Yan Xing's wedding was lively and frugal, with many guests, and the banquet was rich, but not extravagant. He drank a lot of dishes, but there were no rare ingredients. Most of them were common vegetables. In terms of luxury, it may be worse than the family banquets of many aristocratic families.

However, most of the guests are soldiers in the army, and few people have had big meals. The most important thing is to keep full. As for those aristocratic families, they did not come for food, and they achieved their goal by meeting Sun Ce. The banquet was just a formality, and not many people cared about it. On the contrary, they did not mind giving Sun Ce a reputation of frugality.

In their eyes, this is one of the few praises that Sun Ce is reliable.

Xun Chen deeply agreed with this: Sun Ce is indeed quite stingy. After receiving the news from Lu Dai, he entered Runan by a pseudonym and traveled around Pingyu for a few days. He found that Sun Ce's ingredients for banquets were almost purchased from nearby farmers, and the cost was very cheap. But farmers did not suffer any losses. Summer is the peak season for various vegetables to be launched on the market. Even the rivers are full of fish and shrimps. The Runan River is crisscrossed and ponds are everywhere. People not only grow vegetables in front of and behind their homes, raise some chickens, ducks and geese, but also go fishing and shrimps in the river, and there is no cost. Especially for some half-aged children, it is the summer vacation, and they also make money while playing, and they enjoy it.

Even the tiger meat at the banquet came like this. Sun Ce's soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to practice jungle warfare and entered the forest to hunt and resolve the supply of tiger meat. In front of these elites armed to the teeth, the king of beasts could only obediently give out his flesh and blood. After this battle, the tiger disease that had troubled Runan for many years was completely solved.

However, Sun Ce used force to solve the problem of tigers, not virtue, so he could not leave any mark in history books.

Despite this, Xun Chen was still worried about Sun Ce's careful calculations. In terms of strength, Sun Ce's lords who had already won the world and occupied the three states, he still planned so carefully that even Yuan Shao, who had a big family and a big business, might not be able to defeat him. If Yuan Shao could not defeat Sun Ce in the short term, his advantage would become smaller and smaller as time goes by, until he was reversed by Sun Ce.

After reading the situation in Runan and evaluating Sun Ce's governance, Xun Chen wanted to see Sun Ce himself with his own eyes and make a final judgment. He asked Lu Dai to see Sun Ce again, intending to meet Sun Ce as an envoy of Liu He. The reason why he was so reserved was that Sun Ce insisted on Liu He asking for peace, while Liu He only agreed to make peace. The differences were very obvious, which directly affected the status of the interaction between the two parties.

Lu Dai took the order and came to see Sun Ce. After the wedding banquet, Sun Ce returned to the boat in Gepi, guarding the camp with his own guards and guarding the camp. It was rare for ordinary people to see him. Lu Dai reported his name and came to the lakeside smoothly, but he still couldn't get on the boat immediately. He waited on the shore for a long time before seeing Guo Jia coming.

"Where is Xun You?"

Lu Dai stepped forward to salute. "Shi Shi Xun was in the post house and was waiting for General Sun to receive him."

"General Sun has no time to see him, let him come, just tell me if you have something to do." Guo Jia waved his hand. "I'm very busy, so I can only take a short time. If he wants to come, come quickly, and forget it if he doesn't come."

Lu Dai turned around and was about to leave, but Guo Jia smiled again and said, "If you are an envoy, the general may be willing to meet him, but it's a pity that you can't make the decision."

Lu Dai was very embarrassed, laughed twice with self-mockery, bowed his hand, and left in a hurry. He also knew that Guo Jia was a busy person, and he said that only half a day might not be a bluff. The reason why he wanted to see Xun Chen might be due to the same county. If he missed this opportunity, Xun Chen might have a vain trip.

Seeing Lu Dai away, Guo Jia looked back at the boat in the middle of the lake, and his mouth was slightly raised.

On the boat, Sun Ce sat opposite an old Confucian scholar, drinking sweet fruit pulp, silent and the atmosphere was a little depressing.

The old Confucian scholar had gray hair and few wrinkles on his face, but his eyes were obvious, and his eyebrows were sparse and not a few left. His face was a little pale, and he looked like he had just recovered from a serious illness. There were deep Sichuan characters between his eyebrows, which looked very worried and sighed from time to time. He himself might not have intentional, but he was used to it.

This person was Li Ru, who had disappeared from people's vision for a long time. After Dong Zhuo was killed, he sneaked all the way to Hedong, met Jia Xu and others, and then sneaked to Nanyang. He lived in seclusion in Nanyang for two or three years, and recently suddenly appeared in front of Sun Ce. If he hadn't reported his own family, Sun Ce would not have expected that this haggard old man would be Li Ru, the counselor who Dong Zhuo once trusted the most.

In order to win people's hearts, Dong Zhuo once recruited famous scholars in Kanto, but in the end, the only one who truly thanked him for his kindness and sincerely gave him advice was Li Ru. Unfortunately, Dong Zhuo was also attracted by the favor of Wang Yun, a famous scholar in Bingzhou, who was more famous, and no longer trusted Li Ru. In the end, he died under the plan of Wang Yun and Lu Bu, and Li Ru had to flee in a panic.

In recent years, he has been living in seclusion in Nanyang. His original intention was to inquire about the situation for Jia Xu, but time had changed, hatred gradually faded and his mood gradually relaxed. He actually planned to retire in Nanyang. Nanyang lived a stable life, a free and strong academic atmosphere, and a famous doctor from Bencao Tangtou saw a doctor. If he felt it was lively, there were many beautiful places nearby to live in seclusion, which was a very suitable place for retirement. He originally planned to live in Nanyang for the rest of his life. Until not long ago, when he heard that Cai Yong was intending to rewrite the history of the Han Dynasty, he aroused his memories and hurried to Pingyu.

He knew in his heart that no matter what kind of connection Sun Ce and Dong Zhuo had, no matter whether he and Jia Xu were allies or not, Dong Zhuo would definitely leave a bad reputation in history, and he was no exception. Even he could not forgive the evil deeds of poisoning King Hongnong, and he often dreamed of King Hongnong seeking his life. This evil deed became his stain and made him unable to gain a foothold. No one, regardless of whether he supported the court or not, would easily accept him.

I looked for Sun Ce not to follow Sun Ce, but to hope that Sun Ce would interfere with Cai Yong and let him show mercy.

After hearing Li Ru's intention, Sun Ce was also a little embarrassed. He thought for a while and did not reply to Li Ru directly, but took out a manuscript and asked Li Ru to appreciate it. This was the "West Chu Book" he had just received, which was the first draft of the history of Western Chu written by Cai Yong. After the founding of the Han Dynasty, a trend of reflecting on Qin's politics was set off. Confucian scholars like Lu Jia wrote books and discussed the gains and losses of Qin's politics. Many of them involved Western Chu, which left some materials, which were mostly lost in later generations, and Sun Ce had never seen them. Cai Yong had read a lot of history in the East, and he had a memory that he could not forget. He actually wrote the "West Chu Book" of 200,000 words.

There is only one general in the Book of Western Chu, which is the general in Xiang Yu. Most of the content is the same as the biography of Xiang Yu in "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han", but there are some details. Cai Yong made some abridges and rewrites, including the content about Xiang Yu's killing of a child. Sun Ce asked Li Ru to read this article. Next to Cai Yong's elegant official script, Sun Ce wrote seven words in regular script: Write it truthfully, without avoiding taboos.

The words written by Cinnabar are particularly eye-catching. Li Ru saw them as soon as he unfolded them, and his heart suddenly became sank. He put down his manuscript and his face turned pale. "Thank you, General, I have to blame myself, I deserve it." After that, he was about to get up and say goodbye.

Sun Ce raised his hand and signaled Li Ru to be calm. "Mr. Wenyou, no one can be wrong? In the troubled times, who dares to say that he does not have the blood of innocent people? We cannot change the past, but we can make the merits and sins. In the future, we can also feel more at ease when we see King Hongnong again in the nine fountains."
Chapter completed!