Dong Zhuo met with the Son of Heaven, and then discussed the government with the ministers of the Three Princes and the ministers of Shangshutai, and returned to the Xiangguo Mansion late at night.

He summoned Liu Ai and Tian Yi overnight, told Huang Fu Song's suggestion, and finally said: "Let's put aside the matter of internal checks and balances, what we need now is food, and to solve the food problem, we must wait for the opportunity to appease the rebels." What do you think should be done about this? ”

Liu Ai and Tian Yi greatly admired Huangfu Song's suggestion. Liu Aizan said: "General Huangfu is indeed a pillar of the country. If Li Yi had gotten this strategy from General Huangfu as early as the first lunar month, and then he had made up his mind to give up the northern frontier, then today's Luoyang would be the three people in charge of the lord, the hussar general, and Yuan Kui, and my Han Sheji would not have been in today's crisis......"

Dong Zhuo scolded dissatisfiedly: "What do you mean? Huangfu Song wants me to die, can't you see it? ”

Tian Yi smiled bitterly: "There is a hussar general in the court, and the lord is as stable as Mount Tai, no matter what, he will not be as ...... as today."

He shook his head regretfully, and continued, "Although General Huangfu didn't say how to appease Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, his meaning is actually very clear. ”

Dong Zhuo looked at him suspiciously, and asked, "Shuping, say quickly, what are you doing in circles?" ”

"General Huangfu is saying this plan now because he is very sure that we can appease Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu." Tian Yi said, "The reason is the ant thief rebellion that broke out in the four prefectures of Qing, Yan, Xu, and Hebei. ”

"According to our information, the scale of this rebellion is very large, with millions of people participating, and the Black Mountain ant thieves have also descended the mountain, and its harm and scope are not much different from the rebellion that broke out in the first year of Zhongping. If the states and counties fail to kill in time, the consequences are very terrible. By the end of this winter, if the ant thief is not settled. Yuan Shao, not to mention attacking Luoyang, even they themselves have to find a place to live. ”

"What's more serious is that if the northern frontier collapses because of this, the hussar general is bound to raise a large army, including tens of thousands of Hu iron cavalry on the desert, and go south to quell the rebellion together. No one has anything to eat. What if you don't fight? At that time, it is not a question of whether the Dahan Sheji can survive or not, but that the Dahan Sheji does not exist at all, and the Dahan is gone. ”

"Whether it's Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Han Fu, or Kong Ling, their rebellion is not for the sake of Sheji, but for the interests of the gate valve family, and their ultimate goal is to be powerful. But once the community is gone, where is the power? Tian Yi twisted his short beard and said very confidently, "Now with the strength of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, they can't capture Luoyang, and after a long time, they will definitely resent Li Yi, and their rear is full of war, and the situation is very critical." As a result, the rebels will find themselves in a dilemma, and internal divisions will become inevitable. At this time. As long as the Son of Heaven uses the excuse of quelling the ant thief rebellion and defending the society as an excuse, he will definitely succeed. ”

Dong Zhuo suddenly realized.

Tian Yi continued: "As long as Han Fu, Qiao Mao, and Kong Ling agree to join forces with us to suppress Li Yi, then they will be appeased, and we can not only pardon their crimes, but also give them an official promotion." In this way, the food problem is solved. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are without these people, what are the two of them playing? Even if Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are unwilling to be appeased and unwilling to return to Beijing, we will pardon them and give them official promotions. It's just that in this way, the rebellious faces of the two will undoubtedly be exposed, and they will definitely be blamed by the world. ”

"We can also take this opportunity to appease Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu by dividing them into discord, so that they can be suspicious of each other, so that in the future, the lord can easily control the power and balance in the court." Liu Ai smiled, "A few months later, when we return to Luoyang, maybe they are all gone. ”

Dong Zhuo laughed and said: "How can there be such a cheap thing, you think too beautifully." ”

Then he said worriedly: "Even if we succeed in appeasing, how can we force Li Yi to give up the tripartite checks and balances, accept our suggestion, and return to the DPRK to take office?" This Northern Tiger King is not easy to tame. ”

"Why did the lord forget the big Sima Liu Yu?" Liu Ai reminded.

"If you don't say it, I really forgot." Dong Zhuo smiled, "He ran too far." ”

A few days later, the Son of Heaven issued an order to worship the great Sima Liu Yu as the Taifu, and immediately rushed to Chang'an to take up his post after receiving the order.

The Son of Heaven decreed that the hussar general Li Yi led the military and temporarily stationed in Jicheng to take charge of the military affairs in northern Xinjiang. He also asked Li Yi, who is still stationed in Yingchuan, to return to his territory as soon as possible and preside over various affairs in northern Xinjiang.

The Son of Heaven issued an order to take Han Rong, Shaofu Yin Xun, Zhijin Wu Hu Wuban, Wu Xun, the master craftsman, and Wang Huan, the captain of the Yue Cavalry, as the envoys to appease Yuan Shao, Wang Kuang, Han Fu, Liu Bei, Qiao Mao, Zhang Miao and others in Jizhou, Yanzhou, Hanoi and other places, hoping that they would put the community first, immediately strike the army, and each led his troops to quell the rebellion in the territory.

The Son of Heaven decreed that Taichang Ma Riyan, Emperor Fu Song in the Imperial History, and Shangshu Ling Ding Gong were used as envoys to go out of Wuguan to Nanyang, Yingchuan and other places to appease Yuan Shu, Kong Ling, Sun Jian and others.

At the same time, the Son of Heaven decreed that in the future, the general Yuan Shu would also lead Nanyang Taishou, and worship Sun Jian as the general of the captives.

The Son of Heaven decreed, because Yizhou Mu Liu Yan sent food to the imperial court in time, which greatly solved the grain shortage in Guanzhong, and the hard work was high, so he was specially awarded his title and food, and worshiped his son Liu Fan as the general of Zuo Zhonglang, Liu Dan as the imperial history of the Zhishu, and Liu Zhang as the captain of Fengche.

Liu Yan's three sons are now in Chang'an.

………………

In April, Henan Yin, Yique Pass.

Yique Pass is located in the south of Luoyang, at the mouth of Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan. Here two mountains are sandwiched, the Yi River passes through it, the terrain is very dangerous, it is the passage of Luoyang to the south, Ru and Ying to the north, it has always been a place for soldiers to fight.

On the towering tower, the big banner flutters and the flag flies. The northern sergeants stood in line with bright weapons in their hands, all of them looking nervous, as if they were facing a great enemy.

Xu Rong stood under the big river, looking at the enemy army that was getting closer and closer along the river in the distance, and his expression was extremely cold.

He was sent by Dong Zhuo to Yique Pass as Guo Yan's deputy to guard against the army of the princes in the south after defeating the Eleventh Route Army with Zhang Xiu and removing the biggest threat to Luoyang.

"General, Sun Jian's army is approaching." Song Xian said in a low voice, "Do we ask General Li for help again and ask him to immediately allocate grain and grass baggage?" Without food, we can eat people, but without ordnance, how can we garrison the passes? ”

Xu Rong frowned and did not speak. He looked up at the lush mountains on both sides of the pass, and then at the Da Xuan flying in the air, and suddenly showed a trace of perseverance on his face, and said, "Beat the drums, prepare for a bloody battle." ”

The drums of war rose to the sky, shaking the mountains and fields in an instant.

Song Xian glared at Xu Rong dissatisfiedly and glanced at Zhou Yu beside him.

Zhou Yu is the son of Zhou Shen, a general of Dangkou, and in his early years, he followed his father Zhou Shen to fight side by side with Dong Zhuo in Xiliang, and won Dong Zhuo's trust.

However, not long ago, he did something that made Dong Zhuo very angry. That is, when Yuan Shao fled Jizhou, Zhou Yu, Wu Qiong, and He Hao persuaded Dong Zhuo to temporarily give Yuan Shao the post of county guard to entrap Yuan Shao. Dong Zhuo followed their advice and took Yuan Shao as the Taishou of Bohai. Zhou Yu and Wu Qiong recommended Han Fu, Liu Dai, Kong Ling, Zhang Zhi, Zhang Miao and others to Yuan Shao, and Dong Zhuo made these people the governors of the prefecture and county, but later most of these people participated in the campaign against Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo thought that Zhou Yu, He Hao and Wu Qiong colluded with them and planned to kill them. In history, Zhou Yu, like He Hao and Wu Qiong, was indeed killed by Dong Zhuo. But at this time and space, he was pardoned because his father Zhou Shen interceded in front of Dong Zhuo, but he was sent by Dong Zhuo to fight on the most dangerous southern front and atone for his crimes.

Zhou Yu nodded understandingly, approached Xu Rong, bowed down and said, "General, we have retreated all the way, and many of the captive vegetable people have escaped, if we can't get the military supplies in time." We can't hold the Yique Pass. ”

Xu Rong waved his hand and said loudly: "Send someone to the vicinity to catch a little more, and there should be an emergency." ”

Zhou Yu's face changed, and he raised his voice slightly and said: "General, this place is less than a hundred miles away from Luoyang, if you let Li Ru and Zhu Jun know that we are taking captives near Luoyang, the general will probably ......."

Xu Rong sneered: "If we don't have 10,000 soldiers in our hands, can we survive until now?" The reason why Dong Zhuo didn't dare to touch us at the beginning was because we had an army of 10,000. When Dong Zhuo was in Luoyang a while ago, we couldn't get enough food and ordnance, not to mention that Dong Zhuo is no longer in Luoyang now. The food and ordnance of the imperial court are all for the Xiliang soldiers and the Gyeonggi soldiers, and will not give us the northern army and the Bingzhou soldiers, so don't think about it, let's go and grab it. The more fiercely you rob and kill, the more Li Ru will feel dangerous. will give us what we need. ”

Zhou Bi wanted to persuade a few more words, but when he saw Xu Rong's face showing anger, he swallowed his words back.

Xu Rong asked, "Is there any news of Yuan Shu?" ”

"Nope." Song Xian replied, "After we withdrew from the Yangren, Scout Qu had already withdrawn with the army in accordance with Guo Yan's order. However, since Xiangguo killed Yuan Kui's family, it is impossible for Yuan Shu not to attack Luoyang with all his might, and he wants to take revenge. If you look at Sun Jian's menacing appearance, you should know that Yuan Shu will not give up. ”

Xu Rong scoffed at Song Xian's words.

"If we want to live and take revenge, we have to leave this army behind." Xu Rong said slowly, "If Dong Zhuo can withdraw from Chang'an, we will be able to retreat from Luoyang." The army has nothing to eat, no ordnance to replenish, how can I defeat the rebels? ”

Zhou Yu asked, "What do you mean......?"

Xu Rong sneered: "In the eyes of Dong Zhuo and Li Ru, we and Zhongyuan are both sinners and are not trustworthy. Therefore, if Li Ru wants to keep his head, he must hold Luoyang, and he must send his most assured army to garrison the pass. (To be continued.) )