In August, Dong Zhuo's army had not yet reached Luoyang, but He Jin had been defeated. The palace was in chaos, and the eunuch Zhang Rang kidnapped the young emperor and fled. Dong Zhuo saw that Luoyang was on fire and led his troops forward. On the way, he heard that the Young Emperor was in Beimang, so he went to meet him.
The young emperor returned to the palace.
After Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he took He Jin and his younger brother He Miao, the general of chariots and horses, as his own subordinates. He also lured Lu Bu, the general of Ding Yuan, to kill Ding Yuan and surrender to himself. His military power was very strong.
Since then, Luoyang had fallen, Yuan Shao had fled, and all the officials in the palace had been imprisoned.
Cao Mengde, on the other hand, was able to see through everything.
He had attached himself to Dong Zhuo and captured the former eunuch's henchmen. Then, he forced the officials to not be enemies, allowing the harem to be in chaos and the Great Han Dynasty to exist in name only.
He had been killing his own reputation and had become Dong Zhuo's lackey.
He was cursed day and night.
But he didn't care.
Cao Cao knew very well that he was bowing down to serve the thief so that he could kill the thief and become famous throughout the world. At that time, all the infamy he had suffered during this period of time would become endless praise!
Thus, he hid in Luoyang alone. He only felt that the road was lonely, but his heart was excited.
……
The next day, there was no morning court session.
Dong Zhuo summoned Cao Cao to the Imperial Palace to discuss some matters with him. He was accompanied by his advisor, Li Ru.
The two of them chatted and laughed along the way, directly entering the inner palace.
Dong Zhuo had just woken up early and was done with his makeup. He had the body of a bear and was stronger than ordinary people. He had a rough appearance and his eyes were cloudy. Lu Bu had arrived earlier and stood behind Dong Zhuo like an iron tower.
His face was cold and solemn.
Dong Zhuo raised his head and saw Cao Cao walking up the stairs. His interest was immediately piqued.
He liked this Cao Cao very much. This person had great methods and was good at talking. Moreover, his past experience as an official was very beautiful. He never fawned over the rich and powerful.
The five-colored staff was even suppressing Luoyang.
"Meng De, Meng De! Quick, quick, quick, come over."
Dong Zhuo spoke in a low and muffled voice. Perhaps it was because he was old now, his movements were slower. He waved his hand, and Cao Cao pretended to stumble and almost fall. Then, he quickly walked forward.
Just this action made Li Ru greatly admire him.
Interesting. Amazing.
Why didn't I think of these details?
With such details, the lord felt even more respectful!
Cao Mengde was awesome.
Cao Cao quickly walked in front of him and bowed deeply." Lord Sikong.”
" Hey, hey, you can just call me Lord. Our family treats you well, Meng De. There's no need to run so quickly. Fengxian, quickly get someone to get a futon for Meng De to sit on."”
"Here."
Lu Bu looked at Cao Cao with disdain.
At this moment, he naturally didn't know that his life would end up in Cao Cao's hands. In fact, he even looked down on him.
"Meng De, please sit."
Not long after, Lu Bu brought over a cushion and let Cao Cao sit down. Dong Zhuo grabbed his hand and laughed,""When I entered Luoyang, only you weren't as sour as the civil and military scholars in the court, and were willing to stabilize the court.
I have high hopes for you, Cao Mengde. So today, can you tell me again if Yuan Shao will be successful after he escapes? How many dukes in the world are willing to submit to us?”
Cao Cao was stunned.
So that was the case. The old thief wanted to inquire about the vassals, civil officials, and generals.
He wanted to recruit them under his command and then usurp the throne.
His thoughts were clear.
"Sikong is quite far-sighted. Meng De admires him. Now that Yuan Shao has fled, he won't be able to do anything in a short period of time. Sikong only needs to give him 2000 koku to stabilize the situation.”
"Oh, yes, yes, yes. Is there anything else?" Dong Zhuo replied with a smile.
"And…Zhao Feng, the Mu of Youzhou Province…"
"Yes! I want to ask this person! It is said that he spent 240 million yuan to buy the position of Youzhou Prefecture Overseer. Now he is in office. This man is very generous. If I issue an edict, do you think he will submit to me?”
"Oh, it's hard to say."
Cao Cao shook his head solemnly.
His expression was extremely ugly.
Because he felt that…he might be willing to submit. Zhao Feng was only from a merchant family, and his family wasn't considered a famous family in Jizhou.
He did not have the almost pedantic support of the Confucian scholars and aristocrats for the Great Han.
"Sikong, you can try issuing an edict…"
"Oh! Alright, I'll get the little Emperor to issue an edict for Zhao Feng to come to Luoyang to see me. I'll get him to bring ten or twenty carts of gold and silver. There shouldn't be a problem, right?”
" Hehehe..." Cao Cao put his hands on the ground and laughed," I'm afraid that he can't afford so much money now. One million refugees have entered Youzhou. They have already given away their remaining money to buy official positions in the court. They should have sold their properties by now. Can't Sikong see the trap that they set for Zhao Feng?"”
Li Rule snorted. He had the right to speak when it came to this.
As soon as he entered Luoyang, he carefully thought about this and immediately said,""My lord, I know about this. This is a plan by Grand Marshal Yang Biao and Liu Yu to push the disaster in the south to Zhao Feng. If he fails to govern, Liu Yu will naturally become the governor of Youzhou.”
"If…he were to relieve the disaster, he would naturally have emptied out his family. In exchange for a reputation, he would actually be strong on the outside but weak on the inside. At that time, the officials and internal officials of the Great Han Dynasty would have insatiable greed and would abandon him. Little did they know that it was now the lord who had taken over Luoyang. I think that if the lord issued an edict, he would definitely be grasping at a life-saving straw.”
"Oh?" Dong Zhuo's eyes lit up." That makes sense! Hahaha, I like your analysis! In that case, these sour people could be considered to have helped our family?”
Therefore, after asking Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo thought of the gold cakes in the West Garden and happily sent the imperial edict to Youzhou.
In less than half a month, he received a reply from Zhao Feng.
There was only one word, and there was another line below it.
"Get lost."
"Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself?”
That night, Dong Zhuo was extremely angry. He was furious for the entire night…
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