The departure of Yuan Shao, Han Fu, and Gongsun Zan was naturally a blow to the coalition. Yuan Shao's departure did not mean only Yuan Shao himself was leaving; the warlords who had aligned themselves with or become dependent on him left as well.
As Yuan Shao organized his troops, they each found excuses and hurriedly withdrew their forces. Cao Cao in particular had suffered defeat while pursuing Dong Zhuo after he moved west to Chang'an, and nearly all the soldiers under his command had been wiped out. Over the past while, he had also seen clearly what this lot was like. Now that Yuan Shao was retreating, and he himself lacked both troops and generals, there was naturally no reason for him to remain here and keep going through the motions. Thus, he too led his remaining men away with Yuan Shao. He had to return and raise an army anew.
Now, there was the traitor Dong in the Central Plains and the traitor Wang in the north. Heaven did not favor the Han Dynasty, and everyone understood that the age of chaos had begun.
It had no choice but to begin. If Dong Zhuo issued an edict from Chang'an ordering the warlords to raise great armies and march north against the traitor Wang, they certainly would not agree. That was Yuan Shao, Han Fu, and Gongsun Zan's problem. Yet if they refused to go, they would lose the moral high ground.
On the other hand, if the traitor Wang grew too powerful and Yuan Shao's group could not stop him, allowing him to seize all of Hebei, then should these men's armies prove inadequate, they too would lose their heads. After all, they knew perfectly well how the traitor Wang treated people like them. Trade might still continue