If the measures taken to exterminate locusts in Hedong are still timely, the locusts in the Yan and Henan areas have already been flooded.

Under the successive attacks of the Hedong and Hebei armies, Lü Bu had to cross the river in embarrassment and flee to Chen Liu, and took refuge in Zhang Miao, who was guarded by Chen Liu.

Although Lu Bu, who entered Yanzhou, was weak, Cao Cao's Yanzhou was also not stable.

Cao Cao's initial entry into Yanzhou, as well as Chen Liutaishou Zhang Miao, Shanyang Taishou Yuan Yi, Jibei Xiang Bao Xin, Jiyin Taishou Wu Zi, Dongping Xiang Li Zan and other large and small county guards, Cao Cao can actually really control the original Dongjun land.

But among these county guards, there are also good friends with Cao Cao Bao Xin, Jibei Prime Minister Li Zhan, Dongping Prime Minister Li Zhan, Chen Liutai Shou Zhang Miao and others, in Qingzhou Yellow Turban attack, Yanzhou up and down the same enemy, Cao Cao was ordered to defeat and surrender a large number of Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, and selected the strong, and trained a "Qingzhou soldiers".

It's just that after experiencing the danger of the Yellow Turban in Qingzhou, Cao Cao, who entered Yanzhou, and the county guards and the strong surnames between the counties, gradually developed many gaps and differences.

Cao Cao wanted to weaken the military and financial resources of each county, strengthen the superiority of the state soldiers, and the contradictions caused by the counties were too defended to defend the country, the contradictions caused by the placement of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and the powerful surname of Yanzhou, establish a threat, implement spells, strengthen the control of the state government, and the contradictions caused by local celebrities such as Bian Rang······

Cao Cao served as the captain of the northern part of Luoyang, and at the beginning of his tenure, he executed Jian Shuo's uncle Jian Tu with a five-colored stick, so "the Beijing master has collected traces, and no one dares to offend".

When he took office as the prime minister of Jinan, he vigorously rectified it, abolished the obscene shrine that had not been cut off for several generations in the territory, and petitioned for the removal of eight-tenths of the chief officials.

Cao Cao, as always, implemented the decrees of the state government, successively collected the military and financial resources of the counties, vigorously inspected the over-controlled farmhouses with the surname Haoqiang, placed a large number of yellow turbans and homeless people, and exterminated the famous and famous people, so that a state was shocked and afraid to speak.

While vigorously consolidating his rule internally, Cao Cao united with Yuan Shao, attacked Yu Poison in the north, defeated Yuan Shu in the south, and attacked Tao Qian in the west.

It's just that under Cao Cao's strength, there is also an undercurrent slowly taking shape.

Chen Liutai guarded Zhang Miao, out of the Chen Palace of Shizhou Mansion, Jiyin Taishou Wu Zi, engaged in Zhonglang Xu Yan, Wang Kai and other Taishou and Peng History, secretly connected with the big surname Haoqiang who did not submit to Cao Cao's rule in Yanzhou, and prepared to gather troops to overthrow Cao Cao's rule in Yanzhou when Cao Cao was conquering Tao Qian in the west.

Manpower, material resources, financial resources, Zhang Miao, Chen Gong and others are not lacking, what they lack is just a brave and good fighter, can lead the soldiers and defeat the Cao army generals, although Lu Bu's power is declining, but this does not prevent Yanzhou Zhang Miao, Chen Gong and others from rising, because this is fundamentally, it is a struggle between the local forces in Yanzhou and Cao Cao's camp.

Because of this battle, Yanzhou was completely split into two halves, and Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xiahou Dun, who stayed in Yanzhou, defended the three cities of Juancheng, Fanxian, and Dong'e for Cao Cao, so that Cao Cao could return to the division smoothly and would not face the embarrassing situation of all the enemies in the state.

Cao Cao returned to Yanzhou and advocated the recapture of Puyang, but although his troops to recapture Yanzhou were sharp, Lu Bu led the troops to fight, and he was not incompetent.

Like Yanzhou, the locust plague in Guanzhong was equally serious, because the remedial measures were not timely, and Guanzhong inevitably fell into the predicament of a great famine during this year.

Guo Yan was no longer able to garrison troops in Chang'an, so he had to lead his troops back to Zuo Fengyi, eat Gaoling and other cities, and make peace with Li Dao temporarily.

And the reason why Li Dao made peace was not only because of the food exhaustion, but also because of the drastic changes induced by the battles of Hongnong and Hedong.

Duan Xuan and Yan Xing jointly wrote to the Chang'an court, asking the court to grant them the post of taishou in each county to recognize the legitimacy of their rule in Hongnong, Hanoi and other places.

Li Wei was annoyed and angry about this, so he smashed several valuable utensils in the house and kicked over a low table in the hall.

However, how to deal with this matter is the top priority.

Li Dao summoned Li Ru, Li Zhen, Zuo Ling and others to his chariot general's mansion to discuss this matter.

Jia Xu, who is still a scholar, was not summoned by Li Dao. Jia Xu had many persuasions for Li Dao's atrocities of bullying the ministers of the Son of Heaven and plundering the cities by arson, but Li Dao did not accept it, but insisted on going his own way, and Jia Xu suffered a cold reception because of the persuasion.

At the same time, Jia Xu also exchanged letters with Duan Xuan and Yan Xing, which was a dangerous signal in the eyes of Li Dao, who experienced Ma Teng's uprising, so on the surface, although Li Dao still respects Jia Xu, but in fact, in his heart, his suspicion is getting deeper and deeper.

Jia Xu did not attend the meeting, and Li Zhen and Zuo Ling did not have outstanding talents, Li Ru played a major role at this time, he carefully analyzed the situation for Li Dao, and re-advised Li Dao to make peace with Guo Yan.

In his opinion, he had repelled Ma Teng, Han Sui and other rebels, eliminated Fan Chou, Li Meng and other forces, and had Yang Ding, Dong Cheng, Qiang Hu cavalry and other people to help, and the strength was overwhelming Guo Yan, at this time Guo Yan still wanted to be on an equal footing with him, of course he wanted to take advantage of Guo Yan's exhaustion of grain and grass to take advantage of the situation to annex Guo Yan.

But after Yan Xing and Duan Xuan suddenly attacked and annexed Zhang Ji of Hongnong, Li Wei was a little hesitant, worried that if he fought with Guo Yan again, he was afraid that he would follow in the footsteps of Zhang Ji, and in the end, he would not even be able to keep the territory of Guanzhong, and he would cheapen Duan Xuan, Yan Xing and others who sat and watched the victory or defeat in vain.

Therefore, Li Dao rarely listened to the persuasion of Guo Yan again.

"Duan Xuan is good at forbearance, in Huayin, he cultivates agricultural affairs, does not plunder, and the people are safe. Yan Yan was in Hedong to build Tuntian, build water conservancy, recruit displaced people, and train sergeants. ”

Zhang Ji despised Duan Xuan, and he was greedy and aggressive, and he did not know the enemy's situation, and was taken advantage of by Yan Yan and Duan Xuan, and lost his teacher and land, although it was unexpected, it was reasonable. Now Zuo Fengyi's Guo Yan's strength still exists, if he fights with him with a few more small gaps, I am afraid that Yan Yan of Hedong and Duan Xuan of Hongnong will take advantage of the situation. ”

"Therefore, the general might as well make peace with Guo Yan for the time being, unite the soldiers and horses, and deal with Yan Yan and Duan Xuan together!"

After Li Ru's words were finished, Li Dao shook his head, touched his injured left ear, and gritted his teeth and said:

"Don't I know that Yan Yan and Duan Xuan are both jackals, and they look at the land in Guanzhong, but Guo Aduo is not a tiger and leopard, if I don't eradicate him first, it will be difficult to eliminate hatred in my heart, and I will not feel at ease."

Guo Yan and Li Dao secretly formed a gap, and the woman behind them was fueling the trouble, and he had already plotted against Li Dao, but he also knew that his military strength was inferior to Li Dao, so he also planned to outwit and conspire to seize the Son of Heaven, and at the same time united with the generals Zhang Bao and Zhang Pet under Li Dao to sneak attack Li Dao and launch an unexpected attack.

Although Li Dao's soldiers and horses desperately resisted, reacted in time, protected Li Dao, and did not let the Son of Heaven be robbed by Guo Yan, Li Dao's left ear was also injured by the enemy's arrows at a critical moment, and it has not completely healed.

After Li Wei escaped with his life, he was furious and raised troops, but after Guo Yan's attack failed, he was not a person who sat still and waited to be killed, and there were many conflicts between the soldiers on both sides, but because of the persuasion of the Son of Heaven, the courtiers and Jia Xu and others in the Xiliang army, there was no large-scale sword soldier.

But from another point of view, Li Dao and Guo Bi did not use troops on a large scale, more because Guo Bi also had the remnants of Bai Bo, Feng Yiqiang, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu and other remnants of the army, although it was not as good as Li Dao, but it was not something that Li Dao could destroy in a short time, plus drought and locust plague on military food constraints and other reasons.

Li Ru knew Li Dao's intentions, so he said again:

"Actually, if the general makes peace with Guo Yan, it may not be able to weaken or even eliminate Guo Yan's men and horses in the future."

"Oh! How? ”

Hearing Li Ru's words, Li Dao's eyes suddenly lit up, compared to the big truth of "brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted by outsiders", Li Dao hopes to have naked interests in front of him to make a choice.

"If the general makes peace with Guo Yan, he can make a gesture of seeking justice for Zhang Ji, who has lost Hongnong, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu's two uncles and nephews are now under Guo Yan's command, and they are bound to be able to provoke the conflict between Guo Yan and Yan Yan and Duan Xuan, even if it doesn't work, Er Zhang is bound to be grateful to the general, which is also a grain of Fuzi for the general to eliminate Guo Yan and Guanzhong."

"And there is only peace in words, so that Guo Yan's vigilance against the general is slightly relaxed, Zuo Fengyi is close to Hedong and Hongnong, and he doesn't dare to say anything else, the grudges with Hedong in the past years will reoccupy Guo Yan's first place, the general must not forget, isn't this Xihe land that was last years old Guo Yan seized from Yan Yan in Hedong?"

"What do you mean is to make peace with Guo Yan for the time being, let him relax his vigilance, and then induce him to turn his troops to the east and fight with Duan Xuan, Yan Yan and others, and then I will watch from the wall and collect the benefits of the two families?"

Li Dao's eyes flashed, obviously Li Ru's thoughts were very much in line with his taste, but then he thought of some things, and asked hesitantly:

"Guo Aduo is not a stupid person, he must already know about this matter of Hedong and Hongnong, and if he makes peace with him at this time, will he show weakness to him, make him think that there is an opportunity, and even try to connect the momentum of Hedong and Hongnong to plot against me?"

Li Ru shook his head and said:

"Confucianism has also thought about this consequence, but Guo Yan and Hedong are at odds before, Hedong is powerful, and he will also be jealous in his heart, at this time, peace will also be of great benefit to him who is short of food and grass, so as long as the envoy speaks properly and adapts to the situation, Confucianism is sure that he will not refuse."

"In this way, who dares to send Zuo Fengyi to negotiate peace with Guo Aduo?"

After listening to Li Ru's words, after thinking about it for a while, the current situation made him have to agree with Li Ru's judgment, but in terms of the choice of envoys, he had not decided for a while, so he had to turn his eyes to Li Zhen and Zuo Ling.

As soon as Li Zhen and Zuo Ling saw Li Dao's gaze turn to them, they hurriedly lowered their heads in a panic, they acted as Li Dao's minions and henchmen, relying on Li Dao's momentum to monitor the Son of Heaven and the courtiers, there was no problem, once they were asked to face the violent and wanton Guo Yan, they were immediately afraid and did not dare to obey the order.

They already knew Guo Yan's arrogant and brutal murderous reputation, but they didn't want to risk taking this dangerous road.

Therefore, they kept silent, just waiting for Li Ru, who offered advice and peace, to speak. Seeing this scene, Li Wei snorted coldly, quite dissatisfied with these henchmen who rely on him on weekdays, but he also knew that the stakes were very high, so he could only look at Li Ru and asked:

"The waiter can be said to go to Zuo Fengyi for me?"

Li Ru smiled, stepped forward, saluted and smiled:

"Willing to serve the general!"

···

Light car fast horse, all the way around.

When Li Ru's envoy arrived in Gaoling, Guo Yan's situation in Zuo Fengyi was also not comfortable, and it was even more embarrassing than Li Wei's situation.

Drought and locust plagues followed, plunging the land of Guanzhong into a famine worse than before.

What is even more unfortunate is that the two armies of Li Dao and Guo Yan had previously plundered the cities desperately, and this method of fishing made it impossible to scavenge food from this land after the military rations ran out.

For this reason, Guo Yan couldn't hold it at first, he took the lead in abandoning Chang'an City, leading the army to Zuo Fengyi, where he made a truce and truce, and had to restrain the soldiers a little, pay attention to the affairs of agriculture and mulberry, and wait anxiously for the next harvest season to come.

Despite this, after learning of Li Ru's arrival, Guo Yan still had to put on a strong appearance of his own soldiers, specially summoned his generals, and then met with Li Ru from Chang'an.

As soon as they met, seeing Li Ru holding the edict in his hand, Guo Yan didn't get up, he stood arrogantly in the first place, looked at Li Ru with contemptuous eyes on the official robe and ribbon, and sneered at the generals around him and said:

"Second and third sons, Li Shizhong is here, presumably Li Dao in Chang'an City can't hold it anymore, and wants to come and make peace with me!"

The generals under his command knew Guo Yan's intentions, and they also laughed proudly.

Li Ru was not annoyed when he saw this scene of the generals under Guo Yan, he knew that with Guo Yan's character, pure peace was simply humiliating himself, so he had already thought of countermeasures, shook his head, laughed, and said to Guo Yan:

"The latter general said it wrong, the princes in the court were shocked to learn that Yan Yan, the Taishou of Hedong, had already ruled the land of the three rivers, destroyed Zhang Yang, defeated Hongnong, and was very powerful, worried that he would cross the river and enter the pass, so he specially asked the Son of Heaven to issue an edict, and asked the general to defend the land of the West River, not to cover his back for the soldiers and horses in the east of the river, and lose the hard-won important land of the West River!"

Quoted from "Zizhi Tongjian: Han Ji Fifty-three" 1, since the locusts, the people are hungry, and the cloth and grain are exhausted, and each is brought away.

2, Biyin and Dang Zhonglang conspired to attack Zhang Bao and others. Bingshen, the generals attacked the door at night, and the arrow reached the emperor's curtain, and penetrated the left ear. Buds and so on burn the house, fire is not. Yang Feng refused to go outside, the soldiers retreated, and the buds and others returned to the army because of the generals.