Chapter 140: A Traitorous Hero Begins to Take Shape

No matter how chaotic Zhongshan became, it could never rival the chaos of the Central Plains.

Yanzhou, the Inspector’s Residence.

"In times of great peril lies the opportunity to serve the state. Generals, muster your troops at once and follow me to crush the Yellow Turban bandits!"

"My Lord, you must not!" A middle-aged man resembling a scholar stepped forward. "The rebel force is massive; this is truly not the time to lock horns with them—"

"Audacious Bao Xin! With a major battle imminent, do not inflate the enemy's strength while dampening our own prestige!"

"My Lord," Bao Xin stepped forward two paces, dropping to one knee. "The Yellow Turban rebels are a vast multitude. Though undisciplined, they cannot be underestimated. Furthermore, dragging along the elderly, the young, women, and children, they number upwards of a million. The only viable strategy now is to employ a scorched-earth policy, fortifying our walls and holding the cities. Once the bandits grow weary and starved, their morale entirely spent, our army can strike in a single concerted effort and achieve a resounding victory!"

"Although Yuncheng’s words make sense, my mind is already set on marching out. We have already broken with the traitor Dong Zhuo; if I fail to drive these turbaned rebels out of Yanzhou soon, he will likely hand my Inspector’s position over to someone else!"

"Perhaps... My Lord, you might consult Mr. Zhongde once more—"

"No need to ask! After all these years of serving together, Liu Dai only today realizes you are nothing more than a coward! You shall remain behind; the rest of you, follow me out of the city to crush the enemy!"

Liu Dai—the lord of Yanzhou, a scion of the Han imperial clan, and elder brother of Liu Yao—went forth, and never returned.

Yanzhou, Dongjun.

"My Lord, a heaven-sent opportunity!" Xi Zhicai shuffled into Cao Cao’s tent, grinning broadly.

"Oh?" Cao Cao hastily stood up, quickly shoving some unknown object under his bedding. "What makes you so urgent?"

"It’s—wait, I smell wine!"

"Hmph!" Cao Cao’s expression shifted. "What wine? There is no wine here!"

"My Lord, do not try to deceive me! The news I bring today is worth far more than any amount of fine wine!"

Seeing his confident and assured expression, Cao Cao finally retrieved a jar of "Gods and Buddhas Felled" from beneath the couch, wincing as if in physical pain.

"Really, My Lord is so stingy, how can you ever accomplish great things!"

"Alright, alright," Cao Cao glared at the fellow who had profited and yet still complained. "What on earth is it? Speak quickly."

"Liu Dai, heh-heh-heh~"

"What about Liu Dai?"

"My Lord!"

Another person hurried in through the entrance. Xi Zhicai cast a sidelong glance and instinctively shielded the wine jar against his chest.

"Drink slowly, as if I would fight you for it!" Chen Gong said with disdain before turning to Cao Cao. "My Lord, Liu Dai campaigned against the Yellow Turbans and was defeated and killed. Now Yanzhou is without a leader, and this is the prime opportunity for Your Lordship to go there!

"I am willing to persuade the Yanzhou Chief Clerk and Assistant Officer to elevate you to the position of Governor of Yanzhou!"

"Others might be manageable, but how do you plan to persuade Bao Xin? Both his civil and military talents are extraordinary, and he commands immense prestige in Yanzhou. He likely desires Yanzhou for himself. If he is unwilling to welcome you, Your Lordship's assumption of control will lack legitimacy."

"Hmm..." Chen Gong furrowed his brows in thought, while Cao Cao watched him intently.

Chen Gong’s intellect was beyond doubt, but his greatest flaw was—he was slow-witted.

Much like a hindsight-driven strategist, he was clever and understood plans, but his personality was overly cautious, preventing him from making decisive judgments. All his strategies required prolonged plotting and contemplation, which made him a half-beat slower than top-tier strategists executing miraculous plans.

Conversely, Guo Ji advocated for winning through unorthodox speed. One must remember that military affairs valued lightning speed, and the battlefield changed in the blink of an eye. Sometimes the slightest delay could ruin a military opportunity, and once lost, it would never return.

Sometimes, that half-beat of slowness could prove fatal.

"Right! My Lord can—"

"Hiccup!" Xi Zhicai emitted a satisfied drunken burp.

"Xi Zhong, you—"

"Gongtai, your reactions are simply too slow!"

"Then you speak!" Chen Gong glared angrily. "I want to see what brilliant strategy a drunkard like you can come up with!"

"Capture Bao Xin, force him to write a letter, and memorialize Your Lordship as the Governor of Yanzhou!"

"Hmph... What if he would rather die than comply?" Chen Gong's momentum waned significantly.

"Then beat him to death and write it yourself."

...

Several days later, at night.

A chilly wind swept across the plains, and the forest was pitch black.

There was neither the sound of rustling leaves nor the dim, hazy clarity of a summer night.

Tall wooden barrens stretched out like ferocious monsters. Withered, tangled dwarf trees rustled on the clearings beside the woods. Coarse wild grass writhed like eels in the cold wind. Thickets twisted and spread, as if extending long arms to grab and clutch at passersby.

Tumbleweeds dashed frantically in the wind, fleeing as though disaster were imminent, while all around lay a desolate and boundless wilderness.

All of this foretold that this night would be anything but ordinary.

"Wenruo, I leave all matters of Dongjun entirely in your hands."

"Your Lordship’s departure is a perilous gamble. Please do not forget to prioritize your own safety; I will do my utmost to ensure the rear remains stable."

"With Wenruo here, all is secure."

A small force of merely several hundred men, possessing exceptional combat proficiency and rapid mobilization capabilities, traversed swiftly through the night of Yanzhou, bypassing Yellow Turbans and stray bandits along the way to make a direct assault on Jibei Commandery.

Night was about to break.

"Hahahaha, Brother Yuncheng, ever since we parted ways at the Anti-Dong Coalition, it has been quite a while!"

"Indeed. But does Brother Mengde truly intend to catch up with an old friend in this manner?"

Bao Xin shook his bound body, looking with an unkind expression at Cao Cao, whose height barely reached his own forehead.

"No, no, no. As long as Brother Yuncheng completes this letter, Cao will treat you most hospitably!"

"Without me, Bao Xin, here, what kind of feast can you, Cao Mengde, possibly set out?"

"A single bottle of Jade Emperor's Drunkenness surpasses all the feasts under heaven. Does Brother Yuncheng agree?"

"You think a single bottle of wine can buy my fertile lands of Yanzhou?!"

"If not for my generosity, you wouldn't even get a bottle of wine!"

"Cao Cao, make no mistake, this is Jibei, not Dongjun!"

"Yet this is Yanzhou, and I, Cao Cao, am in Yanzhou!" A piercing brilliance flashed within Cao Cao's narrow eyes, making it momentarily impossible for even Bao Xin to meet his gaze.

"I ask you once more: will you write it or not?"

"I see that what Xu Zijiang said was not entirely false. You are no 'heroic traitor'—you are simply a treacherous villain! Taking advantage of the demise of my lord, Lord Liu, to commit such a monstrous act, how could I ever submit to you!"

"Yuanrang, beat him!"

...

"Brother Yuncheng—"

"Bah!"

"Yuanrang!"

...

"Yun—"

"Traitor...ous villain..."

"Yuanrang!"

...

"Bao Xin! I ask you for the last time, will you write it or not!"

"Bao Xin!"

"Bao Xin?!"

"My Lord, this..." Xiahou Dun looked at Cao Cao with an apologetic expression. "I never expected him to be so fragile under a beating..."

"Forget it, I'll do it myself!"

Cao Cao lit an oil lamp, bent over the desk, and rapidly penned a memorial stating: "We memorialize the Administrator of Dongjun, Cao Cao, as the Governor of Yanzhou," signing the bottom with the name—Bao Xin.

"Then what about this corpse..." Xiahou Dun looked like a child who had committed a fault.

"Things have come to this, we can only compensate him in other ways... No matter what method you use, this body must be properly disposed of, and it must never become known to outsiders."

In the autumn of 192 AD, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans attacked Yanzhou, and the Inspector of Yanzhou, Liu Dai, was defeated and killed. In the same year, the Chancellor of Jibei, Bao Xin, memorialized Cao Cao to serve as the Governor of Yanzhou, and the Yanzhou Chief Clerk and others went personally to welcome him.

Immediately after, Cao Cao and Bao Xin combined their forces to attack the Yellow Turbans together. Cao Cao laid a surprise ambush, engaging in day-and-night combat, and Bao Xin unfortunately died in the melee, though his body was never found.

Upon hearing the news of his death, Cao Cao was filled with both shock and grief, offering a hefty reward for the recovery of Bao Xin's remains. When that failed, he carved a wooden likeness of Bao Xin and shed tears as he made sacrifices to it.