Chapter 159: The Arrival of Dong Zhuo

Naturally, Sun Jian had never seen the Imperial Seal before. Puzzled, he turned to the surrounding people and asked, "What is this object?"

Cheng Pu possessed some discernment. Upon closer inspection, he realized that this was the very symbol of the Han Dynasty—the Imperial Seal of the Realm. Filled with sudden joy, he quickly congratulated Sun Jian, saying, "Congratulations, My Lord! This is the Imperial Seal of the Great Han. For My Lord to obtain this must be Heaven's will. I implore My Lord to return to Jiangdong swiftly and resume the pursuit of hegemony."

Upon hearing that it was the Imperial Seal, Sun Jian was overjoyed, believing it to be a divine gift bestowed upon him by the heavens. With this thought taking root, even if Sun Jian had previously harbored no grand ambitions, he could no longer suppress them now. He immediately issued an order to break away from the coalition the very next day and return to Jiangdong to plot for supreme power.

However, the fact that Sun Jian had acquired the Imperial Seal did not go unnoticed; a spy planted by Yuan Shao among Sun Jian's retinue happened to witness it. That very night, the spy secretly reported the matter to Yuan Shao. Upon learning that Sun Jian had secretly hidden the Imperial Seal, Yuan Shao flew into a rage. In Yuan Shao's eyes, he was the leader of the coalition alliance; even if the Seal were to be discovered, it ought to be handed over to him for safekeeping. He had already made up his mind to force Sun Jian to surrender the Seal the following morning.

Early the next morning, just as the spy had foretold, Sun Jian came to the coalition's main camp and bade farewell to the various warlords on the grounds that his army had suffered heavy casualties and was running critically low on provisions.

"Wentai, could it be that during your operations, you managed to obtain the Imperial Seal from within the imperial palace?" Yuan Shao asked coldly, narrowing his eyes as he stared at Sun Jian.

Sun Jian was secretly alarmed upon hearing this. He had no idea how Yuan Shao had caught wind of the matter, but he braced himself and argued sophistically, "Where did the Alliance Leader hear such a thing? How could I, Sun Jian, possibly have obtained the Seal?"

"Sun Wentai, you are concealing the Imperial Seal—could it be that you harbor treasonous intentions?" Seeing Sun Jian refuse to admit it, Yuan Shao burst into fury.

Sun Jian was well aware of the Seal's immense significance, and thus he continued to deny it stubbornly, "Alliance Leader, I, Sun Jian, stand tall and proud. If I say I do not have it, then I do not have it."

"Hmph." Yuan Shao let out a cold snort and sneered, "Sun Wentai, then look at who this person is." With a wave of Yuan Shao's hand, a figure stepped into the tent the next moment.

Upon seeing this individual, Sun Jian's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Wasn't this person one of his own trusted bodyguards? He never imagined that this man would actually be a spy planted by Yuan Shao.

"Tell everyone present what happened yesterday," Yuan Shao commanded.

Before the spy could even open his mouth, Sun Jian strode forward, shouting with explosive rage, "You scoundrel, how dare you frame me!" As he spoke, he directly drew the Guding blade from his waist. Before the surrounding warlords could even react, with a single slash, he sent the spy straight to the netherworld.

"Scoundrel! Sun Wentai, are you trying to silence witnesses by killing them?" Seeing that the human evidence had been eliminated, Yuan Shao flew into a towering rage.

Sun Jian knew that if he failed to give the assembled warlords a satisfactory explanation today, he would undoubtedly become the target of public criticism, and whether he could even make it back to Jiangdong would remain in question. Consequently, Sun Jian swore an oath to the heavens, declaring, "I, Sun Jian, take this vow here and now: if I have taken the Imperial Seal, may I meet my end pierced by a myriad of arrows!"

Upon hearing Sun Jian's oath, the expressions of the various warlords involuntarily shifted. One had to understand that people of this era took oaths with the utmost seriousness, utterly unlike modern times where swearing an oath was as casual as drinking water. Since Sun Jian had uttered such a dire curse, the warlords chose to believe him. Even Yuan Shao began to harbor doubts as to whether he had wronged Sun Jian. Yet, whether the curse truly held such terrifying power or not, historical records would show that Sun Jian truly did meet his death on the road back to Jiangdong, pierced by ten thousand arrows.

"Alliance Leader, is there anything else? If not, Jian will take his leave," Sun Jian said, cupping his fists.

Hearing this, Yuan Shao's face darkened. With Sun Jian having sworn such an oath, to press the matter further would only make Yuan Shao appear petty. He forced out the words, "Wentai, think nothing of it. It seems I was misled by someone's idle rumors. Safe journey; I shall not see you off."

After hearing this, Sun Jian offered one more bow to the assembled warlords, turned on his heel without looking back, and departed the main camp to marshal his forces for the return to Jiangdong.

Watching Sun Jian's retreating back, Yuan Shao's face twisted with deep resentment. That very night, he penned a letter to Liu Biao, the Governor of Jingzhou, instructing him to intercept and assassinate Sun Jian along his homeward route.

"Alliance Leader, when shall we dispatch our troops? Since Dong Zhuo is relocating the capital to Luoyang with so many commoners in tow, their marching speed must be extremely sluggish. If we pursue them right now, we can surely annihilate Dong Zhuo and rescue the Emperor," Cao Cao proposed, seeing that Sun Jian had already departed.

"Well, Mengde, my army has only just arrived in Luoyang and has yet to properly rest and regroup. The matter of dispatching troops can wait for a few days," Yuan Shao replied casually. However, it was abundantly clear that he had no desire to march and was simply stalling for time. It was not necessarily that Yuan Shao lacked the desire to attack Dong Zhuo and avenge his father, Yuan Feng.

When he had originally issued the order to assault Hulao Pass, it was driven by a momentary spike of rage. But having now calmed down, Yuan Shao had thought things through. Even if he led his forces to attack Dong Zhuo, he likely wouldn't gain any real advantage. Moreover, Yuan Shao's objective in this campaign was never about slaying Dong Zhuo; it was entirely about serving his own interests. Therefore, once he figured that out, Yuan Shao became utterly unwilling to commit his troops. As for avenging his father Yuan Feng, settling that score later would not be too late.

"You..." Hearing Yuan Shao's words, Cao Cao naturally understood that he was simply stalling because he was unwilling to fight. Flying into a rage, Cao Cao flicked his sleeve, stormed out of the main camp, and departed with Dian Wei, the Xiahou brothers, the Cao clan brothers, and a force of five thousand troops, setting off in nocturnal pursuit of Dong Zhuo.

Cao Cao was no idiot; he naturally knew that leading a mere five thousand troops to pursue Dong Zhuo's formidable army would likely be a one-way trip. Yet Cao Cao had his own strategic calculations.

Ever since participating in this coalition, he had lost faith in the warlords of the realm, and he had lost faith in the Han Dynasty as well. Consequently, a deep ambition began to sprout within him. Since the Han could no longer be saved, he, Cao Cao, would build a brand new Han Dynasty from the ashes.

Furthermore, in this campaign at Luoyang, Cao Cao could be said to have gained absolutely nothing. Thus, pursuing Dong Zhuo was a move aimed squarely at securing renown. While all the other warlords were unwilling to chase down Dong Zhuo and save the Emperor, only he, Cao Cao, dared to do so. In doing so, his reputation would inevitably spread throughout the entire Han Dynasty.

What did the loss of five thousand troops matter? As long as he remained alive and possessed that hard-earned prestige, gathering an army later—let alone five thousand men, even fifty thousand—would not be a difficult task. Besides, Cao Cao was entirely confident in his ability to survive this pursuit, for he had secured the peerless general and bodyguard Dian Wei. With Dian Wei protecting him, Cao Cao had the means to carve a path out even from the midst of ten thousand enemy troops.

On the very same night of Cao Cao's pursuit, Dong Zhuo, along with his vanguard of three hundred thousand troops, the Emperor Liu Xie, the civil and military officials of the imperial court, and thousands of carts laden with all the wealth of Luoyang, had already arrived before Hangu Pass.

Another fifty thousand troops trailed behind to herd the commoners, whose pace was simply too sluggish to keep up with the main army. Fearing mutiny or desertion, a frustrated Dong Zhuo had no choice but to leave those fifty thousand soldiers behind to keep them in line.

As for the rearguard trailing even further behind the commoners, it was naturally the God of War Lu Bu leading thirty thousand Bingzhou wolf cavalry.

Before Hangu Pass, Dong Zhuo gazed up at the fortress walls and ordered Li Jue to knock at the gates.

Understanding the command, Li Jue spurred his mount forward and shouted to the guards atop the ramparts, "Lord Chancellor has arrived! Why haven't you summoned Li Meng out here immediately?"

Upon hearing that Dong Zhuo had arrived, a flash of shrewdness crossed the eyes of the gate guard captain. He shouted down to Li Jue, "My Lord, please wait a moment; this humble one will go inform General Li Meng right away." With those words, he scurried down the ramp.

"Father-in-law, perhaps we should rest for the night within Hangu Pass," Li Ru said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The forced marches of the past two days had long since pushed the scholar's physical endurance to its absolute limit.

"My good son-in-law, how can you still have the leisure to linger and waste an entire night?" Dong Zhuo sighed heavily. "Those warlords are right behind us. If we don't reach Chang'an as fast as possible, what will we do if Liu Yao and the coalition forces catch up to us? We'll be finished!" After all, the morale of Dong Zhuo's army was already poor; how could they possibly stand as match for the coalition?

Yet, up to this moment, Dong Zhuo remained blissfully unaware that Liu Yao had already parted ways with the coalition, nor did he know the even more startling fact that Liu Yao was already waiting right here at Hangu Pass to welcome him.