Yuan Shao was rendered speechless by Gongsun Zan's scolding, and Tao Qian was rendered speechless by Cao Cao's words. The anger in the hearts of the vassals was slightly vented.
Soon, they gathered their troops and returned to the camp.
? In this battle, the Alliance lost a lot of soldiers. Other than Cao Cao, no one had more than 10,000 soldiers.
With low morale, for many days, the vassals only drank in the army to drown their sorrows and did not mention sending troops to break through the pass.
At the same time, because of the consecutive defeats, many of the soldiers were frustrated and had constant conflicts. Yuan Shu saw that the Alliance's rations had been reduced.
The governor of Yanzhou, Liu Dai, was short of food. When he saw that Qiao Mao had brought a lot of food, he wanted to borrow some. However, he was forcefully rejected. In the end, Liu Dai led his troops to attack at night and destroyed Qiao Mao!
As a result, the Son of Heaven fell into the hands of the rebels, the Yuan family was wiped out, and Liu Dai, a relative of the Han clan, took the lead in killing the prefect. The hearts of the vassals were shaken, and they were separated from each other. They were on guard against each other, and the 18 vassals showed signs of falling apart.
Of course, Dong Zhuo and Li Ru, who were far away in Luoyang, did not know about this for the time being. Naturally, they had another plan.
At the Grand Preceptor's residence,
"Grand Preceptor, although Luoyang has Tiger Cage and Imperium Pass to block off the heroes of the east of the country, the emperor is in our hands. The descendants of those big families want to defeat us to raise their reputation!" Therefore, it could be foreseen that even if they could defeat these eighteen dukes in the future, there would still be others who would continue to harass them! As time goes on, the south side of Tiger Cage Pass will relax, and it will inevitably fall. At that time, we will be in danger.”
"Wenyou, don't beat around the bush with me. Just say what you want to say." Dong Zhuo laughed strangely.”
Li Ru laughed softly." So, Grand Preceptor, in my opinion, why don't we move the capital to Chang 'an? That way, even if someone breaks through Tiger Cage, we still have Hangu Pass and Tongguan to reject. It's enough to support us until we mobilize our troops to fight the enemy!" Moreover, if a vassal wanted to attack Sanfu from the east of the country, the journey would be tiring, and it would be difficult to sustain their rations. It was almost as if no matter how many people came, they would die.”
Dong Zhuo immediately hesitated." As you said, the pigs and dogs in the east of the country are constantly sending troops, which is indeed a hidden danger…However, the Guangwu Kingdom has been passed down for twelve generations. The center of the Great Han Dynasty is Luoyang. There are many people here, and it's easy to get money and food. We can also attack the provinces in the east of the country. If we withdraw our troops, the prosperity here will not belong to us!”
"Grand Preceptor, the money and grain of the Great Han are all concentrated in Si Li. Why don't we rob the rich families of Si Li and move their money and grain into Chang 'an? From then on, Chang' an will be the richest in the world, and Grand Preceptor can enjoy it for the rest of your life.”
However, Dong Zhuo still shook his head." Chang 'an is in ruins. The population is declining. The palace in the city has been in disrepair for a long time. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't want to go back! Moreover, I have a strong army and a strong horse, and I have control over Liu Xie. If I don't fight with the Guandong vassals and retreat, won't I be underestimated by the Guandong vassals and further encourage their arrogance? With this retreat, all kinds of cats and dogs would dare to come to Tiger Cage Pass to test the waters!”
Li Ru's eyes flashed, and he looked at Dong Zhuo a little more highly. After thinking for a while, he said,"What Grand Preceptor said makes sense. However, since Tiger Cage Pass lost General Hua Xiong, there hasn't been a strong general guarding it. Although Xu Rong has won twice, our Western Liang Steel Cavalry only values martial strength. Xu Rong is in charge of the soldiers, so his morale is not high and his combat strength is not strong. We need to send a general out of the Tiger Suppressing Prison.”
Dong Zhuo knew that Tiger Cage Pass was related to his honor, glory, and life. He thought for a while and said,"Lieutenant General Dong Yue and Duan Wei are both famous.”
Li Ru shook his head." These people became generals because of their families 'influence. It's fine to give them preferential treatment and use the power behind them, but Tiger Cage Pass needs to be guarded by a truly fierce general!" It was said that the new Lu Bu was known as the Flying General. Ding Jianyang was afraid of his bravery and had been suppressing him. Even the valiant generals in the army were afraid of him. It was better to let him be the general and leave the Tiger Prison!”
"Lu Bu?"
Dong Zhuo frowned and pondered.
"This person's martial arts are indeed unparalleled. I usually practice with him, and he only uses half of his strength. "However, this person killed his father and joined me. He's extremely ambitious. I'm not at ease letting him take control of the military and guard Tiger Prison!”
Li Ru laughed softly." Grand Preceptor, Lu Bu killed his father because Ding Yuan deliberately suppressed him. If Grand Preceptor puts him in an important position, Lu Bu will definitely repay you!" Moreover, in the current situation, the Grand Preceptor's 200,000 cavalry looked down on the heroes of the east of the country, occupied Si Li, and controlled the emperor's officials. Was the Grand Preceptor afraid that he would turn to those useless princes?”
Dong Zhuo immediately let out a strange laugh like a jackal."Wenyou is right! Then pass on my orders. Tell Lu Bu to go to Tiger Prison and take control of the 50,000 soldiers there!”
"Grand Preceptor is wise!"
……
After leaving the Grand Preceptor Residence, Li Ru's gaze turned cold.
After returning to the residence, Li Ru shut himself in the darkness and looked at the darkness around him, quietly pondering.
"The Grand Preceptor is greedy for Luoyang's prosperity and has the intention to compete with the heroes of the east of the country. If I continue to stay here, something will happen sooner or later. I have to think of a plan to make the Grand Preceptor decide to move the capital.”
Not long after, Li Ru came out of the darkness and called a few attendants from his residence. After a secret conversation, everyone immediately dispersed. Li Ru's expression was normal, and he still accompanied Dong Zhuo every day.
A few days later, Dong Zhuo felt that something was wrong.
"Wenyou, I heard that there's a folk song circulating in Si Li recently. Have you heard of it?”
"Grand Preceptor, I've been keeping an eye on Tiger Cage recently." How did a mere folk song attract the Grand Preceptor's attention?”
Dong Zhuo immediately sat down with Li Ru and began to talk non-stop.
"I heard that the local children are singing recently, singing something like 'A Han in the east, a Han in the west, a deer walking into Chang' an, then there will be no difficulty'. I keep feeling that there's something wrong with this song. Wenyou, what do you think?”
Li Ru laughed secretly and pretended to think for a moment. Suddenly, he revealed a happy expression."Grand Preceptor, happy news, happy news!"
"Oh? Where did the joy come from?"
"Grand Preceptor, do you know how many generations Chang 'an has been passed down since Liu Bang founded the country?”
"This…I don't know…"
"Twelfth generation!" The joy on Li Ru's face did not diminish.
"Oh!"
"Grand Preceptor, do you know how many generations Emperor Guangwu has passed down since he established Luoyang as his capital?”
"Twelfth generation?"
"That's right!" Li Ru's expression became excited." Grand Preceptor, in ancient times, there was a saying that one had to fight for the world. Deer are mountains and rivers! Even the common people knew that whoever entered Chang 'an would be able to achieve hegemony!”
"Moreover, Gaozu passed it down for twelve generations in Chang 'an, and Emperor Guangwu passed it down for twelve generations in Luoyang! It could be seen that after twelve days, there would be a new cycle! Now, whoever could beat Chang 'an would become the new overlord!”
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