Reborn in the Three Kingdoms, I stole Liu Bei's uncle

On the way back to Hulao Pass, Lu Bu met Li Jue who was leading his troops out. When Lu Bu heard Li Jue say that he would lead the troops to support him, he sneered in his heart.

If Li Jue had not suffered an early defeat on another front, causing all the attention of the Guandong coalition forces to be focused on himself, this battle would never have been lost.

Lu Bu clearly remembered that Li Jue's mission was to contain the enemy. As long as he could contain a line of the Guandong coalition forces, he would have successfully completed the mission.

But even with such a simple task, Li Jue was quickly defeated.

Lu Bu was a little confused, or to be more precise, a little angry. After returning to Hulao Pass, Lu Bu went straight back to his residence.

When Li Ru heard the news that Lu Bu had returned, he was delighted. He knew that his judgment was correct. Lu Bu did not surrender to Liu Yu. All this was Liu Yu's plan. The funny thing was that Li Jue believed it so easily.

Li Jue's easy escape directly caused his plan to fail.

What made Li Jue even more worried was that when Dong Zhuo heard that they had lost 80,000 elite troops this time, he had lost all his fighting spirit.

"Wenyou, the Guandong coalition is powerful and it may be difficult to win in a short period of time. It is better to retreat to Luoyang and take the long view."

"If we retreat to Luoyang, Hulao Pass will be breached by the Guandong coalition forces in no time. Luoyang has no strategic location to defend, so I'm afraid it's not a place to stay for long."

"I remember Wenyou said that we can't stay in Luoyang, so we should go to Chang'an. Chang'an is close to our home and it's convenient for us to do things."

Li Ru was silent.

Psychologically, he was unwilling to give up Luoyang and retreat to Chang'an. Although Chang'an had a good terrain, it had already been dilapidated. Compared with Luoyang, the political center for 200 years, even if the population and wealth were moved there, it would be difficult to restore the prosperity of Luoyang in a short period of time.

"Prime Minister, the matter of moving to Luoyang is too important and needs careful consideration."

Dong Zhuo moved his fat body, feeling somewhat weak.

"I have been thinking about this for the past few days. I can't stay in Hulao Pass any longer. I will return to Luoyang today."

Dong Zhuo's words made Li Ru understand completely that the ambitious Dong Zhongying of the past was gone completely, and Dong Zhuo's rise these days was just the last glimmer of light of a dying man. As time went by, the ambitious Dong Zhongying would eventually leave, leaving only the pleasure-seeking Han Prime Minister Dong Zhuo in his fat body.

Li Ru was somewhat disheartened. He had carefully planned for so many years to get Dong Zhuo to come to Luoyang from the remote Xiliang, but now, only two years had passed and he had to give it up. Li Ru was unwilling to accept this!

He had countless opportunities to win and help the Prime Minister destroy the Guandong coalition and unify the world, but every time he was ruined by Liu Yu, and countless resentment surged in his heart.

A vicious plan emerged in Li Ru's mind. He decided to give Liu Yu another big gift. This gift would definitely surprise Liu Yu.

Li Ru knew the habits of the princes very well and knew what they really wanted in their hearts. When he threw out this fatal temptation, they would pounce on it and bite it desperately like a wild dog that had been hungry for countless days and encountered food.

A sneer appeared on Li Ru's lips. He seemed to see that in the near future, Liu Yu would be besieged by the Guandong coalition forces and die in their hands.

After Dong Zhuo gathered his army, he set out back to Luoyang. Unlike when he left Luoyang, this time Dong Zhuo did not ride a horse, but got into the carriage early.

Lying on the soft carriage, Dong Zhuo felt refreshed. He was finally going to leave the gloomy Hulao Pass and return to Luoyang City.

Lu Bu rode on his Red Hare with an expressionless face and mixed emotions. From his arrogance when he just left Luoyang to his current emotional state, Lu Bu had only experienced two battles.

In these two battles, the opponent was three to one. In the eyes of others, Lu Bu was defeated with honor, but Lu Bu did not think so. He was Lu Bu, the invincible Lu Bu. No matter if the opponent was one person or three, failure was failure, and there was no excuse at all.

From Dong Zhuo's body language, Lu Bu also clearly felt the change. His status in Dong Zhuo's heart had declined rapidly, and it would be difficult for him to regain his former glory.

Gao Shun followed behind Lu Bu, watching Hulao Pass gradually getting farther away, and let out a helpless sigh in his heart.

Li Ru had not left yet. He left 30,000 elite soldiers to Li Jue and asked him to guard Hulao Pass. Before leaving, he had told Li Jue countless times to defend the pass to the death and not to go out to fight no matter what the circumstances.

Seeing Li Jue nodding in agreement, Li Ru did not feel much relief, but instead had an indescribable sense of depression.

He needed Li Jue to hold on here for at least ten days so that he could prepare everything in Luoyang. As long as ten days passed, it would not matter much to Li Ru whether Hulao Pass was lost or not.

After the army had set out for a long time, Li Ru slowly got on the carriage. Jia Xu was still resting with his eyes closed. This time Li Ru did not wake him up, but stared at the Hulao Pass which was getting farther and farther away in a daze.

Li Ru slowly withdrew his gaze only when he could no longer see Hulao Pass. At this moment, the brilliance in his eyes had disappeared, becoming empty and lifeless.

He knew that after leaving this time, he would never have the chance to come back here again.

Even without opening his eyes, Jia Xu could feel Li Ru's despair. In order to repay Dong Zhuo's kindness, he assisted Dong Zhuo wholeheartedly. After he put in all his efforts, he found that the man he knew back then had changed unknowingly.

Jia Xu had been with Li Ru for quite some time, and he knew Li Ru's knowledge and wisdom.

In his previous plans, Li Ru did not make a single mistake. He was able to grasp the key to the matter every time and make the most accurate judgment, until he met Liu Yu.

Jia Xu had known Liu Yu from the beginning that he was not a simple person. He had carefully studied Liu Yu's poems and found that the poems had different styles. He thought that a person who could combine all the styles must be a remarkable person.

From today on, Liu Yu's performance verified Jia Xu's guess. He was able to hold his own in the battle of wits with Li Ru. Just based on this point, no one in the world could do it.

It was just a pity for Jia Xu. It was a pity that Dong Zhuo behind Li Ru no longer had the heroic spirit he had in the past, otherwise the battle of wits between the two would have gone on for a while.

This time, the Xiliang soldiers lost nearly 80,000 people, and the Guandong coalition forces must have suffered even greater losses. As long as they defended Hulao Pass, it would be difficult for the Guandong coalition forces to break through Hulao Pass. Jia Xu thought that the hundreds of thousands of people did not need to do anything, they just needed to wait for the Guandong coalition forces to run out of food and grass, and then they would leave on their own.

By then, not only would the crisis at Hulao Pass be resolved, but sending a light cavalry force to take advantage of the opportunity to attack might also have unexpected results.

What a pity, what a pity, such a good situation was ruined because of a mediocre ruler.

A good bird chooses a tree to roost in, a good minister chooses a master to serve, this is a true saying!

Thinking of this, he let out a long sigh in his heart.