Chapter 8: The Tyrant Dong Zhuo

  Taishi Ci said with a sigh, "Since Mother Hua and Ziwei do not approve of surrendering to Liu Yao, I won't go then. But what excuse should I use?" After saying this, he looked at Li Zhong with inquiring eyes.

  "What's the meaning of this? Li Zhong was extremely depressed in his heart, making up nonsense and seeing what I can do. Am I a treacherous person?"

  But thinking that Tai Shi Ci was an honest man, he could only come up with his own idea. After a moment's thought, he said: "Tai Shi brother just said that Old Lady told you about a marriage arrangement. Wait until next year after the wedding to go to Jiangdong. At that time, not only can we reunite as a family, but also someone will take care of Old Lady."

  The old lady nodded in agreement, it was indeed a clever plan to kill two birds with one stone. Of course, pretending to be real was also a good thing, who wouldn't want to marry a daughter-in-law?

  Tai Shi Zi shook his head and said: "What about after next year?"

  Li Zhongqi took a big gulp of wine and gritted his teeth, saying: "Next year you'll give birth to a son, I've already thought of the name for him, it's Tai Shi Xiang."

  Tai Shi Cai was stunned, while Old Lady kept nodding in agreement beside him, repeatedly saying: "Good idea! Good idea!"

  Now that Taishi Ci has decided not to assist Liu Yue, Li Chong feels he is one step closer to winning over Taishi Ci. After drinking a little wine, he becomes even more spirited and tells a few modern jokes, making the old lady laugh out loud.

  Liao Hua asked some questions about martial arts based on Li Chong's statement, and Taishi Ci answered them one by one. Li Chong also gained a lot from it. Although Taishi Ci and Liao Hua's martial arts concepts were not as good as those of later generations, their actual combat experience far surpassed that of Li Chong. They talked about some techniques for controlling horses and exerting force, which are the most needed things on the battlefield, and can only be learned on the battlefield.

  Liao Hua greatly admired Taishi Ci, and sighed: "General Taishi's martial arts are indeed powerful, no wonder he can break through our army of tens of thousands."

  Tai Shi Zi smiled and said, "That was just luck. Mainly because your battle formation was too chaotic. If it were some other troops, for example the three thousand soldiers I borrowed, I wouldn't have been able to do anything either."

  The old lady didn't like to hear about these bloody things, she cared about her son's future and interjected: "Zi Huan has extraordinary insight, tell me who in this world can be considered a wise ruler?"

  Li Chong hesitated for a moment before saying, "Taishi brother, I don't consider you an outsider, but what I say leaves my mouth and enters your ear, it must never be spread outside, lest I be ridiculed by others."

  Taishi Ci was bewildered, wondering why the person Li Zihui admired seemed to be infamous for eternity. However, Taishi Ci still patted his chest and guaranteed that he would not spread Li's words, only then did Li say: "I think the ones who can be called heroes are Zhang Jiao and Dong Zhuo."

  As soon as these words came out, not only Tai Shi Ci and his mother were stunned, but Liao Hua also listened with wide eyes and a stiff body.

  After a long time, Taishi Ci finally replied: "Zhang Jiao is the leader of the Yellow Turbans... with millions of followers under his command. He can be considered a hero, but after all, he's a rebel. Now that the Yellow Turbans have been destroyed, although Zhang Lu and Guan Hai are still on good terms with you, if this gets out, I'm afraid you'll have nowhere to hide!"

  "As for Dong Zhuo, I only know that he is extremely cruel and fond of killing, and he also allows his soldiers to plunder the people of Luoyang. It's said that he even abducted a princess, whether it's true or not, but this person is definitely not benevolent."

  Li nodded heavily and said slowly: "My view on Zhang Jue is the same as yours, I only admire Zhang Jue's rallying power. As for Dong Zhuo, it's hard to say, at least Dong Zhuo guarded Xiliang, making the Qiang people dare not invade our territory, which is still a great achievement for our Han Dynasty. And what you said about the spoiled soldiers, I think that's also true. But does Zi Yi think we should show benevolence and righteousness when dealing with foreign barbarians? If we don't plunder their wealth, how can the soldiers fight to the death? The soldiers are used to plundering, even if Dong Zhuo wants to restrain them, it's probably impossible!"

  Tai Shi Zi heard the words and said: "Listening to you, it's not bad. In the past, when the Han army was defeated at Luoyang, the national strength was weak, and the border people were frequently affected by war fires. Dong Zhuo was able to intimidate the alien tribes, which is also an achievement."

  Li Chong spread out his hands and smiled: "You see, at least Dong Zhuo is much stronger than these lords, at least he didn't kill my Han people. As for the princess, haha... there's a saying that goes well, cause and effect cycle, retribution is not satisfied, the Liu royal family brought so many palace girls into the palace, these commoner daughters are not willing to be either, one report still one report, what's the big deal, is the princess more noble than the commoner girl? Liu Bang was just a village chief back then."

  Tai Shi Zi finally understood what Li Chong meant, in short, it's the spirit of a rogue. You play with the emperor's daughter, Dong Zhuo plays with your daughter, Li Chong doesn't put the emperor in his eyes at all.

  Dong Zhuo's greatest advantage was that he trusted his subordinates and gave them great military power. After Dong Zhuo was killed by Lü Bu, Guo Si and Li Jue once raised troops to avenge him and successfully executed Wang Yun and drove away Lü Bu.

  It can be seen that Dong Zhuo still holds a high position in the hearts of his subordinates, and from this point on, Dong Zhuo is very good at buying people's hearts.

  This can only be said during the Three Kingdoms period. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the prestige of the Han court had fallen to its lowest point. The attitude of various warlords towards the imperial court was: they would listen if there were benefits, and not listen if there were no benefits.

  Of course, Li Chong and Taishi Ci were mainly because he knew that Taishi Ci was not a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. This guy later defected to Sun Ce in Jiangdong, can someone who exchanges jade seals for soldiers and horses be a loyal minister? In terms of loyalty to the Han Dynasty, the Sun family father and son are not as good as Cao Cao. Cao Cao's wish is that when he dies, his tombstone will be engraved with the words "Tomb of the General Who Conquered the West", while Sun Jian is just a vassal who privately kept the jade seal.

  Taishi Ci sighed and smiled helplessly: "Zihuan said that these two people are just like they didn't say anything. Zhang Jiao died early, even if he didn't die, he couldn't join him. No matter what, the Yellow Turbans are still the bandits who brought chaos to the world. As for Dong Zhuo, it's even more impossible, his reputation is too bad."

  Li nodded heavily and said with some regret: "Poor Dong Zhuo won't be able to enjoy his glory for many more days?"

  "What's the point of saying this?" Taishi Ci asked strangely: "Now Dong Zhuo is strong and powerful, and he controls the government. Who dares to deal with him?"

  Li Chong smiled slightly and said with a hint of mystery: "Next year will reveal everything, then it'll be clear who's the hero and who's the fool. I wonder... Meng... De won't disappoint me, will he? What is true history really like?" By the time he finished speaking, Li Chong's voice had dropped to an extremely low level, and Taishi Ci couldn't hear him at all.

  Li Chong found that the real history and what he was familiar with were still somewhat different, and didn't know if next year's expedition against Dong Zhuo would have any changes.