Chapter 276 The hatred is overwhelming
Yuzhang, on Poyang Lake.

The weather is sunny and the waves are sparkling.

A warship was suspended alone in the lake. When Hua Xin was fishing with a bamboo hat on his head, he saw a small boat with a black sail slowly approaching.

There was a man rowing the boat, and another man wearing a short shirt, with his trouser legs rolled up to his knees, standing barefoot on the bow holding a harpoon.

The small boat approached the warship, and the side door above the water level of the warship opened. Several people came out from the black sail of the small boat and boarded the ship through the side door.

Hua Xin was neither hurried nor slow, and without waiting for long, Sun Ben, wearing a bamboo hat, also boarded the boat.

Only Hua Xin's servants and warriors were left on the boat. Sun Ben took a few casual glances and sat down next to Hua Xin. "Mr. Ziyu, how are you?"

"Since I left Yuzhang, the sky is high and the sea is vast, I feel so comfortable."

Hua Xin glanced back at Sun Ben who was sitting down, and said with a smile: "It is you, Sun Boyang, who are trapped here."

Hearing this, Sun Ben just let out a long sigh, raised his chin slightly and looked at the shore in the distance.

Actually, Sun Ben's bond with Sun Jian was not very strong.

When Sun Jian conquered the Yellow Turbans and Liang Province, Sun Ben did not follow him; when the heroes fought against Dong Zhuo and Sun Jian raised his army in Changsha, Sun Ben was already the Inspector of the county.

Seeing that the world was in chaos, Sun Ben resigned from his official position and led his troops and fellow villagers to seek refuge with his uncle Sun Jian.

Later, Sun Jian was killed in battle, and Sun Ben temporarily led Sun Jian's troops. At the recommendation of Yuan Shu, he inherited Sun Jian's post as governor of Yuzhou and led his army to escort Sun Jian's body back to his hometown for burial.

Under Yuan Shu, Sun Ben served as the Commandant of Danyang and also as the General Who Conquers the Enemy.

It was not until Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor that Sun Ben officially broke away from Yuan Shu. He was more than ten years older than Sun Ce, so it cannot be said that he was dependent on or surrendered to Sun Ce, but more like joining his gang.

In return, when Sun Ce defeated Huang Zu and Liu Xun and returned, he sent Yu Fan as an envoy to lobby Hua Xin. In order to avoid fighting, Hua Xin took the initiative to give up Yuzhang, a famous large county in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

However, he did not give the entire Yuzhang County to Sun Ben. Instead, he separated a Luling County from Yuzhang County and appointed Sun Ben's younger brother Sun Fu as the governor of Luling County.

During this period, Sun Ce was assassinated and Sun Quan succeeded to the throne.

The imperial court recruited Hua Xin, and Sun Quan wanted to keep Hua Xin. After Hua Xin's persuasion, Sun Quan decided to make peace with Cao Cao and let Hua Xin go.

One of the conditions for peace was that Sun Ben's daughter was engaged to Cao Zhang; so after an imperial edict from the Xudu court, Sun Fu was transferred to General Pingnan, Acting Envoy, and Governor of Jiaozhou.

Sun Quan took Luling County, breaking the solid alliance between the brothers Sun Ben and Sun Fu; and Sun Fu was also highly valued by the court in Xudu, so his mind changed and he attempted to lead Jiangdong to get closer to the court.

Thus his tragedy was inevitable. His letter was intercepted by Sun Quan, who took Zhang Zhao to question him face to face. Sun Fu was imprisoned and all his followers were killed.

Sun Fu was the acting general and governor of Jiaozhou appointed by the court in Xudu. His sudden death and the destruction of his followers destroyed the possibility of the Sun family's peaceful takeover of Jiaozhou.

Sun Ben's father died early, and it was Sun Ben who almost raised Sun Fu, who was still in his infancy.

They are brothers by blood, and also have a father-son relationship.

Sun Ben still has no son, and the hatred between them cannot be easily erased.

But all of Sun Fu's sons are raised by Sun Quan, which is Sun Ben's biggest concern at the moment.

Sun Quan knew what Sun Ben was worried about, and Hua Xin knew it too.

Now Sun Ben is hiding in Yuzhang and refuses to come out. This is no longer a problem that Sun Quan can solve easily.

When dealing with Sun Fu, Sun Fu was young and inexperienced, so he was easily dealt with by Sun Quan. But it was different with Sun Ben. Even if Sun Ben was dealt with successfully, what would the other members of the Sun clan think? What would Xu Kun and Zhou Yu think?
So Sun Ben is now in a rather peculiar position.

In terms of clan law, Sun Ben was the oldest of his generation; in terms of strength, he had only occupied Yuzhang for three years, and his troops were generally young, which means that Sun Ben did not absorb many people from Yuzhang, and his relationship with the officials and people of Yuzhang was not strong.

It was a situation where if Sun Ben wanted to leave, he could take his troops with him.

In terms of personal experience and court record, Sun Ben's experience is far richer than Sun Quan's; the most important thing is that Sun Ben's son-in-law is Cao Zhang!
Sun Ben, who is nearly forty years old, currently has only one daughter!
At this moment, Sun Ben picked up the fishhook, looked at it, hung half of the earthworm on it, and cast the hook to fish.

Then he looked at Hua Xin's profile and said, "Mr. Ziyu must have some teachings to give. I'll tell you clearly."

"I know what Boyang is worried about, but Boyang is caught in the middle of a situation, trapped by the brotherhood, so he can't wake up."

Hua Xin said frankly: "From what I have seen, Sun Quan is far inferior to Sun Bofu in both civil and military talents. He was chosen by Sun Bofu as his successor only because he is older and has a flexible personality. Today, heroes in the world are competing for supremacy, and a natural hero like Hei Da Sima has been born. If Sun Bofu were still alive, he could observe the changes in the world and make decisions between Jianghuai and there would still be a glimmer of hope. If it were Sun Quan, he would probably incur the punishment of his three clans."

Sun Ben frowned as he listened. He didn't like Sun Quan in the first place.

The two brothers could barely obey Sun Ce, and they had a contemptuous attitude towards Sun Quan.

It was just that Sun Fu was too careless, and was caught by Sun Quan, which gave Sun Quan the opportunity. If Sun Fu had always been vigilant and kept in touch with his troops, would Sun Quan have dared to take action directly?

Sun Fu was captured and placed under house arrest by Sun Quan just because he looked down on him. After being placed under house arrest, Sun Fu's followers and cronies became wary, so Sun Quan killed all his close associates and transferred his followers far away.

After his followers and followers were dealt with, Sun Fucai died in confinement.

From the beginning to the end, even now, Sun Ben is not sure when his brother died.

So Sun Ben was very regretful. If his attitude of resistance had been clearer and more intense, and if he had been determined to perish together with everyone, he might have been able to save his brother's life.

It was precisely because he had that glimmer of hope and his unwise attitude that his brother, who was under house arrest, died unexpectedly of illness.

Although Sun Quan was very remorseful, apologized to him repeatedly, and even raised Sun Fu's sons as his own sons...but did Sun Ben need such an apology?
Sun Ben's condition was already unstable, but Sun Quan really couldn't do anything about Sun Ben.

Sun Fu's death under house arrest can be explained by the fact that Sun Fu had a strong character and could not stand the humiliation, so he died in anger while under house arrest.

But if Sun Ben also died unexpectedly now, everyone in Jiangdong would be in danger, the stage would collapse, and no matter how capable Sun Quan was, he would have no room to maneuver.

The current Sun Ben is a bit similar to Liu Qi before, in that after his rebellion fails, Sun Quan still has to do his best to protect him and save his life.

Sun Ben can die, but he must live well in the next two or three years.

Either die on the battlefield of foreign conquest, die in front of everyone's eyes.

Seeing Sun Ben's failure to refute, Hua Xin took it as his implicit support for his remarks and continued, "Even with Cao Gong's power, he still had to be cautious when facing Black Sima. If I am not mistaken, Sun Quan's character is humble on the outside but stubborn and conceited on the inside. He does not know how powerful Black Sima is, and perhaps he often makes analogies and despises him in his heart."

As for whether Sun Quan would use the black bear as an analogy in his heart, Sun Ben almost didn't think about it, he just felt that Sun Quan would do so.

Ever since Sun Quan used tricks to kill his brother, Sun Ben had already seen through Sun Quan. He knew that Sun Quan would never submit to the court or other people. He also knew that Sun Quan was short-sighted and lacked the magnanimity to tolerate others.

Sun Fu was appointed by the imperial court as General Pingnan and Governor of Jiaozhou.

In addition to his old subordinates and close fellow villagers, Sun Fu's followers also included scholars from Jiaozhou who were recruited one after another. These were the officials under the Jiaozhou Governor's Office!
As a result, all these people were killed by Sun Quan!
If Sun Quan could have an open conversation and accommodate Sun Fu... In Sun Ben's opinion, with his brother's talents, he would have become the real master of Jiaozhou at this moment!

Perhaps, there was no such thing as Sun Fu colluding with Cao Cao. As the governor of Jiaozhou with a temporary authority, it was normal and reasonable for Sun Fu to exchange official documents with the court!
It was just that Sun Quan caught the messenger and made a small fuss. His brother had a clear conscience and naturally did not guard against Sun Quan.

So my brother was easily captured by Sun Quan and then imprisoned. As for the specific crime he was charged with, it was up to Sun Quan to decide.

Anyway, Sun Fu, who was imprisoned or died on the spot, would not be able to stand up and refute. If all of Sun Fu's followers were killed, it would be difficult for him to prove his innocence!

Fake Jie, General Pingnan, Governor of Jiaozhou... Compared with Sun Quan's positions as Governor of Kuaiji County and General Suppressing the Enemy, it is normal for Sun Quan to kill him!
He hated himself for being deceived by Sun Quan. He thought Sun Quan just wanted to remove Sun Fu's power and teach him a lesson to establish his authority.

Hua Xin aroused Sun Ben's negative emotions. Sun Ben's breathing became rapid and heavy. After trying to control himself, Sun Ben threw the fishing rod into the lake and said, "Mr. Zi Yu, tell me, what do you want me to do? And what are you willing to give me, Cao Sikong?"

"Qingzhou Governor."

Hua Xin uttered four words and added: "I will be the deputy governor of Qingzhou."

After a pause, Hua Xin continued, "After repeated inspections by the Liangpei Liu clan, as well as the evidence from relatives and fellow villagers, it can be concluded that the Black Sima is not from the Liangpei Liu clan. The Xudu side speculates that the Black Sima is a descendant of the King of Chen. This time I came to Jiangdong, I also wanted to bring back Luo Tong."

"Luo Tong?"

Sun Ben was also curious about Black Bear's origin. After all, he had pretended to be Sun Qian... It was a good name, but there was no adult male in the Sun family with this name.

A name will be chosen when the child is around ten years old, and the courtesy name will be determined during the coming-of-age ceremony.

Sun Ben was not familiar with Luo Tong, but he was familiar with Luo Tong's parents. Luo Tong's father was named Luo Jun, who was the prime minister of Chen Wang Liu Chong. He was assassinated by Zhang Kai while providing relief to disaster victims together with Chen Wang.

Luo Tong's mother remarried to Hua Xin. When Hua Xin returned to Xu Du, he brought Luo Tong's mother back to Xu Du. It is estimated that she had given birth to a half brother or sister for Luo Tong.

Hua Xin also observed the change in Sun Ben's expression, and continued, "This is also a secret decree from the emperor."

With so much information pouring into Sun Ben's head, his anger over his brother's unjust death was diluted. After all, he was a mature semi-separatist warlord, so he asked, "Does Minister Cao know?"

"He knows that the emperor is investigating the origins of the Black Grand Marshal, but he doesn't know that I am carrying a secret imperial edict."

Hua Xin looked into the distance expressionlessly: "This matter concerns the country. The benefits are countless, and the disadvantages are immeasurable. It is reasonable for me to investigate it thoroughly."

Sun Ben thought for a moment and shook his head: "Mr. Ziyu, I don't want to get involved in this kind of palace secrets. I accept the post of Governor of Qingzhou."

But he still felt unsatisfied: "After all, Cao Gong and I are related by marriage. If you give me a county marquisate, I will suppress Sun Quan."

(End of this chapter)