Chapter 202: Seeking death? Grant you! His ambitions are in vain, he is deserted by his friends and family, this is the end of the little overlord!

Sun Kuang was stunned.

The shout "Do you want to rebel too?" he just said casually, just to scare Ling Cao.

However, he didn't expect that he would become the jinx and Ling Cao would actually rebel.

"Ling Cao, what did you say? Say it again!"

Sun Kuang came to his senses, drew his sword, pointed it at Ling Cao, and shouted sternly.

Ling Cao raised his head and said angrily:

"I, Ling Cao, have been following your brother Sun Ce since he crossed the Yangtze River, and have made great contributions to his pacification of Jiangdong."

"In the battle of Xinjin, he was ambushed by Liu Xuande. I risked my life to cover his retreat, which allowed him to escape onto the warship."

"I was captured by the enemy after fighting so hard, but Liu Xuande was so generous that he didn't kill me and released me. Not only was your brother not happy, he even suspected that I was secretly communicating with Liu Xuande and betrayed his secrets of fire attack!"

"If Lu Zijing hadn't spoken for me, I would have been nearly killed by him!"

"He doesn't trust me. It's fine that he injured me in the battle the day before yesterday, but today he wants to force me to burn my fellow Jiangdong people and make me, Ling Cao, a criminal in Jiangdong!"

"Such a cruel, suspicious, and heartless leader, I, Ling Cao, only regret that I was so blind that I actually surrendered to him!"

"Today I have come to my senses and have decided to sever all ties with him and join Liu Xuande!"

Ling Cao vented all the grievances and complaints that had accumulated in his heart in one breath.

Sun Kuang listened to this "rebel general" listing all the "crimes" of his brother and slandering his most admired eldest brother, and his anger grew more and more intense.

"Ling, you bastard!"

"You are disloyal and betrayed my brother. You deserve to die. I will kill you!"

Sun Kuang roared angrily and swung his sword to kill Ling Cao.

He was so angry that he lost his mind. He didn't even consider his own capabilities and rushed towards Ling Cao without considering his own strength.

Ling Cao frowned, unsheathed his sword and held it horizontally.

"Bang!"

The two sharp swords collided in the air.

Ling Cao did not use his full strength, but said coldly:
"For the sake of our relationship, I will not embarrass you today. Go and chase Sun Ce quickly, or else don't blame me for being merciless!"

He spoke with great confidence, as if taking down Sun Kuang would be a piece of cake.

The Sun brothers were all proud and conceited. Ling Cao's warning immediately stimulated Sun Kuang's proud self-esteem, which made him even more furious.

"You traitor, I want your life!"

Sun Kuang roared again, brandishing his sword and charging forward again.

Ling Cao frowned and swung his sword repeatedly, easily dissolving Sun Kuang's sword style.

Sun Kuang was clearly no match for his opponent, but he did not know how to retreat. He swung his sword like a mad dog, aiming to kill him with every move.

Ling Cao was finally enraged.

Killing intent surged in his eyes, and suddenly he let out a low roar, and his sword style suddenly became as fast as lightning.

"puff!"

A sword pierced Sun Kuang's chest.

Sun Kuang finally stopped his madness, the sword in his hand fell to the ground, his eyes were filled with grief, anger and despair, and he fell to his knees on the ground.

The fourth son of the Sun family died here.

Ling Cao sheathed his blood-stained sword, and glared at Sun Kuang's trembling followers, saying sternly:
"Go tell Sun Ce that it was Sun Kuang who wanted to die and forced me to kill him."

"Tell Sun Ce that I, Ling Cao, have surrendered to Liu Xuande. The next time we meet on the battlefield, we will be mortal enemies and I will take his head!"

Several bodyguards fled in panic with their heads in their hands as if they had been pardoned.

...

East of Jinling, at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain.

Sun Ce, with his remaining troops, was standing at the foot of the mountain, waiting for Sun Kuang and other subsequent arsonists to join him.

Looking at the less than a thousand remaining soldiers in front of him, and at the scattered words of generals and counselors such as He Qi and Zhang Zhao, Sun Ce felt a wave of desolation in his heart again.

Looking back, I had pacified Jiangdong and had many heroes under my command. It was such a great power.

Recalling the time when he and Zhou Yu were drinking and talking about the world, Zhou Yu planned a grand blueprint for him to conquer the Central Plains...

Now, everything has been reduced to ashes.

All the counselors, generals, and grand plans have come to nothing.

There were only a thousand or so remnant soldiers left, and only a few pitifully few generals and counselors.

Even Jinling, the provincial capital that he had painstakingly built, would be taken away by Liu Bei's mortal enemy.

Being in such a miserable state, how could he not feel miserable?

"My lord, you must cheer up. Master Zhongmou may have recruited soldiers. We may be able to fight if we retreat to Wujun."

"If worst comes to worst, we can still retreat to Kuaiji, or even Jiaozhou."

"As long as you survive, you will have a chance to make a comeback."

Seeing Sun Ce's miserable and desperate look, Zhang Zhao had to comfort him again.

Sun Ce pulled himself together a little, then gritted his teeth and said:
"You are right. I, Sun Ce, have not lost yet. As long as I am alive, I will fight that big-eared thief to the death!"

After forcing himself to cheer up, Sun Ce looked back in the direction of Jinling, waiting to see the fire in Jinling.

However, time passed quickly, but there was no sign of fire in Nanjing.

Sun Kuangling Cao and others who were ordered to set the fire were late in coming to join them.

"Why haven't Fourth Brother and the others set the fire yet?"

"Could it be that the big-eared thieves arrived too quickly and they didn't have time to set the fire?"

"Even if you fail to set the fire, you should still come and join us..."

Sun Ce murmured to himself, gradually becoming anxious, and a sense of uneasiness quietly rose in his heart.

Just as he was wondering and worrying, a noise was heard, and several of Sun Kuang's guards stumbled over and knelt at Sun Ce's feet. "My lord!"

"Ling Cao rebelled and defected to Liu Bei!"

"Not only did he refuse to set fire to the city, he even murdered the Fourth Young Master!"

boom!
It was like a bolt of thunder from the blue, striking down from the night sky and hitting Sun Ce hard on the head.

Sun Ce was mentally traumatized and his physical injuries flared up. Under the double blow, he felt dizzy and actually slipped off his horse.

"Lord!"

Zhang Zhao and others screamed in panic and dismounted from their horses and rushed forward.

When Sun Ce was helped up, his face had turned red and purple, his blood was rushing up, and his eyelids were drooping, as if he was about to explode at any time from the blood rushing to his head.

"My Lord, please take care of yourself~~"

Zhang Zhao and others were at a loss as to what to do. They tried to comfort and appease Sun Ce, fearing that Sun Ce would be so angry that he would die.

"what--"

Sun Ce suddenly let out a loud scream in pain, and a stream of blood spurted out of his mouth.

The killing of Sun Kuang and Ling Cao's rebellion were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and finally made him so angry that he vomited blood.

"Ling Cao, you bastard, I knew long ago that you were just like that traitor Lu Xun, both of you have been secretly in contact with Liu Bei!"

"You killed my brother. I will cut you into pieces and annihilate your entire Ling family—"

After vomiting blood, Sun Ce seemed to have recovered his breath. With blood foam spurting out of his mouth, he began to curse in grief and anger.

Zhang Zhao and others around him all sighed silently, and no one dared to persuade them.

Sun Ce cursed for a long time until he was finally exhausted. He sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

Behind him, in the direction of Zhongshan, flames were burning and faint sounds of killing could be heard.

Zhang Zhao's face changed and he said anxiously:

"My lord, the enemy must be chasing us. Now is not the time to be sad and angry. We should evacuate quickly!"

"When we have regrouped in the future, it won't be too late to avenge Master Zhong Yi and the others!"

Sun Ce had cursed enough and his emotions gradually calmed down.

After struggling for a moment, he gritted his teeth in hatred:

"Ling Cao, Lu Xun, Gu Yong, you shameless traitors, sooner or later I will kill you and exterminate your entire clan to avenge my brother!"

After the verbal attack, Sun Ce struggled to get up, jumped on his horse, and continued to flee eastward.

If Zhang Zhao and others were pardoned, they would all follow Sun Ce and flee in panic.

After running for a long time, the east began to turn white and the sky was already light.

The mountains around us gradually disappeared, the road beneath our feet became flatter and flatter, and we were about to enter a plain road.

The fire behind him gradually faded away and the sounds of killing died down. It was obvious that Liu Jun's pursuers had been left behind.

"My lord, if we go straight east and then turn back north, we will reach Jingkou in less than half a day."

"Then you can board a ship from Jingkou and travel by water to Wujun."

"Liu Bei would only think that we are retreating eastwards by land, but he would never expect that we would take the water route, which would allow us to shake off the pursuers..."

Zhang Zhao pointed his whip forward and planned an escape route to the east for Sun Ce.

Sun Ce let out a long sigh, and his mood finally calmed down a little.

Looking around, the defeated soldiers were in low spirits, panic-stricken and extremely demoralized.

We need to do something to boost morale.

Otherwise, before he could retreat to Wu County, these few remaining soldiers would have to flee halfway.

So Sun Ce rolled his eyes a few times, suddenly reined in his horse and laughed out loud.

Everyone around was stunned, looking at their lord in confusion and surprise.

Nanjing fell, all the soldiers were killed, brothers were killed, subordinates rebelled... Even though it was such a disastrous defeat, you still have the nerve to laugh?

Could it be that our lord has suffered a severe mental trauma and gone mad?

The soldiers looked at each other, all with confused and worried expressions.

"My Lord...My Lord, why did you suddenly laugh?"

Zhang Zhao was also full of worry and asked cautiously.

Sun Ce stopped laughing, raised his mouth in sarcasm, and swept his silver spear around:
"I laugh at Xiao Fang. He is a mortal after all. He will make mistakes eventually."

"He thought that I, Sun Ce, would live and die with Jinling City, but he never expected that I would abandon the city and leave."

"If he had expected that I would abandon the city and retreat eastward, he would have asked that big-eared thief to set up an ambush along the way in advance. Wouldn't I have been unable to escape even if I had wings?"

Listening to Sun Ce's sarcastic words, Zhang Zhao and others were still confused and could not understand the hidden meaning behind his words.

Sun Ce forced himself to look confident, then sneered:

"I just want to tell you that I, Sun Ce, can escape and ascend to heaven today, which proves that I am destined to succeed. Even if heaven does not kill me, I will not fail!"

"All of you should cheer up and follow me to retreat to Wujun. Since I, Sun Ce, have the blessing of God, I will surely make a comeback and defeat the big-eared thief sooner or later and recapture Jinling!"

Sun Ce's generous and conceited words finally had an effect. The despair of the defeated soldiers faded a little and their morale gradually recovered.

Sun Ce saw that his goal had been achieved, so he pointed his silver spear forward:
"Keep going, head to Jingkou, and retreat to Wu by water—"

The word "county" was not yet uttered.

In the surrounding mountains and fields, the sound of solemn horns suddenly rang out.

The deafening cry of killing followed, and countless soldiers of Liu's army, like divine soldiers descending from the sky, suddenly emerged from the mountains and forests, and attacked from all directions and all over the mountains and plains.

"Ambush... an ambush?"

Sun Ce cried out in shock, and the self-confidence he had forced upon his face collapsed in an instant.

(End of this chapter)