Chapter 45 45. Thrilling Hongmen Banquet

In the sixth year of Zhongping (AD 189), Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, passed away. The 17-year-old eldest prince Liu Bian succeeded to the throne, and the general He Jin and the Taifu Yuan Kai assisted in the administration.In order to solve the problem of eunuchs' meddling in politics once and for all, He Jin, with Yuan Shao's assistance, mobilized troops from all directions to Beijing, and pretended to attack the Ten Permanent Attendants.As a result, Zhang Rang and other eunuchs launched a coup first, killed He Jin and hijacked the emperor and queen mother, causing chaos in the palace.

Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others invaded the palace. After a massacre, the two forces of foreign relatives and eunuchs were both wounded and destroyed.But when the ministers retrieved the emperor Liu Bian and Chenliu Wang Liu Xie, and returned to Beijing from Mangshan happily, Dong Zhuo led Xiliang soldiers to arrive suddenly, and led the army into Luoyang in the name of escort.With the mantis catching the cicada and the oriole following behind, no one expected that Jiu Jiu Wufu would become the final winner of this struggle. Suddenly one evening, Cao Mengde was sitting at home before eating, when Dong Zhuo suddenly sent someone to invite him to the banquet.His heart was involuntarily disturbed again, knowing that there is no good wine and no good banquet, but people use knives to treat me as fish and meat, and the fierce Liangzhou soldiers waited outside with knives. If they dared to say a word, their family was destroyed in an instant.In desperation, he had no choice but to change into his uniform and dress neatly. Before leaving, he went to Bian's room to hug and hug his son Cao Pi, fearing that he would never come back after leaving.

Seeing him like this, Mrs. Bian was quite worried, but forced herself to laugh and said, "Don't worry, I'll bring up Pi'er by myself, and ask him to avenge you later." "Hey! With such a good wife, why worry about her husband not going to the grand banquet?" Just kidding, when Cao Cao left the house, he saw many Xiliang warriors standing with swords, their scalps were still numb, and even boarding the car felt like stepping on cotton. Although Dong Zhuo was named Sikong, he did not live in the Sikong Mansion in the southeast of Luoyang as a director. Instead, he settled his residence in Yongheli in the east of the city. Just across the street is the outer wall of Yong'an Palace where the emperor and empress dowager were imprisoned. His intentions are clearly visible.You Bing has the right to handle everything easily. He drove away all the dignitaries and dignitaries in the Yongheli area, and insisted on opening up several sets of houses to build a huge courtyard, surrounded by Xiliang Army guards day and night, ten steps and one sentry at five steps. , There are still many confidants and dead men stationed in the courtyard.With such a tight layout, not to mention the power in his hands, even if Luoyang City falls, this house alone is enough for him to stick to it for a while.

They are all in the east of the city, and it is only a short distance from Cao's Mansion to Dong's Mansion, Cao Cao felt very urgent.He thought hard, recalled almost everything he had done in the past two months, and repeatedly checked whether he had offended Dong Zhuo, but he couldn't find an answer in the end.Could it be that the story of the Bao Xin brothers really leaked out? Not long after arriving in Yongheli, Cao Cao was afraid that he would find trouble because of his negligence, so he got off the car in a hurry, bowed his head and walked pretending to be respectful.After walking a few steps, I saw Dong Zhuo's younger brother Dong Min, Captain of Fengche, standing in front of the gate with a well-dressed smile.Dong Min is not as rude and fierce as his elder brother, but his demeanor with a hidden knife in his smile is even more disgusting.He previously pretended to cooperate with Yuan Shaomou to punish eunuchs, and pretended to confuse everyone, but in fact he acted as an eyeliner for his brother in the court.On the night that He Jin was killed, the reason why Dong Zhuo was able to rush to Mang Mountain to "rescue him" without delay was due to Dong Min's secret information.

"Brother Mengde, I haven't seen you for a long time, Brother Yu is being polite." People under the low eaves had to bow their heads.Although Cao Cao hated him, seeing him being so polite, he had to smile all over his face, cupped his hands in greeting, and deliberately drew closer and said, "Cao, what virtue and ability, how dare you worry about Brother Shuying?" Dong Min grabbed him hand: "Meng De, is everything in your camp all right?" When the words of holding a gun and a stick came, Cao Cao swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and forced a smile: "Dong Gong and your lords are responsible for the safety of the country, and the younger brother is just a little brother, just let it go."

"Hahaha!" Dong Min looked up and laughed loudly, "Meng Detuo gave in, if there is any need in the camp, you can tell me, as long as there is any food, grass and military equipment, my brother will provide it himself." "Thank you very much." Cao Cao was clear in his heart, he said this was just a scene, and it must not be taken seriously. "Meng De please." Dong Min gave in kindly. "Brother Shuying, please." "I'm a guest now." "The guest does not deceive the host." "Hahaha... If that's the case, you and I will go to the banquet hand in hand." Dong Min said, taking Cao Cao's hand and entering generously.Cao Cao still didn't dare to relax, and deliberately lagged behind half a step when walking to show respect.

As soon as you enter the gate of the mansion, there is a hole in the sky. It turns out that the house is different from the inside and outside. Only the outer courtyard is as big as an ordinary man's mansion.In addition to the four-color trees of chestnut, lacquer, catalpa, and paulownia, there are many simple military tents, which shows that they are tightly guarded.Dong Min ordered loudly: "On duty! Quickly remove the military tents. When you are young, the guests will arrive, so you can make room to stop the horses and horses." Hearing this, Cao Cao was relieved: It turns out that I was not invited alone today, it would be embarrassing to have more people!