Chapter 12 Chapter 2

Liu Zhang learned that Chen Tianlong and others had been arrested, and was about to go to Cao to live with him in person, asking for leniency.Unexpectedly, in the middle of the journey, there was a new ban, and I hurriedly sent someone to look at it, only to find out the content, I couldn't help but gasped, and had to go back home. Cao Cao personally interrogated Chen Tianlong and others, and finally sentenced on the spot: Chen Tianlong and five others beheaded.The remaining eight people were imprisoned.Chen Tianlong knelt on the ground with a plop, begging for mercy without stopping.He never imagined that Cao Cao would be so decisive that even the royal family could do nothing to him.He was so remorseful, hated, and sad that he wailed loudly.

On the second day, five people, including Chen Tianlong, were taken to the open space outside the gate of Tianlong Sect Temple, their crimes were read out, and their heads were beheaded.The people of Jinan moved out all over the city and came to watch. The execution ground was crowded with people, but it was silent.Cheers erupted only when the beheading was carried out after the verdict was pronounced. In order to completely destroy the Tianlong Sect, Cao Cao ordered the crowd to retreat and burned down the Tianlong Sect Temple on the spot. On the one hand, the fire was burning, and on the other hand, according to the list of silver tributes obtained from the temple, the silver taels confiscated from the temple were recorded in each book and returned to the original owner one by one.For those who fled Jinan, their silver was temporarily kept by the prime minister's office.

The people who received the silver were really grateful and called Cao Cao their savior. The earth-shaking changes that took place in Jinan City spread Cao Cao's reputation for sternness and selflessness far and wide.It turned out that people who had left their hometowns and went to other places due to the persecution of Tianlong Sect came back to Jinan one after another.Moreover, some people from other places also migrated to Jinan one after another.For a time, Jinan became a place of peace in the world, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the business of the shops was booming.

However, Cao Cao's actions to eliminate corruption and depose incompetent county officials in Jinan naturally offended many privileged classes supported by eunuchs and foreign relatives.Especially the Tianlongjiao case made Liu Zhang hate Cao Cao so much that he used his status as a royal relative to go to the capital to spread rumors about Cao Cao.As a result, those with vested interests in the middle and upper levels all became extremely resentful towards Cao Cao. There are so many people in the court who hate Cao Cao, so Cao Cao's good days will not last long. In the second year of Zhongping, that is, in 185 A.D., the imperial court ordered Cao Cao to be transferred to be the prefect of Dongjun.Compared with Jinan, the prefect of Dongjun is still higher. In name, Cao Cao was promoted, but in fact, he was driven away from Jinan.What's more, getting him to serve as the prefect in Dongjun was obviously placed in a place under the direct control of the eunuchs, so as to find opportunities to harm him.

Cao Cao is very sensitive and quick-witted by nature, and he will not fail to see this conspiracy.He thought about it, but there was no better way to deal with it, so he decided to take a bold and unusual move—resign. Cao Cao's reason was that his health was very poor recently, and he asked the court for a long vacation to return to his hometown to recuperate. Why Cao Cao took such a move, he thought in his heart: At this time, the eunuch's plan to harm him has been exposed, and he must know the time to avoid his edge. At present, the only way to avoid his edge is to ask for leave and return to his hometown and not participate in political affairs. good idea.On the other hand, he thought that since he was just thirty years old, many of the people who held filial piety and integrity in the same year as him were already in their fifties. Even if they waited for twenty years in the future, when the chaos in the world was more stable, they would come out to become officials. It's not too late to realize your ambitions.

Everyone in the court was surprised. It is inconceivable that Cao Cao would take a leave of absence and return to his hometown when he was in the prime of his career and full of talent.But since Cao Cao was resolute, the court had no choice but to grant him permission. Cao Cao unloaded his clothes and released his seal, and returned to his hometown of Qiao County in Anhui today.He did not live in the place where he lived when he was a teenager, but chose a remote place about fifty miles east of Qiao County, built a small hut, and lived in it alone.His purpose is to be quiet and less disturbed, so that he can read in autumn and summer and hunt in winter and spring.In this way, I don't ask about political affairs, I don't care about common affairs, and I really live a life of recuperation alone.

However, the facts were not as simple as Cao Cao thought. Soon, someone came to him.Of course, the people who came to see him were not people from the mountains and fields that Cao Cao liked every day and night, but came all the way from the capital.The man brought a letter, and Cao Cao knew the inside story after reading the letter. It turned out that Wang Fen, the governor of Jizhou, Chen Yi, the son of Chen Fan, the protagonist of the disaster of the party, Xiang Kai, a famous Taoist mage, Zhou Jing, a powerful envoy, and Xu You, a famous strategist, conspired together to abolish Emperor Ling and kill eunuchs. Chen Fan and others took revenge.After Xu You's suggestion, they decided to invite Cao Cao to join, because Cao Cao has a high reputation among the residents of Luoyang City and has popular appeal.

After Cao Cao read the secret letter, he suddenly felt something was wrong, so he quickly wrote to Xu You, expressing clearly: "It is unknown in the world that a husband abolishes an establishment. The ancients had the right to success or failure, and those who acted according to the weight and severity, are also Yi Yin and Huo Guang. Yi Yin cherishes the utmost loyalty and sincerity, and according to the power of the minister, he handles lawsuits, so Advancing and retreating, abolishing, planning and establishing. When Huo Guang was entrusted by the country, he took advantage of the position of Zongchen, and internally responded to the empress dowager's emphasis on governing. Outside, there were a group of ministers and fellow teachers. Changyi ascended the throne. Out of closeness, so the plan is like turning around, and the success of things is like destroying the decay. Today, you only see the ease of the past, but not the difficulties of the present. You are self-sufficient and united with the party. Why are there seven kingdoms? Hefei is expensive , which one is like Wu and Chu? But pretentiousness is very pretentious, desire must be overcome, and it is not dangerous!"

It can be seen from this letter that Cao Cao is by no means a "die-hard faction" of the Han emperor.Xu You dared to suggest looking for him, and he may have seen Cao Cao's true state of mind.Therefore, Cao Cao's objection is not political ethics, but political interests.He believes that to abolish the king, only under the situation like Huo Guang against Changyi King and Yi Yin against Taijia, can he succeed.That's because both Taijia and Changyi have just taken office, and their power is not stable.Moreover, neither the imperial relatives in the inner court nor the ministers in the outer court supported the emperor, but they were more inclined to Yi Yin and Huo Guang, the veterans and powerful officials, so the abolition of the establishment may be successful.

A local coup conspiracy like Wang Fen’s cannot control the political power at the beginning of the incident, and it is easy to be encircled and suppressed by the central government’s troops from all over the country. Given the scale of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion, it is impossible to win. With Wang Fen’s power in Jizhou, the If you want to succeed, the chances are too small, so you should not take risks. Cao Cao's analysis is actually very reasonable.However, since Wang Fen and others have made up their minds, they will never change their minds because of Cao Cao's opposition.As for Cao Cao, he has already stated to the envoy that even if Wang Fen and the others refused to listen to his advice and wanted to go their own way, he, Cao Cao, would not report on them, just pretending not to know.