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

Chapter 78 Yuan Shu: Why is the angel performing such a grand ceremony?

If a piece of imperial seal truly had such power, Sun Jian would never have been able to leave the tent of the alliance of the eighteen warlords, and Sun Ce would not have lived to see Yuan Shu adopt him as his son.

Moreover, now that the emperor is in Cao Mengde's hands, even if he issues an imperial edict, the other lords will tacitly believe that he is holding the emperor hostage, and they will inevitably comply in name only.

For example, the last time the emperor issued an edict appointing Liu Bei as the governor of Yu Province, ordering him to attack Yuan Shu in order to relieve the crisis in Yan Province.

Who would have thought that Liu Bei would actually swallow his pride and devise a plan to borrow Yuzhou, thus ruining the scheme of the two tigers fighting each other.

This time, only by following Zhi Cai's plan and obtaining conclusive evidence that Yuan Shu disobeyed the emperor's edict and refused to hand over the imperial seal can we achieve our goal. At that time, Yuan Shu will trample the face of the Han Dynasty and the authority of the emperor into the ground, and other warlords may be happy to see this happen.

However, he, the Han chancellor who assisted the emperor, and Liu Bei, the imperial uncle who supported the Han dynasty, had no choice but to send troops to attack Yuan Shu in order to maintain the last shred of dignity of the Han dynasty.

At that time, Cao Mengde has always been at war with Yuan Gonglu, that traitor, so let's see what reason Liu Huangshu can have not to break the alliance between Yuan and Liu and obey the imperial edict to attack Yuan.
Having obtained the desired imperial edict, and with the military situation in Xu County becoming urgent, Cao Cao immediately took his leave from the emperor's camp to arrange for the envoy to deliver the edict.

Unexpectedly, after leaving the main tent and reaching a secluded spot, he heard someone calling him from behind.

"Prime Minister Cao, please wait."

Looking back, he saw that Dong Zhao, the Imperial Advisor among the Emperor's ministers, had come out and was smiling as he held a cup of imperial wine.

"His Majesty, taking pity on the Prime Minister's hard work, has specially bestowed upon him a cup of imperial wine."

Cao Cao took the wine and drank it, but didn't even touch it to his mouth, completely unconcerned that the wine was soaking his clothes along his beard. He only looked at Dong Zhao.

"What's the matter?"

"I have discovered that today's rumors were all fabricated by Grand Tutor Liu. He is bewitching the emperor and colluding with the ministers, which may be detrimental to the Prime Minister."

Dong Zhao didn't mince words and lowered his voice to tell Cao Cao the whole story. It turned out that although this man was a close minister of the emperor, he had long harbored the intention to defect to Cao Cao and often relayed messages to him.

“I already know that he is one of Yuan Shu’s men.”

Now that the emperor is in my hands, if he doesn't secretly plot something, I'll become suspicious.

Seeing that Cao Cao seemed to have anticipated this and didn't take it seriously, Dong Zhao then offered his advice:
"I and the Prime Minister share a common admiration for righteousness, and thus we offer our sincere hearts."

The reason why the Emperor relies on those who do not respect the Chancellor is that Liu Yao and Yang Biao maintain the relationship among the officials, while Dong Cheng and Yang Feng provide military support.

If the Prime Minister were to overcome the difficulties of governing the country and return the Emperor to the old capital, it would likely create obstacles and make it difficult for him to control the court.

Moreover, Luoyang is exhausted and in dire need of reconstruction. In my opinion, the capital should be moved to Xu, which connects to the Yellow River and Luo River regions in the north and borders Yan and Yu provinces in the south, serving as a vital location for the Prime Minister and enabling the great undertaking to flourish!

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao was speechless for a moment. In order not to shake the morale of the people, he kept the battle situation in Yan and Yu provinces a secret. The emperor and his ministers only knew that he was fighting against Yuan Gonglu, but they did not know the specific details of the battle.

To be fair, given the previous circumstances, Xu County was indeed the most perfect capital city for him.

The problem is that during the time he was there to pick up the emperor, Yuan Gonglu, for some reason, kept attacking the area around Xu County like a mad dog!
They've turned a vital area into a border gateway, and now it's surrounded by Yuan's army. Who knows when it will fall? How can they possibly move the capital now?

Why place the emperor at the border with Yuan Gonglu? Is it because they're afraid the emperor won't die fast enough?
Seeing that Cao Cao remained silent, Dong Zhao bowed respectfully.

"Rest assured, Prime Minister, Zhao will surely persuade the Emperor and his ministers to accomplish this task for you."

"Wait!" Cao Cao quickly stopped him. "This matter is not urgent. Let me think about it some more."

Soon after, Yuan Shu, who was attacking Xu County, suddenly heard a report that an imperial envoy was about to arrive!

Although he did not understand the meaning, he knew that the emperor was now in Cao Cao's hands, and the envoy must have ill intentions.

He then led his ministers to a banquet in the tent to await Jiang Gan's arrival. Considering Jiang Gan's eloquence, he also ordered him to go and greet him.

Upon receiving the order, Jiang Gan was delighted, nodded in agreement, and left, seemingly understanding the message perfectly.

"Rest assured, my lord, I will certainly live up to your expectations."

Yuan Shu hesitated, only asking you to greet the envoy. What's with your attitude of being entrusted with a great task by me?

Before he could call out again, Jiang Gan had already trotted out to greet him.

It is said that this time, because the matter of retrieving the Imperial Seal was of great importance, the emperor's envoy was none other than Fu De, the brother of Empress Fu, who had picked up more than ten bolts of white silk for the emperor on the banks of the Yellow River.

As soon as he arrived at Yuan's camp, he was greeted by a scholar in a turban with a smile. Seeing that the scholar was handsome and eloquent, Fu De, having been greeted by him, found himself chatting with him along the way.

Upon learning of his name, Jiang Gan, a renowned scholar from Jiangnan, Fu De was quite surprised and exchanged pleasantries and flattery with him.

Unexpectedly, this Jiang Gan, Jiang Ziyi, seemed overly enthusiastic, and for reasons unknown, insisted on taking him to visit Yuan's granary.

Fu De was persuaded by his eloquence and couldn't refuse for a moment, so he had no choice but to be dragged along by him.

Little did they know that Jiang Gan had already meticulously arranged things inside the granary.

Having been in Yuan's camp for some time, he already knew that his previous mission was entirely a deliberate attempt to frighten and deceive his lord.

But how could he be the only one to suffer the hardships he endured while serving as an envoy in Yuan's camp?

Unaware of what was happening, Fu De soon witnessed the so-called "granary" of Yuan's camp.

To Jiang Gan's surprise, Fu De, who seemed to have witnessed many horrific scenes during his escape with the emperor to the east, only turned pale but was not shocked.

Jiang Gan was indignant at the time. "I was so scared back then, how dare you not be afraid?"
So he took Fude to visit the "kitchen," introduced him to the "head cook," and invited him to personally take charge of the cooking. He even used his eloquence to fabricate many terrifying rumors related to the kitchen to increase its realism.

This frightened Fu De so much that his legs went weak and he could hardly move. Only then was Jiang Gan satisfied and led him into Yuan Shu's main tent.

When Fu De lifted the curtain and entered the tent to see Yuan Shu, he was surprised to see a large bronze cauldron placed in the center of the banquet, the contents of which were unknown.

Having been frightened and threatened by Jiang Gan all the way, his mind filled with terrifying stories, he could no longer stand steadily. His legs went weak, and he knelt down on the spot.

A surprised voice came from the high platform.

"Why is the angel offering such a grand gesture?"

(End of this chapter)