On the one hand, Zhou Fei and Fu Zhu reported to Gao Shun the agreement reached with Chen Chao in Yizhou, and on the other hand, they transferred 10,000 people from the infantry recruited by Longxi County to Wudu County and placed them under the command and training of Zhao Yun; Hanzhong County is mountainous, with rugged and narrow roads, and the infantry has a greater advantage over the cavalry.

After Zhao Yun's frustration was granted, he didn't care about the rebellion of Baimaqiang and Qingqiang in the jurisdiction, as well as the rebellion of King Wudu, and went all out to train his troops and plot against Hanzhong.

Subsequently, the frustrated professor was still not at ease, and the scouts who should have been sent to Yizhou were still dispatched; The time he agreed with Chen Chao was sufficient, and it was not too late to launch an attack on Hanzhong County after the scouts sent back the news and confirmed the authenticity of the matter.

Zhang Lu secretly contacted Liu Yan to confirm Liangzhou's intentions towards Yizhou, and in order to prevent trouble, Zhang Lu strengthened the defense of Yangping Pass, and he could withdraw to Yizhou if necessary; Liu Yan strengthened the defense of the Jinniu Road all the way to the city.

At this time, Yuan Shu and Liu Biao were busy deploying troops, and the war was about to break out; Both sides have been preparing for a long time, and they are very well prepared, striving to complete their work in one battle and achieve brilliant results.

The Gaoshun forces remained the same, not interfering in the affairs of the imperial court and the Central Plains.

The warlords of Yuzhou confronted each other, and none of them were able to start a new war, and they were in a short period of peace.

Dong Zhuo, who was in Luoyang, accepted Li Ru's suggestion, completed the military deployment, and waited to go south to seize Jingzhou.

Now, Dong Zhuo's granddaughter has become the queen, he has become a veritable relative, and he holds the power of the imperial court. And Gao Shun really did not interfere with him becoming a relative, but was busy with the war against the barbarians, which made him more at ease with Gao Shun.

But Li Ru didn't think so, if Gao Shun pacified the barbarians in all directions, what would he do with so many troops? It must be south to the Central Plains; Gaoshun has the people of the five states to provide money and food, and the soldiers are strong and strong, how can they be opponents?

After nearly a year of thinking, Li Ru devised a grand long-term plan: now Yangzhou Liu Xuan's strength is weak, and he can only protect himself with the Yangtze River, if they take Jingzhou, they can easily lead the Jiangdong region of Yangzhou, and when the time comes, the imperial court will move south, and the advance can be attacked, and the retreat can be defended, and it will always be invincible.

After a long talk with Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo was extremely reluctant to Luoyang, and after Li Ru's patient persuasion, he finally realized that it was indeed a clever plan to move the imperial court south when necessary and avoid the edge of the champion Hou.

Dong Zhuo is not stupid, he believes that he must wait for the occupation of Jingzhou and gain a foothold in Jiangnan before he can relocate the imperial court, otherwise, the champion Hou will take advantage of the situation to attack him, and then it will be an embarrassing situation of "succumbing to the enemy and retreating", in that case, he would rather fight to the death with the champion Hou.

Dong Zhuo and his Liangzhou Iron Cavalry live in the northwest all the year round, and it is estimated that they will be very unsuitable for the climate in the south, so Li Ru must consider the difficulties thoroughly and make full preparations.

Li Ru stated Gao Shun's strength, Dong Zhuo was even more worried, feeling that he had been too indulgent to Gao Shun before, and underestimated Gao Shun's strength too much, but he didn't expect him to be able to solve the Liangzhou Qiang people so easily, this is a problem that the imperial court has not solved for a hundred years.

More importantly, after Gao Shun quelled the rebellion in Liangzhou, he not only eliminated his worries, but also expanded the army and became stronger; Originally, Dong Zhuo hoped to drag Gao Shun into the quagmire of war in Liangzhou, but he didn't expect to achieve him.

Sanfu area is close to Luoyang, the army stationed in Chang'an City, the threat to Luoyang is very great, Luoyang has been surrounded by Gaoshun forces on three sides, Gaoshun is in the north of Jizhou and Merge Zhou, across the river from Luoyang, Guangnian Hou and Guangping Hou are divided into Liangzhou and Qingzhou in the east and west, and they are all strong and strong, it seems that it is imperative for the imperial court to move away from Luoyang, otherwise it can only be trapped and died here.

Dong Zhuo reflected deeply, feeling that he valued the scholars too much before, and the scholars were detached from him, and he was led by the nose, so that the princes rose together, the world was in chaos, and there was no long-term plan after the chaos, and he had to get by and miss the opportunity for development, but Gao Shun took the opportunity to achieve greater development and become stronger.

When the troubled times came, even if Gao Shun was loyal to the court and had no dissent, it was inevitable that his subordinates had no dissent, and he was forced to participate in the competition for the Central Plains, at that time, he was by no means his opponent.

Therefore, Dong Zhuo relied on Li Ru even more, and felt that the plan to move the imperial court to Jiangnan was very timely, in order to achieve this strategic goal, he gave Li Ru complete trust and delegation of power, and strictly ordered the officers and soldiers of all departments to obey Li Ru's dispatch and cooperate with Li Ru's plan, and those who violated the order were beheaded

The war between Yuan Shu and Liu Biao was on the verge of breaking out, and Dong Zhuo and Li Ru attached great importance to it, which was the key to determining the success of their strategy.

At the end of the year, Gao Shun sent an envoy to Luoyang again and proposed to Dong Zhuo that because of the war between Liaodong and the Wuhuan people, Liangzhou pacified the rebels, and Yongzhou was still fighting against foreign races.

This is tantamount to giving Dong Zhuo a blow to the head at a critical moment, making him feel that the mountains and rivers are exhausted, if Gao Shun stops the taxes of the two states at this time, then the imperial court will immediately stop, why should the army go south to Jingzhou and seize Yangzhou? It's good that the troops don't riot.

Li Ru even suspected that someone had leaked their strategy to Champion Hou, otherwise, how could Gao Shun have predicted it so accurately? And reacted quickly and accurately, hitting the vital point with one blow, making him unable to parry.

In desperation, Li Ru had no choice but to suggest that Dong Zhuo let the judge live in Luoyang first, and then look for countermeasures.

With Gao Shun's powerful forces as the backstage, the trial was not in a hurry, and he accepted the arrangement, so he stayed in the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

Dong Zhuo immediately summoned the two sons-in-law to negotiate.

Although Niu Fu was stupid, he was not stupid, and put forward a suggestion that made Dong Zhuo and Li Ru dumbfounded: "Taishi, military advisor, in my humble opinion, if we give up the three counties of Yanzhou and return to the Tiger Prison Pass, we can not only save a lot of troops, but also use the land of the three counties and the people to exchange a lot of money and grain from the champion Hou to support us to go south, as long as we occupy the rich Jingzhou, will we still be short of money and food?" Just a few big clans will be enough for our army's expenses for a year. ”

Dong Zhuo pondered for a while, feeling that this was simply a stroke of genius, the three counties of Yanzhou, not only can not pay taxes, but also waste a large number of garrisons, the strategic value is not large, there is no danger to defend the big city, if the champion Hou wants the three counties, a wave of attacks can be taken, it is more practical and reliable to focus on strengthening the defense of the Tiger Pass; And according to the champion Hou's consistent greed for territory and population, the three counties of Yanzhou, which are worthless, will definitely be able to exchange rich money and food from Gao Shun's hands. Dong Zhuo couldn't help but glance at this loyal son-in-law, it was still his own family

Li Ru also supported this point of view, and was very annoyed in his heart, why didn't he think of such a shrewd way in advance? So he said to Dong Zhuo: "Taishi, this strategy is very good, since we have established the Jiangnan strategy, then the three counties of Yanzhou are useless places, which can be used for waste in exchange for materials going south, and nearly 100,000 troops can be transferred back for the battle of Jingzhou, then Jingzhou is within reach." ”

Dong Zhuo sighed: "Since Champion Hou may have seen through our strategy, how could he agree with our opinion? ”

Li Ru smiled: "Haha, Taishi, don't overestimate the loyalty of the champion Hou to the imperial court, maybe this is the result he wants to see, otherwise, he would have stopped paying taxes to the imperial court a long time ago and launched an attack on us, and the champion Hou has never given up the territory in his hands, and his greed for the territory is known to the world; How could he refuse our strategy of retreating to advance to his liking? ”