Cao Cao

“ Xuande, Guan and Zhang led a number of people on horseback, and followed behind Gongsun Zan. Cao Cao welcomed them as a steady stream of nobles were also arriving. Each army set up their own camp, in a string of camps that stretched more than 200 li. [11] Cao slaughtered a bull and a horse, then convened all of the nobles to discuss plans for a military advance. Commandery governor Wang Kuang said, "Today, we come together for the sake of justice. We must decide on a leader for our alliance, and everyone must abide by that decision, before we can advance our armies." ”

“ After they fed their horses, Cao Cao was the first to go to sleep. Chen Gong thought to himself, "I mistakenly believed that Cao Cao was a good person, so I abandoned my post to follow him; it turns out that he is a cruel hearted man! If I stay with him from now on, there will be consequences for sure." He then drew his sword to kill Cao Cao. It was a case of:
He is filled with venom for an unjust man; it turns out that Cao and Zhuo are of the same ilk. ”

“ Suddenly, Zhang Fei came out from behind Xuande, and said in a loud voice, "Now that my brother has taken down Hua Xiong, we should fight our way past the pass, and arrest Dong Zhuo; what are we waiting for!" Yuan Shu was outraged, and said, "We senior ministers have been deferential this whole time. How dare this lowly soldier, serving under a county governor, put on such a bellicose display! Get them all out of this tent!" Cao Cao said, "We should reward men of achievement, why make a big deal out of their social status?" ”

“ The evil minister Dong Zhuo deposed the young emperor, and his successor Liu Xie was weak and frightened by his own dreams. Cao Cao distributed an official call to arms throughout the land, and all of the nobles became angry and raised armies. After discussing the matter, they agreed to make Yuan Shao the leader of their alliance, and promised to bring stability and peace to the royal household. Marquis of Wen Lü Bu had no equal among men; the brave and talented came from all over, and bragged about their abilities. ”

“ When Cao heard that an emissary of the emperor had arrived, he invited him in for a meeting. As soon as he saw how striking and vibrant the man looked, Cao thought to himself, "Dong Commandery is now in the throws of a great famine. Bureaucrats, soldiers and civilians alike all look like skeletons. How is it that this man alone looks so plump?" ”

“ Cao was overjoyed, and began training the soldiers and cavalry right there within the village. Wei Hong used a considerable amount of his family's financial resources to purchase body armor and banners. Provisions came from all over, in numbers too great to count.
5 時袁紹得操矯詔,乃聚麾下文武,引兵三萬,離渤海來與曹操會盟。操作檄文以達諸郡。檄文曰: When Yuan Shao obtained the forged imperial edict, he gathered everyone under his command, both military and civilian alike. He led a total of 30,000 soldiers from Bohai to meet up with Cao Cao and form an alliance. ”

“ Mi Zhu was then brought in to meet with Xuande. Mi Zhu gave a detailed account of how Zhang Kai had killed Cao Song, how Cao Cao had now set his army loose to plunder and surround Xuzhou, and how Mi Zhu had come here to ask for assistance. Xuande said, "Tao Gongzu is a benevolent gentleman. I would not have expected that he could be the recipient of this kind of baseless accusation." Kong Rong said, "You are personally related the house of Han. Cao Cao is now harming the citizenry. He is using his might to bully the weak. ”

“ Gong said, "Cao Cao is a man who is extremely good at using soldiers; we must prevent him from attacking us while unawares." Accordingly, Bu appointed Gao Shun, along with Wei Xu and Hou Cheng, to lead a force toward Bu's western camp in order to protect it. ”

“ When the emissary met with Cao Cao, he told him that Xuande had not killed Lü Bu. Cao asked Xun Yu, saying, "Your plan did not work, so now what?" Yu said, "I have another idea. It's called 'force the tiger to devour the wolf'." Cao said, "How does it work?" Yu said, "You can discreetly send someone to Yuan Shu's camp to tell him that Liu Bei secretly petitioned the emperor to make a move against Nan Commandery. When Shu hears that, he will become outraged and launch an attack against Bei. Following that, you will send an imperial decree to Liu Bei, ordering him to go after Yuan Shu. ”

“ Chia Huan readily replied, "when Ying Erh insulted me, and deprived me of my money, and brother Pao-yü drove me away."
"Ts'ui!" exclaimed Mrs. Chao, "who bade you (presume so high) as to get up into that lofty tray? You low and barefaced thing! What place is there that you can't go to and play; and who told you to run over there and bring upon yourself all this shame?"
As she spoke, lady Feng was, by a strange coincidence, passing outside under the window; so that every word reached her ear, and she speedily asked from outside the window: "What are you up to in this happy first moon? ”

“ Emperor Gaozu of Han held a funeral for Emperor Yi, thereby winning over the populace to his side! In our time, the Son of Heaven was forced to flee. If you could really use this as a pretext to raise an army and prop up the emperor in order to satisfy the expectations of the public, it would be an exceedingly rare and brilliant strategy. If you don't act quickly, someone else will get there before us." Cao Cao was overjoyed. He was just about to raise his army, when he suddenly received a report that an imperial envoy had delivered a decree summoning him to court. ”

“ Why ask more questions!" The county governor ordered his attendants to withdraw, and then said to Cao, "Don't think so little of me. I'm not some yokel official; I just haven't yet met someone to call lord, that's all." Cao said, "My ancestors have eaten the bounty of the Han for generations. If I didn't think of a way to serve my country, how would I be any different from an animal? I subjugated myself to Zhuo because I wanted to seize upon the opportunity to plot against him, so that this evil could be removed from the world. The fact that I was not successful is the will of heaven!" ”

“ Yuan Shu Yuan Shao and Cao Cao then each selected five hundred elite soldiers, and placed Yuan Shao's younger brother Yuan Shu in command of them. Yuan Shu, clad in full-body armor, lined up his soldiers outside of Qingsuo Gate. Shao and Cao wore straight swords on their hips, and escorted He Jin to the front of Changle Palace. The eunuchs delivered a decree from the empress; it stated, "The empress dowager has summoned the supreme general, no one else may enter." They forced Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and the others to remain outside of the Palace Gate. He Jin boldly walked straight in. ”

“ If the emperor granted an individual the right to carry a tally, that individual was empowered, among other things, to execute anyone who violated military orders. If the emperor granted someone the right to carry the yellow battle-axe, that person was authorized to command armies both at home and abroad.↑ From this passage, we can see that Cao Cao has, by this point, consolidated his control over both military and civil functions of government.↑ Fan Kuai was a brave general that had served under Emperor Gaozu of Han. ”

“ Cao made several toasts, then said, "Now that we have a leader for our alliance, each must proceed to where they are assigned; we must all help out our nation, regardless of whether we are strong or weak." Yuan Shao said, "I am not a talented man. However, I have been nominated to be the leader of this alliance. Therefore, those among us who meet with success shall be rewarded; those among us who commit an offense shall be punished. Our country has its penal system, and our army has its system of discipline. ”

“ If we were to kill him now, the public would not be with us; it would be better to continue treating him as the ruler so that we can trick the nobles into coming through the pass, thereby cutting off his wings; once we have done that, we can kill him; then, the world will be ours to do with as we please." Li and Guo followed this advice, and stayed their weapons. From the top of the gate, the emperor intoned, "Wang Yun has been killed, why have your troops not withdrawn?" Li Jue and Guo Si said, "We have done a favor for the royal household, but have not yet been granted a rank of nobility. ”

“ The entire region to the east of the mountains had been conquered by Cao Cao. It goes without saying that he pacified the locals and rebuilt the cities.
30 卻說呂布正走,逢諸將皆回。陳宮亦已尋著。布曰:「吾軍雖少,尚可破曹。」遂再引軍來。正是:兵家勝敗真常事,捲甲重來未可知。不知呂布勝負如何,且看下文分解。 Let us now turn to Lü Bu, who had once again regrouped with his generals. Chen Gong had also already managed to find Bu. Bu said, "Our army is small, but it can still defeat Cao." With that, he once again led out his army. It was a case of:
A military man has many victories and many defeats; who can know whether he will return again after having been routed. ”

“ There were no chickens, dogs or any other signs of human life. After first sending in soldiers to put out the fires, he ordered all of the nobles to make each of their camps on the desolate earth. Cao Cao came to see Yuan Shao, saying, "The traitor Dong is now headed west; we can seize the opportunity to catch up with him. Benchu, why have you halted the troops?" Shao said, "All of the soldiers are tired; I'm afraid that there would be no benefit to advancing on the enemy." Cao said, "The traitor Dong has burned down the imperial palace, and kidnapped the Son of Heaven. ”

“ Cao immediately ordered someone to check it out. Dong Zhao said, "It's Li Jue's former general Yang Feng and White Wave leader Han Xian. Because you came here, they led their army toward Daliang. Cao said, "Could it be that they are suspicious of me?" Zhao said, "They are clueless. There's no need for you to worry yourself over them." Cao then said, "What should I do about Li and Guo?" Zhao said, "They are like a tiger without claws and a bird without wings. Before long, they will be captured by your men. They're not worth fretting over." ”

“ With a flourish of his halberd, Lü Bu smacked his horse on the rump, and rode out to intercept him. After more than ten bouts, a swipe of his halberd had cut off Anguo's hand at the wrist. He threw his mallet on the ground, and rode off. As soon as the soldiers from all eight armies had come out in unison to rescue Wu Anguo, Lü Bu retreated. All of the nobles returned to camp to discuss the matter. Cao Cao said, "Lü Bu is brave and has no equal in battle; we should gather the eighteen nobles to come up with a good strategy. If we were to capture Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo would be easy to kill." ”

“ As he neared Cao's camp, the sound of war drums rang out. Hidden soldiers sprang up from all sides. Lü Bu fought for his life in order to escape, sacrificing a number of men and horses in the process. He returned in defeat to Puyang; he holed up in the city, and did not come out. ”

“ Cao said, "Dong Zhuo has amassed troops at Hulao. He has been blocking the way of our nobles. We should take half of our soldiers to meet the enemy." Shao then dispatched eight of the nobles -- Wang Kuang, Qiao Mao, Bao Xin, Yuan Yi, Kong Rong, Zhang Yang, Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan -- to head toward Hulao Pass to meet the enemy. Cao led an army that would reinforce them. Each of the eight nobles formed their armies. Governor of Henei Commandery, Wang Kuang was the first to arrive with his soldiers. Lü Bu rapidly responded by leading a contingent of 3,000 armored cavalry out to face them. ”

“ Cao ordered Dian Wei and Xu Chu to be in the lead force. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were placed in charge of the Army of the Left, Li Dian and Yue Jin were placed in charge of the Army of the Right, Cao personally took command of the Army of the Center, and Yu Jin and Lü Qian brought up the rear. When Cao's armies arrived at Puyang, Lü Bu wanted to personally go out to meet them, but Chen Gong admonished, "You must not engage them in battle. Wait for all of your generals to gather, before doing anything." Lü Bu said, "I'm not afraid of anyone." ”

“ Tao Qian entered the city, then gathered everyone in order to deliberate on a strategy. He said, "Cao's army cannot be stopped. I should tie myself up and go to Cao's camp. I will allow myself to be cut to pieces in order to save the citizens of Xuzhou." Before he had finished speaking, someone stepped forward and said, "Governor, you have maintained law and order in Xuzhou for a long time now. The people are grateful. Even though Cao's army is vast, it cannot breach the walls of our city. You and the citizens should stay in the city and defend yourselves. ”

“ The capital at Xu belongs to Earth. If you go there, you are sure to prosper. Fire can generate Earth, and Earth can have an abundance of Trees. This fits exactly with the words of Dong Zhao and Wang Li. You will surely prosper there in the future."
17 操意遂決;次日,入見帝,奏曰:「東都荒廢久矣,不可修葺;更兼轉運糧食艱辛。許都地近魯陽,城郭宮室,錢糧民物,足可備用。臣敢請駕幸許都,惟陛下從之。」帝不敢不從;群臣皆懼操勢,亦莫敢有異議;遂擇日起駕。操引軍護行,百官皆從。行不到數程,前至一高陵。忽然喊聲大舉,楊奉、韓暹,領兵攔路。徐晃當先,大叫「曹操欲劫駕何往!」 With that, Cao made up his mind. The next day, he met with the emperor and stated his case, saying, "The eastern capital has been in a state of ruins for a long time now. ”

“ Forcing herself however again to put on a smile, she clasped old lady Chia's and madame Wang's hands, and could not bring herself to let them go; while she repeatedly impressed upon their minds: that there was no need to give way to any solicitude, and that they should take good care of their healths; that the grace of the present emperor was so vast, that once a month he would grant permission for them to enter the palace and pay her a visit. "It is easy enough for us to see each other," (she said,) "and why should we indulge in any excess of grief? ”