’s go, I’ve also made up my mind to marry Qiao Wei." Sun Ce, recalling Qiao Wei’s smile that once outshone the landscape, resolved, "Nothing in this world can stop us when we join forces!"
"There’s something strange about these captured goods." Sun Ce scratched his head and said, "It feels like these are merchant ships, not river bandits."
"Who cares if it’s strange? Once it’s in our hands, it’s ours," Zhou Yu said indifferently, "Just drag the ships to our dock. Let Youping take inventory of them. As for what’s going on with these people, leave it to me."
Zhou Yu casually grabbed one of Zhang Kai’s underlings, then with a flash in his eyes, his Spiritual Talent fully affected his captive, instantly reducing the enemy’s intelligence to rock bottom, and they began to automatically deliver intelligence.
"It seems we’ve stumbled upon something big." Sun Ce said after listening, staring at Zhou Yu, "But we’ll gladly take the goods. How should we handle the situation?"
Zhou Yu nonchalantly forced the intelligence of the unimportant soldier down to negative numbers, rendering him unable to recover for a while, then turned to Sun Ce with a smile, "This is a good thing. We’ll inform Yuan Gong about this. Whether we take Eastern Wu or Jingzhou, no one will be able to stop us, and this is about Yanzhou’s Cao Mengde, a key player in the struggle for the Central Plains. Bofu, don’t you want to become the King of Chu?"
"I don’t!" Sun Ce shook his head vehemently, "Yuan Gong has treated me very well. How could I betray him?"
"Then there’s nothing more to say. You can report this matter to Yuan Gong later on, and then suggest an attack on Eastern Wu at this time. If all goes as expected, this task will fall on your shoulders. If Yuan Gong feels he is not up to it, you can tell him that there’s no need for monetary and grain support, that you can take Eastern Wu with just an edict," Zhou Yu said, seeing Sun Ce’s firm rejection, and decided not to persuade further. Step by step.
"Are you sure that just an edict is enough to take Eastern Wu?" Although Sun Ce trusted Zhou Yu as much as he trusted himself, it still seemed too fantastical.
"You don’t think that edict is meant to command Eastern Wu to surrender, do you?" Zhou Yu asked in surprise, and then noticing Sun Ce’s expression, promptly applied his Spiritual Talent to his own mind, "This is better, now you can keep up with my thoughts. We just need an edict to have the authority to send troops. Then, after conquering Eastern Wu, you, Bofu, will be able to subdue the officials of Yuzhou."
Sun Ce wanted loyalty, and Zhou Yu was willing to respect that. Anyway, Zhou Yu was confident that as long as Sun Ce was by his side, they could defeat even gods. Although he hoped Sun Ce would become an overlord, more than that, he wanted Sun Ce to always maintain his current boldness. Even if he occasionally did something foolish, as long as Zhou Yu was there, it could be managed.
"Great! I’ve been itching for action. Eastern Wu’s rats, watch how I deal with them!" Sun Ce said arrogantly.
"They are not weak either," Zhou Yu sighed, although he said carelessly, he directly looked down upon all the talents of Eastern Wu. In his view, those Eastern Wu heroes who didn’t capitulate to Sun Ce were blind and arrogant fools who didn’t know their place in the cosmos.
Meanwhile, in Xiliang, Ma Teng and Han Sui led a massive army of one hundred thousand Qiang Cavalry, sweeping through Yongzhou like a swarm of locusts.
Fan Chou and Zhang Ji also led a force of about thirty thousand Xiliang Iron Cavalry to encamp tens of miles west of Chang’an at Changping Temple.
"Uncle, why aren’t we staying in Hongnong instead of coming here to fight against the Xiliang Qiang Soldiers? Isn’t this damaging our strength?" Zhang Xiu didn’t understand his uncle’s actions. It would be much better to stay and expand the military in Hongnong instead of joining Fan Chou to fight Ma Teng and Han Sui.
"Alas, the Xiliang Soldiers are no longer united, and our sages have all vanished. Relying solely on brute martial force may allow us to dominate temporarily, but it cannot guarantee our safety forever," Zhang Ji sighed, remembering the days when Dong Zhuo was not in decline compared to the now-discordant Xiliang Soldiers, indicating a rise and fall.
Zhang Xiu had no political sensitivity, and he didn’t understand what Zhang Ji was talking about. It might as well have been a Heavenly Book to him.
"Alas, you’re my only nephew and I have no heirs. Initially, I wanted to bring Jia Wenhe to your side so that if something were to happen to me, he could look after you for life. But during the chaos in Chang’an, both the military advisor and the chief clerk disappeared," sighed Zhang Ji, looking at his nephew, "Practice your martial skills well and be a valiant general who charges into battle without a second thought."
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