Jicheng County Shoufu.

In the lobby, Li Li, Li Xuan, and Li Ru were happy, and laughter filled every corner, endlessly, and endured.

Seeing that the lord Li Li promised to give official titles to the princes from all walks of life, Li Xuan and Li Ru couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and waited for Li Li's next instructions with a smile on their faces.

Sitting at the head of the left side of the hall, Li Li looked calm, and with a smile, he analyzed the princes who had paid tribute to the imperial court one by one, and told the story eloquently.

"Liu Biao of Jingzhou has the style of an elder, with both prestige and talent, and is known as a virtuous person. Since he took Jingzhou, the counties and counties of Jingxiang have been quite rich, with few wars, more than 100,000 troops, and good strength, and they have firmly controlled the overall situation of Jingzhou. In addition, he is old, but his children are young and his ambitions are not big, so he has the intention of sitting in Jingxiang and enjoying the glory in peace. Therefore, the imperial court can crown him as the general of Zhennan and the pastor of Jingzhou, and add him to the title of Marquis of Wu, opening the mansion and fake festivals. In addition, the title of his eldest son Liu Qi as the general of Zhonglang and the marquis of Guan Nei, the meaning of the alliance is good, which can be regarded as my reward for him!

Xuzhou Thorn Shi Taoqian, Xuzhou has been in charge of Xuzhou for four or five years, with a solid foundation, generous governance, and is quite loved by the people of Xuzhou. In addition, he is now more than 70 years old, and he has little ambition, he only wants to sit in Xuzhou and spend his old age in peace, and his two sons are not talented. In this case, he was named General Andong and Xuzhou Mu, and was crowned Marquis of Liyang, and was given the right to open the mansion. Jingzhou Liu Biao's sons have all been entitled, and the general can't favor one over the other and look at people differently. Therefore, the two sons of Tao Qian were Zhonglang generals, and they were both given to the marquis of Guannei.

Yuan Shao of Jizhou, in the past, Dong Xiangguo was afraid of his Yuan family's protégés and officials all over the world, so he let him live, but he didn't think that now it has become the climate. However, this person should not be underestimated, with a prominent family background, and was born in the Yuan family, who was born in the fourth generation and the third duke. It is also deeply supported by the Yuan clan. Now he has won the most densely populated state and county in the Han Dynasty - Jizhou, and he has led the general of the chariot and the pastor of Jizhou, arrogant and arrogant, and does not take the imperial court in his eyes, and actually covets the position of the general.

It's a pity that I, Li Li, am not Dong Xiangguo, Dong Zhuo cares about his identity as the son of the Yuan family, and gives him three points of thin face in everything, but I don't have to look at his face. Therefore, he doesn't have to worry about the position of a general. In the past few years, he has not succeeded. The imperial court can entitle him as a general of the chariot and cavalry, a pastor of Jizhou, and give him what he has already obtained, which is also worthy of the little money he paid tribute. In addition, he was crowned the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion; He could have been given a title comparable to that of the Third Duke, but this person was too unpopular. So he can only be enshrined as a pavilion marquis. If he feels disgraced, then he can knight himself himself. Is this what he does best?

Youzhou Gongsun Zhan's strength is not too strong. But the reputation is very good, the reputation of General White Horse is far and wide, I heard it in Xiliangdu. Therefore, the imperial court named him the general of Fenwu and the marquis of Yi, the main war, the commander of the expedition, and made an exception to give him the right to open the palace. That's the only way. Only then can he fight against Yuan Shao and stop Yuan Shao's plot against Youzhou.

In addition, Gongsun Zhan and Liaodong Gongsun Du are cousins, and we need to appease him. The imperial court can crown him as the general of Yamen and the Taishou of Liaodong. Guan Neihou; Like Gongsun Zhan, he made an exception and gave him the right to open a mansion, so that he had the right to conquer and wait for the opportunity to use troops against the barbarians in the northeast.

Nanyang Yuan Shu has a virtue with his brother Yuan Shao, thinks very highly of himself, and likes to play with power. still crowned him as the rear general, added the title of Yang Zhai Marquis, and faked the festival. In addition, Yuan Shu was allowed to ask for the title of Jin Shang as the assassin of Yanzhou; When the envoy delivers the edict, he will send him a handwritten letter from me, and I am sure that he will be moved after reading it.

Yanzhou Cao Cao, who assassinated Dong Xiangguo alone in the past, has become famous since then, and then he is the deputy leader of the alliance of princes, which is quite prestigious. More importantly, this person has the posture of a hero, and he also has the talent to govern the world. In the past, the famous man Xu Shao once said: 'Cao Cao is a capable minister who rules the world, and a traitor in troubled times'. That being the case, he was named the general of Zhenbei, the history of Qingzhou Thorn, the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion, the opening of the mansion, and the fake festival. Originally, it didn't matter if Yanzhou was given to him, but I was going to slap Yuan Shu and give him another red date, and give Yanzhou to Jin Shang. Therefore, he had to let Cao Cao serve as the assassin of Qingzhou, but he gave him the position of general of Zhenbei, and still gave him the right to conquer, as for whether he can take Yanzhou from Jin Shang, it depends on his own ability.

Yanzhou is now entrenched in several princes who are not too strong, and Chen Liu, Zhang Miao, Lu Bu, Chen Gong and others are mixed together, which is a good thing. I intend that Zhang Miao is still the Taishou of Chen, but he is crowned the Marquis of Duxiang, and Lu Bu is the Taishou of Jiyin County. In addition, Lu Bu was the general of the imperial court before, and he was more than the third duke, and now the imperial court officially gave him the right to open the mansion and fake the festival. After all, they all thanked me, and I couldn't say anything about it, let Zhang Miao and Lu Bu occupy the land of the two counties and take care of each other, so that they could keep their territory and have a place to live.

In addition to the above princes, Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu and other generations do not entitle any positions, let them add titles to themselves. Only in this way will I have the opportunity to wipe them out and let them know that I Li Li has a small heart and will take revenge!

As for Liu Yan, the pastor of Yizhou, he asked the imperial court to issue an order to deprive him of the title of the third duke, change it to the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion, and send an envoy to Yizhou to investigate and punish him again for the crime of privately making dragon chairs and using the honor guard of the Son of Heaven without authorization. If the clues are investigated, he will be deprived of his position as the pastor of Yizhou and reappointed as the assassin of Yizhou. If he dares to resist, kill the imperial envoy, and tell him clearly, I will lead a large army to attack Xichuan in a few days, and I will be edicted to beg the thief! ”

"Ahh Listening to the edict of the lord Li Li to the princes, Li Xuan and Li Ru were secretly frightened, and when they heard that the lord was going to deprive Liu Yan of his official title and lead the army to attack Shu, they couldn't help but exclaim anymore.

"Could it be that the lord really wants to lead the troops to attack Shu?" Li Xuan was shocked and asked urgently.

Li Li laughed disapprerovingly and said: "What kind of felling, scaring Liu Yan, this is called returning the favor with one's own way!" He used to provoke me, but now I'm just bluffing. Hehehe! ”

After laughing, Li Li restrained his smile and said, "In addition to these powerful princes, among the other county guards, all those who pay tribute to the imperial court will try their best to meet their reasonable requirements. The official position that should be given must be given, and it can even be slightly higher, so that they know that I, Li Li, am by no means a narrow-minded person, but it varies from person to person, and it is not reluctant to confer their official position.

Nowadays, we in Xiliang now lack everything. The only thing that is the number of official positions is as many as there are. As long as they can afford the price, even if they want to buy the position of the general and the third duke, I will not hesitate to give them the title. After all, these official positions do not need to be allocated by us, but only need a holy decree, and since they have good names and love vanity, I will fulfill them. It's a pity that these county guards are only afraid that their financial resources are limited and they can't afford to buy excessively high official positions, otherwise I really want to sell them a three-public position! ”

After Li Xuan and Li Ru heard this, they looked at each other. was stunned for a long time, and then laughed dumbly, deeply feeling that the words of the lord were rough and reasonable, and they hit the essence.

In fact. Everything is just as Li Li said.

And today, the princes who really need the imperial court's edict. There are only more than a dozen. Others don't. And these princes who need to be enthroned by the imperial court are very strong in their respective strengths, and they are already the best among the princes. Therefore, they need to borrow the edict of the Son of Heaven to justify their own name, so as to obtain the name of righteousness, further develop and strengthen their own strength, and so that they can occupy a place in the princes' hegemony in the future. Build a strong foundation. As for some other small princes such as the county guards, at the moment these people are purely the kind of people who fish in troubled waters, temporarily grabbing money and wealth, but after all, they will not be able to last long. Sooner or later it will be annexed by the great princes. At that time, there are only two paths in front of them, either to bow down to the strong or to bring about their own destruction.

While thinking about it, Li Ru gently stroked a two-inch-long pinch of black beard on his chin, and said to Li Li respectfully: "My lord, my subordinates feel that the lord's edict on Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao just now seems to be inappropriate. On the surface, the lord has already enshrined them and given them a high position of power; In fact, the official position they really wanted, but the lord did not give them the title. According to the subordinates, after the decree was issued, the three of them must have been extremely dissatisfied with the lord, and even resentful of the lord, and they would oppose us everywhere. Since the lord gave Liu Biao, Tao Qian, Gongsun Zhan, Gongsun Du and others the official positions they wanted, even beyond their expectations, why didn't they appease Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao? After all, these three people are already the most powerful princes in the Central Plains, and they are extremely famous and have a certain influence on the situation in the world. ”

"Hehehe!" Li Li smiled happily when he heard this: "Wen You's mind is quick, and he can tell the true intention of the general in one word. In the past, the strategy of the pre-Qin to deal with the Six Kingdoms was: distant friendship and close attack. The situation facing our Xiliang army today is very similar to the situation of the Qin State in the past, the only difference is that the strength of our army is far above that of the pre-Qin and occupies an extremely favorable situation. Therefore, our relationship with the princes of all parties can still adopt the strategy of Qin to deal with the Six Kingdoms, and make friends with the princes of Liaodong Gongsun Du, Youzhou Gongsun Zhan, Xuzhou Tao Qian, Jingzhou Liu Biao and other princes, but we also give special 'care' to the princes such as Cao Cao of Yanzhou, Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Yuan Shu of Nanyang.

This move will naturally anger Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others, and the relationship with Zhang Yang, Zhang Lu and Yizhou Liu Yan and other princes is tense, which is tantamount to making enemies on all sides. In other words, even if Ben will give them everything they want, they will still be our enemies, and they will still be on guard against us at all times, and they will not be able to raise troops to destroy our Xiliang army. Since we have never been able to win them over, we simply make it clear that we are entangled with each other. They want to curb the development and growth of our Xiliang Prefecture, so I will also set up some obstacles for them, and no one of them will want to live in peace.

In addition, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, known as half-brothers, actually have their own ghosts and cannot form a joint force. Moreover, the Yuan brothers have one thing in common, that is, they are arrogant by nature and have no one in their eyes. If I had agreed to their request and given them the position they wanted, then instead of being grateful to me, they would have made them more and more unscrupulous, and would not take the court seriously at all, let alone take me Li Li seriously. They despise me, which would have been a good thing, and would have made it easy for me to defeat them; It's a pity that I, Xiliang, need stability now, and I can't move troops at will. So I need to deter them and let them know that if today is no longer the era when their Yuan family is dominant, I have to give them what they want; It's that I Li Li can give them whatever he wants, and what he doesn't want to give, even if they send someone to ask for it, they still can't get it! ”

After Li Xuan and Li Ru heard this, they nodded in agreement with Li Li's statement. It's just that the two of them are still worried, their faces are full of worry, and their eyes are full of solemnity.

After a while, Li Xuan pondered and said: "The lord's words are thought-provoking and admirable to his subordinates. It's just that 、、、 lord has ever considered that one day they are very likely to join forces to be the enemy of my Xiliang army? If this is the case, the strength of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Yuan Shu is not weak, once they join forces, the strength will exceed 500,000, or even more. At that time, they will have the strength to exterminate our army, and our Xiliang army will be in a worrying situation! ”

"Hehehe!" Li Li said loudly: "If what Yuan Zhong said is a prophecy, then I want to see how strong they are together, and whether they have the ability to break through the three levels and fight a decisive battle with my Xiliang army!" If they can't even beat the three levels, then get out of here as soon as possible, why be embarrassed! With the existing strength of our Xiliang Army, even if they join forces to attack, I am not afraid, I will definitely ask them to fold outside the Hangu Pass, and then our army will take the Central Plains in one go! It's a pity that they won't unite, because none of the three of them will obey the other. It's just that since then, it doesn't matter if they go their own way, but on the contrary, we don't dare to act rashly.

The punch that goes out is actually not scary, and the really powerful masters often hide their fists and don't make a move, and once they shoot, they will be able to knock down the opponent with one punch. This is the case between my Western Liang Army and the Kwantung princes. Our army wants to develop and restore the people's livelihood, so we must put away our fists and not attack easily; And the princes are the same, they are also accumulating strength, actively expanding their territory, and recruiting troops. When the time is ripe, or if they are strong enough to a certain extent, they will inevitably fight to the death with our army. But they may all be overestimating themselves.

In troubled times, only the strong can make the rules, and the weak can only struggle within the rules. Therefore, whether to fight or not to fight is not decided by them, but by me, Li Li! If I want to fight, they will fight without fighting, and they can only be beaten passively and strengthen their defense and resistance; If I don't fight, even if they join forces to attack, it will only be a waste of money and a futile effort, and they will not be able to break through my Xiliang Pass at all! ”

Li Li's words were really arrogant and ambitious, which made Li Xuan and Li Ru excited and excited.

―――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......