Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 212 The Cao Family's Calamity
After rejoining the main force, Liu Bei still proceeded with the original plan of dividing his troops into smaller groups.

Liu Bei led over a thousand men across the river and had Zhang He hand over the Heyang garrison to Zhu Jun. After arriving in Ji Province, Zhang He would go to Ganling and enter the plains with Bai Yao.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led the main force together with He Miao and Yuan Shu's pacification army, traveling along the official road south of the Yellow River to Jinan, Qingzhou.

This road will pass through Xingyang and will also provide support to He Miao in suppressing the rebellion. Since Tao Qiu Hong was involved in the rebellion, for Liu Bei, dealing with the rebels in Xingyang is essentially equivalent to quelling part of the rebellion in Qingzhou.

In addition, Zhang Baiqi and the Ming soldiers will stay at Xiaopingjin to wait for Jia Xu.

Jia Xu certainly didn't lack manpower in Xizhou, but the troops of Yan Zhong and Han Sui couldn't enter Guandong. Now, with Wang Fen and others plotting a rebellion, the journey from Luoyang to Qingzhou was unstable, so they needed to leave someone to escort them.

Liu Bei himself wanted to return to Youzhou and move the families of his brothers to Qingzhou. He hoped that when he took his family to Qingzhou, Pingyuan County of Pingyuan State and Dongpingling of Jinan would be pacified, so that his family members would have nowhere to live.

In fact, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also split their forces into two groups. Zhang Fei led the cavalry in front, closely following Sun Jian's troops.

Guan Yu lagged behind, escorting the supplies and provisions.

He Miao is quite different from He Jin. Although He Miao is also good-looking, he doesn't seem to be involved in any supernatural or mystical practices. Instead, he looks more like a military general.

Moreover, He Miao was indeed knowledgeable about military affairs and made reasonable arrangements for the troops—which is why Liu Bei dared to go to Hanoi with peace of mind.

For some reason, He Miao seemed a little melancholy.

……

As the army that was suppressing the rebellion reached the western part of Xingyang, Cao Cao also brought nearly two thousand men to the eastern part of Xingyang.

Cao Cao essentially ran away from home.

Cao Song recently resigned from his post and returned to his hometown, not because he was punished, but because he was in poor health.

As soon as Cao Song got home, he had a huge argument with Cao Cao, which nearly killed the already sick old man.

As far as Cao Song was concerned, his son was both scholarly and martial, and was exceptionally intelligent. Apart from inheriting Cao Song's short stature, he had no other major flaws. Cao Song actually loved his eldest son very much.

But this kid is a troublemaker who's always causing problems...

He's been a menace since childhood.

When Cao Cao had just come of age, Cao Song used many connections to get Cao Cao recommended as a filial and incorruptible official, and also asked the then Minister of Works Qiao Xuan to look after Cao Cao.

With Qiao Xuan as a powerful figure in the court, Cao Cao had the support of Cao Teng's disciples and followers in the palace, and his family was wealthy. His father was also the Commandant of the Capital Region at the time. It can be said that Cao Cao was well-protected in every aspect at the age of twenty.

As long as he follows the rules and doesn't offend anyone, he can easily rise through the ranks. Anyway, his family has plenty of money to buy official positions, so he can keep buying them until he dies.

As a result, the young Cao Cao was tricked by He Yong from Nanyang and became obsessed with becoming a famous scholar. He went to participate in Xu Zijiang's monthly critique—the Xu brothers charged money for helping people gain fame! But this troublemaker didn't know the rules and brandished a knife at Xu Zijiang's neck, completely offending him.

Don't even think about becoming a famous scholar. What famous scholar could be described as a hero in times of peace and chaos? That's not a compliment.

Subsequently, Cao Cao was appointed as the Northern Commandant of Luoyang. This troublemaker, instigated by Yuan Shao, insisted on distancing himself from the eunuchs in order to infiltrate Yuan Shao's circle of upright officials. He then used the curfew as an excuse to kill Jian Shuo's uncle.

Cao Song nearly suffered a stroke. He was Cao Teng's adopted son, while Cao Cao was the grandson of a eunuch. How could he possibly sever ties with the eunuch?

Jian Shuo was indeed just a minor eunuch at the time, but he was a minor eunuch who grew up with the emperor, and was the emperor's attendant, accompanying the emperor in martial arts and studies... Of all people to provoke, why did he have to provoke Jian Shuo!
As a result, Cao Song was busy again and finally managed to smooth things over for Cao Cao.

Out of consideration for Cao Teng and Cao Song's small fortunes, the palace didn't do anything to Cao Cao. He was simply "promoted" from the Northern Commandant who held military power in the capital to the magistrate of Dunqiu, a wretched place. At that time, Dunqiu suffered from all kinds of disasters, including floods, droughts, locusts, and epidemics. What kind of good place could a magistrate's position be if no one wanted to buy it?

But this scourge didn't stop at all. In order to obtain grain for disaster relief, they went to Lihu to "suppress bandits" and stole the grain that Chengshi Liqian had stored in Lihu...

Li Qian naturally dared not provoke the Cao family, but ever since then, the Pu River canal transport has been plagued with problems, causing Cao Song to spend a lot of extra energy to resolve them during his tenure as Grand Minister of Agriculture...

Most of the canal workers were gangsters, and Li Qian was the biggest gangster boss in the Puyang River canal transport section.

Later, due to the incident of Empress Song being deposed, Empress Song's brother, Marquis Song Qi, was killed. Song Qi was Cao Cao's brother-in-law, and Cao Cao was dismissed from his post.

After this scoundrel resigned from his official post, he spent all his time visiting brothels and even joined Yuan Shao's underworld gang. He never went home, which truly worried Cao Song to no end.

Being an official only brings trouble, but if he leaves office and joins the underworld, that's even worse...

Cao Song knew what kind of people Yuan Shao and his gang were; those guys were all trained to be assassins!
What if Yuan Shao tricks his own son into becoming crippled and turning him into a suicide squad one day?
Yuan Shao is capable of doing this!
So Cao Song made another effort, spending a lot of money to get Cao Cao promoted to the position of Consultant, thinking that being a respectable and outspoken official would surely prevent him from getting into trouble.

As a result, this scourge was appointed as an advisor and then went to submit a memorial, saying that Dou Wu, Chen Fan and others were persecuted for their uprightness, which led to the court being full of wicked people while loyal and virtuous people were not given important positions...

Is this something that can be said to the emperor?

Isn't this tantamount to telling someone to their face that the emperor should be a puppet for life?

Dou Wu and Chen Fan were powerful ministers; they were eliminated because the emperor wanted to rule in his own right!

The so-called uprightness and wickedness, the so-called loyal and virtuous officials not being given important positions, are all just arguments used by the upright officials who were purged by the Party Prohibitions to attack the eunuch faction...

This scourge has indeed been completely fooled by Yuan Shao and his cripples!
Cao Song quickly cleaned up Cao Cao's mess. Fortunately, Cao Song was doing quite well as the Minister of Agriculture at that time and made a lot of money. He always paid the money for buying an official position in advance. He was a long-time customer of the emperor, and his influence was still quite useful.

The emperor simply assumed Cao Cao was ignorant and burned Cao Cao's memorial.

Afterwards, the high-ranking officials falsely accused honest officials in various regions. Cao Cao and Chen Dan jointly submitted a memorial saying, "Release the owl and imprison the phoenix." This was indeed out of a sense of morality, not because they were fooled. However, this offended even more people—this time, they not only offended the eunuch faction, but also the upright officials...

Those corrupt officials weren't all eunuchs; half of them were from the "pure stream" faction. In reality, they were all the same regardless of which faction they belonged to; there was no real difference.

Chen Dan, who was serving as Minister of Works at the time, was dismissed from his post the following year due to a natural disaster.

Cao Cao had a good father—Cao Song—who cleaned up his mess and saved him by throwing money at him.

At that time, Cao Song scolded Cao Cao, telling him to use his brain when he did things. He had a smart brain that was well-versed in poetry, literature and military strategy, but he never considered the consequences... Did he really think that being a censor meant submitting memorials to the emperor? Even the Minister of Works couldn't protect himself, and you insist on getting involved in this mess. Are you trying to ruin the family before you feel at ease?
So Cao Cao toned it down—not mainly because he was scolded, but because he had started making a lot of money with Liu Bei by trading horses.

Of course, Cao Cao did realize that there was no difference between the eunuch faction and the upright officials; the upright officials were just better at currying fame. Looking back, he had indeed been fooled for many years, and Cao Cao no longer intended to get involved in such petty factional struggles.

After Cao Cao made money selling horses, Cao Song was also very happy—his troublemaker had finally learned to make money for the family! The kid has grown up!
Cao Song originally thought that now that his son had grown up and learned to earn money, he no longer needed to worry about his son's womanizing and seeking pleasure with women, since food and sex are human nature.

Unexpectedly, after making money, Cao Cao did not indulge in women of pleasure, but instead recruited a large number of cavalrymen with a bitter and resentful expression!

The kind with armor and crossbows...

Cao Song felt dizzy and disoriented—was this scourge plotting a rebellion?!
At that time, Cao Cao was a mere advisor, a purely censorate official. He had no authority to lead troops, and he didn't even have a guard. His bodyguards were all family members (Xiahou Dun) who worked part-time...

If a family possessed more than three sets of armor, it was a crime punishable by the execution of the entire family…

But this scourge was equipped with at least three hundred armored soldiers and had hidden several hundred crossbows!
This guy is definitely a major traitor; even Cao Song couldn't clean up his mess like this...

Cao Cao had been training his troops outside and hadn't gone to Luoyang. It wasn't until Xiahou Dun brought horses to the capital that Cao Song learned from Xiahou Dun that Cao Cao had taken a fancy to a beautiful woman, but she had been abducted by a villain from Youzhou...

Cao Cao went to the bandit's house to demand the money, but was beaten by the bandit. Two hundred of his clan soldiers, including Xiahou Dun, were all beaten to a pulp, and Cao Cao himself was beaten so badly he was like a beast eating iron.

Xiahou Dun said that the bandits had a large army, and Cao Cao was probably planning to use such good equipment to lead his troops to reclaim the beauty and perhaps seize a horse farm as well...

Cao Song was furious. Was it really necessary to commit such a heinous crime as exterminating three generations of a family just to snatch a woman?
If you get a beautiful woman, will you still have to play the role of the feudal lords by lighting the beacon fires?

Fortunately, fortunately...

Fortunately, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out not long afterward, plunging the country into chaos.

Taking advantage of the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Yanzhou, Cao Song used his connections to recommend Cao Cao to join the army and participate in the suppression.

Thus, Cao Cao became a Cavalry Commandant, gaining the title of commander, and the armor and heavy crossbows that this scourge had acquired became known.

In fact, Zhang Rang already knew about this matter. The emperor was in dire need of military force and also needed Cao Song's small sum of money, so he gave the Cao family face.

But when this scourge led his army to quell the rebellion, he was overcome by a sense of morality and his compassion kicked in...

He actually resigned and requested a transfer because he was dissatisfied with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun killing too many people. He didn't want to be the Cavalry Commandant anymore! Cao Song was dumbfounded. The general in charge of the army killed more people, but that was for the benefit of the whole army! And you could get a share of those benefits too!

However, Cao Song did not expect that Cao Cao's decision to give up the position of Cavalry Commandant was actually the right one—the emperor immediately appointed Cao Cao as the Chancellor of Jinan. Although it was said that he had received money to buy the position, it was clear that the emperor valued Cao Cao highly.

But, but.

This scourge, when it reached Jinan, actually caused a whole host of more trouble.

First, he eliminated illicit religious practices, disrupting the official connections that had been established in the Jinan area for many years; then, for reasons unknown, he actually ordered the castration of dozens of Jinan gentry members...

This forced creation of the eunuch faction is clearly more hateful than murder and arson; it's a deep-seated hatred that can't be extinguished...

This time, no matter what connections Cao Song tried, it would be useless.

From eunuchs to upright officials, from aristocratic families to military families, from court officials to local tyrants, Cao Cao has offended almost every type of person in the past ten years, and the trouble he has caused is getting bigger and bigger, making it impossible to clean up his mess.

As expected, Cao Cao resigned not long after and could only live off his parents at home.

It's fine for him to live off his parents, since they have plenty of money. It's also fine for him to take concubines and have children everywhere. Having many children is the greatest filial piety these days. Cao Song would love for Cao Cao to stay at home and have children.

However, this scourge only stayed at home and behaved himself for a few days before he started recruiting soldiers again!

They even said, "With the whole world in rebellion and the world on the verge of collapse, if we do not have troops in hand, our multi-millionaire family fortunes may be destroyed in an instant."

Yes, Cao Song also knew that the world was in rebellion, so Cao Cao's statement made sense.

Unexpectedly, before the world could even crumble, this family fortune was destroyed by Cao Cao, that scourge...

A few days ago, Cao Song retired due to illness and returned to his hometown. When he returned home, he summoned the stewards of his household to inquire about the properties. As a result, all the stewards said that Cao Cao had already taken more than half of the money in the treasury... even the principal for lending money at exorbitant interest rates had been taken away.

Cao Song was so angry he almost had a stroke. This spendthrift, when will he ever stop…?

This was because Cao Cao received news from Luoyang that the emperor had established the Western Garden Army, and recruits who entered the capital could become captains of the emperor's guards.

Recruiting soldiers privately is a crime of treason, but having a title makes all the difference. These are the emperor's personal troops, whose status is above that of the Northern Army.

Cao Cao immediately thought of Liu Bei. Wasn't it because this big-eared scoundrel had troops under his command that he had been able to rise so high in rank?
Cao Song was reluctant to part with his family fortune, nor did he want Cao Cao to get involved in this mess. Cao Song knew very well that the Emperor's Western Garden Army was a struggle for military power between Guandong and Guanxi. If Cao Cao were to offer himself up, he would be seen as a pawn of the Guandong people!

But Cao Cao insisted on his opinion, saying that accumulating wealth was no longer suitable for the current chaotic world, that keeping family property was useless, that wealth would only bring disaster, and that only military power could protect the family.

It was also said that if Cao Song was afraid that the conflict between the East and West would implicate his family, he should leave home to avoid disaster.

Cao Song spent most of his life building up those salt, iron, and cloth industries, which he considered the foundation of the family business for generations to come. How dare you, you scoundrel, say they're useless? And you even made the old man leave his hometown and run away?!

The father and son had a big argument because of their differing ideas. They argued chronologically, from the Xiping era to the fourth year of the Zhongping era.

They argued for a whole day, and even took a one-hour break in the middle to beat up Cao Cao.

In the end, Cao Song became dizzy and unsteady on his feet. Cao Cao saw that if things continued like this, the old man might be angered to death by him, so he quickly left home to avoid having to wear mourning clothes.

Of course, Cao Cao did not just wander around with his troops. Before Cao Song returned to his hometown, Wang Fen, the governor of Ji Province, sent Zhou Jing, a famous scholar from Pei State, to invite Cao Cao, saying that he wanted to depose the current emperor and install the Marquis of Hefei, and invited Cao Cao to Xingyang to plan a great undertaking together.

Cao Cao was certainly not that stupid. Would he publicly announce something like this? He even revealed the location, as if he was afraid no one would report it, right?
Moreover, Cao Cao knew that this matter was probably related to Yuan Shao, He Yong, and others... If he really went, he would definitely be used as a pawn again.

Besides, if they weren't keeping things secret, what were they plotting? Cao Cao thought these people might have lost their minds from taking Five-Stone Powder, so he refused them on the spot.

But since we're going to Luoyang anyway, knowing about this might actually be useful—we can earn some battle merits along the way!

Cao Cao's idea was actually similar to Yuan Shu's; Yuan Shu was also there to gain military merit...

The journey from Pei State to Luoyang also follows the official road through Henan, which is the best-maintained road in the entire Han Dynasty. It passes through Xingyang, a transit point for the Henan canal transport system.

But when Cao Cao arrived in the eastern part of Xingyang, he did not encounter an army...

Or rather, they were a motley crew of ragtag soldiers.

There were scholars and their entourage, as well as bandits who were obviously mountain bandits or river pirates, some county soldiers without flags, and a group of disorganized farmers.

Even the supply wagons were donkey carts used by caravans...

This group was quite large, probably numbering in the tens of thousands. They were making a ruckus, seemingly preparing to launch an attack, and their flags were all sorts of different kinds.

Looking at this army composed of scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants, and soldiers, Cao Cao was dumbfounded. Could they really think they could depose and install emperors with just these things?
Actually, these things could actually succeed.

Wang Fen was originally organizing manpower in Jizhou, Tao Qiuhong was in Qingzhou, Xu You was in Nanyang, and Zhou Jing was in Peiguo.

In addition, Sun Jian, a bandit from the vicinity of Luoyang, served as his henchmen.

If Cao Cao and Yuan Shu joined the army, they would certainly act as henchmen. Moreover, Yuan Shu's troops were originally stationed in Gucheng, which was only a day's journey from Luoyang.

This was actually a major event involving several states acting together; originally, all the states in the Central Plains should have raised troops simultaneously.

Moreover, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao had originally received an invitation from Wang Fen at the end of January to "conspire on important matters".

At that time, Liu Bei and Dong Zhuo were advancing into Liangzhou together. The imperial army was basically all in Guanzhong, and the local troops in each county were not there, leaving the counties extremely vulnerable.

In order to keep an eye on the Hedong White Wave Army, He Jin stationed troops at Hangu Pass, He Miao stationed troops at Xiaopingjin Pass, and Dong Zhong had already been killed. Luoyang was at its most vulnerable at that time, with no troops other than the city gate officers of Luoyang.

But Wang Fen and the others probably didn't expect that the matter in Liangzhou could be resolved so quickly.

Before they could even finish contacting everyone, the troops that were originally in Xizhou all returned to the various counties in Kanto...

The operation, which was originally supposed to be launched by four or five prefectures, has now been reduced to only Henan. No one dared to move in other places because the prefectural troops had returned to their hometowns, and the prefectures were no longer vulnerable.

Moreover, the emperor created a conflict between the east and the west, gaining a considerable number of troops from the western states, so Luoyang is no longer vulnerable.

Wang Fen and the others weren't stupid. They originally just wanted to take advantage of the situation, but who knew that the emperor would actually conjure soldiers out of beans?
As a result, only Xingyang was left to barely maintain a ragtag army.

The reason Xingyang was able to maintain its status was not because of Wang Fen, but because of Tao Qiuhong.

Tao Qiuhong's determination was much stronger than others, but this determination was not to rebel, but to 'rebel in Liu Bei's name'.

Tao Qiuhong is now a staunch smear campaigner; he'd rather die than give up on Liu Bei...

He was smeared by Liu Bei, going from "the most outstanding scholar in Qingzhou" to "a cruel eunuch official," becoming a laughingstock, and he could never swallow this insult.

Therefore, under the pretext of fleeing and transporting old money, he brought the people he had organized in Qingzhou to Xingyang, where they joined up with the troops that were already in Xingyang.

He bribed Sun Jian to intercept and kill Liu Bei, and then caused trouble after Liu Bei's troops passed through Hangu Pass. For Tao Qiuhong, whether the rebellion succeeded or not was irrelevant; all that mattered was killing or discrediting Liu Bei.

If this plan succeeds, Tao Qiuhong could even "quell the rebellion" and attack "Liu Bei's rebel army"...

However, Sun Jian had actually made two plans—if the attack on Liu Bei succeeded, it would fulfill his deal with Tao Qiu Hong. If it failed, he would immediately defect to the imperial court to lead troops to quell the rebellion; either way was fine…

The rebels were numerous, so Cao Cao did not launch a direct attack on Tao Qiuhong's rebel army. Instead, he retreated ten miles to the vicinity of Bian River to observe the situation.

Sun Jian, on the other hand, was much more direct. He was unaware of Cao Cao's troops and immediately launched a surprise attack upon seeing the rebel army's diverse and varied military formations.

Zhang Fei led his cavalry closely behind, and after Sun Jian broke through the rebel army's formation, he led his cavalry into the enemy lines.

In reality, Zhang Fei didn't care about friendly forces or not. Anyway, Sun Jian's troops looked like rebels mixed in with the enemy, and they killed almost indiscriminately when they charged.

Unexpectedly, Sun Jian admired Zhang Fei's demeanor and even turned to Cheng Pu, saying, "This is exactly the momentum of breaking through the enemy lines! This is a valiant general; we should stand shoulder to shoulder with him!"

(End of this chapter)