The Three Kingdoms: The entire Cao Cao camp thought I was weak and frail.

Hua Xiong was beheaded, which enraged Dong Zhuo. He stopped testing the waters and mobilized all the elite troops of Xiliang, led by his adopted son Lü Bu, to garrison at Hulao Pass. On the other hand, he sent Li Jue, Guo Si, and others to lead troops out of the pass, preparing to launch a preemptive attack.

Inside the allied camp, the brief elation brought on by Hua Xiong's death was quickly dispelled by the fear brought on by the news of Lü Bu's arrival at the front lines. The warlords once again retreated into their shells, indulging in daily feasts and revelry, as if they had forgotten why they had come there.

At this critical moment, Sun Jian, the governor of Changsha and one of the few pragmatists in the alliance, stepped forward. He volunteered to Yuan Shao to be the vanguard of the allied forces and to take Hulao Pass directly.

Yuan Shao was naturally delighted to have such a tough task delivered to him. He was overjoyed and immediately allocated some provisions before sending Sun Jian off.

Sun Jian, known as the "Tiger of Jiangdong," was fearless in battle. He led his troops with unstoppable momentum, winning battle after battle, and forcing Li Jue and Guo Si's forces into retreat. Soon, he advanced to the foot of Hulao Pass.

Good news arrived like snowflakes, one after another, back to the Suanzao camp.

This should have been great news, but it made some people uneasy.

Inside Yuan Shu's tent, he paced back and forth restlessly, saying to his trusted advisor, "This Sun Wentai is having too much of a run! If he really manages to capture Luoyang, won't he eventually surpass me?"

The strategist's eyes darted around, and he whispered a few words in the other's ear.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu revealed a sinister smile.

At the front lines, Sun Jian's army, preparing for a final assault on Hulao Pass, suddenly found itself in dire straits. Supplies were delayed. The army was starving, and morale plummeted. Sun Jian sent messengers several times to urge them on, but Yuan Shu repeatedly used the excuse of blocked roads and insufficient supplies to make excuses.

Sun Jian then realized that he had been stabbed in the back by his ally.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, Li Jue and Guo Si seized the opportunity presented by Sun Jian's army running out of food and their morale wavering, launching a night attack on a stormy night.

Sun Jian's army suffered a crushing defeat. In the darkness, the soldiers, starving and exhausted, were utterly unable to mount any effective resistance. The camp was set ablaze, and shouts of battle and screams of agony echoed throughout the night. Sun Jian himself, only through the desperate protection of veteran generals like Cheng Pu and Huang Gai, managed to fight his way through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, fleeing back to Suanzao in a sorry state.

When Sun Jian, covered in blood and with his armor askew, charged into Yuan Shao's central command tent, the other warlords were enjoying the performance of a newly arrived dancer.

"Yuan Shu!" Sun Jian's roar abruptly cut off the languid music. He pointed at the bewildered Yuan Shu, his eyes bloodshot, "I fought valiantly for the allies, why did you cut off my supplies! You caused tens of thousands of my soldiers to die tragically on the battlefield!"

Yuan Shu was initially somewhat hesitant, but seeing Sun Jian's disheveled appearance as a defeated general, his courage returned. He slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and retorted, "Sun Wentai, don't you dare make false accusations! You were the one who acted rashly and underestimated the enemy, resulting in your defeat, and now you're trying to frame me? The supplies have already been sent out; it must be a problem within your own army. What does it have to do with me!"

"You!" Sun Jian trembled with rage, drew his ancient sword from his waist, and was about to fight to the death.

"What? You think you can cause trouble in the allied camp after losing the battle?" The generals behind Yuan Shu drew their swords and confronted Sun Jian's men.

Inside the large tent, tensions were high.

Yuan Shao sat in the main seat, rubbing his temples with a headache, and said dismissively, "Hey, generals, let's talk this out. We're both doing this for the royal family. Why resort to violence?"

The other lords, however, watched with expressions of amusement, and not one of them stood up to say a word in Sun Jian's defense.

Finally, the farce ended with Sun Jian storming out of the room, leading his remaining troops and storming off.

The internal conflicts within the alliance were brutally exposed and made completely public.

This incident further alienated the feudal lords. No one was willing to send troops again, and no one mentioned marching on Luoyang once more. The Suanzao camp had become a complete laughingstock. The feudal lords continued their daily feasts and revelry, but secretly they began plotting how to annex the territories of their allies and strengthen their own power.

The news of Sun Jian's defeat caused only a few insignificant ripples before fading into silence. Within the alliance, peace and prosperity continued as before.

Inside Yuan Shao's central command tent, a warm fragrance filled the air, and the sounds of string and wind instruments filled the air. Dozens of dancers stretched their supple waists, their colorful sleeves fluttering like butterflies among flowers. Below, the feudal lords leaned casually against tables, clinking cups and exchanging merriment. Sun Wentai's crushing defeat, far from instilling in them any sense of impending doom, had instead become the latest topic of conversation at the banquet.

"That Sun Wentai, who has always been known as the Tiger of Jiangdong, is nothing more than a sick cat in my opinion." Yuan Shu, the governor of Nanyang, held up his wine cup, his face full of undisguised schadenfreude.

"Gonglu is mistaken. It's not that Wentai is not brave, but that Dong Zhuo's power is too great." Someone tried to smooth things over, but his tone was light and lacked any seriousness.

"In my opinion, this is all the will of Heaven. Our righteous army is in accordance with Heaven's will, and the downfall of that traitor Dong Zhuo is only a matter of time. Why rush it?"

In a corner, Xun Hao, Guo Jia, and Xun Yu sat behind Cao Cao, completely out of place with the commotion inside the tent.

Xun Yu's face was even more somber than the night outside the tent. He looked at Yuan Shao, who sat at the head of the table, boasting about his family's four generations of high-ranking officials, and at the arrogant, self-righteous look on Yuan Shao's face. The disappointment in his eyes almost solidified. Was this the leader of the alliance he had once placed so much hope in? Was this the hero he thought could restore the Han dynasty?

Guo Jia poured himself a glass of wine with elegant movements, as if everything around him was irrelevant. He pushed the glass towards Xun Hao and teased in a low voice, "How was it? Did you find this play entertaining? I told you long ago, even chickens and dogs put together can't become a phoenix."

Cao Cao sat alone behind his desk, drinking one cup of wine after another in silence. He had just returned from an inspection outside the camp, still carrying the chill and dust of the night, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the wine cup stood out.

The decadent music inside the tent continued. As a dancer twirled, her wide sleeves inadvertently brushed against Yuan Shu's cheek. Yuan Shu was not offended; instead, he reached out and grabbed the dancer's wrist, pulling her into his arms and letting out a vulgar laugh that drew laughter from the surrounding crowd.

"Bang!"

A loud bang drowned out all the music and laughter.

Cao Cao suddenly stood up, his movement so forceful that he overturned the table in front of him. The wine pot and cups smashed to the ground, shattering and spilling wine and slag all over the floor.

The music stopped abruptly, and everyone inside the tent turned to look at the source of the sound.

Cao Cao looked around at everyone and asked, "Gentlemen, what is the purpose of your righteous army? Is it merely to drink and make merry here, and to compete in whose family is of higher social standing?"