Three Kingdoms Mythology World.

Zhang Chao is dead, completely dead!!!
After a moment of stunned silence, Cao Cao realized what was happening and a look of sorrow crossed his face.

Wei Zi is dead, Zhang Chao is dead... and his more than one million soldiers are dead...

"Heaven is unjust!!!" Cao Cao cried out in grief, his eyes filled with tears.

This series of blows left him exhausted...

"My lord, please accept our condolences!" Xiahou Dun and the others, seeing this, nervously watched Cao Cao's condition.

Previously, Yuan Shao had fallen into a coma due to grief, resulting in the loss of many things... Now, they do not want their lord Cao Cao to follow in Yuan Shao's footsteps.

Cao Cao waved his hand gently and said hoarsely, "You all go down first, let me have some peace and quiet."

"My lord!" Xiahou Dun and the others asked with concern.

"Let's go, let our elder brother calm down." Cao Ren pulled Xiahou Dun and the others away.

And so, Cao Cao spent the entire night alone in his tent.

The next morning, Cao Cao finished washing and dressing, put on his armor expressionlessly, and then ordered, "Let's go back to Qiao County!"

And so, around noon, Cao Cao's army began to break camp and turn back to their stronghold...

The direction they had been heading was none other than Luoyang, the capital of China!

Of course, they weren't going to Luoyang, the capital, but to plunder Dong Zhuo's migrating entourage... He wanted to seize Dong Zhuo's resources and weaken his power.

Indeed, Cao Cao also entertained the idea of ​​raiding Dong Zhuo. As for defeating Dong Zhuo and purging the court of corrupt officials… those were too far off…

However, after the Zhang Chao incident, a night of calm led him to change his strategy.

"Yuanrang, after you return, reorganize and wipe out the remaining Yellow Turban rebels in Yuzhou and Yanzhou... then take Peiguo, Yingchuan and other counties, and then advance into Yanzhou!" Cao Cao said solemnly to Xiahou Dun.

"I will take the position of Chancellor of Pei!" Cao Cao said confidently.

Upon hearing their lord Cao Cao's words, Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren, and the others were utterly shocked. Their lord had finally seen the light!

Their conquest is about to begin!!!
"This humble general swears to follow our lord to the death, even unto death!!!" Xiahou Dun and the others said solemnly.

Cao Cao's mention of "self-reliant" actually conveyed many meanings. One of the most obvious was that from this moment on, he completely and utterly rejected the authority of the Han Dynasty!
He had no choice but to accept the position himself, because Dong Zhuo controlled the court and would never grant an official post to his enemy, Cao Cao...

"Also, Zixiao, contact Bao Xin and Zhang Miao, and make sure they calm down. We'll discuss revenge later!" Cao Cao said calmly.

"Yes!" Cao Ren replied, cupping his hands in greeting.

"The territories of the heretics in each prefecture have been fattened up; it's time to harvest them!" Cao Cao said meaningfully, a ruthless glint appearing in his slightly narrowed eyes.

This time, the strange man completely enraged him!

He wanted to eliminate certain hidden dangers... However, his words clearly revealed a signal: it turned out that the indigenous people tolerated the rampant expansion of the superhumans not only because of the restrictions imposed by Heaven, but also because they wanted to raise pigs!

……

"My lord, things are getting turbulent among the warlords in Guandong lately," Wang Yue's voice rang out.

Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw Wang Yue leading a group of people in.

After finishing his business in Youzhou, Wang Yue also went south to return to Lin Mu's side.

Beside Wang Yue were Yu Jin, Zang Ba, Cui Wu, Huang Xu, and others, clearly indicating that they had all gone south to join their lord, Lin Mu.

However, the main army did not come over here.

"Wenze, Xuangao, Zixing, Zichen, you've come!" Lin Mu was slightly pleased and stood up to greet them.

"My lord, our army has been teleported to the vassal territory near Mianchi City," Yu Jin reported.

“Oh…then let’s wait there for a while. Right now, Gongming is fighting against the Xiliang army.” Lin Mu nodded and said.

"My lord, do you need our support across the Yellow River?" Zang Ba asked.

"It shouldn't be necessary. Fengxiao and Youping can handle it. Dong Zhuo's fleet is mostly not escorted by famous generals. After all, the Xiliang army is not good at swimming and does not have a dedicated navy. With the strength of our navy, it is easy to slowly erode them." Lin Mu waved his hand and said.

"My lord, shouldn't we take action on land? After so much time, Dong Zhuo's vanguard is almost at the vicinity of Chang'an, and some of the faster transport teams have already entered the city," Cui Wu asked anxiously.

"Do you think Dong Zhuo has a lot of resources?" Lin Mu asked with a smile instead of responding.

"This... must be a lot... so many methods of transportation, millions of people being transported..."

"But how does Dong Zhuo compare to the people of Luoyang, the capital?"

"How does it compare to the wealth of those ministers?" Lin Mu countered.

"This..." The group exchanged glances but did not respond immediately.

Anyone with eyes to see knows that Dong Zhuo is nowhere near as wealthy as the people of Luoyang, the capital. Even the wealth of those ministers surpasses Dong Zhuo's!
"Given Dong Zhuo's character, would he really be so kind as to escort the people of Luoyang and the civil and military officials to Chang'an without charging them? Heh..." Lin Mu sneered.

He would say this because he knew that in his previous life, Dong Zhuo had made a great commotion before the families of the common people and officials entered Chang'an.

That's collecting protection money!
The place where the protection money was stored was Mei County!
Just how much protection money did Dong Zhuo collect...? No one knows the exact figure, not even Dong Zhuo himself or Li Ru. However, a rough estimate exists: the entire Mei County, aside from Dong Zhuo's palace, some places of enjoyment, and some essential military camps and drill grounds, was entirely filled with warehouses!
Not only that, because there were too many supplies to store, even the city walls were reinforced and raised considerably...

The protection money was piled up all over the entire county, which shows just how terrifying the protection fees they collected were!

"Does my lord mean that we should only take action after Dong Zhuo has collected the escort fees from the officials and common people?" Huang Zhong asked in a deep voice.

"Yes... the previous plans were all preparations. However, in addition to plundering supplies, we also planned to plunder the common people! For the wealthy and powerful families, we would plunder their servants, grooms, escorts, and so on..." Lin Mu reiterated.

Everyone nodded upon hearing this. They had already received this order.

"Alright, Wenze, now that you're here, let's speed things up and get into Luoyang, the capital, first," Lin Mu said in a deep voice.

"Yes, sir!" the crowd responded.

Afterwards, Lin Mu dined with everyone and discussed other military affairs.

……

The death of Zhang Chao also reflects another issue: the fall of a feudal lord does not necessarily lead to a decline in national strength, unlike the decline in national strength caused by the fall of a famous historical general.

When Zhang Chao was killed, Zhang Miao's troops did not encounter Yang Tianze's men. He only sent a small group of troops to pretend to flank them and attract attention, while he led the core army to take a detour and advance along another official road.

After leaving Hulao Pass, there were many official roads leading to Luoyang, the capital. Lin Mu, Gongsun Zan, and others took two of them, while Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and others took the other official roads.

The official road where Zhang Chao laid an ambush was one of them, but it was extremely dangerous, as it contained many treacherous sections. Neither Lin Mu nor Yuan Shao would choose this route. As for why Ji Beiqin chose it, it was because it was the closest to Luoyang, the capital.

However, when Zhang Miao detoured to the battlefield at the entrance of Falling Rock Valley, he only saw the corpses of Zhang Chao's troops scattered all over the ground...

“Chao Di!~~~~” Zhang Miao fell off his warhorse with tears streaming down his face and staggered all the way to the core battlefield.

The battlefield still lingered with Zhang Chao's presence, but his remains were not found there...

Zhang Miao knelt on the ground, gently scooped up the soil stained with Zhang Chao's blood, and wept softly with his head down.

The other soldiers couldn't bear to look at it, so they ordered the army to retreat and then surrounded the battlefield, slowly collecting all the corpses from the outside in.

Normally, Zhang Ning's side would help collect and bury the remains. However, fearing that others might try to take advantage of them, they hurriedly left the battlefield after collecting the treasure bags and other valuables.

After the soldiers had collected all the corpses, Zhang Miao remained kneeling on the ground, his body trembling slightly.

The brothers Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao had a very close relationship; now that they are separated by death, how could they not be saddened?

"Buzz!~~~~" Just then, a strange power slowly rose up.

The next moment, terrifying auras, as if emanating from a wild and desolate land, surged forth.

"Boom!!!" The next moment, a purple beam of light descended from the sky, enveloping Zhang Miao.

"My lord!!!" Everyone was shocked.

The next moment, a strange fragrance of books and ink filled the air.

Before long, a huge black dragon appeared, circling above Zhang Miao's head...

"Our lord is breaking through!!!" The soldiers were excited the next moment.

Lord Zhang Miao had been preoccupied with political affairs, and his strength had not improved much. Now, fueled by grief, he has finally risen in power.

With a gentle wave, Zhang Miao sent the strange black dragon into his body. Then, he said self-deprecatingly, "Directly advancing from the initial stage of the Black Dragon realm to the peak... Heh..."

Afterwards, he led his army away quickly...

At the site where Zhang Chao died, Zhang Miao's words still echoed: "If Wei Zi and the 300,000-strong army were still alive, why would things have turned out this way..."

"Others, kill! Kill! Kill!!!!"

Jiang Chenglong and the others were unaware of just how ruthless a warlord they had become enemies with...

……

Let's turn our attention back to Lin Mu.

Since Wang Yue and Yu Jin arrived, the Nine Suns Legion and the Thunder Legion have advanced several times faster, leaving Gongsun Zan's forces hundreds of miles behind.

Lin Mu's progress also inspired the fighting spirit of Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian, and accelerated their advance.

Even the warlords like Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who were lightly armed, did not catch up.

Lin Mu's army did not attack the city, allowing it to become a hidden danger.

They buried their heads and charged toward Luoyang, the capital.

And so, on the twentieth day since Yu Jin and his entourage arrived, they finally reached the vicinity of Luoyang, the capital!
Standing before that familiar post station, Lin Mu was filled with emotion.

"My lord, the number of followers has reached more than 1.3 million!" Huang Zhong reported at that moment.

"Ignore them, enter the city!!" Lin Mu shouted in a low voice, looking at the towering city walls in the distance. (End of Chapter)