Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 403: Defrauding the Token
The atmosphere in the palace was depressing.

Dong Zhuo had a dark face and all the generals dared not breathe.

There was silence for a long time in this huge palace, and finally Li Ru spoke first.

"Grandmaster, although the battle was not going well this time, fortunately Hulao Pass was not lost. Although General Hua Xiong died in the battle and nearly 20,000 soldiers were lost, the foundation has not been shaken. There is no need to worry too much."

When everyone heard Li Ru's explanation, all the generals agreed.

"Yeah, yeah, Wenyou is right."

"Our army still has the upper hand, so why should we fear that mob?"

Dong Zhuo's complexion had just improved a little, and everyone hadn't had time to relax when suddenly a guard ran over.

"Report... report to the Grand Tutor, Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei rushed out of Yuan's house, looking up to the sky and cursing, saying... saying..."

Dong Zhuo angrily shouted, "What are you two old men talking about?"

"They say that Yuan Shao is a man of both civil and military talents, and has extraordinary courage and insight. The princes are also heroes of the time. Their righteous army will surely be able to recapture Luoyang and support the Han Dynasty. They will...pull out the tendons and skin of the Grand Tutor, and hang him outside the city as a warning to the people of the world..."

"Ah, the old man is looking for death!"

Dong Zhuo, whose mood had just recovered a little, was now completely furious and overturned the table in front of him.

"Go, arrest this old man, no, arrest all of the Yuan family members, drag them outside the city and behead them for public display!"

Li Ru's face changed drastically, and he tried to dissuade him: "Grandmaster, you can't do that. Yuan is the leader of the gentry in the world. If you kill him, you will be the enemy of all the gentry in the world. You can't do that!"

However, Dong Zhuo was so angry that he didn't care about all these things. He pushed Li Ru away.

"Are you deaf? Go now. In one hour, I will see the heads of the entire Yuan family outside the city gate, or I will chop you off!"

How could the messenger dare to disobey? He stumbled and ran out quickly.

Li Ru sat down with a dazed look on his face.

"It's over, it's over this time..."

"slow!"

Another voice stopped the man.

Dong Zhuo was about to get angry, but when he turned around, he saw Zhu Ye, and his anger was immediately suppressed.

"Why did Dehui also ask this old man to plead for mercy? Those two old guys framed you and your brothers a lot in the past."

"Haha, Master Lao is thinking about this. However, those old thieves are damned. My elder brother and I have wanted to kill them for a long time, but unfortunately we never had the chance. But the two old guys have extraordinary status and high reputation, and their sons are challenging us outside the Great Wall. If we kill them rashly, it will only make the Guandong Army share the same hatred. It's better to kill them at another time."

"Oh? Dehui, tell me quickly, when is the best time to kill these two old men?"

Dong Zhuo asked impatiently.

Zhu Ye thought for a moment and said, "Hehe, Grand Master, think about it. When your army has the upper hand, those rabble will be in a panic, especially Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. They will be in a state of confusion. Then we can take the heads of the two old villains and order the generals to put them on the spears and go out to fight. This will definitely make the situation worse for the princes. By then, their morale will drop greatly, while our army's morale will be boosted. We can decide the outcome of the battle in one go."

"Good! Dehui's plan is far-sighted and truly an unparalleled general!"

Dong Zhuo's originally tense face now became very happy.

He was about to open his mouth to praise Zhu Ye, but he saw Li Ru stood up, pointed at Zhu Ye's nose and started scolding him.

"Stop trying to sow discord here! If the Grand Tutor wants to maintain his position in Luoyang, he must win the hearts of the scholars. The Yuan family has three ministers in four generations and countless disciples. They are the leaders of the scholars. Killing them will surely bring disaster! It would be fine if you did not persuade him, but instead came up with this vicious plan, making the Grand Tutor's notoriety of slaughtering scholars even more vicious. What is your intention?"

Zhu Ye shrugged his shoulders. "Tsk, I don't believe there will be any trouble if we kill two old guys. When my elder brother had only a few thousand men, he dared to wipe out those local tyrants who committed crimes. So what? The Grand Tutor is so powerful. As long as he joins hands with my elder brother, let alone one Yuan family, even if there are ten of them, what can they do to me?"

What he said was the real truth. He looked down on these aristocratic families from the bottom of his heart. However, in the eyes of Li Ru and others, his words were full of divisive intent.

Li Jue had failed in his attempt to persuade Li Ru before, and he was a little hesitant about standing up and speaking alone. But when he saw Li Ru taking the lead, he quickly stood up as well.

"You were the one who instigated the initiative to challenge Hua Xiong. Lu Bu is also in Bingzhou and must be familiar with you. Don't you know his martial arts? I think you must be a spy sent by Liu He."

As the two men talked, Guo Si, Fan Chou and others also found someone to shift the blame for the failure to, and they all stepped forward to accuse Zhu Ye.

Zhu Ye was also furious: "If you, Li Jue and Guo Si, hadn't hesitated and refused to lead the troops to guard Hulao Pass, why would General Hua Xiong have volunteered? Humph, I think General Hua Xiong is loyal to the Grand Tutor. As for you... you are just a bunch of rats, who forget their principles when they see profit and are as cowardly as rats. You are not worthy of following the Grand Tutor at all."

"What did you say!"

"Little thing, when I followed the Grand Master to travel around Xiliang, you were still wearing open-crotch pants. How dare you talk to me like that!"

"Look, you're looking for death!"

A group of military officers were furious. They rolled up their sleeves and prepared to fight Zhu Ye.

Zhu Ye also did not flinch: "Hehe, you are all afraid of fighting, but I, Zhu Ye, am not afraid! At worst, I will lead the five hundred Thunder God Cavalry to fight tomorrow. It's nothing more than death. I am not like you, a coward!"

"Say it again, you bastard!"

"Bang..." With a loud noise, everyone fell silent instantly.

Dong Zhuo looked at them with a sullen face. Li Jue and others lowered their heads and returned to their seats. Only Zhu Ye still looked angry.

"Grandmaster, Zhu Ye is in a fight! Anyway, except for Ding Yuan, none of the princes in Guandong have ever seen me. At worst, I will just cover my face tomorrow. Even if I die on the battlefield, it is better than being slandered here."

His passionate and righteous look made Li Jue and others feel like there was a mouthful of phlegm in their throats that they couldn't spit out. They felt uncomfortable, nauseous, and helpless.

Dong Zhuo waved to Zhu Ye.

"Dehui, sit down. I will take care of this matter for you."

Only then did Zhu Ye sit down angrily.

Dong Zhuo glanced at the generals with an unhappy look on his face, then spoke slowly.

"Humph, when the Guandong coalition attacked, only Zhu Ye and Hua Xiong volunteered to fight, and you were all timid. Now that the battle has failed, you are shouting louder than anyone else. You dare to shirk responsibility and falsely accuse good people in front of me. Do you think I'm dead?"

He was so angry that the flesh on his face was shaking, and the hearts of the generals were in their throats.

"I really agree with what Dehui said. How capable can the Yuan family be? Why not use their lives to win this battle? Wenyou, you are smart all your life but stupid for a moment. If you want to get angry, don't do it at this critical moment!"

"Master, I..."

Li Ru wanted to argue a few more times, but Dong Zhuo glared at him. Finally, he sighed and stopped talking.

"There is no need to argue about other things. Hulao Pass is in danger now. If we let this continue, Hulao Pass will be breached in less than three to five days. What good plans do you have?"

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, not knowing whether to say it or not.

Li Ru looked at everyone, then let out a long sigh. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Zhu Ye spoke first.

Li Ru saw Zhu Ye giving him a provocative look, as if saying "I won't let you speak", which made Li Ru so angry that his chest almost exploded.

Zhu Ye said, "Grandmaster, I do have an idea, but I am stupid and don't know whether this idea is good or bad. If I am wrong, please forgive me."

Dong Zhuo's expression changed from anger to joy: "Dehui, don't hesitate, tell me quickly, I will never blame you."

Zhu Ye smiled foolishly and said, "I think that the Guandong coalition is a mob. They are not fighting together. Besides, the area in front of Hulao Pass is not big. Tens of thousands of people are crowded in. The majority of the remaining troops have to wait behind."

Dong Zhuo nodded slightly and said, "Yes, that makes sense. So how do we deal with it?"

"Last time, didn't I mention that my elder brother said something like "strike one blow at a time"? The morale of the Kwantung Army is greatly boosted this time. We definitely can't fight them head-on at this juncture. We must delay it, relying on the natural barrier to hold on and delay them for a few days. When they fail to attack the city continuously, their morale will naturally be low. Then we can attack them again."

Guo Si sneered at the side and said, "Humph, last time you said you wanted to go out to fight, it was you who said you wanted to go in and defend the pass this time. You are the only one who said all the good and bad things."

Dong Zhuo slammed the table and said, "Shut up! I asked you to go to war, but you didn't go. I asked you for a strategy, but you didn't tell me. Now Dehui is offering a strategy, but you are mocking me. What use is there for you?"

Guo Si's face turned blue and purple due to the scolding. He was so angry that he couldn't vent it. Zhu Ye almost laughed out loud when he saw it.

Zhu Ye continued, "I thought, there are still hundreds of thousands of troops in Luoyang. If we can split the troops into two groups and go around to the north and south sides of Hulao Pass, and wait until the Guandong Army has been unable to attack the city for several days and its morale is low, we can launch a surprise attack from the two flanks. By then, the Guandong Army will be in chaos. Then the defenders in Hulao Pass will charge out with the head of the old thief Yuan family held high. Hehe, we will definitely catch them off guard. These cowards, by then, many of the princes will be scared and flee in panic, and the rest will be easy to capture, right?"

Dong Zhuo's eyes lit up when he heard this, but Li Ru suddenly stood up.

"Zhu Ye, you still don't admit that you are a spy? Tell me, how did you know about our military deployment outside the city!"

Zhu Ye looked innocent: "What deployment outside the city? What are you talking about? Why don't I understand anything?"

Li Ru suddenly realized that he had spoken out of turn in a fit of anger. He snorted coldly and sat back down.

At this time, another man with narrow eyes and a pointed chin came out, smiling obsequiously.

"Grandmaster, Su and Lu Bu are from the same hometown and have known each other since childhood. I know him well. I have a plan in mind that can complement General Zhu's plan, but it requires you to give up something."

Dong Zhuo looked at the man, and after hearing him whisper something in his ear, he frowned and said, "Well... this thing is dear to me, and I really can't bear to part with it. But if this plan works... well... then I'll give it up. If this thing works, I'll credit you for your great contribution."

Li Su was overjoyed and kowtowed to thank him repeatedly.

Zhu Ye suddenly said, "Oh, Grand Master, the generals under your command are not acquainted with my elder brother and his men. If they meet on the battlefield, it will be bad if they fight against each other. Can you give me some tokens so that my elder brother can have some evidence?"

"Ah, if Dehui hadn't reminded me, I would have almost forgotten. This is indeed what I should do."

After Dong Zhuo finished speaking, he took out something that looked like a command arrow from his arms.

"Dehui, this is my Grand Master's command arrow. Seeing my command is like seeing me. Send someone to take it out of the city and give it to Xianzhao."

Zhu Ye put it away happily, without noticing the jealous and resentful looks on the faces of Li Ru, Li Jue and others.

Dong Zhuo began to select his generals, while Zhu Ye was secretly laughing on the side.

"Hehe, the news brought by big brother is really not wrong at all. He even predicted the affairs of the two old men of the Yuan family in advance. With this order in hand, let's see how I can trick you to death this time. But I don't know what strategy this guy named Li Su has proposed. It seems to be related to that guy Lu Bu? Forget it, Lu Bu is nothing. There is no need to worry."

A 3,500-word chapter

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(End of this chapter)