Chapter 4 One, the Eighteenth Route princes raised troops to fight against Dong Zhuo

In April of the first year of Han Chuping, although it was early summer, the weather was extremely sultry.There is no cloud in the tile-blue sky, only a blazing red sun scorching the earth.When people walk on the street, it is like stepping on a brazier, and the hot floor tiles make the soles of their feet burn. In the huge capital city of Luoyang, the unbearable scorching heat did not stop: the three streets, six alleys, seven squares and eight districts were full of noisy cries of running around, throwing bowls and pots.Driven by the order of the yamen servants and soldiers, the common people moved furniture, utensils, carts, dragged their children and children, scrambling for land, crowded and staggered towards the west gate of the capital in twos and threes as if they were fleeing refugees.

Only a manor in the east of the city, surrounded by towering old trees and green shades, looks quiet and cool, keeping the scorching heat and loud crying far away from the high wall. In the shade of the east corner of the manor, there is an exquisite and gorgeous green bamboo round pavilion. Outside the Green Bamboo Pavilion, there are groups of mighty, tall, vigorous and martial soldiers standing awe-inspiringly at three steps, one post, and five steps, one sentry post.They all wore leopard-skin felt hats and held two-pointed spears in their hands, showing that they belonged to Xiliang's powerful soldiers.

In the green bamboo pavilion guarded by a team of powerful soldiers from Xiliang, on the mat made of tearful bamboo by Concubine Fang Xiang, there was a plump old man with a beard and a big belly.The old man was wearing a shiny black silk shirt, leaning on a girl in yellow shirt beside the mat, his eyes were slightly closed, his expression was really leisurely.The young girl looked like a fairy, but her eyebrows were slightly frowned, as if she had something on her mind, she just held a golden round fan with colorful plumes and feathers, and gently fanned the old man to cool her off. "My concubine is indeed a beautiful country, even in the cool breeze you fan the old man, there is a trace of fragrance that penetrates into the old man's heart and makes the old man feel comfortable." The old man's eyes were still half closed. , giggling and said, "It seems that this Green Bamboo Pavilion has to be renamed 'Xiangfeng Pavilion'!"

"The grand master made fun of the concubine!" The girl hurriedly regained her thoughts when she heard the old man speak, and continued to gently shake the feather fan for the old man, while she said lightly with a smile on her face, "Can you help the grand master?" Fanning the wind to cool off is Diao Chan's great blessing. As for the 'fragrant wind', how can a concubine have such extraordinary talent?" "Hehehe...you have such a talent...you probably got used to it and didn't realize it. I never tire of hearing about it. The 'daughter's fragrance' emanating from your skin is like the blooming It’s like a peony in full bloom, coming with a rich fragrance..." The old man greedily sniffed the air a few times with his fat garlic nose, opened his eyes suddenly, turned his head to stare at her, his eyes became inexplicable Burning up, "That's right! This old man should change it to such a metaphor: Your 'daughter fragrance' is like the Liangzhou wine that I usually drink most. It can make this old man very drunk!..."

When the girl heard this, she couldn't help covering her mouth with a smile, and said shyly, "Master Grand Master continues to praise you so much, the concubine will be ashamed." "Where is the 'wonderful praise', old man? Diao Chan! You are really a rare and wonderful woman in the world! She is dignified and virtuous, but also charming; gentle and peaceful, but also charming; both knowledgeable and sensible, but also beautiful..." The old man With an idiotic smile on his face, he stroked his beard and stretched out his arms to pull her, "Raise your head quickly—" Don't make your charming face look down on the ground, but be like a moon for others to look at. 'Ah! The old man can't live without you for a moment, you are so beautiful!"

Diao Chan heard the words, but still bowed her face and smiled, she half welcomed and half refused the old man's support, and refused to raise her head immediately.While the two of them were chatting, they suddenly heard someone coughing lightly outside the door of the Green Bamboo Pavilion. The complexion of the old man in black changed slightly, he stopped his hand in response, and slowly retracted it.His expression froze, he straightened his clothes, then sat up straight and raised his eyes to look at the entrance of the pavilion, only to see that the person who came was his confidant counselor Li Ru.

Li Ru bowed under the steps outside the Green Bamboo Pavilion and stood still, with his head slightly lowered, as if he didn't see anything in the pavilion, his eyes looked down at the ground under his feet, and said slowly: "Sir Grand Master , I have something important to tell you.” Diao Chan immediately stood up from the floor in the pavilion with interest, swayed her willow waist lightly, retreated to the left side of the mat where the old man was sitting and stood there Tingting. The old man was determined, looked at Li Ru, and asked in a deep voice, "What do you have to tell me?"

Only then did Li Ru raise his head, glanced at Diao Chan who was standing on the left side of the old man's mat, frowned slightly, and cupped his hands and said, "My lord, my subordinates have important military affairs to report to you alone..." It turned out that the old man was Dong Zhuo, the grand master who has power all over the world today.As soon as he heard Li Ru's words, he immediately understood, but he didn't do it. Instead, he laughed disapprovingly, leaned over and stretched out his hand to caress Diao Chan's shiny jade hand hanging on his waist, and pulled her to sit beside him. At the same time, he said to Li Ru: "Miss Diao Chan has always been very respectful and respectful in serving my grand master. She doesn't need to avoid you when you come to play. Li Ru, you go into the pavilion and talk! Oh... By the way, aren't you Are you in charge of the relocation of the capital to Chang'an? How are you doing now?"

Li Ru had no choice but to walk up the steps slowly, stood at the entrance of the pavilion, pondered for a while, then bowed to Dong Zhuo and replied: "Master Taishi, there are 300,000 households in Luoyang City, and 260,000 people are in our Xiliang army." Escorted and moved to Chang'an. In the next two days, His Majesty and the officials of the imperial court will also move to Chang'an. I am here to ask for instructions: Do you want to go with Your Majesty, Grand Master?" "Hey!... You, Li Ru, named 'Ru', are really bookish when you talk—you don't need to use those pretentious and polite words to flatter me. What about 'army escort', In fact, it’s an ‘escort by the army’! It’s not that those Xiliang officers and men under my Grand Master’s command are urging them with knives and guns, which family of the people in Luoyang City will leave their hometown willingly?…” Dong Zhuo laughed loudly, using Pointing at him, he said half-sarcastically, "However, there is no way to do this—this grand master just wants to leave an empty city for Yuan Shao, Han Fu and Cao Cao and those Kwantung rebels! How about this, you take this grand master Master's words to Wang Yun Wang Situ, let him lead all the officials to serve His Majesty and move westward to Chang'an first, the Grand Master and Lu Lang will stay temporarily to clean up Luoyang City before leaving..."

When Li Ru heard this, he was a little puzzled at first, and then he changed his mind, and suddenly understood what Dong Zhuo meant: He and his adopted son Lu Bu must be planning to wait until Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xie, and all the officials moved westward to Chang'an, and then follow the example of the past. Xiang Yu set fire to Efang Palace, first ransacked the Luoyang city palaces and rich mansions, and then burned them with torches. He secretly sighed, knowing that with Dong Zhuo's brutal and profit-seeking nature, it would be nothing to rebuke him, so he nodded and replied: "Yes!"

"Li Ru, my grand master heard that the 18th Route rebels in the Guandong had gathered to attack Luoyang. They randomly used the banner of 'the Qing emperor's side, punishing the powerful officials', and even conferred some official titles on their own. The governor's official came up with a lot of tricks to win people's hearts..." Dong Zhuo pondered for a moment, then frowned and asked, "I also heard that they even elected a 'leader' to lead all the rebels... But I don’t know who this pseudo-alliance is?” "Report to the grand master, according to the latest report from the spies in front, the false leader of the Kwantung rebels is Yuan Shao." Li Ru listened to the question, thought for a while, and answered accordingly. "Yuan Shao? Is Yuan Shao the leader of the Kwantung rebels?" Dong Zhuo was slightly startled when he heard this, and then he looked up to the sky and laughed. Don’t worry too! The thieves in the Kanto region take him as their leader, and I will be able to annihilate them in one fell swoop! Hahaha... My grand master guessed that they would elect Cao Cao as their leader. If he is the false leader of the thieves in the Kanto region, my grand master Master should be afraid of him three points..." "Oh? Grand Master, then Cao Cao is an eunuch. He originally had a low status in the imperial court. A few years ago, because of his close relationship with the former general He Jin and Taiwei Qiaoxuan, he gained a little reputation... ..." Li Ru's face was filled with astonishment, and doubts in his heart could not be dispelled for a while, "In Li's opinion, how can he have any intelligence and excellence? You are a little too worried about him..." "No way. I have heard from Jingzhao Yin Sima Fang that Cao Cao used the law enforcement staff to kill the powerful uncle Jian Tu. He acted resolutely and resolutely, and he was indomitable. He was really a talent for helping the world. It is that mediocre man He Jin At that time, if he had listened to his strategy of "adhering to the public, governing according to the law, beheading the evil first, and then not involving the public", how could it have attracted those eunuchs to be in danger, take risks, and finally turn him into a group and kill him? "Dong Zhuo straightened his face, waved his hands slightly to him, raised his eyes to look at the distant eastern sky outside the Green Bamboo Pavilion, and said slowly, "Besides, when Cao Cao didn't abscond and escaped from Beijing, this grand master also told him After careful investigation, I discovered that he is indeed a rare and heroic talent... Sigh! It's only my fault that Grand Master wanted to win over him at that time, but failed to get rid of him in time... Now Grand Master can only pray for the Kanto... There will never be a time for him to be in power and lead the army. If he can, then God will help me!" "Jingzhao Yin Sima Fang?" Li Ru listened silently, still frowning slightly, and said suspiciously, "Master Grand Master, you mentioned this, and I remember a little bit: it seems that this is the man back then." Sima Fangli resisted all opinions, and recommended Cao Cao, who was an eunuch, to serve as the northern captain of Luoyang...Since the relationship between him and Cao Cao is so deep, in my opinion, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not be Cao Cao's accomplice... Grand Master, you should be wary of him..." Dong Zhuo knew that Li Ru was from a humble family background, and he had always had deep prejudices against Sima Fang and other scholars, so he spoke out to provoke right and wrong at this moment.At that moment, he didn't show his face or say anything to expose this secret, and casually said as if nothing had happened: "Li Ru! It's good that you are loyal to this grand master and know everything. But in the matter of Sima Fang Sir, don't talk nonsense. If you follow your thinking, there are many court ministers who recommended the Eighteenth Route rebels in the Kanto to serve as officials... Could it be that the Grand Master has to send someone to monitor them every day? Too much Annoyed those famous people of the family, the life of this Grand Master is also sad!" "This..." Li Ru was at a loss for words for a while, but he was still unwilling to see Dong Zhuo so conniving and appeasement of those celebrities of the family, and said, "When the grand master is keeping the border in the western border, isn't he also treating the scholars? Are you scoffing at them? Now that you have entered Luoyang, you have become polite and respectful to them, but I don’t know if these self-proclaimed scholars can really support Grand Master?” "Hehehe... Li Ru, your words seem a little superfluous—" Dong Zhuo turned his head and glanced at Diao Chan who was standing beside him, a smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he said as if to please her, "Today's ruling and wild scholars Wang Situ, the head of Lin Mingshi, supports this grand master from the bottom of his heart! ——Since they respect this grand master so much, how could this grand master be suspicious of them? Diao Chan! Don’t you think so? " "That's right! Master Taishi respects the virtuous, respects scholars, and tolerates the world. He is truly a hero of the world. How can my father and all the famous scholars disrespect a hero like you?" Diao Chan looked at Dong Zhuo with a smile on his face. Tao Hua glanced at Li Ru from the corner of his eye at the same time, and said indifferently, "How can you be as ignorant and humble as some ignorant people?" As soon as Li Ru heard Diao Chan's words, he felt a little hot on his face.But he knew very well that Dong Zhuo doted on this woman very much at the moment, and he would never offend her, so he laughed a few times and hurriedly replied: "Miss Wang's words are very true. Li has never dared to doubt his father, Wang Situ, etc. The reverence and admiration of a famous scholar-bureaucrat to the Grand Master..." "That's all, that's all." Dong Zhuo flicked his sleeves at him impatiently, and said coldly, "You Li Ru...how about it! You mentioned Sima Fang just now, I can think about it. Actually, this If the grand master has any doubts about any official, just put him aside! Today, Sima Fang is still Jing Zhaoyin of Luoyang City; when you arrive in Chang'an, you Li Ru is Jing Zhaoyin of Chang'an City—— The grand master asked Sima Fang to serve as the curator and censor beside His Majesty..." "The grand master is really fair and fair, and I admire it very much." Li Ru hurriedly answered with a bow.