Chapter 451

"As for those who do not cooperate and are unwilling to submit, then I cannot be blamed for being ruthless!"

"Since I have walked through this troubled world, if I don't make some changes and achievements, I might as well not vie for hegemony! What do you say, Meng De?"

"Hehe!"

Cao Cao shook his head, feeling a mix of amusement and frustration: "Boyuan, you are truly proud and arrogant! But you do have the qualifications and ability!"

"I am not like that! I can only honestly take it one step at a time!"

"Let us see who will have the last laugh in the future!"

"Rest assured, even if you fail in the end, I will keep my promise and let you go to the Western Regions to be a King of the Western Regions, haha!"

He would never try to persuade Su Xuan.

Su Xuan's choice was a good thing for him.

Only a fool would try to persuade him!

"Haha!"

Su Xuan couldn't help but laugh: "Don't even think about that; the one who will end up as the King of the Western Regions will only be you! Shall we wait and see?"

"Wait and see!"

Several hours later,

Su Xuan, Cao Cao, and their party arrived at Luoyang.

Leaving Zhao Yun to settle the troops, Su Xuan took Xu Chu and over a hundred personal guards to a relatively intact side hall of the burned palace, where he saw the warlords drinking and making merry.

"Oh?"

As soon as he approached, Su Xuan used his powerful spiritual sense to perceive that a large number of people were hidden in the vicinity of the side hall.

Moreover, it wasn't just one group, but several.

He immediately thought of something, and upon sensing, he instantly located the position of the fake Imperial Jade Seal he had forged somewhere in the city.

And that place was precisely the encampment of Sun Jian's army.

"Interesting! So Sun Jian did get the Imperial Jade Seal? The inertia of history is truly great!"

Su Xuan thought with a click of his tongue in his heart.

With this thought, Su Xuan and Cao Cao walked into the hall.

Immediately, they attracted the attention of the warlords.

"Oh?"

Yuan Shao raised an eyebrow as he looked at the two and spoke first: "Meng De and Boyuan have arrived? Quickly, take your seats!"

Su Xuan and Cao Cao immediately took their seats at Yuan Shao's invitation.

Yuan Shao then continued to ask: "Meng De! Didn't you go to pursue Dong Zhuo? Why have you returned so quickly?"

"And how did you end up with Boyuan?"

"Boyuan, where did you go before? Why didn't we see your troops?"

The other warlords also looked over, listening intently.

Cao Cao drank a cup of wine and said with some frustration: "Don't mention it! I met Boyuan halfway!"

"I only learned from him that Dong Zhuo had already taken the Son of Heaven across Hangu Pass to Changancheng!"

"With Hangu Pass there, and Xu Rong and Lu Bu guarding it, what could my few men do?"

"I had no choice but to return!"

Yuan Shao nodded in understanding: "So that's it! It seems Dong Zhuo was well-prepared! He left us no possibility of pursuit at all!"

"What about you, Boyuan? Did you manage to pursue Dong Zhuo?"

Yuan Shao asked, looking at Su Xuan.

Su Xuan shook his head directly: "Naturally not! Didn't Meng De just say so? I only intercepted and killed over ten thousand Xiliang soldiers who were covering the retreat and intercepted a group of homeless commoners. By the time I reached Hangu Pass, it was already too late!"

"Besides, after I broke through Yique Pass, I came to Luoyang first, but unfortunately, Luoyang was already engulfed in flames, making it impossible to even get close, let alone fight the fire!"

"So, I made a prompt decision to attempt to pursue Dong Zhuo and rescue the Son of Heaven!"

"Unfortunately, I was still too late!"

"Oh?"

Yuan Shao raised an eyebrow: "Boyuan, you caught the tail end of Dong Zhuo's migration? You slaughtered over ten thousand Xiliang soldiers? Did you have any spoils?"

"As far as I know, Dong Zhuo looted the entire Luoyang, and even dug up the imperial tombs!"

"The wealth and grain there must be immense!"

As soon as he said this, the warlords looked at Su Xuan with greedy eyes, like gluttons.

Su Xuan sneered coldly: "Hehe! Alliance Leader Yuan is truly naive!"

"If it were you, would you put money, grain, and treasures at the very back of the migration?"

"I didn't even see Dong Zhuo's shadow; do you think I could have intercepted any money, grain, or treasures?"

"There are no treasures! But there are tens of thousands of homeless commoners with nothing to their names. Do you want them?"

"It just so happens that my grain is a bit insufficient, and I haven't sent these people to Jingzhou yet. They should not have passed Yique Pass yet. How about I call them back and hand them all over to you?"

Population was something only Su Xuan valued right now; the other warlords might not necessarily value it much.

Especially someone like Yuan Shao, who came from a great gentry family, he looked down on these commoners whose lives were as cheap as grass.

Not to mention that these commoners had been looted of their money and grain by Dong Zhuo, so calling them refugees was no exaggeration.

Why would he want them?

Of course, if he knew that Su Xuan had obtained three hundred thousand people and was preparing to move them to Jingzhou, even if he didn't want them, he would absolutely not want Su Xuan to have so many people.

He would likely cause trouble.

Therefore, Su Xuan directly reduced the population count by ten times, which made it completely different.

Not to mention other places, there were tens of thousands of homeless refugees gathered near Luoyang city right now.

"That won't be necessary!"

Although Yuan Shao was very unhappy with Su Xuan's attitude and felt he was very disrespectful to him as the Alliance Leader, he waved his hand: "Since these are the commoners you rescued, Boyuan, it is naturally better for you to handle them yourself!"

A bunch of lowly people, why would he want them?

To consume his own grain?

He wasn't stupid.

Of course, he also believed Su Xuan's words, certain that Su Xuan should not have intercepted any wealth, otherwise, he wouldn't have let it go so easily.

The other warlords, hearing Su Xuan's words, also withdrew their greedy gazes, looking regretful.

They didn't continue to press the matter.

After all, what Su Xuan said made a lot of sense!

Unless Dong Zhuo was an idiot, it was absolutely impossible for him to put the wealth at the very end of the migration.

"Sigh! What a pity! Now, all this wealth and grain has benefited Dong Zhuo, that thief! With these riches, he will truly have deep pockets and be even harder to deal with!"

Tao Qian couldn't help but sigh.

"Who says it isn't? We can only blame ourselves for reacting too slowly!"

"Since Dong Zhuo has run away, shouldn't we distribute the spoils now?"

"That's right! What does Alliance Leader Yuan say? Although we didn't manage to defeat Dong Zhuo and couldn't rescue the Son of Heaven, we did manage to take back Luoyang and the Sili region, didn't we? Shouldn't we distribute the benefits?"

"Agreed! I don't want much, just a few hundred thousand shi of grain will do! Besides, Wang Kuang, shouldn't you return the two cities you took from me?"

"Talk nonsense! Since I took those cities, they naturally belong to me. You want them back? Are you kidding me?"

"Are you trying to start a war with me?"

"Let's fight then! Who's afraid of whom?"

"..."

Soon, the originally harmonious scene began to turn chaotic.

A group of warlords even began to fight over benefits.

Su Xuan and Cao Cao were both speechless.

At this time, Gongsun Zan couldn't watch anymore. He stood up and bowed to Yuan Shao: "Alliance Leader Yuan! Since everyone doesn't intend to continue the crusade against Dong Zhuo, I won't stay any longer. I shall take my leave now!"

"The Great Han is in turmoil, and the Hu Ren on the borders of Youzhou likely won't stay quiet. I must return to preside over the overall situation! Farewell!"

With that, Gongsun Zan stood up, took the three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang, and left.

"This..."

Yuan Shao saw this and raised his hand, wanting to persuade him to stay, but Gongsun Zan was too decisive, and before he could, the man was already far away.

This made Yuan Shao very unhappy.