Liu Xie felt the first time he was definitely afraid of being killed by the monarch. On March 11, he officially appointed Li Ru as the minister.

When Sanchao came back, he was in a daze all day and didn't fall asleep all night, and dozens of hair fell out.

At that time, it had not rained for more than 20 days. Although it could not prove that there would be an unprecedented drought this year, it was already considered that the weather was not right if it rained for twenty days in spring. The ministers and ministers were shirking their responsibilities, saying that it was the injustice of the current dynasty, so it was punished by heaven. Liu Xie also heard the sound of the wind and felt more and more frightened.

After thinking about it, Liu Xie was considered a history reading. In his heart, he read the stories of how the previous emperors of this dynasty suppressed the powerful ministers and generals, and found that they were relying on just eunuchs or relatives. Moreover, if the new relatives killed the older generation of powerful ministers, they would still be too big.

Now the eunuchs around you are very weak, and there is no older person with power and political vision. Who told Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers to massacre a wave of eunuchs five years ago, and all those with high positions were killed. The newly-upped eunuchs had only five years of experience in managing others, and they did not lead soldiers like the eunuchs of the Ling Emperor Dynasty.

But Liu Xie doesn't care about so much now. Even if it is a chronic poison, as long as it can quench thirst, it will have to be used after passing the present level. Otherwise, it would be fine if Li Jue wins and returns. If he returns, he will be defeated and returned, and he will listen to the threat that Li Ying and Li Ru hinted that day, he may not really put the sword on his neck and threaten Liu Bei not to attack the city.

"If the emperor's uncle really enters the capital, would he really deal with me like Li Ru said, like Liu Bi treats Emperor Jing... Alas, these words are not completely unreasonable. Although the emperor's uncle is kind, he cannot turn around and the arrow is on the string, and he has to fire it. The emperor's uncle himself doesn't want it, and the generals under him may not be greedy for wealth." Liu Xie couldn't help but think in his heart.

Liu Xie, who is fourteen years old, is still very serious about reading history books. This is due to the sense of crisis that he has been hostage for the past five years. He has made him very careful in studying history and finding historical basis. In addition, he is smart and indeed smart. Otherwise, even if Dong Zhuo wanted to find excuses, he would not be easy to find.

After thinking about it for a long time, Liu Xie felt that he could only count on his relatives. Then he thought about it again. He was still young and had not many concubines around him, only Empress Fu and Concubine Dong.

Empress Fu's father Fu Wan was the son-in-law of Emperor Huan and the daughter of Emperor Shang Huan (the emperor's son-in-law was not called a son-in-law in the Han Dynasty, and there was no general practice of granting the son-in-law to the son-in-law), so he was given a military position in his early years and was considered a miscellaneous general, but unfortunately he had no actual military power.

Therefore, in the end, he could only count on Concubine Dong's father Dong Cheng. Although Dong Cheng's surname is Dong, he actually had nothing to do with Dong Zhuo. He was the nephew of Liu Xie's grandmother, Empress Dowager Dong's family. After Dong Zhuo was tyrannical, he insisted on attracting relatives with Empress Dowager Dong to absorb Dong Cheng into the Xiliang Army. Dong Cheng was also very backbone and directly surrendered to the Xiliang faction.

From this perspective, Emperor Xian of Han and his two concubines were somewhat cousins.

Empress Fu is the daughter of his uncle, which is equivalent to the relationship between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. Concubine Dong is the daughter of his grandmother's nephew, which is equivalent to the relationship between Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun.

Dong Cheng now has a little military power, holding nearly 10,000 troops, guarding Puyangjin and Tongguan.

Among them, Duan Wei's soldiers were guarding a few months ago, and Duan Wei's main force was pulled away by Li Jue, so Dong Cheng had to divide his troops to guard.

After deciding on the target of seeking help, Liu Xie's next step was to contact Dong Cheng. He was not arrogant enough to send the velvet out. He knew that it was absolutely impossible for Li Ru and Li Ying to guard him now. Moreover, with Li Jue's violent temper, if he found out, he would definitely kill the lord directly.

After thinking for two days, Liu Xie thought of another solution.

On March 14th, Liu Xietong summoned Empress Fu and Concubine Dong one day. After that, he was addicted to women for several days, not asking about political affairs or attending court. They all gave Li Ru to help him deal with it, and paralyzing foreign ministers.

After playing with Hu Tian and Hu Di for a few days, some internal conflicts broke out in the palace. It seemed that for some reason, Empress Fu and Concubine Dong actually competed for favor, and the two women even slapped each other, which made the palace guards notice it.

Li Ying, who was in charge of the palace guards, was upset, so he met Liu Xie for this and asked the emperor casually what he did and how to deal with it.

Liu Xie acted like he was drunk and dreaming: "Brother Dong relied on his parents' power to compete for favor, and he was not ashamed of the queen or ashamed of me. What should I do? Can I be dedicated?"

Li Ying thought about it and said that this was an emergency, and Li Jue did not explain it to him, but Dong Cheng had control over the defense of Puyangjin and Tongguan, and it seemed that he should not be stimulated. He felt that the emperor was troublesome and might as well suppress it.

Li Ying said: "Your Majesty, it is better to restrain yourself in this national crisis. Don't take these minor matters into the palace and offend the generals."

Liu Xie pretended to be forced to be very miserable by the tigress: "But I just said I would punish her severely. If I let her go, wouldn't it be more and more embarrassing? How can I face it? This may be an excuse to let her go home to visit her relatives and expel her from the palace. When will she admit her mistake and take her back again? I really can't swallow this. This is better than being sent to the cold palace and hurting General Dong's face."

Li Ying instinctively felt that there might be a conspiracy and had to discuss with Li Ru before he could decide whether to agree, but he immediately realized a problem: Dong Guiren is only fourteen years old, what can a 14-year-old girl do?

"Prepare for this matter." Li Ying responded, then stepped down and went to discuss with Li Ru.

After finding Li Ru, although Li Ru also had doubts, he also felt that Dong Cheng was a sure-fire general of the Western Liang system and would not have any problems. Moreover, Dong Guiren is indeed too young to have any bad intentions. He was just a little arrogant and it was nothing to let her visit her relatives, and he also comforted Dong Cheng.

The last and most critical point of promotion was that Liu Xie was humble the next day and gave the Li family a benefit.

Liu Xie summoned Li Ying again and told him that he wanted to ask General Cheqi Li Jue how many daughters there are in the family. If he wants, he can send them to the palace and be named Empress, and add Li Jue to the general or Grand Sima. If the daughter of the Li family can get pregnant, she will definitely be made the prince if she gives birth to a male child.

With such numerous benefits, Li Ying was of course overjoyed and wrote a letter overnight to tell his cousin who was in front of the army hundreds of miles away. Liu Xie's request was finally approved.

Li Ru finally suggested: "Let Concubine Dong go, but the palace maids are replaced by ours, so be careful to keep an eye on them, and search all the things that Concubine Dong takes away with her clothes. If Dong Cheng makes any changes in the future, it is better to use the excuse to cut off his military power. The general can let your second son take over Dong Cheng's army."

After Dong Guiren left, Li Ying made the decision and sent a not-so-popular concubine from his cousin Li Jue's family to the palace to give Liu Xie a lust. This is also because he was not sure whether Li Jue would save Liu Xie's life in the future, so he first threw a stone to ask for directions for his daughter who was worthless and unpopular. Otherwise, if Li Jue's most favored daughter would be happy for the rest of his life and be a widow in the future, Li Ying was afraid that he would not be able to withstand Li Jue's anger.

Liu Xie also worked very hard on Li Jue's daughter, and temporarily dispelled the hatred and fear of the Li family.

However, Li Ru, a vicious guy who killed the deposed emperor and killed the evil spirit, did not forget to continue to see the bad water even at this moment.

He found an opportunity and discussed with Li Ying privately: "General, after the general of the chariot and cavalry come back, I think it is better to discuss this secret method with him - in order to better control His Majesty, he threatens Liu Bei and others to fight against the thieves. This time, as long as he can repel Liu Bei, or at least threaten Liu Bei with the emperor's life, he dare not attack him.

After we have a long-term plan, we should find a way to get the daughter of the Li family to be pregnant with a dragon seed. Once we have confirmed that the baby boy is born, we will not die prematurely, and there will be two baby boys. Let us give His Majesty some tonics so that His Majesty can no longer let other concubines get pregnant. In this way, even if His Majesty dies suddenly in the future, the grandson of General Cheqi will succeed to the throne and better control it. The wealth and honor of the Li family will no longer be unexpected.

This method is slow to work. If General Cheqi used me two years ago, I would have taught him a long time ago. Now, if you want to achieve quick results, you can only let General Cheqi sacrifice a few more daughters."

Li Ying felt that this was a big deal and didn't know how many daughters Li Jie was willing to sacrifice for this plan, so he had to save it first and decide whether to raise the bet when Li Jie came back.

...

On March 17, Concubine Dong was released from the palace and used her reflection as a substitute for inciting the cold palace. She was punished for despising the queen. Because Dong Cheng was stationed in Huayin County, Tongguan was in Huayin, and it was not far from Chang'an, about 220 miles away.

If you have no idea about this distance, you can compare it: Chang'an to Mei County is 260 miles, and Wugong is 180 miles. So basically it is two and a half-county town to the east.

In order to prevent people from seeing the flaws, the Dong Guiren's convoy walked very slowly. The carriage on the 220-mile road took three days and arrived in 20 days.

When Dong Cheng received his daughter, he was still a little surprised and frightened, thinking that he had done something wrong and offended the emperor.

But when he drove away the palace maids around him that night, Guiren Dong told his father privately that the truth was revealed: "Father, can you tell that the situation in Chang'an is now critical. Once Li Jue and Guo Si are defeated, they will return to the city to threaten His Majesty's life at any time. They can even do something like killing a monarch!"

Dong Cheng was shocked and immediately reacted, and asked in trembling and somewhat disbelief: "Then... what should your Majesty asks me to do?"

Concubine Dong: "Your Majesty hopes that my father can protect his host in times of crisis. Your Majesty heard that Duan Pingdong is also a loyal and righteous person. If he could temporarily avoid Hongnong County, close Tongguan, and defend Hangu Pass when Li Jue and Guo Si were defeated, he might be able to escape the disaster.

Your Majesty said that Tongguan and Hangu are both dangerous in the world. Whether Liu Bei or Li Jue, even if there are many soldiers and a large number of generals, it is impossible to break through hastily. Hiding in Hongnong, you can survive until they are in trouble and fight. However, Your Majesty was too close to Li Ying. The troops in Changan City were all led by the Li family. How could my father have a way?

As long as my father succeeds, Your Majesty promises that even if Liu Bei succeeds in serving the king in the future, he can tell Liu Bei: His father and Duan Pingdong are meritorious ministers, not Li Jue and Guo Si are together."

If Li Jue and Guo Si are destroyed, they don’t have to die together. I have to say that this condition is quite attractive to Dong Cheng, which is equivalent to betting on both ends.

Of course, if Li Jue and Guo Si turn the tables, he, Dong Cheng, will also be at risk of being killed.

But as long as Hongnong or even Hedong is not lost (Hedong has now fallen into the hands of the Baibo thief, Dong Cheng only has one hypothetical possibility of a counterattack, and there is basically no chance), Dong Cheng feels that he still has a gesture of showing that he is a hero who wants to save his horse, and then he uses this to surrender to the princes of Guandong, and it should be no problem to save his life.

Unfortunately, Dong Cheng's IQ is not high enough, and he dare not tell outsiders about such a secret matter, so he can only think about it alone. He has been thinking about it all night but has no clue.

After several days, Dong Cheng locked himself in the house every day and thought about it, and finally came up with a solution.

"Before Li Ying was recalled by Li Jue to Chang'an, he originally led 10,000 troops to guard Lantian to prevent Yuan Shu from entering Guanzhong from Wuguan Road in Nanyang. Now Lantian has almost no defense and its troops are extremely weak. If I spread rumors, I even let a small number of direct confidant troops deviate from the foot of Mount Hua to the Zhongling Mountain at the entrance of Lantian Valley, and pretended that Yuan Shu's troops were tentatively invading...

Maybe it will really make Li Ying nervous and let us mobilize troops to defend the Wuguan intersection in Lantian! Li Jue also said before that if Liu Bei dares to attack Chang'an, when things are urgent, he will not hesitate to threaten Liu Bei with his sword and his Majesty.

But this move is only useful to Liu Bei, because Liu Bei cherishes his reputation. It is useless to Yuan Shu. I have heard that Yuan Shu is arrogant for a long time and thinks he is the three masters of four generations and his name is highway. He should be the prophecy of "the one who replaces the Han Dynasty should Tu Gao." His brother Yuan Shao has been determined to depose Your Majesty and establish two generations of Yan Kings for a long time. If Li Jue threatens to kill the lord and force Yuan Shu to withdraw his troops, Yuan Shu will definitely be happy to see Your Majesty be killed. How can Li Jue threaten?"

One key point to make Li Jue’s plan to “put the sword on the emperor’s neck to force the princes to retreat” is that the princes should pay attention to the emperor and be respectful to the emperor.

Yuan Shu is not ashamed, arrogant and arrogant as arrogance, and has become famous among the princes in recent years. Yuan Shu, a messenger who ignores the Han Dynasty, will definitely scare Li Jue.

At that time, Li Ying would definitely not dare to sit idly by Yuan Shu's army, and would definitely force Dong Cheng to divide his troops to guard the Wuguan intersection in Lantian and prevent Yuan Shu's army from reaching the city of Chang'an.

Dong Cheng's troops were no longer enough. Just guarding against Zhu Yan and Cao Cao's 10,000 people alone could not be missing. Then Dong Cheng distributed at most two or three thousand soldiers to Lantian, and the remaining ones were not enough to be sent to him by Li Ying from the Chang'an garrison, or temporarily arrested the strong men from Chang'an City and organized them into Dong Cheng's army.

Maybe Dong Cheng could take advantage of the fact that he took over the new army and suddenly attacked in Chang'an City, snatched the emperor back and fled back to Hongnong, and then closed the door and waited for the other princes to fight.

Thinking of this, even Dong Cheng was proud of his wisdom.

Just when he was about to make arrangements, he further discovered a better and improved model. Since Liu Bei and Li Jue had been fighting for a month and a half, it had been forty days since the news of Liu Bei's invasion reached Chang'an. Even if the news of Li Jue's blockade was tight, at least a month ago, the news that "Liu Bei was progressing smoothly and successfully broke through Chen Cang and gained a foothold" should have spread from Chang'an to the east.

Even if you don’t have a clear sense of purpose and convey messages very quickly, you can still spread thousands of miles away by relying on the speed of spreading dozens of miles a day by refugees and business travelers.

Tongguan and Hangu Pass have been closed, and the direction of Luoyang is not known for the time being, but Hedong and Nanyang must have known it.

Yuan Shu should have known that Liu Bei had gained a foothold fifteen days ago... Liu Biao might have been ten days ago, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao might have just learned it, so it was beyond the reach.

As soon as Dong Cheng deduced this, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Yuan Shu: Since he knew that Liu Bei had at least gained a foothold fifteen days ago, why didn't he come to get benefits? Is it because Yuan Shu doesn't care about tying the emperor? He thinks that the emperor has to ask for instructions, which is not convenient for him to act arrogantly and do whatever he wants?

"No, I'd better find a way to reveal some news to Yuan Shu, such as spreading fake news to Yuan Shu, "Liu Bei and Li Jue and Guo Si to both lose money and lose money, Chang'an treasury is rich, whoever comes first will get it' can only rely on Yuan Shu's greed, and he will set up an offensive and merge with Li Yinghuo. If Yuan Shu refused to take action, we are pretending to be Yuan Shu to take things from it and take advantage of the chaos to protect him."

Dong Cheng finally adjusted his plan in this way. He felt that this was very feasible, because he was not very eager to save the emperor now. If he delayed for half a month or a month, there would be no urgent danger. At this time, of course, acting skills and protecting himself are more important.

Dong Cheng immediately sent a few confidants to cross the mountains and enter Wuguan Road, spreading rumors in Yuan Shu's jurisdiction that "Guanzhong is now a big piece of fat, and Liu Bei and Li Jue were both injured."

Yuan Shu, who was not arrogant, did not care about saving the car, but greed. After discovering that he could get a large piece of land at a small price, he finally tentatively asked the general Ji Ling to lead 20,000 people out of Wu Pass and tentatively attack Lantian.

The detailed work sent by Dong Cheng on March 24th was blew into Yuan Shu's ears on March 27th. Yuan Shu sent troops out of Wuguan at the end of March. Ji Ling's troops were just the vanguard troops to quickly mobilize, and explore the real and real things. If they get benefits, the rear army will naturally continue to mobilize.

On the fifth day of April, Ji Ling led 20,000 troops to defeat the small number of defenders who Li Ying stayed in the local area in Shangluo County southwest of Lantian.

It’s not that Ji Ling’s combat effectiveness is overwhelming, or the Xiliang Army is weak, but the gap in the number of troops is too big. The Xiliang Army only has a few county lieutenants, and the small troops of Qujun marquis-level level can certainly not withstand Ji Ling’s 20,000 people.

The defeated soldiers and Pegasus reported urgently, and the defeated letter was sent back to Chang'an that night, and the whole city was shocked.

Not to mention the Li family, even the ministers and ministers in the court were surprised because they always thought that Yuan Shu was just a guy who had no vision and did not pay attention to rescue him. Why did he suddenly become just?

Of course, because of this, he changed his attitude towards the Yuan family and felt that Yuan Shu was worth looking forward to. There were also many court officials who were "fairly loyal and righteous in the four generations", and many people began to look forward to becoming former officials of the Yuan family again.

Li Ying anxiously asked Li Ru to discuss countermeasures: "This is bad. This trick is so bad. It's okay to deal with Liu Bei with the emperor's life. It's useless to deal with Yuan Shu. Who doesn't know that the Yuan family wants the emperor to die! If we really get to that point, we will be a villain in vain and will be a bargain for Yuan Shu's dog thief!"

Li Ru also nodded worriedly: "It's not simple. Could it be that Yuan Shu got some new counselor support this time? Suddenly he had a view of the overall situation? There is no other way at the moment. Either the general divides his troops to defend Lantian with his nephew, and he will never let Shangluo's Yuan Shu army break through Lantian. Or he will dispatch Dong Cheng to divide his troops and then defend Lantian. The imperial troops in Guanzhong are too stretched.
Chapter completed!