Wandering the Heavens

Chapter 408 New 3 Kingdoms 48

"My lord, Xu Chu is innocent!" Xun You and Liu Ye hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy.

"Huh? How can Xu Chu be innocent when he killed someone in public?" Cao Cao said angrily.

"This..." Cao Hong took off the wine bag on his body, removed the stopper and poured all the wine inside on Xu Chu and knelt down: "My lord, Xu Chu was drunk and heard Xu You's nonsense, so he took advantage of the wine to commit murder. Please consider it!"

"Xu Chu, is what Cao Hong said true?" Cao Cao asked.

"My lord, Xu Chu didn't drink!" Xu Chu explained after licking the wine that flowed from the corner of his mouth.

These words made Cao Cao, Cao Hong, Xun You, Liu Ye and others blush. Everyone was trying to save your life, but you were just looking for death.

"Come here, Xu Chu took advantage of the alcohol to kill Xu You. Drag him away and give him thirty strokes of the cane." Cao Cao waved his hands helplessly.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Hong hurriedly stood up and waved to the few personal soldiers standing next to him. The personal soldiers stepped forward, carried Xu Chu and left.

"My lord, I haven't drunk any alcohol, I haven't drunk any alcohol!" Xu Chu shouted while struggling.

Cao Hong had no choice but to hold his sword with one hand and cover Xu Chu's mouth with the other to prevent him from shouting.

"Ziyuan..., Sima Yi, go and collect his body and give him a proper burial." Cao Cao said with a face full of sorrow.

"I obey your command." Sima Yi bent his waist and backed away from Yuan Shao's mansion.

"You guys get up!" Cao Cao sighed and asked Xu You and Liu Ye to stand up.

"Thank you, my lord." The two men saluted and stood up and stepped aside.

Sima Yi looked at this clumsy performance, and the look in his eyes dimmed a little. Xu Chu was loyal to Cao Cao but also stubborn. With his deadly martial arts and supernatural powers, would he have to live in humiliation under Cao's shadow for the rest of his life?

Moreover, Cao Cao didn't even look at him during this show. He worked so hard to serve him, but he couldn't even get the basic trust. He was extremely disappointed when he thought of this, but as long as Cao Cao was still around, he was an insurmountable shadow for him. Fortunately, this old man didn't have many years to live, and he was still young.

Cao Cao would not care about Sima Yi's thoughts. Now that Yecheng had fallen into his hands, there was still work to be done. First, he ordered the collection of Yuan Shang's body. However, since the body had been burned to ashes, it was impossible to collect it. So he could only build a cenotaph for him next to Yuan Shao's tomb.

After offering sacrifices to Yuan Shao, Cao Cao immediately integrated the army in Yecheng, asked Liu Ye to be responsible for supervising the construction of palaces in Yecheng, and Mao Jie went to Luoyang to prepare for the Western Expedition. At the same time, he sent someone to Xu County to send a message to Cao Pi, asking him to pack up and move.

Yu Jin and Xun You led 70,000 troops to attack Bingzhou in the north and recapture Gaogan there. Cao Cao himself led a large army to attack Jizhou and Youzhou in the east.

Wen Chou, like his good brother Yan Liang, was a very good general. One of them protected Yuan Shang and the other protected Yuan Xi. He was determined to fight Cao Cao to the death.

But no matter what, he was the only capable person left by Yuan Shao. Cao Cao was eager to end the battle in Hebei as soon as possible, so he carried out a bloody massacre after conquering the cities that were loyal to the Yuan family and fought desperately, in order to force Yuan Xi to surrender.

Cao Cao only brought Cao Hong and Sima Yi with him this time. The advisers who could speak to him, such as Mao Jie and Man Chong, were not around, and they could not persuade Cao Cao to go crazy. Cao Hong refused to carry out Cao Cao's order to massacre the city, but Sima Yi took the initiative to lead the massacre in person.

Yu Xian didn't expect that Cao Cao would be so crazy to pave the way for his descendants, making the land of Jizhou covered with mourning. The dragon slayer eventually became an evil dragon.

Yuan Xi was frightened by Cao Cao's bloody massacre, and ordered the separatist cities to surrender. He took Wen Chou and the last of his troops from Yuguan into Liaodong, expelled Gongsun Yuan, and changed the hands of several counties outside the pass.

With Yuan Xi's defeat in Liaodong and Cao Cao's capture of several counties within Youzhou, Yuan Shao's forces now only had Yuan Tan, who ruled Guanzhong. As long as he could capture Guanzhong, he could ascend the throne and become emperor.

This is what Cao Cao thought. Just when he was feeling proud and confident, he suddenly had health problems.

To be precise, after the massacre began, he did not sleep well every night, dreaming of his son Cao Ang and general Dian Wei, who were killed by him, and his dead father Cao Song. In addition to these familiar people, there were many strangers who were wearing short shirts and looked at Cao Cao silently.

Cao Cao's lack of rest made his already bad headache worse. He cried out in pain every other day and tried to get a moment's relief by rolling around in the carriage or banging his head against the wooden boards, but he was unable to do anything.

Cao Hong could only arrange Li Dian in Ji County to temporarily take charge of the defense of Youzhou to prevent harassment from the Xianbei and counterattack from Yuan Xi, and sent a message to Xiahou Dun in Beihai to come quickly. After making arrangements, he hurriedly returned to Yecheng with Cao Cao.

The high-intensity march made Cao Cao's health worse and worse due to his increasingly severe headaches. At night, he was even seen holding the Yitian Sword and running around like a madman, muttering to himself that he deserved to die because he was ignorant of the current situation.

Cao Hong had no way to deal with this, but the light in Sima Yi's eyes became brighter and brighter.

After rushing back to Yecheng, Cao Cao was carried into the city. His head hurt more and more every day, and his body also had problems due to lack of rest during this period.

All the teeth in his mouth had fallen out and there were ulcers everywhere. It hurt to swallow saliva and he cried. Most of his hair had fallen out and he had alopecia. His vision had also become blurry and he couldn't see who was in front of him. Because of this, he killed several eunuchs and even slashed Sima Yi with a sword.

Cao Cao is now so thin that he is just skin and bones. He is so dry that he looks like a breathing skeleton, which makes people shudder.

"Zi Lian, how did the lord become like this?"

After Liu Ye settled Cao Cao, he quickly pulled Cao Hong aside to question him.

Cao Hong could only tell the truth. Ever since Cao Cao ordered the massacre, his headaches had become worse and worse, leading to his current state. Some people privately said that Cao Cao had done too many immoral things, and God didn't want him to live too well, so he sent down disasters to torture him.

Liu Ye believed it. He had heard reports of what Cao Cao had done in Jizhou and Youzhou a long time ago. Now it was really retribution. However, Cao Cao was in a state where he could not handle his affairs properly. He had to determine the position of the heir as soon as possible, but his sons were still in Xu County.

Thinking of this, Liu Ye hurriedly grabbed Cao Hong's hand and said, "Zi Lian, go to Xu County and tell the princes to come to Yecheng. You must hurry, or something bad will happen!"

"Mr. Zi Yang, what do you mean?" Cao Hong didn't expect Liu Ye to think so badly.

"Yes, and Yuan Rang as well. He is highly respected and virtuous. Let him come too!" Liu Ye's grip became stronger and stronger.

Cao Hong's face became solemn. Cao Cao was indeed a piece of shit. But if he died in such an unclear way, the people and forces that followed him would probably fall apart. By then, not to mention the people under his rule, their families that were closely related to Cao Cao would also be involved and die without a burial place.