Chapter 353

The 100% refined iron armor alone was not something Sun Ce's army could possess.

But if he chose to submit to Su Xuan, Lu Kang was also somewhat unwilling.

However, in the choice between life and interests, Lu Kang ultimately avoided the heavy and chose the light, choosing the side that was more beneficial to Lujiang and the Lu family.

Ultimately, he chose to submit to Su Xuan.

"Since the General has spoken to this extent, I don't seem to have many choices!"

"I am willing to lead Lujiang to submit to the King of Zou Qian. I hope the King of Zou Qian can treat the people of Lujiang well and treat the noble clans of Lujiang well."

Lu Kang bowed deeply to Huang Zhong.

"Administrator Lu, please rise quickly!"

Seeing this, Huang Zhong was also happy, quickly helped Lu Kang up, and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Administrator Lu for making the right choice!"

"Don't worry, my lord has always been benevolent and righteous. As long as they are not guilty, my lord will treat them well!"

"Whether it is the common people or the noble clans and powerful families, my lord has always treated them equally. You can rest assured about this, Administrator Lu."

Hearing this, Lu Kang smiled bitterly in his heart.

It is precisely because of treating them equally that I am even more worried!

Although Lujiang was better than other places under his governance.

But as a member of the noble clans, he knew the mistakes and corruption within the noble clans and powerful families better than anyone.

Basically, there were few noble clans and powerful families whose foundations were completely clean.

Once a family becomes large, no matter how strict the discipline is, a few scoundrels will inevitably appear.

Their Lu family was no exception.

But he knew Su Xuan's New Policy and his tolerance for evil.

Knowing that saying anything more would be useless, he didn't say anything else!

He just secretly mourned for the noble clans and powerful families in Lujiang Commandery.

Mourned for one second for those who had committed sins.

These people clearly could not escape Su Xuan's upcoming major purge.

Lu Kang no longer had any thoughts of shielding these people!

He only thought that after returning, he would first self-examine the situation of the Lu family, find those guilty people and detain them, and when Su Xuan sent someone to take over, he would send these people over!

He hoped that Su Xuan would judge them lightly in view of their initiative.

At the same time, he also hoped that Su Xuan could avoid excessive killing as much as possible.

"General Huang, let's not say more, please follow me into the city!"

As he spoke, Lu Kang gestured with his hand.

"Haha! Good! Please wait a moment!"

Huang Zhong laughed loudly and immediately waved his hand at Su Zhan beside him. Su Zhan understood immediately and rode his horse to catch up with Huang Xu.

Soon, he brought Huang Xu and the 20, 00-strong army back, and then Huang Zhong, under Lu Kang's guidance, entered Wanxian city.

He sent people to take over Wanxian and arranged for the officials brought along to begin taking over the administrative system of Wanxian.

At the same time, he sent thousands of troops to begin cooperating with these officials and the secret guards to start the purge and reform of Wanxian.

Afterward, Huang Zhong and the others did not stay long in Wanxian; the next day, they led most of the main force to continue sweeping and taking over the county administrations at all levels in Lujiang.

Even the cities that Sun Ce had previously captured were no exception.

During the process of capturing them, Huang Zhong also discovered that the personnel in the cities previously occupied by Sun Ce had already withdrawn.

Time returns to when Sun Ce was forced back by Huang Zhong's troops,

Sun Ce, while retreating from Wanxian in a somewhat embarrassed and unwilling manner, said hatefully: "Damn it! How could Su Xuan send troops to Lujiang at this time?"

"Logically speaking, he shouldn't be expanding at this time, right? Zhou Gongjin, your previous deduction was wrong!"

Zhou Yu, who was beside him, also had a gloomy face: "Yes! I underestimated Su Xuan!"

"Indeed, he cannot spare enough manpower to occupy another province at this time, but if it is only two or three commanderies, he can clearly still squeeze out enough manpower!"

"I indeed miscalculated!"

"I ignored the degree of importance he places on Lujiang!"

"Also, taking Lujiang is equivalent to placing most of the areas in the eastern commanderies of Jingzhou within his interior, allowing these places to be free from the influence of war and better develop these places;"

"In addition, the location of Lujiang is very critical;"

"Taking this place, whether Su Xuan wants to go north to take Yuzhou or south and east to take the commanderies of Yangzhou, it will be much more convenient..."

"Hmm? Not good!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Yu's expression suddenly changed, and he said: "Bofu! This time Su Xuan's target is probably not just Lujiang; Jiujiang is likely also among his targets."

"What?"

Sun Ce's expression changed drastically: "Is your judgment accurate?"

"It definitely cannot be wrong!"

Zhou Yu said with a gloomy face: "For Su Xuan, just taking Lujiang clearly cannot maximize his advantage; only by taking Jiujiang as well is the best choice;"

"In this way, he can not only completely seal off our possibility of going north and trap us in Yangzhou;"

"Similarly, it also directly cuts off the possibility of the northern lords like Lord Yuan Shu and Tao Zou Qian going south to take Yangzhou;"

"He has already regarded all the commanderies south of the Yangtze River in Yangzhou as his own!"

"In addition, Jiujiang connects to Xuzhou in the east; Su Xuan taking this place also facilitates his future capture of Xuzhou;"

"What deep calculations! If I am not mistaken, Jiujiang is probably already caught in the attack of Su Xuan's army!"

"Its fall is only a matter of time. No, we must return there as soon as possible to pick up our families!"

"We probably can't stay in Jiujiang and Lujiang anymore; we can only return to Wujun!"

There was one more thing he didn't say, which was that he saw that the reason Huang Zhong didn't pursue them before was not because he couldn't, nor because he didn't dare.

It was purely to preserve their strength so that they could retreat to Wujun or Danyang Commandery and then have the strength to confront Liu Biao.

Clearly, Su Xuan wanted to use them to contend with Liu Biao and consume each other's strength.

Even, combined with his New Policy, as well as Sun Ce's attitude toward noble clans and powerful families and his feud with the Jiangdong noble clans, Su Xuan probably also had the idea of using Sun Ce as a butcher knife to purge the Jiangdong noble clans and powerful families for him first.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yu only felt his scalp go numb.

This Su Xuan, what deep scheming, what deep calculations!

Every aspect has been calculated to the extreme.

The key is that many of the calculations are open schemes that they simply cannot stop.

For example, Zhou Yu was completely unable to stop Sun Ce from confronting Liu Biao next, nor could he stop Sun Ce from purging the Jiangdong noble clans and powerful families.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!!"

Sun Ce didn't know these thoughts in Zhou Yu's heart. Once he thought that Jiujiang might have already fallen under the attack of Su Xuan's army and his family might also be in danger, his mentality exploded. Like a fire burning his eyebrows, he immediately urged the army to accelerate its retreat to Jiujiang.

"Bofu! We probably can't hold Lujiang or even Jiujiang! We must withdraw the troops and personnel arranged in various places in Lujiang and Jiujiang!"

On the way, Zhou Yu said to Sun Ce.

"Don't nag! Leave all this to you! You can arrange it!"

"I will take three thousand iron cavalry and rush back to Jiujiang to save my mother and younger sister! Zhou Gongjin! I leave the rest to you! Is there any problem?"

Sun Ce asked anxiously.

He could no longer care about these things.

His mind was very chaotic and anxious now.

Zhou Yu immediately nodded and agreed: "No problem! Rest assured and leave it to me! You also take care on the road! Remember, don't go head-to-head with Su Xuan's army!"

"I believe that as long as you don't choose to go head-to-head with them, they probably won't take the initiative to pursue you!"

"Hmm?"

Sun Ce was not truly stupid; he immediately heard the problem in these words. He frowned and looked at Zhou Yu and asked: "Zhou Gongjin, are you hiding something from me?"

"Why do you think Su Xuan's army will not take the initiative to pursue and kill me?"

This is very abnormal.

"Sigh! I knew I couldn't hide it from you!"

Hearing this, Zhou Yu sighed and immediately told Sun Ce all his previous guesses and Su Xuan's calculations.

"Presumptuous! Hateful! This Su Xuan is too hateful! What does he take me, Sun Ce, for? His tool?"

— Author's Notes —

PS: Seeking first subscriptions, self-subscriptions, and support!