Wang Yun and others knew Dong Zhuo's purpose, Dong Bai became the queen, Dong Zhuo became a relative, and controlling the court would be even more justifiable, although everyone did not want to accept this fact, but Dong Zhuo was powerful, even if they objected, it would not be a good result; So on the premise of acquiescing to the facts, they stepped up their plans to assassinate Dong Zhuo.

In order to befriend Gao Shun, Li Ru decided to canonize Gao Shun's sister Gao Feng as the original Pingjun and the food as the original Ping County, and leaked the news in advance.

Li Ru's move has a lot of intentions.

The most direct reaction was that Wang Yun, an important minister of the imperial court, proposed that it was inconsistent with the etiquette law; Wang Yun didn't deal with Gao Shun, he didn't want Gao Shun to be more rampant, since he couldn't oppose Dong Bai as the queen, he sprinkled his anger on Gao Shun; In the eyes of the scholars, Gao Shun is still a wealthy family in the border county that cannot be put on the stage, and it is not worthy of their knots and attention.

However, Li Ru did not restrict the discussion of the courtiers, but still issued a canonization document according to his plan, and recorded the discussions of the court, and conveyed them to Gao Shun, hoping to provoke a greater contradiction between Gao Shun and the scholars.

Years later, Li Ru sent Dong Zhuo's nephew Dong Cheng as an envoy to Bingzhou to canonize and reward many treasures in the name of the imperial court, with the aim of handing over the champion award Gao Shun.

Subsequently, Li Ru began his short-term and long-term planning.

In the recent past, the first was the cessation of the population trade with the champion Hou Gaoshun, and the looting and killing of the common people by officers and soldiers was strictly prohibited.

Secondly, the scholars and Haoqiang in the Sili area and the three counties of Yanzhou fled in large numbers, and a large amount of barren arable land was distributed to the landless people for cultivation, and the taxes were reduced for two years to recuperate.

Finally, in the name of the imperial court, the postal superintendent was dispatched to strictly investigate the corrupt officials in various places, reduce the burden of the people, and strengthen the management of the localities.

After several measures, the people of the Sili area and Yanzhou began to celebrate and thank the imperial court; Officials in the DPRK and China also thought that Dong Zhuo's conscience had changed, and some people even believed that this was the reason why Dong Zhuo was about to become a relative and his thinking had changed, so they no longer prevented Dong Bai from becoming the empress.

For these unexpected benefits, Dong Zhuo was very happy in his heart, and he was even more obedient to Li Ru.

Li Ru suggested to Dong Zhuo again: "Taishi, we currently directly occupy too little territory, there is no stable foundation, if the champion Hou stops the taxes of Jizhou and Qingzhou, we will not be able to continue, and hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers will disperse in a hurry." ”

"What can I do?"

"Seize the grain production area!"

"Where is it appropriate?"

Li Ru said confidently: "Jingzhou and Yizhou!" ”

"Okay, but how do you succeed in grabbing it?" Jingzhou and Yizhou did not suffer serious damage in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and there was no major war since then, the people are stable, the population is large, the grain production is very large, and it is very rich.

It's just that Liu Biao has gained the support of the scholars in Jingzhou, and his position is already very solid, if he is forced to be in a hurry, he is likely to stop paying taxes to the imperial court, and even join the camp against the imperial court, and the situation will be even worse.

With its closed terrain, Yizhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it cannot shake Liu Yan's position.

Dong Zhuo understood that it would be too difficult to successfully seize these two places, and he really regretted sending Liu Biao to Jingzhou in the first place.

Li Ru looked at Dong Zhuo's uncertain face, and knew the worry in his heart, so he smiled and said: "Hahaha, don't worry about the master, this matter is easy!" ”

Dong Zhuo was overjoyed, this son-in-law was really powerful, and he must have come up with a good plan, so he said: "Wen You, come quickly." ”

"Taishi, this is thanks to the champion Hou, who adopted his suggestion and ordered Liu Xuan to be the pastor of Yangzhou and seize the four counties of Jiangdong of Yuan Shu, so that Yuan Shu only had two counties in Jiangbei left, relying on the taxes of the two counties, how could he raise so many troops? will definitely launch a war with the outside world, snatch more territory and people, before uniting with Xuzhou Tao Qian, although there are some small contradictions, in the end the two families reconciled, stabilized the rear, Yuan Shu will definitely launch a war against Liu Biao in Jingzhou, and before Yuan Shu because Liu Biao occupied Jingzhou, which he was optimistic about, and Liu Biao formed a mortal enemy, war is inevitable; If they have a war, we can send troops south to deal a blow to Liu Biao in the back, Liu Biao will be defeated, and we can easily occupy Jingzhou. ”

Dong Zhuo is not afraid of Yuan Shu, but he is afraid of Sun Jian, although Li Ru can occupy Jingzhou with this move, but after that, he will have to face the attack with Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, pondered for a while, and said: "Wen You's strategy is good, but you can't sneak attack Liu Biao at the beginning of the war, you must wait for them to be defeated, the army quickly goes south, and sweeps Liu Biao, Yuan Shu and Sun Jian together, not only can occupy a huge territory, but also form a siege of Yuzhou." ”

Li Ru objected: "Taishi, Yuan Shu is extravagant, and he is very unpopular with the people in the two counties, how can he be Liu Biao's opponent?" Even if Sun Jian is brave and good at fighting, he must not be Jingzhou's opponent, if the war is divided into winners and losers, it is Yuan Shu who will be defeated, and then join the war at that time, it will be too late, Liu Biao can bring the newly victorious army to the north to resist, we will fall into a protracted war, which is not good for us, it is better to wait for them to have not divided the victory or defeat, send troops south in the name of the imperial court reinforcements, take advantage of their unpreparedness, and defeat Liu Biao's army in one fell swoop, and even at the critical moment, with Yuan Shu limited alliance, after stabilizing Jingzhou, it is very easy to defeat Yuan Shu. ”

Dong Zhuo is not stupid, if he falls into the quagmire of war, the logistics materials are insufficient, and the consequences are serious, he must take Jingzhou in one fell swoop and stabilize it quickly, so that he can continue to collect taxes and enhance his own strength. So how did Yizhou take it? ”

"Haha, Taishi, as long as you occupy Jingzhou, wouldn't it be simple to take Yizhou? But that's for later, so there's no need to rush. "Li Ru thinks very well, as long as Jingzhou is occupied, this game of chess will be alive, whether it is Liu Xuan in Jiangdong or Yuan Shu in Jiangbei, they are not the opponents of the Western Liang soldiers, and they can quickly complete the encirclement of Yuzhou, and the situation is very good, as for Yizhou, it is not what he is thinking about now, but it is just an introduction to attract Dong Zhuo to approve him to occupy Jingzhou.

He even considered that if he lost the battle with the champion Hou in the future, he would withdraw the imperial court to Jiangnan and rule the river with the champion Hou Gaoshun.

Dong Zhuo was overjoyed in his heart, under the planning of his son-in-law Li Ru, the situation gradually improved, if he won Jingzhou and had a stable source of money and food, he would no longer be controlled by others, and when he won Yizhou again, he would no longer be coerced by the champion Hou, so he smiled and said: "Hahaha, what Wen You said is not bad, everything is based on what Wen You said, arrange it as soon as possible." ”

"Yes, Master!" Li Ru was very happy, he worked hard to plan, not only for Dong Zhuo, but also for himself, if Dong Zhuo lost power, he would not be able to escape the fate of being killed, in the same boat, we must be in the same boat.

Dong Zhuo asked again: "Who is the appropriate pastor for Jingzhou?" ”

The only people who can be trusted now are family members, even if those descendants, Li Ru does not dare to let them out, otherwise, their wings are stiff, and in the face of huge interests, it is not impossible to rebel against Dong Zhuo, so Li Ru said: "Taishi, Confucianism thinks that Niu Fu is the pastor of Jingzhou, and Dong Yue is the pastor of Yanzhou, in this way, both places can be firmly controlled in the hands of Taishou." ”

Dong Zhuo was overjoyed, Li Ru was really trustworthy, and with such an arrangement, he could definitely control the two places, so he said: "Okay, then take Wenyou's words as the standard." ”