Chapter 29: The mole Sun Jian

This great battle ended with the miserable defeat of the coalition.

But the two most miserable forces were Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shao lost several generals, and his trusted general Wen Chou died at the hands of Lu Bu.

In terms of troops, it was so miserable that they were almost wiped out.

When they fled to the banks of the Yellow River, only a few hundred remnants remained.

As the leader of the coalition, fleeing back to Hebei in such a form, his reputation was destined to be greatly affected.

And Yuan Shu?

That was even more miserable!

His younger brother Yuan Yin and eldest son Yuan Yao were both captured.

Seventy percent of the troops sent to Hulao Pass were also wiped out.

Yuan Shu himself had lost an arm in the previous Battle of Sishui Pass.

However.

Yuan Shu’s luck was not the worst.

Because he lost an arm, he did not participate in the Battle of Hulao Pass.

Instead, he stayed outside Sishui Pass with Cao Cao and several other warlords.

After learning the news of the Battle of Hulao Pass.

The one-armed Yuan Shu had to return to Yuzhou in an extremely shameful posture under the escort of Ji Ling.

Besides the two Yuans. ===== CHAPTER 60 =====

Those who preserved their strength best were Cao Cao and Gongsun Zan.

Most of Gongsun Zan’s subordinates were cavalry.

Seeing the situation was not good, he immediately withdrew his troops at the fastest speed.

Plus, Dong Zhuo’s army’s main target was the two Yuans, so Gongsun Zan did not suffer too many losses.

Cao Cao stayed at Sishui Pass and did not participate in the Battle of Hulao Pass.

With keen intuition, he had smelled something wrong a few days ago.

When the decisive battle of Hulao Pass broke out, Cao Cao decisively ordered his troops to retreat to Yanzhou.

Thus avoiding the fate of being annihilated.

As for the other small and medium-sized warlords, under Gu Yi’s instruction, Dong Zhuo’s generals did not kill them all.

After all.

Right now, Dong Zhuo had no way to send troops to occupy the Guandong region, which was completely infiltrated by the noble family group.

If they forcibly occupied those lands.

I am afraid that as soon as Dong Zhuo’s army left, endless rebellions would break out in those places!

Under such circumstances.

If these small warlords were all wiped out.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao would definitely occupy Hebei and the Central Plains at the fastest speed.

This was definitely not good news for Dong Zhuo’s army.

In this way, rather than benefiting Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

It was better to leave this group of small and medium-sized warlords to prevent Hebei and the Central Plains from being quickly unified by one party.

At the same time.

It also gave Dong Zhuo’s army ample time to clear up internal conflicts.

Commonly known as sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, then reaping the fisherman’s profit.

……

And among these defeated and fleeing warlords, there was an extremely special existence, and that was Sun Jian.

The reason the coalition suffered a miserable defeat was partly because Yuan Shao, the coalition leader, was blinded by greed.

On the other hand, it was because of Sun Jian’s defection.

In fact, Zu Mao was only part of the reason for Sun Jian’s defection.

After the Battle of Sishui Pass ended, the conflict between Sun Jian and the various warlords had intensified.

The warlords accused Sun Jian of inaction.

They believed that it was because Sun Jian did not stop Hua Xiong.

That the coalition suffered a surprise attack on the camp by Hua Xiong’s army during the Battle of Sishui Pass.

But in reality, even if Sun Jian wanted to stop Hua Xiong, he could not.

His grain was cut off by Yuan Shu, and the soldiers were hungry for a whole day, completely lacking combat effectiveness.

However, the various warlords would not care about this.

They only saw their own losses.

And for the predicament faced by Sun Jian’s army, they ignored it completely.

Later, the Battle of Hulao Pass broke out.

Zu Mao was captured because he followed Yan Liang and Wen Chou to chase Lu Bu.

After this incident, Sun Jian felt even more disappointed with the coalition.

He himself believed in putting interests first.

The coalition gave him no hope.

Instead, it was Dong Zhuo who threw out an olive branch at this time.

Although... Dong Zhuo’s reputation in Guandong could almost be called "a mess."

But so what?

It was better than dying with the coalition, right?

Thus, Sun Jian agreed to the envoy of Dong Zhuo’s army and decided to defect before the battle.

And after the various warlords were defeated and fled.

Sun Jian was the only warlord who remained outside Hulao Pass.

Regarding this, Dong Zhuo attached great importance to it and decided to come to Hulao Pass in person to have a talk with Sun Jian.

……

"Hahahaha, Wentai, you and I have not seen each other for several years."

"I did not expect that we would meet again in such a way."

Dong Zhuo, under the guard of Hua Xiong and Lu Bu, arrived fifty steps away from Sun Jian.

And beside Dong Zhuo, Gu Yi and Zhao Yun also followed.

Sun Jian’s lineup was much simpler.

Except for the newly released Zu Mao.

The rest were Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han Dang.

Facing Dong Zhuo’s greeting, Sun Jian gave a bitter smile and then bowed in response:

"Prime Minister, from now on, you and I are both subjects of the Han Dynasty. I hope we can work together to clear up the world."

"Hahahaha, easy to say, easy to say."

"I have long thought that Wentai is a man who can achieve great things."

"Now that I see it, it is indeed so."

"However, with Wentai’s ability, I think a mere Administrator of Changsha is no longer enough to match your status."

"How about Inspector of Yuzhou?"

"Plus the status of a County Marquis, can that satisfy Wentai?"

After the words fell.

Sun Jian was stunned.

The pie Dong Zhuo threw out was really too big, so big that he could hardly catch it.

But as the saying goes.

How can one be willing to spit out food that is about to reach one’s mouth?

Greed gradually occupied the high ground of Sun Jian’s thoughts.

……. ===== CHAPTER 61 =====