Dong Zhuo and Li Ru talked as they walked. The overtures from Liangzhou's aristocratic clans were certainly a good thing, but every gift in this world already bore a price marked in secret. Boarding the aristocratic clans' ship was easy; getting off it would require bloodshed.
Li Ru naturally understood this very well. Dong Zhuo was no longer the man he had been when he first arrived in Liangzhou. Back then, he had possessed nothing; now, the Western Liang Iron Cavalry had strong soldiers and sturdy horses. That Liangzhou's aristocratic clans had still not fully joined forces with Dong Zhuo was, in fact, already a serious failure to recognize their place.
Many people confused a scholar choosing a lord with an aristocratic clan choosing a warlord. In reality, these were two entirely different things.
A scholar choosing a lord was an expression of individual will.
When aristocratic clans chose a lord, however, they did not invest in someone because they thought highly of him. They cooperated with whoever came to their territory.
Such cooperation could end at any time. For instance, Dong Zhuo was currently Liangzhou's strongest warlord, so its aristocratic clans cooperated with him. If he were defeated, they would not remain loyal to him unto death. Their choice would, without exception, be to cooperate with Liangzhou's next warlord.
Indeed, if the warlord occupying their province could not represent the local aristocratic clans' interests, those clans would sell him out directly.
In Ji Zhao's world, this was precisely how Liu Yan had been abandoned by Yizhou's aristocratic clans. The Shu State's eventual surrender had likewise been a counterstroke by those clans.
Because the Shu Han regime placed great trust in the Jingzhou faction, Yizhou's aristocratic clans could gain no benefits from it, so they simply opened the passes and