The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Dian Wei's attempt to take over the army was far from smooth. Apart from controlling the city defense forces of Chang'an and a small number of Xiliang troops, only his own 10,000-plus Bingzhou troops remained under his command. As for the rest of the Xiliang army, they instantly rioted when they heard that Ding Yuan was dead, and that he had died at Dian Wei's hands! Dian Wei finally managed to lead his remaining 20,000 soldiers back to the inner city.

Faced with the inability to capture the inner city after a long siege, the various units of the Xiliang army dispersed again and began to plunder the entire city of Chang'an. With Ding Yuan dead, the entire Xiliang army had lost its backbone, and this large army, which was built on Ding Yuan's personal prestige, collapsed in an instant.

Meanwhile, Wang Yun's messengers arrived in various places, delivering letters of appeal to the local lords. Chen Er was no exception. However, upon receiving Wang Yun's letter of appeal, Chen Er did not take any action. He simply told the messenger, "I have my own arrangements," and then sent the messenger back to the post station to rest.

"What do you think of Wang Yun's actions now?" Chen Er asked them after seeing the messenger off.

"I believe that our autonomous region is also unable to take any concrete action. It is far more advantageous for that person to be in Wang Yun's hands than for us to control him directly," Xun Yu analyzed.

Xi Zhicai also stepped forward and said, "I think Wenruo's words make sense. No matter what happens in Chang'an, our army should take over Qingzhou as soon as possible and secretly undermine Bingzhou."

“These two aspects have already been planned in detail, and we just need to proceed according to the plan,” Chen Er nodded and said. “However, there are still some things in Chang’an that we should do.”

"My lord, what do you wish to do?" Guo Jia, who knew Chen Er best, looked at him and asked, "Whom does my lord wish to obtain?"

“Cai Yong! And some other literary giants who can be of use to me,” Chen Er said.

"What does our lord intend to use in exchange?" Xun Yu understood Chen Er's plan.

"Exchange?" Chen Er snorted coldly: "Would that old scoundrel Wang Yun do business with us like this? I plan to use some tricks to invite Mr. Cai Yong and others to the autonomous region."

"This..." Upon hearing this, everyone realized that Chen Er was planning to kidnap people. This was one method, but was it really appropriate to use this method on powerful figures like Cai Yong?

“Once Mr. Cai sees our investment in education, he certainly won’t fuss over other minor details,” Chen Er said confidently.

Seeing that Chen Er had said this, the others could not directly refute Chen Er's plan. They could only try to improve Chen Er's plan as much as possible so that Cai Yong and others would not be hostile to the autonomous region from the beginning.

Chen Er presented the previously formulated plan for everyone's reference. At the same time, he also made a request to Li Zhong's intelligence department: to try to provoke conflicts between the various units of the Xiliang Army, making it impossible for them to coexist peacefully, thereby weakening the strength of the Xiliang Army.

In Chang'an, the riots have been going on for two days. The rebel soldiers from Xiliang have been looting and plundering the city. No one, whether they are high-ranking officials or ordinary people, has been able to escape this calamity. Only a few large families with many private soldiers and servants have managed to defend their courtyards and prevent the rebel soldiers from causing too much damage.

As for those smaller families, they were utterly ruined. Overnight, they were back to square one, their ancestral foundations built over generations were destroyed in an instant, leaving them with nothing.

Dian Wei's several campaigns to quell the Xiliang rebels finally succeeded. In reality, the Xiliang army had voluntarily withdrawn from Chang'an. They had no choice; leaderless, they couldn't conquer the inner city, and the outer city had already been looted. They simply withdrew. As for avenging Ding Yuan, they no longer spoke of it. What use was it now that the man was dead? Could Ding Yuan's spirit still protect them? This was the current thought of most of the Xiliang soldiers.

On August 9th, Dian Wei led the Bingzhou army and the city defense troops conscripted from Chang'an to regain control of the four walls of Chang'an. Wang Yun, who had been hiding in the palace, finally felt safe for the time being.

Having just gained control of the entire city of Chang'an, Dian Wei couldn't wait to demand that Wang Yun immediately marry Li Chan to him. At this point, the status of Wang Yun and Dian Wei had undergone a major shift. Dian Wei now controlled most of the military power in Chang'an. Even though Wang Yun had the emperor as his backer, he had no choice but to temporarily submit to Dian Wei's tyranny. Fortunately, there was still Li Chan as a buffer, and Dian Wei's attitude towards Wang Yun was still respectful. Otherwise, Wang Yun would probably have already jumped up in anger.

“Father-in-law, now that we have control of Chang’an and Ding Yuan is dead, shouldn’t you fulfill your promise?” Dian Wei’s threatening gaze made Wang Yun very unhappy, but since he needed Dian Wei to defend Chang’an, Wang Yun had no choice but to be amiable towards him.

Wang Yun said to Dian Wei, "Don't worry, my dear son-in-law. Tomorrow I will have someone choose an auspicious day for your marriage to Chan'er. As for the position of Grand General, I'm afraid it cannot be fulfilled immediately."

"Hmm, why is that?" Upon hearing Wang Yun's words, Dian Wei's tiger-like eyes widened. Although he didn't care about the so-called position of Grand General, in Dian Wei's eyes it was nothing compared to Li Chan. However, it was something that belonged to him, and suddenly losing it made Dian Wei unhappy. Was Wang Yun planning to kick him while he was down?

“My dear son-in-law, please don’t be angry.” Wang Yun quickly advised, “After all, the Grand General is the highest military rank in the imperial army. You are currently only a Right General. Although you have made great contributions, it would be too fast to promote you to Grand General immediately. It would not be conducive to your future development. For your future and to avoid making enemies within the court, I suggest that you be promoted to Vanguard General first. After you have accumulated enough merits in the next battle, we can find a way to have His Majesty appoint you as Grand General.”

Hearing Wang Yun's words, Dian Wei nodded indifferently. As long as Li Chan married him, it didn't matter if his official career progressed slowly. The title of General of the Vanguard was already considered a high-ranking official in the imperial army, which was not bad.

Dian Wei said to Wang Yun, "I think tomorrow is a good day. I will come to marry Chan'er then. Father-in-law, you must make sure Chan'er dresses up nicely."

"You..." Wang Yun was furious. Dian Wei was getting more and more arrogant. However, Wang Yun quickly suppressed his anger. She was just an adopted daughter. Let her be. As long as he could keep Dian Wei's heart, that was enough. Wang Yun said to Dian Wei, "My dear son-in-law, please rest assured. I will arrange everything."

While Dian Wei was preoccupied with marrying Li Chan, news of Ding Yuan's death spread throughout the empire. Countless people wept upon hearing the news, as Ding Yuan, the traitor of the empire, finally received his retribution. However, Wang Yun's letter of appeal for help was also made public. Upon hearing of the rebellion in Xiliang, some loyal guards of the imperial family within the empire spread the word, urging various lords to send troops to support the emperor and welcome him back to Luoyang.