Since the war with Shandong came to an end, on February 24, Dong Zhuo led his army back to Chang'an. After the army garrisoned Ba Ling, Dong Zhuo led the generals into the city, specially selected 8,000 cavalry, and led hundreds of captives from the Bianshui and Hanoi battles into Chang'an.
Today, when I am only ten years old, the chariot general Huangfu Song and the former general Dong Min led the civil and military forces in the capital. They were promoted to Nan'an Gate in the southern city and entered Xijing. When they arrived at Longshou Plain south of Anmen, almost the whole city of Chang'an was dispatched. From the officials to the common people, They were all ordered to come to the door to see the Prime Minister in triumph.
I saw the cavalry coming like a cloud. The two hundred cavalry were currently on solid-colored horses. They were dressed in military uniforms and red brocade robes, and carried military flags of various colors such as tiger and tiger crotch. The military flag fluttered in the wind and the horses' hooves galloped briskly with a rumble. Two hundred more horsemen came forward, still astride their horses, wearing brocade robes and honking their horns. Immediately afterwards, eight hundred elites rode into a column, wearing iron robes, bright light armor, holding halberds, riding horses with iron masks, and wearing rhinoceros leather armor. They looked like gods descending, and the long team marched majestically. Run through. Then countless armed knights with swords and swords swarmed in. Under the winter sun, an iron blade shone with cold light, which was eye-catching.
The Huben army was in the center and surrounded Dong Zhuo, the Prime Minister. He saw the Prime Minister riding a green-covered Jinhua chariot with two claws drawn on his legs. Huben's Zhonglang general Lu Bu was riding a red rabbit horse to guard the left side, and the new Dong Zhonglang general Dong Huang was riding a flying yellow horse to guard the right side. , is really powerful, like colorful clouds embracing the sun, making people feel awe and admiration.
The Kwantung Allied Forces captured hundreds of people, most of whom were members of famous and wealthy families in Kwantung. They were all dressed in plain clothes at the moment and were suppressed by countless soldiers with bows and arrows on their backs and halberds. They stood on horses and carts and slowly passed through the street. Behind them, there were thousands of dead heads, which were picked up on spears by the infantry. The crowd cheered and cheered as they watched the captives go away.
When all the eight thousand knights arrived in front of Anmen, the Prime Minister's chariot stopped in front of two rows of officials and ministers. Dong Min and Huangfu Song led the officials to bow to the Prime Minister. Seeing this, the accompanying people also quickly bowed down. Chang'an The people in the south of the city all prostrated themselves in admiration.
Dong Zhuo stepped out of the car and looked around. He saw the low-lying heads like Longmu after the autumn harvest. His eyes could not see anything, and he couldn't help but feel proud. He walked up to the chariot general Huangfu Song and lifted him up with both hands. Then he tapped his wrist and said sternly: "Is there any fear in justice?"
Huangfu Song stood up and said with a smile: "Xiangguo assists the court with his holy virtues, and the Great Qing Dynasty is just around the corner. How can Huangfu Song be afraid of him? If Xiangguo uses force to carry out sexual acts and punishments, then the whole world will be afraid. How can Huangfu Song be the only one?"
Dong Zhuo didn't expect Huangfu Song's answer, so he was silent for a moment. He was quite unwilling to accept it, and asked again: "Yizhen, I sent you and I to conquer Bianzhang and Han Sui together. At that time, people thought you were superior and I was inferior. I don't know if you can do it now." It seems, who is better?"
Huangfu Song knew that he was upset, so he had to follow him and said: "Of course, the Prime Minister is at the top, and I am the one below. I am short-sighted and cannot predict that the Prime Minister will be what he is today. This is naturally my shortcoming."
When Dong Zhuo heard the pleasant words, his face relaxed a little. He ordered all the officials to stand up, and then said coldly to Huangfu Song: "This is the swan's inherent ambition, but the sparrow does not know it." Huangfu Song replied calmly: "In the past, We are both like swans with the Prime Minister, but I didn’t expect that the Prime Minister would become the Phoenix Emperor today.”
Hearing this, Dong Zhuo finally couldn't maintain his cold expression. He burst out laughing in front of all the officials. Apparently his grudge was gone. He held Huangfu Song's hands and said with emotion: "I can still do it today." If I don’t fall into the sycamore tree, it’s all thanks to Youyi Zhen!”
Huangfu Song bowed his head when he heard this, but still replied respectfully: "If the Prime Minister cares about the country, and the people in the court are willing to make trouble, Huangfu Song is not the only one?" After a series of questions and answers, he showed weakness at every turn, without losing his grace, and he also had many persuasive words. Dong Zhuo was also moved by the words of advice and praised him, saying: "Yizhen is indeed a good minister who serves the country."
After the triumphal ceremony, the court rewarded Dong Zhuo based on his merits. His achievements in defeating the rebels were greater than those of Zhou and Cao. His achievements were comparable to those of Taigong Wang in ancient times. Now that the country is in rebellion, he should be heavily rewarded to show the court's virtue. Therefore, he was granted the title of Grand Master. , above all kings.
Later, the merits of the previous and later generations were recorded. The grand master ranked Huangfu Song first, Xu Rong second, and Zhang Ji third. Each of them was given a fiefdom ranging from 2,000 to 1,000 households. Xu Rong was promoted to General Jianwei, and Zhang Ji was promoted to Beizhong. General Lang, Duan Xuan and Yang Ding were appointed as partial generals, and the other generals who participated in the war received varying amounts of reward.
Later, the Grand Master held a banquet for this purpose and gathered together the staff and generals of the Grand Master's Mansion. At the party, fine wines and delicacies were served in turn, and the beautiful snake dance was dazzling. The people did not know the etiquette. After the disaster, they continued to revel in the party. The old generals of the Grand Master could be seen everywhere in the party. Find someone to drink with a glass of wine.
Grand Master Dong Zhuo sat high above the chairman, and also urged Cai Yong and Huangfu Song beside him to drink. They were not good at drinking, and Dong Zhuo found it boring even after two drinks. Although he knew etiquette, he also had the old habit of being disrespectful. Then, he thought of the two large eagles he had raised. Their wings were already very full, and they stood as tall as half a man. He then asked the dancing girls to retreat, and asked people to release the eagle, cut off a few pieces of raw pig shoulder, and threw them into the open space to feed them. The two eagles spread their wings and fluttered, rushing towards each other to grab food. They had heavy iron weights hanging on their legs and could only fly up to half the height of the wall. The two eagles were flapping and competing for food. The wind they fanned was like a whirlwind, and the dust on the temple was flying with the wind.
Everyone watched the two eagles competing for meat. Even Dong Bai, the grandmaster's granddaughter, came out to watch. The maid on the side persuaded the two eagles, and the grandmaster said it was okay. He held his granddaughter on his lap and let her laugh in his arms. Dong Bai looked at them for a while, then tears suddenly flowed from her pretty face. She said, "My father bought these two eagles. He loved watching the hawks and falcons fight the most during his lifetime, but he will never see them again."
Dong Zhuo was also very sad when he heard this. He turned to everyone and said: "I have been running around for the country all my life, pacifying the Qiang, asking for the Yellow Turban, defeating Han Sui, entering the chaos of ordinary servants in Tokyo, and now confronting the Kwantung bandits. Even my relatives were killed because of this, which can be said to be loyal. But now that I am over fifty, the world is in turmoil, but I don’t know when it will be calmed down."
At this point, he raised his sleeves to wipe his tears, and simply put the two eagles back into the cage, and asked everyone: "I am not just temporarily trying to reconcile all the rebellions. Since I have the responsibility of being a grand master, I should also wipe out the Guandong for the country." , dominate the world. But if you look around the world, you will see rebellion. I want to find a strategy to restore the country. You can speak freely."
This is to change the banquet into a military meeting. If the plan can satisfy the grand master, it will surely rise to the top, and it will be easy to achieve meritorious service and become a prince. So each department came forward to discuss the matter one after another, but after the Grand Master listened, most people's ideas were fragmentary and unsystematic. Only Li Ru, the minister, Wang Yun, the minister, and Yang Biao, the Guanglu doctor, could listen.
Li Ru, the servant, said that now that the mountains are closed and Shandong is in turmoil, there is really no need to compete with them. The only ones who can cause harm to the pass are Liu Chen in Bingzhou and Han Ma in Longyou. Now it has been several years since Liu and Chen took root and merged with the state. They have nearly 100,000 troops. They cannot rush down in a hurry. However, Longyou and South Korea are separated and their orders are inconsistent. They can defeat them one by one. When Liangzhou is leveled and the prime minister has restored Liangzhou's cavalry, he can go down again. Liu Chen, the world is not settled.
Wang Yun, the minister ordered Wang Yun to say that although the mountainous terrain is now flat, one cannot close the country to defend itself. Guanxi is poor and Guandong is rich. This has been the case since the ancestors of the Han Dynasty. Gengshi destroyed Wang Mang from Nanyang and Guangwu brought peace to the world from Hebei. This is exactly the reason. Now Nanyang is the largest county in the world, with a population of more than three million, but it was stolen by Yuan Shu. Sun Jian is dead, and Yuan Shu has no generals who are good at fighting. It is time to send troops to attack him, and then seize Jingyi from the south to strengthen Qin's power, and he will definitely win. However, Nanyang was the hometown of Emperor Guangwu, and there were many famous families, so he should choose a high-ranking scholar to be the commander. Therefore, he elected Sun Rui, the new Jin Wushi, as the governor of Nanyang.
Yang Biao, the official of Guanglu, said that now that the Grand Master has been ordered by the Emperor to punish traitors, it is appropriate to eliminate the name of the traitor, send another loyal man, and then give the county governor the important task of entrusting him with military and state affairs to fight against the traitor. . If there is a victory, the imperial court will be able to move eastward. Even if it is not victorious, the rebels will also be greatly disturbed.
These three words all have merit, but Dong Zhuo is not satisfied, thinking that if he wants to calm the world with these words, there are always shortcomings. Seeing that Huangfu Song was silent at the side, he asked him, "Yizhen, in your opinion, what should I do?"
Huangfu Song originally wanted to hide his power and bide his time, but when Dong Zhuo asked him carefully, he couldn't keep silent, so he had to say: "In my opinion, if Duke Ming wants to pacify the world, the only way to pacify the armies in the west is to recruit Han horses to the south. Order Bashu to provide military supplies, and then take control of the Jin Dynasty, so that China can be restored."
Dong Zhuo was very interested when he heard what he said, and he asked again: "The truth is true, please explain it in detail."
"Gong Ming, the imperial court now only holds a corner of the Guanzhong, but it is not a long-term plan to raise 100,000 troops. Therefore, when using troops, the imperial court needs to be able to attack the small groups quickly and kill the bees and rebels. If Ming Gong attacks Longxi, all the troops will be killed. Although the Qiang are dispersed, it is difficult to make a sudden stop. If Ming Gong attacks Hanzhong, the natural dangers of the Qinling Mountains cannot be easily overcome. However, the thieves in Guandong are now powerful and difficult to fight. The only difference is Bingzhou, which is where Ming Gong uses his force."
"How to use force? In the words of Yi Zhen, Bingzhou is surrounded by dangerous mountains and is a fortified city. How can we break it quickly?"
"This is not something that has been made clear before."
Dong Zhuo suddenly ordered the banquet to be as usual, and he and Huangfu Song went to the other courtyard to talk. When Huangfu Song saw that there was no one around, he said with relief: "Although there are countless mountains and dangers in Bingzhou, people's hearts are actually unsettled. After all, Hedong is his new subordinate, and the Xiongnu is a vassal state of the imperial court, and there are Bai Bo and other Yellow Turban remnants among them. How can they compete with Liu Chen?" With one heart? As long as Ming Gong first levels the southwest and south sides, then recruits and divides the counties of Bingzhou one by one, he can attack Bingzhou with one blow."
"The truth is true and the strategy is tried."
"The Longxi group is small and has no big ambitions. If the imperial master can welcome him from a high position, he will naturally be happy and the disaster will be settled. But Liu Yan re-employed Jia Long and Ren Qi of Bashu, and he just settled down in Yizhou. Although he was ordered by the imperial court, he still had If he is disloyal, the Grand Master can order an eminent scholar from Shu to persuade Jia Long about the affairs of Yizhou, and then Yizhou will not be of concern."
After talking about the west and south, Huangfu Song then talked about the matter of annexing the state: "The land east of Hedong is newly attached to Chen Chong. We only need to intimidate with strong troops. What we need to pay attention to is the matter between Bai Bo and the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu is now Liu Bei. According to the remote control, there are many Xiongnu wolf cavalry under my command. When I attack Dayang, it will be extremely difficult." He paused for a moment, obviously recalling the war, "But the Xiongnu is a country under the imperial court, and the imperial court can send an old acquaintance of the Xiongnu to Xiao. His great righteousness made the Huns repeat themselves."
Dong Zhuo nodded in agreement and said with a smile: "Once I have the candidate, how about the matter of Bai Bo?"
When Huangfu Song heard this, he showed a proud look and said with a smile: "This is God's will to protect the imperial court. When I defeated Baibo in Hongnong, I was lucky enough to behead Guo Da, the leader of the thief. Guo Da's death must have greatly shocked Baibo's army. Baibo An army is in a dangerous location, adjacent to Lishi, and they are leaderless at this time. This is a great opportunity for us to take advantage of the situation and recruit them!"
This statement made Dong Zhuo seem to see the sun coming out of the clouds. He laughed at it, held Huangfu Song's hands tightly, and said happily: "If this matter comes to an end, I will be able to achieve great dominance for a long time, all because of my righteousness! This matter, I will leave everything to you. After everything is done, Yizhen just wants to break the earth and become the king, so what's the difficulty?"
Huangfu Song showed a wry smile and declined, saying: "How dare you reward me for serving the country? I only hope that the Ming Dynasty can serve Huo Guang's story, so that the artifact can be restored to its light, and the country can be restored to safety. I have nothing to ask for." .”
Dong Zhuo originally wanted Huangfu Song to serve as a conquest and commander again, but seeing his expression, he couldn't help but hesitate in his heart, so he asked Li Ru privately for his opinion.
Li Ru said: "I recommended chariot and cavalry before because the situation was critical and no one could use it, so chariot and cavalry were needed. But now the chariot and cavalry is in a delicate position and he is deeply loved by the soldiers. If he is allowed to suppress the rebellion again and make meritorious service, the Grand Master will reward him." There is no reward. If the Grand Master wants to end his life well, it would be better to use Xu Rong. He is good at judging situations and is cautious. He has never suffered a major defeat. I think he will feel more at ease when the Grand Master allows him to do things."
Dong Zhuo nodded and stroked his beard and praised him for his kindness.
Therefore, according to his plan, General Xu Rong was ordered to take charge of the merger. After Xu Rong accepted the order, he first put Zhang Ji in charge of contacting Bai Bo. Zhang Ji then used his subordinate Li Zhi as an envoy, disguised himself as a businessman, and secretly went north.
