The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

With the defeat of the Xiliang army and the death of Ding Yuan, the question of succession for the Xiliang army arose.

As Ding Yuan's younger brother, Ding Min has a very high legitimacy to inherit the throne. However, Ding Min's presence in the entire Xiliang army system is not strong, and he is far from being comparable to Li Ru and others. When the great revenge was not yet achieved, Li Ru was still able to win over the various units of the Xiliang army by using the slogan of avenging Ding Yuan. But now the enemy's forces are increasing, and with an old general like Lu Zhi stationed in Chang'an, it is no longer realistic to take over Chang'an in a short period of time.

"Alas, the situation is precarious!" Li Ru sighed, gazing towards Chang'an. "I'm afraid we'll never have a chance to return." "Strategist, our Xiliang army is strong. Although the Grand Tutor has unfortunately perished, surely we have the ability to return to Chang'an?" a junior officer said.

Li Ru smiled but remained silent. He had no way of explaining the power struggles within the Xiliang Army to the junior officer. Even if he did, the junior officer might not believe him. These officers and soldiers at the lower levels would never pay attention to the power struggles at the top, let alone know that there were actually many contradictions within the Xiliang Army.

"Even if the Grand Tutor were still alive, my Xiliang army would never have a chance to return to Chang'an." Li Ru sighed. Before this, he did not have a clear understanding of the internal conflicts within the army. Now that Ding Yuan was dead, all the internal conflicts within the Xiliang army had erupted. Li Ru knew all too well that the Xiliang army was truly finished.

"Without the Grand Tutor's control, Guo Si, Li Jue, and the others will no longer obey orders as before. Their troops are no weaker than General Niu Fu's and mine. Now that the Grand Tutor is gone, everyone says they want to avenge him, but how many of them really think that way? Probably none. Who would risk all their trump cards for a dead man?" Li Ru said to the officers around him. "Even if you don't have such intentions in your hearts, you must have some vague thoughts about it."

"We know we were wrong." Having their thoughts exposed by Li Ru, the surrounding Xiliang army officers quickly apologized to him. Li Ru didn't hold it against them; he waved for them to stand up: "I don't mean to blame you. After all, things have already come to this. It's normal to consider your own future. Remember my words: without a strong core leader, the Xiliang army won't last long. If you want a better future, the best choice is not to stay in the Xiliang army."

"We understand."

"Strategist? And what about you?" someone asked Li Ru. Li Ru replied, "I am the Grand Tutor's son-in-law. Even though the Grand Tutor is dead, there will still be people in this world who will blame him for everything. As the Grand Tutor's son-in-law, now that the Grand Tutor is gone, I have the responsibility to bear these blames and let the world condemn me."

"military adviser!"

"Let's go! Let's go quickly!" Li Ru said to the crowd.

In reality, Li Ru wasn't as great as he claimed. He was simply tired of the power struggles in officialdom and the war itself, and wanted to find a suitable reason to retire. Of course, what he said wasn't entirely wrong. With Ding Yuan dead, his direct descendants would certainly be purged. Li Ru may have seen through the entire situation of the Western Liang army. Others could defect to other forces, but he couldn't. As Ding Yuan's son-in-law and chief strategist, Li Ru would be treated as a top wanted criminal wherever he went. Even though the various warlords were eager to recruit talent, they dared not easily use Li Ru, after all, he was the direct executor and planner of the Luoyang massacre.

"Let's go, let's go!" After crossing Chang'an and seeing that his troops were safe, Li Ru began to plan his departure. He wanted to take his wife and children away from the army and head to the Western Regions by another route. There was no place for Li Ru in the Central Plains anymore. He could only go to the Western Regions, where he might be able to survive.

"We've brought all the money-making tools we have at home," Li Ru's wife said to him. Li Ru nodded, and with only a dozen or so bodyguards around him, who were like death squads, he said to his wife, "Then let's set off for Zhaguer in the Western Regions. He will take us in."

"My uncle is dead, I will obey my husband."

Li Ru disappeared, and no one knew where he went. Even Niu Fu didn't know when he disappeared. Then someone revealed that Li Ru died in the chaos of war, but this claim was not accepted by the public. After all, Li Ru's wife and children had also disappeared. More importantly, the generals who had previously led Li Ru also testified that Li Ru had safely separated from them, taking more than a dozen trusted confidants with him when he left.

Everyone believed that Li Ru had gone into seclusion. After all, Li Ru had helped Ding Yuan do so many bad things, and he dared not show his face again. After Li Ru disappeared, the power struggle within the Xiliang army intensified. The Xiliang army under Ding Yuan, which had retreated to Liangzhou, was roughly divided into three parts, led by Niu Fu, Guo Si, and Li Jue respectively. Niu Fu was the strongest among them. He not only controlled more than 30,000 elite Xiliang soldiers, but more importantly, he also controlled Ding Yuan's most elite Flying Bear Army, although at this time the Flying Bear Army only had more than 2,000 men left.

Of course, Guo Si and Li Jue were not ordinary men either. They had a large number of elite troops and musketeers under their command. The three of them each controlled three or four cities, relying on each other while also competing with each other, all thinking of becoming the second Ding Yuan.

The once invincible Xiliang army is now on its last legs. It is unknown how many of the more than 100,000 elite Xiliang troops remain. Most importantly, they no longer have a strong leader. After Ding Yuan's death, the original warlords of Liangzhou have become active again. Han Sui has shown signs of a comeback, and Ma Teng is also secretly rising. With Ding Yuan's death, the huge Xiliang army is gradually heading towards disintegration.

The threat from the Western Liang army had disappeared in Chang'an, but the situation in the city was now more tense. The Luoyang faction, led by Lu Zhi, advocated that the emperor return to the capital as soon as possible, while the Chang'an faction, led by Wang Yun, insisted that Chang'an was an ancient capital and that Luoyang was severely damaged, so the capital should be re-established in Chang'an.

With the two sides locked in a stalemate and unable to resort to force, the situation in Chang'an was extremely tense, and every resident of the city could smell the gunpowder in the air.

At this time, a sudden major event occurred: some prominent literary figures of the Qingliu faction, represented by Cai Yong, disappeared, along with some of their immediate family members.

Where are they?

The Luoyang faction and the Chang'an faction both insisted that the other was eliminating dissidents. However, both sides knew that Cai Yong and others were not their people at all, but rather a group of great Confucian scholars. Although these scholars were loyal to the empire, they were not necessarily loyal to the current royal family.