When Kong Rong saw Cao Jun's brazen attack, he couldn't help but became furious and shouted: "Stop!"
"The Emperor will never issue an edict to order you to kill people!"
"You follow me to see the emperor and argue the case!"
Cao Chun sneered and said: "Since the emperor has no edict, then the envoy has the final say!"
"Kill them all!"
Seeing that his family members were also slashed by Cao Bing's swords, and the old, young, women and children were wailing all over the place, Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao yelled and cursed, so they rushed to stop them, but were kicked to the ground by Cao Bing and could not get up.
Kong Rong's eyes were about to burst when he saw the general who had led him into the city resisting on the shore with a knife, but his body was pierced by more than a dozen spears from Cao's army, and his body was poured into the water and floated away.
Within a moment, Zhang Miao's brothers and their family members were all hacked to death. Seeing the remaining Chenliu soldiers and civilians, they swam back into the water one after another, but were shot to death by Cao Jun's arrows. The water was gradually filled with corpses.
Kong Rong's face was full of bitterness and he said to Zhang Miao: "Meng Zhuo, it was me who harmed you!"
Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao were full of resentment, "Wen Ju, stop talking. When I meet the emperor, I will definitely impeach the traitor Cao in court, and I will never let him go!"
Kong Rong gritted his teeth, "Cao Cao is a shameless villain, I will fight him till death!"
Facing Cao Bing, Kong Rong was helpless, so he had to have Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao carried into the carriage and asked the coachman to leave. Before leaving, Kong Rong spat hard at Cao Chun.
A general came up beside Cao Chun, held down the handle of the knife, and whispered to Cao Chun: "General, do you want to send troops to follow and kill them in a deserted place?"
Cao Chun thought for a while, shook his head and said, "Let's forget it. Now Kong Rong is the emperor's envoy. It's hard to do anything without justifiable reasons."
"If something happens to them, everyone will know what they did to us, and it will be difficult for you to explain it in front of the emperor."
"My previous command to spare the lives of a few of them shows that these people are not worth mentioning. Let them go."
Kong Rong and Zhang Miao's carriage left alone. The soldiers and civilians of Chen Liu behind him had no way to escape and were all killed. Puyang City was finally captured by Cao's army.
The Chenliu Rebellion initiated by Lu Bu and Zhang Chao two years ago and secretly promoted by Yuan Xi subsided, and Cao Cao finally pacified the entire territory of Yanzhou.
Afterwards, Zhang Miao was ordered by the emperor to surrender Kaicheng, Puyang fell, and the news that the whole city was massacred reached Yecheng, Yuan Xi was in a trance for a moment.
Is it really worth it for the Yanzhou war to end like this?
Why did Cao's army massacre the city after Zhang Miao surrendered?
When Yuan Xi left Huaicheng, he clearly understood that there was no order to massacre the city in the emperor's edict!
Cao Cao took advantage of the imperial edict's loophole, which was obviously to scare the monkeys, but the question is, was this to frighten the ministers, or to frighten Liu Xie?
Yuan Xi felt that Cao Cao's intention was definitely not to disgust Kong Rong and Zhang Miao. He smelled a sinister smell in it. The fact that he was so confident could only mean that Cao Cao's power around the emperor was much greater than he imagined.
Thinking of this, he wrote a letter to Lu Bu, asking him to be careful about Cao Cao's movements. If Lu Bu could not defeat Cao Cao, Huaicheng would become the second Xu County, and Cao Cao would be able to control Liu Xie without any scruples.
Yuan Xi was unsure. Did he expect too much from Lu Bu?
At present, it seems that Lu Bu may not be able to take on the position of general.
At the same time, Yuan Shao also received news of Zhang Miao's surrender and summoned Yuan Xi to discuss matters.
Yuan Xi walked out of the house and found Lu Lingqi talking to Guo Jia's wife Dong in the garden. Guo Yi was sitting on a stone bench and reading the bamboo slips in his hand.
He suddenly remembered that there were not many family members in Yecheng Mansion. When he left Yecheng, he took away Huan's mother and daughter, and later asked Taishi Ci to take the family members to Guangling, so only Guo Jia was left in the manor. The wife has a son.
Now it seems that Yecheng is no longer suitable to keep people here. The Cao family will not be in a good situation if they take Guo Yi. It is better to let him live in Jicheng, and it is not an option for Guo Yi to be taken by the Cao family all the time. If you want to make progress, you have to go to Jicheng to study for free.
Thinking of this, he walked forward, touched Guo Yi's head, and said with a smile, "Do you want to see your father?"
Guo Yi immediately replied: "I think so."
Yuan Xi laughed and said to Mrs. Cao: "My wife has worked hard these past two years. As soon as things come to an end here, I will send my wife and children to Jicheng."
Mrs. Dong quickly thanked her, but Yuan Xi felt moved at this moment and said, "Does Madam have anything to do with General Dong Cheng?"
Dong raised his head in surprise, "How do you know?"
"I am indeed somewhat distantly related to him."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled at Lu Lingqi and said, "In this sense, we are all a family."
Dong Cheng previously relied on Cao Cao to deal with Bai Bo's army, but Cao Cao eliminated General Bai Bo and immediately turned around to deal with Dong Cheng. Dong Cheng was scared to death and quickly defected to Lu Bu.
Now, in order to deal with Cao Cao together, the two of them are hugged together for warmth, and they can be regarded as allies, so Yuan Xicai said this to Lu Lingqi.
However, Yuan Xi didn't pay much attention to it. It was difficult to establish a relationship with Dong Cheng just because Dong was a distant relative of a woman, so he said a few words to Dong and rushed to see Yuan Shao.
As expected, Yuan Shao called Yuan Xi over to discuss how to persuade Zang Hong of Dongwuyang to surrender.
Yuan Xi heard the string and understood the elegant meaning. He knew that Yuan Shao could not save face, so he immediately said: "Leave this matter to me."
"I have a special status. I belong to the Yuan family, but compared to the independent envoy, I am also an envoy of the emperor. Zang Hong should also think about it carefully."
"Although the emperor's edict was not given directly to Zang Hong, it is ambiguous. It should be useful for me to convince Zang Hong with it. After all, Cao Cao can use the edict to deceive Brother Zhang Miao."
"If Zang Hong wasn't stupid, he wouldn't tell the truth even if he saw it. After all, Dong Wuyang is a dead end, unless he wants to drag the whole city to be buried with him."
After hearing this, Yuan Shao snorted coldly, "If he had no problem with his mind, why would he do such a thing!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Indeed, I don't understand either. If he wants to save Zhang Miao, he can send troops to rescue him, so why would the whole city rebel."
"I'm afraid that the envoy and Cao Cao are not considered to be the same group."
Yuan Shao snorted: "Stupid!"
"If it weren't for the emperor's mediation, I would definitely break the city and kill him!"
Yuan Xi advised: "Ignore the countermeasures for now, Zang Hong's behavior will be praised by the world as an act of loyalty, so if you kill him, you will be criticized by the world."
Yuan Shao snorted coldly. He had to admit that what Yuan Xi said was the truth. Now he and Zang Hong could not look back. If Yuan Xi had not intervened, Yuan Shao would have killed Zang Hong.
Otherwise, if Zang Hong's life is kept, his subordinates will rebel if they want to in the long run. Where is the prestige of the Yuan family?
Today, we have the emperor as a shield. If we can solve this problem, both the emperor and the Yuan family will have face, which is the best outcome.
Thinking of this, he nodded and said: "Yes, I will ask Tian Feng to accompany you."
Yuan Xi accepted the order and asked: "How to deal with Zang Hong?"
Yuan Shao thought for a while, "Dong Wuyang can't let him stay."
"Even Jizhou is not suitable for him to stay."
"You can find a way to take him away. You can arrange it to Youzhou or Xuzhou. Just don't let him appear in front of me."
Yuan Xi smiled bitterly. It was really difficult for him to arrange for someone with such a brain like Zang Hong. However, since Yuan Shao proposed it, he had to agree. After all, if he helped Yuan Shao solve his troubles, the other party would definitely get something in return.
He immediately responded: "In that case, I will leave for Dongwuyang now. If everything goes well, the journey of a hundred miles will be back in a few days."
Yuan Shao looked pleased, "I always feel at ease when you do things."
When Yuan Xi stood up to leave, Yuan Shao stopped him and said, "You have done a lot of things for the Yuan family and suffered a lot of difficulties. I will remember them all."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi bowed and went out.
Yuan Xi took Tian Feng, Zhao Yun, and hundreds of soldiers to visit Dongwuyang. Things went surprisingly smoothly, and none of the setbacks that had been predicted before happened.
When Yuan Xi arrived at the city, he took out the emperor's edict, went to the city to see Zang Hong, and said vaguely that it was Liu Xie's wish. Zang Hong agreed to open the city and surrender after getting a promise from the soldiers and people in the city to forget the blame.
Yuan Xi was surprised to see Zang Hong's straightforwardness, and then he realized that Zang Hong dared to be the leader of the jujube coalition back then, which showed that he was still very loyal to the Han Dynasty, so the emperor's edict was extremely convincing to him.
However, although this person is bold and bold, his brain circuit is different from that of ordinary people. How to arrange him is really a troublesome problem for Yuan Xi. Who knows if Zang Hong will lose his mind one day and turn against himself?
At this time, he and Tian Feng were standing at the top of the city, watching Gao Lanjun file into the city. Tian Feng patted the bricks on the wall at the top of the city and sighed: "This time, I have come and gone, but I haven't had any effect at all. It's really boring!"
Yuan Xi laughed. He did not expect Zang Hong to be so straightforward, so that when Tian Feng came, he was eager to make a fuss and his intention was completely in vain.
He took the opportunity and said, "I have something to ask for advice. According to what I saw, how should I arrange Zang Hong?"
When Tian Feng came, he knew what Yuan Shao meant. He stroked his beard and said, "This request from Duke Benchu is indeed a bit too much."
"Who dares to easily take in a subordinate who has committed betrayal?"
Yuan Xi's heart moved, "Isn't that Marquis Wen..."
Tian Feng said coldly: "This is a choice to uphold one's own integrity."
"If you can't uphold the moral principles consistently and have no bottom line in doing things for profit, even if you can gain the support of many people for a while, trouble will eventually occur."
"Taking refuge in such a lord shows that those people are originally profit-seeking and unjust. If the lord loses power or is in trouble, they will immediately choose a more powerful side."
"These people can only be rich and powerful together, not poor and lowly."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi thought thoughtfully, isn't this the Cao Cao of later generations?
Although in order to attract talents, he put forward the argument that talent is more important than morality, it did attract a large number of talented and ambitious people to join him.
But many of these people took refuge in Cao Cao purely for profit and strength, but they did not have much loyalty to Cao Cao himself.
Therefore, when Sima usurped Wei, few of Cao Cao's officials came out to oppose it.
Although this is partly because Cao lost people's hearts, it also shows that this mechanism of selecting talents is still very risky.
During the Battle of Guandu, many of Cao Cao's subordinates secretly defected to collude with Yuan Shao, which is clear evidence of this.
Cao Cao also knew that there were so many people involved that he could not pursue them, so he burned them with fire.
From this point of view, Cao Cao was still very magnanimous, including Zhang Xiu's troops killing Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, Dianwei and others. Cao Cao was able to marry them in the end, which Yuan Xi thought he could not do.
If it were him, he would definitely seek revenge until death.
Yuan Xi originally thought that Cao Cao's approach was the lord's magnanimity. However, in Tian Feng's words, Cao Cao's approach was called unprincipled.
This is actually an encouragement to Yuan Xi. After all, according to his current thinking, he is closer to Liu Bei who will avenge Guan Yu in later generations and is ready to fight the Black Mountain Army for Qu Yi's matter.
Yuan Xi also knew that his approach was somewhat motivated, but his inner behavior was indeed more inclined to Liu Bei than Cao Cao.
(End of chapter)
