Chapter 576

Chapter 576

Cao Cao was living the good life at Xudou. He had good food and had women accompanying him. This was all within his capacity as someone with a high position. At the age of twenty, he was appointed district captain of Luoyang. Upon taking up the post, he placed rows of multicolored stakes outside his office and ordered his men to flog those who violated the law. The uncle of one of the most powerful eunuch, Jian Shuo, was flogged when he was caught breaking curfew. This incident gave Cao Cao his reputation as a ruthless person.

Later, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Cao Cao sincerely wanted to help the Han as a loyal minister but the world was in chaos. When Wang Fen tried to recruit Cao Cao in a coup to replace Emperor Ling, Cao Cao refused.

When Emperor Ling died, Liu Bian took the throne but it was the Empress Dowager and his advisors that had the power. He Jin wanted to get rid of the Ten Attendants but did not have the Empress Dowager’s support. He got help from Dong Zhuo to force the Empress Dowager to compel. However, he was assassinated before Dong Zhuo could arrive. When Dong Zhuo arrived, he got rid of the opposition and then replaced the Emperor with Chen Liu. He then had people poison Liu Bian. Cao Cao refused to cooperate with Dong Zhuo so he escaped from Luoyang and help start the coalition to fight against Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo was alarmed by the formation of the coalition and razed Luoyang while looting ancient tombs and burials. Cao Cao fought against Dong Zhuo but was outnumbered and defeated by Dong Zhuo’s Army led by Xu Rong. Cao Cao himself was injured. After returning to Suanzao, Cao Cao suggested that the coalition continued to chase after Dong Zhuo but the others wanted to secretly build up their own armies. Soon the armies began fighting one another and the coalition disbanded.

From that moment onwards, Cao Cao knew that the world no longer belonged to the Liu Family. However, it was only a thought. He would only go off to defeat other enemies like Yuan Shu and Tao Qian due to other circumstances. His properties expanded. If it was not because of Lu Bu and Liu Bei’s interference, Xuzhou would have long been his.

Even then, Cao Cao continued to visit the Han Emperor. Initially, Cao Cao planned to hand over the political power to the Han Emperor. He wanted to become a faithful official. However, the Emperor and his chancellor was too anxious. People from the Fu Family, Dong Family and many others have tried to assassinate Cao Cao many times. Even if Cao Cao could endure the abuse, his subordinates could not. This resulted in the scenario where Cao Cao was holding the Emperor captive.

Cao Cao had defeated Yuan Shu and expelled Lu Bu. He even defeated Yuan Shao. Why shouldn’t he be enjoying life now? He simply needed to wait for the North to be pacified then he could go on to take the Central Plains. He would become like Liu Bang once he unify the land.

Now it was the King of Shu Liu Mang who was giving Cao Cao problems. So Cao Cao was determined to not let Liu Mang succeed. By garrisoning troops at Yuzhou, Yangzhou would no longer be able to act.

“Come! Accompany me for a drink!” Cao Cao raised his cup as he held onto one of the dancers.

“How loathsome.” The beauty teased Cao Cao, making his heart itch. It was simply one of the ways to attract men as things that cannot be obtained were more precious. The woman also knew how to be moderate as Cao Cao was a very powerful man. So she drank some wine and then said to Cao Cao. “Prime Minister, let me feed you!”

“Haha!” Cao Cao laughed and moved in to take his drink.

Cao Cao continued to enjoy his leisure time until a middle-aged scholar arrived at his home.

“Master Xun!” The senior bodyguards recognized Xun You and promptly greeted him.

“Where is the Lord?” Xun You asked.

“Master Xun, the Lord is listening to songs at the ‘Garden’.” One guard replied.

“At the ‘Garden’? Take me there!” Xun You furrowed his brows knowing that the Garden was pretty much Cao Cao’s personal brothel. Cao Cao was also doing this in broad daylight.

“Master Xun, if there is anything to discuss, I am sure it can be done tomorrow? Right now the Lord… might be occupied.” The housekeeper quickly stopped Xun You.

“Tomorrow? By then it would be too late! Step aside!” Xun You shouted at the housekeeper.

“This…” The housekeeper was someone usually by Cao Cao’s side. Even a few marquis from the Imperial Court had to show him respect. However, the housekeeper dared not be too impudent in front of Xun You as Xun You was one of Cao Cao’s trusted aide.

“Step aside or I will use my sword!” Xun You was starting to become angry and took out his sword

“Master Xun, don’t be impatient.” The housekeeper panicked seeing that Xun You was serious with his threat. It would be a shame to be killed by Xun You since Cao Cao would not put a skilled tactician to death just for a housekeeper. “I will bring Master Xun to the Lord but it is not up to me if you can meet him.”

“Stop talking nonsense and take me to meet the Lord!” Xun You sheathed his sword after the housekeeper started to lead the way.

“Gongda. Why are you here?” A sturdy man guarding the doorway called out. The sword in his hand glittered brilliantly. This man was Xu Zhu, Xu Zhongkang. He took over Dian Wei’s position after Dian Wei lost his life protecting Cao Cao.

“Zhongkang. I have important matters to report to the Lord!” Xun You cupped his fist at Xu Zhu.

“Important matters? Can it be delayed for a while?” Xu Zhu furrowed his brows and asked hesitantly. This is because Xu Zhu who had been there for a while could hear everything that was going on inside. It was really not the time to interrupt Cao Cao.

“How long is a while?” Xun You asked anxiously.

“A while means a while!” Xu Zhu tried to deal with Xun You while listening to the sound going on inside. He listened until the voices inside stopped. Then he laughed and said, “Alright. Gongda, you can go in now.”

“Huh?” Xun You was baffled. It was truly just ‘a while’. He could not understand what just happened because his hearing was not as good as Xu Zhu’s.

When Xun You had finally reached Cao Cao, Cao Cao had already worn his clothes. Someone had already notified Cao Cao.

Cao Cao waved away the women. The one by his side was still blushing while looking at Cao Cao bitterly. However, she still withdrew.

“Gongda. You are here because of an important matter?” Cao Cao knew that something important happened as the whole of Yanzhou’s government affairs was being managed by Xun You. As Guo Jia had fallen ill, he was inactive.

When Xun You visited, Cao Cao had initially thought that the Emperor’s people were being restless again and started to have killing intent.

“Milord. There is definitely an important matter but it is not related to the Imperial Court.” Xun You anxiously replied.

“It is not the Imperial Court?” Cao Cao frowned. What else could be important? Did the Yuan Brothers stop fighting or did Liu Mang’s troops started to attack his own?

“Milord. Enemy troops have appeared around Xutian and Wuping.” Xun You anxiously reported.

“Enemy troops?”

“They carry Yuzhou Liu Bei’s banner and are approaching Yanzhou!”

“Liu Bei’s troops? Are they defeated troops? I knew this Liu Bei was not a good person! Milord! We should not have helped Liu Bei!” Xu Zhu said. As he was usually with Guo Jia and the others, his impression of Liu Bei was terrible.

“Defeated troops?” Cao Cao shook his head. Things cannot be that simple. If they were defeated troops, they would already be attacked and killed by his own soldiers at Xutian and Wuping. They would then be the ones here seeking credit. Officials were all like these. They only report the good news and not the bad news. If Xun You was the one reporting this then it would mean that these ‘defeated troops’ cannot be wiped out.

“What did those guys at Xutian and Wuping say?” Cao Cao asked.

“The officials said that these troops seemed to be elites. They looked powerful and they were cavalry.”

“Cavalry!” Cao Cao started to realize whose troops these people belonged to.

“Also, Yangzhou had sent over a letter1.” Xun You handed over a letter to Cao Cao. Normally, the Emperor would be the one dealing with this letter. However, the current Emperor was just a puppet while Cao Cao was adept in these kinds of affairs.

Cao Cao read the letter and quickly threw it down on the ground. Written in the letter was the usual politeness such as how Yangzhou was concerned about His Majesty. However, it was also written in the letter that the Han traitor Liu Bei was rebelling and his defeated troops escaped towards Yanzhou. Yangzhou is worried that these defeated troops would disturb the peace so they request that Cao Cao wipe them out.

“Hahaha!” Cao Cao laughed. His assumptions turned out to be true. These weren’t Liu Bei’s defeated troops but Yangzhou’s elites, the Wolf Cavalry. If the officials at Xutian and Wuping could be believed, it was not only the Wolf Cavalry but also the Xiliang Cavalry.

“They think too highly of me!” Cao Cao felt indignant. The letter was clearly a threat telling Cao Cao to protect his own borders or Liu Bei would attack him.

“Milord! Please allow this Xu Zhu to lead the troops and intercept these rebels!” Xu Zhu requested.

“Intercept? How are you going to intercept them?” Cao Cao laughed angrily. They were all heavy cavalry and numbered around ten thousand. On top of that, Yanzhou was mostly plains. When Lu Bu invaded Yanzhou last time from Puyang, he had already caused Cao Cao unspeakable misery. Now Lu Bu has come again.

If Cao Cao wanted to intercept them, he would need twice the number of troops. However, Cao Cao did not have that many heavy cavalry. Even if he did, he would not want to fight against Yangzhou right now since he still needed to pacify the North.

“Then Milord. Are we going to let Yangzhou devastate our Yanzhou?” Xu Zhu was displeased.

“What else can we do?” Cao Cao laughed bitterly. “Gongda. Transmit my orders. Have the others come to my residence to discuss official business.”

Cao Cao then moved to the hall while Xun You informed everyone else. However, these people also did not know what to do.

“There is a very capable person in Yangzhou.” Cao Cao sighed. One was brazen, the other became shameless. Cao Cao tried to cheat and put his soldiers at Yuzhou so that Yangzhou could not act. So Yangzhou shamelessly invaded Yanzhou with heavy cavalries while blaming others. Yet, Cao Cao could not allow this to continue as he would lose face.

“Are we really going to withdraw our troops?” Cao Cao was distressed. If they were to withdraw, Liu Bei was definitely doomed. At that time, the Central Plains would belong to Yangzhou.

“If we do not withdraw our troops, there would be a disaster in Yanzhou. If they reach Xudou, Milord’s reputation will fall!”

“Milord. I suggest we fight against Yangzhou’s troops!” The generals were mostly of this opinion but this was obviously rejected. Cao Cao would have chosen to fight as well if he could. However, both he and Yangzhou were avoiding battles with each other because it was simply not profitable. They would only fight each other once there are no enemies around them.

“Since we can’t do anything, we might as well withdraw our troops. Yanzhou is more important. To begin with, there is nothing good about Liu Bei. Rescuing him is just like rescuing a snake. Let those two kill each other. We should just capture Hebei first before conquering the rest of the world.”

“No! We must contain Yangzhou now. Otherwise, they are going to conquer the Central Plains and become like another Yuan Shao. Are we going to fight another battle like the one at Guandu?”

“Then are you suggesting we let the enemy take a stroll at our Yanzhou?”

“Enough!” Cao Cao felt his head ache and roared after listening to his subordinates argue. His subordinates quickly became quiet.

“Withdraw our men from Yuzhou and have them defend Xutian and Wuping! We cannot let Yuzhou’s defeated troops within our borders!” Cao Cao emphasized the fact that it was Yuzhou’s defeated troops and his teeth itched.

“Understood!” His subordinates could only act as ordered.

And so, Cao Cao’s troops withdraw from Yuzhou and returned to Yanzhou.

_________

Letter to the Emperor. Different words used in Mandarin. I can’t seem to find an English equivalent.

Previous