The Counterattack of the Villains

It took more than an hour to complete a carpet search of the entire palace. Zhang Liao and the others found more than 200 hidden guards and killed them all.

However, they still encountered some troubles, which were quite tricky, so Zhao Yun planned to report the matter to Li Mu and ask him to make a decision.

As early as when Li Mu and his party arrived at Fu Shou's palace, the soldiers who stayed here to guard Fu Shou had already reported the matter to Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, and Cheng Lian, so Zhao Yun quickly found Fu Shou's palace.

When he saw Liu Xie dressed in imperial robes, he cupped his fists in greeting and said, "I will see your majesty at the end."

Because he did not know Wang Yun and others, he did not pay any courtesy to them.

Liu Xie raised his hand and said: "General, no courtesy."

After Zhao Yun stood up, Li Mu asked, "Why is Zilong here?"

Zhao Yundao said: "Report to the lord, there are more than a dozen guards who have kidnapped several concubines and a group of palace people. We are going to throw a rat weapon into the trap. How to deal with it is up to the lord to decide."

Li Mu stood up and said: "I see, you lead the way and I will handle this matter."

"yes."

Li Mu said to Liu Xie again: "Your Majesty, I will come as soon as I go."

Unexpectedly, Liu Xie also stood up and said, "I will go with Taifu."

Li Mu thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's fine, Your Majesty, please."

Wang Yun and others looked at each other and stood up to follow. Even Fu Shou followed Liu Xie.

Everyone followed Zhao Yun and quickly arrived at a palace surrounded by Yulin Cavalry.

A dozen guardsmen, each holding a concubine or a palace maid, huddled against the wall of the front hall with their long swords on their necks.

The Yu Linqiu in the hall did not dare to get too close, and surrounded him in a fan shape with a distance of several feet.

Upon discovering the arrival of Li Mu and his entourage, the Yulin riders opened a gap and allowed Li Mu and others to step forward.

When the guards saw Li Mu, their faces turned pale, and their sword-holding hands began to tremble.

When the concubines, maids, and chamberlains who were kidnapped saw Liu Xie, they all cried out: "Your Majesty, please save us."

Liu Xie frowned and looked up at Li Mu beside him, only to see that his face was calm and he didn't seem to be in any trouble.

One of the guards looked at Li Mu with grief and anger: "General Lu, we just want to survive and have no objection. We can even be loyal to you. Why do you have to drive us out and kill us?"

Li Mu said expressionlessly: "How many things have your Xiliang army done since arriving in Luoyang that are outrageous to both humans and gods? Why should the common people be angry if we don't kill you?"

Another guard said with a ruthless face: "If the general must kill us, then kill them together, otherwise, retreat and let us go."

"The First Minister of the Ming Dynasty"

"Oh……"

A sinister smile appeared on Li Mu's face, and he said, "What makes you think that I don't dare to do this?"

After saying that, he stopped talking nonsense, pushed his palms forward, and launched the "Mountain-Overturning" move in the cloud-dispelling palm. The fierce palm force struck out like a landslide and tsunami.

Dozens of guards and the people they abducted were all thrown against the wall by the force of their palms. Their eyes were wide open, blood was spitting from their mouths, and then they fell to the ground softly.

"ah……"

Fu Shou let out an exclamation, covered his mouth with his hands, his pretty face turned pale, and looked at this scene in disbelief.

What was hard for her to accept was that Li Mu, who had shown her kindness just now, had become so cruel and ruthless at this moment.

Liu Xie's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

This time, even Zhao Yun frowned. There was a dead silence in the palace, and you could hear a needle drop.

In this silence, Li Mu stepped forward, helped up a concubine, put one hand on her vest, and poured the essence of the Holy Heart Art into her body.

A look of surprise appeared in Zhao Yun's eyes. Could it be that the Lord could still save them?

But he could clearly feel the ferocity of that palm just now. I'm afraid these people's internal organs were shattered and they died on the spot. How could they save them?

Not only him, but others were also filled with disbelief when they looked at Li Mu's actions.

However, within a few dozen breaths, the concubine who was judged dead on the spot by Zhao Yun actually opened her eyes.

Li Mu retracted his palm and walked towards the next concubine who fell to the ground.

The concubine who was rescued looked down at herself blankly, looking at the blood on her clothes, and muttered to herself in a daze: "Am I not dead?"

Fu Shou couldn't help but ran forward and asked with concern: "You...how do you feel?"

The woman felt herself carefully and found that she didn't feel any discomfort. She shook her head and said, "I don't know, I don't have anything wrong with me."

At this time, Li Mu finally spoke, "You are lucky. I just mastered a secret technique of bringing the dead back to life a few months ago. Otherwise, today's situation would be really tricky."

After hearing Li Mu's words, everyone present looked excited and amazed.

Both Liu Xie and Fu Shou were relieved. It turned out that he was not ruthless, but had the ability to bring the dead back to life.

In this way, Li Mu, in front of everyone, rescued the hostages he had beaten to death one by one with his own hands.

Liu Xie walked up to Li Mu, looked up at him and said excitedly: "Master, are you really able to bring the dead back to life? And there will be no future troubles?"

Those who had just been rescued also looked at him nervously.

Li Mu smiled and said: "There will be no future troubles, but there are conditions. The most basic point is that the body is not damaged and the gods are not dissipated, otherwise I will be helpless."

"Furthermore, using this secret technique will deplete my vitality, so this secret technique cannot be used indefinitely."

"I can only resurrect twenty or thirty people at most in one breath, but my vitality will be severely damaged and I won't be able to recover for several months."

"Otherwise, if I resurrect all the soldiers under my command who died in battle, wouldn't there be inexhaustible troops?"

Zhao Yun suddenly realized and couldn't help but smile. He had been thinking about this problem just now.

On the contrary, resurrecting the dead is already very unnatural, how can it be used infinitely?

Even if the gods descended to earth, it would be impossible for them to achieve this level.

Liu Xie's expression darkened. Originally, he wanted to ask Li Mu to help him resurrect his mother!

The palace maids and chamberlains who were rescued by Li Mu fell on the ground one after another, kowtowed to Li Mu repeatedly, and said, "Thank you, Master, for saving your life."

Several concubines also bowed to him and expressed their thanks.

…

When the palace was completely calm, the war outside the city was basically over.

The Xiliang Army originally numbered 95,000 people. When Hua Xiong led 30,000 Xiliang Army to attack the 18th princes, he suffered a massive defeat and lost more than 10,000 people. Therefore, the Xiliang Army camp actually only had more than 80,000 soldiers and horses.

With 260,000 fighting against 80,000, it was a deliberate calculation without any intention, coupled with the trapped camp and five unparalleled generals, the Xiliang army was completely defeated.

After the first battle, more than 20,000 people were directly wiped out, and more than 50,000 others surrendered.

There were still 70,000 soldiers and horses in the Han army camp near Beimang Mountain. After they received the news of the destruction of the Xiliang army, the general Chunyu Qiong found Song Xian and others and expressed his willingness to surrender.

Chunyu Qiong, like Cao Cao, was born in the Eighth School of Xiyuan. After Dong Zhuo came to Beijing, he sized up the situation and joined Dong Zhuo. He was awarded the title of Zhonglang General of the Dian Army and became one of Dong Zhuo's generals.

In the original history, after Dong Zhuo's death, he defected to Yuan Shao and was eventually killed by his former colleague Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu.

Chunyu Qiong's 70,000 troops surrendered, and Li Mu's military strength reached 400,000 in one fell swoop.

Although some troops were lost in the battle, the lost troops were not even a fraction and could be easily replenished.

The outcome of the more than 50,000 Xiliang troops surrendering has already been determined.

Except for some generals who will be taken to the city for public execution to win over the people, other surrendered soldiers will be killed in batches.

This does not mean that the Xiliang soldiers are necessarily bad, but the Xiliang soldiers under Dong Zhuo are definitely bad, and the Xiliang soldiers under Ma Teng, Ma Chao and his son are not bad.

In the original history, Dong Zhuo kidnapped Liu Xie before moving the capital to Chang'an, and set out to burn, kill, and loot. These Xiliang soldiers were no better than the Japanese. Luoyang was almost turned into a dead city by them.

Although this incident has not happened yet, through this incident, we can also see the ferocity of these Xiliang soldiers.

Therefore, Li Mu did not discriminate against the Xiliang soldiers, but simply discriminated against the Xiliang soldiers under Dong Zhuo.

If Ma Teng is willing to lead his army to surrender, Li Mu will be happy to accept it.

…

In the afternoon, after Li Mu's generals settled the army, they immediately sent messengers into the city to report the news.

At this time, the imperial palace guards had been filled by Yu Linqi, and the messengers, holding Song Xian's talisman, naturally entered the palace smoothly.

The Yulin cavalry on duty brought the messenger to Li Mu. Li Mu ordered the messenger to inform Song Xian and others, asking them to enter the city and enter the palace early tomorrow morning to receive the reward.

Song Xian and others heard that Li Mu had been named a general and that he would now have power in both the government and the public. They also had the support of hundreds of officials in the court and your majesty. They knew that their rise to prominence was just around the corner, so they were overjoyed.

Originally, the Han Dynasty did not go to court every day, but once every five days, but this was a critical period, so early the next morning, the officials gathered in the court again.

The first thing to do was to announce the distribution of official positions to the ministers, and then Li Mu's generals went to the palace to accept the rewards.

Among the nine strong generals, except Zhao Yun, the other eight were named "Generals of Si'an and Siping".

The so-called Four Ans and Sipings refer to Generals Andong, General Annan, General Anxi, General Anbei, General Pingdong, General Pingnan, General Pingxi and General Pingbei.

If we use the nine-rank division system of later generations to correspond, the general is a first-rank official, and the Si'an and Siping generals are a third-rank official.

The reason why they were only given a third-grade official position was because Li Mu did not want to get it right at the first step, lest he could not be promoted in the future.

Zhao Yun and Gao Shun are one level lower than the other eight. Zhao Yun is the general who conquers the captives, and Gao Shun is the general who suppresses the army. They are both equal to the third rank.

In fact, for the ten people, it didn't matter whether they had formal official positions or not, because they were different from other generals who called Lu Bu "general".

They called Li Mu "Lord" because he was a general of Li Mu's family, which meant he was a member of Li Mu's family.

The other generals who called Li Mu "general" were just his subordinates. They were completely different from generals. They had no relationship with him except that they were subordinate to him in terms of duties.

Therefore, even if Jiu Jianjiang does not have an official position officially granted by the imperial court, his status is still not low.

It's just that among men, how many of them don't respect honor?

Li Mu was willing to give them formal official positions, and they were naturally very happy. The levels of third-grade and third-grade officials were really not low.

Of course, in addition to General Jiujian and Gao Shun, other generals also have their own rewards, but these rewards will be sent directly to the generals along with the edict, without them entering the palace.

After the court meeting, Liu Xie followed Li Mu's wishes and issued an edict to reward the three armies and congratulate them for three days. At the same time, he also sent enough wine, meat and food to Hulao Pass.

After the dispersion of the dynasty, Song Xian, Wei Xu and others went to Lu Mansion first, and later had a celebration banquet with Li Mu in the evening.

Li Mu took Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun with him and went to Zhuangzi outside the city to pick up Diao Chan and others.

When she saw Diao Chan again, in just two days, she had already become close to Mrs. Yan and Lu Lingqi, and their relationship was very good.

In this era, a smart woman will never be jealous, but will only maintain a good relationship with the eldest wife and her husband's children.

After Diao Chan returned to the city, she went home first. Li Mu sent Wang Yun a betrothal gift the next day and married Diao Chan ten days later.

Although Diao Chan is just like a wife, in Li Mu's eyes, there is no distinction between a wife and a concubine.

No matter whether there is love in his heart or not, at least on the surface, he treats his women equally.

…

Five days after Li Mu married Diao Chan, he sent out four armies, consisting of Cheng Lian, Wei Xu, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun, each with 30,000 troops, to attack Niu Fu, Dong Yue, Xu Rong, and Duan Xuan.

To Cheng Lian's expectation, before he arrived at Mianchi, Dong Yue had already gone to Anyi to seek refuge with Niu Fu.

But Niu Fu was worried that Dong Yue would seize his power, so he killed Dong Yue. As a result, Cheng Lian easily captured Mianchi.

But when Wei Xu led his army to attack the city of Anyi, he could not defeat the enemy, so he packed up his gold and silver, abandoned the city and fled at night.

As a result, one of his followers named Hu Chi'er became interested in the wealth, so he killed Niu Fu and took away his property.

Unfortunately, Hu Chi'er was too greedy and wanted to eat both sides. After cutting off Niu Fu's head, he sent it to Wei Xu, hoping to use his merits to become an official.

Who would have known that when he arrived at Wei Xu's camp, Niu Fu's counselor Jia Xu was also there.

Jia Xu exposed the fact that Hu Chi'er committed murder and took wealth in just a few words, and was eventually beheaded by Wei Xu's order.

It turned out that before Wei Xu set out, Li Mu had told him that he should pay attention to one talent when attacking Niu Fu, which was Niu Fu's counselor Jia Xu.

If you meet this person, you must treat him with courtesy and persuade him to surrender. If this person is stubborn and unresponsive, kill him decisively and never let him run away.

Jia Xu, an unparalleled poison master in this world, is not only full of poisonous schemes, but also knows the magic of attracting wind and thunder, and his force is not weak. Li Mu will never let him wander outside.

Either it can be used by me, or no one can get it.

What Wei Xu didn't expect was that before he started to attack the city, Jia Xu came to the door himself.

Only then did he know that Niu Fu had abandoned the city and fled last night. Since the general had fled and Anyi was now an isolated city, Jia Xu would naturally not seek death and surrender decisively.

Then Jia Xu and Wei Xu chatted for less than a quarter of an hour when Hu Chi'er arrived with Niu Fu's head, which happened to hit his hand.

After all, Jia Xu has served under Niu Fu for so long, and there is still a sense of friendship. How can he not avenge Niu Fu?

Wei Xu naturally saw this and was happy to go along with the situation and sell Jia Xu a favor. He immediately ordered Hu Chi'er to be killed and Niu Fu's head to be laid to rest.

The two groups of Cheng Lian and Wei Xu were easy and smooth enough, but the two groups of Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun were even easier and smoother.

When they led the army to Xingyang and Huayin, Xu Rong and Duan Xuan opened the city gates directly, and led all the civil and military men under their command to greet them empty-handed in front of the city gates.

Just like that, four cities were obtained easily, and Li Mu added two unparalleled generals and a top unparalleled counselor to his command.

Each of the four left behind 10,000 troops and sent their generals to defend the city, and then marched to Luoyang.

Li Mu met Xu Rong, Duan Xuan, and Jia Xu, and asked them whether they would rather be civil servants or military generals.

The three people didn't understand why, so Li Mu handed over the new system that had been written down to them.

After reading it, the three of them suddenly realized that Xu Rong expressed his willingness to be a military general, Duan Xuan wanted to be a civil servant, and Jia Xu still wanted to stay in his old profession and be a counselor.

Li Mu then asked the young emperor to give Xu Rong the title of General Yangwu and serve under his own account.

Xu Rong was originally a fourth-rank Dianjun Zhonglang general, but General Yangwu was a fourth-rank official, which was regarded as a promotion. Xu Rong was grateful.

As for Duan Xuan, Li Mu helped him get a position as the prefect of Huazhou, which was also a fourth-grade official.

In the past, he was only in charge of one city and one place in Huayin County, but now he is in charge of the entire Huazhou Prefecture. Naturally, this was a big promotion, but he only lost his military power.

Fortunately, he himself has no interest in fighting, and is more interested in governing the place.

As a counselor, Jia Xu did not need any real official position, he only needed a position to receive a salary, so Li Mu gave him the official position of Guanglu Doctor.

Dr. Guanglu is an official who has been promoted and commended. He has no actual authority and receives a salary of the third grade.

Now, Dong Zhuo's chaos has been completely resolved, Li Mu has an army of more than 400,000, and he has Jia Xu, a poisonous man, as his military advisor.

The most awesome thing is that not only will the court not hold him back, but it will actually support him.

So it’s time to start the next step.

The theme of this second step of the plan is: Pursuing thieves according to orders.