Chapter 551

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

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

"Logically speaking, he shouldn't be expanding right now, right? Gongjin, your previous deduction was wrong!"

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

"Indeed, he cannot spare enough manpower to occupy an entire province right now, but if it is only two or three commanderies, he can clearly still squeeze out enough manpower!"

"I miscalculated indeed!"

"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 areas;"

"In addition, Lujiang's location is very critical;"

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

"Hmm? Oh no!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Yu's expression suddenly changed: "Bofu! This time, Su Xuan's goal is likely not just Lujiang; I'm afraid Jiujiang is also within his targets."

"What?"

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

"It definitely won't 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, not only can he completely seal off our possibility of going north and trap us in Yangzhou;"

"At the same time, he also directly cuts off the possibility of warlords like Yuan Shu and Tao Qian in the north coming south to attack Yangzhou;"

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

"Additionally, Jiujiang connects to Xuzhou in the east; Su Xuan taking this place also facilitates his future attack on Xuzhou;"

"What a deep scheme! If I haven't estimated wrong, Jiujiang is likely 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 family members!"

"I'm afraid we can no longer stay in Jiujiang and Lujiang; we can only return to Wu Commandery!"

There was another thing he didn't say, which was that he could see that the reason Huang Zhong didn't pursue them earlier was not because he couldn't, nor because he didn't dare.

It was purely to preserve their strength, allowing them to retreat to Wu Commandery or Danyang Commandery, and then have the strength to contend with Liu Biao.

Clearly, Su Xuan wanted to use them to contend with Liu Biao and mutually consume their strength.

Furthermore, combined with his New Policy, as well as Sun Ce's attitude toward the clans and powerful families and his feud with the Jiangdong clans, Su Xuan likely also harbored the thought of using Sun Ce as a butcher's knife to cleanse the Jiangdong 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 calculation!

Every aspect has been calculated to the extreme.

The key is that many of the schemes are open plots, and they have no way to stop them at all.

For example, Zhou Yu was completely unable to stop Sun Ce from contending with Liu Biao next, nor could he stop Sun Ce from cleansing the Jiangdong 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 already be caught in the attack of Su Xuan's army and his family might also be in danger, his mentality exploded, and like his hair was on fire, he immediately urged the army to accelerate their retreat to Jiujiang.

"Bofu! I'm afraid we can no longer 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 arrange it!"

"I will take 3,000 iron cavalry and rush back to Jiujiang to save my mother and younger sister! Gongjin! I leave the rest to you! Any problems?"

Sun Ce requested anxiously.

He could no longer care about these things.

His mind was very chaotic and urgent right now.

Zhou Yu immediately nodded in agreement: "No problem! Rest assured and leave it to me! You take care on your journey too! 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 likely won't take the initiative to pursue you!"

"Hmm?"

Sun Ce wasn't truly stupid; he immediately heard the problem in these words, and he frowned and looked at Zhou Yu, asking: "Gongjin, is there something you are still hiding from me?"

"Why would you think Su Xuan's army won't take the initiative to pursue and kill me?"

This is very abnormal.

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

Zhou Yu sighed upon hearing this and immediately told Sun Ce all his previous guesses and Su Xuan's schemes.

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