A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Enraged, Yuan Shao displayed strength far exceeding his usual level.

He personally visited various feudal lords, appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them, thus uniting the entire coalition of feudal lords into one force.

He disregarded the generals' duel and launched a massive attack on Hangu Pass.

The army charged forward wave after wave, scattering the armies of the 18 warlords into several squads that launched a continuous offensive.

The entire Hangu Pass was stained red with blood. Countless corpses were buried every day, and the pungent smell of blood filled the air. Living in such an atmosphere for a long time, some soldiers' eyes turned red, and they had a bloodthirsty impulse all day long.

"Something's not right with Lord Xuande."

On this day, Wei Shu, his face ashen, went to find Liu Bei and kept cursing Yuan Shao.

"What's wrong?"

The allied forces have been attacking the city for days, and although they have suffered heavy losses, their soldiers have become noticeably more elite.

Liu Bei did not notice anything amiss.

"Can you still command the soldiers under Lord Xuande's command?"

Wei Shu's reminder made Liu Bei realize that he hadn't spent time with his brothers for several days.

"The leader scattered all the soldiers, and in every legion that charged forward, there were soldiers under the leader's command."

"Even the leader of the alliance cannot completely command his troops; everyone is the same."

"Isn't that how war is? Countless deaths and injuries are inevitable."

"No, no, this is Yuan Shao's open conspiracy."

"As expected of a model family that thrives against all odds, Yuan Shao, who was worse than a pig or a dog when things were going well, saw his methods and wisdom increase dramatically after his entire family was executed."

"I'm afraid he regained his composure after spitting out that mouthful of blood, and everything he did afterward, in his rage, was all about getting the entire coalition under his control."

"Now that the tide has turned, he can make whose troops suffer the greatest losses if he wants."

"It also allows his generals to suffer fewer losses. On the battlefield, whoever can win battles and ensure that their troops suffer fewer losses will win the soldiers' love and respect."

"If this continues, he will control the morale of the entire coalition army, and the only troops that can be commanded by the various warlords will be his trusted troops."

"According to my secret investigation, the army under Governor Han of Ji Province has suffered more than half its losses."

"It appears fair and just on the surface, but there's a lot of room for manipulation behind the scenes."

Wei Shu exclaimed, "This Yuan Shao is really something! Impressive, impressive!"

Even he thought that Yuan Shao had risen up because he was spurred by the killing of his entire family, and that he had united the warlords to seek revenge against Dong Zhuo.

It was only in the last two days that I realized this was only one aspect. The other aspect was to control the entire coalition and become the true leader, instead of just a nominal leader like before.

Even generals who wanted to command the feudal lords couldn't control their opponents in a duel.

Now that he has a great cause to uphold, he can send whoever he wants to go, or he can just kill them without anyone saying anything.

Yuan Shao's main camp.

"Hahaha, Zhiyuan, you've done a great job!"

In Yuan Shao's camp, a young man who bore a resemblance to Wei Shu sat in the main seat, on equal footing with Yuan Shao.

"It was merely by taking advantage of the Yuan family's affair that the feudal lords were caught off guard. I suppose their advisors have already realized what's going on."

Wei Wu smiled modestly. He knew that there were capable people in the allied forces. There was Ju Shou, who had just arrived under Han Fu; Wei Shu, under Liu Bei; Wei Hai, under Sun Jian; Yan Xiang, under Yuan Shu; and Chen Gui, under Tao Qian. Who knew if the other warlords had any hidden strategists?

"What good will it do to realize it?"

"I have now broken up the entire coalition of lords and have them firmly under my control. They can only be manipulated by me unless they collectively turn against me. While my control over the army is still insufficient, I will launch a direct attack."

"But in doing so, their reputation will be ruined. They will betray the allied forces and defect during the war. Even if I lose this battle, as long as I can return to Bohai, I can easily gather the support of half the world and half the world will be mine."

Yuan Shao was full of confidence, as if he could already see the scene of him unifying Guandong.

"If you want to unify Kanto, Mr. Yuan, you must be careful of one person, who will be your biggest rival on this path."

Wei Wu sensed that Yuan Shao was getting a bit cocky and needed to remind him to cool down.

Yuan Shao naturally knew who Wei Wu was referring to: his childhood friend Cao Cao, Cao Mengde.

He nominally already possessed a province, and even though Qingzhou was inferior to other provinces and counties, and was plagued by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was well aware of Cao Cao's capabilities and knew that the Yellow Turbans posed no threat whatsoever.

He believed that news of Cao Cao's complete control of Qingzhou would arrive soon.

Even Yuan Shao felt immense pressure when he thought of Cao Cao, who had gone much further and had a much smoother life than him.

This is why he agreed to Wei Wu's radical approach. He needed to expand his power as quickly as possible in order to control Hebei and fight against Cao Cao, who controlled the Central Plains.

"Ju Gong, who is under Governor Han's command, has already joined the allied forces. It will be difficult for them to scheme against Governor Han next."

Wei Wu felt a headache coming on when he thought about the intelligence he had just received.

He knew Ju Shou's abilities very well; he was definitely the best strategist in the world.

Before he arrived, Yuan Shao actually came up with such a terrible trick. You, the leader of an alliance, actually schemed against the generals of the vassal lords, and this was when the generals were fighting for the allied forces.

What's worse, it failed, and someone found out.

You wouldn't come up with this idea without three years of cerebral thrombosis.

What could have been a peaceful takeover of Ji Province is now likely to be difficult.

Judging from Han Fu's decision to transfer Ju Shou to the south, Han Fu would not give up Ji Province for nothing.

They can only fight, not because they can't take it, but mainly because it will waste a lot of time and further widen the gap between them and Cao Cao.

It has to be a coalition, a coalition; they need to gain enough political capital.

It's not just political capital, but also generals.

A thousand troops are easy to get, but a general is hard to find.

After several days of fierce attacks, the allied forces suffered heavy losses, and even Yuan Shao had no choice but to cease fire and regroup.

When the various warlords brought their troops over to inspect the scene, they found that the losses were heavy, but those who survived had become elite troops.

At Wei Wu's suggestion, Yuan Shao laid out his losses directly. On the surface, his army suffered the greatest losses, even more than Han Fu's.

Seeing the proportion of losses under Yuan Shao's command, the other warlords couldn't say anything. The alliance leader had already gone to such lengths; they couldn't let others suffer losses alone. The battlefield has no eyes.

Those who had advisors with them could tell that the loss ratio was somewhat exaggerated.

The biggest losses were suffered by new recruits, while the veterans under Yuan Shao's command did not suffer significant losses.

However, everyone is trying their best to preserve their elite forces; one cannot laugh at another's own shortcomings.