The Three Kingdoms: General Yu She, reincarnated a hundred times.

……

Now, when Dong Zhuo abandoned Luoyang and moved the capital to Chang'an, the first person who should have arrived in Luoyang was Sun Jian.

However, after Yu Zichuan's three thousand men raided the camp at night, which isolated and neglected Yuan Shu among the other warlords, he also ordered Sun Jian to hold back his troops.

"It's not that you're isolating me, neglecting me, or implying that I'm secretly plotting against Dong."

Don't they even look at who's really fighting against the traitor Dong Zhuo right now?

As Yuan Shu had planned, all eighteen warlords stationed their troops at Suanzao, holding lavish banquets and parties every day, yet not advancing an inch of their army.

The only one who truly fought against the traitor Dong Zhuo and achieved some results was Sun Jian.

If he stops Sun Jian's advance, the entire anti-Dong Zhuo alliance will become a laughing stock!

At that time, the warlords will either risk their lives and personally order their troops to launch a strong attack on Hulao Pass to achieve victory, or they will ultimately have to ask Yuan Shu for help to let Sun Jian, this fierce tiger, go on the expedition!

To Yuan Shu's utter surprise, he hadn't let Sun Jian fight here, nor had the alliance of warlords fight, and yet Dong Zhuo just inexplicably ran away on his own.

"That treacherous Dong Zhuo is deliberately going against Shu."

By the time he heard the news and ordered Sun Jian to take action, he had already lost the initiative.

The first to arrive in Luoyang was naturally Cao Cao, who was always ready to pursue the traitor Dong Zhuo, who was obsessed with killing the traitor and serving the emperor, and who still harbored the dream of becoming the "General Who Conquers the West"!

……

On that day, Cao Cao, along with Wei Zi, Bao Xin, and others, led his army to Luoyang. They found the city gates wide open and countless people crowding around. Upon seeing him approaching, they spread the news to each other.

"The royal army has arrived!"

"The royal army has arrived!"

……

Seeing this scene of thousands of people joyfully welcoming the royal army, even Cao Cao couldn't help but show a smug look on his face. He said to Bao Xin, Wei Zi, and the others:

"This is the principle that those who act justly will find many supporters, while those who act unjustly will find few."

The traitor Dong Zhuo abducted the emperor, defying the will of the world. We are here to uphold the Han dynasty and demonstrate righteousness to the world.

Therefore, it is where the masses turn, and where the people's hearts belong!

However, just as he was about to lead his troops into Luoyang with great joy, he saw that the people who had come to welcome the royal army were staring at him with hungry eyes.

They pounced on the royal army as if it were chaff!

They were emaciated, their eyes bloodshot, staring at Cao Cao and his troops with red eyes. There was no fear of the armored soldiers in their eyes, only a longing for food.

Cao Cao was immediately terrified and hurriedly ordered his army, "All soldiers, listen to my command! Quickly follow me out of the city. We... um... the leader of the alliance has not yet arrived. We should not offend Luoyang. Let us set up camp outside the city."

This city...this Luoyang is the greatest achievement since the campaign against Dong Zhuo; the alliance leader should be the first to enter.

The crowd of people who were "welcoming the king's army" were unwilling to let him go when they saw him trying to run away.

"General, please wait!"

"May I ask which prefecture or county you are, General?"

"We have been here on imperial orders, and have been waiting for you, General, for a long time!"

"The imperial court promised us relief grain, but I wonder if the general has brought it?"

That treacherous Dong Zhuo has robbed us of our rations, and now we have no food for even a day. We beg the general to have mercy and prevent the hundreds of thousands of people in this city from starving to death.

Why waste time talking to him?

These high and mighty nobles, what do they care about the lives of us common folk?

He must have embezzled the disaster relief grain promised by the imperial court!

"We'll die whether we starve or launch a grand rebellion!"

……

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao knew things were going to get bad. Seeing the people so agitated, they were clearly starving and had no sense of reason.

"Who embezzled your disaster relief grain? My own army is already struggling to make ends meet, and we still rely on Han Fu for supplies!"

However, the situation was urgent. Although most of the people were old and weak and had no armor or weapons, hundreds of thousands of starving and desperate people charged forward like madmen.

Just imagining that scene made Cao Cao shudder.

Most importantly, this war was completely unnecessary!

Dong Zhuo has fled, and Luoyang has been given away for free. If I were to fight to the death with hundreds of thousands of people here, wouldn't I be needlessly weakening my own strength?

If Dong Zhuo heard about this, would he laugh himself to death?

……

Seeing the crowd's agitation and the imminent outbreak of conflict, Cao Cao spurred his horse forward and loudly reassured the people.

"Fellow villagers, don't worry."

"I am Cao Cao, not a governor or prefect, but merely a General of Valiant Might, serving under our leader Yuan Shao, and serving as the vanguard officer of the alliance against Dong Zhuo!"

Facing the gazes of the people who were praying for food—some fierce, some desperate, some pleading—Cao Cao remained unfazed and began to speak fluently.

"Please listen to me, everyone. I have come here to deliver grain. My alliance leader is worried that you are suffering from the traitor Dong Zhuo and will not be able to hold out until the royal army arrives. Therefore, he has ordered me to bring a small amount of grain to provide relief."

Please don't panic. Line up in an orderly fashion and get a bowl of thin porridge to tide you over.

"Let us endure one more night. Tomorrow, the royal army will surely send its main force to transport grain, which will save the people from their suffering and relieve your urgent crisis."

Hearing that there was thin porridge available and that the main disaster relief force would arrive the next day, the people calmed down considerably.

"General Cao, is this true?"

"Will the main force of the royal army really arrive tomorrow, transporting grain?"

"Forget everything else, let's serve the porridge first!"

……

Faced with the people's doubtful and uneasy discussions, Cao Cao looked up and saw the surging river outside Luoyang. A sudden inspiration struck him, and he pointed to the Luo River and swore an oath.

"My leader, Yuan Shao, is from the Yuan family of Runan. Four generations of them have held high office, and under his command are prefects, governors, and various lords, totaling eighteen routes."

Among them, Han Fu of Jizhou is wealthy and his people are prosperous, Yuan Shu of Nanyang has grain piled up like mountains, and Liu Dai of Yanzhou has granaries full. These are all people with overflowing granaries, so why should you worry about your grain?

"The Luo River bears witness: if, upon the arrival of our leader Yuan Shao, we fail to provide you all with a full meal, may he be killed by a thousand arrows!"

Upon seeing this, the people no longer doubted, cheered with joy, and praised Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's virtues.

Cao Cao hurriedly ordered Wei Zi and others to cook porridge and distribute it. At that time, Wei Zi looked hesitant and said something.

"My lord, our army's provisions are barely enough to sustain Yuan Shao and Han Fu, and our food supplies are also running low. How can we possibly distribute them to so many civilians?"

Cao Cao laughed heartily upon hearing this and explained it to him in a low voice.

"Why do you think I swore an oath by the Luo River? If we had no reason to do this, these hundreds of thousands of people would do anything when they are starving."

But as long as they have this thought, even if the porridge we distribute today is very thin, they will only think of us as the vanguard marching with very little food, thinking only of surviving until tomorrow when they can have a full meal, and they will certainly not rebel.”

After saying this, he ordered Wei Zi to take a portion from their already meager military rations and set up dozens of steaming pots. Each pot was simply given extra water and a few grains of rice, which was enough to make a thin porridge.

Cao Cao even thoughtfully told the people that if one bowl was not enough, or if they were starving in the middle of the night, they could line up to get more. Cao Cao had come to provide disaster relief and would not let a single person starve to death.

"Anyway, the Luo River in the Yellow River is inexhaustible!"

"If we fill the people's bellies with water, we can hold out until tomorrow and then pass this hot potato to Yuan Shao."

……