The pottery originally thought that Sun Ce would be greedy and asked for a lot of money, but he never expected this would be the result.

Before the Taoist merchant could figure out whether Sun Ce was telling the truth or lies, Sun Ce told the news he had just received. When he learned that Liu He's power was expanding so quickly, Taoist merchant took a breath and his chin almost fell to the ground. He did not doubt Sun Ce's sincerity. If he had seen such a comparison of troops, he would have done this. If it were for his own territory, he might have gritted his teeth and fought for others' territory. It was completely unnecessary.

But the problem is that this territory belongs to their Tao family. Sun Ce can hide in Qu County without moving, but he can't.

Tao Shang begged hard and burst into tears. This was not a difficult task for him. I was slapped by me before coming, and the swelling had not yet disappeared. If I could not ask Sun Ce for help, I would definitely be slapped again when I returned. When I thought of this sad life, Tao Shang came from it and cried loudly, crying so hard that the one who saw it burst into tears, and the one who heard it was sad, making Sun Ce feel embarrassed.

A big man cried like this, is Liu Bei half the prototype of you?

Although he knew that the Han people were full of emotions and were not as concealed as they did in later generations, and they wanted to cry but still endured it, Sun Ce was still not used to seeing the pottery merchant cry like this. He pulled the pottery merchant up, comforted him with kind words, held his cheek, and looked at the map for a long time.

"There is a solution. It is hard to say whether we can repel Liu He. We use defense instead of attack, try our best to stop him, and buy time for Lingzun. It is late in the first lunar month, and it will take two more months to delay the weather. The weather will warm up and the Yellow River will be Kaifeng, and we will have a chance. But it is not something that I can do alone, and we need to work together."

The pottery wiped his tears and agreed repeatedly. "General, what do you want us to do?"

"Since Ling Zun is so generous and willing to give Pengcheng to me, I am disrespectful. You immediately write a letter and let your brother Zhongyun move to Xia Pi. The Chen family in Xia Pi is Yuan Shao's loyalty. This time, he is so active and rebellious. If he doesn't knock, the Xuzhou family is fearless, and no one will take Ling Zun seriously in the future. Ling Zun Teng can't take action, and you brothers should work on this occasion."

When talking about the Chen family in Xia Pi, Tao Shang gritted his teeth with hatred. Chen Deng accepted Yuan Shao's appointment to Lujiang and was already slapped their father and son in the face. Fortunately, he was just against Sun Ce at that time. They could pretend to be deaf and dumb. Now they were even more excessive. They cooperated with Liu He's rebellion and pointed directly at Tao Qian. As Sun Ce said, if the Chen family was tolerated, who would take them seriously?

We must kill the chicken to warn the monkey and curb this rebellion so that we can suppress Xuzhou.

After receiving the cooperation of the pottery merchant, Sun Ce immediately made a series of adjustments. The defense adjustments of the Mi family's fortress were completed. Sun Ce stayed with Mi Fang to guard the house, and sent a letter to Shen You, asking him to arrange for Ganning and Chen Dao to reinforce Qu County from sea route. The pottery merchant rushed to Tan County. Tan County is the capital of Donghai County and the capital of Xuzhou. The city is strong and there are Danyang soldiers left by Tao Qian. The pottery merchant should be able to defend it.

If Tao Qian could defend the three cities of Xia Pi, Tan County and Qu County and block the road to Liu He to the north, Tao Qian's back would be safe.

After hearing Sun Ce’s arrangement, Tao Shang felt it was reasonable, but he was a little puzzled. “General, where are you going to be stationed?”

Sun Ce explained: "The army is in harmony and wins with strange things. If there is defense but no attack, it will harm the lonely city, and it will be like waiting for death. If there is attack but no defense, it will be erratic, and it will be like rootless duckweed that cannot last long. Since the three cities are defended, I should circulate between the three counties with cavalry, wait for an opportunity to attack, cut off its food route, and intercept its supplies, so that Liu He cannot attack the city with all his strength, so that he can gain time."

The pottery nodded repeatedly and agreed happily.

Sun Ce then left Qu County with his personal guard infantry and cavalry and rushed to Tan County with the Tao Shang.

They set out early in the morning and walked quickly. At the junction of the afternoon, they arrived at Mushui. Sun Ce ordered to stop moving forward and rest on the spot.

Tao Shang was anxious and rushed to Sun Ce. Before he could speak, his eyes turned red. "General, the reinforcements are like putting out fires. This place is more than 30 miles away from Tan County. Hold on to it a little harder and you can arrive at it as soon as it gets dark. It is not too late to rest in the city. Why stay here?"

Sun Ce shook his head and looked at the western horizon. "Are you sure that Tan County can still enter?"

The Tao merchant's forehead was covered in sweat, his face turned red and white. As they walked along the way, they raised the flag to respond to Liu He. Tan County is Liu He's hometown. No one would believe that the aristocratic families in Tan County did not make any noise.

When Sun Ce saw Tao Shang being in a state of silence, he sighed secretly. Tao Qian had such a son, no wonder he wanted to give Xuzhou to others. He could not defend him even if he left it to Tao Shang. It would be better to be generous. Liu Bei went to Youzhou and Xuzhou would give it to me. "If Liu He has taken over Tan County, or the family of Tan County has controlled Tan County, we only have more than a thousand infantry and cavalry, it is impossible to attack Tan County."

The Tao merchant's voice changed in an anxious voice. "What should I do?"

"I'm waiting here. You send someone to Tan County to check the situation. If Tan County has not changed hands yet, we will go to the city overnight and then arrest people. If Tan County has fallen, then we don't have to go there. I'll go to Pengcheng to meet Lingdi. You go to Yangdu and inform Lingzun to be prepared for response. In short, you can't just rush to Tan County like this. Even if Tan County has not been lost and the Tan County family gets news, we have no chance to arrest people."

The Tao merchant felt it was reasonable and immediately sent two confidants to Tan County to check.

The people of Tan County were in panic. The aristocratic family contacted each other secretly and prepared to respond to Liu He. The guard Zhang Kai was in a state of silence. He wanted to suppress him and acted first, but was afraid of backfiring. He added fuel to the fire. Just when he didn't know what to do, the Taoist merchant's confidant rushed to Tan County. When he learned that the Taoist merchant was back, Sun Ce was accompanied. Zhang Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately sent someone to notify Taoist merchant and Sun Ce and prepared to arrest people.

After the queen, Sun Ce received a reply from Zhang Kai. He was very glad to learn that Tan County was fine. If Tan County was lost, it would be difficult to retake it. He didn't know why Liu He didn't seize such a vital land as Tan County, but the result was that the situation was not so bad that it was uncontrollable.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Sun Ce acted quickly and rushed to Tan County. He didn't care about rest and immediately arrested people and put all the heads of the major families of Tan County under house arrest. Although it might not be of great use, it was always good to make those families have some concerns. The Taoist merchant was already in trouble, so he would do whatever Sun Ce said. With Sun Ce's cooperation, they attacked continuously with lightning speed and worked hard all night to arrest the heads of the major families of Tan County and around them.

The next morning, he received a report of the successful completion of the task. Sun Ce, who had not been asleep all night, put his heart that had reached his throat back into his stomach.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of luck here. These families have received invitations from Liu He, some send people to support Liu He, while others are preparing to wait for Liu He to respond. Tao Qian himself was unable to escape from fighting in Langya, and his control over Tan County was limited to the city. If Tao Qian had not left heavy troops to guard him, these people might have taken Tan County by themselves. Despite this, they still believed that they were safe and felt that Zhang Kai did not dare to act rashly. They expected Zhang Kai, but they did not expect Sun Ce to be caught off guard. When they woke up, Tan County had changed its situation.
Chapter completed!