Tiger Guards

Chapter 578 The Two Traitors, Lü and Zhao
Qingzhou, Linzi.

Zhou Yu led his fleet around the Jiaodong Peninsula and approached Linzi. Sun Ce went out of Linzi city fifty li to meet him.

Along the roadside, brightly colored flags adorned layers of curtains.

In addition to Wu Wa and Yue Ji, Sun Ce's army now has a new batch of goddesses from Mount Tai.

At the banquet, the tall and slender Goddess of Mount Tai, wearing a feathered headdress, was moving to the rhythm, stretching her long yet powerful arms and legs to the fullest.

Zhou Yu and Sun Ce sat facing each other. Zhou Yu held the wine cup by the handles with both hands, tilted his head back and gulped down the wine. He was elegant and had a great capacity for alcohol.

Sun Ce, rarely seen drinking to his heart's content, stroked his beard, glanced sideways at several outstanding women among the goddesses of Mount Tai, and said carefully, "The Grand Marshal has swept through the various barbarian tribes, his achievements are unparalleled, and he is truly enviable. However, the court has been slow to bestow rewards upon him, which I find perplexing."

He genuinely couldn't see through the current situation. If he were Lü Bu, his son-in-law would naturally be richly rewarded for his achievements, squandering and depleting the remaining prestige of the Han Dynasty.

However, the court under Lü Bu's control remained silent for a long time.

Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao left him one after another, taking many scholars from Xuzhou with them. Sun Ce also offended the scholars of Jiangdong. Therefore, he really lacked professionals to interpret the current situation for him.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu laughed and said, "Bo Fu, you may not know this, but the General also has extraordinary magnanimity. However, the Grand Marshal's achievements are far greater, and the General cannot accommodate him."

"I hope Gongjin will instruct me."

Sun Ce bowed respectfully, while Zhou Yu glanced sideways at the Goddess of Mount Tai swinging her long legs. After the rousing melody subsided, Zhou Yu coughed twice and leisurely drawled, "As far as I know, the General often boasts of his unwavering loyalty to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the General would certainly not break the White Horse Oath. In today's world, if the General refuses to break the constraints of the White Horse Oath, does he expect the officials of the court to defy the world's laws?"

"The General has such ambitions?"

Sun Ce looked puzzled; he truly hadn't expected Lü Bu to have such aspirations and principles.

He truly had no connections in the court. Zhou Yu still had some influence over him, and he had also established contact with Liu Ai, the governor of Yangzhou. Therefore, he could deduce Lü Bu's stance and ambitions to some extent.

As for Zhao Ji, there's no need to calculate; from the moment he implemented the land redistribution policy and killed the powerful clans and wealthy families of Taiyuan, he completely stood on the opposite side of the world's civilized society.

Therefore, Zhao Ji's personal stance and life pursuits are completely unimportant. He is a person destined to be condemned and overthrown. Once Zhao Ji is overthrown, won't all sorts of accusations be thrown at him?
However, Zhao Ji had the advantage of being a latecomer. When Zhao Ji rose to power, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao were locked in a stalemate, their deep-seated hatred difficult to resolve. In addition, Zhang Yan and the various units of the Black Mountain Army gave Zhao Ji the opportunity to skillfully control Hebei on behalf of the emperor.

In the Central Plains, there was Cao Cao, a man who had committed excessive killings. Many people in the court disliked Zhao Ji, but they hated and resented Cao Cao even more.

With the imperial court not causing trouble, Zhao Ji made a grand gesture of goodwill towards Lü Bu, mediating between Lü Bu, Liu Bei, and Zang Ba, who joined forces to disrupt Yuan Shao's Qingzhou. In the Battle of Bianshui in Chenliu, they annihilated Cao Cao's main central army, weakening Cao Cao's field forces and making it difficult for him to take the initiative to cause trouble.

After that, Zhao Ji launched another campaign against Li Jue and Guo Si. The same logic applied: the court and the emperor wished they could tear Li and Guo's forces to pieces, and at this time they would not dare to hinder Zhao Ji.

As a result, Zhao Ji easily broke the deadlock, while Yuan Shu also assassinated the Prince of Chen, completing a breakthrough unique to Yuan Shu, and also gaining titles and establishing a system.

The emperor and all the officials of the court were greatly alarmed, fearing that Yuan Shao would respond to Yuan Shu and also rebel against the Han and establish himself as emperor.

If the two Yuan brothers had successively rebelled against the Han dynasty, and if a powerful third party had joined them, the entire country would have completely fallen apart.

In this critical moment, Zhao Ji took the lead in advocating righteousness and launching the campaign to protect the country and punish Yuan Shikai. Due to Yuan Shikai's special status, the campaign to protect the country and punish Yuan Shikai was forcibly transformed into the campaign to protect the country and punish the rebels under the influence of the court and through an imperial edict issued throughout the country.

At this juncture, the imperial court was even less likely to hinder Zhao Ji; Zhao Ji was not bound or influenced by the court, and even braved the summer heat to advance his troops, leaving Yuan Shu unable to attend to both ends. Before and after the withdrawal, he clashed with Lü Bu and Yuan Shao respectively, almost coming to blows and brewing a major war.

After that, Zhao Ji launched a campaign to recover and subjugate the Qiang tribes in the three northern prefectures without stopping. How could the court possibly stop or refuse such a thing? Naturally, they were happy to see Zhao Ji go and wear down the Qiang tribes.

As a result, Zhao Ji's campaigns became increasingly successful, and his efficiency in conquering and annexing the various Hu tribes exceeded everyone's expectations.

Previously, Zhao Ji and Yuan Shu both broke the deadlock simultaneously, but this deadlock was still within the Han Dynasty's domain; now, Zhao Ji, by rallying the various Hu tribes, has already broken the deadlock beyond the limitations of the Han Dynasty.

Let alone the imperial court bestowing a title of king, even if Zhao Ji himself declared himself king, no one in his jurisdiction would dare to oppose him!
Even if loyal prefects and generals wanted to rise up in rebellion, their troops were terrified of Zhao Ji's hundreds of thousands of archer cavalry.

For example, right now, Zhao Ji is leading his newly conquered tribesmen in a massacre north of Yinshan.

In Zhou Yu's view, this was Zhao Ji's deliberate use of killing to warn dissidents who were loyal to the Han dynasty, and also to warn all parties in the world.

At the same time, by annihilating the tribes north of the mountains, rewards can be given to the newly annexed tribes of various Hu peoples.

Conquest was about establishing authority; now it was about appeasement and reward. Through this process of reward and punishment, Zhao Ji had completed the integration of the various Hu tribes.

Therefore, Zhou Yu, while instinctively admiring Zhao Ji's achievements, also greatly fears Zhao Ji.

Once Zhao Ji establishes himself as emperor, relying on his Hu tribesmen and with the cooperation of his henchmen Gongsun Zan and Zhang Yan, Yuan Shao will not be able to hold out for long.

If Ji Province were to fall to Zhao Ji, the situation would change drastically... and among the respectable families everywhere, who would dare to speak ill of Zhao Ji?
Only now does Zhou Yu realize that some things are wildly wrong.

That is the court's ability to restrain Zhao Ji. From beginning to end, the court was unable to interfere with Zhao Ji's actions, not because the court didn't want to hinder him each time he acted. It was because the court dared not interfere, not because it was unwilling to.

The various factions within the imperial court were intricately intertwined, and anyone would seize any opportunity to undermine them.

It was Zhao Ji who broke the shinbones of many high-ranking officials, which made them behave and cooperate for two years.

In just two years, Zhao Ji led the men and women of the border region, who were on the ruins and scorched earth, to defeat the various Hu tribes and make them bow their heads in submission... Thinking about this, although there is a faint sense of pride, there is more horror than anything else.

With the Goddess of Mount Tai dancing beside him, Zhou Yu cleared his mind and said to Sun Ce, "What the General thinks is no longer important. Now we must see what the Grand Marshal thinks. If he returns with his troops and intends to wage war against Hebei, then all the states under heaven are destined to be defeated one by one."

Sun Ce nodded upon hearing this, but recalling the scene of hunting tigers together, he sighed and said, "Gongjin has not yet witnessed the Grand Marshal's demeanor; he is truly beyond our reach."

Zhou Yu's smile faded, his expression turning serious: "No matter how strong he is, he is still just a tyrant. The combined power of all factions in the world should not be underestimated. Bo Fu, this is precisely our golden opportunity, one we cannot afford to miss."

Sun Ce raised his cup in contemplation, his mind still filled with the terrifying scene of Zhao Ji hunting tigers, shooting arrows from both hands, each arrow piercing the tiger's head—a single, fatal blow.

After a moment's thought, Sun Ce slowly nodded: "Where should we begin?"

"General Lü Bu is holding the Emperor hostage. He is nominally a Han official, but in reality, he is a traitorous minister conspiring with the Zhao clan. We must first eliminate this traitor Lü Bu and rescue the Emperor from his imprisonment. Once the Emperor issues a decree to the world, heroes from all over the land will rise up in rebellion, and we can then confront this Zhao traitor!"

Zhou Yu spoke in a slightly low voice, but his enunciation was clear. Behind him, Lu Su and his group sat upright, enjoying their meal and listening attentively, their expressions unchanged.
(End of this chapter)