Gongsun Tuhao

The eighteen lords arrived at Suanzao. Each brought anywhere from three or four thousand men to over ten thousand. With the laborers they had mobilized and the like, more than three hundred thousand people gathered there at once. The sprawling camp stretched beyond sight.

Naturally, each lord set up camp separately. However, those with friendly relations pitched their camps especially close together, huddling for warmth. After all, Dong Zhuo was still far away in Luoyang. The only threats they faced were all the allies around them.

Never mind anything else—Sun Jian and Yuan Shu had already killed Governor Wang Rui of Jing Province, and at Yuan Shu's request, they had also killed Prefect Zhang Zi of Nanyang. This showed that the true danger in the campaign against Dong Zhuo had never been Dong Zhuo himself. No matter how capable Dong Zhuo was, he could not possibly run out of Hulao Pass and kill them. But if they were careless around their allies, they could die without even a grave.

Zhang Miao knew just how dangerous things were, so he pitched his camp together with his younger brother, Zhang Chao, the Prefect of Guangling. Liu Bei, after Wang Xuan's advice, also set up camp nearby, with Wang Xuan between him and the Zhang brothers. Thus, when Gongsun Zan arrived later, he naturally established his camp beside his junior brother Liu Bei. As a result, the forces of four lords combined to exceed thirty thousand men, making them quite a formidable power among the various factions in the alliance.

As for Qiao Mao, although he shared a common enemy with Zhang Miao—Liu Dai—he did not trust the Zhang brothers either. After all, the Zhang brothers and several allies were too powerful, and he feared that Zhang Miao would swallow him up.

Thus,