The north wind is howling, the air is ice, and the banks of the Yellow River in the middle of winter are full of desolation and gloom.

Located in the backyard of the county on the south bank of the Yellow River (now 15 miles north of Yanjin County, Henan), three officials wearing expensive fur coats are walking among several plum trees.

The tall and handsome and extraordinary figure in the middle is Yuan Shao, who drew his sword against the powerful Dong Zhuo at the court meeting a few months ago.

The short official on Yuan Shao's left with a smile on his face and a follow-up trend is named Kong Ling, he is the proud protégé of the Yuan family, and also Yuan Shao's playmate when he was a child.

I have to say that Kong Ling, who is not good-looking, is very lucky, before he was pushed to the position of Yuzhou assassin by the Yuan family, he was just a mere planner under Chen Liutaishou Feng Dai.

The reason why the Yuan family recommended the little-known Kong Ling as the assassin of Yuzhou was to test Dong Zhuo's attitude, and the time was very exquisitely chosen.

Dong Zhuo is worried about how to save his reputation and win people's hearts, and when he sees the Yuan family, whose protégés are all over the world, take the initiative to get closer, how can he not understand the potential meaning of the Yuan family?

Coupled with Dong Zhuo's admiration for the virtue and ability of the famous Huang Wan, he made a plan and appointed Kong Ling as the assassin of Yuzhou, and then personally led Yuan Feng, Yang Biao and other important ministers of the court to Huang Wan's house, and warmly retained Huang Wan, a talented man who was about to leave Luoyang and return to his hometown Jiangxia. Huang Wan was immediately appointed as the imperial servant.

So, Kong Ling, who has three strands of literati beard and is accustomed to quoting scriptures and classics, is very humorous. He became the assassin of Yuzhou for the Son of Heaven, and became the right-hand man of the ambitious Yuan Shao.

The tall, ruddy-faced official who walked to the right of Yuan Shao. It is the Dongjun Taishou Qiao Mao who would rather be a Taishou than a assassin, and the news from Qingzhou that Qiao Mao just reported has aroused Yuan Shao's great attention.

Yuan Shao asked the two to return to the inner hall together, and discussed carefully around the warm charcoal fire with refreshing tea, but in the end they still couldn't figure out the position held by Qingzhou Mu Liu Cun.

After thinking about it again, Yuan Shao asked Qiao Mao, who was in charge of distributing the proposal to the states and counties to crusade against Dong Zhuo: "Yuan Wei, Qingzhou is to the east of us, and it will be arrived in two days, but Liu Qingzhou has not replied to the alliance to discuss Dong. Could he be interested in the position of leader of the alliance? ”

Qiao Mao shook his head: "No, Liu Zijian is kind-hearted, and has been getting along well with his colleagues in the surrounding states and counties for several years. ”

"As far as I know, he was up and down during this time. We are very busy with the implementation of the new policy and the rectification of Qingzhou officialdom, and a few days ago I also convened the chief officials of various counties and counties in Qingzhou in Linzi. The so-called annual summary meeting was held to sum up the lessons and lessons of the implementation of the new policy over the past year, and a number of officials with outstanding political achievements were severely commended. I've heard that the rewards are very generous. ”

Kong Ling laughed: "Although Liu Zijian has a reputation for benevolence and generosity, his methods in the process of implementing the new policy in Qingzhou are extremely ruthless. For example, under the pretext of chasing down accumulated tax arrears and suppressing illegal armed forces. ruthlessly eradicated more than 100 wealthy families, not only plundered the property of more than 100 landlords and heroes, but also listed more than 70 criminal evidence of Le'an County's Taishou Lu Feng and others, arrested more than 30 county commanders, county officials and officials in Le'an County, Beihai County, Donglai County, Qi State, etc., and escorted all of them to the Luoyang Imperial Court. ”

After Le'an Taishou Lu Feng fled from Qingzhou rampantly, Liu Zijian did not let go, and publicly printed the "Qingzhou Times" sold every five days through the yamen of the state capital, and made public the corruption and bad deeds of Lu Feng and others for several years, and the businessmen who gathered in Langya and Linzi soon brought the beautifully illustrated "Qingzhou Times" back to all parts of the Han Dynasty, in just one month, the reputation of the Lu family in Jiangdong was greatly damaged, and Lu Feng himself was even more infamous. I heard that I quietly ran to Jingzhou incognito and became a hermit! ”

It can be seen that Liu Zijian is not a benevolent person, and the group of staff members under his command who are well-known all over the world and full of strategy, which one is the easy person? We have to be careful! ”

Yuan Shao was originally worried that Liu Cun's reputation was above him, but when he heard Kong Ling say this, he immediately realized the huge threat that Liu Cun brought to himself, if Liu Cun, who was strong and strong, and had a large number of generals, really wanted to join the alliance, he would not be able to prepare and mobilize the huge strength of his family to connect the sour jujube alliance, but instead it became a wedding dress made for Liu Cun.

Qiao Mao saw that Yuan Shao was silent for a long time, staring at the plum branch above, his face changed, and he quickly understood what Yuan Shao was thinking, so he comforted Yuan Shao euphemistically:

"Brother don't need to worry, the foolish brother Guan Liu Zijian has no intention of joining the alliance to discuss Dong, otherwise he should have replied to the foolish brother in his reply, instead of emphasizing that Qingzhou's burden is too heavy, and the so-called celebrities and wise men in the shogunate behind him are mostly from poor families, and they are all conservative people who are keen on cultivating wasteland and setting up industries and commerce, and they are absolutely unwilling to spend the money they have accumulated on military spending at the critical moment of the promotion of the new deal."

Yuan Shao felt that it made sense when he heard it, and the best result was that Liu Cun would not join the alliance to discuss Dong, and maybe he could make a fuss about Liu Cun's appeasement and adultery, and take the opportunity to suppress Liu Cun's prestige.

Kong Ling, who was good at observing words and expressions, rolled his eyes a few times, and quickly made a suggestion: "Brother, Brother Yuan Wei, can you come up with a clever plan not only to prevent Liu Zijian from leading troops to join my army against Dong, but also to make Liu Zijian willing, or have to provide my allies with much-needed food, grass and ordnance?" ”

"Hehe, Liu Zijian didn't get any more than one billion dollars from the Qingzhou family's gate valve, it's time for those who came out to support our rebellion!"

Yuan Shao suddenly perked up: "Gongxu has a clever plan? ”

Kong Ling laughed and elegantly saluted the bright-eyed Yuan Shaoshi: "I heard that Liu Zijian cherishes his reputation the most, and once because his corporal was in the field training, he stepped on a small wooden bridge and did not repair it afterwards, Liu Zijian, who received the complaint from the villagers, not only immediately ran to apologize to the villagers, but also spent ten days to build two small stone bridges for the village. ”

"After that, Liu Cun severely dealt with the military waiting who led the team to train that day, and the unlucky military candidate was beaten with twenty military sticks and demoted to one level, but it made those ordinary people in Qingzhou talk about it and praised Liu Zijian's benevolence and the strict military discipline of the Qingzhou army."

Qiao Mao and Yuan Shao gradually understood, Kong Ling proudly picked up the teacup, and unhurriedly told his strategy: "Please also ask my brother to stop criticizing Liu Zijian's perverse behavior for the time being, and stop commenting on the new policy in Qingzhou. ”

"With Liu Zijian's character and the difficult situation of offending the world's family lords, he will definitely try his best to resign as the leader of the alliance, he will definitely take into account his brother's prominent status and lofty status, and then show his support, and the brother can take advantage of the situation to include Liu Zijian's name in the list of princes from all walks of life, and then slowly draw it!"

"Good strategy!"

Yuan Shao was overjoyed, and no longer hesitated at the moment, and immediately wrote an enthusiastic letter to Liu Cun.

######

In the first month of the first year of the first peace, the fifth day of the first month, the west courtyard of the pastor of Linzi City.

The sky was bright, the snow was shining, Liu Cun finally had two days to accompany his wife, and Yuan Shao's sudden letter broke the warm atmosphere.

Liu Cun invited Zhao Li, who joined the army, to come in, took the letter and opened it to read, the delicate Mihuan offered a cup of tea to the restrained Zhao Li, seeing Liu Cun's brows furrowed slightly, he couldn't help but worry in his heart, and he was afraid that the planned day schedule would be disrupted.

"Have you read the letter?" Liu Cun put away the letter.

Zhao Li nodded: "I've seen it, this kind of letter must be opened and read by the military office before it can be conveyed to the lord, and it happens to be a subordinate on duty today." ”

Liu Cun motioned for him to relax: "Tell me your opinion." ”

"Yes!"

After more than two years of military training, Zhao Li can no longer see any traces of a weak scholar on his body, and the look between his eyebrows is becoming more and more like his calm and decisive father Zhao Rong.

Zhao Li sorted out his thoughts slightly: "Just like the conclusion made at the core meeting a year ago, Yuan Shao did not have a good heart, from his letter and the recent intelligence sent back from Suojube, it can be seen that with the continuous arrival of princes from all walks of life, Yuan Shao has regarded himself as the natural leader of the Dong Alliance, and has no scruples to make such and such deployments and appointments, especially the move of letting his clan brother Yuan Shu control all the grain and grass and military salaries, which is enough to expose his true thoughts." ”

Liu Cun nodded appreciatively: "The analysis is good, and I can see the cause and effect of interests clearly, so how do you think I should reply to Yuan Shao appropriately?" ”

Zhao Li obviously came prepared, and his answer was very simple: "False and wrong, wait for the price to sell!" ”

Liu Cun laughed: "It's a good price to sell, if your father is here, maybe the pride will die, haha!" What's your dad up to? ”

Zhao Li showed a bright smile: "I got up early in the morning and shouted, saying that today is the last day of the five-day New Year's holiday, why do you have to go to Tiecheng to watch two Keju games, and the 'Qingzhou Iron Workshop' and 'Military Post Station' against at noon are the two strongest teams, there are many people watching, and I am afraid that there is no good position if I go late, and I am still muttering how to bet on the big one, betting on the iron workshop to win." ”

Liu Cun was so happy that after sending Zhao Li away, he saw that Mi Huan was still smiling, so he asked Mi Huan if he wanted to watch the Keju competition? Mi Huan immediately shook his head, threw himself into Liu Cun's arms and hugged his waist tightly, as if he was afraid that her husband would go out immediately. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you Hu Tian August 8 big New Year's peach charm, thank you Winged Demon Vest, james242, Hu Tian August 8 big reward, thank you ghost car, Xiao Wu Tinghou big monthly pass! I wish you all a prosperous and prosperous New Year, a smooth and prosperous Year of the Goat, and happiness forever!