Conquest of Lujiang
In the winter of 199, Yuan Shu's regime was crushed by Han Dynasty forces and Yuan himself died not long after his defeat. Yuan Shu's former subordinates Yang Hong and Zhang Xun planned to surrender to Sun Ce, along with their followers and Yuan Shu's family. However, Liu Xun, the Administrator of Lujiang, attacked them, took them captive and looted their possessions. When Sun Ce heard about the incident, he pretended to ally with Liu Xun by sending Liu expensive gifts and showering him with praises.
Sun Ce feigned inferiority and urged Liu Xun to help him attack Shangliao (present-day Yongxiu County, Jiangxi), a region in Jiangdong that Liu already had been eyeing. Liu Xun's subordinate Liu Ye attempted to dissuade him from invading Shangliao, but Liu Xun ignored him. After Liu Xun's army left, Sun Ce split his army into two groups to attack Lujiang: Sun Ben and Sun Fu led a contingent to Pengze to cut off Liu Xun's return route; Sun Ce and Zhou Yu personally led 20,000 troops to assault Lujiang's capital, Huancheng (皖城; present-day Qianshan County, Anhui), and conquered it swiftly, capturing Liu Xun's family and men and retrieving Yuan Shu's family. After that, Sun Ce brought the majority of Lujiang's population back to his territories across the Yangtze River, while leaving his general Li Shu (李術) behind with a garrison to guard Lujiang. He then returned to join his cousins at Pengze.
Liu Xun attempted to take Haihun by surprise but the people were forewarned about his attack and he was unsuccessful. When Liu Xun learnt of Sun Ce's attack on Wan, he sought to return, but was cut off by Sun Ben's army at Pengze and driven west up the Yangtze River. Liu Xun then halted to fortify defensive positions near Mount Xisai, where he requested reinforcements from Liu Biao and Huang Zu. Huang Zu's son, Huang Ye (黃射), led 5,000 men and a fleet of ships from Jiangxia (west of present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei) to support Liu Xun. Sun Ce defeated the combined forces, capturing more than 2,000 enemy troops and 1,000 ships, while Liu Xun fled north to join Cao Cao.
Read more about this topic: Sun Ce's Conquests In Jiangdong, The Conquests
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“While I am in favor of the Government promptly enforcing the laws for the present, defending the forts and collecting the revenue, I am not in favor of a war policy with a view to the conquest of any of the slave States; except such as are needed to give us a good boundary. If Maryland attempts to go off, suppress her in order to save the Potomac and the District of Columbia. Cut a piece off of western Virginia and keep Missouri and all the Territories.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“While I am in favor of the Government promptly enforcing the laws for the present, defending the forts and collecting the revenue, I am not in favor of a war policy with a view to the conquest of any of the slave States; except such as are needed to give us a good boundary. If Maryland attempts to go off, suppress her in order to save the Potomac and the District of Columbia. Cut a piece off of western Virginia and keep Missouri and all the Territories.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)