Before Kong Zhou could even react, he was dragged out by his guards.
The military camp was ablaze, filled with screams of agony as soldiers fled in panic.
The entire scene resembled an apocalyptic landscape, truly horrifying and terrifying. What on earth had happened?
Kong Zhou's camp had been breached, and Zhao Yun seized the opportunity to continue his advance.
The second camp he attacked was that of Kong Rong, the Prefect of Beihai. Here, he again moved with impunity, but at the last moment, Zhao Yun was stopped.
He was stopped by an equally young general. The two exchanged blows, a sense of mutual respect growing between them.
"Do you give your name, you who come here? I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan!"
Zhao Yun pointed his spear forward, intending to recruit the man.
Although the fighting was fierce, neither side was willing to kill; both maintained a degree of rationality.
"It is Taishi Ci of Donglai!"
Taishi Ci roared and continued to fight.
Zhao Yun, however, withdrew after a few rounds, without looking back…
The mission was already complete, and had even exceeded expectations; raiding one of the warlords was already a feat.
Although he was now blocked by Taishi Ci, Kong Rong's camp had been burned to the ground, so the mission was accomplished and he could retreat.
"You are a true man; you shouldn't be buried in this chaotic world. My lord was a minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor, but he was framed by treacherous officials. You might as well go back and inquire about it."
Zhao Yun left with these words before leading his cavalry away.
Meanwhile, upon hearing of the enemy attack, Sun Jian immediately mustered his troops and led them out.
He questioned Dong Zhuo, who, though lustful, was unwilling to take the blame, saying it wasn't him…
And the one most likely to do so was Lu Ming.
Lu Ming had a penchant for married women, and his favorite pastime was raping the wives and daughters of his colleagues—his methods were utterly heinous! It must be him!
Sun Jian, however, was skeptical.
He planned to confront Lu Ming if he encountered him; now, lacking a scapegoat, he was ready to unleash his fury.
As Sun Jian led his troops to reinforce Kong Zhou, a hail of arrows rained down in the darkness.
Caught off guard, even the battle-hardened Sun Jian was pierced through by an arrow and fell from his horse.
Fortunately, Sun Ce, seeing this, quickly grabbed him and helped him up; otherwise, the fall would have left him half-dead, not to mention the trampling of the cavalry behind!
With his commander wounded, Sun Ce wanted to continue fighting, but Huang Gai persuaded him to stop. "Young Master, let's retreat first. Treating the lord's wounds is the priority!"
It's not a matter of life and death, just reinforcements. If we can reinforce, we will; if not, then we'll retreat!
Sun Ce had no choice but to leave behind hundreds of corpses.
These were all soldiers he had brought from Jiangdong, excellent Danyang soldiers, who died here without even seeing the enemy.
It was utterly frustrating, incredibly frustrating.
Frustrating and helpless—that was reality.
The next morning, Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo inspected the burned-out camps together.
Kong Zhou and Kong Rong's camps had been attacked and burned down. The fire spread to Wang Kuang's camp but was extinguished in time, fortunately preventing greater damage.
However, the armies of both warlords had been scattered and were no longer capable of fighting.
"Report! The granary has been burned down!"
A scout reported.
"What! Wasn't the granary guarded by Yuan Shu?!"
Yuan Shao was both shocked and furious. With the granary destroyed, his hundreds of thousands of troops could no longer regroup.
Even if there was still grain in Luoyang, those noble families wouldn't just hand it over.
After all, they suffered no losses by not attacking Lu Ming, and they gained nothing from capturing Hangu Pass.
"General Yuan fought desperately last night. It's said that tens of thousands attacked, and without support, he had no choice but to retreat to the granary," the scout reported truthfully.
In reality, Yuan Shu's army collapsed quickly after only initial contact last night. Encountering someone as audacious as Wei Yan, Yuan Shu almost lost his life.
But he wouldn't admit his incompetence; he must have exaggerated the battle report.
In reality, Wei Yan only led 5,000 men in a surprise attack on the granary…
And they were all only second-tier troops, still in their development phase. Their combat strength was certainly stronger than ordinary soldiers, but at most, 5,000 against 30,000. Any more than that and they couldn't hold out.
And that was infantry against infantry. If they faced cavalry, the outcome would be uncertain.
Yuan Shu exaggerated the size of the attacking army and continued to shift blame, placing the responsibility on his allies, saying they weren't doing a good job.
While they were still inspecting the area, a heated argument had already broken out. Everyone was pointing fingers at each other.
Yuan Shao had no choice but to rush to the scene.
The situation had reached a fever pitch. The three defeated generals, facing the ridicule of the other warlords, wished they could leave the alliance.
"Brother Benchu, you were the one who issued the proclamation, calling us to come to your aid. Now that we are in dire straits, you refuse to help us. Is this what you, Yuan Benchu, intend?"
Others feared the Yuan family's numerous disciples and former officials, but Kong Rong was not.
His ancestry could be traced back to Confucius, though he didn't know if it was true, but that was his belief.
Moreover, Kong Rong was a renowned Confucian scholar, a famous figure with a reputation, and many disciples and former officials; he was not afraid of the Yuan family at all.
Yuan Shao's forehead was practically bulging with veins; anger was almost overwhelming his reason.
"Of course not. The incident happened suddenly, and it was nighttime, so it's normal that we couldn't arrive in time. Now, instead of thinking about how to defeat Lu Ming, we're arguing here, which would likely only hurt our allies and please our enemies. His Majesty has ordered us to attack Lu Ming, who harbors rebellious intentions and disrespects the imperial family. As Han officials, we should naturally die for our lord's honor."
It was the same old story, a skill Wang Yi possessed. Therefore, even if Lu Ming had raped Empress Dowager He and the Grand Empress Dowager, no one considered it a heinous crime.
It seemed they simply knew, oh, that's all.
Moreover, this was based on mere rumors. The prevailing opinion in the palace was disrespect for elders, not profanity of the royal family. Such a disgraceful act would certainly not be admitted.
The alliance of warlords was inherently extremely fragile.
If it weren't for Yuan Shao representing the Yuan family, they wouldn't have returned at all, and could have done whatever they wanted; there was nothing to say.
As long as they couldn't see it, it was none of their business!