The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Half an hour later, Yuan Shao arrived in a hurry. When he saw the city gate open, Yuan Shao did not get angry at Ju Yi, because Xu You and Guo Tu had also come along. After Xu You and Guo Tu explained, Yuan Shao realized what mistake he had made, and of course, his hatred for Chen Er deepened.

Although Yuan Shao knew he was wrong, he did not apologize to Ju Yi directly. After all, Yuan Shao was still arrogant. Of course, Yuan Shao valued Ju Yi even more, since Ju Yi was the only veteran general left under his command and was so loyal. Even if Yuan Shao was stupid, he would know to value Ju Yi.

"Lord."

"Yes, General Ju, you've worked hard." Yuan Shao nodded and said, "In that case, the city gate is in your hands. Have the supply troops take out some of the grain to help these people. Also, Gongze..."

Yuan Shao called Guo Tu over: "Since Luoyang belongs to the allied forces, even though I am the leader of the alliance, the other forces should still contribute something."

Upon hearing Yuan Shao's words, Guo Tu immediately understood and bowed to Yuan Shao, saying, "Your subordinate understands."

Guo Tu left.

Thanks to Yuan Shao's timely realization, Chen Er's plan against Yuan Shao was not perfectly realized. However, the burden of two to three hundred thousand people still increased the burden on Yuan Shao's rule, especially after the departure of the allied forces of the warlords. This seriously hampered the development of Yuan Shao's strength. Moreover, as the word spread among the people, the reputation of the "benevolent" leader Yuan spread throughout the entire empire. For a time, the entire empire had a new understanding of Yuan Shao, a member of the Yuan family who had served as high-ranking officials for four generations.

Large numbers of people poured into Luoyang, and the city, which had just been destroyed by fire, seemed to regain its vitality.

Although the people were there, there was no food in the city, and the people went hungry. Yuan Shao did not provide any food relief to the people.

I, Yuan Shao, am not a heartless man. From now on, the city gates will be open. You can go out of the city and find your own wild vegetables. As for food supplies? I'm sorry, I don't even have enough to eat for my own troops, let alone you people who are not even under my control.

Of course, as the leader of the coalition, Yuan Shao's actions naturally aroused dissatisfaction among his allies. In their view, Yuan Shao's approach was rather inhumane. However, the other warlords did not carry much grain to begin with, and after the coalition was formed and allies were selected, the grain was distributed uniformly in the hands of the leader. It was difficult for the other warlords to help the people. Only Lu Zhi, who had some surplus grain, took some grain from the mouths of his soldiers to help the people.

"Leader, I still suggest opening the granaries to provide relief to those people, after all, they are all subjects of the empire," Lu Zhi said to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao shook his head and said to Lu Zhi, "Lord Lu, it's not that I, the leader of the alliance, don't want to help these people, it's just that we ourselves don't have much food left."

"How could this be?" Lu Zhi asked in surprise. Although the allied forces did not have much food, to be honest, after several sieges of Hulao Pass, the allied forces had lost at least 50,000 to 60,000 troops. Lu Zhi simply did not believe that they did not have much food. He said to Yuan Shao, "The people do not ask for much. They just want to survive, even if it is just thin porridge!"

“If I say no, then no,” Yuan Shao said impatiently. “If Grand Commandant Lu really wants me to help those people, then so be it. In that case, the Bingzhou army’s food rations will be halved, and the remainder will be used to help the people. What do you think, Lord Lu?”

Seeing Yuan Shao's mocking gaze, Lu Zhi was furious. He said to Yuan Shao, "I will not work with this brat!"

Lu Zhi turned and left. Watching Lu Zhi leave, Yuan Shao snorted and said to Guo Tu, "Gongze, from now on, reduce the Bingzhou army's food supplies by half, and then take half of the remaining half to distribute porridge to the people in Luoyang!"

Upon hearing Yuan Shao's words, Guo Tu initially intended to dissuade him, but seeing the gloomy look in Yuan Shao's eyes, Guo Tu decided to protect himself. He would not risk damaging his standing in Yuan Shao's eyes for the sake of those insignificant commoners.

Thus, starting the next day, Yuan Shao inexplicably reduced the Bingzhou army's food supplies by half, and other allied forces also had their food supplies reduced. Although Yuan Shao claimed that these supplies were for the relief of the people, everyone could see that the food supplies Yuan Shao gave to the people were completely different from the food supplies that had been withheld from them.

The allied forces' provisions weren't something that appeared out of thin air; they were all donated by various warlords and the powerful families they supported. Yuan Shao simply purported to keep them. If all of these provisions had actually been used to relieve the people, it wouldn't have mattered, since there wouldn't be any fighting for the time being, and the soldiers could just eat less at each meal. However, Yuan Shao's act of secretly hoarding some provisions really angered the various warlords.

After Lu Zhi, Zhang Chao, and others failed to negotiate with Yuan Shao, Sun Jian became the second group of warlords to withdraw their troops. He left very quickly, without saying goodbye to anyone, and led his three thousand men southward at top speed.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Biao also withdrew his troops, citing the instability of Jingzhou.

Lu Zhi was the last to withdraw his troops. In fact, Lu Zhi wanted to stay in Luoyang. He had always wanted to rescue Liu Bian, the current emperor in name only, even though he was put on the throne by Ding Yuan. After all, the wishes of the late emperor were the same, and Liu Bian was the only rightful heir to the throne. Lu Zhi dreamed of rescuing Liu Bian. However, Lu Zhi was destined to be disappointed because the allied forces had completely disintegrated by then.

Since Ding Yuan fled to Chang'an, most of the warlords had achieved their true goal: eliminating the threat of Ding Yuan's growing power. Although Ding Yuan now held the emperor in his hands, in reality, the warlords could refuse to contribute to the emperor on the grounds that he was a puppet. Of course, the emperor still exerted some nominal control, after all, this was an era that valued loyalty. If you wanted your subordinates to be loyal to you, you had to set an example yourself. It's funny how one warlord after another put on such a show, and in the end, they gained the loyalty of even more people.

Lu Zhi was leaving! Looking at the city walls of Luoyang, the sun in the east was gradually rising. A new day had begun. The rising sun brought new hope. Looking at the city walls of Luoyang and then at the distant sun, Lu Zhi felt no joy at the sunrise, only endless sorrow. He was leaving so that Yuan Shao could provide relief to more refugees.