After Liu Bei listened to Xun You's active inform, he was quite emotional.

"So that's the case, then it seems that the Xun family can't be blamed too much for this matter, after all, no one can predict what will happen next, and no one will think that the Yuan family will really rebel."

Xun You nodded.

"Regarding His Majesty's edict, I will never tell the Xun clan in advance, but I hope you can think about the problem that the Xun clan does not know, in this situation, if the Xun clan can really make a decision to join forces with you completely, I am really surprised."

Liu Bei smiled and patted Xun You's shoulder.

"Gongda, you don't have to think too much, I have my considerations, the Xun family has Xun's concerns, I won't blame them, you just need to do what you have to do."

"Yui!"

Xun You bowed to Liu Bei with a heavy heart, and then left.

After walking a few steps, Liu Bei suddenly called out to Xun You.

"Gongda."

"Huh?"

Xun You turned his head to look at Liu Bei suspiciously.

Liu Bei smiled at him.

"I believe in you."

Liu Bei's smile and words were like a warm wind blowing through Xun You's heart, and at that moment, Xun You's mood bloomed, like a spring breeze blowing through Lugu Lake, and autumn rain infiltrating Jiuzhaigou.

Xun You is no longer anxious.

Liu Bei didn't feel worried or impatient now.

First, he knew that the power of his pressure was far inferior to that of Emperor Huan Liu Zhi back then, and second, he could pull Xun You from the family side to his side, and for him, it was also earned.

Xun Shi didn't know a lot of things, if he really served him under pressure at this time, it is estimated that there will be a lot of things to give back in the future, and he may not be willing to give back.

Therefore, Liu Bei revised his mind and no longer sought all the benefits and help of the Xun family.

On the other hand, Liu Bei's guess was right, Yuan Kui really didn't trust Zhang Rang much, but his distrust stemmed from arrogance, and he felt that it was not safe to rely on Zhang Rang, not that he doubted that Zhang Rang could unite with Liu Bei or anything.

In his opinion, there may be scholars who cooperate with eunuchs for the sake of glory and wealth, but how can there be scholars and eunuchs planning life and death?

So in addition to Zhang Rang, he also arranged an absolutely reliable assassination team composed of Yuan's protégés, ready to add an insurance, if Zhang Rang's side could not succeed, they could immediately fill the position, step forward to make up the knife, and give Liu Bei a fatal blow.

It was not an easy task to assassinate Liu Bei.

Back then, he heard that the Yang family was preparing to organize people to assassinate Liu Bei because of Yang Ci's shame, but later because he learned about Liu Bei's wild past, he hoped that the Yang family could give them a slight increase in price.

In short, someone found out Liu Bei's past and knew that Liu Bei was born as a street fighter, and he began to participate in street multiplayer sports at the age of twelve or thirteen.

So the people who were summoned by the Yang family were a little afraid, thinking that if they killed Liu Bei, they might lose a lot of manpower and couldn't hold on, so they hoped that the Yang family could give more benefits.

Gotta add money.

But the Yang family was reluctant to offer a higher price, or they thought that Liu Bei's life was not worth that price, so the deal was not negotiated, so that the Yang family became a laughing stock for everyone.

This time, Yuan Kui learned the lessons of the Yang family and decided not to engage in fakes, but only play real.

If you are willing to work for me to assassinate Liu Bei, after the matter is completed, those who are alive will be promoted to disciples of the Yuan family, and those who are dead will be directly accepted as disciples by their descendants.

Not satisfied with this price?

Do you still need to add money?

The answer, of course, is satisfactory to Yuan Kui.

No one in the Yuan family could refuse the temptation of this price, so an absolutely elite iron-blooded assassination team was formed, and they seized the time to polish their skills, continue to refine their original skills, and prepare to give Liu Bei a fatal blow when the time came.

In addition to the assassination team in the city, outside the city, He Jin also had a good division of labor with Yuan Kui, Yuan Kui was responsible for getting rid of Liu Bei in the city, and He Jin was responsible for launching a sneak attack on Liu Bei's army outside the city, striving to defeat the leaderless Liangzhou soldiers in one go.

For this sneak attack, He Jin is sure.

In the army under his command, the Northern Army, the Yulin Army and the Tiger Ben Army are all elites who have been on the battlefield, and they have relatively strong combat effectiveness and rich combat experience.

Although he could not justifiably mobilize these three troops without the order of the Son of Heaven, the leaders of these three forces were basically his people and Yuan Kui's people, and at the critical moment, the order of the Son of Heaven would no longer be an absolutely necessary existence, but a dispensable existence.

Therefore, these three units are combat-effective, and their reliability is relatively large.

As for the foreign soldiers who didn't go away before, although their combat effectiveness is not very strong, the commanders basically have something to do with the Yuan family, so they are also relatively reliable and can act as second-line troops.

Later, the soldiers recruited in the Sanhe area, Chenliu, Yingchuan and other places lacked combat effectiveness and training, and could only serve as cannon fodder, but the number was okay, and the total number of foreign soldiers was about 30,000.

The Northern Army, the Yulin Army and the Tiger Army together have more than 14,000 people, which is nearly 45,000 soldiers and horses.

As for the main force that is really used to assault and win a decisive victory, it is this group of merger soldiers who have taken south one after another, and the merge soldiers who came to Luoyang before.

The number of this group of people is not very large, less than 4,000 people so far, but the combat effectiveness is very strong, and the generals who come with it are also relatively strong, very brave, and have a very high overall quality, and the strongest guy named Lu Bu is already He Jin's personal guard general.

He Jin calculated the military strength of about 50,000 in his hand, and felt that as long as Yuan Kui's side could successfully assassinate Liu Bei, he would have the certainty of victory.

Although Liu Bei also has a good military force on his side, such as his 20,000 Liangzhou soldiers, plus about 30,000 Xiyuan troops and Dong Chong's Luoyang City soldiers and horses, in terms of total numbers, the number of people on Liu Bei's side is basically the same as the number of people on He Jin's side.

An army of 100,000 gathered in Luoyang, and for the entire Luoyang region, it was definitely a scene where black clouds were crushing the city and wanted to destroy it.

In March of the sixth year of Zhongping, everyone could barely maintain their balance and not enter the final battle.

But in April, Liu Bei's side decided to act because of Liu Hong's sudden aggravation of his condition, and He Jin and Yuan Kui's side also decided to act as soon as possible.

Their reasons for deciding to act are more realistic and urgent.

There are two main reasons for this.

The first is the problem of grain and straw.

He Jin and Yuan Kui needed private money to maintain a relatively large number of troops, and they raised food and grass in many ways, and coerced and lured their subordinates to cut meat and pay for money, barely surviving for more than a month.

Now, they have entered a state of hating dogs, and their subordinates basically have a lot of resentment.

Of course, it's not that their subordinates are about to be unable to pay the price, and they are about to go bankrupt, no, it's relatively simple for these guys to gather money and efforts to feed an army of twenty or thirty thousand people.

But they were unwilling to pay so much money, and Yuan Kui and He Jin themselves were not willing to pay so much money, everyone barely managed to survive for more than a month, and the army was eating horses, they really couldn't stand it, so they repeatedly said that Yuan Kui and He Jin would win the battle quickly.

If we don't win again, we will have to divest!

So Yuan Kui and He Jin faced the dilemma of their subordinates collectively rebelling.

But this can only be said to be a predicament, some discussed, procrastinating, they still have a way to continue to maintain for a few months.

But the second reason is that they can't wait.

Since the beginning of April, Liu Hong has not summoned the minister for seven or eight consecutive days.

Although before that, he had summoned the minister once every three or five days, but this time the time interval was relatively long, and they felt that something was wrong.

Queen He also complained to the boss, telling them that her movements were restricted and she couldn't meet Liu Hong, not only her, but even the prince couldn't meet her father.

Liu Hong stayed in the palace of the Empress Dowager Dong when he was sick, and now under the care of the Empress Dowager Dong, he must get along with Liu Xie, who lives on the side of the Empress Dowager Dong, every day.

Empress Dowager Dong wanted to push Liu Xie to the throne, which Empress He couldn't have been more clear, so she had been very anxious, worried that Empress Dowager Dong would do her best to persuade Liu Hong, so that Liu Hong would change his mind and let Liu Xie inherit the throne.

Aren't they finished?

(End of chapter)