In December of the seventh year of Guanghe, the Yellow Turban forces in the Kanto region had almost disappeared, and Liu Hong, the son of the Han Dynasty, probably in order to get rid of bad luck, issued a decree to the world in that month, and changed the year name to Zhongping, which was the first year of Zhongping. (Historical facts: "December, Jisi, pardon the world, change the yuan")

On this day that should be celebrated by the whole world, Zhang Huang, Dong Zhuo, Li Ru and his party had no good luck, and after a journey of more than half a month, they finally arrived in Longxi County in mid-December.

At the same time, the new Liangzhou assassin of the imperial court, Geng Contempt, had also arrived in Ji County, Hanyang County. Because as far as the current situation is concerned, the rebels in Xiliang seem to have regarded Longxi and Hanyang counties as aggressive targets.

It is true that Longxi is Dong Zhuo's territory, but when Zhang Huang followed Dong Zhuo, the big man, to Longxi, he found that in fact, a large piece of territory in Longxi had fallen into the pockets of the rebels.

This territory is not small, and nearly half of Longxi's territory, including Heguan, Baishi, Caohan, Daxia and other large counties in the county, has fallen into the hands of the rebels. At present, Dong Zhuo's army is confronting the rebels in Didao City.

It's no wonder, after all, Caohan in Longxi is the place of rebellion of the Qiang people's "Huangzhong Yicong".

But when Zhang Huang smiled and teased Dong Zhuo with this matter, Dong Zhuo looked unimpressed.

It turns out that compared with Kanto, Longxi County in Guanzhong can be called vast and sparsely populated, and the land here is relatively barren, so even if he loses half of his territory, Dong Zhuo will not feel heartache.

All in all, Dong Zhuo would never use his strength to resist the Xiliang rebels because of such a defeat.

Dong Zhuo's attitude towards the Xiliang rebels was to be appeased and connived, and the defeat after defeat made the imperial court clearly confirm the facts: in the land of a single county in the western part of Longxi, it was impossible for him Dong Zhuo to resist the offensive of the rebels, unless the imperial court sent reinforcements.

In the evening of the same day, Dong Zhuo set up several tables of banquets in his house, first, to communicate with his subordinates, and secondly, to come. It is to introduce Zhang Huang to the generals and be familiar with him, so as not to reveal flaws when the reinforcements led by Huangfu Song arrive in the future.

At this time, Dong Zhuo's forces, although they had not yet grown to the point where they needed the five lieutenant generals under his command to share the military power, had begun to take shape.

The first fierce general to bear the brunt is Duan Xuan, the clansman of Duan Cheng and Duan Taiwei of "Liangzhou Sanming", worthy of his name as a famous tiger general, with a national face, thick eyebrows, a calm and lofty bearing, and that momentum. actually chased after Sun Jian in Zhang Huang's impression, which was definitely a strong man who was quasi-ten thousand enemies.

Although it seems to be very difficult to get along, Zhang Huang knows that Duan Xuan is one of the few generals under Dong Zhuo's command who will never rob the people and advocate martial virtues in the future, and the people under his rule live and work in peace and contentment no less than the princes of Kwantung.

After Duan Xuan, Dong Zhuo's most important thing at present is Xu Rong and Hu Zhen's second generals, compared with Duan Xuan, Xu Rong and Hu Zhen's second generals are also generals who are good at commanding soldiers and imperial soldiers, but their bravery is not as good as Duan Xuan.

These three. In addition, Dong Zhuo's clansman, Dong Yue, who is still young, and Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, are the famous "Five Tigers" of the Dong family in the future, and five Zhonglang generals with tens of thousands of military power in their hands.

As for Fan Chou, Guo Yan, Li Dao, and Zhang Ji, the four generals who counterattacked Chang'an under the banner of revenge after Dong Zhuo's death in the future, and were scolded by hundreds of officials of the imperial court as "chaotic tigers". At present, Fan Chou has not yet taken refuge in Dong Zhuo, Guo Yan and Li Dao are even in the elite "Flying Bear Army" under Dong Zhuo's command that has not yet been established, but Zhang Ji has been valued by Dong Zhuo and promoted to be used under the account of the ministry.

In the middle of the feast. After Dong Zhuo reached a tacit understanding with Zhang Ji, he introduced Zhang Huangxin's identity to these subordinate generals, as Zhang Ji's nephew Zhang Xiu.

And then a few days. Zhang Huang also gradually began to appear in Di Daocheng as Zhang Xiu, because the real Zhang Xiu died of illness in his early years, so the soldiers under Dong Zhuo didn't know what it was.

At this time, it was the middle of winter, so although Dong Zhuo's army did not move in Didao, the imperial court did not pursue it, but only issued a letter urging Dong Zhuo to send troops after the spring of the next year to recruit the rebels in Liangzhou.

At this time, the real leader of the Liangzhou rebels was Song Yang, also known as Song Jian or Zong Jian, who called himself "King of Heshou Ping Han" in the future, and there were several henchmen under his command who were in charge of the "Huangzhong Yicong", that is, the kingdom, Beigong Yu and Li Wenhou. As for Bian Zhang and Han Sui, although they held the power of tens of thousands of troops, they were actually not the real people in charge of the Liangzhou rebels, to put it bluntly, they were just the pawns of Song Yang's rebellion against the Han Dynasty.

The New Year in the army is nothing more than drinking wine and eating meat to celebrate, and there are no other tricks, not to mention that after the New Year, Dong Zhuo and Li Ru immediately began to discuss the conquest of the rebels in Liangzhou. Hmm, more precisely, how to preserve your own strength in the confrontation between the Liangzhou rebels and the Han court.

In the first month of the second year of Zhongping, Dong Zhuo first launched a reconnaissance of the Xiliang rebels stationed north of Didao, and successively stationed troops in Baishi Mountain in the southeast. Thinking about it, Dong Zhuo doesn't care about losing a large piece of Longxi County territory north of Di Dao, but this is also his bottom line, and it is impossible for him to give up more territory to the rebels, after all, his power is still more in Longxi County at the moment, and has not expanded to Sanfu, Sili and other places.

The main composition of the Liangzhou rebel army is divided into three parts, the most important and core of which is undoubtedly the "Huangzhong Yicong", and the second is the border led by Huangzhong Yicong, such as the Qiang people and the Hu people, which account for about forty percent of the entire rebel army. The remaining sixty percent of the army was composed of Han soldiers from the former Jincheng, Wuwei, and Hanyang counties captured by the rebels, as well as the local people who had been coerced.

In addition to Huangzhong Yicong, Bian Zhang and Han Sui commanded as many as eighty percent of the Xiliang rebels, but their personal safety was the responsibility of Huangzhong Yicong and its leaders Beigong Yu and Li Wenhou, to put it bluntly, they were monitored by the latter.

To tell the truth, although there are only 20,000 or 30,000 defenders in Longxi under Dong Zhuo at this time, don't forget that he is friendly with the two big Qiang tribes on the west side of Longxi County, and the Baiqing clan and the Wudu clan, which occupy a large territory respectively, are very inclined to help Dong Zhuo, a Han man who has half Qiang blood and is hospitable on weekdays, it is no exaggeration to say that Dong Zhuo can get at least 30,000 troops from the two Qiang tribes with his own face alone, plus the defenders in his county, To be honest, it is not a problem to block the Xiliang rebels in Longxi County.

The point is, he didn't want to do this, he didn't want to lose troops for the sake of the imperial court, which was very guarded against him.

Because of this, although Dong Zhuo has successively sent additional defenders in Baishi Mountain. But he never took the initiative to find trouble with Bian Zhang and Han Sui. This appeasement and connivance surprised Bian Zhang and Han Sui, who were stationed in Daxia County at this time.

"Then Dong Zhongying didn't attack?"

Bian Zhang and Han Sui were indeed surprised.

Both of them had served in Jincheng County for a long time, so they would sometimes hear that there was a heroic man named Dong Zhuo in Longxi County next door, and this man could lead more than 20 people to sneak attack the royal tent of the Qiang tribe that was hostile to him, causing the Qiang people to suffer huge losses; But he can also set up a banquet to entertain the Qiang people who are friendly with him, even if they slaughter all the cattle and sheep at home as the dishes of the banquet. This courage and heroism made many Qiang tribes bordering Longxi love and hate, and they vied to make friends with Dong Zhuo.

And now, he Bian Zhang and Han Sui led tens of thousands of troops to attack Longxi County and invade half of Dong Zhuo's territory. If Dong Zhuo had served in Hedong before, he would have been absent from Longxi, but now that Dong Zhuo has returned to Longxi, it is hard to imagine that this person would swallow his anger.

"Could it be this Dong Zhongying......"

Han Sui really deserved to be the overlord of Xiliang in the future, and immediately figured out Dong Zhuo's thoughts. It's no wonder, after all, Han Sui has not heard of the fact that the imperial court sent the northern army to garrison Chang'an and guard against Dong Zhuo over the years.

"If that's the case, it's better to pull this person into the gang together."

The former Liangzhou Overseer was engaged in Bian Zhang, and when he heard Han Sui's explanation, he suddenly moved his mind, don't look at the way they besiege this city and attack that city these days, it seems to be very beautiful, but in fact, their situation is not optimistic. Later, Song Yang, Beigong Yu, and Li Wenhou coerced and coerced them to attack the Han court, and the Han court was about to send an army to encircle and suppress them.

If they can win Dong Zhuo into the gang, I believe they will be more sure to break away from the control of Huangzhong's righteous servants. Even if Wuwei, Jincheng, and Longxi are united, they may be able to defeat the army sent by the Han court to encircle and suppress.

However, reason made them realize that it was basically impossible for Dong Zhuo to turn against the water, after all, although the current big man was becoming more and more decaying. But as the so-called emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, even if it is them, if it is not, there is no way out. I'm afraid I won't be willing to be the enemy of this behemoth. Of course, there's always nothing wrong with trying.

Thinking of this, Bian Zhang and Han Sui immediately wrote a letter and sent their henchmen to Di Dao City and handed it over to Dong Zhuo.

In just one and a half days, the letter was handed over to Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo felt like he couldn't laugh or cry after reading the proposal in the letter.

"King of Longxi? …… Hey, that's a ......."

Shaking his head with a smile, Dong Zhuo casually handed the letter to Li Ru. On the side, Zhang Huang sat on a chair, paying attention to this scene casually.

Speaking of which, no one under Dong Zhuo's subordinates except Zhang Ji could imagine how a junior named "Zhang Xiu" stood out and became an upstart who freely entered and exited Dong Zhuo's mansion, but only a few people knew that Zhang Huang did have the qualifications to sit on an equal footing with Dong Zhuo.

"Do you want to be the king of Longxi, uncle?"

Looking at Dong Zhuo, who had a strange look, Zhang Huang joked with a smile.

"How so?" Dong Zhuo rolled his eyes when he heard this, thinking that the status of a mere king of Longxi in his heart was the same as that of a rich man in the countryside, just imagine how Dong Zhuo, who was ambitious and striving to become the center of power in the imperial court, could he look down on such an empty title. Not to mention that this title will also provoke the hostility of the imperial court.

"Han Wenyue (Han Sui) Is this a salute before a soldier?" Li Ru twisted his beard and carefully examined the words between the lines of the letter, and then frowned slightly.

In his opinion, in addition to Han Sui's intention to win over Dong Zhuo in the letter, he also vaguely expressed a meaning, that is, if Dong Zhuo insisted on being an enemy of their rebels, then the other party would not be polite.

"Threat?" Li Ru muttered in his mouth, but then he shook his head and corrected his words, "Di Dao, he wants Di Dao!" ”

"What?"

"Han Sui wants Di Dao, he wants us to give up Di Dao, and at the same time he promises not to attack the rest of my territory in Longxi!"

"......" Zhang Huang was a little surprised when he heard this, and took the letter in Li Ru's hand and looked left and right, but he didn't see this. Because from the understanding between the lines, Han Sui just wrote in the letter that even if Dong Zhuo was unwilling to be with them, as long as he did not offend the interests of the rebels, he Han Sui on the rebel side could make the decision and no longer occupy the remaining territory in Longxi, and he would not commit any crimes with Dong Zhuoqiu.

It seemed to see the surprise in Zhang Huang's heart. Li Ru reminded with a smile, "Di Dao connects Hanyang Langan, and there is only one official road within a radius of hundreds of miles, if Han Sui wants to enter Hanyang County in a big way, Di Dao must take it." …… At this time, the coercion and temptation of us is undoubtedly for the sake of Di Dao. ”

Zhang Huang suddenly realized when he heard this, but the doubts in his heart were not lifted, "Didn't they attack Hanyang?" Can't you go the old way? Why do you have to go from Didaw? ”

Seeing this, Li Ru explained, "Last time. Han Sui went directly from Yuzhong in Jincheng County to Langan through the warriors, and this road was indeed feasible. But the problem is that now that Song Yang has moved the brigade to the northwest of our Longxi, it is inevitable that the road will increase in vain. …… Of course, the most fundamental reason is that I am afraid that I will sneak attack Langan from Di Dao when he enters Hanyang County and fight with the Han army, so in order to deal with it prudently, Han Sui naturally wants us to hand over Di Dao. If we lose control of Di Dao, and then want to attack Lan Gan, it will not be so easy. ”

"I see." Zhang Huang nodded with admiration, surprised that Li Ru was so aware of the situation.

Think back to the Yellow Turban force where he was from. What was lacking at the beginning was not such a military advisor who could survey the direction of the battle situation in the overall situation?

"So what's next?" Zhang Huang turned his head to look at Dong Zhuo and Li Ru.

Dong Zhuo and Li Ru glanced at each other and were silent.

Although they had the idea of making the rebels and the imperial army become snipes so that they could become fishermen, they did not hesitate to sacrifice many troops to deliberately create defeat and "put pressure" on the imperial court. But that doesn't mean they're willing to hand over Didao.

Di Dao is Dong Zhuo's bottom line, because Di Dao is the only two plank roads in Longxi County that can connect to Hanyang County, if it is lost, Dong Zhuo wants to enter Hanyang in the future. It is necessary to grope in the hundreds of miles of wilderness between Longxi and Hanyang, and the manpower and material resources spent are several times higher.

"How can Han thieves be reasonable!"

It can be seen that in the face of Han Sui's unreasonable demands. Dong Zhuo was also a little angry. Imagine that he, Dong Zhuo, had already surrendered many territories in Longxi to the ground, but Han Sui was insatiable and even wanted to get Di Dao.

You must know that Di Dao is not only the main road connecting Hanyang, but also the hub connecting the northwest of Longxi, if it is handed over, even if it is Dong Zhuo, I am afraid that it will be difficult to recapture the northwestern part of Longxi from the hands of Song Yang, the future king of Heshou Ping Han.

But don't let it, Han Sui has vaguely said in the letter that he has "seen through" Dong Zhuo's desire to preserve his strength, if Dong Zhuo is interested in giving up Di Dao, then he Han Sui will pretend not to know anything, and according to Dong Zhuo's thoughts, go to Hanyang, Youfufeng and go desperately with the Han army; But if Dong Zhuo is not interested, then I'm sorry, Di Dao, I Han Sui have to take it, and you, Dong Zhuo, will be the vanguard cannon fodder of the Han army to stop me.

When he learned several intentions of Han Sui's letter from Li Ru's mouth, Zhang Huang's heart was shocked. Although Han and Dong have not officially confronted each other, in fact, the two have already fought fiercely for a round through the letter.

And, obviously, it was Han Sui who had the upper hand.

Holding back his anger, Dong Zhuo lowered his head and pondered, and suddenly, he raised his head and asked, "Huangfu Song...... Where? ”

Li Ru was slightly stunned, and immediately understood Dong Zhuo's intentions, and replied, "According to the detailed reply, Huangfu Song's army is still stationed near Chang'an. ”

"Send a letter to ask for help!"

Dong Zhuo said in a deep voice, his words undoubtedly indicated that he rejected Han Sui's "goodwill" and refused to hand over Di Dao.

This meant that Dong Zhuo had to go against the strategic policy he had formulated with Li Ru and formally respond to the main force of the Xiliang rebels.

He would never have imagined that at the same time as his side changed its strategy, the friendly army in his mind, that is, Huangfu Song's army, was still stationed in Chang'an, and this stop would be a full seven months.

That's right, Huangfu Song refused to send troops to aid Dong Zhuo!

Infighting?

No, it's just because Han Sui is not the only one who has seen through Dong Zhuo's true intentions. (To be continued......)