After returning to the door, the matter came to an end temporarily, and Gao Shun's time was much more relaxed, and he began to meet the guests who came to congratulate.

The first to meet were representatives of the forces with whom they had good relations.

For the people sent by Tao Qian in Xuzhou, Gao Shun mainly gave gifts in return to show friendship;

For Liu Miao and Liu Biao's envoys, it is also a return gift, greeting, and no substantive content; The first contact, Gao Shun had this attitude, which made them very satisfied.

The person who made Gao Shun pay the most attention was Chen Gong, the representative sent by Cao Cao; Gao Shun has a deep memory of the loneliest tragic strategist in history.

Gao Shun specially set up a dinner to entertain Chen Gong, and Zhao Xiong accompanied him.

Chen Gong, the word Gongtai, was a native of Dongwuyang, Dongjun (now Shen County, Shandong); Straightforward and resourceful, he made friends with well-known people at home and abroad when he was young; When the Cao family was aggressively recruiting talents, he defected to Cao Cao and is now a military advisor.

Gao Shun was very interested in Chen Gong and immediately checked his attributes, intelligence 94, commander 91, politics 85, force 60; It is indeed a rare talent, no wonder Cao Cao, who had fought several times in history, was embarrassed and fled, if Lu Bu could follow Chen Gong's advice, the victory or defeat would be unpredictable.

When they met for the first time, Gao Shun's grand reception made Chen Gong feel very surprised.

After three rounds of drinking, Gao Shun asked: "Meng De sent Gongtai from afar, what is the explanation?" ”

Gao Shun knew that due to his background and position, he had no possibility of subduing Chen Gong, and Chen Gong's personality was not suitable for his style, so he had no intention of subduing him, so it was better to take matters into account.

Chen Gong said with a sad expression: "Dong Zhuo dominates the imperial court, in order to harm the world, the prince and the marquis are brave, and he can bring a strong border army to the south, and the Qing monarch will reinvigorate the majesty of my Han Dynasty." ”

As far as Chen Gong is concerned, he makes Gao Shun unclear whether this is Chen Gong's opinion or Cao Cao's opinion? So he fooled: "Shun promised the first emperor that he would never interfere in the affairs of the imperial court, how could he lose his trust in the world?" Gao Shun said such hypocritical words so many times that he almost believed that it was true.

Chen Gong continued to persuade: "This time and that time! Now that the emperor is in trouble, how can the prince stand by and watch? Even if the prince led his troops south, he would not violate his promise to the first emperor. ”

Gao Shun asked rhetorically: "Is this what Meng De means or what Gongtai means?" ”

"The prince and the prince went out to quell the rebellion of the world, which is the expectation of the people, is it just the meaning of Meng De and the palace?"

Gao Shun was very dissatisfied with Chen Gong's tone, and didn't want to continue to entangle with Chen Gong on this topic, so he changed the topic and said: "Hahaha, the public platform is high, now let's talk about Meng De's matter first!" ”

Chen Gong said quietly: "Meng De is a dragon among people, but he was born at the wrong time, he wants to pacify Dong Zhuo, rescue His Majesty, and return to the court, but he has no heart, so he sent the palace to ask for help from the prince." ”

Gao Shun said solemnly: "The princes of Kwantung have their own thoughts, beware of each other, and are selfish, how can they achieve great things?" The reason why Shun is watching from the wall is because everyone is not enough to conspire with him. ”

Gao Shun's words denied the Kwantung princes, and even Cao Cao was among them.

Chen Gong was very angry with Gao Shun's evaluation, as the saying goes, the lord humiliates the ministers to death, and at this time he must safeguard Cao Cao's interests, so he immediately retorted: "Prince, Meng De is bent on seeking for the imperial court, and wants to get rid of Dong Zhuo and return to the imperial court. The prince is powerful, but he only seeks self-preservation, only knows how to protect his existing interests, and is indifferent to the life and death of the people in the world, who is more selfish than Meng De's words and deeds? ”

Gao Shun faced Chen Gong's accusations, in order to confuse the princes of the Central Plains, he had to keep a low profile, so he pretended to be sad and said: "Fighting alone, let alone Meng De, even Shun is not Dong Taishi's opponent; Shun promised the first emperor to guard the border counties, resist the barbarians, and never interfere in the affairs of the imperial court; Now Shun's border army is fighting hard in the Qianghu people of Liangzhou and the Wuhuan people in Liaodong, and there are hundreds of thousands of Xianbei cavalry grazing horses outside the Saiwai, and they must not relax for a moment, even if they try their best, they are only more than enough to defend, and the attack is insufficient, if they gather troops to go south and fight with the Taishi, the barbarians will take the opportunity to make chaos, go south to plunder, endanger the border counties, and slaughter the people. ”

Of course, Chen Gong didn't believe Gao Shun's explanation, but he was not easy to refute, he was just sulking.

Seeing that Chen Gong didn't speak, Gao Shun asked in a soothing tone: "Don't be anxious about Gongtai, I believe that the matter of Taishi Dong will be handled by the ministers of the imperial court, now let's talk about what Meng De has to explain." ”

After being silent for a while, after Chen Gong's mood stabilized, he said slowly: "Junhou, Meng De is also difficult, his family was detained by Ben Chu, so he obeyed Ben Chu's dispatch on the surface, but Ben Chu had no enterprising heart, if Meng De rescued his family and fought with Ben Chu, he would definitely lose both, and it would be easy to be taken advantage of by Dong Zhuo; If you can't save your family, you can only continue to make compromises, a dilemma. ”

Gao Shun pretended not to understand and asked, "What is the situation in the Central Plains?" If the princes of the Central Plains are closely united, why fear Dong Zhuo? ”

Chen Gong explained in detail the situation of the various forces in the Central Plains, which was basically similar to Gao Shun's mastery.

All in all, Cao Cao was loyal to the imperial court, but he had no way to serve the country, he was depressed, his family was kidnapped by Yuan Shao, and there was no room for external expansion, to the west and north was Dong Zhuo's sphere of influence, to the south was Yuan Shao, and to the east was Liu Chong's sphere of influence.

Chen Gong suggested that Cao Cao break through Dong Zhuo's encirclement to the west and advance to Jingzhou, so that the dragon could return to the sea, but Cao Cao was unwilling to be an enemy of Liu Biao, expanding the war and endangering the people, so his mind has not been decided; Chen Gong suggested that Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan attack Yuan Shao together, rescue his family, and divide the territory of Runan County equally, but Cao Cao has been hesitant because he is concerned about the safety of his family; Chen Gong also suggested that Liu Chong be elected as the emperor, set up a separate court, and called on the princes of the world to jointly fight against Dong Zhuo, but Cao Cao vetoed it on the grounds that the court was still alive.

Cao Cao's actions made Chen Gong see no hope, so that there was a rift in the relationship with Cao Cao, this time Chen Gong took the initiative to ask for instructions to come to congratulate him, mainly to meet Gao Shun, and hoped to get Gao Shun's support to get Cao Cao out of trouble; As long as Gao Shun rebelled against Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao naturally had to accept the orders of the imperial court, and could only obediently release the pledge to Cao Cao's family.

Gao Shun heard the sound of his words, and now Cao Cao is still dedicated to the Han, loyal to the imperial court, and has no rebellious heart.

However, Gao Shun still agreed with Chen Gong's three suggestions, if Cao Cao took any of them, the situation in the Central Plains would inevitably change greatly, and Chen Gong was indeed a rare talent.

It's just that Gao Shun doesn't understand, why is Cao Cao so indecisive? This is not like the heroes recorded in history! It may be that the times create heroes, because of the arrival of his Gao Shun, the situation has undergone completely different changes, and there is no longer the soil for the production of heroes.

In this case, if he can help Cao Cao, he will definitely provoke a greater war in the Central Plains, or bring greater trouble to Dong Zhuo, which is what Gao Shun is most willing to see, so he asked: "What kind of support does Meng De want to get?" ”

Chen Gong said in a frustrated mood: "Since the prince has no intention of going south, why should he support Meng De? Even if there is support, it is a drop in the bucket and will not help. ”