Three Kingdoms Mythology World.

Chapter 2689 The First Change to the Ranking of Heavenly and Earthly Lords

Bao Zhong mustered his troops and left Suanzao City, arriving at a heavily guarded, large camp outside the city.

This camp is the teleportation hub.

The Kwantung Army's campaign against Dong Zhuo was not a simple westward advance from Suanzao City; it required a coordinated attack from all sides to defeat Dong Zhuo.

The land of China is vast and boundless, and traveling solely by warhorse would be far too slow. Therefore, the feudal lords set up teleportation arrays along various routes.

The reason for the prolonged delay in attacking, besides the lack of supplies, was the construction of this teleportation array. This teleportation array had cost Yuan Shao and his men a considerable amount of their resources. Originally, Yuan Shao wanted Lin Mu to contribute some rare teleportation array materials, but Lin Mu directly refused, saying he didn't have any and was poor.

Yuan Shao, who had surpassed Lin Mu to become the leader of the alliance, knew that Lin Mu was angry, so he didn't make any further demands on Lin Mu and stopped asking questions.

Lin Mu's resources are evident from his position at the top of the list of warlords; he is certainly not poor. Furthermore, Yuan Shao could sense that Lin Mu could easily establish his own alliance to attack Dong Zhuo, refusing to cooperate with them. In that case, Yuan Shao's authority as the alliance leader would be significantly diminished.

This time they were able to rise to power by stepping on Lin Mu, and they could do it again next time—that's a kind of power! Although many lords were surprised that Lin Mu ranked first on the list of lords of heaven and earth, they still looked down on him, thinking that if given the opportunity, they could take his place!
Yuan Shao may have had such a plan.

Back to topic.

Sun Jian's troops were transported from here to a valley on the border between Yuzhou and Sili, and then headed straight for Liang County, the southernmost city of Henan Yin in Sili.

Sishui Pass, also known as Hulao Pass, is a formidable pass located on the banks of the Sishui River outside Chenggao City, the capital of Sili Province. Traveling west from Xingyang City, crossing the Sishui River leads to Hulao Pass.

Once you pass Hulao Pass, you can advance smoothly along the plains all the way to the capital city of Luoyang.

Cities along the way, such as Sili Henan Yin Chenggao City, can be ignored.

Hulao Pass is located northeast of Liang County. After Sun Jian attacked Liang County, he marched straight to Hulao Pass.

The route also passes by Yique Pass and Huanyuan Pass.

These two passes, the former guarding one of the main roads leading to Luoyang, the capital, and the latter guarding the pass connecting Yuzhou to Sili, were respectively important.

The teleportation array allows direct entry into Sili Prefecture without needing to pass through Huanyuan Pass.

Currently, Zhang Ji and his men are stationed inside Huanyuan Pass. They had no idea that Sun Jian would cross Huanyuan Pass via a teleportation array.

In fact, if Sun Jian had allowed one of the warlords to attack Huanyuan Pass head-on, he could have launched a pincer attack on Huanyuan Pass from behind.

However, the feudal lords held a meeting and concluded that since they could all set up teleportation arrays within Sili, there was no need to rush to Huanyuan Pass, as that would consume a lot of manpower, resources, and time.

Yuan Shao specifically arranged for Sun Jian to take this route to intimidate the garrison at Yique Pass and Huanyuan Pass, preventing them from making any rash moves.

Sun Jian had just learned about the situation in Liang County and was preparing to launch a full-scale attack when he received a piece of devastating news from the allied forces that left him speechless.

Bao Zhong, the younger brother of Bao Xin, the Chancellor of Jibei and the 20th garrison commander, led 200,000 light cavalry to the vicinity of Gongxian City. They then took a shortcut to attack Hulao Pass, but were lured into the city and easily beheaded by Hua Xiong.

In the first battle, Dong Zhuo's camp won!
This battle was not simply about losing 200,000 elite light cavalry; it was about luck and morale.

Sure enough, players from both camps received corresponding system notifications. Lin Mu, who was drinking in his tent, also heard a system notification:

"--Ding!"

"--System notification: Dragon Lord Lin Mu, as a member of the Allied Forces, you have failed in the first battle, the [Opening Battle of Hulao Pass]. Morale -100%, combat power -10%, reputation -200000 points, affecting the subsequent [Ranking of the Warlords] settlement rewards. Note: The first settlement of the Ranking of the Warlords coincides with the end of the Heroes Against Dong Zhuo storyline."

Lin Mu's expression changed slightly upon hearing the system notification. He hadn't expected Bao Xin's reckless advance to have such consequences!

Immediately, as if he had thought of something, he opened the Heaven and Earth Lords List to take a look.

As expected, Bao Xin, who was in the twentieth position among the feudal lords of the world, was demoted and swapped places with Zhang Miao, the governor of Chenliu, who was in the twenty-first position.

Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu, won a position without even trying.

"Strange, the ranking of the feudal lords in my previous life did not change because of Bao Xin's failure... How come there is such a big change this time?" Lin Mu was full of doubts.

A change of position is no small matter. For Bao Xin to surpass Zhang Miao, there would have to be a significant shift in the balance of power between the two. A loss of a mere 200,000 troops shouldn't be enough to cause them to switch positions. Take Yuan Shao, for example; even after losing two million troops, he still held a commanding position in the top three with four million remaining.

Keep in mind that Zhang Miao only had 600,000 troops, while Bao Xin, even after losing 200,000, still had 1.3 million troops!
Thinking of this, Lin Mu opened the communication panel, found Hua Guo's contact, and sent him a message.

Soon, he received a message from Hua Guo:
"--Ding!"

"--System notification: Lord Hua Guo, as a member of Dong Zhuo's camp, you have won the first battle, the opening battle of Hulao Pass. Morale +60%, combat power +5%, reputation +20000 points, and original attribute points +3."

This was a system notification sent by Hua Guo, which rang in his ear.

That's right, Hua Guo led the Great Wilderness Guild to join Dong Zhuo's camp.

This was a temporary decision made by Dong Zhuo after he lavishly bestowed titles upon Ji Beiqin, Jiang Chenglong, and others, making them governors. Unfortunately, although Li Ru later bestowed many official titles upon some players who joined their camp, he treated Hua Guo and others differently, simply dismissing them without actually driving them away from Dong Zhuo's camp.

Whether it's Dong Zhuo's camp or the allied forces, the consequences after the story ends are actually minimal, unlike the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This is because neither camp achieves a final victory, resulting in an anticlimactic ending.

"There was no mention of the rewards for the Heavenly Lords Ranking, so it seems the system prompts are different for different identities. However, it directly rewarded Origin Attribute Points..." Lin Mu pondered the differences.

The current plot of the campaign against Dong Zhuo has clearly deviated somewhat from his expectations, so he needs to think about all aspects of it.

"Report!"

"Lord Lin Mu of the Nineteenth Garrison, the Alliance Leader is convening an emergency military meeting. He requests the presence of the General!"

Just then, a loud voice came from outside.

Yuan Shao, that fellow, had the messenger still address him as the nineteenth warlord, continuing the way he was addressed at the previous banquet. This was clearly meant to humiliate him.

"Being ranked first hasn't made them fully wary... Perhaps Dong Zhuo, who has recognized the Yongzhou Cauldron as his master, will realize this..." Lin Mu muttered to himself with a strange smile on his lips.

Afterwards, he let Huang Zhong and the others continue drinking and resting, and then left the camp with Wang Yue, heading towards the city lord's mansion.

……

In Bao Xin's tent, Bao Xin paced back and forth anxiously, awaiting news.

This advance was extremely risky; a single misstep could lead to the annihilation of the entire army. But when he thought of his friend and the plans he had devised, he made up his mind.

"Report!!!" At that moment, a messenger walked in, looking travel-worn.

"My lord, General Bao Zhong has been killed, and the entire army of 200,000 has been wiped out!!" The messenger, his face filled with fear, staggered in, covered in filth, and cried out in grief.

"What?! Brother Zhong has been killed?!?!" Upon hearing that Bao Zhong had been killed, Bao Xin's eyes widened in horror, and he cried out in anguish to the heavens.

"What on earth happened?!?!" Bao Xin asked, suppressing his grief, as if his heart had been stabbed.

"With the help of an inside agent, General Bao Zhong entered Sishui Pass (Hulao Pass) under cover of darkness, but he did not expect it to be a treacherous plot by the enemy. After entering the city, Dong Zhuo's army suddenly appeared all around, and Hua Xiong, a general under Dong Zhuo, appeared and directly killed General Bao Zhong... The vanguard army... was completely wiped out!!" The messenger said urgently and sadly.

Upon hearing this report, Bao Xin collapsed to the ground.

Is the loss of 200,000 troops a big deal? In terms of sheer numbers, it's not that significant; he still had 1.3 million left!
The most important thing is the generals who can be commanded. For this plan, he sent out most of his outstanding generals: five Yuan Divine Generals, seventeen Heaven-rank generals, six hundred Earth-rank generals, and Bao Zhong. They're all gone!

Seventy percent of their top-tier assets were wiped out... How could they not be devastated?!

"Also, the inside man sent word that... to thank Prime Minister Bao Xinguo for his generous gift, he offered... to present Bao Zhong's head, and if there is any reward, he will share it with our lord..."

"What?! He actually sided with Dong Zhuo?!"

"My scheme backfired and I harmed my own brother! Ah!~~~~" Bao Xin cried out in despair, then fainted on the spot. He was caught by his adjutant in time so that he didn't fall to the ground.

Before he fainted, Bao Xin seemed to hear the voice of heaven and earth, and in his hazy state, he seemed to hear the number twenty-one...

(End of this chapter)