Chapter 164: The best, the worst
Dong Zhuo couldn't help but feel excited.
He really needs counselors!
As long as Li Ru was still by his side, when those ministers who came to Chang'an to follow Liu Xie had any objections to his actions, he would still have a mouth to speak and refute them.
Even if he could recruit a few of the literati in the court who were truly loyal to him, he should not be in such a difficult situation in the fertile land of Guanzhong as he is now.
The Eastern Han Dynasty court across the street criticized him verbally, and he had no one to fight back for him.
At this time he began to envy He Jin.
We are all reckless men, so how come He Jin has a group of talented writers surrounding him? He has to be in this state now.
As soon as He Jin died, Chen Lin, the chief clerk, joined Yuan Shao. This year, he helped Yuan Shao write a manifesto denouncing Dong Zhuo for holding Liu Xie hostage, which was unorthodox and made Dong Zhuo very angry.
Now Qiao Yan had swiftly eliminated his support in Liang Province and won the support of the Qiang people. Her efficiency was so high that Dong Zhuo almost suspected that she had Liang Province bloodline.
This also made him need a far-sighted counselor to help him plan. When faced with the next several possible attacks on Chang'an, he would know how to deal with it.
Once Qiao Yan has completely stabilized the situation in Liang Province by eliminating the biggest cancer, he will have at least three routes to attack Chang'an.
He did not enjoy many of the benefits of being the emperor of the Han Dynasty, but his demise was already in sight.
Whether to fight or continue to move the position, or to attract reinforcements from somewhere, someone has to give him advice.
Besides, he was too short of military generals.
Dong Min, a relative connected to him by blood, would stand on his side more firmly than anyone else.
Niu Fu, the son-in-law, is sometimes a little bit stupid, but at least he has some martial arts skills.
Xu Rong is someone who can both command troops and fight. Even if the enemy is not from Liangzhou, there will be some friction between him and his subordinates. But if he is there at this time, he will be able to hold the line for him.
But now they are all gone.
so--
Whether it is Yan Xing or Jia Xu, if he can keep them as his followers, he will give it a try.
Yan Xing is still young and has a lot of room for growth.
What made Dong Zhuo most happy was that not only did he demonstrate his loyalty to his master during the thousands-mile journey of delivering the letter, but he also had a natural opposing stance with Qiao Yan.
For this reason, he did not directly tell Yan Xing that he did not intend to send troops to Liang Province, in order to prevent the emptiness of Guanzhong from giving the troops of the eastern court and Bingzhou an opportunity to take advantage of it. Instead, he said: "General Han's position as the Left General was appointed by the emperor himself. Qiao Yan attacked him without authorization and even forced him to death, which is actually a rebellious act."
Dong Zhuo took a few steps in the direction of Yan Xing.
As the distance got closer, the more he looked at it, the more he felt that this was a high-quality young poplar grown in Liangzhou, which was truly satisfying.
Or perhaps it was because his own son died young, and now that he saw a young man who was looking at Qiao Yan with a stern face instead of at him, he liked him even more.
He reached out and patted Yan Xing on the shoulder, saying, "General Han's revenge must be taken, but we need to plan carefully, whether to lure him into a trap or directly counterattack Liangzhou. I plan to discuss with my subordinates and redeploy the garrison troops in Guanzhong before making a decision."
This is a vague answer.
Dong Zhuo felt that what he said was prudent.
Sure enough, he saw a flash of surprise in Yan Xing's eyes, and said, "Since the Prime Minister has such a heart, it is not in vain that General Han trusts you. It is better to be cautious about sending troops."
Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to ask, "If we really want to send troops, would you be willing to serve as a general under my command and seek justice for your lord?"
Yan Xing replied without thinking: "No need for a general! If the Prime Minister is really willing to avenge General Han, I am willing to do my best as a vanguard."
Dong Zhuo was satisfied.
He had felt that everything was going wrong for him ever since he was beaten by Qiao Yan and arrived at the gate of Luoyang. Now, he finally had something that was going as he wished!
In order to show his respect for this young general, upon hearing that the horse he was riding was slightly injured on the way from Liangzhou to Chang'an, which might affect his performance in the subsequent battle, he immediately ordered someone to pick out a best horse from his stable and send it to Yan Xing.
When he mobilized the remaining troops to return to Liangzhou, these people brought him a few good horses from Xiliang.
Although there will be no horse that can be compared with Red Hare in the short term, it is still much better than Yan Xing's injured horse.
After watching Yan Xing leave, he turned to Duan Wei and asked about Jia Xu's situation.
In Dong Zhuo's opinion, military generals are easier to win over than civil officials. Just like when Yan Xing heard that there were good horses that could be used for war, he smiled to give him face.
But as for the civil officials... well, at least Dong Zhuo couldn't quite understand the thoughts of people like Wang Yun and Huang Wan.
So he could only consult Duan Wei, who was relatively more of a Confucian general.
"It may not be easy to convince him to work for me just because he is from Liangzhou," Duan Wei analyzed. "On the way to Chang'an, I got closer to him by talking about our past in Wuwei County. After reporting to the Prime Minister yesterday, I talked to him again. He said that if he was released, the Prime Minister probably wouldn't be happy, so it would be better to kill him as soon as possible."
Dong Zhuo felt a little upset after hearing this and asked, "Why are you so decisive? Qiao Yan only gave him the title of a fake assistant. There are more than 20 fake assistants in a state. How can they match his talent?"
It's impossible that with such treatment, his loyalty to Qiao Yan can be compared with Yan Xing's loyalty to Han Sui.
If this is true, Dong Zhuo will become autistic.
Duan Wei shook his head. "It's not all about loyalty. Jia Wenhe said that his wife and children are in Bingzhou, and his eldest son is still serving under the governor of Bingzhou. It's impossible for him to switch sides because of geographical reasons. If that were the case, it would be equivalent to killing his wife and children. So since he was unlucky enough to be kidnapped and taken hostage to Chang'an by Yan Xing, it's better for him to die. This way, everyone will benefit. Asking the prime minister can also save some time and effort."
What Duan Wei didn't say was that Jia Xu added another sentence at the end.
He said, anyway, your eloquence is not very good, instead of thinking about this, you might as well use your brain to consider the problem, at least don't think of doing something like privately minting small coins.
But if this were said to Dong Zhuo, he would probably really kill Jia Xu.
After all, killing scholars was not something Dong Zhuo had never done before.
It would be better to be a little more restrained.
Duan Wei's decision was obviously correct. Hearing Duan Wei's words, Dong Zhuo sighed and replied: "It is helpless that he cannot be loyal to me because of his family. This cannot be blamed on Jia Wenhe."
It is not known whether it is because he has repeatedly failed to recruit civil officials, which has aroused some rebelliousness in him, so that Dong Zhuo now has extraordinary patience with this strategist who seems to have the best hope of being recruited.
It would be really unbearable if we just passed each other by like this.
The fact that Jia Xu seemed unable to be of any use to him made him doubt whether there was any human influence in the appearance of Jia Xu and Yan Xing.
He turned to Duan Wei and asked, "You said, there is really no way to get him to give me advice? If he is willing to work for me, I can at least give him the position of Shangshu Ling. If I remember correctly, you told me yesterday that Jia Xu's ancestors had a Jia Yi. He must want to realize the unfulfilled wishes of his ancestors."
Jia Yi was ostracized by others. Although he had excellent political opinions, he only got the position of Taifu of King of Changsha.
But Jia Xu’s current situation is different!
As long as he was willing to plan carefully for Dong Zhuo and turn the situation around when he had Liu Xie in his hand, he would be the number one strategist to replace Li Ru and would naturally be in a high position in the government.
Duan Wei understood Dong Zhuo's urgency and replied, "I'll try to persuade them again."
In Duan Wei's opinion, not only was Jia Xu not valued by Qiao Yan, but even the position of Jia Xu's son Jia Mu in Bingzhou was full of meaning of play.
By letting both the father and the son serve as fake assistants at the same time, is it intended to belittle the father or to ridicule the son?
This is truly the real situation of people from Liangzhou under the command of officials who are not from Liangzhou.
Perhaps it isn't difficult to make Jia Xu figure this out! The only difficulty is to protect his wife and children.
Of course, there are some ideas that you shouldn’t try.
He listened to Dong Zhuo and said, "Don't you think Jia Wenhe is worried about his wife and children? My daughter has just lost her husband, so she can marry him and have another son. This is also a solution."
Duan Wei was stunned.
Prime Minister! If you really do this, it will not be a favor, but an enemy!
He quickly replied: "Please let me try again. There is no need to resort to such means unless it is absolutely necessary."
Dong Zhuo gave up after hearing this.
Three or four days later, new news came from Liangzhou.
This news was not blocked by the mountains but successfully reached Chang'an because there was another person who defected to Dong Zhuo.
But when Dong Zhuo saw him, he was almost dying, with only half a breath left.
"Yang family from Hanyang?" He frowned as he listened to the other party introduce himself.
According to this person, after Qiao Yan pacified Huangzhong with the children of the Qu family and completely wiped out Han Sui's influence from the territory of Jincheng, he intended to completely eliminate the future troubles in Liangzhou.
The first people to suffer the disaster were those who had had correspondence with Han Sui.
With Ma Teng and Ma Chao submitting to her, Qu Yi and Qu Yan working for her, Gai Xun taking control of Hanyang again, and Gaoping City guarding the center, she had to launch operations on multiple fronts without any pressure at all!
This is undoubtedly a deterrent move!
After getting rid of Han Sui, she wanted to head for Chang'an, and she had no intention of leaving any trouble behind.
The fate of other powerful families was still unknown, but the Yang family in Long County was immediately liquidated.
Yang Qiu managed to escape under the protection of his servants, but under the current treatment conditions, he has almost no chance of survival.
If he had to say something, he was just hoping that the emperor was in Chang'an, where there might be a famous doctor who could save him.
Unfortunately, the Imperial Medical Bureau in Luoyang had moved to Yecheng along with Liu Bian, and Dong Zhuo could do nothing about his situation.
At most, we would choose a Feng Shui-friendly site in Chang'an to bury him.
Duan Wei had originally planned to return to Mei County to defend it, but Dong Zhuo treated him as a half-advisor and asked him questions: "Tell me, is Qiao Yan really not afraid of backlash if he kills too many powerful families?"
Duan Wei smiled bitterly and replied, "The Prime Minister is from Liangzhou herself, how could she not figure this out? What she wants is stability in the rear during the attack on Chang'an, so as long as she wins over some and suppresses others, she can ensure that no one in Liangzhou dares to interfere with her actions within a year."
If she can bring enough benefits to those who stand on her side during this period, then the deterrent effect may last longer.
What's more, even if there is only one "Yang", there are Hanyang Yang and Jiuquan Yang in Liangzhou. Killing the former because of Han Sui will instead make her gain the support of the other side.
This is the rule of the survival of the fittest in Liangzhou.
But don’t worry about whether this move is short-sighted or not. Qiao Yan is the governor of Bingzhou, not Liangzhou, so why bother about these things?
However, what Dong Zhuo never expected was that he originally thought that Qiao Yan's ruthless behavior was a huge disaster for him, and this move could already show that his opponent was a qualified politician. But just when he was most worried, he suddenly received the news that Jia Xu applied to meet him.
The wise man from Liangzhou bowed to him and said, "I wonder if the Prime Minister is willing to listen to my advice?"
Dong Zhuo stood up in surprise and asked, "Sir, why did you change your mind?"
Jia Xu's eyes were heavy. "The name of our ancestors has been passed down for three generations, but no one is singing it anymore. Fortunately, the ninth-generation grandson of Jia Changsha became the governor of Wuwei, and since then, there has been the Wuwei Jia family. However, by the time I was born, several generations had passed, and the name of prosperity had disappeared. Xu was a man of great ambition. In addition to serving the country, he also hoped to revitalize the family. He thought that Qiao Bingzhou was the one who was ordered to inherit the fortune, so he made plans for him, but now it seems that is not the case!"
"If the superiors kill the nobles like slaughtering pigs and dogs, and cut off relatives just because of a small mistake, even if you are a cautious person, you will eventually face a disaster. Even if I die in Chang'an, what's the point of my son serving under her and inheriting my reputation of loyalty and chastity? It's better to try to find a way out from the prime minister!"
Beneath his calm tone, there was a hint of anger that was easily noticeable.
Especially the condemnation in the four words "what's the use", no one could hear it. It was actually his suggestion that Qiao Yan use Han Sui's letter as an excuse to remove some troublemakers from the powerful families.
And what he said now would only make Dong Zhuo overjoyed.
It is true that Jia Xu refused to serve him because his son was still in Bingzhou.
It is also true that he chose to turn against Qiao Yan because of his ruthless attitude towards the Liangzhou nobles!
Qiao Yan actually helped him by pushing this strategist whom he wanted to recruit to his side!
Dong Zhuo quickly replied: "If you have anything to teach me, I will listen attentively."
Jia Xu sat down at Dong Zhuo's instruction, and after calming down, he said, "What the Prime Minister is most worried about now is that Qiao Yan is about to march into Chang'an. She has already refused the position of General of the Cavalry, and it is impossible to make peace with her. The Prime Minister probably doesn't want to die with the emperor - although this move will make the opponent's battle futile, it will also make the one in the east laugh in his dreams."
Dong Zhuo nodded.
If people can live, why would they want to die?
He was also more reluctant to give up the emperor as a bargaining chip.
Even though his situation in Chang'an was somewhat awkward and embarrassing, it was still much better than the earlier expedition to Xiliang, where he was constrained everywhere.
"Please elaborate, sir."
Jia Xu said: "I have three strategies to teach the prime minister: the best, the middle and the worst."
Seeing that Dong Zhuo was listening attentively, Jia Xu continued, "The worst plan is to take over Hanzhong in the name of uniting with Yizhou Governor Liu Yan to protect the emperor. On the one hand, we will control the key points of attacking Yizhou from Longyou and Sanfu, and on the other hand, we will annex Liu Yan's forces in the name of the emperor until we have the whole of Yizhou. Yizhou is a fertile land with dangerous terrain. Although the Qiang people there are barbarians, they are as good at fighting as the Qiang people in Liangzhou. If the prime minister wants to win them over, he should do it easily. When the troops are well-trained and the food is sufficient, we can plan a counterattack."
"Qiao Yeshu's base is Bingzhou. With his background and strength, he is still unable to completely control Guanzhong, which gives the chance for the prime minister to return."
After Dong Zhuo digested this, he hesitated and asked, "If it is true as you said, this doesn't seem to be a bad idea?"
This sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?
Jia Xu replied confidently: "No, this is indeed a bad idea! It is difficult to send troops to Yizhou, let alone the emperor's decree! If the emperor's edict cannot be spread throughout the country, and the royal family's grace is limited to one state, the prime minister's disloyal act of obeying the emperor's order is a joke."
Dong Zhuo was stunned for a moment, "Sir, you are right, this should not be done lightly."
Jia Xu continued, "The middle strategy is to join forces with Jingzhou Governor Liu Biao to repel Sun Jian and Zhu Jun, and then take Yangzhou directly via Jingzhou. Yuan Shu and the governor of Lujiang are fighting fiercely, and Lu Kang respects the emperor in the west, so he can help the prime minister. Yuan Shu has been attacking Lujiang for a long time and his troops are exhausted. If we can unite the prime minister and Liu Biao to defeat Yuan Shu and seize Yangzhou, and establish the capital in Moling, it may be a way to survive."
"In the past, when Qin Shi Huang was on an eastern tour and arrived at Moling, a Taoist said that Jinling had the aura of a king's capital, so he dug through the hills and cut through the northern mountains, and renamed Jinling Moling. This shows that this place is the place where the king's cause will rise in the east."
Dong Zhuo's eyes lit up.
This suggestion sounds very tempting...
But just as he was about to ask why this was only a moderate strategy, he heard Jia Xu say, "However, Liu Biao of Jingzhou was able to ride into Jingzhou alone in the past. He was a man of great character. Having him by my side is no different from having Qiao Yan by my side. Moreover, the Yangtze River protects Moling, but it also blocks the road to the north. The people of Yangzhou and Jiaozhou are not enough, so the struggle between the north and the south will definitely be exhausted. Therefore, this is a moderate strategy."
Dong Zhuo could not help but lean forward when he heard this, "Sir, may I ask, what is the best strategy?"
Dong Zhuo was fascinated by Jia Xu's talk about the worst and middle strategies.
He really wanted to hear what best strategy Jia Xu would come up with.
But he only uttered four words, "Hold your troops still."
If Dong Zhuo had not come up with the two worst strategies and had heard these four words directly, he would have suspected on the spot that Jia Xu was an undercover sent by Qiao Yan and would have driven him out in anger.
Keep your troops in place?
Can we just sit there and do nothing?
Jia Xu's expression remained calm, as if he had not noticed the questioning look in Dong Zhuo's eyes. He explained, "What do you think Yuan Shao would do if he were told that Qiao Yan had dispatched a surprise attack within half a month and defeated Ma Teng and Han Sui in succession? And what would his reaction be if he were told that Han Sui's head was chopped off by his own men and sent to Qiao Yan on the second day after Han Sui's Jincheng was besieged?"
Dong Zhuo's face flashed with deep thought, and he could only hear Jia Xu's voice echoing in the hall, "Yuan Shao might have thought that Qiao Yan, who led the Bingzhou army, was unfamiliar with Liangzhou and his advance would be extremely slow. Even if Gaoping was established as a stronghold, it would take more than a year to capture Ma Teng and Han Sui. By then, he would have relied on the emperor's order to strengthen himself."
Han Sui thought the same, so he didn't expect Qiao Yan to have time to capture Ma Teng first and then enter Jincheng.
But facts have proved that the ability of this Bingzhou governor cannot be underestimated.
Even though she is not yet twenty years old!
"Now that Liang Province has been pacified, Yuan Shao does not want to see such a man of extraordinary civil and military skills successfully rescue the emperor. With the example of Han Sui's death, there is no guarantee that the next person to be killed will be you, Prime Minister Dong. By then, Qiao Bingzhou will easily enter Chang'an and march eastward on the emperor's orders. Yuan Shao will be in danger!"
It was hard for Dong Zhuo not to think from Jia Xu's words that his situation was actually more dangerous than Han Sui's.
Han Sui had his arms cut off and was trapped in Jincheng. His subordinates did not want to die with him, so they ended up like this.
In the city of Chang'an controlled by Dong Zhuo, there were many people who opposed him.
Fortunately, as Jia Xu said, he and Yuan Shao were in a relationship of mutual dependence.
If Yuan Shao didn't want Qiao Yan to further threaten his situation, he really had to consider Dong Zhuo as the situation changed!
Jia Xu added: "Yuan Shao is a family of three dukes for four generations, and he has the support of the Yecheng court. If he wants to cause trouble for Qiao Yan, it will be much easier than for the prime minister, right?"
This is not really looking down on Dong Zhuo, but rather the truth.
Dong Zhuo immediately made the decision, "We will listen to you, sir. While defending the three prefectures, we will inform Yuan Shao of the battle situation in Liang Province and let him serve as our sword."
Of course, this notification could not be a direct letter from Dong Zhuo asking for help, but it had to be someone in the court in Chang'an but with his heart set on the man in Yecheng who took the initiative to report the news, which would be safer.
But when Dong Zhuo was arranging the personnel, he couldn't help but think of a question in his mind -
If he remembered correctly, this guy Yuan Shao had suffered losses at the hands of Qiao Yan more than once or twice. What if he had some psychological trauma from this and dared not take action?
Or, even if this man has such a prominent family background and now holds the emperor's power, his actions allow Qiao Yan to easily counter them. What should be done?
But thinking that he still had two options for retreat, he did not change his decision.
What Dong Zhuo didn't know was that Qiao Yan was also very worried about the first problem.
So she thought it over again and again and decided to give it another stab.
Yuan Shao received the news from Liang Province. Just as he was listening to the advice of his adviser Shen Pei, telling him not to rush into causing trouble for Qiao Yan as it would easily give people something to talk about and would also allow Dong Zhuo to take advantage, he heard someone report that Qiao Yan had sent him a letter.
He opened the letter and saw that it contained only one sentence:
[A year has passed, where is the military rations?] I am about to go to Chang'an to rescue you, please return quickly. 】
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