Chapter 167 Dong Zhuo’s Fantasy (1/2)

Chapter 167 – Dong Zhuo's Fantasy

September 20th, 182 A.D.

Henei outskirt, north of Yellow River.

Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Dong Zhuo marched along the river toward Liyang County as it was the only path with a proper road. The pathway was unobstructed by any natural barrier, so the troops had it easy.

As honest nobles, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun took turns to lead the march.

On the contrary, Dong Zhuo volunteered to be the rearguard general as he did not want to bother sending scouts to the surrounding areas. Furthermore, a letter had arrived in his hands yesterday.

Dong Zhuo had read the letter and burned it to destroy the evidence. Though he was frustrated by Jia Xu's tone, he took his times, thinking about what he should do to reap the most profits from this situation.

He managed to extract the most important information from this letter. For some reason, Ye had probably fallen to the hands of Zhang Tong, which was the reason how the letter was sent to him before they even arrived at Ye.

As a schemer, he did not tell this to anyone but Li Ru. He already told everything to his advisor. Hopefully, he would get a new inspiration or an ingenious stratagem to get the most out of this situation, yet, Li Ru told him.

”This is a sensitive matter. I wish to take a few days to investigate both Liu Ping and Zhang Tong Army and their movements first. For now, please write a reply letter and tell them that you will not help Zhang Tong, but you will not help Liu Ping either. I believe we can extort a large number of tributes from Zhang Tong this way.”

”Right now, you must not decide which side you will take. You have to wait and see their competence in the battle first. Once we have enough intel, we can decide if we want to cross Liu Ping right here, or we should continue playing along and kill Zhang Tong instead.”

”If we pick Liu Ping's side, we can get rid of Zhang Tong and plunder his city. I've heard he has quite a fortune from the soap trade and the food trade. We can also use his dead body as your achievementto gain reputation and respects from the courts, so we can use the officials in the courts for your cause later.”

”But we can also stick to our plan and backstab Liu Ping here if the Imperial armies are likely to fail this campaign. By getting rid of Liu Ping, the throne will be empty. By the time, the two Yuans will likely to declare themselves as Emperors and start fighting against each other. Then you can also take the throne as well.”

The advice of Li Ru made Dong Zhuo hesitated if he should side with Liu Ping or Tong as both sides had pros and cons.

'I still can't see how Zhang Tong can defeat Liu Ping.'

'But I have a bad dream last night …'

'I dreamt that Liu Ping Army was defeated and he was burnt alive.'

'I saw Zhang Tong killed both Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.'

'Then I saw him attacking me.'

'I don't like this at all. But my instinct tells me that I should side with Zhang Tong.'

'But my logic tells me, I should kill him.'

Dong Zhuo gritted his teeth as he tried to make a decision. While he was thinking, his mind got sidetracked, and his imagination took over his train of thought. For ten minutes, he fantasized about him being surrounded by pretty women.

Then, he suddenly recalled a certain woman in the inner palace.

It was a beautiful matured woman with purple hair and sharp eyes. She wore the uniform of a maid, but her look and her body was definitely top class.

His imagination wondered, he pictured Liu Ping being with the purple hair maid, which made his mood sour.

'Dammit! He can enjoy those women but I can't! This is not fair!'

'That's it! Liu Ping has to die!'

'As long as he lives, I can't enjoy the women in the inner palace!'

His greed and lust overwhelmed his logic. He had made his decision before he got the approval from his advisor.

'I'll rewrite the letter. I'll cooperate with my grandson-in-law for now. I can have him owe me a favor, so I can make him fight Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu for me.'

…

At night, Dong Zhuo sat down on a chair inside his tent, writing a reply letter to Jia Xu.

While he was writing, Li Ru arrived. He had finished his investigation.

”My lord, I've gathered more information about Liu Ping's current movements. He managed to enlisted Wang Kuang and his 30,000 soldiers with him. Also, I found out that Lu Zhi, the minister of writing, was at Liu Ping's side. I think Zhang Tong wouldn't have a chance against those three if they lead the pincer attack from Jinyang.”

From Li Ru's point of view, Tong would never have a chance against these overwhelming forces and many elite generals. In addition, Zhang Yang of Shangdang and Ding Yuan of Jinyang were likely to join this crusade to gain achievements as well. Li Ru could not see how Julu could survive from these massive forces.

As he was reporting what he found, his eyes caught on the content of the letter that Dong Zhuo was writing. Li Ru stopped talking and read the letter.

”M-My lord? You're allying with Zhang Tong!?”

”What? You're against it?”

”Of course! Zhang Tong has no future in this war! He will lose a hundred times out of a hundred! His army is weak. He doesn't have any experienced general. He was a country bumpkin from birth who happened to defeat an incompetent governor. No matter how I see it, he can't possibly overcome the Imperial Army! Even his father, Zhang Jiao is nothing but Zhang Tong's puppet. He is nothing but a lousy crazy priest. Those two doesn't have a chance!”

Debunked by Li Ru, Dong Zhuo frowned and contemplated his thought once more. It was indeed illogical to side with Tong right now. However, his desire was his priority. The beauties and riches came first, and everything else was side jobs!