Chapter 33: The Background of the Prematurely Appearing Male Lead

  The story goes that Dong Zhuo himself led the army out of the city to meet with Lü Bu and Xu Rong's large army at Hu Lao Pass, where he was confident in his 200,000-strong Western Liang cavalry and hundreds of brave generals. At this moment, he sat upright in his Taishi chair: "The allied forces are coming fiercely, with over 500,000 to 600,000 troops, which is two or even three times our army's strength. How do you think we should fight this battle?"

  He was intimidated by the huge military advantage of the coalition forces, and hesitated, not knowing how to fight. He forgot that they were just a mob, unreliable in combat strength. Li Ru sighed secretly, but had to stand up. Under Dong Zhuo's command, only he was a strategist, while others were either not on the same mind or were useless people who could only come up with bad ideas and were not suitable for major use.

  "Chancellor, do not worry. Although the allied army is numerous, they are all a mob. As long as we adhere to the principles of field warfare, we can defeat them in one battle! I think General Xu Rong and Duke Wen also have some understanding of this point!" Li Ru continued to encourage Dong Zhuo, encountering such a lord made him feel suffocated;

  Under Li Rou's indication, Xu Rong said: "What Lord Li said is absolutely right. My Xiliang robust men and horses are good at riding and shooting, but the Allied Forces of Guandong have more infantrymen. As long as we fight in the wild, we can defeat ten with one!"

  Lü Bu also said: "Father, don't worry. The day before yesterday, I personally tested it out. Those Eastern warlords are indeed all just empty names. Our army will definitely be able to defeat them in one battle!"

  "Prime Minister! We can still sow discord among them. The vassals are numerous, while the Yuan brothers have a reputation but no real ability. I'm sure there will be hidden rifts between them. If we can win over one or two of the vassals, they will attack from behind when we engage in a decisive battle with the allied forces. With a pincer movement, we can surely defeat them!"

  "Hmm! That makes sense! We'll leave this matter in your hands!" Dong Zhuo was overjoyed;

  Li Ru, who proposed this countermeasure, was now in a dilemma. He had originally only wanted to boost Dong Zhuo's confidence; he hadn't really thought it through. Why? Among these lords, there wasn't one that could be won over.

  The three brothers of the Yuan family, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and Yuan Yi, didn't even need to think about it. They already hated Dong Zhuo to death because he had killed their uncle, Yuan Huai; The governor of Ji Province, Han Fu, was a cowardly rat who didn't dare to harbor any thoughts of resisting the allied army, and his troops and territory also fell into Yuan Shao's hands.

  Cao Cao is not worth mentioning, Dong Zhuo hated him to death. Even if Cao Cao wanted to surrender to him, Dong Zhuo would not accept him. Liu Dai, the governor of Yan Province, had hidden ambitions and would not be used by him; Wang Kuang, the governor of Hebei County, and Ma Teng, the governor of Xiliang, were originally under Dong Zhuo's command, now they betrayed him and naturally would not betray again to return.

  Xuzhou Governor Tao Qian, Dongjun Taishou Qiao Mao, Beihai Taishou Kong Rong, Shangdang Taishou Zhang Yang, Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao, Jibei Xiang Bao Xin, and Youzhou Cishi Gongsun Zan were either killed by Dong Zhuo's men or were loyal to the Han court, or had too few troops to be of great use.

  After some thought, Li Ru came up with a name - the governor of Changsha and Marquis of Wucheng, Sun Jian. This man had been with Dong Zhuo under the then Minister of Works, Zhang Wen, to quell the rebellion by Bian Zhang and Han Sui in the western regions during the third year of Zhongping (186 AD). Although they had only met a few times and didn't have much of a relationship, Sun Jian had secretly advised Zhang Wen to execute Dong Zhuo because at that time Dong Zhuo was not conducting himself properly, delaying military orders and hoarding his forces.

  Zhang Wen did not kill Dong Zhuo, but also because of Sun Jian's advice, he revealed the intention to kill. Finally, when Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, Dong Zhuo, who was determined to take revenge, executed Zhang Wen and his family of hundreds on false charges. For this, Sun Jian cried for a long time, but Li Ru didn't know! So he sent someone there!

  This trip was destined to be fruitless, and since being betrayed by Yuan Shu, Sun Jian had been keeping a low profile in the allied army's camp, while the Yuan brothers, who were guilty towards him, dared not to withhold his rations and military equipment again. Sun Jian's mood gradually improved!

  Suddenly someone reported: "There is a general on the pass, riding a horse to the camp, wanting to see the general." Sun Jian summoned the person who came, and it turned out to be one of Dong Zhuo's generals.

  Sun Jian's expression remained unchanged: "What brings you here?" Dong Zhuo's general replied, "The Prime Minister respects only one person, and that is the General. I have been sent to form an alliance through marriage: the Prime Minister has a daughter who wishes to marry the General's son."

  Sun Jian was enraged and shouted: "Dong Zhuo is a rebel against heaven and has no way, he overthrew the royal family, I want to destroy his nine tribes to apologize to the world, how can I make friends with the rebellious thief?! I won't kill you, you should leave quickly, hand over Guan Yu as soon as possible, and spare your life! If you delay, you will be torn to pieces!"

  Like a raging tiger, the officers were frightened out of their wits, fleeing in disarray back to Tiger Trap Pass. After returning, they added fuel to the fire and told the story again. Dong Zhuo couldn't take it anymore and immediately smashed...

  He smashed countless porcelain artifacts: "Tomorrow I'll go to Guanqian to challenge them! I must behead those northeastern rodents!"

  Dong Zhuo, who came from a humble background, was most afraid of being looked down upon. That's why he dared to do such rebellious and unscrupulous things - just to make others respect him, fear him, and be intimidated by him! Unfortunately, his methods were wrong, which led to the current situation today!

  Li Ru secretly rejoiced as he watched Dong Zhuo furiously preparing to send troops, proving that Dong Zhuo still had a temper, which was the one thing Li Ru feared he might not have.

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  "Boom! Boom! Boom!", a series of drumbeats, this is to gather the vassals together, Dong Zhuo has led his troops to come and challenge, the vassals naturally welcome him.

  Yuan Shao led the eighteen vassals to welcome and inspect the troops, and in front of the formation, Dong Zhuo threw the head of Yuan Shi's clan member Yuan Huai into the formation. The Yuan brothers wailed to the sky: "If you don't kill Dong Zhuo! Swear not to be human!"

  Next is the most important duel between the two armies, with the generals fighting each other, called a duel of generals.

  The commander-in-chief is the treasure of the army, and the head of the command system. If the commander-in-chief is lost, the three armies will be defeated, so the entire army must go all out to protect the safety of the commander-in-chief. The death of the commander-in-chief will inevitably lead to the failure of the command system, and the collapse of the entire army is also expected.

  So beheading the enemy general's head can give his own soldiers extremely strong courage, greatly boost morale, and on the other hand, it has the same significance as the special forces' beheading tactics.

  "Who will lead the vanguard for me!" Dong Zhuo roared! No matter how fearful he was before, now that he had come, there could be no retreat. In front of the three armies' generals and soldiers, he must maintain a majestic and stern expression; otherwise, if he panicked, the three armies would naturally panic too, and what could have been a winning battle would be lost.

  "End of wish!", before Lü Bu could speak, a fine horse rushed out. This man was Li Jue's subordinate, and like Li Jue, Guo Si, Niu Fu and other Dong Zhuo's old party members, they didn't think much of Lü Bu's new rising power. This general had the intention of adding glory to Li Jue, and he recklessly rushed out, really full of confidence!

  "Who will take him down for me! A reward of 100 fine horses and 100 taels of gold!", Yuan Shao also shouted, he was confident now, why? Because his general Yan Liang had received his message to escort the grain and had already arrived! Holding the principle that "fertile water does not flow into other people's fields", Yuan Shao naturally offered a heavy reward as soon as he opened his mouth.

  "Just wait and see, I'll take him down!" As soon as Yuan Shao spoke up, Yan Liang, the dog legged one, couldn't back down either. Didn't he see Yuan Shao secretly wave his hand earlier? It was to let him go into battle and gain prestige!

  Li Yu also happened to see this great background man earlier, and saw him sitting on a green dragon horse, wearing a tiger-headed golden armor, holding a beheading knife, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and three inches of short beard under his chin. He was indeed handsome and majestic, looking like Yuan Shao not only looked good himself, but also had to have good-looking generals under him!

  Is there a play in the performance? Li Yu secretly pondered: This history has begun to change slowly, and I must be more careful! Can't speak nonsense anymore!

  At the time when the lord of the great camp was pondering on the city tower, a mournful cry pulled his thoughts back. Yan Liang and Wen Hu's martial arts were not inferior, and in terms of momentum, they were absolutely no less than Guan Yu. Why were they beheaded by Guan Yu? Who knows?

  It was just one round, Dong Zhuo's general was beheaded and fell off his horse, his internal organs spilled all over the ground. Dong Zhuo, who had eaten a bowl of tripe that morning to nourish himself, felt nauseous at the sight. He barely held back his vomit and furiously shouted: "Fengxian! Kill him for me!"

  "Got it!", Lü Bu rode his Red Hare horse and galloped out!