Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 112 Impossible! How could my Yun Chang be defeated by Ji Ling?

This is the day!
Ji Ling defeated Lü Bu in one move, and his fame shook the land.

At the same time, news broke of Ji Ling's three-pronged defeat of Guan Yu, Liu Bei's disastrous defeat at Changping, and Yuan Shu's march into Liang.

It had already been widely discussed among the various warlords.

Meanwhile, in Chang'an, the western capital, troops were also engaged in a standoff.

It was precisely by following Xi Zhicai's plan that he decided to seize the opportunity when Li and Guo were weak, and Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao were both restrained, so as to take advantage of the situation to seize the Han Left Chancellor Cao Cao in Guanzhong.

As the emperor established his capital in Luoyang, the city, which had been burned down, was still being rebuilt.

But the Han Dynasty, now stable, was able to officially demonstrate its final brilliance as the central authority of the dynasty in its twilight years.

Cao Cao accepted Xun You's plan and appointed Duan Wei as "General Who Pacifies the South" and Marquis of Hanxiang.

Duan Wei was a former subordinate of Dong Zhuo. When Dong Zhuo retreated westward from Chang'an, he ordered Duan Wei to garrison troops in Huayin to defend against the Guandong coalition.

After that, he focused on agriculture and building up his power in Huayin. He neither joined Li and Guo in counterattacking Chang'an, nor did he suffer significant losses during the major event of the emperor's eastward flight.

It can be said that after a series of chaotic battles, including the falling out between Li Jue and Guo Si, which caused chaos in Chang'an, the emperor's flight to the east, and Zhang Ji's death in Nanyang, the two sides were exhausted by each other.

Duan Wei, who was farming in Huayin, and his 30,000 well-preserved Xiliang troops, surprisingly rose to become the hegemon of Guanzhong without doing anything.

Actually, it wasn't that he didn't want to participate. When the emperor fled east, he also wanted to come and provide supplies and protect the emperor.

However, he had a grudge against the people in the loyalist army who were close to the emperor at the time, so he was rejected and failed to succeed. Instead, he preserved his strength to this day.

However, Duan Wei himself did not have much ambition. Now that he heard that the court had finally pardoned him, a former subordinate of Dong Zhuo, and even granted him an official position and title, how could he not be overjoyed?

Subsequently, Duan Wei received an imperial edict and was dispatched to follow the orders of Cao Cao, the Chancellor of Han, to join forces with other generals in Guanzhong to suppress the remnants of Li Jue and Guo Si.

So they agreed.

Cao Cao was no longer the same as before. He now possessed the sharpest sword in the Han Dynasty: the Luoyang court!
This was the very weapon he had seized at all costs, a divine weapon forged from the foundation of the Han Dynasty's four-hundred-year-old legacy, a weapon that could slay gods and demons.

Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu did not need such a divine sword, because the prestige of their Yuan family, which had produced four generations of high-ranking officials, was itself a sharp blade forged by the Yuan family through a century of painstaking effort.

Furthermore, the sword of the Han Dynasty can harm both others and oneself.

However, Cao Cao was a descendant of eunuchs, and his family fortune was meager, so he needed such a sword.

After wielding this sword, Cao Cao would be the rightful heir to the Han dynasty and the central authority of the court!
This sword may not be able to suppress the two Yuans, but it can force Liu Bei, the imperial uncle of the Han Dynasty, to attack Yuan Shu, and it can also force Duan Wei of Guanzhong to serve him.

This is what is meant by surrendering to the Han Dynasty but not to Cao Cao!
We are not working for Cao Cao, nor are we his subjects. We are acting for the greater good of the Han Dynasty and are ministers of the Emperor.

But for Cao Cao, that was enough.

Because at this moment, he is the one wielding this divine sword called "The Righteous Lineage of the Han Dynasty".

Wielding a divine weapon and with the seal of the prime minister at his waist, Cao Cao, with the help of Duan Wei, swept through Guanzhong almost as Yuan Shu had once pacified Jiangdong.

This is because Guanzhong was the heartland of the Han Dynasty, and the previous relocation of the capital to Chang'an placed it right under the emperor's nose.

Now that Guanzhong has been ravaged by Li Jue and Guo Si, who can stand against the words "legitimate successor of the Han Dynasty" and stand in the way of the military might of a Han chancellor?
In fact, there are still some.

It was Li Jue and Guo Si!
Although these two bandits are now weaker than before, they still caused Cao Cao a lot of trouble along the way. To this day, they are still stubbornly resisting in Chang'an, holding onto the fortified city, which is giving Cao Cao quite a headache.

At that very moment, Cao Cao finally received the message from Xun Yu sent from Xun You regarding the south.

After reading the letter, Cao Cao's eyes showed a hint of shock and astonishment.

Clearly, the information was too shocking to bear, and even he found it difficult to control his emotions.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Did Ji Ling defeat Guan Yu in three rounds?
There must be something fishy about this matter!

Who is Ji Ling? Guan Yu is unparalleled in this world, how could he be defeated by him?

Before they could even withstand three rounds, they had already fled in defeat.
Rumor! This must be a rumor!

Who is so audacious as to spread rumors about Guan Yu?

Xun You knew that Cao Cao was not disbelieving, but rather too shocked to accept it. Therefore, he waited a moment until Cao Cao calmed down before stepping forward to speak.

"Although the matter of Ji Ling is shocking, my lord need not pay too much attention to it."

Military campaigns are not like battles fought on the battlefield. Even if Xiang Yu were resurrected, he would still be defeated by the overwhelming force of Chu.

The main point of Wenruo's letter was that Liu Bei had been defeated at Changping, and Yuan Shao was likely to raise an army and march north. Jian Yong urgently wrote to the court from Liang to request aid.

His brows were furrowed, clearly indicating that with Xi Zhicai's death, Xun Yu was stationed in Luoyang, and Cheng Yu was leading four armies in the north to contain Yuan Shao.

Therefore, all the pressure from Cao Cao's side fell on him alone.

After a moment's thought, he began to analyze it.

"Liu Xuande was ordered by the Emperor to lead troops to attack Yuan Shao. Now that he has been defeated and is seeking help, my lord, in the name of the greater good of the court, has no choice but to come to his aid."

Moreover, once Yuan Shu completely defeats Liu Bei, there will be no more constraints on him in the south.

Once he has completely conquered Yuzhou, he will become too powerful, and his influence will likely be difficult to control.

Cao Cao sighed, deeply agreeing with this.

“What Gongda said is roughly the same as what I said.”

I have always believed that Liu Bei was a hero of his time and by no means an incompetent person.

I never imagined he was all talk and no action; even with Guan Yu's help, he could be defeated so quickly.

There was a hint of resentment in his words. It was unclear whether he resented Liu Bei's incompetence in not even being able to delay Yuan Shu, or he was angry that Guan Yu had wasted his talent.

But he quickly calmed down and said:

"At this critical moment, Liu Bei must be saved, but with our army focused on capturing Chang'an, where would we find the troops to aid Liang?"

(End of this chapter)