Three Kingdoms Mythology World.

Chapter 2683 Establishing the Alliance Leader, the Sacrifice to Heaven Begins

The arena fell silent as Lin Mu revealed his biggest trump card.

The players who were watching the spectacle widened their eyes when they saw Lin Mu's trump card.

This is absolutely a powerful weapon, and I believe many people would not dare to disobey Liu Hong's last wishes.

However, the players underestimated the powerful figures. No one spoke again; instead, they silently picked up their wine cups and began drinking, some even eating meat.

Especially on Liu Bei's side, who had remained silent all along, Zhang Fei, that dark-skinned man, ate meat in large mouthfuls and drank wine in large bowls, making a lot of noise without restraint, as loud as a pig gnawing on food.

This is silent contempt!

Lin Mu sneered and slowly sat down. These feudal lords no longer respected the Han Dynasty; they all harbored ambitions!
But the fact that they remained like this even at this point proves that Yuan Shao had given them many benefits.

Needless to say, it must be provisions.

Both Sun Jian and Gongsun Zan were extremely short of food. Such a large army consumed a terrifying amount of food every day. Without external support, they simply could not hold on.

Lin Mu wants to compete for the alliance leader, but he doesn't contribute anything, doesn't recruit any members, and is just pretending to be noble!
Moreover, they were more concerned about what would happen after Dong Zhuo was killed.

Liu Xie's ascension to the throne is a foregone conclusion. With Dong Zhuo dead, the power in the imperial court is vacant, and the most likely candidate to take it is the Yuan family. As for Lin Mu, well... no one will approve of or support him as a powerful minister. Even those close to Lin Mu, such as Lu Zhi, would not allow him to reach this point.

Therefore, Yuan Shao is the best candidate to lead the alliance!
After everyone had been drinking and eating for a while, and as the strange and heavy atmosphere in the room gradually eased, Cao Cao slowly stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "Gentlemen, the reason I have gathered you all here today is to discuss important matters. Currently, Prefect Yuan Shao has the support of the Three Dukes of the court, and General Lin Mu has the late emperor's will. Both are the best candidates to be the leader of the alliance. How about we appoint one chief and one deputy leader to jointly command the righteous coalition?"

"Yes... Mengde's plan is brilliant..." Everyone immediately agreed.

Although they may have ulterior motives, they shouldn't show it too much at the moment; they should still give them some face.

However, these words only elicited a cold laugh from Lin Mu. He had used such a trump card, and yet he only managed to become a vice-leader? How laughable!
Indeed, Cao Cao and others still strongly recommended Yuan Shao to be the leader of the alliance, while he could only be the deputy leader.

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he looked at Lin Mu. At this moment, Lin Mu had already put away all three items.

Unbeknownst to everyone, upon hearing Cao Cao's words, the three items—the Grand Commandant's Order, the Emperor's Technique Scroll, and the Sword of Restoration—all trembled slightly. When he tried to store them in his spatial ring, he discovered they had already turned to ashes and vanished from the world!

This situation deeply shocked Lin Mu. He didn't feel any heartache at the loss of the other two items, but the Sword of Rejuvenation was extremely useful to him, and now it was gone!
It should be noted that this sword is so tough that even the Dragon God Spear cannot destroy it. It may look broken, but it is actually incredibly hard.

Slightly taken aback, Lin Mu slowly raised his head to look at Cao Cao. He knew that the morale of the Han Dynasty had collapsed!
The so-called revival of the Han Dynasty is now a thing of the past!

As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, Yuan Shao stood up and said arrogantly, "My family has held high office for four generations, and my disciples and former officials are all over the world. In terms of prestige and strength, the position of leader of this alliance belongs to me alone!"

Yuan Shao no longer concealed his stance and directly entered the fray to compete.

"Gentlemen, Lin Mu and Yuan Shao are both the best candidates for the alliance leader. How about we have a contest to decide the outcome?" Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou and a member of the Han imperial family, stood up and proposed.

"What's the point of comparing? Yuan Shao's six million-strong army overwhelms all other warlords. What's there to compare? We should save our strength to deal with Dong Zhuo, not to cause internal strife!"

"General Weiguo, what do you think?" Governor Han Fu of Jizhou stood up and asked in a deep voice.

Han Fu's words directly blocked the last path.

"The courtesan knows not the sorrow of a fallen nation, still singing 'The Flowers of the Rear Courtyard' across the river." Lin Mu did not respond directly, but instead recited a line of poetry.

Immediately, Lin Mu loudly proclaimed, "Since Yuan Shao is the leader of the alliance who is the popular choice, how could I, the general, obstruct the will of the people? I am willing to serve as the deputy leader of the alliance."

Lin Mu wouldn't act impulsively; he simply turned and left, refusing to even serve as the vice leader of the alliance in a fit of pique.

In order to seize the position of leader of the alliance, he used every means at his disposal. Since Yuan Shao was already destined to rule, he would maximize his own interests!

Everyone was slightly pleased to see Lin Mu's change in attitude. They were actually afraid that Lin Mu would turn his back on the coalition and start his own thing.

As for the satirical line of poetry that Lin Mu uttered, everyone remembered it and pondered it in secret, but on the surface, they simply ignored it.

"Since General Wei approves, then I will not stand on ceremony!"

Yuan Shao slowly walked to the center, and everyone stood up. He looked around and then shouted in a powerful voice, "Starting tomorrow, we will build an altar to worship Heaven, uphold the will of Heaven and Earth, and swear an unbreakable oath to punish Dong Zhuo!!"

"We must punish Dong Zhuo!"

"We must punish Dong Zhuo!"

"We must punish Dong Zhuo!"

Everyone responded enthusiastically, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

"Gentlemen, please drink from this cup!" Yuan Shao raised his wine cup and said loudly.

Everyone agreed and raised their wine cups to drink.

"Let the feast begin!" Yuan Shao shouted after finishing his drink.

Yuan Shao was naturally happy to become the alliance leader, and everything proceeded as planned. If Lin Mu had become the alliance leader, the so-called banquet might have been interrupted. "Lin Mu even brought out Liu Hong's will, yet he still couldn't defeat Yuan Shao. It seems the system won't allow the alliance leader to change," Jiang Chenglong commented in the chat room.

"What a pity. If Lin Mu could become the leader of the alliance, the possibilities would be too great. It would be a huge benefit for us players... Damn it..." Ji Beiqin cursed, feeling very regretful.

Lin Mu had actually seen the conversation, but he didn't say anything in the chat room.

At this moment, he was observing Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei.

The two fellow disciples were clinking glasses with great enthusiasm, and judging from their posture, they had obviously been in contact for some time.

Liu Bei's appointment as governor may well have been due to Gongsun Zan's recommendation.

As if knowing that Lin Mu was observing them, Liu Bei looked at Lin Mu and gently raised his wine cup to toast him.

Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who were behind Liu Bei, both glared angrily at Lin Mu.

Lin Mu raised his wine cup in response to Liu Bei, then looked at another variable, Wei Zhongdao.

He thought the guy had died of illness... but he didn't expect him to reappear, and in this way.

This guy just followed behind Cao Cao and his men, strongly recommending Yuan Shao. Although Liu Bei also supported Yuan Shao, he only occasionally expressed his support, unlike this guy who strongly recommended him.

Hmm... there seem to be a lot of enemies in the arena...

While Yuan Shao went downstairs and kept clinking glasses with everyone, Lin Mu drank alone.

Nothing unexpected happened, and the banquet lasted until very late. Lin Mu left the banquet halfway through under some pretext, becoming the first and only lord to leave at the last minute.

The next day, countless craftsmen were busy at work in the square in front of the city lord's mansion.

The square, which was not large to begin with, has become much larger. The surrounding houses have been cleared away, creating a vast open space.

It took three whole days to complete the magnificent altar.

A lot has actually happened during this period.

First, there's Liu Bei. This guy secretly lured players like Liu Feng and other prefects to his side.

Zhu Xuan was unaware that Liu Bei had become the governor of Hanoi Commandery.

Liu Bei, who had been adrift for so long, suddenly became stronger again...

Since they were sworn brothers, of course he had to support them. Zhu Xuan directly persuaded Liu Feng and others to join Liu Bei's camp, which greatly increased Liu Bei's military strength, which was not very powerful.

This time, Liu Bei brought even fewer troops than Lin Mu, only a mere 300,000. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei each commanded 100,000.

Those who still follow Lin Mu are only the close player forces such as Ji Beiqin and Bei Tangxue. However, this time, a few forces such as Jiang Chenglong, Xuan Yuan Changying, and Zhao Qiyin still insist on following Lin Mu.

While the altar was still under construction, Yuan Shao convened several more meetings and decided on the arrangement of some positions.

Yuan Shu, just like in history, became a grain supervisor.

When Yuan Shao became the leader of the alliance, he began to have all the warlords concentrate their grain in one place and allocate it in a unified manner.

This was good news for warlords like Sun Jian who didn't have much food. But for Lin Mu and others who had plenty of food, it was a very difficult situation.

Originally, they had plenty of food and could allocate it as they pleased, using it however they wanted. Now they're giving it all away to distribute. It's truly speechless.

However, Lin Mu did not say anything, nor did he even try to compete with Yuan Shu for the position of grain supervisor.

Subsequently, the vanguard general was selected. Sun Jian, Liu Bei, and Lin Mu all volunteered, but Yuan Shao decided to appoint Sun Jian as the vanguard general. The reason given was that Lin Mu was the deputy leader of the alliance and a second-rank general of the Imperial Guard, whose position was not in opposition to that of the opposing general Hua Xiong, and therefore he could not be the hard-working vanguard general.

As for Liu Bei, his strength is too weak, so he will not be used for the time being.

The inertia of history remains as fixed and fierce as ever!
Four days after the battle for leadership, the altar was completed, and Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance, made further preparations. The sacrificial ceremony to Heaven did not begin until the seventh day.

Seeing how long and meticulously the sacrificial ceremony was prepared, the players all assumed that the ceremony would involve killing a dragon to collect its blood for the flag offering, or at least killing a dragon to collect its blood for the flag offering. Unfortunately, they were disappointed.

The sacrifice was not to a real dragon or a jiaolong, but to a somewhat mystical boar!

A pig, in layman's terms, is a pig!

Good heavens! Bowls of diluted pig's blood were served to the feudal lords. Then the ceremony began.

Unlike the simplified versions in movies and TV shows, this sacrificial ceremony was quite complex. Yuan Shao recited many strange sacrificial texts, and heaven and earth responded, with strange auspicious lights flowing across the sky...

After all that fuss, Yuan Shao took out the proclamation he had prepared beforehand and read it aloud:
"The Han Dynasty is in misfortune, the imperial authority has been lost, the treacherous minister Dong Zhuo took advantage of the chaos to commit atrocities, bringing disaster upon the emperor and oppressing the people. We, Yuan Shao and others, fearing the fall of the state, have gathered righteous troops to face the national crisis together. All of us who are allies must unite as one and work together to uphold our loyalty as subjects. We will never waver in our will. Anyone who breaks this alliance will be punished by heaven and earth. Heaven and earth, and the spirits of our ancestors, bear witness to this."

(End of this chapter)