Chapter Sixty-two Analysis

  Finally reclaimed Xun Yu, this stubborn guy peacefully.

  Li Zhong's mood was so pleasant that it was hard to put into words.

  At this, Cao laughed loudly and said to Xun Yu: "It's not easy, it's not easy! Xun Gongda, you've made me suffer losses for so long, I have to take revenge on you!"

  Li Jing's expression turned solemn as he said, "Xun Yu, listen to the order. From today on, you are appointed to be in charge of all government affairs in Lingzhou, Fuping, Lianxian and Baishuichuan, and also serve as a military advisor, participating in military decision-making!"

  "Long live the leader!"

  Xun Yu smiled and nodded in agreement, feeling relieved and pleased.

  It can be said that Li Zhen's move has already delegated most of the power in his hands to Xun Yu. As a capable person with great ambitions, Xun Yu was naturally overjoyed.

  People like them are not lacking in anything, they just fear being reused and having no stage to display their talents.

  At present, as the first powerful person to surrender to Li Zhen, this potential stock, Xun Yu can roughly look forward to his brilliant future. As Li Zhen just said, if Li Zhen becomes the Son of Heaven and appoints a prime minister, the first one qualified is Xun Yu!

  The two masters looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  Xun Yu's surrender marked a major step forward in Li Jue's power development. Perhaps Xun Yu was more adept at military strategy, but he also handled government affairs with ease. Being versatile is the innate characteristic of this type of strategist!

  Xun Yu took charge of government affairs, with his ability, the government affairs of three counties and two pastures were handled in an orderly manner. As a result, Li Jing was freed from these busy tasks and all his energy was transferred to strengthening military affairs.

  The two walked down the grassy hill together. Li Zhēng then had someone call for Zhao Wǔ, and the three of them went to Li Zhēng's study at home, where they each took a seat.

  Li Zong first smiled and expressed his approval of Xun Yu's surrender, then announced his appointment to Xun Yu.

  Upon hearing this, Zhao Wu was even more delighted than Li Zhen, repeatedly bowing to Xun Yu and saying sincerely: "Mr. Gongda, we were originally just household slaves who followed our master from the beginning. We didn't have any abilities and couldn't help our master in many things. Now that Mr. Gongda can put aside his noble status and serve our master, it's a tremendous joy for me, Zhao Wu! Thank you, Mr. Gongda!"

  Hearing Zhao Wu say this, Li Zheng's heart felt somewhat relieved.

  Zhao Wu was able to consider him sincerely, Li Zhong thought to himself, from now on he must never betray him!

  "Brother Zhao, you're too kind!" Xun Yu hastily returned the courtesy: "Now that we are colleagues, assisting our lord in achieving great things, we can't do without the help of Brother Zhao and others like him!"

  "Alright, alright..." Li Zhēng saw this scene and felt very relieved in his heart. He smiled and said: "You two don't have to flatter each other like that. From now on, just support each other and work together."

  "Ah!"

  "Zhao Wu," he said, and then Li Zheng continued, "After you go down later, immediately issue an appointment to Gong Da Mr. on my behalf, to Zhang Shan, Bai Lang, Nu Luo, Ka Mu Ke, Zhou Fei, Zhou Lin, and Lao Li."

  Zhao nodded in agreement.

  This matter is over, Li Zhēng conveyed the message and said about the current situation: "Through this period of time, the merchant group has collected messages from all over, after analysis, the current situation has become very clear."

  Xun Yu and Zhao Wu listened intently.

  "At the beginning of the year, we thought that the situation in Liangzhou had changed and were quite anxious. But it turned out to be because Zhang Wen was dismissed."

  "Oh?!"

  Xun Yu was unaware of this matter, and upon hearing it, his eyes narrowed slightly.

  Li Qu continued: "After Zhang Wen was dismissed, the imperial court appointed Huangfu Song as Left General, to command Dong Zhuo, who was in charge of the vanguard, to garrison Sanfu and quell the rebellion."

  "Gong Da, you think these two have come to quell the rebellion and achieve something. But as the Protector of the Qiang, what should I do when facing these two?"

  Xun Yu sank into thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up quickly. With confidence, he said: "It seems that the imperial court has made up its mind to quell the rebellion this time. Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo are both famous generals of the current era. If nothing unexpected happens, Han Sui's days will soon be numbered."

  Li Zheng listened with rapt attention.

  "But," Xun Yu's tone suddenly changed, "I reckon that this time the rebellion will be put down, although there will be a conclusion, it absolutely won't make the Emperor pleased!"

  "What's going on?!" Li Zhong hastily asked. Zhao Wu also stared tightly at Xun Yu.

  Although Li Zhong can be certain that Han Shou will dominate the vast land of Xiliang for decades, Xun Yu does not have this kind of foresight.

  So Li Zong wanted to hear Xun Yu's judgment on this matter.

  "Huangfu Yi Zhen didn't speak first." Xun Yu said leisurely, "Let me introduce to the lord this former general Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo, styled Zhongying, is from Longxi. This man is brave and skilled in battle, and as for his abilities, he is a rare good general. However, this man has quite some ambition! From when Dong Zhongying first rose to prominence until now, he has always tightly grasped the military power under his command and refused to let go. The emperor has long been dissatisfied with him. However, since he has boarded General-in-Chief He Jin's ship, although the emperor is concerned, for the time being, he can't do anything about it."

  Li Zhong nodded slowly. In his view, General He Jin was originally just a pawn of Emperor Liu Hong to counter the powerful aristocratic families, but it was clear that this person had already broken free from the emperor's control and had his own ambitions. Colluding with local generals, cultivating power, serving as a protective umbrella - this was ironclad evidence.

  However, the Han dynasty was declining day by day, and its control power was not as strong as before. It had become difficult to eradicate this kind of evil, so it could only be tolerated for the time being, and let things take their course.

  "Dong Zhuoying's army has been stationed in the Youfufeng area. During Zhang Wen's suppression of the rebellion, this army was unable to be mobilized, otherwise the Liangzhou rebel army would not have been able to hold out for so long! However, Zhang Wen wanted to deal with Dong Zhuo but feared his reputation in Qiang territory and his large army, so he let it go. In fact, it can be seen that Zhang Wen's dismissal was due in no small part to Dong Zhuo."

  "The imperial court has actually appointed Dong Zhuo to lead the expedition, although he is under the command of Huangfu Song, but Huangfu Song does not have a powerful army and will certainly be unable to control Dong Zhuo! In other words, this time the rebellion is actually led by Dong Zhuo!"

  Li Zhongshen thought so too.

  "This time, it's just as Dong Zhuo wishes. According to his ambition, even if he could eliminate Han Sui, he wouldn't do so!" Xun Yu said decisively: "Raising a thief is self-inflicted, this is one reason. Secondly, Dong Zhuo, as a lowly-born martial artist, has been able to reach this point today, and there must be some wise men under his command who can also see the decline of the Han Dynasty. I'm afraid he's thinking along the same lines as our lord!"

  Li Zhong was taken aback, thinking of one person - Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, Li Ru. Or perhaps... Jia Xu? No, that can't be right, Jia Xu shouldn't be serving under Dong Zhuo yet!

  Li Zhen's mind turned over this information, and he opened his mouth to ask: "So, according to Gong Da's meaning, Dong Zhuo's rebellion this time, defeating Han Sui is inevitable, but he will definitely let Han Sui go!"

  "My lord is wise!" Xun You said with respect.

  Li Zhong smiled and said, "Xun Yu has already explained the situation, but I will summarize it for you. Indeed, he is well-versed in the way of being a minister."

  "What should I do then?" Li Zhēng asked.

  "It's very simple." Xun Yu smiled and said: "Firstly, our lord must participate in this war to show Dong Zhuo his strength, so that he doesn't dare to be negligent!"

  "What's going on again?" Li Zhuoqi asked.

  "Dong Zhuo has the ambition to dominate the world, for him, Longxi and Fufeng are his base, Liangzhou is his great rear. This time he will surely subdue Han Sui, even in name only, he must temporarily eliminate the threat of Han Sui. So for the Lord's court-appointed Hu Qian Colonel, naturally he won't let it go! Maybe he'll send someone to win him over, but Yu thinks that with this man's brutal and tyrannical nature, if he doesn't show great power, he's afraid he'll be attacked by his army!"

  Li Zheng furrowed his brow and nodded repeatedly.

  Showing off muscles is also a way of protecting oneself.

  "But I am the imperial court's appointed Protector of the Qiang, on what grounds does Dong Zhuo attack me?"

  "It's simple: either disobey orders, or launch a direct attack, and then arbitrarily pin a crime on them."

  Li Zheng nodded.

  "After the lord shows his strength, Dong Zhuo will not dare to fight hard with the lord. Otherwise, it would ruin his great plan and severely damage his power. How can he then unify the world? This is also one of the reasons why Dong Zhuo won't completely eliminate Han Sui. Therefore, he must negotiate with the lord!"

  Li Zhong listened, and his heart became clearer.

  "Secondly, after this battle, the next step for the lord is naturally to bring Liangzhou under his control. Therefore, participating in this battle and weakening Han Sui to the greatest extent possible will also lay the foundation for the future."

  "Mr. Gong is great!"

  Li Ding was overjoyed, but after his happiness, he furrowed his brow and said: "However, the north has the Xiongnu threat, I'm afraid we won't be able to gather too many troops for this battle."

  "Then let's see what the current situation of the Xiongnu is like." Xun Yu replied.

  "Hmm." Li Zhong nodded and said: "Since the end of last year, the right wing Xiongnu with Sufu Shi as the leader, united with the Chumiguan department, had already driven out Qiangqu from the beautiful millet field of the Xiongnu king by the beginning of this year. This is the news from April, and I haven't received any news after April."

  Although at the beginning of the year, Li Zhong had already made contact with Xubowei and began to let Zhou Lin's business team engage in trade between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, but first, the time was too short, and the intelligence system within the Xiongnu had not yet been established. Second, a lot of important information, even if it needs to be transmitted to the territory of the Xubowei clan, also requires a very long time.

  At this point, Li Zhong had no way to change it.

  Xun Yu heard this and slightly furrowed his brow, not entirely satisfied. After a long while, he said: "Although there is still no news after April, since Qiangqu escaped from Meiji in April, it's likely that the Xiongnu will not be able to calm down internally for a short period of time! This is a good thing for our lord."

  Li Zheng nodded in agreement.

  Indeed, if Chanyu was killed in the rebellion of Shuwu, then Shuwu would soon unify the Southern Xiongnu, which would be extremely bad news for Li Jue. But if Chanyu is still alive, he will certainly continue to resist and make it impossible for Shuwu to focus his energy, which would be a great thing for Li Jue.

  "If the details of the internal strife in Xiongnu are not yet clear after receiving the news of the Liangzhou war, Master will need to make a decision at that time." Xun You said: "Is it to station heavy troops at Baishui River to prevent Xiongnu, or to mobilize heavy troops to participate in the suppression of Han Xi and establish prestige? The subordinate does not dare to take charge."

  Li Zhong slowly nodded, after a while, he said: "So it can only be so. The specific decision still needs to wait, I think there should be news coming from the Xiongnu soon."

  Xun Yu and Zhao Rong nodded in unison.