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

Chapter 165 Yuan Shu is arrogant and tyrannical; please, Prime Minister, send troops to punish him.
In fact, Cao Cao was forced into this situation by Yuan Shu. Every general he sent to fight Yuan Shu surrendered.

Regardless of whether their surrender is genuine or not, if this continues, it won't be a big deal!

When the time comes to fight Yuan Shu, all the generals will think that surrendering is no big deal, and at worst they will go to the Golden Terrace.

How can we fight this war? Can we win future wars?
It can be said that Xiahou Dun set a very bad precedent, and at that time he was powerless against the Xiahou family.

The Cao and Xiahou families are closely related; it's impossible for them to cut off their own arm just because of Xiahou Dun.
However, because Xiahou Dun was in Yuan's camp, he was too far away to do anything about him.

This makes surrendering to Yuan Shu seem like a costless and effortless act, which is why figures like Mao Jie, Yue Jin, and Xiahou Ba emerged.

If this continues, the morale of Cao Cao's camp will collapse without a fight!
Golden Terrace! What a magnificent Golden Terrace!

But others cannot imitate it.

There's no other reason than that if we only consider the amount of money and provisions in the world, Yuan Shu is the most powerful among all the warlords, and no one can match him.

When you follow his example and build the Golden Terrace, however much you contribute, Yuan Shu will directly contribute double. How can you possibly compete with that?

Since simply increasing benefits couldn't compete with spending money, Cao Cao was left with only his sword, which was still sharp.

Le Jin's defection to Yuan Shikai is a fait accompli and cannot be reversed. Since that is the case, it would be better to use Le Jin's family to establish a rule as a warning to others.

Starting with Yue Jin, all those who surrendered thereafter were exterminated along with their entire families, with killing used to stop the surrender.

Want to surrender? First, consider whether your family can withstand the blade of Prime Minister Cao of the Han Dynasty!

As for Xiahou Ba? He was just a minor general. He must have been coerced by that traitor Yue Jin and forced to surrender after his resistance failed.

Regardless of Cao Cao's true feelings towards Xiahou Ba and Xiahou Yuan, the Xiahou family remains a solid foundation for the Cao family and cannot be easily shaken.

Of course, Cao Cao would give further instructions to Xiahou Yuan and his own Cao family afterward.

If you ever feel that you might fall into Yuan Shu's hands, commit suicide immediately. You must never give Yuan Shu any leverage to undermine the people's morale.

In the main hall, all the assembled officials felt a chill run down their spines and shudder upon hearing that Cao Cao's murderous intent was so great.

This Han Dynasty Chancellor Cao was so ruthless and cruel even towards his once loyal subjects.

What about those who follow the emperor and oppose him?
The emperor, seated high on his dragon throne, silently nodded, seemingly quite satisfied with the outcome, and said:
“Good! We shall do as the Prime Minister says.”

As far as the emperor was concerned, Yue Jin was not one of his men, so Cao Cao could do whatever he wanted with him, as long as he could shift the main responsibility for the defeat against Yuan Shu onto Yue Jin and help him protect Xu Huang.

Now that the matter of Yue Jin and Xu Huang has been settled, the emperor brought up the second matter.

“Yuan is arrogant and tyrannical. After this defeat, the Liang Kingdom will likely not last long, and the Imperial Uncle is in grave danger in Pei Kingdom.”

Now that the Prime Minister has eliminated the two traitors, Li and Guo, and recovered Chang'an, he can regroup his troops and march south to punish the rebels.

"If we can pacify Huainan and annihilate the rebel Yuan, I will follow the precedent set by the Chu state of the pre-Qin era and appoint the Chancellor as a pillar of the state." For him, it didn't matter who was the rebel or who was the pillar of the state between Yuan Shu and Cao Cao; what mattered was that they had to fight each other and wear each other down.

If Cao Cao had personally led a large army south to attack Yuan Shu, things would have been much easier for him in Luoyang.

Although Xun Yu, the current Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, is also one of Cao Cao's men, his teacher Liu Yao has been testing his heart these days while Cao Cao is away on his campaign against Li and Guo.

It was discovered that although he was a member of Cao Cao's camp, he was also a minister of the emperor, and he secretly harbored a desire to serve the Han dynasty. Perhaps it was possible to win him over.

However, Cao Cao scoffed at the suggestion that he should personally lead the campaign against Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu has been acting like a ghost lately, winning every battle and causing anyone who goes to him to surrender. Cao Cao doesn't want to risk offending him again.

What if I personally lead the troops to fight, but fail? Wouldn't all the hard-won gains in recovering Guanzhong be wasted?
The key issue is that he only has so many troops at his disposal, and he has already suffered considerable losses in the continuous battles against Yuan Shu.

If he hadn't subdued the Western Liang warlord Duan Wei and replenished his forces with many remnants of Li and Guo's Western Liang troops, his army would have been stretched thin long ago.

On the other hand, what about Yuan Shu? Even if he gave it his all and wiped out all 100,000 men that Yuan Shu had sent out to fight?

As long as Yuan Shu returns to Shouchun, he will surely send another 100,000 troops north next spring.

The gap in war potential between the two sides was too great. With Yuan Shu currently displaying his brilliant military prowess, Cao Cao had no intention of continuing to waste time with him.

However, we cannot simply stand by and watch Yuan Shu destroy Liu Bei, seize all of Yu Province, and thus grow powerful.

Therefore, Cao Cao pondered for a moment and replied to the emperor:

"His Majesty had previously issued an edict ordering Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, to send troops to attack Yuan Shao."

Their procrastination has dragged on until now, leading to our repeated defeats. They are truly unworthy of being members of the Han imperial family and descendants of the Liu clan.

Now, Your Majesty may issue twelve imperial edicts in succession, ordering them to send troops to attack Yuan, to restore the Han Dynasty, and to prove their loyalty!

If he does not comply, then he must be harboring rebellious intentions. Therefore, his position as governor should be revoked, and the Imperial Clan Court should be ordered to remove him from the Liu family register and demote him to commoner status.

"You traitor! How dare you, a subject of the Han Dynasty, insult my imperial family!"

Upon hearing Cao Cao's words, how could Liu Yao, who was also a member of the Han imperial family, sit idly by? He rebuked him in court!

There's no other reason than that if Cao Cao can treat Liu Biao this way today, he can treat Liu Yao the same way tomorrow.

However, Cao Cao laughed in the face of Liu Yao's rebuke.

"Grand Tutor Liu, why the rush?"

　Happy Labor day
　　
　
(End of this chapter)