The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

"There's no need for you to worry about that, sir. Since I dared to speak up, I am naturally confident in my ability to do so."

"When does the general plan to let our army pass?" Li Ru asked.

"After the treasure is handed over, I will open Hangu Pass to allow you and your army to pass through."

"General, is this feasible?" Li Ru asked.

Chen Er replied, "I would never stoop to such petty behavior!"

"That's good!"

……

After the two sides finished exchanging the treasures, although Chen Er didn't think those treasures were of much value, the gold and silver were the most important.

At noon on June 6, the autonomous region's musketeers and a thousand cavalrymen escorting sixty carts disappeared in the northeast. Li Ru came to Hangu Pass again to meet Chen Er and asked him if he should keep his promise.

Seeing that the treasure had been moved, and that Chen Er had also learned that the Xiliang army was indeed beginning to withdraw its forces and hand over the people to the 20,000 autonomous region troops in the Jia County area, Chen Er returned to Li Ru and said, "Please ask the vanguard of the Xiliang army to retreat five li, and our army will naturally advance out of Hangu Pass."

Helpless, Li Ru had no choice but to order Niu Fu to retreat five miles and then watch as the four thousand Youzhou cavalrymen in Hangu Pass (in reality, there were only two thousand cavalrymen, the other two thousand were Xu Rong's infantrymen riding spare horses of the Youzhou cavalrymen, but Li Ru didn't know that!) converged into the woods to the northeast and slowly retreated.

"Send a cavalry unit to quietly follow behind them," Li Ru said to Niu Fu.

“I understand.” Niu Fu nodded to show that he understood. He knew that Li Ru wanted to see how the Youzhou army crossed the river and wanted to try to find an opportunity to reclaim the treasure.

However, Li Ru and Niu Fu were destined to be disappointed. When the cavalry squad sent back the news, the two were dumbfounded. They never expected that the Youzhou army had built a pontoon bridge in a gentle river in Jia County during this period of time!

A pontoon bridge! My God, how did the Youzhou army manage to do that?

Based on the cavalry's report, Li Ru slapped himself in the face, realizing how utterly incompetent he had been as a strategist. However, he never expected that a large number of small boats and rafts could be used as a means to build a pontoon bridge. Using the pontoon bridge, the Youzhou army quickly transported the treasures across the river, leaving the Xiliang cavalry with no way to seize them. With the Guandong coalition right behind them, Li Ru had no choice but to order the army to continue advancing, leaving Fan Chou and 10,000 Xiliang elite troops to guard Hangu Pass and ensure the passage of the following caravans and civilians.

As for the civilians left for Chen Er, Li Ru also played a little trick. Half of them were the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled. However, Chen Er didn't mind. In any case, a large portion of these civilians would be given to Yuan Shao as gifts. He only needed those with skills or young and strong men. As for the majority, Chen Er had to reluctantly give them up. He had considered taking them all, but the army he brought was less than 40,000 men, and the provisions were only enough for 40,000 men for a month. Even with frugality, it was impossible to support hundreds of thousands of civilians until they reached Ji Province. Therefore, Chen Er planned to send Yuan Shao a great gift!

Hehe, Chen Er felt no remorse for tricking Yuan Shao. After all, they were now mortal enemies. Yuan Shao must hate Chen Er to the core. Chen Er didn't want to give Yuan Shao too many opportunities to develop, so he planned to give half of the people to Yuan Shao, take the other half himself, and leave the other half in Bingzhou for Lu Zhi to handle. Presumably, because Bingzhou was sparsely populated, Lu Zhi would be quite willing to take it over.

"Let's go, Zilong, let's go deliver gifts to Yuan Shao, and while we're at it, let's also fulfill our agreement with Li Ru. We can't let the world think that the people of our autonomous region are untrustworthy," Chen Er said to Zhao Yun.

Although he didn't know what Chen Er meant, as a resolute military general, Zhao Yun nodded and told Xiahou Dun to gather his men and follow Chen Er.

On the way to Luoyang, Chen Er encountered the remnants of Hulao Pass led by Li Jue. It was unclear whether Li Jue had already received news of Li Ru, but the two sides did not make any move when they met on the main road. The Xiliang army only focused on marching westward at high speed, as if there was something terrible behind them.

Several hours after encountering Li Jue's forces, Chen Er led a thousand cavalrymen towards Luoyang. At this time, Luoyang was still engulfed in thick flames, clearly mirroring history from his previous life. Li Ru had set fire to Luoyang during his retreat to buy himself time. Now, two or three days had passed since Li Ru's withdrawal, yet the city was still shrouded in smoke. It was unclear whether Li Ru's fire was too intense or the newly arrived Guandong Allied Forces were simply incompetent, unable to extinguish the flames despite their hundreds of thousands of troops.

"Ugh...!"

As Chen Er's thousand-odd cavalrymen approached the outskirts of Luoyang, a long, drawn-out alarm horn sounded from the city walls. Soon, the city walls were filled with the Kwantung Allied Army, dressed in various uniforms.

"Who is coming!"

"General Chen Er is here! Why are you keeping the city gates closed?" Chen Qun shouted as he stepped forward. Although they were two or three hundred meters apart, Chen Qun's loud voice still made the soldiers of the Guandong Army on the city wall feel as if it were deafening.

"General of Chariots and Cavalry?" Upon hearing Chen Qun's voice, the Guandong Allied Army on the city wall hesitated. This was because they were Yuan Shao's troops.

However, the two sides are still nominal allies, but they also have deep-seated hatred for each other. Yuan Shao's officers were in a dilemma. Helpless, he could only shout at Chen Er: "General Cao, I have not yet received the military supplies and dare not open the city gate easily. Please wait a moment, General. I will go and inform the alliance leader."

"No need for such formalities. Just call Alliance Leader Yuan out to answer. I'll wait for him here," Chen Er said with a slight smile, shouting towards the top of the city wall.

"My lord?" Xiahou Dun was a little confused when he heard Chen Er's words. Why didn't they enter the city? Chen Er smiled slightly and said, "Why would we enter the city? Do you expect Yuan Shao to entertain us? We'd be lucky if he didn't just rush out and kill us."

"It can't be that bad. After all, we're allies. Yuan Shao wouldn't dare to do that, would he?" Xiahou Dun said in surprise.

"Allies? Ever since the Xiliang army ceded Luoyang, the Guandong Coalition has actually fallen apart. The only problem is that the contradictions haven't surfaced yet," Chen Er said with a contemptuous laugh.

"Brother, why is that?" Xiahou Dun asked, puzzled.

"The reason is simple: they all feel that Ding Yuan is no longer a threat," Chen Er said.

"So these Kwantung Allied Forces are all short-sighted people," Xiahou Dun said sarcastically.