Dragon of the Three Kingdoms

Li Yi said politely: "Brother Zizhong is developing in Xuzhou, managing contacts, and attracting officials. If I seek Xuzhou in the future, it will be easy for me to cooperate with the inside and outside. It is you and I who used secret means to steal Xuzhou, which is not the right way and will definitely be criticized by others."

"In addition, brother Zizhong has an official position in Xuzhou now, and in the future he will be considered a minister who betrayed the master. Brother Yu Zizhong's reputation will be harmful."

As far as Mi Zhu is concerned, although it is indeed bad to bear the reputation of a minister who betrayed the master, Mi Zhu is only an official in Xuzhou now, and he does not simply recognize Tao Qian as the master, and sells his life to Tao Qian. Therefore, Mi Zhu just pondered for a while, and said decisively: "My lord, don't worry, Zhu is no more than a merchant, and he has been criticized by others. If you can exchange a little reputation for the land of Xuzhou, Zhu my pleasure!"

Li Yi laughed, satisfied with Mi Zhu's attitude, waved his hand and said, "Brother Zizhong doesn't need to do this, but I have a better way to deal with it."

Mi Zhu looked forward to it, so he said, "Zhu is all ears."

Li Yi nodded and said: "The first thing I want to do in the future is to force Yuan Shu to retreat after he enters Jingzhou, then take the opportunity to replace him with Liu Biao, then threaten to conquer the southern counties of Jingzhou, and finally observe the situation and take Yangzhou or Yuzhou , as for Xuzhou, after that."

"It may take one or two years, and it may be three to five years at most. Therefore, although the matter of Xuzhou is important, there is no need to rush it. It can be arranged calmly, and there is no need to do such a risky thing."

"What I hope Brother Zizhong will do is not to ask other Xuzhou officials to directly abandon Tao Qian. That would be too difficult and easy to get rumored. Once Tao Qian finds out, it will not only affect future events, but the Mi family may even risk their lives. Disaster, although I must control Xuzhou, but if brother Zizhong is exchanged for his life, I would rather attack directly with soldiers and horses!"

"My lord is merciful!"

Mi Zhu thanked him. Although he felt that Li Yi's words were obviously polite, it was undeniable that Li Yi's attitude was very useful to him.

Li Yi smiled and continued: "So, after that, Brother Zizhong became friends with the Xuzhou family and officials, and turned against Tao Qian without asking them to give orders. As long as there is no Tao Qian in Xuzhou, or Tao Qian If you lose power and cannot protect Xuzhou, just lean towards me and be willing to regard me as the master of Xuzhou."

Mi Zhu's heart moved, and he asked: "My lord, do you want to kill Tao Qian directly?"

Before finishing the rest of the sentence, Mi Zhu squinted his eyes and made a downward movement with his right hand. Li Yi was speechless when he saw it. The means did not hesitate at all.

Li Yi shook his head and said: "No, I plan the world. Although there are many tricks in private, I use upright methods more often. Tao Qianruo dies. Although it is beneficial to me, I don't bother to do it. It is not the best policy to cause too much trouble in the future, and it is easy to be suspected."

Mi Zhu was immediately embarrassed, and said apologetically, "Zhu is stupid, please forgive me, my lord."

Naturally, Li Yi didn't think that Mi Zhu was really dull, so he patiently explained to him: "I said before that Cao Cao would surely send troops abroad after he acquired Yanzhou. It is not something that can be accommodated by a state, and it is inevitable to send troops abroad. Because Yuzhou is adjacent to Jingzhou and Yangzhou, its location is sensitive and there are too many changes. Cao Cao's wisdom, although it is intentional, is not the first choice. The direction is probably only Xuzhou."

Listening to Li Yi's words, Mi Zhu nodded repeatedly at first, but then he hesitated for a while after thinking of something, and asked, "My lord, Zhu has something that I don't understand, please explain it to me."

"Oh? Brother Zizhong, but it doesn't matter."

The corners of Li Yi's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly. Speaking of which, he has a bad habit, that is, he especially likes to "answer questions and solve doubts" for these ancient celebrities. That kind of satisfaction is really beyond the description of ordinary words. Of course, if Li Yi was asked a question but couldn't answer it, so that's another story.

Mi Zhu didn't know Li Yi's bad taste, so he asked respectfully: "Since my lord has praised Cao Cao, I think he is not an unwise person, and Cao Cao's reputation is not bad, so even if Cao Cao covets Xuzhou, Once we attack Xuzhou without a reason, wouldn’t it be bad reputation and follow Yuan Shu’s footsteps?”

Li Yi thought about it, and felt that it was better not to talk about Cao Cao's father's affairs, not because he didn't trust Mi Zhu, but because of his words, Mi Zhu would behave abnormally in the future and interfere with the occurrence of this matter, so that would be bad. up.

So, Li Yi said: "You don't need to worry about this matter. If Cao Cao wants to send troops, it is not difficult to find a name, but you have to remember that if there is anything related to Cao Cao or Cao Cao's family in Xuzhou in the future, never interfere, no matter Tao Qian Whatever decision you make, just speak up and agree."

Mi Zhu nodded half-understood, and said, "My lord wants Cao Cao to compete with Tao Qian, so that the fisherman can benefit from it?"

"more or less"

Regarding this point, Li Yi is not very sure. In his opinion, the perfect development route is to take Jingnan by himself and go down to Yangzhou, at least Lujiang and Jiujiang in Yangzhou. Fight against Lu Bu first, and then send troops to Xuzhou. Tao Qian was defeated, and then Li Yi sent his troops north to drive Cao Cao into Xuzhou in the name of helping the war.

This is the situation Li Yi expects most. However, the situation in the world is changing rapidly and it is difficult to predict. Li Yi knows without thinking that there will be some variables in his plan, especially on Lu Bu's side. Although Lu Bu is brave , although Li Yi gave Gao Shun thousands of exhortations, but Li Yi really has no idea how much effect Lu Bu can have on Cao Cao.

Seeing Li Yi suddenly pondering, Mi Zhu asked softly: "My lord, what's the problem?"

Li Yi shook his head slightly. Naturally, he couldn’t tell the truth, because he is now the backbone of many people. It’s okay to hesitate in his heart, but he must be firm on the surface, so he just sighed and said: “It’s nothing, just thinking about it.” The world is in chaos, this battle, I don’t know how many people will be displaced and suffer from the sword and soldiers, alas, although I know this is inevitable, but I still can’t bear it in my heart.”

When Mi Zhu heard the words, he quickly comforted him and said, "My lord's words are wrong. The land where Zhu came from has not seen war disasters for more than ten years, but the people are still hard to eat. Once the times are not good, it will be even more desolate. Nanyang years ago It was also ravaged by Yuan Shu, but after the lord arrived, there were no hungry people in Nanyang, and everything was full of vitality, which shows that the lord is benevolent, so in the future, as long as the lord can achieve great things, the people of the world will definitely rejoice!"

This flattery made Li Yi embarrassed to answer, but he remembered another thing and asked: "By the way, last time I told Zifang about Zhang Zhao, I don't know if there is a clue now." ?”

Mi Zhu heard the words, oops, patted his forehead, and said: "If you don't mention it, my lord, I almost forgot."

"Brother Zizhong, please come."

"Well, the last time I received a message from my brother-in-law, my lord asked the Mi family to take care of Zhang Zhao, so I asked people to donate money to Zhang Zhao's family in the name of Nanyang merchants. Zhang Zhao's family was very grateful for this, and then persuaded Tao Qian. Although Zhang Zhao is still imprisoned by Tao Qian, his situation is much better than before. He was arranged to be confined in a remote courtyard in the city. Moreover, Zhu accidentally discovered that Zhao Yu and Zhang Zhao were not in Xuzhou. As acquaintances who cut each other's throats, they realized that I excused Zhang Zhao, so they were quite close to me. I inquired carefully, and only then did I know that Zhao Yu and Tao Qian had many disputes about Zhang Zhao. I was able to persuade Tao Qian before. In fact, it is Zhao Yu's reason to treat Zhang Zhao leniently."

"Anything else?"

For Zhao Yu, Li Yi's mind was blank, and he had no impression at all, but since Mi Zhu said so, and Zhao Yu was in a high position in Xuzhou, Li Yi pondered for a while, and then said: "For Zhao Yu, Brother Zizhong wants a lot Be good, it may be of great use in the future!"

"Well, Zhu has said a few times, but what about Zhang Zhao's matter?"

"Um"

Li Yi thought for a while and said, "Arrange someone to rescue Zhang Zhao from Xuzhou and send him to Nanyang with his family without leaving any traces. Can the Mi family do it?"

"what!"

Mi Zhu was taken aback. Although he had learned from Mi Fang that Li Yi was very interested in Zhang Zhao, Mi Zhu never expected that Li Yi would attach so much importance to Zhang Zhao that he would not hesitate to resort to such means.

Mi Zhu thought about it carefully for a while, and after confirming that there was no problem, he replied: "The Mi family can do what the lord ordered, but if Zhang Zhaoruo goes to Nanyang, Tao Qian must know about it sooner or later. Only Tao Qian will definitely hold grudges against the lord." I mean, wouldn't this be detrimental to the Lord in the future?"

Li Yi said indifferently: "It's okay, after Zhang Zhao settles down, I will send a letter to Xuzhou, saying frankly that I cherish Zhang Zhao's talent and can't bear to suffer the disaster of prison, so I will take him to Nanyang and send him to Xuzhou." Hundreds of gold to make amends, and Tao Shijun please forgive me."

As he spoke, Li Yi's voice was filled with a smile: "Zhang Zhao was innocent, but Tao Qian detained him for no reason. No matter how angry Tao Qian is for his act of righteousness, he can't do anything to me. The world will laugh at Tao Qian, and then praise me for being kind and loving. As for the future, hehe, if Xuzhou is in danger one day, I will lead my troops there. Tao Qian'an dare to stop me?"

Mi Zhu secretly said in his heart, the lord he had just recognized had nothing to do with his calculations, and he sincerely bowed down and said, "My lord is wise! Mi Zhu bows down!"

"Haha, where is it, it's just some small calculations, it's not worth mentioning"

Taking Mi Zhu under his command made up for his last shortcoming. Li Yi was in a good mood, and he paid attention to it. For several days, Li Yi ate at the same table with Mi Zhu until Mi Zhu and Guo Jia communicated about the information properly. And confirmed to Li Yi that it was correct, and was about to leave. Only then did some changes occur.

Under Li Yi's instruction, Xu Huang, Li Yi's absolute confidant general, had another conflict with Mi Zhu after Luoyang. In order to be deserted, no Li Yi showed up to send him off first, and some people even heard that Mi Zhu threatened to retaliate against Xu Huang.

Obviously, for this conflict between the two, Li Yi supported Xu Huang.

Outsiders who heard about this didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After all, one side was a businessman, and the other side was a general whom Li Yi regarded as his arm. Isn't it normal to favor Xu Huang?

Li Yi's arrangement was to put aside the relationship with Mi's family a little on the bright side, so as to facilitate Mi Zhu's work in Xuzhou. For this reason, Mi Zhu pushed away all the official positions that were originally intended to be in Mi Fang's hands.

After Mi Zhu left Wancheng, the focus of Li Yi's work shifted to the military. Rain or shine, he had to go to the barracks for routine inspections every day. It can be said that as long as Li Yi's soldiers have no problem with their brains, almost everyone Can recognize Li Yi's appearance.

Li Yi is not willing to be like those senior traversers, eating and living with soldiers, rolling in mud pits for training together, so it is very necessary to brush your face more, and every time Li Yi enters the barracks, he will bring Some game, or buy other meat, to ensure that every soldier can drink a bowl of hot wild vegetable bone soup.

Not to mention that Li Yi was stingy, he didn't give every soldier half a catty of meat to supplement nutrition, not to mention that ordinary people in later generations would not know half a catty of meat every day, just measured by the productivity at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Li Yi dared to do that , within three days, his finances will collapse.

Besides, many wealthy families cannot eat meat every day these days. For those soldiers who were still struggling with food and clothing, it is really a sense of happiness to drink a bowl of wild vegetable bone soup with shredded pork. Besides, calcium and vitamin supplements were also added. Anyway, Li Yi felt that the overall physique of the soldiers under his command was no worse than that of the earlier Feixiong Army.

In addition to winning the hearts of the army, Liu Biao's deployment of troops in Jingzhou gradually began to have an impact on Nanyang. After entering the middle of March, ordinary people may not have noticed it, but many Nanyang families have begun to feel uneasy, and they ask Li Yi from time to time. This is why.

Li Yi didn't hide anything, and bluntly said that Liu Biao was going to be bad for him. As for the reason, Li Yi just sighed and explained it well, but it has already spread in private. Liu Shijun failed to assassinate Li Yi repeatedly, and became angry from shame. To show face, I want to bring the army to kill Li Yi.

Although many people felt that Li Yi also harbored malicious intentions towards Liu Biao, but there was no evidence, Liu Biao actually wanted to deal with Li Yi. Therefore, after this, some people in Nanyang complained about Li Yi, and some chose to keep a low profile. There are really very few people who speak for Liu Biao.

Li Yi was very satisfied with this, and Liu Biao seemed to know about Li Yi's movements, and he was probably very angry. Although he didn't send anyone to compete with Li Yi, he cut off the monthly payment to Nanyang. food aid.

At present, there is a lot of food in Wancheng, not to mention that Jingzhou will change, even if it is a protracted war with Liu Biao, Li Yi can afford it. However, Li Yi still ordered decisively to appropriately reduce the "Anmin Town" outside the city It is the food supply for the people who have gathered one after another.

Chapter 369 Yuan Shu messenger