"It's the day of Liu Yao's wedding." Li Ru nodded and said.

Dong Zhuo frowned and asked, "Virtuous son-in-law, do you mean that we want to send someone to congratulate that Liu Yao and give gifts?" ”

"Not bad" Li Ru nodded, and said with a smile, "I just want to give a gift to that Liu Yao, and not only to go, but also to give a big gift with great fanfare." ”

Dong Zhuo looked at Li Ru with some confusion when he heard this, and didn't know what the significance of his move was, so he sneered, "Virtuous son-in-law, then Liu Yao himself is inseparable from us, I'm afraid that even if he gives a gift, he will be kicked out, and then he will lose face in vain." ”

"I also know that this Liu Yao will not accept our gifts, but what I want is just a formality, so that he thinks that we are afraid of him and wants to show favor to him, and then he Liu Yao will definitely relax his vigilance against us, and then we will have enough time to develop ourselves."

"And if we go to give gifts to Liu Yao with great fanfare, those princes will definitely know the truth, even if Liu Yao drives away the people waiting for us, with the suspicion of those princes, they will definitely think that we have something to do with Liu Yao." Li Ru said with a smile.

"Miao Miao, this is a divisive plan, when the time comes, when those princes and Liu Yao are confronted, we will meet the source left and right, and slowly wear down their strength." Dong Zhuo clapped his hands and said with a smile.

Li Ru smiled a little smugly when he heard this, and didn't say anything more.

"Now there are more than two months left before the eighth day of the first month of November, and I am not in a hurry to prepare, but what good candidates are there for the virtuous son-in-law, who will go to that Youzhou?" Dong Zhuo asked.

Li Ru thought for a moment. said: "Let that tiger Ben Zhonglang go to Li Su." ”

"Li Su!?" Dong Zhuo read the name in his mouth. remembered that Li Su persuaded Lu Bu to surrender to him at the beginning, and his eloquence was indeed good. Although Lu Bu has betrayed again now, it is no wonder that he Li Su. He immediately nodded and said, "Okay." Let Li Su go. ”

Immediately, Dong Zhuo was also interested, and continued to ask, "Virtuous son-in-law, what next, what should we do next?" ”

"There are two things next, one externally and one internally, if these two things are done well. I'm sure I'll be able to have that strength in the future. Li Ru said confidently.

"Those two things?" Dong Zhuo asked a little urgently.

"First, externally. Now the hinterland of the Central Plains has been completely chaotic, this Yanzhou. Cao Cao has already taken advantage of the fact that Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, has not yet returned, expanded his army by 30,000, and has already taken half of Yanzhou, and is now confronting Liu Dai. That Liu Dai is just a straw bale. How is which Cao Cao's opponent. ”

"It's just because of Cao Cao's unstable foundation. and Yuan Shao from Naji Prefecture. The fourth and third dukes, after returning to the Bohai Sea, continued to expand the army, and now there are 200,000 soldiers and horses. Obviously, he wanted to do something to Han Fu, the assassin of Jizhou. and that Nanyang is too guarded by Yuan Shu, and he has long wanted to do something to Yangzhou. ”

"My father-in-law can ask His Majesty to issue a holy decree and make Cao Cao the pastor of Yanzhou and Yuan Shao the pastor of Jizhou. Give them a legitimate identity, and then Cao Cao and Yuan Shao will naturally do it. I'm not afraid that the Central Plains won't be in chaos. ”

"And we are now occupying half of Liangzhou with Ma Teng, that is, Liu Yao. This Liangzhou pastoral is also a big problem. Therefore, we can divide this Liangzhou into two, and Liu Yao's half of Liangzhou is still Liangzhou. Let's give Ma Teng a Liangzhou, which can be regarded as a friendship with Liu Yao. As for our version of Liangzhou, my father-in-law can divide a new state that has always been called Yongzhou. This Yongzhou pastor is taken by the father-in-law, so wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone. ”

Dong Zhuo's face darkened when he heard this, these people were all his own henchmen, sworn enemies, but now he wanted to reward them, and he Dong Zhuo was also uncomfortable for a while. But he also knew that Li Ru was right, the more chaotic the hinterland of the Central Plains, the greater his chances for Dong Zhuo. As for the matter of Yongzhou, he Dong Zhuo is also very much in favor of it, so that many problems can be avoided.

"Good!! Virtuous son-in-law. Just do as you say. As for the decree, just write it as you like. Dong Zhuo said indifferently. He didn't have to ask for anything. Just write it yourself. Besides, now that the jade seal of the country is not known, it is even more unnecessary.

Li Ru nodded after hearing this, and continued, "The second point is about our own strength. We now control half of Liangzhou and the two counties of Hedong and Hanoi under Sili. This territory is not big, but it is not small. Although the more than 300,000 people in Luoyang were intercepted by Liu Yao. But it also has a population of more than two million people. Therefore, the first thing we need to do now is to expand the army, two households to levy one ding, at least five or six hundred thousand troops, and only then will we have enough strength to confront that Liu Yao. ”

If you want to say that this Li Ru is really vicious enough, he belongs to the kind of existence that Liu Yao said about treating the people as ants, and the total territory controlled by Dong Zhuo is about 2.5 million people, but he wants to pull up an army of 500,000 or 600,000 people, which means that the ratio of the people to the army is five to one.

Over the years, there have been wars, and naturally a large number of men have died. Of the 2.5 million people, if there are 1 million men, that's pretty good. That is to say, the age of the 500,000 army is undoubtedly uneven, from 50 years old to 15 years old.

In this case, what kind of life can the people have, it is nothing more than being squeezed by Dong Zhuo and completely becoming a tool for Dong Zhuo to support the army. You have to know that the road is like other places, generally speaking, this ratio is about fifteen to one or twenty to one, which is already the limit. In this way, they can support the army without spending money and labor, and they can't afford to raise more.

Even at the time when Yuan Shu was crazy to be the emperor in history, the ratio of the army was only ten to one. It can be seen how crazy Li Ru's idea is.

As for Youzhou under Liu Yao's command, the number of refugees has reached nearly eight million over the years, but the army under his command is only about 250,000, less than half of Dong Zhuo's. It was only after taking the annexed state and half of Liangzhou that he slowly continued to expand the army.

Dong Zhuo's eyes burst out with a light when he heard this, what does this army mean, that means strength, this strength is naturally the stronger the better, and naturally the more this army is, the better. As for the people, how can he care about Dong Zhuo's personality, what if the people are bored, if they die, they will die, anyway, there are more of these untouchables.

However, Dong Zhuo just wanted to agree, but he suddenly thought of a question, and sighed helplessly and went to sleep, "Virtuous son-in-law, the more this army, the better, it is best to have a million army, and when the time comes, the million army will go together, see how Liu Yao can resist." But where did we get so much money to feed so many armies? ”

At this time, Dong Zhuo was still heartbroken when he thought of the grain and grass treasures brought out from Luoyang. That's the property of the whole Luoyang, thousands of cars of treasure have been taken away by that Liu Yao, if these things are still there, let alone an army of 500,000, even if another 500,000 comes, then Dong Zhuo can raise it. But now it's going to be troublesome.

This feeding army is nothing more than two things, money and food and grass. There is no food and grass here, who wants to follow Dong Zhuo and serve him, they will starve to death, let alone fight.

It's a big problem with money, too. The weapons of this army, the armor, the horses, and so on, cost nothing. Of course, Dong Zhuo can also learn the yellow scarf, and the cloth and farm tools will go directly to the battlefield. However, what is the use of such an army, the equipment of this Youzhou army is the most sophisticated in the world, and against them, it is completely the share of abused vegetables.

And this army of support always needs to be paid. In these years, I joined the army in order not to starve to death, and secondly, to have some money to support the people in my family, otherwise who would want to do this kind of life and death. If there is no salary, this is willing to be this soldier. I'm afraid that there will be some kind of mutiny directly.

However, the current Dong Zhuo wants money but no money, food but no food, poor and white, not to mention an army of 500,000, even if it is the original army of 300,000, he is afraid that he will not be able to raise it even if he is a trouser, and it is estimated that it will not be long before he has to find a way to disarm to relieve the pressure.

Li Ru smiled and said, "Don't worry, father-in-law, since the son-in-law said it, there is naturally a way to solve it." ”

Dong Zhuo was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What can you do about the virtuous son-in-law, come to me quickly." (To be continued......)