This article is based on Luo Guanzhong's novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and has nothing to do with the history of zhengshi.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the decline of imperial power, the history of thorns was upgraded to state pastor, and the powerful strongholds in various places stood on their own, no matter the counties and counties, everything depended on strength, as long as you had people and horses, you could grab grain and grab the land, but whether you could hold the land after grabbing the territory was not only dependent on the number of people and horses, but also on the quality. In the early stage of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the strongest soldier and horse strength were none other than Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuowen had Li Ru and Jia Xu, Wu Had Lü Bu, Xu Rong, Li Dai, Guo Feng, Li Su, Niu Fu, Fan Chou, and so on, and according to the danger of Kun Han, he blackmailed the Princes to order the princes to wait and watch the changes in the world. Wang Yun joined forces with Lü Bu and Li Su and others to kill Dong Zhuo, and Li Ru unfortunately burned the jade with it.
As mentioned above, Li Ru has repeatedly gained insight into the opportunity to anticipate the enemy in front, and every step he takes is meticulously calculated, and once he moves his hands quickly and fiercely, Dong Zhuo consults him every time he makes a major decision, which can be said to be the chief think tank of Dong Zhuo Group, and what level can his level be ranked in the Three Kingdoms era when there are many strategists?
Before answering this question, let's briefly review Li Ru's several appearances. The first appearance was to accompany Dong Zhuo into Beijing, when the general He Jin wanted to use the power of foreign soldiers to cut off the eunuchs, and secretly summoned the princes of the four roads to Beijing, Dong Zhuo hurried forward, but Li Ru stopped halfway and let him go to the table. The so-called above table is to turn He Jin's secret edict into a clear edict, force the eunuch to fight the trapped beast, and fight with He Jin to break the net of the fish, so that he can reap the benefits of the fisherman. Sure enough, He Jin was tricked into the palace by Zhang Rang and hacked to death, Zhang Rang and others were killed by Yuan Shao, the imperial court had no main backbone, and Dong Zhuo just took advantage of the void to seize power in one fell swoop, all of which could not be said to be what Li Ru expected.
Next, Dong Zhuo wanted to depose the Young Emperor and establish Chen Liuwang, and consulted with Li Ru, who gave Dong Zhuo a reassurance pill: "There is no master in the current imperial court, if you don't act at this time, there will be changes when it is late." Dong Zhuowen invited hundreds of officials to a banquet, talking about the abolition of the establishment, Ding Yuan opposed, Li Ru looked at the color, found Lü Buhu's power difficult, and stopped the quarrel between the two in time: "Where you drink and feast today, you must not talk about state affairs. Then Li Su wanted to say that to lower Lü Bu, he needed to use Dong Zhuo's red rabbit horse, and Dong Zhuo was entangled again, who in the world does not love BMW? Or Li Ru said to Dong Zhuo categorically: "If the lord wants to take over the world, why bother with a horse!" Li Su said that Lü Bu's ability to argue was certainly remarkable, but it was Li Ru who dispelled Dong Zhuo's doubts first.
After Ding Yuan's affairs were settled, Yuan Shao rose up again, and Dong Zhuo wanted to kill Yuan Shao, and Li Ru advised: "The matter is undecided, and it is not possible to kill in vain." He also advised Dong Zhuo to use a group of celebrities, these are all means to win people's hearts, not to mention whether people's hearts are really encircled, at least on the surface everyone is at peace, this move has played a great role in Dong Zhuo's stabilization of the imperial court. In order to eliminate Dong Zhuo's troubles, Li Ru also killed Emperor Shao, Emperor Shao's wife Concubine Tang, and Emperor Shao's mother, Empress He, one by one, in extremely cruel measures.
Furious, Ru grabbed the empress dowager with both hands and went straight downstairs; the samurai hanged Tang Concubine; and killed the young emperor with wine. - The Fourth Episode of romance of the Three Kingdoms
Throwing downstairs means throwing downstairs, and Empress He was thrown down the stairs directly by Li Ru and fell to her death.
After Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, he pretended to sacrifice his sword to escape, and Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo only had some doubts but no evidence, or Li Ru saw through the mystery at a glance: "Cao has no wife and is small in Beijing, and only lives alone in his apartment." If a messenger is summoned, if he comes without a doubt, he will offer a sword; if he does not come, he will be stabbed, and he will be able to catch and ask. ”
After Guan Yu wenjiu beheaded Huaxiong, Dong Zhuo's army was frustrated, and Li Ru was worried that someone in the imperial court would cooperate with each other inside and outside, so dong Zhuo killed all of Yuan Kui's family, which was a cruel move that would rather be killed by mistake than let go. After Lü Bu's defeat, Li Ru offered to loot Luoyang and move the capital to Chang'an, which was a poisonous plan to exterminate the people.
On the way to the capital, Li Ru still did not forget to design a pursuer.
Li Ru said: "Xiang Xiangxin abandoned Luoyang to prevent pursuing soldiers." Xu Rongfu's army was next to the mountain dock outside Xingyang City, and if there were soldiers chasing after him, he could let it go; when I was defeated here, I would intercept and cover up. So that the latecomers dare not pursue again. - The Sixth Romance of the Three Kingdoms
This plan directly wiped out the soldiers and horses recruited by Cao Cao's scattered family wealth, and even Cao Cao himself almost saw the King of Yan.
When Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan fought each other inexplicably and rode the tiger, it was Li Ru who persuaded Dong Zhuo to pretend to be a heavenly son to persuade him to reconcile. Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan's vows to fight against Dong Zhuo in the past were so majestic, but now they listen to Dong Zhuo's orders to discuss peace, although it is the situation of the times, it can also be seen that Li Ru accurately grasps the timing.
Li Ru's last opponent was Wang Yun. As mentioned above, Wang Yun's cicada skillfully applied a series of rings, Dong Zhuo Lübu turned against him, Dong Zhuo was a fan of the authorities, and Li Ru was a bystander Qing, he discovered this sign very early, but at first he did not realize the seriousness of the matter, but only persuaded Dong Zhuo: "Taishi wants to take over the world, why blame Wen Hou with a small view?" If the other person's heart changes, the big things will go away. Dong Zhuo also listened to the advice, and did not punish Lü Bu for flirting with the mink cicada, but instead had a reward.
However, Lü Bu did not die for the mink cicada because of Dong Zhuo's reward, mainly because the mink cicada's divisive plan was too clever, and Lü Bu could not stop provoking it. When Li Ru realized the seriousness of the matter, he hurriedly found Dong Zhuoxiao to take advantage of him: "The king of Xichuzhuang was desperate to meet, and did not investigate Jiang Xiong, who loved Ji, and was later trapped by Qin Bing, and was saved by his death force." Now the Sable Cicada is only a woman, and Lü Bu is also a fierce general of Taishi's confidant. If the Taishi takes this opportunity, he will give the cloth with a cicada, and if he is grateful for the great favor, he will repay the Taishi with death. Master Tai, please think twice. ”
The King of Chuzhuang's Absolute Ribbon Meeting is also a very famous story, saying that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the King of Chuzhuang feasted on the courtiers one night, and when he drank until he was full of fun, he asked Aiji to come out to toast, and suddenly a strong wind blew out the candle, and someone took advantage of the darkness to tease aiji, and Aiji ripped off the tie on the man's hat as evidence, and the king of Chuzhuang did not pursue the matter for the sake of the courtiers, but let everyone remove the tie on the hat before re-lighting the candle. Later, the State of Chu fought against other countries, and there was a battle general named Jiang Xiong who fought very bravely and made a great contribution to the State of Chu, and this person was the person who flirted with the King of Chu aiji and sacrificed his life to repay the King of Chu for his grace of not killing.
It can be said that at this time, Li Ru had already seen through Wang Yun's serial plan, and he did not directly say that it was broken, but cited the scriptures to tell the story of the Absolute Miaohui, which is precisely its cleverness. Wise people never need to say anything about others but they can achieve their goals. Li Ru's purpose is to let Dong Zhuo emulate the King of Chuzhuang and exchange beauty for hero, just as he exchanged BMW for hero before, and there should be a line here: "The lord wants to take the world, why pity a daughter!" ”
Although Dong Zhuo covets beauty, he is not stupid after all, and Li Ru's words have moved his heart. Unfortunately, Dong Zhuo and Li Ru all underestimated the mink cicada, and the mink cicada's divisive plan was not covered, she not only separated Lü Bu, but also separated Li Ru. The marten cicada said to Dong Zhuo: "Li Ru and Lü Bu are very friendly, so they set up this plan, regardless of the dignity of the taishi and the life of the concubine. "What do you mean?" The subtext is that Li Rulao advised you to "why cherish a horse" and "why cherish a daughter", in fact, he borrowed flowers to offer Buddha, took your things and made good friends with Lü Bu, sold you back and counted money to others. This agitation reached the point, so the next day when Li Ru asked when he would give the mink cicada to Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo was angry: "Why don't you give your wife to Lü Bu?" Li Ru was speechless and could only sigh, "We all died at the hands of women!" ”
Good words are difficult to persuade the damn ghost, Li Ruto is ill. The next thing is simple, without Li Ru, Dong Zhuo was played around by Wang Yun and others, and finally killed in the Zen Platform, Dong Zhuo died, Li Ru was also killed.
Looking at Li Ru from appearance to the end, forcing Zhang Lü bu to kill the Young Emperor and defeat Cao Cao and reconcile the princes of Kwantung, all of them are in his calculations, what level can such a level be ranked in the Three Kingdoms era? Not first class!
Mao Zonggang, who annotated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, once said that "the multitude of talents in ancient and modern times has not flourished in the Three Kingdoms", so although Li Ru is strong, he is not ranked first-class. The so-called first-class strategists should not only have the talent of Wang Zuo, but also have a benevolent heart and embrace the world. Looking at Li Ru's actions, first, he did not plan a strategy for Dong Zhuo to win the world, and second, he was too fierce, only skill, no Tao, and such a person still said that he "wanted to take the world", was not he laughed at by people with lofty ideals?