He smiled knowingly and said, "Is the lord going to be a praying mantis or a yellow finch?" ”

Gao Shun smiled: "Haha, we are the most shrewd hunters, whether it is a praying mantis or a yellow finch, we can't escape from our palms." ”

Having said that, now he can't see through Dong Zhuo's layout, and he doesn't dare to clarify his goals, so he can only gradually improve according to the development of the situation; Fortunately, this time he personally went out to stabilize the situation in Liangzhou, and there were no major worries for the time being, and he strengthened his own strength.

"What does the lord see?" He asked puzzled.

Gao Shun said: "According to the information that came, Dong Zhuo is mobilizing a large army, shrinking the Yanzhou troops, focusing on the deployment of Luoyang troops, the action is not small, there must be deep meaning, his specific purpose is not easy to say now, but I feel that he must not be at ease, you must know that Li Ru's resourcefulness is very human, and he often does unexpected things, we must make arrangements as soon as possible to avoid rushing to deal with things in a hurry." ”

He asked, "What does the lord decide?" ”

Gao Shun said: "It's not in a hurry for the time being, when we arrive in Chang'an City, it is estimated that Guo Fengxiao should also arrive, first listen to his and Zhicai's opinions and the latest information, and then discuss and decide." ”

Fu Zhu was very grateful to Gao Shun on personal matters, granted him a lot of decision-making power in Liangzhou, and took great care of his family, and his son was also arranged to serve in the army under Tian Feng, and his future was limitless.

However, he was a little dissatisfied with Gao Shun in terms of personnel arrangements, he felt that Cheng Li, Tian Feng and him, who were the oldest in seniority, were all released, and the General's Mansion was presided over by Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia, and they attached special importance to them, ranking above the three of them.

What is also dissatisfied is that the state pastors appointed by Gao Shun are all in their early twenties, Zhou Fei and Fang Liang, the two imperial sons-in-law, not to mention, and the state pastor, Youzhou pastor, Pingzhou pastor and Anzhou pastor, are all young people in their early twenties, and Yongzhou pastor Cheng Wu is the oldest and is not yet thirty years old; Most of the county's Taishou, Duwei, Juncheng and Zhubo are also young people in their twenties, and they are all from poor families, which seriously suppresses the expansion of the Shi clan, deepens the contradiction with the Shi clan, and the confrontation is unavoidable, and it is easy for the Shi clan in other states and counties to develop hostility.

Looking at this frustrated face, Gao Shun asked: "Frustrated military division, now that the strength of the various states is compared, Liangzhou is the strongest, what are you still dissatisfied with?" ”

Frustrated with quick thinking, he realized that he was distracted, and hurriedly followed Gao Shun's topic: "My lord, I am worried about so many officers and soldiers, and the salary alone is not something that Liangzhou can afford, let alone other expenses." ”

"Haha, this is all a trivial matter, a little expense, and the General's Mansion can afford it."

When Gao Shun returned to Chang'an City, Guo Jia had already arrived and waited.

Gao Shun ignored the fatigue of the journey, and immediately convened a meeting with Zhou Fei, Fu Zhu and others.

Guo Jia first recounted the process of pacifying the Wuhuan tribe in Liaodong County, Pingzhou; Preparations for the war took almost two years and proceeded extremely smoothly; Su Fuyan, the king of the cliff, committed suicide in defeat; The capture of 100,000 Wuhuan tribes, countless cattle and sheep, has been dealt with according to the usual practice, and the Wuhuan people have since disappeared from the stage of history.

He was most concerned about the strength of the troops, so he asked, "How much did you lose in battle?" How much will the army be expanded after the fact? ”

Guo Jia said: "Back to the lord, the military division, because the state pastor and the military division are well prepared and have internal responses, and it is a sudden attack, which caught the Wuhuan people by surprise, so the battle damage is very small and can be ignored; After the war, the army was expanded by 40,000, all of which were cavalry, but it was still in the training period for the time being, and the weapons and equipment were not complete; How these recruits are placed and garrisoned is still waiting for the orders of the lord. ”

He asked again: "How many officers and soldiers were there in Pingzhou before?" ”

Guo Jiadao: "In order to confuse the Wuhuan people, there were not many troops in Pingzhou before, only 35,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry, but at least 15,000 infantry can be converted into cavalry at any time. ”

Gao Shun decided: "Transfer 20,000 Wuhuan recruits to Youzhou and mix them with Youzhou soldiers, otherwise, it will be difficult to control." ”

"Yes, my lord!" Guo Jia immediately recorded Gao Shun's order and prepared to draft the document after the meeting.

Gao Shun said again: "First of all, let's introduce the latest information of various forces. ”

"Yes, my lord!" Guo Jia began to tell that he had sorted out the materials before, and the report was very clear and well-adjusted, and everyone listened very clearly.

Gao Shun said again: "Then let's talk about the good opinions you discussed with Zhicai." ”

Guo Jia said: "Lord, we expect that Dong Zhuo is gathering troops now, not against us, he will definitely take advantage of the fire to rob when Yuan Shu and Liu Biao have a big battle; He was very eager for money and food, and he had already coveted the rich Jingzhou, how could he miss such a good opportunity? Jia discussed with the military advisor to sacrifice wine, and took advantage of Dong Zhuo's southward movement to seize Yanzhou and Yuzhou respectively in Jizhou and Qingzhou, exterminate all the princes, Liangzhou officers and soldiers marched into Yizhou, and the state troops monitored the troops in Luoyang, and the troops in Pingzhou, Anzhou and Youzhou were used as mobile forces to support at any time. ”

Now everyone knows the relationship between Gao Shun and Xuzhou, and Xuzhou is no longer listed as an opponent; Yanzhou was occupied by Dong Zhuo with three counties, Yuzhou was occupied by the warlords of the Four Routes, and Yizhou had declared independence.

Frustrated Zhu thought to himself, no wonder Gao Shun valued Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia so much, it turned out that their ideas were so close, they both saw Dong Zhuo's purpose, and they both wanted to be hidden hunters, hoping to get the greatest benefits, at least slightly higher than him.

Zhou Fei asked: "Fengxiao, if you take Yanzhou now, won't the relationship with the imperial court break down?" How are you prepared to respond? And how to treat Chen Wang and Liu Pet? Forced pacification will certainly not work. ”

Guo Jia said: "If it is broken, it will be broken, we are strong and strong, why are we afraid?" As for Liu Pet, the king of Chen, raising troops without authorization, has violated the laws of the imperial court, how can he be kept? ”

Gao Shun said: "Haha, your ambitions are too big, the war spread is too wide, and it is absolutely impossible to fight on several fronts at the same time." ”

Guo Jia said with a smile: "Haha, the lord, the military advisor has long guessed that the lord will say so, if the lord is unwilling to fight on multiple fronts at the same time, we plan to gather in Luoyang, the Qing monarch's side, expel or eliminate Dong Zhuo, control the court, take the power of the Son of Heaven, destroy the ministers who do not order, calm the world, unify the Central Plains, and return the people to a stable living environment." ”

Gao Shun immediately refused: "Haha, this is against the plan we made at the beginning, and Shun promised the emperor at the beginning, so there must be no such act." "He doesn't want to implement the strategy of blackmailing the Son of Heaven to order the princes, he is afraid that the emperor will become a hot potato at that time, and he hasn't thought of a way to deal with the emperor, is he like Cao Cao in history who will not be the emperor for life?

Although he still has a certain good impression of Dahan, he is not disgusted with Guo Jia's plan, but admires Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia even more; Historically, he also made a similar suggestion to Yuan Shao, which is the most convenient way to pacify the world, so he supported: "Lord, the words of filial piety are very good, if you can quickly pacify the world, then the lord's merits are better than Xiao Xiang, Wei, Huo and others, and he will be famous in history." ”

Gao Shun has systematic help, and he can easily pacify the world without the help of the emperor's name, and what he thinks about is how to suppress the scholars, support the Hanmen, and achieve a smooth transition of power, and it does not affect his personal morality, so for the time being, he will not adopt the strategy of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

So he said: "You think too simply, everyone wants to be famous in history, but we must be sure to hit with one blow, and we don't have such conditions at present; First of all, Dong Taishi has more than 400,000 troops, and all of them have experienced the test of war and are strong; Although we have a lot of troops, half of them are recruits, so we do not have an advantage in strength; Secondly, Dong Taishi is on the defensive, and if we attack, we need more troops, and we must reserve sufficient troops to guard against barbarians, and we do not have an advantage in the number of troops for the time being; Third, if we take the initiative to attack Luoyang, how is it different from a traitor? Therefore, we still implement the established policy at the beginning, gradually shrink the front, develop strength, force Dong Zhuo to give up control of the imperial court, return to the imperial court, hand over military power, withdraw from Luoyang, so that a peaceful solution and avoid the disaster of war are the blessings of the imperial court and the people. ”

Zhou Fei always stood on the same position with Gao Shun and supported: "What the lord said is right, now only we can contain Dong Zhuo, if we are defeated, the consequences are unpredictable, so we must be completely sure before we can act, otherwise we can only continue to forbear." ”