Vol 2 Chapter 2654: Sun Ce secretly returned to Jiangdong, and Sun Wu was in civil strife with Chu.

Chapter 2654 Sun Ce secretly returns to Jiangdong, Sun Wu is in civil strife in Chu State

Chapter 2650: Sun Ce returned to Jiangdong secretly, and Sun Wu was in civil strife in Chu State.

 The first country to propose the imperial examination system was not the Qin Dynasty, but the Sui Dynasty.

When this system first came into being, even though it was not perfect, it was still as ground-breaking as ever, shocking people all over the world.

The poor people all over the world cheered for joy, while the wealthy families gnashed their teeth in hatred. After all, this system broke their monopoly on talents.

The Sui State also gained a large number of talents through the imperial examination. Ban Gu, Xu Wen, Wang Jingren, Yang Youji and many other talents were all selected in the imperial examination.

Their joining also gave the Sui Kingdom, which was originally lifeless and barren, a new lease of life.

  The benefits brought by the imperial examination system are visible to the naked eye, but few countries dare to follow suit.

It was not until the founding of the Qin Dynasty that the imperial examination system was introduced and thoroughly improved. Only countries other than the Tang and Wu countries followed suit and introduced the imperial examination system.

 At this point, the imperial examination system truly reached its peak, completely replacing the imperial examination system and becoming the mainstream system for selecting talents.

As for Wu and Tang, the reason why they did not follow suit and introduce the imperial examination system was mainly because the domestic aristocratic families were too powerful.

The Tang Dynasty was a gathering place for aristocratic families at that time, and it was on the verge of national subjugation. If it offended the aristocratic families again, it would probably lead to premature national subjugation.

As for Wu State, the power of domestic aristocratic families is not as strong as that of Tang State, but it is not weak either.

Sun Jian, the king of Wu at that time, originally wanted to suppress the aristocratic family and use the imperial examination to select talents without any hidden dangers, but he did not expect that before he could implement it, he was killed by the unfilial son Sun Quan.

The biggest supporter behind Sun Quan is the Jiangdong family, and he also killed his father to usurp the throne. It can be said that he has no sense of security after succeeding to the throne, so he completely gave up Sun Jian's national policy of suppressing the family and instead vigorously reused the Jiangdong family, just to take advantage of the family. to strengthen his control over the state of Wu.

Sun Quan's goal was achieved. Under his intentional actions, most of the military and political power of the Wu Kingdom had been controlled by members of the aristocratic family, and the aristocratic families were loyal to him, which was equivalent to Sun Quan controlling the Wu Kingdom. But doing so is obviously risky.

Those heroes who have made great contributions to the state of Wu, but were deprived of power by Sun Quan for no reason and were given false posts at random, will naturally not be willing to lose their rights just like this. This includes even Sun Wu, the greatest hero of the state of Wu.

Seeing that the state of Wu was in chaos in the hands of Sun Quan, many heroes who had been seized of power, including Sun Wu, became more and more dissatisfied with Sun Quan, and finally decided to launch a coup, abolish Sun Quan, and welcome back Sun Ce.

 Sun Wu secretly contacted Sun Ce and wanted to secretly take Sun Ce back to Soochow, who was seeking refuge in Da Qin. However, he did not expect that after Sun Ce knew Sun Wu's intentions, he actually refused Sun Wu's request to return home.

Sun Ce naturally wanted to return to Soochow, but he also knew that there would only be two results if he went back, one was death, and the other was internal strife in the Wu Kingdom, and neither of these two results was what Sun Ce wanted to see.

 Because of his mistakes, Wu State experienced a disastrous defeat, and the gap in strength between Wu State and Chu State gradually widened. If internal strife still occurs now, it is really no different from seeking death.

Even Sun Ce was extremely dissatisfied with Sun Quan's policies, but for the sake of the overall situation and the safety of Wu State, Sun Ce would rather stay in Da Qin than return to the country, and did not want to intensify the internal conflicts within Wu State after returning.

Sun Wu wrote more than a dozen letters in a row, urging Sun Ce to come back and overthrow Sun Quan and become the new king of Wu. After all, if Sun Quan was allowed to continue like this, Wu would have no hope at all.

But Sun Ce was also stubborn. No matter how Sun Wu tried to persuade him, Sun Ce refused to return home.

Now many veterans, including Sun Wu, were anxious. After all, Sun Quan was becoming more and more unscrupulous in seizing power. If the day came when his military strength was completely lost, it would be useless for Sun Ce to come back.

Just when everyone was at a loss to do anything to Sun Ce, Sun Bin said: "I have a way to make the eldest son return to the country."

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was overjoyed and quickly asked what could be done, but Sun Bin said: "Just tell the eldest son that there is something fishy in the death of the old master. The clues that have been found point to the second master. The eldest master is extremely filial. After learning about it, I will definitely go back to China to confirm.”

"But regarding the old master's death, I have already checked it over and over many times, and there is no evidence to prove that it was the second master." Huang Gai said.

Sun Jian's death was somewhat strange, and Sun Quan was the biggest beneficiary. Soochow would naturally investigate this, not to mention that there are still so many people dissatisfied with Sun Quan.

Even if it was to bring down Sun Quan, they wanted to put the blame for Sun Jian's death on Sun Quan. After all, such a beast who killed his father for power was naturally not qualified to continue sitting on the throne of King Wu.

But in the matter of patricide, Sun Quan did it very cleanly, without any clues at all. No matter how much you checked, you couldn't find Sun Quan.

However, if you forcibly pour dirty water on Sun Quan, not only will it have no effect, but it will also arouse Sun Quan's vigilance.

"Just do what Sun Bin said. The most important thing now is to get Bo Fu back first." Sun Wu said solemnly.

As Sun Bin expected, after receiving Sun Wu's message, Sun Ce was naturally furious, and went into the palace to question his sister Sun Shangxiang. As a result, the more he asked, the more suspicious Sun Quan became.

Sun Shangxiang said: "Brother, these little girls have told you before, why are you asking now?"

“Nothing, I just want to know more about the details.”

  Sun Ce listened to the same words with a different mentality, but the feelings he had were completely different.

Sun Shangxiang and Sun Ce had told Sun Ce about their suspicions before, but at that time Sun Ce thought that his father was angry to death because he failed to listen and was captured. The self-blame and guilt in his heart made him breathless, so he only wanted to escape from reality. and responsibility, naturally there will be no doubt about his younger brother Sun Quan.

But Sun Wu’s ‘lie’ made Sun Ce realize that his father’s death was not his responsibility. This was the greatest relief for Sun Ce.

With this in mind, Sun Ce wanted to listen to Sun Shangxiang's words carefully, but there were too many doubts. No wonder Sun Quan was so anxious to marry his sister to Daqin.

“Little sister, you can’t tell anyone, including Ying Hao, what we said today,” Sun Ce said with a serious face. Although Sun Shangxiang didn't understand what he meant, he nodded silently.

Sun Ce felt relieved to leave after seeing this. After returning to Wenhou's Mansion, he immediately announced that he would go into seclusion, but in fact he was preparing to return to the country secretly.

The news of his return to Wu had to be concealed not only from Sun Quan, but also from Great Qin. After all, he returned secretly at this time, and any fool knew what he wanted to do. Who knows if Great Qin would help Sun Quan?

 One is the deposed crown prince of the former King of Wu, and the other is the current King of Wu. Everyone knows how to choose.

What Sun Ce cares about now is no longer the position of King of Wu, but that this position cannot be occupied by a parricide beast.

One day later, after dressing up and changing his appearance, Sun Ce first left the Lu Mansion secretly, and then left Luoyang City quietly.

Sun Ce thought that he was well disguised and was neither being followed nor monitored. It would take at least ten days for him to be exposed. At that time, he was almost at Jianye, and it was too late for Da Qin to help Sun Quan even if he wanted to.

But what Sun Ce didn't know was that from the moment he stepped into Luoyang, he was completely targeted by Ying Hao and was always under the surveillance of Da Qin. However, the person monitoring him was at the Half-Step Xuan Realm. The master's cultivation level was much higher than his, so he didn't notice it at all.

“Your Majesty, Sun Ce left Luoyang secretly, and it seems he is going back to Soochow.” Ying Longhui reported.

After hearing this, Ying Hao's eyes lit up and he said with a smile: "I finally left. Now the plan that was laid out in advance is finally useful. Notify Wu Guo's Black Ice Platform secret agent and everything will go according to plan. "

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Sun Ce went straight to Zhangling County after leaving Luoyang, and then headed east to Song State, intending to take the Huaihe River into Lujiang River and then return to Wu State, instead of going south to Xiangyang and returning to Wu State from Jiangxia.

Although it is close to Jiangxia, it is the territory of the Chu State after all. Sun Ce, who has been captured alive by the Chu State once, does not want to fall into the hands of the Chu State again.

Moreover, the further south you go, the stricter the Qin checkpoints become. It is difficult for Sun Ce not to expose his identity, but before returning to Jianye, his identity must not be exposed.

 That’s why Sun Ce took a long way to go to Song State first, and then returned to Wu State via Huaihe River.

After more than ten days of traveling at full speed, Sun Ce finally arrived at Yanziji as promised. Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Wu Zixu, Huang Gai, Lu Meng, Lu Su and others had been waiting for him here for a long time.

These people are all loyal, meritorious, and veterans of Soochow, but now they have united to fight against Sun Quan, which shows that they can no longer tolerate Sun Quan. If they don't break out in silence, they will only perish in silence.

Seeing that Sun Ce was really back, Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Wu Zixu and others all showed excitement, but they were worried that Sun Ce would ask them for evidence, but how could they have any solid evidence? It was just an excuse to deceive Sun Ce into coming back. That’s all.

What Sun Wu and others did not expect was that Sun Ce did not ask them about the evidence, but instead asked them how to implement the coup plan.

This also made Sun Wu, Cheng Pu and others sigh that Sun Ce is indeed much more mature today than before.

After all, if it were the reckless Sun Ce in the past, he would definitely break the casserole and ask the truth, and he would not give up until he asked.

But Sun Cejin didn't ask anything, which shows that he has put aside his pride and persistence. After all, it is no longer important to prove or not prove the evidence. What is important is to pull Sun Quan from the position of King Wu, otherwise everyone present All must die.

“Uncles, how many troops do we have left now?” Sun Ce asked.

“Only Lu Meng has three thousand troops left, and the military power of everyone else has been taken away by Sun Quan for various reasons.” Sun Wu said with a bitter smile.

 Wu and Chu almost went to war before. Sun Wu thought he could regain military power, but he never expected that Sun Quan was so defensive against him.

Sun Quan would rather give up Nanhai County and Guangzhou, which were within easy reach, and bear the reputation of being weak and easy to bully, rather than giving Sun Wu a chance to regain military power. Soon after, he even deprived his deputy general Wu Zixu of his military power.

After this incident, Sun Wu no longer had any hope for Sun Quan. As long as Sun Quan was the king of Wu, he would never be in charge of the army again.

 “Only three thousand?”

When Sun Ce heard this, his voice became louder unconsciously: "There should be 50,000 troops in Jianye City. How could we win power with only 3,000 people?"

Sun Ce had already guessed before returning that Sun Wu and the others would have a difficult time under Sun Quan, but he never expected that the situation would be so bad.

“Bo Fu, if you come back five days in advance, we will still have five thousand troops to dispatch. If you come back one month in advance, we will still have fifteen thousand troops. But now only these three thousand troops are available.”

Sun Wu said solemnly, with a hint of complaint in his words. After all, if Sun Ce had listened to them and returned home early, even if the situation was bad, it would not be as bad as it is now.

Three thousand people launched the coup, which was less than what Liu Xie had during the Luoyang coup. It is not an exaggeration to say that he had a narrow escape from death, but now Sun Ce only had these three thousand people left to rely on.

Sun Ce’s face became ugly when he heard this. His overall view and persistence seemed a bit too ridiculous now.

“My lord, although three thousand troops are small, as long as we plan properly, we still have the possibility of success.”

With that said, Sun Bin told the specific coup plan, and after hearing this, Sun Ce's eyes suddenly lit up.

According to Sun Bin's plan, if it goes well, the possibility of success is really not small.

Sun Ce led everyone to the memorial tablet of his late father Sun Jian, knelt down and kowtowed three times: "Father, if you have a soul in heaven, please bless my son to get rid of this beast Sun Quan, and clear the court and the people for my great Wu."

With the support of Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Wu Zixu, Lu Meng and other senior ministers, Sun Ce secretly returned to Wu and launched a coup with three thousand dead soldiers.