Friends are very happy to meet, and there is always something to talk about. As he spoke, he talked about the matter of Xingyang. Sun Jian said: "I have been observing these days, the city wall of Xingyang is tall, and Xu Rong is a brave and resourceful person, with only my tens of thousands of horses, I am afraid it will be difficult to capture." ”

Li Hui said with a smile: "General Sun doesn't have to worry, there will be flaws in the solid defense, just see if we can find them, as long as we find the flaws, Xingyang will definitely be taken away, I still have hundreds of sergeants here, although they are not of great use, but they are all brave people, and they are all dispatched by General Sun." ”

Sun Jian held Li Hui's hand: "I have received the mind of the virtuous nephew, the virtuous nephew has always been a master of tricks, there are virtuous nephews, there are tens of millions of people, I am relieved to have the words of virtuous nephews!" ”

Sun Jianjun's camp tent was quickly set up, and Sun Jian took Li Hui and others to see the city. Xingyang is the gateway to the southeast of Luoyang, and if you open Xingyang, you can go straight to the Tiger Pass. Dong Zhuo is also very dedicated to the defense of Xingyang, since he moved into Luoyang, he has been on guard against the Kwantung princes all the time, and he spared no expense to build Xingyang.

Originally, Xingyang was just a small city, but it has become quite large-scale over the years. Not only was the city wall taller and wider, but tens of thousands of people were forcibly relocated from near Luoyang to live in Xingyang. After Xu Rong arrived, he vigorously repaired it, and there were many defensive equipment on the city wall, and soldiers patrolled back and forth. It also drew people from the local area to block several major city gates with sand and gravel, which can be described as a tight defense.

Circled around Xingyang. Sun Jian said: "How is it?" This Xingyang City is really like an iron bucket, unless the city tower is attacked, there is no plan to break the enemy. ”

Li Hui also nodded and said: "This Xu Rong is really powerful, according to this, there are not 100,000 people, and he doesn't want to capture this Xingyang." ”

Sun Jian shook his head and said: "I heard that Dong Zhuo sent Xu Rong to bring 50,000 horses, plus the original men and horses in the city, almost 70,000 or 80,000 people, 100,000 people attacked the high city guarded by 780,000 people, and it may not be able to capture it." ”

Zhao Yun interjected: "General Sun, don't grow the ambition of others to destroy his own prestige, in my opinion, this Xingyang is like an iron bucket, but Dong Zhuo is not popular with the people, if he really wants to fight, the people will not defend the city with their strength to the death, this city is easy to break." ”

"Oh?" Sun Jian and Li Hui glanced at each other and asked Zhao Yundao, "Where do the three generals think it's better to attack?" ”

Zhao Yun blinked: "I haven't thought about this yet, but General Sun wants to attack the city, and I, Zhao Yun, am willing to be the first to take the lead!" ”

Li Hui and Sun Jian both laughed. Turning back to the south gate, Li Hui saw a middle-aged man in armor on top of the castle tower looking at them. He shouted: "Is it General Xu Rong in the city? ”

The man was slightly stunned and replied, "It's Xu, who are you?" ”

Li Hui said: "My name is Li Hui, the general knows that Dong Zhuo is guilty of heinous crimes, why bother to work for Dong Zhuo, listen to my advice, abandon the dark and go to the bright position!" ”

Xu Rong laughed and said: "It turns out that you are Li Hui, the prime minister has been looking for you, I didn't expect you to run to the rebels, I received the prime minister's great favor, how dare I be treacherous, don't gossip anymore, just let the horse come, Xu Rong will wait like this." ”

After Xu Rong finished speaking, without waiting for Li Hui to answer, he turned around and went down to the city. Li Hui said with a smile: "Although this Xu Rong has wisdom, he is a foolish and loyal person, and such a person is the easiest to do from behind." ”

Sun Jian looked at Li Hui with a smile, pointed at him and said, "It seems that the virtuous nephew has a countermeasure, that's good, that's good, let's say, how can I cooperate with you?" ”

Li Hui smiled but said nothing.

The next day, Sun Jian sent someone to send a letter to Xu Rong, the letter was written very neatly, and the words in it were also very sincere, and Xu Rong was greatly praised. Xu Rong was reading the letter, and Hu Zhen came in. He said to Xu Rong: "General, I heard that the rebels sent you a letter, I don't know what to say?" ”

Xu Rong casually handed the letter to Hu Zhen, and after reading it, Hu Zhen asked: "This Sun Jian is really strange, this letter seems to be very long, but he didn't say anything, what kind of medicine is sold in this gourd?" ”

Xu Rong shook his head: "Don't pay attention to him, just do a good job of defense!" ”

Hu Zhen returned to his mansion, wrote out Xu Rong's letter, and put it on his desk to study. I watched it all night, and I didn't find any flaws. The next day, Xu Rong received another letter from Sun Jian, and like the previous one, he said all good things, but this time the letter was written with killing.

The red characters are interspersed in the middle of the black letters, which is particularly obvious. Xu Rong read those red words together, and broke out in a cold sweat. He was just about to burn the letter when Hu Zhen came again. Seeing that Xu Rong was burning letters, he snatched it from Xu Rong's hand, and didn't ask if he could see it, he opened it directly, and immediately noticed those red letters.

Hu Zhen silently recited: "Tonight, night, three, more, North ......" The remaining words have been burned.

Hu Zhen looked at Xu Rong, and Xu Rong also looked at Hu Zhen, and the two were silent for three seconds. Hu Zhen said: "The general doesn't have to mind, this must be the enemy's counter-plot, and I will definitely clarify for the general." ”

Back in his house, Hu Zhen wrote the letter silently. A comparison of the two letters quickly led to the identification of the key words in the first letter. It connects them as follows: letter, receive, arrive, rejoice, welcome, general, army, abandon, dark, vote, and light.

Hu Zhen looked at the two letters and smiled. For many years, he was born and died, but he was crushed by Xu Rong, who later joined the army, and admitted that he may not be as good as Xu Rong in martial arts. But when he marched and fought, he didn't lose anything to him, and now the evidence is conclusive, I don't believe that the prime minister won't let me be the commander of Xingyang.

Seeing Hu Zhen's recital, Dong Zhuo jumped like thunder and scolded Xu Rong for being ungrateful. Li Ru on the side hurriedly read the recital, and said to Dong Zhuo: "Father-in-law, don't be angry, these two letters alone can't prove that General Xu has defected to the enemy, I think it is very likely to be the rebels' counter-plot, please think twice!" ”

Dong Zhuo thought about it and made some sense, spit out the stuffiness in his chest, and asked: "I don't know if it's really the best, if this Xu Rong really surrenders to the enemy, Xingyang will be in danger, what do you think to do now?" ”

Li Ru thought for a while and said: "Xu Rong is the prime minister's former minister, I think it is better to demote Xu Rong to a deputy general, let Hu Zhen temporarily act as the commander, and secretly order Hu Zhen to arrest Xu Rong immediately if there is any change, and it is better to prevent trouble before it happens." ”

Dong Zhuo nodded, and went to the back hall to find his Diao Chan girl.

When the news of Dong Zhuo's dismissal of Xu Rong reached Sun Jianjun, Sun Jian laughed, stretched out his thumb and said to Li Hui: "The virtuous nephew is really smart, and the two letters let Dong Zhuo exempt Xu Rong, high, too high." ”

Li Hui said: "Dong Zhuo's personnel composition is too mixed, there are his Xiliang army, He Jin's Luoyang army, and Ding Yuan's Jinyang army, there are many factions, and this kind of thing to sow discord is the easiest to achieve. ”

Sun Jian laughed and said: "What the virtuous nephew said is very true, since Xu Rong has been dismissed by Dong Zhuo, he will pass the order to go down, and at noon tomorrow, he will start attacking the city!" ”