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

"Traitors, they're all traitors!"

Liu Xie was in a state of impotent rage in his palace.

"I will kill them! I will kill them!"

"Dong Cheng, go and kill them all! Kill them all!"

Dong Cheng looked troubled. "Your Majesty, the enemy has already fled the city and is likely already out of town."

"Issue an imperial decree! Issue an imperial decree to me to label the Yuan family traitors! Execute their entire clan!"

Liu Xie's eyes were red, and he had almost completely lost his mind.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Seal..."

Seeing Liu Xie like this, Dong Cheng dared not say anything more, for fear of further provoking him.

"The Imperial Seal, yes, the Imperial Seal."

"How could my imperial seal be fake!"

Liu Xie took out his imperial seal and carefully compared each stroke of the seal.

The imperial seal was a symbol of the emperor's power. Liu Xie's first lesson after becoming emperor was to learn about the imperial seal, and he became extremely familiar with every line on it.

Therefore, he easily determined that although the jade seal was extremely realistic, it was indeed fake.

"It really is fake?"

"It's Dong Zhuo! It must be Dong Zhuo! It's that traitor, that villain! He switched the imperial seal long ago! That scoundrel!"

"I want to kill him!"

"Dong Cheng, mobilize the troops immediately! I want to kill Dong Zhuo!"

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

Dong Cheng was startled. "With our forces alone, we are no match for that traitor Dong!"

"Does he dare to kill me?!"

"I am the Son of Heaven. As long as I give a call at the front lines, the soldiers must gather in response and defect in an instant."

"Without soldiers or generals, how could Dong Zhuo possibly rebel?"

In this life, Liu Xie had not suffered too many beatings and possessed a mysterious self-confidence.

If it weren't for Dong Zhuo's pride, he could have been easily wiped out.

Dong Cheng was speechless. When Dong Zhuo was instructing Liu Xie, he didn't hold back any knowledge, and Dong Cheng had listened to a lot of it.

But how did Liu Xie come to such an outrageous conclusion?

He clearly received a complete imperial education.

Why does it seem like someone's missing a screw in their brain?

Is it good or bad to be loyal to such an emperor?

But he had nowhere to retreat; his daughter had already married Liu Xie, and they were now in the same boat.

"Your Majesty, those are all troops trained by Dong Zhuo. They only recognize Dong Zhuo, and no one else can command them."

Dong Cheng explained to Liu Xie.

"You mean Dong Zhuo had planned to rebel long ago, and had already prepared to turn this army into his private army, just waiting for the day when he rebelled so that the army would obey him?"

Liu Xie was furious, feeling that he had been utterly deceived.

Dong Zhuo was wary of him at every turn, but fortunately he reacted in time and quickly severed ties with Dong Zhuo.

Otherwise, Dong Zhuo might use his name to do something else!

How dare she deceive his feelings! She deserves to die!

"What do you suggest I do? How can I eliminate these two cancerous growths—the powerful clans and Dong Zhuo?"

Dong Cheng was speechless. If he had that ability, would he still be standing here?

"Useless, you're useless too."

"Is there no one in this vast court who can relieve my worries?"

"Get out! Get out of here!"

Liu Xie was furious when he saw Dong Cheng's expression. Couldn't this brother-in-law of the emperor be of any use?

Look at Wei Qing, then look at Wang Mang, then look at Dong Cheng. They were all relatives of the emperor, so how could they be so different?

Why couldn't Heaven have given him a maternal relative like Wei Qing or Wang Mang?

"Your subject takes his leave."

Dong Cheng left in a daze.

……

"Do you have any other methods? Do you have any other underhanded tactics? If so, use them quickly. If not, I will have to withdraw my troops."

Inside the camp of the allied forces, the lords and powerful families gathered once again to discuss how to defeat Dong Zhuo.

Watching this group of aristocratic families chattering away, he couldn't come up with any ideas, and his words implied that he was blaming them for not rescuing their children.

Cao Cao directly stated, "I have done everything I can. If you have any more tricks up your sleeve, use them. I will cooperate with you."

If not, then I won't keep you company.

"No, you can't leave."

Someone immediately stopped Cao Cao. Cao Cao was the leader of the alliance, and his troops accounted for a large proportion of the forces under his command.

They were already somewhat outmatched by Dong Zhuo; if Cao Cao also left, what was the point of fighting?

"You can stay, but what are your plans? What's next? If you want us to confront Dong Zhuo head-on, then I'm sorry, we'll have to take our leave."

Cao Cao showed him no respect whatsoever; a year was more than enough time for him to reorganize his territory.

With the 50 elite troops he now completely controls, he is no longer afraid even if he turns against the powerful families.

With ample confidence, even after turning against the powerful families, they were still able to maintain their rule over the three states.

"If this coalition fails, Dong Zhuo will inevitably take advantage of the power of Western Qin to gradually devour the world."

"Even if you join forces now, you are no match for Dong Zhuo, let alone when you are separated one by one in the future."

"Shouldn't the fall of the six states at the end of the pre-Qin period serve as a warning to you?"

The representative of this powerful family, who thought he had a strong case, only received a sneer from Cao Cao.

"How could so many talented people in the six states before the Qin Dynasty not see through this?"

"But what was the result? They were all wiped out by Qin one by one. Only by being strong enough and racing against Dong Zhuo to develop can we contend with him. We can't waste time here."

Most importantly, even against Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao was confident he could contend with him.

It's not worth it to use all your trump cards for these powerful families.

The other warlords also responded one after another. Whoever wants to stay on this battlefield can stay, because they can't stay any longer anyway.

"Gentlemen, I must take my leave now."

"Yesterday we received a battle report that because our army has been away from Yangzhou for a year, the barbarians have started to rebel. Some county towns have already been captured, and their momentum is overwhelming."

At this moment, Sun Jian stepped forward and was the first to suggest leaving.

The powerful families wanted to come, but they couldn't stop them.

Sun Jian is destined to have a violent temper. His home has been robbed, and if he doesn't go back soon, his hometown might be gone.

Then what are you still doing here?

These powerful families could say things like, "If the family is gone, the family is gone too."

But he also knew that these words would have no effect other than angering Sun Jian.

"I am also about to leave. News has come from Jingzhou that the barbarian army has rebelled in full force. The armies of the three southern provinces have been transferred away, and Jingzhou and Yizhou have been invaded."

"I must also hurry back to Jingzhou to take charge of the overall situation."

Liu Biao also stepped forward. His Jingzhou had the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, and Dong Zhuo's men were all landlubbers. Compared to them, Jingzhou and Yangzhou were the safest. There was no need to excessively expend his strength for the life and death of the northern warlords.

He has achieved all his goals in joining the coalition. Now he has a large army under his control. With this army, he is not afraid that the powerful families in Jingzhou will not obey him.

Of the eight warlords, two are leaving now. Liu Zhang, who was holding back Dong Zhuo's forces in Hanzhong, has his home base attacked and will definitely have to retreat.

Of the eight warlords, only five remained, and the allied forces had just been tricked by Dong Zhuo, suffering heavy losses.

The battles to come will be incredibly difficult.