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

Dong Zhuo sent messengers to Xu Rong, Jia Xu, and others with his orders: before leaving the Han Dynasty, he would once again deliver a blow to the powerful clans.

He wanted to ensure that no powerful clan would pose a threat to the imperial court within a century.

This century was also the time he had to gain the support of the imperial court.

He believed that with his abilities, he would be able to settle down peacefully a hundred years from now.

He also sent letters to Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. These two men were not to be underestimated. Given his intention to withdraw, they would certainly not let go of this great opportunity and would definitely use him to weaken the influence of the powerful families on him.

In particular, the powerful families supported Yuan Shao at all costs in order to defeat Dong Zhuo. This seemed like a good thing for Yuan Shao, but in reality, it allowed these families to infiltrate Yuan Shao's inner circle to the extreme, causing Yuan Shao to lose the great opportunity he had gained after the Battle of Hangu Pass.

Once back to before liberation.

Now he's giving Yuan Shao this opportunity, and Yuan Shao will definitely not give it up.

Born into a powerful family, he knew their methods best. Now was a crucial stage in the struggle for supremacy, and he absolutely did not want to become a puppet in the hands of these families.

The powerful families could make him win or lose at will, which was something Yuan Shao's pride could not accept.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao tacitly agreed to Dong Zhuo's request, using Dong Zhuo to purge their troops and maintain the purity of their forces.

Having realized the importance of the army, powerful families made almost no attempt to conceal their actions against the armies of various warlords.

They saw all of this, but the army was also the lifeblood of these feudal lords. Without control of these armies, they were nothing.

Therefore, he and Dong Zhuo hit it off immediately, which was brilliant.

After a bloody three-month battle, the war against Dong Zhuo finally came to an end. The alliance of the feudal lords and aristocratic families won the final victory, but it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao suffered heavy losses, as did Han Sui, Ma Teng, and Liu Bei.

Only Sun Jian's forces remained relatively intact.

But Sun Jian was not happy at all.

He was the only one among all the feudal lords in the land who did not have this. What does this signify?

Of all the feudal lords in the world, he was the most unsociable.

Who was the last most uncooperative feudal lord?

It was Dong Zhuo.

He fought against the entire world alone, and now he is dead, having fled overseas with his remaining troops.

Is his strength comparable to Dong Zhuo's?

It's incomparable.

Sun Jian was numb.

He somewhat regretted not heeding Zhou Yu and Wei Hai's advice; he shouldn't have stayed out of it.

He is now the only outlier in the entire world.

Neither Liu Bei nor Cao Cao would gain the support of the people if they wanted to attack him.

"Our top priority now is to capture Jingzhou, so that we can rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to resist the northern warlords."

Wei Hai said.

"The current situation of the world is clear. The only ones who have the potential to unify the world are the King of Ye, the King of Qi, the King of Hanzhong, and the King of Chu."

"With Yuan Shao and Cao Cao standing side by side in the north, a battle between the two is inevitable to determine who will rule the north."

"They will not have the strength to advance south before this battle is over."

"This is the time between us and Liu Bei. Whoever can conquer the other first will be able to rule along the Yangtze River and divide the country with the north."

"Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are both very powerful, each controlling several provinces. Their war will definitely not end in a short time."

"As long as we are fast enough, we can quickly take Jingzhou and Yizhou, and not take advantage of their fighting while they are at war."

"We'll help whoever is weak."

"When Yuan is weak, help Yuan; when Cao is weak, help Cao. By joining forces with the weaker side, they gradually erode the resources of the stronger side, becoming stronger and stronger, while both sides become weaker and weaker, eventually unifying the world."

After hearing Wei Hai's words, Sun Jian's expression softened.

"Many powerful families within my territory have already been eliminated. Now that Dong Zhuo has fallen, the remaining powerful families will not risk annihilation and break with me."

"After a short rest, we will have the strength to continue our attack on Jingzhou."

Sun Jian drew his broadsword, his gaze toward Jingzhou fierce.

"No."

Wei Hai and Zhou Yu both spoke up to dissuade them.

"We are now the target of everyone's attacks. If we initiate the war first, Cao Cao will have an excuse to march south and annex us."

"Yuan Shao was not even in a good position to send troops to restrain Cao Cao at this critical juncture, because Cao Cao had the moral high ground."

"We can only start a war after Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have gone to war and both sides are too busy to attend to other matters."

"So, right now only Liu Bei can attack me, and I can't attack him?"

Enraged, Sun Jian jumped up and down, splitting the table in front of him in two with a single stroke.

They regretted their past decisions even more.

Why can't he listen to his advisors' opinions? Why can't he control his temper?

"That's certainly true at the moment."

Wei Hai was also unwilling to accept this, as they were already at a disadvantage and time was extremely precious to them.

Before the outcome of the war between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao was decided, unifying the south was not enough for them. Now, the north has not been destroyed, and the essence of the world is still in the north.

Those who try to fight against the entire north by relying on the three provinces of Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou will die without even knowing how they died.

Putting aside everything else, the wealth of a single province like Yuzhou alone is comparable to that of these three provinces.

Otherwise, where would Yuan Shu have gotten the confidence to ascend the throne?

Fortunately, they still had part of Yuzhou under their control, otherwise their disadvantage would have been even greater.

Every minute and every second is precious to them; they must race against time to have any hope of victory.

But now they can only be passive, which is the most frustrating thing about them.

Otherwise, Cao Cao and Liu Bei would never have minded kicking them out of the game first.

Liu Bei was clearly aware of this, so he had no intention of leading his troops south.

Instead, they were constantly vying for the territory left behind by Dong Zhuo.

This is Liangzhou, one of the most fiercely independent places in the world, and also one of the three major horse-producing areas of the Han Dynasty.

He was extremely envious of the cavalry under Dong Zhuo's command.

Think about the horses in Yizhou that aren't even as tall as Guan Yu's legs, and then look at these tall, magnificent horses in Liangzhou. Comparison is the thief of joy, and comparison is the thief of joy.

The difference is significant.

Guanzhong was controlled by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Liu Bei's goal was Liangzhou. Compared to the wealth of Guanzhong, Liangzhou was much less prosperous. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's focus of competition was on Guanzhong, which gave Liu Bei a greater chance of recovering the entire Liangzhou.

His only rivals were Ma Teng and Han Sui, but both of them had been crippled by Dong Jun and were no match for him.

After taking Liangzhou, he will be able to control three provinces. What makes Sun Jian think he can fight him?

Liu Bei also planned to take advantage of the time when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were at war to digest Dong Zhuo's legacy, eliminate Sun Jian, and unify the south.

Then they would seize the opportunity to covet the Central Plains and vie for supremacy.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao clearly did not want to be controlled by the powerful clans, and the powerful clans also turned their attention to Liu Bei.

Sun Jian's fiery temper also clashed with the powerful clans. Of the four warlords they could choose from, only Liu Bei was easy to control.

In addition, Liu Bei was originally a member of the Han imperial family and acted with great benevolence, so many powerful families flocked to his territory.