Chapter 39: Rebuking the Heroes

  While the Cao Group was in a precarious situation, what were the vassals of the alliance doing? There were no major actions, only Sun Jian, who had arrived in Luoyang first, sent troops to surround the imperial palace, causing complaints from various vassals, but no one dared to provoke this fierce tiger.

  After Dong Zhuo burned down Luoyang, various warlords rushed into the city to put out the fire. They claimed to be putting out the fire, but in reality they were looking for any treasures that Dong Zhuo might have left behind. Each of the warlords thought to themselves: "It's not easy for me to come all this way, is it? Not only am I exhausted from traveling, but I also had to expend a lot of military rations. If we fight and some of my men die, won't that be a loss?"

  Among the various warlords, Sun Jian had the best luck because he was closest to Luoyang. Seeing the fire in Luoyang, he quickly mobilized his troops and entered the city. Sun Jian thought: Even if I have to dig three feet underground, I must find something in Luoyang. Of course, it would be best to find gold, silver, and treasure; if not, then grain would do. Otherwise, this expedition would be a huge loss for him personally! He had lost nearly 10,000 of his elite soldiers from Jiangdong! What a terrible bargain!

  As he thought of this, Sun Jian had already unknowingly arrived in front of the imperial palace. At this time, Cheng Pu said: "My lord, if there is any place in Luoyang that can still leave some valuable items, I think it's none other than the imperial palace."

  Sun Jian listened and said: "In these years, although there have been wars every year, the imperial court is still living a life of luxury, wearing gold and silver is indispensable. Perhaps in the palace, there are some treasures that Dong Zhuo has not found yet. I should search carefully." "Your words make sense, then I will enter the palace to search."

  Next to Huang Gai, one of the generals heard that the lord wanted to search the imperial palace. "This imperial palace is so big, it's not something that can be searched in a short time," he said. "The various lords will arrive soon, who wouldn't want to find something in the imperial palace?" He then asked Sun Jian: "When the other lords come to search, what shall I do?"

  "Block it, block it, use troops to block it for me, and don't let anyone in."

  The soldiers were overjoyed when they heard that they would be searching the palace: now they were really something. They even dared to search the palace. Who knows what treasures they might find? Of course, if it was something big, they would have to turn it in, but if it was a smaller treasure, heh heh, it would be theirs.

  Sun Jian gave the order, and the soldiers rushed to act, each fearing that others would take precedence. A quarter of an hour passed, half an hour passed, half a day passed, and a whole day passed, and the soldiers came out one by one with their tails between their legs.

  Sun Jian thought: It's over, it's over. How can this imperial palace be so poor? Not even a few pieces of loose silver are left. It seems that his decision to search the imperial palace was wrong. Now that night has fallen, he could only put off the uprising and search other luxurious mansions tomorrow.

  Just as he was thinking about this, a soldier came to report: "In the south of the palace, a five-colored magnificent light rose from the well."

  Sun Jian was overjoyed: "Haha, this time I'm going to get rich! It's definitely one of the emperor's concubines who hid the treasure in the well, and it wasn't discovered by that scoundrel Dong Zhuo. What luck!", he hastily ordered his soldiers to light torches and start dredging.

  Although it's not a cold winter month now, the well water at night is still abnormally cold. Under Sun Jian's coercion and temptation, several soldiers had no choice but to go down the well to search for treasure. After taking turns breathing in a few mouthfuls of air, they finally fished up a corpse from the bottom of the well. Sun Jian took one look and was so angry he wanted to curse.

  How can these soldiers be so stupid? I told you to go down and find treasure, but you brought me a corpse instead. It's really hopeless. Seeing the soldiers shivering with cold, he didn't say anything else.

  Holding the torch to look at the woman again; the firelight in the darkness outlined her half-profile, which was surprisingly beautiful. Her long eyelashes were also dyed with a layer of soft golden color by the candlelight. The collar of her clothes slightly fell back, revealing half of her slender neck, smooth and white like jade carving, also imbued with an indescribable warmth and elegance by the orange-yellow lamplight.

  Alright! Even if she's incredibly beautiful, she's still a dead person. She isn't Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, waiting for the handsome and mature Sun Jian to come and wake her up with a kiss;

  Sun Jian carefully examined the corpse that had been fished out, with a serious attitude. He found it very strange that after being soaked in the well for so long, there was no sign of decay: The body must have some treasure on it, otherwise why would it be so strange? So he hastily ordered the soldiers to search the body.

  From top to bottom, the soldiers searched thoroughly and found nothing on the female corpse except for a brocade pouch. Sun Jian saw that they had found a brocade pouch and could no longer contain his excitement. Seeing that the soldiers had finished searching, he hastily ordered them to bring it over.

  From the brocade bag, Sun Jian took out a small crimson box and opened it to take a look. He was shocked to find that it was a jade seal! Sun Jian couldn't believe his eyes, so he rubbed them with his hands and looked again carefully. Indeed, it was real. The jade seal was four inches square, with five dragons intertwined on its surface; one corner was missing, inlaid with gold; on top were eight characters of ancient script: "Received the Mandate from Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity."

  Sun Jian could not contain his excitement, and his body was trembling with unusual intensity. He handed the jade seal to his son Sun Ce, who stood with his hands open, unsure of where to put it, and smiled foolishly.

  Cheng Pu saw Sun Jian obtain the Imperial Seal: "Indeed, Heaven is assisting our lord!" Cheng Pu said to Sun Jian, "Congratulations, my lord! Congratulations, my lord! Now that Heaven has bestowed upon you the Imperial Seal, you will certainly have a share in the imperial throne. We cannot stay here for long; it would be best to return quickly to Jiangdong and plan greater things!"

  Sun Jian was also a man with great ambition, and as soon as he heard Cheng Pu's words, his face immediately turned serious: "Your words are exactly what I wanted to hear! Tomorrow, I will pretend to be ill and return home." He also secretly ordered the soldiers not to leak the news about obtaining the jade seal.

  Is there a wall that doesn't let wind pass through? Sun Jian had already received the news of obtaining the jade seal, and someone had reported it to Yuan Shao. Who was that person? That little guy was Yuan Shao's fellow countryman, a "southern drifter", who drifted south during the Yellow Turban Rebellion to pan for gold, and later became a small military officer under Sun Jian's command; Yuan Shao is now in power, he is worried about wanting to return to his hometown in the north, seeking a good way out, without any capital to advance himself, this time it really is like finding a pillow when dozing off.

  Yuan Shao was furious: This Sun Wentai is really too much, how can he take away the imperial seal when I, the great leader of the alliance, am here? However, after some thought, he decided to host a banquet and invite all the lords before trying to probe him again.

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  What were Liu Bei and his sworn brothers doing? They didn't have the qualifications to compete with these feudal lords for valuable things, so they could only go to worship the imperial ancestral temple.

  "The Han dynasty is unfortunate, the imperial power has lost its unity. The treacherous minister Dong Zhuo took advantage of the chaos to wreak havoc, bringing disaster to the emperor and cruelly oppressing the people; I, as a descendant of the imperial family, am ashamed that I have been unable to eliminate the bandits or protect our territory and bring peace to the people, and I am ashamed to face my ancestors!"

  "Brother, just say a couple of words! Even the late Emperor can't hear!", "Third brother, shut up!" Guan Yu rebuked. He was even more respectful to Liu Bei, Zhang Fei looked unhappy and didn't dare speak again. Liu Bei kowtowed three times before getting up;

  Just then, Cao Cao and Li Ru came in, supporting each other, panting and out of breath. Before Liu Bei could speak, Cao Cao asked: "Do you know where Yuan Shao is now?" "I heard he's having a banquet for the various lords at Jianzhang Hall!"

  "Would you like to go with me?" "Exactly, I also want to bid farewell to the alliance master Yuan, let's go together!"

  "Come, gentlemen! We have defeated Dong Zhuo and the whole world is celebrating our victory! Let us raise our cups to celebrate together!" Yuan Shao, seated in the main seat, called out to the seventeen lords who had come to join him, excluding Cao Cao. Just as everyone was about to take a sip from their cups, Cao Cao led his subordinates, including Liu Bei and his two brothers, into the room.

  Looking at Cao Cao, who was covered in blood and dust, Yuan Shao asked with a seemingly kind tone: "Mengde, how was the battle? Was it a great victory? Did you rescue the Emperor?" Cao Cao didn't respond, instead snatching the wine jug from Yuan Shao's hand and drinking loudly, completely disregarding Yuan Shao's embarrassment.

  "Alas!——", after taking a deep breath, Cao Cao said: "I didn't manage to capture the Emperor's carriage! I was defeated! And it was a crushing defeat! If not for Xu Chu fighting desperately against Lü Bu, Hua De leading a decoy force to assist me, and Cao Hong lending me his warhorse, I would have died there!"

  "Just as all the princes are here! I, Cao Cao, have a heart-piercing remark to make!", Cao Cao's "anger pressure gauge" finally burst open!

  "Speak! Speak!", Yuan Shao thought Cao Cao was going to propose another strategy to urge the vassals to continue attacking Dong Zhuo. If they continued to attack Dong, Yuan Shao could further weaken the power of the vassals, why not?

  Unfortunately, Cao Cao disappointed him! Cao Cao glared around, his eyes scanning the surroundings, and no one dared to meet his gaze, all lowering their heads in shame, "A mere commoner! Not worth discussing with!"

  "Bang!", Cao Cao's hoarse roar of anger, the bronze wine jug in his hand was also smashed to pieces;

  "It's all because of your personal interests! You were unwilling to support me! That's why I suffered a great defeat and almost lost my life!"