Sun Ce stood at the door of the big tent, and an inexplicable sadness surged in his heart.

The ancients valued bloodlines. Not to mention whether it was his own seed or not, even if he was a legitimate son, the illegitimate son could clearly distinguish him. Otherwise, Yuan Shu would not look down on Yuan Shao. They were the same biological father. Yuan Shu himself had two daughters and one son, and his son was Yuan Yao. He just became an adult, and Yuan Shu loved him very much. Ordinary people had to inherit the family business, let alone Yuan Shu was ambitious. It was not a habit of the Han people to believe that he was not as good as other people's children. Even Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were indeed the best among young people. Yuan Shu had such regrets again and again, which showed that he really appreciated them.

Although he believed that Yuan Shu was not a good player, Sun Ce was still grateful for this appreciation. If it was a peaceful and prosperous era, he would not oppose being friends with a playboy like Yuan Shu.

"General, go back to the camp?" Dian Wei came over and said softly.

Yuan Shu was drunk. Sun Ce originally wanted to go back to his camp, but for some reason, he sat down again, cut two pieces of roasted lamb with the remaining wine, and chewed slowly. The bonfire in front of him was bright, and the north wind was blowing slowly in his ears, and the sound of scammers came from time to time. Nanyang was surrounded by mountains, blocking the cold air in the north. It was not cold in winter. He drank hot wine and ate barbecue. Yuan Shu's scolding and nagging were gone, and Sun Ce enjoyed it very much.

Cao Cao sent someone to negotiate, and Cai Yong came from Guanzhong again. His father Sun Jian successfully controlled Yuzhou. The situation seemed to be very good, but Sun Ce felt uneasy. He always felt that something was about to happen, but he couldn't think of what would happen. He had something in his mind. After drinking two more glasses, his wine surged and became a little dazed. The bonfire in front of him became a little blurred. Noisy sounds sounded in his ears, mixed with strange roars. He could tell them carefully, but he couldn't tell them clearly. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and in front of him, several war horses rushed from a distance. On the horse's back, a man with a sword-eyed eyebrows and starry eyes were full of heroic spirit. He carried a long halberd in his hand and rushed to the front, twisting the halberd and stabbed.

"Give me back my life!"

Sun Ce subconsciously let him go, stretched out his hand to grab the halberd, and his palm was burning and he couldn't help but scream and suddenly woke up.

There was a quiet moment before his eyes, only the quiet camp tent, the warm bonfire, and the roasted mutton. Dian Wei stood by and looked at him in surprise. Sun Ce calmed down, and then he felt a little pain in his palm. What surprised him even more was that Yuan Shu, who was originally drunk and unconscious, was sitting opposite him, wearing a cloak, pouring a large glass of wine into his mouth.

"Have you had a nightmare?" Yuan Shu wiped the wine stains on his beard and said with a smile: "Why don't you go back to rest and watch over Nai Gong? Don't worry, although that short man was an assassin, he didn't dare to flirt with Nai Gong's tiger beard."

Sun Ce didn't say anything. The person he just dreamed of looked very familiar, but it was definitely not Cao Cao.

"The general is sober?"

Yuan Shu smiled. "What is this little wine? If you pour it, drink some resurrection wine, nothing will happen. But you look okay, but you sit outside the tent all night. Have you tasted the taste these days, played too hard, and lost your body? Young people are quitting it, keep it a little bit, and life is still long. Although He Xian's woman looks good, she is not the best."

Sun Ce was dizzy and didn't understand what Yuan Shu said, but noticed that the sky was already slightly bright and his body was a little cold. He stood up and shivered. "Since the general is fine, I'll go back to the camp."

"Go, go, go, go back and sleep with the woman's warm body, and then wake up after drinking."

Sun Ce was amused and laughed, bowed his hand, turned around and was about to leave. After walking two steps, he suddenly had a light of inspiration and turned back. "General, based on your understanding of Cao Cao, what will he do at this time?"

Yuan Shu looked at Sun Ce blankly, not understanding his intentions.

Sun Ce scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said, "If the general and Cao Cao were in a different place, you were trapped in the city and he was outside the city, what would you do?"

Yuan Shu then understood, tilted his head, thought about it carefully for a while, but he felt something was wrong. "Bo Fu, you are right. This period seems to be too quiet. With the virtue of that short man, even if he is trapped in the city, he cannot sit and wait for death. He must make some trouble. But there has been nothing recently, and even the scout's losses are too small, which is not like his behavior."

The more Sun Ce thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. When the two armies fought, the eyes and ears were the scouts, which were indispensable for a moment. While inquiring about the other party’s information, they also had to cover their eyes and ears as much as possible. Therefore, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance were everywhere. The fight between the scouts of both sides occurred almost every day, and scouts could not come back every day. As for the current situation, Cao Cao had established cavalry, fast speed and strong attack power, and could evacuate quickly even if he couldn’t win, and he had a clear advantage. The scouts under Yuan Shu were not opponents at all, and the losses would be very large. He didn’t know what happened before, but now he has been incorporated into the central army and often met Lei Bo, Chen Lan and others. He knew more about the situation and knew that the scouts’ losses were not as great as expected.

So the question is, is it because Cao Cao narrowed the scope of reconnaissance, or is there another reason?

Sun Ce became more and more uneasy as he thought about it. He immediately reminded Yuan Shu to pay attention. Yuan Shu was uneasy and sent someone to call Lei Bo to ask. Lei Bo once again counted the casualties in the scout camp, and then discovered a problem: about seven or eight days ago, there was a significant change in the casualties of the scouts, which suddenly decreased by more than 70%.

Sun Ce and Yuan Shu looked at me, and I looked at you, and they both felt a strong sense of anxiety. The most feared thing on the battlefield was that this sudden change often meant a situation: the opponent made an action, but they knew nothing.

"Hurry, call the scouts who have been on duty these days." Before Yuan Shu finished speaking, he stood up again and walked towards the scout camp with great strides. "Stop being slow, go to the scout camp."

Lei Bo did not dare to neglect and brought Yuan Shu and Sun Ce to the scout camp. A group of scouts had just completed the task and were about to rest. Yuan Shu called them over and asked carefully. Soon, the scouts mentioned a question: almost all the scouts of Cao's army that they met these days were infantry and no cavalry.

"It's broken." Yuan Shu was very upset and patted his thighs.

Sun Ce was also frightened. Cao Cao had six or seven hundred cavalry under his command. He lost some of his battles several times, and he should have lost about five hundred. Where did these hundreds of cavalry go? If he wandered around Wancheng, the people attacking various manors might be attacked at any time. If he was not near Wancheng, it would be even more trouble.

Yuan Shu was furious. The feeling of 500 cavalry spying in secret was too bad. Especially Cai Yong was about to come. If he was kidnapped by Cao Cao, Cao Cao would know that he wanted to form an alliance with Dong Zhuo, and his reputation would be bad. He turned around and said to Sun Ce: "Bofu, you send someone to pick up Gongjin immediately, and you must ensure Cai Boyi's safety."

Sun Ce was also worried about Zhou Yu's safety. Zhou Yu only brought 200 studs to meet Cai Yong. If he was attacked, he had no chance of winning, and he didn't even have time to send out the news. He wanted to set off immediately, but reason told him that this seemingly most likely conclusion was often not the truth. If Cao Cao really wanted to do this, someone would have been attacked for seven or eight days. As soon as Cai Yong arrived at Wuguan, Cao Cao could not have made preparations seven or eight days in advance.

Sun Ce pondered for a long time and put forward his own suggestions. "General, Cao Cao is treacherous, false and real, everything is possible. Now the most important thing is to send people into the city to inquire and confirm whether the cavalry is in the city. Maybe the cavalry didn't go anywhere, just to accumulate strength and wait for an opportunity, a chance to raid."

Yuan Shu took a deep breath. "But how can I send someone into the city? That short man is cunning. Since he is willing to hide it from us, he will definitely be prepared."

"Of course it's an envoy. Since you can't sneak into the city secretly, just go in openly. Hundreds of war horses are not so easy to hide. Cao Cao wanted to exchange hostages, so the general sent one person into the city to see if the cavalry was there in the name of visiting the safety of the hostages."
Chapter completed!