Entering the county town of Liaodong, seeing that the people there live and work in peace and contentment, caravans come and go frequently, among which there are more foreign merchants and Han people trading and lodging together, a prosperous scene of political communication and harmony, Chen Gong saw this, his heart was very amazed by the ability of Zu Zhao, and he couldn't help but praise some words. Zu Zhao said modestly: "This is not my own strength, but the result of the joint efforts of capable people like Gongtai, now that I have Gongtai, not to mention the prosperity of Liaodong in the future, even the whole world, it must be so peaceful, stable, and prosperous." ”

Chen Gong listened to Zu Zhao's words, and his heart was very excited, knowing that Zu Zhao was determined to be in the world, and he was benevolent and righteous, he was really a talent who did great things, and he secretly made up his mind to assist Zu Zhao and conspire with the world.

After entering the palace, all the generals were inside, and after Zu Zhao entered the city, some soldiers had already told the generals the news of Zu Zhao's return, and they failed to go out to meet Zu Zhao, so they all gathered in the government to wait for him to come back. When Zu Zhao saw them, he told them all about his past life, and there was no lack of gratitude to Chen Gong for saving his life. The generals knew that it was Chen Gong who saved Zu Zhao, and they were all very grateful, and they also respected Chen Gong a lot.

Soon after everyone sat down, someone came to report, saying that after Cao Cao returned to Chenliu, he immediately summoned Xiangyong, and instantly combined tens of thousands of troops, among which many famous people joined his camp, such as Le Jin, Li Dian, Xu Zhu and others also joined, and many wealthy businessmen also squandered money and funded Cao Cao, Cao Cao has now built a large number of weapons, armor and banners, and issued a letter to the world, asking the princes of the world to enter Beijing to crusade against Dong Zhuo.

Chen Gong listened, and said quietly: "This Cao Mengde really has some ability. It's just that he is too ambitious, and this time he is called for the country, but he is actually for himself. ”

After hearing this, the ancestral house agreed with Chen Gong's statement, this person is very good at analyzing the problem, Cao Cao is indeed for himself. However, looking at the princes of the world, there are not many people who can really serve the people of the world and the Han Dynasty.

"Which princes have responded?" Zu Zhao asked.

The spies said: "Later General Nanyang is too shou Yuan Shu, Jizhou is too shou Han Fu, Yuzhou is thorn Shi Kong Ling, Yanzhou thorn Shi Liu Dai, Hanoi County is too shou Wang Kuang, Chen Liutai guards Zhang Miao, Dongjun guards Qiao Mao, Shanyang guards Yuan Yi, Jibei Xiang Bao Xin, Beihai guards Kong Rong, Guangling guards Zhang Chao, Xuzhou thorn Shi Taoqian, Xiliang guards Ma Teng, Beiping guards Gongsun Zan too much, Shangdang guards Zhang Yang, Wucheng Hou Changsha guards Sun Jian, Qixiang Hou Bohai guards Yuan Shao. The military horses of all roads ranged from 30,000 to 120,000, and all the civil officials and military generals all went to Luoyang. ”

Zu Zhao couldn't help but laugh secretly and said: "The princes of the world can really respond, it seems that this Cao Mengde really has two brushes." Gongtai, what do you think about this? ”

Chen Gong thought for a while, and said very seriously: "In my opinion, on the surface, all the princes in the world are going to get rid of Dong Zhuo, but they all have ghosts in their hearts, and in the end, they are all for themselves. Now that the princes of this multi-way alliance are assembled, in order to act in unison, they must elect a leader, but this leader may not be able to do it for long, no matter who it is. And after that, once the alliance is dissolved, for the sake of power and territory, they will fight each other, so even if Dong Zhuo can be eliminated in the end, it is still just a change of person to control the Son of Heaven, and there is still no improvement in the situation in the world, it will only make it more turbulent. ”

Zu Zhao nodded appreciatively and said: "What the public platform said is extremely true, even if it is so, we are now breaking with Cao Cao Gang, and his text is calling, we are afraid that there is no need to go." ”

Chen Gong said: "Instead of looking at their faces, it is better for us to develop in Liaodong." I heard that there are still thieves on the border of Liaodong, and there are often northern barbarians harassing them, so it is better to follow this opportunity to stick to Liaodong and develop the rear foundation, and when their princes are almost fighting, we will attack in one fell swoop, and then we will be the greatest right-hand-hand. ”

Zu Zhao also had this idea in his heart, he knew that the princes of these roads would not fight each other, and there was no need for him to mix and enter, the so-called outside must first settle inside, and now there is Gongsun Du in Liaodong, a thief jumping, first take him out, and then use Silla as a springboard to annex his small statism that threatens Liaodong, this is the largest rear base, when the world is not yet three points, he has already won half, it is really gratifying.

"What do the generals think?" Zu Zhao asked the other generals. Everyone agrees with Chen Gong's statement, after they know Cao Cao's character, they are in that guy from their hearts, so he sent a message, feeling that he wants to obey his orders and be the same as him, and he is not willing to go.

Not long after, a messenger came from Liaoxi, who was sent by Chen Youzhi, and he also received a letter from Cao Cao, sending someone to ask Zu Zhao if he wanted to send troops to help. Zu Zhao told the messenger to go back and tell Chen Youzhi that there was no need to pay attention to Cao Cao's announcement, and that Liaodong County and Liaoxi County did not mix with their activities.

Let's say that Gongsun Du was in Liaodong County, and saw that Zu Zhao's growing strength had threatened him, and he had repeatedly played to the imperial court to limit Zu Zhao's troops, and he personally sent people into Zu Zhao's military base to investigate, but he was caught by Zu Zhao, and Zu Zhao has been developing his military strength in the name of suppressing bandits.

This time, Cao Cao sent a document to convene the princes of the world to crusade against Dong Zhuo, Gongsun Du thought that Zu Zhao would take the opportunity to develop an alliance with the princes, but in the end he learned that Zu Zhao did not go, and he was very puzzled. Every day is worried, wanting to get rid of Zu Zhao. However, he is now the head of Liaodong County, and he is a local official, if he kills the ancestral house, it is inevitable that the court will be guilty.

When Gongsun Du had a person beside him, surnamed Zhu Mingliang, he saw that Gongsun Du had a sad look, so he asked: "Is the lord worried about Zu Zhao's affairs again?" ”

Gongsun Du saw that it was Zhu Liang and said: "This can't be hidden from you, indeed, I'm thinking about how to get rid of Zu Zhao's crossfire unknowingly, he is in Liaodong for a day, and the threat to us is a little greater." ”

Zhu Liang said: "If you want to destroy Zu Zhao, what do you have to worry about, I have a plan, not only can I easily go out of Zu Zhao, but also let the lord expand his power territory." ”

Gongsun Du was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly asked what the plan was. Zhu Liang said with a smile: "Don't you know that the lord doesn't know that Na Zuzhao has always labeled himself as a good person and fooled the common people one by one, but he is still very tough on the outside, and the northern countries hate him very much, especially after sending troops to Silla, he actually controlled Silla and actually stationed troops in Silla." Since that's the case, then why don't we unite with the foreign tribes to get rid of Zu Zhao? ”

When Gongsun Du heard this, he felt that something was wrong, and said: "Fornicating with foreign enemies is a capital crime of betraying the country, how can Mr. let me do this?" ”

Zhu Liang said: "Being a person is not to let the lord and you fornicate with foreign enemies, but to let Zu Zhao fornicate with foreign enemies. Not only can we get rid of Zu Zhao, but we can also take advantage of the enemy's invasion to send troops, and then the whole of Liaodong will not be the lord's. At this time, the princes are marching into Luoyang to crusade against Dong Zhuo, and it's time for us to make a big fight here. ”

Gongsun Du understood a little, but he still didn't know it very clearly, and said: "How to do it, I would like to hear the details." ”

Zhu Liang said: "We can quietly send letters to Wuhuan, Xianbei, Goguryeo and other countries, saying that Zuzhao is going to lead troops to attack them and let them prepare at the border." When the time comes, their army will gather at the border, and we can tell Zu Zhao about this, saying that the foreign invasion of Liaodong will come to discuss the plan to retreat from the enemy, then Zu Zhao will definitely come, and when the time comes, we will ambush the sword and axe in the conference hall, and when Zu Zhao comes, we will kill him directly. We will be able to tell foreign countries that Zu Zhao has been executed and let them withdraw their troops, whether they retreat or not, we will take the opportunity to send troops, so that we can seize the land and make meritorious contributions to the imperial court, and we also have an excuse to develop our own army. ”

When Gongsun Du heard this, he was very happy in his heart, and immediately asked Zhu Liang to arrange it. Zhu Liang was ordered to go, repaired a number of letters, and asked the messenger to secretly send them to Wuhuan, Xianbei, Goguryeo and other countries, saying that Zu Zhao would invade them with an army and make them ready.

As soon as the messengers were about to leave the border, they were all captured by Zu Zhao's army. Zu Zhao read Gongsun Du's letter, and couldn't help laughing: "I was thinking about what excuse to use to get rid of him, but I didn't expect him to come to the door by himself, I really wanted to die, and I can't complain about me." ”

Chen Gong said: "Gongsun Du must have a follow-up plan, we might as well plan and let them think that we don't know anything, and then we will have more initiative, instead of directly fighting him." ”

Zu Zhao asked, "What's the trick of the public station?" ”

Chen Gong said: "This Gongsun Du is doing this just to oppose the princess and get rid of the princess, so as to expand his territory." However, he knew that his current strength was not enough to resist the lord, and he also knew that Wuhuan, Xianbei, Goguryeo and other countries were not very strong now, and it was still difficult to protect themselves, let alone take the initiative to invade on a large scale. Then it is very likely that Gongsun Du invited the lord to discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy, and then carried out the assassination. Why don't we pretend that we don't know anything, and see what he does, and if he really invites the lord to discuss, then the lord just goes. When the time comes, if Zhang Yuan or Zhao Meng goes in casually, they will naturally not disagree. Before that, we have to send someone to infiltrate the Gongsun family, and when they do it, we will also have a response. When the time comes, our army that is lying in ambush outside will directly kill the public prosecutor, and with these letters, he will be fornicating with foreign enemies, and we can also take advantage of the situation to send troops to attack foreign enemies. This Gongsun Du has really helped us a lot. ”

When Zu Zhao heard this, he couldn't help but laugh as Ha Lu Ha Da Lu, Zanchen Gong was really scheming, so that he could kill Gongsun Du by surprise. After everything was decided, Jo Zhao sent someone to Silla to tell the Silla queen Jeon Zhiyu and asked her to prepare an army, pretending to be the army of Uhuan, Xianbei, Goguryeo and other countries, and camp on the border of Liaodong.

Quan Zhiyu got Zu Zhao's letter, her heart was overjoyed, she couldn't help but want to come to Zu Zhao, this time she finally had a legitimate excuse to block the mouth of the old guys in the Elders' House, that is, there was turmoil at the border, she wanted to take the royal conquest, and she was Zu Zhao's wife, she was the most qualified to let Zu Zhao help. In this way, Quan Zhiyu happily took an army of more than 10,000 people and came to the border of Liaodong to camp.

Gongsun Du's spies saw that there were indeed foreign troops coming to the border of Liaodong, thinking that the armies of Wuhuan, Xianbei, Goguryeo and other countries had really received Gongsun Dude's letter, and immediately reported the news to Gongsun Du. Gongsun Du, who got the news, was overjoyed, and immediately told Zu Zhao the information, saying that the foreign alliance had gathered a large number of troops to invade Liaodong, and he, as a powerful group in Liaodong, was willing to help Zu Zhao resist foreign enemies, and let Zu Zhao go to his mansion to discuss.

Zu Zhao received the invitation of Gongsun Du, and he was very happy, this Gongsun Du's plan was really guessed by Chen Gong one by one, and there were thousands of people who pretended to be merchants and tourists before entering the city where Gongsun Du was located, and Zu Zhao was naturally not afraid to go.

Zu Zhao took this Zhang Yuan to see Gongsun Du together, while Zhao Meng, Chen Gong and others took an army of 10,000 people, traveled day and night, and quietly ambushed outside Gongsun Du's city, they only brought dry food and water, did not bring pots, did not need to make a fire to cook, and would not attract the attention of Gongsun Du's spies.

Before the luck, Gongsun Xiaoban learned that Zu Zhao was going to see Gongsun Du, and knew that Gongsun Du was going to harm Zu Zhao, so he was very relieved in his heart, and insisted on going with Zu Zhao, but in the end, Zu Zhao could only take Gongsun Xiaoban to go.

When he arrived at Gongsun Du's house, Gongsun Du personally went out to greet him. When he saw that it was Gongsun Wang or his daughter Gongsun Xiaoban who was accompanying Zu Zhao, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Gongsun Wang or Liaodong County's biggest power is that Youzhou Taishou Liu Yu also has to give three points, and now Gongsun Xiaoban is actually with Zu Zhao, so he can't help but be a little afraid, and hurriedly ordered the knife and axe men who were ambushed in the tent wall, they can only kill Zu Zhao and Zhang Yuan, who came with him, but they can't hurt the woman next to him, Gongsun Xiaoban.

Seeing that Gongsun Du was so polite to himself, Zu Zhao also accompanied him to act slowly, in the past, Gongsun Du was very arrogant, and he didn't see Zu Zhao in his eyes at all, but now he is so affectionate, a person of insight can see that Gongsun Du has a trick in his heart, but Zu Zhao pretended to be stupid, he didn't know anything, and happily went to the banquet.

When he arrived at the meeting place, Zu Zhao took a random look, only to see a figure behind the tent wall, deliberately thinking that there must be three or four hundred people ambushed there. However, he only pretended not to know what to say, and still talked and laughed like the wind, and ate to his heart's content.

Halfway through eating, someone suddenly ran in and whispered to Gongsun Du for a while, and then he hurried out, Gongsun Du's smiling face immediately became cold as ice, and said: "Master Bookkeeper, I just got a message, I don't know if it's true or not, it's really heart-wrenching." ”

Zu Zhao smiled and asked: "I don't know what kind of heart-wrenching thing Lord Gongsun knows about Lu Dao, say it and let me Zu Zhao also listen to it, maybe I can help you solve it." ”

Gongsun Du sneered: "I think this matter can only be solved by Lord Bookkeeper, I got the information, those foreign troops were gathered by you by Lord Bookkeeper." The court treats you well, why do you treat the Han like this, and actually fornicate with other places, this is the capital crime of exterminating the nine clans. ”

Zu Zhao smiled: "What did Lord Gongsun say that? ”

Gongsun Du said coldly: "The evidence is conclusive, does the master still want to deny it?" I have become a local prince, how can I tolerate the existence of a person like you, who has brought disaster to the country and the people. After saying that, he slammed the cup and said in a loud voice, "Come, take down this traitor who has fornicated with foreign enemies." ”

With Gongsun Du's order, all the sword and axe hands on both sides came out, surrounding Zu Zhao, Zhang Yuan and Gongsun Xiaoban in the middle. Zu Zhao said coldly: "I see that you have already had an ambush, and you asked me to come to discuss the retreat of the enemy, and said that I fornicated with foreign enemies, how many of them are yours?" ”

Gongsun Du smiled: "You're right. I'll let you die blindly, yes, I calculated it for you. After saying that, he laughed for a while and said, "Kill the traitors Zu Zhao and Zhang Yuan on the spot." ”

The knife and axe hand received the order, and immediately rushed up, surrounding Zu Zhao and Zhang Yuan is indiscriminate slashing. The prosecutor shot out the flying knife on his waist, and the twenty or so people surrounding Zu Zhao and Zhang Yuan fell instantly, but another twenty or thirty people surrounded him. Gongsun Xiaoban saw that Gongsun Du's people didn't dare to hurt themselves, so he let go of his hand and killed, flew in his hand to the end of the shot, untied the meteor hammer on his waist, and turned around to hit those knife and axe hands.

Gongsun Du saw that Gongsun Xiaoban was so powerful, and knew that if she let her continue to mess around like this, Zu Zhao and them would definitely escape, so he ordered Gongsun Xiaoban to be killed together. The crowd was ordered to rush in without fear of death. The three of them leaned against each other, fought and retreated, and slowly exited the door. Gongsun Du's people chased them out, but they didn't expect that hundreds of people came in and out of the courtyard, and those sword and axe men rushed to kill, and in a short time, all the sword and axe hands were killed.

Gongsun Du was very surprised, and fled in a hurry, how could Zu Zhao let him go, and chased him directly, under the desperate protection of Gongsun Du's guards, Gongsun Du escaped from the courtyard and gathered the army to kill back. Seeing this, Zu Zhao fled with Zhang Yuan, Gongsun Xiaoban and others. Gongsun Du will let go and immediately bring people to chase and kill. As soon as he left the house, a soldier Pegasus came to report, saying that a large number of troops suddenly appeared outside the city, and I don't know how many people in Lu Dao have already entered the city.

When Gongsun Du heard this, his face changed suddenly, and he was so panicked that the knife in his hand almost fell to the ground, Zu Zhao rode back and said with a smile: "Gongsun thief, this time you are playing with fire and setting yourself on fire, and no one can save you." But don't worry, your family is small, as long as they don't think about killing me, I won't attack them. ”

As soon as Zu Zhao finished speaking, Zhang Yuanzai flew up, overturned the two guards of Gongsun Du, and stabbed Gongsun Du with another shot, only one round, Gongsun Du was stabbed off the horse and died. Seeing that Gongsun Du was dead, all the soldiers of his army threw away their weapons and asked Zu Zhao to surrender. Zu Zhao ordered the soldiers of Gongsun Du to be incorporated into the army, and at the same time ordered the good students to treat the small family of Gongsun Du, whoever dares to mess around, kill them, as for those disciples of Gongsun Du, those who are willing to surrender will surrender, and those who are not willing to surrender will be let go, so that they can find their own way out.

Almost all the generals and strategists of Gongsun Du chose to surrender to Zu Zhao, but Zhu Liang neither surrendered nor left. In the end, persuasion failed, Zu Zhao ordered him to die, and then the celebrity buried him.

After Zu Zhao got rid of Gongsun Du, he returned to Liaodong County, and at this moment he learned that the princes who had fought against Dong Zhuo had now made a split, Sun Jian returned to Jiangdong, and Yuan Shu and his brother Yuan Shao also had a conflict, and the princes of all walks of life went their own ways and fought each other. After Dong Zhuo's army was defeated, he wantonly robbed and killed the rich people of Luoyang, and drove all the people of Luoyang out of the city and took them to Chang'an, ordering people to burn down all the farmhouses in Luoyang City.

Dong Zhuo connived at the soldiers to rape the wives and daughters of the people along the way, and killed them if they resisted or walked slowly, which was really to the point of the indignation of heaven and man, but among the several major princes, they did not want to chase Dong Zhuo, but retreated in order to preserve their own strength, and then Cao Cao pursued alone, but was ambushed by multiple ambushes and suffered defeat, Cao Cao dropped a sentence of "insufficient erection and strategy" with the remnants of the army completely broke away from the alliance, and returned to Chen Liu to continue to develop his military strength.

And after Dong Zhuo arrived in Chang'an, he was even more wanton, and no one could stop him. He toyed with women day and night, or found random people to kill them, and no one dared to say a word. And Lu Bu seems to be loyal to Dong Zhuo, and whenever something happens, he is the first to stand up to help Dong Zhuo break the siege.

Zu Zhao thought to himself, this Wang Yun couldn't have lost the letter he gave him, why didn't he see movement for a long time, it stands to reason that it won't be long before Dong Zhuo should die, why hasn't he reacted yet, and sent someone to contact the information force in Chang'an immediately, so that they can always pay attention to the situation there.

Liaodong is peaceful, now the princes are all in their own ways, the so-called imperial court is also in name only, Zu Zhao directly and simply self-proclaimed Liaodong County Taishou, Feng Chen Youzhi as Liaoxi County Taishou, Feng Sude as Liaodong County Master Book, Zhang Yuan, Zhao Meng are the left and right lieutenants of Liaodong County, commanding the Liaodong army, and Chen Gong is the first military division under Zu Zhao, the general military administration and internal affairs, and the real power is second to Zu Zhao. The rest of the generals, big and small, were all rewarded. The generals got Zu Zhao's sarcasm, and they were all happy in their hearts, and the next time was to do a big job.

Now the situation in the world is divided, the princes are rising, everyone is planning for their own strength and future development, like Sun Jian, after getting the jade seal, he retreated to Jiangdong, of course, he has the heart of hegemony, how will he willingly listen to people's orders.