Chapter 508 Dilemma
"The situation has deteriorated faster than we thought."
Looking at Sun Ce, who was waving his spear wildly in the yard to vent his anger, Zhou Yu couldn't help but sigh.
"Tian Chengshou is too terrifying, far beyond our imagination."
"I'm afraid he could have used these methods a long time ago, but he didn't use them, and his methods are far more than these."
"The reason they attacked us this time was because of the incident in the area south of Yizhou. We were just injured by mistake."
At this moment, Zhou Yu deeply felt the gap that was like a chasm.
They and Tian Ze are not in the same dimension at all.
In Tian Ze's eyes, their threat was insignificant, and the reason why he was not in a hurry to deal with them was only out of consideration for the overall situation.
Otherwise, with just a little bit of effort, they would be dead.
The situation before us is proof of this.
Before the opponent even exerted much strength, our side was already in danger of collapse.
When Sun Ce heard this, he could no longer bear it.
With a loud shout, the Overlord Spear in his hand flashed with a cold light, instantly piercing through a tree over ten feet high and nailing it to the wall.
"Bofu, we can't win."
Zhou Yu looked at Sun Ce, whose shoulders were shaking and breathing heavily, and felt very reluctant, but he still hardened his heart and gave his final judgment.
At this point, they have no other choice.
Or, he could go his own way and make enemies with all the powerful families in Jiangdong.
Jiangdong will inevitably face a large-scale rebellion.
They do not have the foundation and skills of Tian Ze. Even if they can win in the end, Jiangdong's vitality will be mostly depleted, and by then there will be no one left under Sun Ce's command.
After all, this era is an era of powerful and wealthy families.
The reason why Tian Ze was able to succeed was that he had accumulated too much foundation. He had invented powerful tools such as paper and printing in advance, and he had trained a large number of middle and lower-level officials, which enabled him to easily overturn the table.
Even so, the powerful families still have a place under Tian Ze.
And what about them?
There is no capital to overturn the table at all.
All the civil and military officials under his command were from aristocratic families, and more than 70% of the soldiers in the army were his private troops.
Although the reform has achieved initial results, it is still a long way from completion and consolidation.
The failure of the Northern Expedition, which he had previously insisted on, had caused him to lose a lot of popularity.
Compared to Tian Ze, who has both the pen and the gun firmly in his hands, they are far inferior.
If you slow down one step, you will lose some opportunities.
“Do all the Jiangdong noble families think this way?” Sun Ce said in a hoarse voice.
Zhou Yu took out a secret report from his sleeve: "Since we tacitly allowed them to develop Yizhou, they have begun to secretly stockpile food and migrate people. Recently, hundreds of ships have been flying the flag of merchant ships, but in fact they are carrying military equipment."
"If we agree, these people, food, and weapons will be the token of our loyalty from the noble families."
"If we don't agree..."
Zhou Yu didn't say much.
If the Overlord were to be reborn, he might be able to suppress these powerful families in Jiangdong.
But Sun Ce was just a "little overlord" and his battle record was far from as good as in history.
"According to your opinion, how should our Sun family deal with this?" Sun Ce said in a hoarse voice.
Zhou Yu stared at him and said word by word: "Push Zhongmou out."
"What?" Sun Ce looked up suddenly.
"Let Zhongmou lead 5,000 private soldiers into Jiaozhou in the name of the young master of the Sun family." Zhou Yu took out Tian Ze's secret letter from his sleeve.
"Tian Ze agreed that as long as Zhongmou is willing to be the vanguard, he can compete fairly with Liu Fan for the land in the southeast. However, he must provide at least 500,000 people and hand them over to Liu Fan." "Why?" Sun Ce said angrily.
"Liu Fan is a piece of trash! If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have ended up like this today."
Zhou Yu took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "The situation is stronger than people. Liu Fan has already joined Tian Ze's army, but we are still resisting."
Being weak is not necessarily a bad thing. Being strong is sometimes a fault.
In the current situation, Zhou Yu’s mentality is as complicated as Sun Ce’s.
Those who were weaker than them, on the contrary, gained the upper hand because they were defeated quickly. How could they accept this?
Moreover, they are now in a dilemma?
He surrendered, but he was unwilling to do so. He had persisted until now. If he surrendered voluntarily, he would probably be looked down upon and his subordinates would be demoralized. After all, Liu Fan surrendered only after being attacked.
If you don't invest, failure is inevitable sooner or later, and the later you fail, the greater the loss.
Others are almost gaining full experience, but I have just completed the assessment and just left the novice village. The starting line is completely different.
Sun Ce was not unaware of the gains and losses involved.
However, the pride in his heart prevented him from doing so.
So Zhou Yu had to play this role and force Sun Ce to make this decision.
"Why is it Zhongmou?" Sun Ce asked in a deep voice.
As an elder brother, Sun Ce is qualified.
The eldest brother is like a father. After Sun Jian's death, Sun Ce treated his brothers and sisters with great care. He really couldn't bear to let his younger brother go to such a remote place.
"Bofu, Zhongmou is not good at war, and his vision is not big, but when it comes to the way of balance and selecting talents, Zhongmou is better than you."
The names Sun Jian gave to his two sons were just right.
Sun Ce, courtesy name Bofu, and Sun Quan, courtesy name Zhongmou, one was good at military affairs, and the other was good at political strategies.
Although he was still young, Sun Quan's abilities had gradually become apparent.
Sometimes Sun Ce would call him to join them when they discussed things with Zhou Yu.
Because they found that Sun Quan had a unique talent for weighing pros and cons, but he was a little too sinister and petty, and liked to play some conspiracies and tricks.
However, Sun Quan seemed to be the most suitable person to deal with the problems south of Yizhou.
"Does Tian Chengshou know Jiangdong so well?" Sun Ce said with a wry smile.
He didn't even have a clear understanding of his own family, let alone his civil and military subordinates. He was probably almost a transparent person in front of Tian Ze.
Zhou Yu sighed softly and looked at Sun Ce with a hint of regret.
To a certain extent, Sun Ce is not suitable to be a lord at all.
Just like the former King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu.
Not only Tian Ze, I'm afraid the other princes will have a fairly good understanding of Jiangdong.
Because the powerful families in Jiangdong were only afraid of Sun Ce, but lacked respect for him.
If one tries to subdue Jiangdong simply by force, unless one is truly invincible and successful in all battles, once one fails, the forces under one's rule will likely become a loose sand.
In this regard, other princes, even Liu Fan, did better than Sun Ce.
Because they know how to win people's hearts and minds and know that they cannot accomplish anything on their own.
In the past, Zhou Yu was quite worried about this. Sun Ce seemed to have a solid foundation in Jiangdong, but there were too many hidden dangers caused by his character. Even he could only try his best to compensate for and suppress them, but could not eradicate them.
If this goes on, something bad will happen sooner or later.
No matter how strong Sun Ce's martial arts are, he is just one person. It is not difficult for these aristocratic families to plot against him.
A few assassins could have put Sun Ce to death.
But now, Zhou Yu is no longer worried.
(End of this chapter)
