Chapter 171: I really want to kill you for squandering my family fortune! You have to pay for what you have done! There is only one way out!
There was dead silence all around.

Lu Su, Dong Xi and other counselors and generals were all shocked and looked in disbelief at Zhou Yu who was kneeling on the ground to apologize.

"Gongjin, what did you say?"

Sun Ce squatted down, helped Zhou Yu up, and asked in a trembling voice:

"Tell me again, what happened to Chaisang City?"

Zhou Yu was still filled with shame, and said with a bitter face:

"Bofu, I failed to live up to your expectations and failed to defend Chaisang!"

"I defeated all the more than 10,000 troops you left me."

"General Yigong also died in battle."

"Chaisang is lost, Chaisang is lost——"

As Zhou Yu spoke, tears were streaming down his face. He knelt down and kowtowed again, too ashamed to face Sun Ce.

Sun Ce's body swayed and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, he supported himself with his hands in time and avoided the embarrassment of sitting on the ground.

When he struggled to get up, his face was replaced by endless astonishment and confusion.

Just a moment ago, he confidently declared to Lu Su that Chaisang City was as strong as an iron wall and Zhou Yu was more than capable of defending it.

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Yu slapped him hard in the face?

Chaisang was lost, more than 10,000 defenders were wiped out, and even Han Dang, a veteran minister of the Sun family for two generations, was beheaded?
This sudden change was so sudden and so unbelievable that Sun Ce couldn't digest it for a long time.

I don't know how long it took.

Sun Ce suddenly woke up from his shock, and his face was distorted in an instant.

"I gave you more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and I also left Han Yigong to you. Why didn't you defend Chaisang City?"

"Even if your wisdom is not as good as that of Xiao Fang, I just asked you to defend the city. How could you fail to do so?"

"This doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense!"

"You have to give me an explanation!"

Sun Ce shook Zhou Yu vigorously as if he was mad, and questioned him almost hysterically.

"Bofu, I, I——"

Zhou Yu was too embarrassed to speak and gritted his teeth for a long time without being able to speak.

There's nothing I can do about it. It's just that he is too self-righteous.

Originally, according to the conventional plan, we would just have to defend Chaisang City, or even follow Han Dang's original proposal.

But he just couldn't swallow the anger of the defeat at Eshan, and he had to make a big news. He ordered Han Dang to lead his army to launch a surprise attack on Xiakou, hoping to make a feint to the east and attack in the west to make Liu Bei's move.

Unfortunately, it hit the muzzle of Xiao Fang's gun.

Big news was created, but it was not the surprise attack on Xiakou that defeated Liu Bei's army of more than 40,000, but the loss of Chaisang, the death of Han Dang, and the demise of more than 10,000 defenders.

As for the shame of losing Xiao Qiao, there is no need to mention it.

His own cleverness led to such a big mistake, so how could he have the nerve to talk to Sun Ce about it.

"What happened? How did Chaisang get lost?"

"Chen Zilie, you say!"

Sun Ce raised his head and roared at Chen Wu.

Chen Wu was Sun Ce's confidant, so he naturally did not dare and had no need to cover up for Zhou Yu, so he silently told the whole story of the fall of Chaisang.

Zhou Yu planned to order Han Dang to attack Xiakou by land and water, but he was ambushed by Huang Zhong who was attacking Chaisang halfway, and his head and body were separated, and the entire army was wiped out.

Then Huang Zhong successfully attacked Chaisang, and Zhou Yu led his army to retake it, but was defeated by Liu Bei's light cavalry, and failed...

He told all the details he knew in detail, without missing a word.

Sun Ce finally understood.

He clenched his fists and looked at Zhou Yu again. His expression had changed from confusion to anger and extreme disappointment.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I just asked you to defend Chaisang, why did you try to be so smart and launch a sneak attack on Xiakou?"

"You are no match for Xiao Fang at all, why do you still overestimate your own abilities?"

"Why, why exactly?"

Sun Ce finally couldn't bear it anymore. In extreme disappointment, he angrily questioned Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu knew he was in the wrong, so he just knelt on the ground and silently endured Sun Ce's complaints.

When Sun Ce was exhausted from scolding and could no longer scold, Zhou Yu let out a long sigh and kowtowed deeply to Sun Ce again.

"It was because Yu overestimated his own abilities and was unwilling to lose the battle of wits to Xiao Fang that he came up with this plan, thinking that he could deceive Xiao Fang and turn the tide for you, Bofu."

"Unfortunately, it was not until now that Yu realized that Xiao Fang's wisdom was far superior to mine. In his eyes, any of my plans that I thought were perfect were nothing more than the jumping ups and downs of a clown."

"It was because I overestimated my own capabilities that I lost Chaisang and killed General Han."

"It is I who have hindered your great cause, Bofu. I, Zhou Yu, am willing to die!"

Zhou Yu finally admitted in front of everyone that he was not as smart as others and that he was no match for Xiao Fang.

At this moment, Jiangdong Mei Zhoulang's pride and arrogance were all thrown behind him.

He kowtowed deeply to the ground and again asked Sun Ce for forgiveness and death.

Sun Ce's hand suddenly pressed down on the hilt of the sword. He was so angry and disappointed that he almost drew his sword and killed Zhou Yu with his own hands.

"Lord, calm down!"

Lu Su hurried forward and held down Sun Ce's sword hilt.

"Gongjin really shouldn't have acted on impulse and underestimated Xiao Fang, leading to today's big mistake."

"But what he did was ultimately to seize Xiakou for his lord and reverse the passive and unfavorable situation."

"Now that things have come to this, please forgive Gongjin's death sentence for the sake of his loyalty to you!" At the critical moment, Lu Su stood up and pleaded for Zhou Yu.

However, apart from him, all the generals on his left and right remained silent, and no one pleaded for him.

There was no way around it. He was so young, and only relied on his friendship with Sun Ce to get the position of naval commander without any merit.

You say that you are extremely wise and that you are helping Sun Ce expand his territory, and naturally everyone will respect you.

But you have been defeated in successive battles, causing not only Sun Ce to lose many soldiers and generals, but now even the important town of Chaisang has been lost.

You still want everyone to plead for you?
I'm afraid that among all the generals present, more than half of them would like Sun Ce to kill you.

Sun Ce clenched his teeth, gripping the hilt of his sword until it made a crackling sound, and his eyes were bloodshot.

After a long time.

He let out a long sigh of helplessness and let go of her hand.

After all, he kept in mind his friendship with Zhou Yu and suppressed his murderous intent at the last moment.

"Someone, please send Gongjin back to the city to rest."

Sun Ce turned around, unwilling to look at Zhou Yu again, and waved his hands weakly.

"Bo Fu..."

Zhou Yu raised his head and looked at Sun Ce's indifferent back, his heart aching as if it were being cut by a knife.

Although Sun Ce did not kill him, he was extremely disappointed in him and did not even look at him.

This hurt him more than killing him.

However, Lu Su was afraid that Zhou Yu would say something unnecessary and anger Sun Ce, so he quickly signaled his attendants to help Zhou Yu away.

Sun Ce raised his head and looked towards the direction of Chaisang. Although he was always arrogant and domineering, there was a hint of despair in his eyes at this moment.

The news of the fall of Chaisang quickly spread throughout the army, and the entire Hulin Jiangdong army was thrown into shock.

...

Two days later, inside the palace.

The Jiangdong generals were arguing one after another, and the whole hall was filled with anxiety and panic.

There is only one reason:
All the soldiers were killed.

In order to capture Jingzhou, Sun Ce assembled an army of 40,000, which can be said to be the entire country's troops.

It is not an exaggeration to say that these 40,000 people are Sun Ce's entire fortune.

In the Battle of Eshan, nearly 20,000 soldiers were killed.

The fall of Chaisang City resulted in the loss of nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses.

After a full count, Sun Ce only had more than 10,000 elite troops left.

However, Liu Bei's naval and land forces numbered nearly 50,000.

Fifty thousand! That’s a five-fold advantage in military strength. Are you going to take the blame with your head?

Of course, you can draw troops from various counties in Jiangdong, but the people in Jiangdong are already dissatisfied, and you have to rely on your military force to suppress the heroes from all sides.

If you withdraw all the garrison troops, all the counties in Jiangdong will rebel in an instant. Wouldn't you die even faster?
As for recruiting new troops, they can be recruited, but there is no time to train them in a short period of time, and even if they are recruited, they will just be a motley crowd.

How could a mere 10,000 elite troops, plus a bunch of motley new troops, be a match for Liu Bei's 50,000 elite troops?
Therefore, many of the vast majority of generals advocated abandoning Hulin and retreating all the way back to Nanjing.

Afterwards, he concentrated the existing forces, relied on the solidity of Jinling City, and held out against the three counties of Jiangdong without fighting.

"The three counties of Jiangdong resent the lord for killing too many people, and the people have never supported the lord. When the lord had tens of thousands of soldiers and his military power was at its peak, they were still afraid and dared not make any moves."

"Once the lord retreats to Jinling and Liu Bei's army marches to Jiangdong, I'm afraid that the heroes of Jiangdong will defect overnight."

"At that time, people's hearts are all on Liu Bei's side. How can you defend Nanjing with only 10,000 soldiers?"

A middle-aged scholar with a square face rejected the idea of ​​retreating to Nanjing in a deep voice.

That scholar was none other than Zhang Zhao, the chief civil official of Jiangdong.

In the battle of Chaisang, his son Zhang Cheng died. Zhang Zhao was shocked upon hearing the news, so he asked Sun Quan for permission and rushed to Hulin overnight.

Sun Ce frowned. Only then did he realize that when he pacified Jiangdong, he had killed people like crazy and enjoyed himself. The evil consequences he had sown finally showed up today.

How happily you killed people in the past, and now the people of Jiangdong can betray you so easily.

You'll always have to pay for what you've done.

Sun Ce finally realized what it meant to reap what one sows.

“It’s not feasible to hold on to Hulin.”

"Our army is small. If we hold on to Hulin, we will be surrounded by Liu Bei's 50,000-man army."

"My lord, your life depends on the survival of Jiangdong. If you are trapped in an isolated city with no one knowing whether you are dead or alive, the people of Jiangdong will surely collapse and surrender without a fight!"

After pondering for a long time, Lu Su spoke with a serious expression, rejecting the proposal of the generals to hold on to Hulin and block Liu Bei from entering Jiangdong.

All the generals' opinions were denied, and the hall gradually became silent.

"Zi Jing, you said that it is not possible to defend Hulin, and Zi Bu, you said that it is not possible to retreat to Jinling either."

"This doesn't work, and that doesn't work either. What do you think I should do?"

Sun Ce was enraged, his face full of anxiety, and he slammed the table and complained to the two men.

At this time.

Lu Su took a deep breath, stood up and bowed:

"My lord, I think there is only one way for you to keep Jiangdong's foundation."

The words trailed off.

Zhang Zhao also stood up, clasped his hands and said seriously:
"My lord, Zhao Ye believes that if you want to overcome the current difficulties, you have no choice but to go through one path!"

(End of this chapter)