The soldiers of the princes marched forward, and Dong Zhuo, who was in Luoyang City, was uneasy.

In the past, when he first entered Luoyang, he saw that the doors of Luoyang were in order on all sides, and the city was high and the walls were solid, and he was overjoyed in his heart, thinking that such a strong city, even if the world's heroes came, this place was enough to hold on.

It's just that now seeing the alliance of princes coming from the southeast and southeast, he, the veteran general on the battlefield, is also a little panicked, and he is actually a little afraid of being trapped in this Luoyang City.

The fortified city of the richest man at the foot of the Son of Heaven, if you think about it carefully, it can also be a cage with wings that cannot be escaped.

Xu is that he is getting older now, and he has lost the sharpness he had when he was in Liangzhou, or maybe it was the white-haired man who sent the black-haired person, which made Dong Zhuo lose his will to compete with the sky.

Dong Zhongying, who had not returned to Liangzhou for many years since he led the army out of Liangzhou, suddenly had the idea of going back to have a look.

He found Li Ru and told Li Ru that he wanted to return to the west.

Even if he and Li Ru are a little dirty now, when it comes to resourcefulness, Li Ru is still the best under him.

At the end of the words, this Luoyang butcher, who had already murdered before and killed people at every turn, turned out to be a little kind today.

With a look of longing, he chuckled softly, "Now the strong wind in Liangzhou should start blowing. When we were in Liangzhou, what we hated most was the strong wind that was enough to sweep people away, but now that I think about it, I feel a little nostalgic."

"Back then, you and I wanted to come to this Central Plains to break through, but now we have really made some names, but I don't think it's very interesting. When I go to Chang'an this time, I want to build a Meiwu, and even if the world changes, it will have nothing to do with you and me."

Li Ru naturally won't respond, they came from Liangzhou, and they have overcome obstacles over the years, how difficult it is to get to where they are today? How can you give up everything because Dong Zhuo misses his hometown?

He persuaded each other bitterly, thinking that the city of Luoyang was strong, the elite iron cavalry of Liangzhou was unparalleled, and there were many contradictions between the princes, so he only needed to stick to Luoyang and block the princes, and then he would naturally retreat without a fight.

If you retreat westward, you can only retreat again and again until there is no way back.

It's just that Dong Zhuo has already made up his mind, and he drove Li Ru out at that time.

The scribe who had been expelled from the Prime Minister's Mansion was at first silent, and finally left crying.

My heart is sad, and I should cry when I sing a long song.

…………

East of Luoyang City, Tiger Prison Pass.

The four generals of Liangzhou, who led the army to resist the princes in the east, were sitting in a group, looking at the edict that had just been sent from the city of Luoyang.

Dong Zhuo had decided to move west, asking them to leave thousands of people here to guard the tiger prison and block the Kwantung coalition army. The others first went south to help Hu Zhen deal with the Qingzhou army, and then led the army back to Luoyang, and followed him west to Chang'an.

For the four generals of Liangzhou, it is naturally a good thing that there is no need to fight to the death with those princes in the east, but now there is still one thing to decide, that is, who will stay in the Tiger Prison Pass to deal with the alliance of princes.

The people left behind are not lifeless, as long as the Luoyang side is ready to set off, the Tiger Prison Pass will naturally no longer have to be defended, plus the Liangzhou horse is fast, and the internal contradictions of the princes' coalition are numerous, and they may not be able to pursue, let alone catch up.

It's just that having said that, you have to survive alone in the Tiger Prison until then. What's more, what will happen at that time, no one dares to guarantee it.

Therefore, the danger of leaving the town to guard the tiger prison is actually not small, so now the four generals sitting around the tent are silent for a while, no one speaks, and no one wants to speak first.

"The so-called edict is just a letter from Xiangguo to us, what do you think?"

Li Wei's gaze swept over the faces of everyone in the tent and he was the first to speak.

Guo Yan glanced at him and smiled, "Since it is Xiangguo's intention, we naturally can't disobey it. It's just who do you want to stay? You can't use this excuse to let me stay, right?"

Li Dao raised his head and looked at him, the two of them did not give in, and there was some murderous intent between their eyes.

Li Guo and the two have never been on good terms, and now at this time, while they want to fall into the well, they are naturally afraid that the other party will fall into the well.

Seeing this, Zhang Ji and the others on the side hurriedly persuaded that at this critical juncture, if the two of them were about to fight

, naturally, is not beneficial to big things.

Seeing that the two of them had temporarily stabilized, Fan Chou, the eldest of the four, spoke: "Xiangguo did not mention in the edict who should stay in the tiger prison, it is still the old rule, just draw lots, so that no one will complain."

The other three also responded, and when they were in Liangzhou, they used this method every time they encountered a difficult bone to gnaw.

It's hard to do, it's a crisis. But if it is done, it is also a rare wealth.

Fan Chou tore a piece of tissue paper into four parts, one of which was written with a word, and the other three copies were all written with words.

He placed the clumps of tissue paper in the center for the other three to pick and choose.

The three of them were not polite, they each chose one, and then opened it in front of everyone's eyes.

A few people looked up, and it turned out that the word had fallen into Zhang Ji's hands.

Guo Li and the two glanced at each other, and while they were relieved, they felt a little pity in their hearts.

Fan Chou looked at Zhang Ji and said with a smile, "Ah Ji, this time it was your own draw, can you recognize it?"

Zhang Ji glanced at the three of them, they had worked together for many years, how did he not know the temperament of these people.

Even Fan Chou, who seems to be the most kind, is actually a tiger and wolf, if he dares to say a word, don't say anything about it, I'm afraid that it will be impossible to return to Luoyang alive.

He smiled bitterly, "Since I drew it from my own family, I naturally have to admit it."

Fan Chou showed a sincere smile on his face at this time, and said with a smile: "Ah Ji has never lost the courage of my Liangzhou brave general. What else can you rest assured? Just ask, if I can do it, I'll do my best to help you do it."

Zhang Ji frowned, and then stretched out, "I have a nephew who is also in the army, and he is still young, so I want him to return to Liangzhou with you. Everyone knows that it is not a good errand to hold on to the Tiger Prison Pass, and if something happens to me here, it can be regarded as leaving some blood for my Zhang family."

The remaining three people saw that he had a vague intention of being lonely, and for a while, some sad thoughts of the dead rabbit and the fox also rose in their hearts.

Fighting in battle, who knows where you will die in the battle.

The three of them naturally responded to Zhang Ji's request, and then began to pack up their army and prepare to return to Luoyang.

…………

At this time, Hu Zhen and others, who had retreated from Xuanyuan Pass, did not return to Luoyang directly, but retreated to the cities along the south of Luoyang, and fought and walked, blocking the Qingzhou military horses from the north along the way.

The responsibility for the loss of Xuanyuan Pass was pushed by Hu Zhen to Hua Xiong, who was beheaded by Guan Yu.

In the letter to Dong Zhuo, Hu Zhen scolded Hua Xiong for disobeying the general's orders, insisting on pursuit, losing his own life, and also losing 2,000 Liangzhou elites, which made Guanzhong's morale plummet, so he had to abandon the pass and retreat, looking for an opportunity to fight again.

The deceive is that he is a dead man who cannot speak.

Although Hua Xiong is Dong Zhuo's confidant, but now Hua Xiong is dead, and the only remaining value of the dead is to take the blame.

Therefore, in the edict from Luoyang, not only did not punish Hu Zhen, but praised him, and at the same time asked him to delay the Qingzhou army as much as possible and wait for the support of the Liangzhou army returning from the tiger prison.

In a hastily erected camp, Hu Zhen was sitting in the main tent and sighing.

As he expected, Dong Zhuo did not hold him accountable, and he also rose above his position as he wished, and received a lot of rewards.

It can be said that his plan has been extremely smooth so far, only one thing has gone wrong, but it is this mistake that has given him a headache.

The Qingzhou army from the south was too difficult to deal with, much more difficult than he imagined.

But these days, he can be regarded as having an unexpected joy, otherwise he would have fled back to Luoyang. Not to mention staying here to delay the Qingzhou Army, even if he was allowed to stay here for a while, it would never be possible.

The curtain at the door was lifted, and Xu Rong entered from the outside.

There were some dewdrops sticking to his armor and stomach, and there was a chill of the night.

"Zihou is back."

Hu Zhen, who was originally sitting behind the eucalyptus, saw Xu Rong and immediately stood up

came over, bypassed the eucalyptus, walked in front of Xu Rong, and pulled Xu Rong's arm, which made people feel more cordial.

However, in a short period of time, Hu Zhen's attitude towards Xu Rong can be said to be earth-shaking.

Although he couldn't say cold to Xu Rong before, there was some arrogance of the superiors in his speech. At that time, in his eyes, Xu Rong was just an old man with no roots and no foundation, and he had some old friends, just so he needed a helper in the army, and Xu Rong needed a fortune, so he pulled him along.

For him, it makes no difference whether he supports Xu Rong or another person.

It's just that these days, he gradually discovered Xu Rong's ability on the battlefield.

It is not easy to block the Qingzhou army from coming north along the line, he has sent people to defend the danger several times before, and even personally led the troops into battle, but unfortunately they were defeated by the Qingzhou army every time.

And just when Hu Zhen couldn't hold on and was about to lead the army back to Luoyang, it was Xu Rong who stepped forward and proposed to lead the cavalry to make a detour to attack the Qingzhou Army Grain Road.

Once he returned to Luoyang, he was afraid that all his previous plans would be abandoned, and Hu Zhen was naturally unwilling to give up.

Fortunately, Xu Rong didn't ask for many people, and he still gambled.

And that time he won the bet.

Xu Rong took the less than 1,000 Liangzhou cavalry to make a detour, and after directly inserting into the Qingzhou army, he directly intercepted a batch of military rations of the Qingzhou army, and successfully led the army back and back.

Although the military rations that were stolen were not much, the Qingzhou army had to slow down a few points because of the safety of the grain route.

Later, Xu Rong led his troops to fight against the Qingzhou Army on the frontal battlefield several times, although it was only a small cavalry battle, and there was no large-scale cavalry confrontation, but it still made Hu Zhen dizzy.

It turns out that cavalry can still be used like this!

Hu Zhenxiang is the first in scheming and the second in the art of war. This is also one of the reasons why he has always looked down on Hua Xiong and others, he only knows that leading troops to collide with each other is just a horse's ear, how can it be regarded as the method of using soldiers?

It's just that when he sees Xu Rong using soldiers with his own eyes, even if he prides himself on being very high, he has to be ashamed of himself.

On one occasion, Xu Rong even ran head-on into the red-faced man who killed Hua Xiong with two swords.

Although Xu Rong is not as brave as this person in the fight of horses, he still relies on the deployment of troops and dispatches generals, and he will personally charge forward, and the man who seems to be brave and unbeatable is pressed down again!

This did not let those people from Qingzhou rush to the city of Luoyang!

Hu Zhen sighed, raised his eyes to the south, and smiled bitterly, "Zihou, originally I was still a little dissatisfied with Xiangguo's retreat with troops. It's just that now it seems that it is the best plan to return to Chang'an and sit back and watch the world change with the risk of Hangu."

Xu Rong also nodded, casually pressed the edge of the armor on his body, and shook the armor on his body, shaking like a tree shaking flowers, splashing countless dewdrops.

He smiled and asked, "Since the Metropolitan Governor has thought of this, why do you still ask Xiangguo for his life, and ask those Liangzhou military horses who have retired from Luoyang to come here to help you fight against the Qingzhou soldiers?"

Hu Zhen glanced at Xu Rong carefully, was silent for a while, and then slowly spoke, "Now Zihou can also be regarded as my own family, so naturally I have nothing to say to you."

"When I calculated Huaxiong, in addition to some personal grievances, in fact, what I asked for was more hope that it could be reused on Xiangguo's side."

He bowed his head slightly, with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, "There are too many cronies around Xiangguo now."

Hu Zhen's words were never finished, but Xu Rong already understood what he meant.

Since there are too many, it is enough to remove some.

Xu Rong smiled and asked, "So the Metropolitan Governor wants to borrow the hand of the Qingzhou Army?"

"In terms of mental scheming, I am naturally far inferior to the military advisor, but it is not difficult to deal with those brave and unscrupulous Liangzhou generals. If they accidentally die at the hands of those Qingzhou people, I can't say that I will have to wipe a few sad tears for them."

As soon as the words came out, he suddenly realized that these words really showed his cold temperament, so he turned his head to look at Xu Rong and said with a smile: "Zihou doesn't need to worry, Bingluo is not my strength, but it is your strength

Expensive."

Xu Rong's expression remained unchanged, but he bowed his head slightly, the candle flame in the tent was flickering, and he couldn't see the face covered under the armor clearly.

He chuckled softly, "That's what the Governor said."

…………

Further south, in the Qingzhou Army barracks, Liu Bei was casually flipping through two letters from Qingzhou.

Since He Jin's death, he has already taken Cai Yong's family to Qingzhou. Dong Zhuo was very knowledgeable this time, and he never issued an edict ordering Cai Yong to enter Beijing.

It's just that he himself is running around and rarely stays in Qingzhou.

Cai Yong explained a lot in the letter, this loyal Han scholar, asked Liu Bei to do his best, the king of diligence to protect him, and never hurt the Son of Heaven. There are also books of sages and sages accumulated by the ancestors in Luoyang City, which are not easy to collect, and many of them are rare and unique books.

In a letter, Cai Yong mentioned several times that he would snatch these "books" out of Dong Zhuo's hands.

Liu Bei smiled after reading the letter and put the letter aside.

Readers are naturally not wrong to care about the books of the sages.

He picked up another letter, and as he opened it, the movement of his hand soothed a little.

Compared with the family and state affairs mentioned in the previous letter, this letter is much more "childish".

There is a lot of paper used, but more of it is still about some strange people and strange things in Qingzhou, and the scenery is famous.

Liu Bei looked at the letter, as if a young girl was sitting opposite him, smiling and telling him an interesting landscape travelogue.

In the end, the girl just asked him when he would be home.