The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Suddenly, Chen Er felt like he was a pawn. However, the people below had no idea what Chen Er was thinking at this moment. They all asked Chen Er whether the Northern Autonomous Region should respond to Yuan Shao's call.

After remaining silent for half a minute, Chen Er suddenly stood up and said, "Respond? Why not respond? We are acting under the banner of 'purging the court of corrupt officials.' If we don't respond now, all our previous efforts will be in vain. However, for this expedition, the autonomous region will only send second-line troops. Apart from the cavalry, all the main front-line forces will not be mobilized."

"Why is that?" Xun Yu was a little confused. Chen Er said, "This time is different from the past. Yuan Shao has a deep conflict with us. Moreover, we will not need too many troops to attack Ding Yuan this time. It is not convenient for our army to leak too much of its advanced weapons to the outside world."

"Understood, subordinate." Although Xun Yu did not know what Chen Er was worried about, the conflict between Chen Er and Yuan Shao was indeed too deep. If Chen Er were to be tricked by Yuan Shao, it would be a huge disaster. However, Chen Er, who had always taken the cleansing of the emperor's inner circle as his standard, could not remain silent after Yuan Shao and others raised their banner. Therefore, Xun Yu agreed to Chen Er's suggestion.

Chen Er addressed the crowd: "To the outside world, say that the main force suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, and that this is a newly recruited force. Internally, announce that this is for training purposes, not for actual combat. Tell the soldiers that I, Cao Mengde, will not lead them to unnecessary sacrifices. However, even the second-line troops must maintain high morale."

"Yes, my lord, we understand!"

Xun Yu and the others bowed in response.

Soon, rumors spread throughout the autonomous region that Chen Er had repeatedly said that Yuan Shao had grown up and finally understood what it meant to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country! When this news reached Yuan Shao's ears, it is said that Yuan Shao was so angry that he almost killed his favorite mount. If it weren't for the fact that he still needed to rely on the army under Chen Er and Lu Zhi to capture Luoyang and rescue his clansmen, Yuan Shao would definitely have fought a major battle with Chen Er again.

No one expected Ding Yuan to change so quickly, and to take action against the Yuan family now. It was truly disheartening, but little did they know that this was a trick by Chen Er.

After Dian Wei arrested the entire Yuan family and threw them into prison, Ding Yuan had just climbed up from his dragon bed when he heard Dian Wei's report. Ding Yuan cursed angrily and quickly got up. He had only asked Dian Wei to scare Yuan Wei, but he didn't expect that Dian Wei would not understand his meaning at all and directly arrest Yuan Wei and the others, arresting them on charges of attacking government troops and attempting to rebel. Wasn't this a slap in his own face?

No wonder Ding Yuan, though he adopted Dian Wei as his son, never gave him real military power, but mainly used him as a clerk. Ding Yuan couldn't help but sigh at this moment. Ding Yuan was quite good to Dian Wei, but this brute Dian Wei didn't understand these things, which benefited Ding Yuan.

Ding Yuan laughed and then stopped worrying about Dian Wei's recklessness. It was just the Yuan family of Yuan Kui. He could just arrest them and use them to show his strength. Ding Yuan thought to himself that he still needed to teach Dian Wei a lesson, otherwise what if he caused trouble again next time?

"Dian Wei, do you know your crime?!"

"This humble general does not know," Dian Wei replied.

Ding Yuan angrily said, "I told you to warn the Yuan family, so why did you directly imprison Yuan Wei and the others? Don't you know that the Yuan family is our ally? Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are also governors. What if they find out what you did and report back for revenge?"

"This humble general knows his mistake!" Although Dian Wei was arrogant, he knew he had made a mistake after Ding Yuan said that he had failed to understand Ding Yuan's intention, so he quickly stepped forward to admit his mistake.

Seeing Dian Wei admit his mistake, Ding Yuan smiled inwardly and then said to Dian Wei, "Dian Wei, you are a warrior, and so am I. I will speak frankly."

"Please speak freely, my lord," Dian Wei said, bowing.

Ding Yuan said, "I will give you my seat from now on, what do you think, Dian Wei?" Has this finally come to this? In fact, this was the result of Ding Yuan's careful consideration. Dian Wei's martial prowess was indeed too great, and he had to find a way to control him. His daughter was gone, so letting his adopted son sit in his seat was a good choice. Now it was up to Dian Wei to decide.

Upon hearing Ding Yuan's words, Dian Wei hesitated. What about his adoptive father? Sima Yi was his adoptive father, but that adoptive father only knew how to limit his military power. He, a military general, was made to be a chief clerk. And Sima Yi? He was a military general, but he was only a captain of his personal guards. Of course, the Bingzhou army was still under his command.

In the end, Dian Wei knelt down: "Father, please accept my bow."

"Good! Good!" Ding Yuan laughed. Although this method might not be safe, Ding Yuan believed that he had given Dian Wei the best treatment and the status of an adopted son. In any case, he couldn't possibly be inferior to that old scoundrel Sima Yi.

Just as Ding Yuan was trying his best to win over Dian Wei, Yuan Shao also began to take action. Although Yanzhou was a battleground, the era of warlords vying for supremacy had not yet fully begun. In addition, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Yanzhou was one of the first areas to quell the rebellion, and its recovery in recent years has been quite good. Of course, this recovery refers only to the aristocratic families; the lives of ordinary people are becoming increasingly difficult.

It was precisely because of this that Yuan Shao's recruitment process became simpler, and he quickly assembled an army of 50,000. With the grain and provisions contributed by the powerful clans, Yuan Shao recovered a considerable amount of strength for a time. Of course, at this point, he only had a few thousand musketeers under his command, a worryingly weak fighting force. This is why Yuan Shao shamelessly sent a proclamation to Chen Er and others. The reason was simple: the Youzhou army, oh no, now it should be called the Autonomous Army, was simply too strong, especially the Youzhou musketeers, who were incredibly sharp. After several defeats, Yuan Shao had a very clear understanding of the current Autonomous Army's musketeers.

Most importantly, the banner Yuan Shao is currently using is one that Chen Er cannot refuse. Chen Er has no choice but to come, otherwise he would be slapping himself in the face.

However, Yuan Shao probably didn't expect Chen Er to use second-line troops to impersonate the main force. Nevertheless, Chen Er still sent out several thousand elite cavalry. In this respect, the other warlords had no way to blame Chen Er, because their armies were even worse.

Fortunately, the Xiliang army's firearms units were not numerous; otherwise, it would have been difficult to know how to fight this battle.

In May of the 2188th year of the Yellow Emperor's reign, various warlords within the empire began to respond to Yuan Shao's proclamation, forming a coalition against Dong Zhuo. Compared to Chen Er's previous life, the warlords in this coalition had changed considerably. The coalition now consisted of only fifteen commanderies: the first commandery was led by Yuan Shao, the governor of Yan Province; the second by Yuan Shu, the governor of Yu Province; the third by Chen Er, the governor of the Northern Autonomous Region; the fourth by Lu Zhi, the governor of Bing Province; the fifth by Liu Biao, the governor of Jing Province; the sixth by Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dong Commandery; the seventh by Zhang Chao, the prefect of Guangling; the eighth by Kong Rong, the prefect of Beihai Commandery; the ninth by Tao Qian, the governor of Xu Province; the tenth by Sun Jian, the prefect of Changsha; the eleventh by Liu Bei, the prefect of Ba Commandery; and the twelfth by Ma Teng, the governor of Xiliang…