Chapter 404
Sun Ce returned to Jianye, the very center of Jiangdong while the war continued to rage on at Jiangxia. His army continued to suffer heavy casualties from the war. Normally, he should have been at the front lines but this time, he had no choice but to return.
This is because his mother Lady Wu had requested his return. The moment he returned the received a tongue-lashing. The cause for this is that his sister had gone missing. This woman has been a source of headache for Sun Ce. A woman, especially those from a prominent should learn feminine arts such as needlework or better yet, learn nothing, as it is a woman’s virtue to have no talent. Instead, she learned the art of war. Part of this was Sun Ce’s fault. His father left them early, and the mother needed to raise three children on her own. In the end, he, the elder brother ended up replacing the father.
However, when Sun Ce worked for Yuan Shu, he was continuously on edge as he had to think of a way to separate himself from Yuan Shu. All of that ended up making him neglecting to educate his younger sister properly. Meanwhile, his mother paid more attention to Sun Quan. As Sun Ce needed to also take care of her, he did not bother to keep her away from the discussions between himself and the other old generals. In the end, his sister ended up being influenced and interested in such things.
By the time Sun Ce wanted to educate her properly, it was already too late. The girl had already gone mad. The moment she looks at war books, she would immediately turn silent. She also learned how to fight from somebody and ended up as strong as a second grade warrior. Sun Ce wanted to marry her off but nobody dared to be wed to such a powerful woman.
Sun Ce was helpless and had to continue raising his treasured sister. If he could make a magnificent Jiangdong, he could definitely support his sister. That was why he was very generous when giving his sister money for her expenses. However, his sister did not buy clothes or cosmetic. She bought weapons and even taught her servants how to fight, turning them into a female squad. Sun Ce did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Sun Ce managed to endure all that has happened so far. However this time, he could not accept it. It was not the first time his sister had ran away from home. The last time she did that, she went to Liu Bei to see what war was like. Fortunately, she had disguised herself and went together with the envoy. That was why Liu Bei found out about her identity and dispatched people to escort her back to Jiangdong.
This time, she once again went to Yangzhou, wanting to join the army. However, the army in question was Liu Mang’s Army. Liu Mang and Sun Ce were mortal enemies and yet Sun Ce’s sister wants to join Liu Mang’s Army. What is going on? Most importantly, how was a woman supposed to join the army?
Now Sun Ce’s mother was raging. She demanded that Sun Ce bring back his sister within several months or she would no longer think of him as her son.
“Milord! Shouchun really does have a female barracks!” Zhang Zhao softly told Sun Ce.
“Do you think I need you to tell me that?” Sun Ce roared back in anger. Sun Ce was already annoyed so Zhang Zhao was simply asking for trouble by saying that. After all, Zhang Zhao was the one tricked by Yang Hong and caused them to lose Sanjiangkou. Sun Ce was already very dissatisfied with Zhang Zhao, only forgiving Zhang Zhao for that mistake because Zhang Zhao was good at internal politics. This time, Sun Ce was already annoyed and Zhang Zhao only reminded Sun Ce about his own failure.
Fortunately, Sun Ce was still able to restrain himself. To him, the female barracks at Shouchun was just a joke to be mocked at. Matters regarding war and the army should just be left to men. Women can just go raise children!
Sun Ce initially thought that Liu Mang’s two thousand female troops were prostitutes. He never expected them to actually be real female troops. The dispatched spies had found out that these troops also trained as hard as men and the male soldiers are not allowed to approach the female barracks. Those that violate this rule would be beheaded. As two thousand soldiers was also quite a huge sum, Sun Ce’s sister decided to leave behind a letter and disappear.
Sun Ce felt his head ache. He is not able to talk back to his mother so he would have no choice but to bring his sister back. Unfortunately, he would need to go to the barracks in Liu Mang’s territory. The only thing he felt fortunate about was that he knew where his sister was. It would be even worse if he did not even know where to begin looking for her.
“Lu Meng! Dispatch the Roaring Tigers1 to Shouchun and bring my sister back!” Sun Ce instructed. These Roaring Tigers were the ones led by Zhou Tai.
“Understood!” Lu Meng replied and turned to leave. He then thought of something and turned back to ask. “Milord. What if refuses to return?”
“Tie her up and drag her back to me!” Sun Ce angrily gave Lu Meng a permission seal allowing him to drag Sun Ce’s sister back home by force if needed.
“This subordinate accepts the order!” Lu Meng accepted the seal and left. With this, there would be less things for him to worry about.
Once Lu Meng has left, the matter regarding his sister could be considered settled for the moment. Sun Ce then turned his attention to his other headache inducing problems. “What is the situation at Linhuai?”
“It is not good!” Zhang Zhao cupped his fist and reported. “We have already lost Linhuai. All that is left is Tuzhong. Qin Feng have already sent several letters requesting for help.” Qin Feng may be a useless person but fortunately, he was one that was afraid of death. Although Linhuai is lost, Tuzhong was still standing firm.
“Zibu. Do you think Linhuai can still be saved?” Sun Ce asked. At the end of the day, Zhang Zhao was still one of the top quality strategists. His strategies would not be inferior to others.
“We can. We may have lost Linhuai but we still have Tuzhong. Tuzhong is easily guarded and hard to attack. On top of that, Qin Feng had stationed most of his troops at Tuzhong which was why he lost Linhuai. In fact, he did not suffer that many losses. The only things in Linhuai are jewelry.
Sun Ce nodded. “But if we send troops to Linhuai, we would be fighting on two fronts! This would be a big mistake in war!” Sun Ce hesitated. If he were to send reinforcements to Qin Feng, he would be fighting for Liu Mang and Liu Biao. Would Jiangdong be able to do it?
“Milord. We would be fighting on two fronts but so would Liu Mang!” Zhang Zhao replied. “Our scouts report that Liu Mang had also dispatched his troops to Xinye.”
“Xinye? Does he want to start a war against Liu Biao?” Sun Ce asked in interest. If Liu Mang and Liu Biao were to fight each other, he would welcome it greatly especially since both of them were his enemies.
“It is not Liu Biao but Liu Bei. Liu Mang had sent his envoys to Jingzhou but the envoys were killed by Liu Bei’s envoy, Pang Tong.” Zhang Zhao corrected his Lord.
Liu Bei and Liu Mang were enemies and they both needed provisions. That was why Liu Mang would not go after Liu Biao
“Liu Bei?”
“Regardless of who Liu Mang ends up fighting, he would also be fighting on two fronts. That is why Milord must send troops to retake Linhuai and also to gain the support of the people!”