Chapter 244

Hefei, Jiujiang Commandery.

An army of hundreds of thousands unfolded a tragic slaughter in this city.

"That is Sun Jian's son, Sun Ce, the fierce general known as the Little Bawang."

In the fourth year of Chuping, Sun Jian's army pressed on the border. In just half a month, he broke through several cities in Jiujiang one after another, advancing bravely all the way.

Yuan Shu finally reacted and dispatched his great general, Ji Ling, to lead an army of eight hundred thousand to unfold a slaughter with Sun Jian's army in the Jiujiang area.

As the number one great general under Yuan Shu, Ji Ling's ability was not bad, and coupled with some martial generals of Gang Refining under Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu's army soon stabilized.

In the land of Hefei, they blocked Sun Jian firmly, not allowing him to make any further progress.

Sun Jian was fierce, but the troops under his command were always at a disadvantage in numbers. He occupied many county cities and also needed to leave a portion of troops to garrison them.

Therefore, there were less than three hundred thousand who went to Hefei.

And Yuan Shu's army could be increased continuously, while Lujiang and Danyang Commandery also continuously sent troops to support.

As a result, the two armies were deadlocked.

The great battle in Hefei for several days was earth-shattering.

"This Little Bawang is indeed brave. At less than twenty years of age, his strength is already comparable to the fifth level of Gang Refining. By the time he reaches his peak at thirty, I'm afraid he will be another Lv Fengxian. He is worthy of being called the Little Bawang; he has indeed not disgraced this title."

The great battle in Hefei alarmed the warlords from all directions, and Su Fan and his party also personally arrived at the scene to watch Sun Jian's army.

It was indeed very elite.

"Haha! Hu'er is fierce, but he is too impulsive and will eventually suffer losses."

Su Fan, upon hearing this, just smiled. If Sun Ce were to be judged by his personal martial power, he would absolutely surpass Sun Jian in the future.

But in terms of comprehensive ability, he did not think he would be Sun Jian's opponent.

In history, if Sun Jian had not died early, I am afraid the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms would not necessarily have been able to only shrink in Jiangdong.

Sun Ce was too impulsive; in terms of personality, he could not compare to Sun Jian's steadiness, and even less to Sun Quan's forbearance.

As a main general, this is a great taboo.

So in history, he also died early.

Watching Sun Ce charge into the fray every time, it indeed boosted morale, but once he encountered someone stronger than him, it would be dangerous.

Fortunately, there were no fierce generals under Yuan Shu, and Ji Ling's strength could only fight Sun Ce to a draw.

But Ji Ling was now already at his peak.

This was why Sun Ce performed so bravely and invincibly; after all, Ji Ling could not personally take the field.

"The tree that stands above the forest will be destroyed by the wind."

"Yuan Shu is not that simple."

Xun You's eyes were calm and waveless as he said this lightly.

"Could it be that there is someone under Yuan Shu who can threaten this Little Bawang?"

Several martial generals who followed Su Fan were very curious, especially Wei Yan and Li Le, who had newly joined the Donghai Territory.

Then the next second, they saw the Little Bawang Sun Ce flying backward from the city wall of Hefei in a sorry state.

"Damn it, it's you guys who hide your heads and show your tails again. If you have the ability, fight me with real swords and guns!"

Blown away, Sun Ce just spat out a mouthful of blood and then roared angrily.

But what greeted him were waves of fire.

"This..."

Feeling those violent magic techniques, Wei Yan and Li Le were both shaken. Even though they were a thousand zhang away, they could feel that the power of those violent vital energy was quite terrifying.

If it were the two of them facing the attack of so many magic techniques, they would probably have been seriously injured long ago.

That Sun Ce could still jump around showed that his physical body was quite solid.

"Rebellious son, why don't you get back here immediately!"

At this moment, Sun Jian's army suddenly emitted a roar.

Immediately after, the Ancient Ingot Blade slashed out a terrifying blade gang, shattering those magic techniques, which also relieved Sun Ce.

Although Sun Ce still wanted to continue, he dared not disobey his father's orders, so he retreated dejectedly and returned to the army.

"There are not many fierce generals under Yuan Shu, but the Yuan clan has a deep foundation, and there are quite a few Soul Refining experts who know magic techniques."

"Sun Ce recklessly rushed onto the city wall, naturally he would receive attacks from these Soul Refining experts."

Once Soul Dao experts cultivate to the Soul Refining Realm, the means and intensity of their attacks increase significantly, and they are no longer the weaklings of the Soul Nourishing Realm.

Various magic techniques were quite terrifying, and even large-scale divine abilities could move mountains and fill seas.

If Sun Ce did not have the cultivation of the fifth level of Gang Refining, he would probably have died long ago.

But even so, he received no small trauma.

This was thanks to the battle between the two armies, where the military qi was emitted, suppressing the heaven and earth vital energy, which reduced the attacks of these Soul Dao experts a lot.

Otherwise, Sun Ce would probably have died long ago.

Did you really think the Yuan clan was a soft persimmon?

The Soul Refining experts under Yuan Shu were absolutely numerous, even more than in the Donghai Territory.

Most of the Soul Refining literati in the Donghai Territory were people like Xun Huo; among those Su Fan cultivated himself, not a single one had broken through to the Soul Refining Realm.

"Sun Jian has retreated."

"Hefei has Ji Ling guarding the city. If not disturbed by external forces, it is difficult for Sun Jian to break through."

"Sun Jian wants to eat a fat man in one bite, and he is not afraid of choking himself to death. If he had attacked Lujiang or Danyang Commandery first, it would have been much better than now."

Su Fan watched Sun Jian's army retreat in an orderly manner and said slowly.

"Lord, Sun Jian is probably trying to launch a surprise attack. If he can quickly take Jiujiang and block Yuan Shu outside Yangzhou, he can then slowly digest the six commanderies of Yangzhou."

"The plan is not bad. If he really quickly takes Jiujiang, with his strength, holding Jiujiang, then the six commanderies of Yangzhou would find it difficult to block his conquest."

"It's a pity he underestimated Yuan Shu's reaction and overestimated his own rapid advance."

Xun You said.

"Haha! It's not that Yuan Shu reacted quickly."

Su Fan shook his head. Yuan Shu could react so quickly because he used the Dark Owls to leak all the information about Sun Jian's army to the former.

Otherwise, Sun Jian would have really succeeded.

If Sun Jian took the six commanderies of Yangzhou, the threat would increase significantly, and Su Fan naturally would not let Sun Jian rise to power.

In his eyes, Sun Jian was his pawn—a pawn to consume Yuan Shu, a pawn that could allow him to peek at the Yuan clan's trump cards.

A pawn naturally could not escape the chessboard.

"That is also true."

Xun You naturally knew that all of this was plotted by the lord behind the scenes.

"However, the Soul Refining experts in Yuan Shu's hands are indeed a trouble. If there are no powerful martial generals, facing these magic technique groups is also quite tricky."

If Soul Refining experts fully release various magic techniques, the threat to the army is also very great.

Unless it is an elite army that releases military qi to suppress them, however, mobilizing military qi requires at least elite soldiers and powerful martial generals to do so.

Ordinary generals and officers really do not have this ability to stimulate the military qi in the army.