"Moreover, Hedong and Hebei originally had a quarrel with each other, plus the two families were adjacent, Hebei was close and Yanzhou was far away, after this grudge, it could become a trend of 'two tigers fighting'. The two tigers compete, the big one is injured, the small one dies, the prince can sit and reap the benefits of Bian Zhuangzi, and subdue the two strong enemies in one fell swoop! ”

After listening to Dong Zhao's words, Cao Cao was silent. Although Dong Zhao threw him a tempting fruit at the end, Cao Cao was still sober and not dazzled by the illusory beauty.

Dong Zhao's strategy synthesized the ideas of Wang Bi, Mao Jue and others to "serve the Son of Heaven and not be a minister", and also adopted Guo Jia's strategy of "taking Yan with Yuan", but in the implementation of the details, it still failed to solve the thorny problem.

For example, how to make the division famous and induce Yuan Shao of Yecheng to send troops to divide the situation in the east of the river; how to take advantage of the opportunity to send troops and welcome the Son of Heaven from the city of Luoyang; And how to stabilize Yuan Shao afterwards, so as to firmly control the Son of Heaven and the imperial court in his hands······

If these detailed problems are not resolved, those grand strategies of "serving the Son of Heaven to please the Son of Heaven and not being subordinate" will be like a castle in the air, and it will be impossible to implement it at all.

The world's famous people are all high-minded, and ordinary people also like these grand and far-reaching strategies, but Cao Cao will sneer at them most of the time.

The grander, the more hollow, the more far-reaching, the more nothing.

"Gongren, if you follow your strategy, what kind of trick will you do?"

Cao Cao stopped stroking his beard in his hand, his expression was solemn, the atmosphere around him condensed, and a pair of eyes looked at Dong Zhao with blazing eyes.

Dong Zhao's heart was shocked, he also noticed the change in Cao Cao's momentum, and hurriedly reined in his spirit and replied seriously:

"It's temporary, and it's not possible. If the prince and the marquis do not use Zhao to be dull and talented, Zhao is willing to go to Luoyang to assist Wang and Guo Erjun, and after getting their affection, they are the ears of power to control. ”

"Good, then you will be alone!"

After receiving Dong Zhao's reply from taking the initiative to ask for help, Cao Cao regained his previous state of smiling and smiling, took Dong Zhao's hand affectionately, and said with a smile.

Dong Zhao's face also smiled again, but in his heart, he was awe-inspiring for Cao Cao's momentum that he had just not been angry and arrogant.

"Cao Mengde, the true male master!"

···

"What a mediocre lord!"

Wang Zhong, who had a red face and a wine trough nose, was lying in the weeds, with a ring-headed knife on his head, thinking of his current situation, he couldn't help but curse and said.

Of course, he scolded Yang Ding and Li Dao.

Wang Zhong, who was born in Fufeng, was originally just a small pavilion chief, but later because Guanzhong was occupied by Li, Guo and other generals of the Xiliang Army, coupled with the arrogance and lawlessness of the Xiliang Army, Wang Zhong thought to himself that if this pavilion chief continued to be in office, sooner or later he would either be starved to death or killed by the rebels.

So, he simply gathered a group of township party members and defected to Yang Ding, the general of the Xiliang Army.

With his personal ability, Wang Zhong, the little pavilion chief, was also very prosperous under Yang Ding, and even won the favor of the military general Yang Ding, and was promoted to Yang Ding's side as a personal guard.

Last year, Yang Ding, Dong Cheng, Song Guo and others raised troops to kill Li Dao, and Wang Zhong was entrusted with an important task by Yang Ding to go across the Chidao to intercept and kill Li Ru, a think tank under Li Dao.

As a result, although the people were not killed, fortunately, Yang Ding and others succeeded in raising troops, and Wang Zhong also rose to the position of a hundred generals in the army by virtue of his ability to play off.

Just when Wang Zhong thought that with Yang Ding's relationship, he could show his strength in the army, Yang Ding and Dong Cheng were defeated by Li Dao, and even Xijing Chang'an City was abandoned by the imperial court in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, when Wang Zhong was defeated, he saw the opportunity quickly, gathered some of his subordinates and surrendered in time, and was soon incorporated by Li Dao as his own soldiers and joined Li Dao's army.

Because Li Dao's vitality was greatly damaged, in order to gather people and win people's hearts, he had to wantonly confer officials and knights, so although Wang Zhong was a descended pawn, there were only a few dozen remnants left under his command, but he was instead awarded the position of military candidate by Li Dao, and he was nominally able to command a song of soldiers and horses.

So, just when Wang Zhong was about to hug Li Dao's thigh that no matter how hard he pulled it, Li Dao fell unexpectedly.

Li Dao's army continued to pursue the Son of Heaven in the east hunt, but was defeated by the Hedong-Hongnong coalition army, and fled back to Chang'an in embarrassment.

At the turn of spring and summer this year, Li Dao, who had not yet relieved his breath, suffered a fierce attack from Ma Teng's army between Wangyu and Chongqing, and the weakened Li Dao was not Ma Teng's opponent at all, and his soldiers and horses were crushed at the touch of a button, Li Dao had no choice but to abandon Chang'an City, and led the remnants to flee to Huangbai City in the territory of Zuo Fengyi.

Ma Teng was defeated in the hands of Li Dao, this time to send troops to Chang'an, called the crusade against the rebels, in fact, it is revenge to seize the land, the menacing Ma Teng army has no surplus food to support the soldiers, so every time the battle, the red-eyed Ma Teng army rarely left prisoners.

This frightened Wang Zhong, who learned of the news, did not dare to surrender, so he could only take a group of remnants to break away from Li Dao's team and flee to the mountains and forests.

Today's situation in Guanzhong can be described as chaotic, with Wang Cheng in Wannian, Liang Xing in Lantian, Zhang Heng in Zhengxian, plus Li Dao in Huangbaicheng, and Ma Teng's army in Guanzhong, which can be described as a forest of mountains and thieves.

In this case, the strong are in the dock to protect themselves, and the weak flee to other places, although Wang Zhong has forty or fifty remnants of uneven armor, he can still only be regarded as a weakling, and can only flee, preparing to pass through the Wuguan and flee to the relatively stable and peaceful land of Jingxiang.

It's just that these remnants under Wang Zhong's command are mostly people in Guanzhong, and their homeland is difficult to leave, thinking that the future is slim after escaping to Jingxiang, so they hesitate on the way, and Wang Zhong can only take the remnants to plunder the road between Shangluo, and barely survive by robbing small groups of fugitive soldiers and fishing, hunting, picking mountain fruits, wild vegetables, etc.

Gradually, there were also some outlaws and people who had no way out to come to defect, and the manpower under Wang Zhong's command gradually increased.

It's just that with the increase in the number of people, the food obtained from fishing and hunting, picking mountain fruits and wild vegetables is becoming more and more beyond their means, and the Wang Zhong who is wandering between Shangluo and gradually growing has also aroused the jealousy of Liang Xing, who is a powerful man who has divided Lantian, Liang Xing personally led his troops to exterminate Wang Zhong, and those rabble under Wang Zhong's command immediately scattered and collapsed once they were defeated, and Wang Zhong under the defeat could only take the remaining dozen or so people to regain the old way, flee to Wuguan, and prepare to defect to Jingxiang.

On this day, Wang Zhong, who was on the way to escape, was so hungry and thirsty that he couldn't walk anymore, so he simply leaned into the weeds on the side of the road, and sent his men to look for food and water, preparing to find something to satisfy his stomach before he hurried.

When resting, Wang Zhong, who was extremely bored and troubled, scolded Yang Ding and Li Daolai.

In his opinion, this Yang Ding and Li Dao are both mediocre masters, and they obviously have such a good foundation, but Ren has stubbornly lost the foundation in his hands, and by the way, he has destroyed the land in Guanzhong to the point that it has become a desolate situation where thieves are swarming and starving all over the field.

also dragged himself to flee everywhere, like a lost dog, panicking all day.

Just as he was scolding, a thin soldier under his command ran over with a spear, interrupted Wang Zhong's scolding, and shouted excitedly:

"Soldiers, a wild settlement was found not far ahead, and everyone has fled, and we are going to occupy it to see if we can find some missing rations and clean water from the empty house, which can be used to make a fire to cook rice and dry clothes."

"Everyone has fled, and there will be rations left for you to find?"

Wang Zhong glanced at his subordinate and scolded as usual, but he still pulled himself together and struggled to get up from the weeds.

At this time, being able to have a few mouthfuls of clean and sweet well water to drink, a warm bonfire to dry clothes, and a thatched hut sheltered from the rain and wind for resting is a gift from God for Wang Zhong.

"Let's go, let's go."

Wang Zhong beckoned to the other subordinates, and with the guidance of the men who had returned to report the way, he couldn't help but run excitedly towards the wild settlement where he had been discovered.

Everyone was full of energy, and their steps were faster than usual, and they soon arrived at the wild settlement that seemed to be uninhabited.

This is a small settlement in the mountains and wilderness, and the chaimen of the settlement has been easily broken down by Wang Zhong's men, who are holding weapons and shouting, "Is there anyone?" In the troubled times, not only will the rebels plunder and loot and kill the people, but some brave people will also use all kinds of crude weapons to ambush and kill those lone stragglers, and then strip them of their armor and take away their weapons and rations.

The remnants of Wang Zhong were plundered everywhere, and he was ambushed by the brave mountain people once or twice, so he was cautious when he broke into the door.

After making sure that there was really no one around, Wang Zhong's men finally relented and scattered, excitedly rushing into the empty courtyards in search of wells and food, while others eagerly broke open the door of the house to collect some of the things in the house.

Wang Zhong saw that these subordinates were profitable, so he ran faster than himself, and they all scrambled to be the first, completely judging the two of them with the appearance of cowering when they were fighting, he immediately disliked it in his heart, and scolded again, but he also knew some ways to control his subordinates, and knew that in this case, he could not treat his subordinates harshly, so as not to lose the last bit of friendship to maintain the relationship.

After cursing for a while, he stopped talking dryly, and walked towards the farthest house, intending to find some clean water, but he had only taken a few steps when he heard the ghost-like screams of one of his men who had rushed into the house.