My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 207: Who said, "Hasn't the lord seen what happened to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo?"

To be honest, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" did slightly glorify Cao Cao in the plot at White Gate Tower.

The main beautification point is that in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Lu Bu was not captured, but he voluntarily surrendered and ceased fighting when only one city tower was left.

Of course, Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu did betray Lü Bu, and they kidnapped important figures of Lü Bu's army and surrendered to Cao Cao, but they kidnapped Chen Gong, not Lü Bu himself. With Lü Bu's martial arts, they could not succeed.

(Note: The original text of "Records of the Three Kingdoms" is "When the siege was urgent, he surrendered", which means that when the siege was urgent, he took the initiative to surrender.)
After Cao Cao had tied up Lü Bu, he hesitated to kill him at first, because he was actually worried about being branded as a "killer of surrendered soldiers". That's why he needed to use Liu Bei's words to say "Didn't you see what happened to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo?" Only by killing this evil man could Cao Cao clear himself of the name of "killer of surrendered soldiers" and kill Lü Bu freely.

Unfortunately, history has been completely changed by the butterfly effect of the Zhuge brothers. How it will unfold is something that even a person with a clairvoyant eye cannot predict.

……

A quarter of an hour later, Cao Cao personally came to the east gate tower of Pengcheng. The surrounding situation had been completely controlled by Cao's army, and Lu Bu's army in the city had all surrendered.

Two warriors tied up Lu Bu and brought him before Cao Cao, and Lu Bu really shouted out his famous words: "You tied me up too quickly, please slow down!"

He felt that this was the treatment that surrendered people deserved.

If you are captured, it is reasonable to be tied up no matter how tightly. What is there to complain about?
Cao Cao also sneered: "It's urgent to tie up a tiger!"

Lü Bu smiled and begged for mercy in a flattering manner: "My lord, your only worry is me. Now that I have surrendered, there is no need to worry about the world. My lord, let me lead the infantry and I lead the cavalry. Then the world will be easily conquered!"

Cao Cao originally did not want to pardon him and wanted to wipe out the root of the problem.

But seeing that Lu Bu was so humble and submissive, Cao Cao hesitated and did not want to bear the infamy of killing a surrendered soldier.

Cao Cao subconsciously wanted to change the subject, but when he turned around, he saw that there was no suitable person to take over the conversation, and the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

In this life, Cao Cao does not have a Liu Bei by his side to help him be a bad guy!

How could he insist on killing Lu Bu?

Seeing that Cao Cao couldn't save face, Lu Bu finally had the opportunity to say more words of begging for mercy that he had never had the chance to say in history:
"Although you are a man of great talent and strategy, I have also heard you say to Chen Yuanlong, 'The world is in turmoil, and the foxes and rabbits are not yet resting, so I dare not be the first to be full.' Now the foxes and rabbits are still not resting. Compared with when you said this three years ago, only Yuan Shu has been killed and I am willing to submit to you.

The rest, Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, Liu Biao, and Sun Ce, are still enough to be a threat to you! If you are not confident that Bu can control the military power, then Bu would rather be a cavalry general, not have the military power, and just follow orders to fight in battle!

Moreover, Bu had been reluctant to surrender because he did not want to sell out his friend for glory. Bu knew that Chen Gongtai had committed a serious crime and would not be pardoned. Bu's rise to power was entirely due to the support of Gongtai and Meng Zhuo (Zhang Miao). How could Bu put his benefactor to death just to save himself?
Now that Gongtai has been killed by Zhao Yun, when Bu learned of this, he had no more concerns and was ready to surrender. But because of his indulgence in wine and women, he hesitated for two or three days, and was overtaken by Wei Xu and Song Xian! Please be wise and investigate! "

I have to admit that Lu Bu has a low IQ.

However, when it comes to life and death, he still bursts out with eloquence and a high level of logic that is unattainable under normal circumstances.

All of a sudden, inspiration burst out, and he spoke out four paragraphs of begging for mercy and life in an orderly and progressive manner.

Even Cao Cao couldn't help but be moved after hearing this.

Indeed, Cao Cao had long known that Lu Bu was capricious and despicable.

The two had been fighting for five years, and Cao Cao had already figured out every one of Lu Bu's human weaknesses.

But Lu Bu actually took the initiative to propose that he would not have to hold military power in normal times. This condition was really too tempting.

As for Cao Cao, firstly, there was no Liu Bei to help him be the bad guy in this life and remind him of the "affairs of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo."

Secondly, Cao Cao did feel the pressure from Yuan Shao that was greater than that of his historical peers. Moreover, Cao Cao did not have Liu Bei's allegiance (there would be no three events of Guan Yu Tu Shan in the future), so he did have a shortcoming in terms of peerless generals.

He was also worried that there would be a lack of powerful generals who could defeat Yan Liang and Wen Chou in the future.

“Since Lu Bu is willing to give up his military power, we can consider temporarily sparing his life… At worst, we can ask him to write a letter of apology, and then put him in an idle position in the name of the emperor.

If a war really breaks out with Yuan Shao in the future, Lu Bu can be used as a cavalry general in an emergency, and he may be able to defeat Yuan Shao's vanguard, but he will not be of much use in the end.

And once we find him doing something unusual, we must seize the evidence and kill him! If after we defeat Yuan Shao in the future, Lu Bu still doesn't show any signs of betrayal, we can slowly figure it out and find another excuse. Anyway, this thief can't live too long. When he is no longer useful, he should be killed!"

Cao Cao hesitated for a while and finally made this decision.

Without Liu Bei to help him share the bad reputation, killing the surrendered soldiers would not sound good after all.

Cao Cao also realized that the key to Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo's failure was that they took Lü Bu as their confidant, which led to their backlash. When Yuan Shao used Lü Bu, he had to send assassins to kill him because Lü Bu's followers all obeyed him and he was too powerful to be killed.

Now Lu Bu has been deserted by his friends and relatives. Hou Cheng, Song Xian and Wei Xu will all be worried about Lu Bu's retaliation. Gao Shun, Cheng Lian and Wei Yue have already been captured. As long as they do not make them their confidants and "control them secretly" like Yuan Shao, what is there to be afraid of with Lu Bu?

Finally, Cao Cao thought of another consideration: Zhang Liao had now been captured alive by Zhao Yun and was held captive by Liu Bei.

So far, there has been no news that Liu Bei formally persuaded Zhang Liao to surrender, but only detained him. It can be seen that Liu Bei must have been worried that Lu Bu was not dead yet and that it was not the right time to persuade Zhang Liao to surrender, so he wanted to wait a little longer.

If he killed Lu Bu, Zhang Liao would no longer have his former master, and there would be no obstacles for him to join Liu Bei. He might even be able to gain the reputation of "avenging his former master" by joining Liu Bei.

How could I let Liu Bei and Zhang Liao get away with it?

Therefore, if Lu Bu is not killed, Liu Bei will have more obstacles in persuading Zhang Liao to surrender, which will disgust Liu Bei! At that time, won't Liu Bei worry that Zhang Liao will surrender to his former master after regaining his freedom?
Cao Cao thought for a while, then said proudly: "You surrendered because you were desperate, not sincerely! Even if I kill you, it doesn't count as killing the surrendered! Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu surrendered before you. If I continue to use you and let you rank above Hou Cheng and others, wouldn't it make them all feel insecure? It also doesn't conform to the ancient meaning of 'the first to surrender will be rewarded, and the last to surrender will be killed'!"

Therefore, if you really want to survive, the court will demote you to a position below Hou Cheng and others! This is the result of surrendering too late!"

When Lu Bu heard that he had a chance to survive, he no longer cared about the level of his official position and immediately bowed his head and promised: "I am willing to be demoted! I will mend my past mistakes!" Cao Cao then announced on the spot that Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu would all be promoted to the rank of General of the Central Army, while Lu Bu and Gao Shun would be demoted to the rank of colonel (in fact, they were not allowed to lead troops and were just commanders without troops).

As for Cheng Lian and Wei Yue, they could only be demoted to the rank of captain.

Gao Shun on the side originally wanted to fight back, but since Lu Bu didn't fight back, he also dispersed in one breath and had to admit defeat.

"Well, given how treacherous Cao is, he will definitely not truly use Marquis Wen and me. Since Marquis Wen is weak and cowardly, he can just keep his life for now. What else can I do? If I see something wrong in the future, I will try to escape." Gao Shun thought to himself.

Hou Cheng, Song Xian and Wei Xu were naturally the most grateful to Cao Cao and hurried to express their gratitude.

Seeing that Cao Cao was so thoughtful and even thought of the fact that "the official positions of the three of them should be higher than Lu Bu to avoid being suppressed by Lu Bu", they sincerely decided to be Cao Cao's loyal dogs and help Cao Cao keep an eye on Lu Bu, this capricious villain.

Because they knew very well that if Lu Bu succeeded again, the three of them would be in trouble and would be liquidated by Lu Bu.

With just two sentences, Cao Cao directed the hatred between Lu Bu and Gao Shun and Hou Cheng, Song Xian and Wei Xu to each other, making them bite each other and temporarily unable to care about hating Cao Cao.

So Cao Cao finally succeeded in subduing Lu Bu, seized all his territory and military power, and sent him back to Xu Du under close guard.

In addition, he sent envoys to Xia Pi to ask Liu Bei for the families of generals such as Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu. Lu Bu had always been suspicious and only trusted Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, and always had reservations about other middle-level generals.

Therefore, when he went to Pengcheng to defend it, only Lü Bu and Gao Shun brought their families to Pengcheng. The families of the rest of Hou Cheng and others were not eligible to follow the army and stayed in Xiapi under the care of Zhang Liao and Chen Gong.

When Zhao Yun stole Xia Pi, the families of these middle-level generals of Lu Bu's army were also detained. This is one of the reasons why the morale of Hou Cheng and other generals collapsed so quickly after learning that Xia Pi had been stolen.

Now they have been appointed as Generals of the Central Army by the imperial court and are Cao Cao's men. Of course Cao Cao will ask Liu Bei to return their families, and Liu Bei has no reason to detain them.

……

At the same time that Cao Cao sent out the envoy, at this moment in Xia Pi City, Liu Bei was also personally arranging and holding a banquet to welcome Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu.

After Guan Yu defeated Jiangxia, most of the troops that were withdrawn were temporarily stationed in Yuzhang and Danyang for food. However, Guan Yu himself still wanted to come to Xiapi to see his elder brother and report in person, so he temporarily handed the troops over to Taishi Ci for ten days or half a month.

It was already the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, the day Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu were expected to arrive.

Liu Bei packed up early in the morning and sent scouts to go out of the city thirty miles ahead of time to investigate. After receiving the report, Liu Bei personally went out of the city to meet Zhuge Liang at the dock beside the Sishui River, and of course Zhuge Liang had to follow.

"Ziyu! Yunchang! It's been a long and tiring three months of fighting and attacking. It's really not easy."

Liu Bei went forward to express his condolences before the warship even docked, followed by several guards carrying jars of wine.

Seeing this, Guan Yu jumped onto the pier without waiting for the boat to stop, smashing the wooden boards of the pier with a loud bang.

Then he realized that this was a bit impolite, so he quickly turned around to take the plank from the side of the ship and put it firmly on the pier. He also helped Zhuge Jin who was walking ashore on the plank, and then he and Zhuge Jin walked forward together and bowed to Liu Bei.

"Brother! Fortunately, I have accomplished my mission this time! If you hadn't asked me to postpone the attack on the city, I could have killed Huang Zu ten days earlier!"

Liu Bei shook Guan Yu's arm heavily. "It doesn't matter if it's earlier or later. As long as we win, it's good that fewer casualties occur among our comrades. What was the effect of the steel armor and catapults that Ziyu supervised before the battle in the battles of Jiangxia? They must have reduced a lot of casualties among our army, right?"

Zhuge Jin originally wanted to step forward and chat, but after hearing Liu Bei boasting about his new invention, he was too modest to join in the fun, so Guan Yu had to continue to speak up.

Guan Yu naturally exclaimed in admiration: "Without Mr. Ziyu's ingenuity, even if Xiakou and Shaxian could be captured, thousands of people would have been killed or injured! With these armor and equipment, our army is even more powerful!"

Liu Bei immediately turned to Zhuge Jin and shook his arms a few times: "Zi Yu is truly the pillar of the Han Dynasty's revival. Come, enter the city quickly. I have already prepared a banquet."

Everyone chatted and laughed as they entered the city, and soon arrived at the former Xuzhou Mu Mansion. Guan Yu revisited the old place after three years, and was filled with emotion - when he and his elder brother went to Xuyi and Huaiyin to fight against Yuan Shu, they went out from this mansion. Later, his hometown was robbed, and fortunately he met Mr. Ziyu in Huaiyin, and was saved.

I didn’t expect that you’re finally back now!

Zhuge Jin was asked by Liu Bei to sit next to him as the guest of honor. Zhuge Jin wanted to give in, but Guan Yu insisted, saying, "If it weren't for you, how could my brother and I get back to Xia Pi? We should finish what we started."

Since the other party had said so much, Zhuge Jin could not refuse. Then Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang sat on the other side of Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin respectively.

After everyone sat down, Liu Bei waved his hand and invited a group of newly received beautiful maids to pour wine. Guan Yu was also slightly shocked when he saw one of the women was specially sent to pour wine for him.

But before Guan Yu could speak, a messenger suddenly came in from outside the door and bowed to Liu Bei and said:

"My lord! An imperial envoy has arrived on behalf of Cao Cao, asking you to return the families of Generals Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu. He also said that these three generals are no longer criminals under Lu Bu's command, but heroes who have turned from evil to good and helped the imperial court to defeat Lu Bu."

Liu Bei was slightly unhappy when he heard this, so he waved his hand, indicating that he should entertain Cao Cao's envoy first, and then turned to Zhuge Jin and asked:

"Lü Bu was eventually destroyed... Sir, what do you think are the pros and cons of this incident for our army? How should we respond?"

Zhuge Jin had just arrived and didn't know anything about the situation, so he couldn't answer for a while. Fortunately, he was very self-aware and didn't pretend to know something. He said frankly:

"My lord, Lü Bu's demise is generally a good thing for our army. But military strategy should be based on the current situation and facts, and should not be speculated. Kong Ming has been in Guangling and Xiapi for a long time, so why ask me?"

Zhuge Liang then took over the conversation at the right time and pointed out: "My lord, this matter cannot be generalized. It is better to ask the court envoy to inquire about the situation of Lu Bu and his generals.

From what was said just now, it seems that only Hou Cheng and three other generals have confirmed their surrender to Cao, but I don’t know whether Lu Bu and Gao Shun are alive or dead?
If both Lü Bu and Gao Shun were dead, it would be quite helpful for the lord to persuade Zhang Liao to surrender. The impact of other details still needs to be analyzed according to the specific situation. "

(End of this chapter)