There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is that no one is talking about you.

At this moment, Liu Lan had a deep understanding of these words, and at the reception banquet arranged for him by the Sour Jujube Alliance, he sat alone like an invisible person.

But it was during the banquet that Liu Lan learned from Cao Cao that the Dong coalition army was actually divided into three routes.

The first way, but also the largest number of people, the strongest sour jujube coalition army, came to the alliance to meet the initiator Xiao cavalry captain Cao Cao, Chen Liutai shou Zhang Miao, Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao, Yanzhou Taishou Liu Dai, Yuzhou Thorn Shi Kong Ling, Dongjun Taishou Qiao Mao, Shanyang Taishou Yuan Yi, Jibei Xiang Bao Xin, Beihai Taishou Kong Rong and Xuzhou Mu Taoqian and Liu Lan named Xiangping County Lingshi Liaodong Taishou, in fact, there should be one in the sour jujube coalition army, that is, Qingzhou Thorn Shi Jiaohe, but unfortunately this person is unlucky, with soldiers and horses to come to the alliance, But before he left Qingzhou, he was defeated by the Yellow Turban Army, otherwise Gongsun Zhan would not have come to the Alliance, but instead started the idea of the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou.

The second road is the Hanoi coalition army, headed by Yuan Shao, the Taishou of Bohai, and the alliance is Jizhou Mu Hanfu, Hanoi Taishou Wang Kuang and Xihe Taishou Cui Jun, as well as a Zhang Yang, I don't know how this one got involved with his old friend Yu Fuluo and the Huns, and heard that Yuan Shao arrived in Hanoi, and came to vote.

The third road is the Luyang coalition army: the leader is the general Yuan Shu, and the alliance includes the Jiangdong Tigers, the Yuzhou Thorn Shi Sun Jian, and the Yingchuan Taishou Li Min.

The princes of the Eighteenth Road, Liu Lan didn't expect it to be so coincidental, but in the eyes of these county guards, assassins, and state pastors, the allies only have seventeen roads, of course, if you count Yin Zhujun of Henan not long after, it is the real eighteenth road, as for Zhang Yang. Because of the background of the small official (who started as a martial artist in Bingzhou), he was not included in it, and Liu Lan. In the same way, not to mention that he is only a small county magistrate. Just ask if even Zhang Yang's county guards are not counted, let alone him.

If Liu Lan in the hall is said to be an invisible person who is not treated by the princes, it is not necessarily, at least in the big tent, there are three people who will toast Liu Lan from time to time, the first is an old friend Cao Cao, the second is an old acquaintance, Kong Rong who once had a relationship in Yingchuan, and the third is Tao Qian, who met for the first time, before entering the account. Liu Lan met with him, and he was introduced by Cao Cao.

Although today's banquet is said to be for Liu Lan, but with the arrival of Wen Chou, the interest of the banquet has changed, and the three-way coalition forces have been working separately, just say that Hanoi Road, Yuan Shao and Hanoi Taishou Wang Kuangtun are stationed in Hanoi, and Jizhou Mu Hanfu is in Yecheng, of course, because he is responsible for providing military rations. He is a veritable grain and grass officer.

But what about the sour jujube here, it is divided into two roads, Yuzhou Thorn Shi Kong Ling is stationed in Yingchuan, and the others are stationed in sour jujube.

After the third road, the general Yuan Shu's office was stationed in Luyang. The three roads are not under their own control, and they are fighting for themselves, which is not. Not long ago, Jiangdong Tiger Sun Jian encountered Xu Rong, and returned defeated. Hearing the news, Yuan Shao sent people to contact the princes from all walks of life. It is hoped that the three-way coalition forces will be truly united, and an alliance leader will be elected for unified command.

Wen Chou did not attend the meeting, nor did he have the qualifications, Cao Cao recounted it on his behalf, he was very much in favor of the election of the leader of the alliance, although the three-way alliance like this is huge, it can be said that it is a plate of scattered sand, otherwise there would not be a situation where Sun Jian's light troops were defeated by Xu Rong.

He stood up, came to a specially made huge map, pointed to the landmark on it, and said: "Gentlemen, now Dong thief is sitting in Luoyang, in order to block the coalition army, with Xu Rong as the main general, he led an army of 100,000 troops to garrison Xingyang, Chenggao, and Taigu to block our sour jujube coalition army, and Hu Zhen, the Taishou of Youdong County, led the Xiyuan army of 30,000 to garrison in Guangcheng and Yique mountain passes, blocking the Luyang Yuan Highway Coalition Army, and in Mengjin and Xiaopingjin, it was garrisoned by the original Bingzhou Army to prevent Hanoi Yuan Benchu from leading the army to cross the river to the south.

You can clearly see that today's Luoyang is protected by Dong Zhuo into an iron bucket, although in terms of strength, our army has more than 300,000 people, twice as much as Dong thief, but our coalition army is a new pawn, and they are not subordinate to each other, and the combat strength is an indisputable fact, on the other hand, Dong Thief, the soldiers under the account are all elite, and there are more battlefield generals such as the main general Xu Rong, now it seems that our coalition forces are surrounding Luoyang, but it is equivalent to dispersing troops in three directions, and it is easy to be broken by Dong Thief, and if you want to break through Luoyang and drive out Dong Thief, you must unite the three armies as originally said, Otherwise, the coalition forces are in danger. ”

Cao Cao is a famous strategist and military strategist in history, and naturally saw the dilemma of the coalition army at a glance, although it seems that Dong Zhuo is also divided into three ways, but don't forget that Dong Zhuo has been dispatching in the bureau, and there are generals like Xu Rong who are good at fighting and knowing the army, although they are three roads, they are really one, on the other hand, the three-way coalition army, compared with Dong Thief, is backward in all aspects, and the only thing that can make Dong Zhuo jealous is that the coalition army occupies a large number of people, so it is imperative for the three coalition forces to unite, and the reason why Yuan Shao proposed to elect the leader of the alliance, It was he who sent a small biography to the past, but this credit was given to Yuan Shao.

At the same time that the sour jujube coalition heard the news of the joint of the three coalition forces, Yuan Shu, who had never put the eldest brother in his eyes, also received the news, compared to the excellent sour jujube coalition army, at this moment Yuan Shu was in a hurry, there were not many soldiers, but Sun Jian folded a lot of elites, and now when Hu Zhen arrived, he was forced to shrink in Luyang City and did not even dare to go out, but at this time Yuan Shao sent a messenger to come, ready to say that the three-way coalition army united and elected the leader of the alliance, Yuan Shu immediately agreed, without him, with his prestige and qualifications, Isn't this alliance leader still handy?

The calculations were very loud, but he forgot that the initiator of this discussion of Dong was Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's hair, he expressed his willingness to unite and proposed to elect the fourth and fifth princes of Yuan Benchu as the leader of the alliance after he was unanimously approved by Yuzhou Thorn Shi Kong Ling and others, and after Yuan Shao got the letter from the two parties, he chose the place of the alliance in the north of the sour date, which made Yuan Shu disgusted, Yuan Shao was not far from the sour date in Hanoi, but Luyang, where he was located, was in the north of Jing (Zhou), and it would take several days to go back and forth. He went to the book in the hope of choosing another suitable place, but Yuan Shao rejected him on the grounds that the date of the alliance of the princes was formulated.

At this moment, Yuan Shu completely understood that he was isolated, and he had the heart not to participate in their alliance, and he was worried that he would not be able to resist Dong Thief, but he could go to the alliance, and he was worried that Yuan Shuzi, who was the leader of the alliance, would be shorter.

Time passed day by day, and the day of the alliance was getting closer and closer, Yuan Shu finally compromised after resisting for a few days, leaving Sun Jian to garrison and attend the meeting in person.

And Liu Lan, who has been idle and bored for many days, has another hobby these days, that is, to go to various camps to investigate, what to see? Look at the colorful flags fluttering outside the line.

There is nothing outstanding about the Daxu flag, but the color of the Daxu flag has a lot of ways.

And this is the reason for attracting Liu Lan's attention, Zhang Fei couldn't help but be impressed by this, there are all kinds of flags, it must be to distinguish the troops commanded by the county guards, what is there to see, but to Zhang Fei's words, Liu Lan smiled: "Since the five virtues have always prevailed, the color of the Daxu flag and the soldier's armor is regulated, especially since Emperor Guangwu changed the water virtue to the fire virtue, the Han Dynasty's armies are all red as the main color, whether it is external or internal, Shang red This belt shows the virtue of the Han Dynasty, It is expressed by the five elements, that is, the five virtues of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, and must not be deviated. But now these various banners are not so much to distinguish the troops led by the county guards, but to intuitively reveal the selfishness in the hearts of the county guards. ”

"Selfishness?" Zhang Fei looked surprised: "Sima, can you see what these county guards are thinking just by looking at these big banners?" ”

"Of course!" (To be continued......)