Chapter 47: The Shadow of the Cup Bow Snake

  Cao Cao stood with his hands behind him in front of the fish pond in the central courtyard, lost in thought.

  Outside the door came a hurried footsteps, Ding Chong strode in hastily and walked straight to Cao Cao's side. "Meng De, what's so urgent that you called me here?"

  Cao Cao didn't say a word, turned around and waved his hand, the attendants understood, retreated and closed the courtyard gate. Ding Chong saw this, his eyes narrowed slightly.

  "The Bianzhou army has already been controlled by the Emperor." Cao Cao raised his head, glanced at Ding Chong, and his eyes were filled with worry. "Yuan Benchu was a scholar who was too used to comfort, I have reminded him several times, but he never took action. Now that the Emperor has taken the lead, the Bianzhou army has changed hands, and the Yuan brothers no longer have any chance of winning."

  Ding Cong was taken aback, and immediately burst out scolding: "I knew these two brothers couldn't accomplish great things, now it's indeed the case. Meng De, don't follow them around anymore, lest you get burned by the fire."

  "I'm not willing to follow them around." Cao Cao sighed: "I have no choice, if I don't follow these brothers, should I follow Zhang Liao and Zhao Zilong? They're now both fish food in the Yellow River."

  Ding Chong let out a long sigh, speechless. Although the Cao family claimed to be descendants of Cao Shen, they were just a small and insignificant powerful family in Pei County, with average strength. It was only when Cao Teng, Cao Cao's grandfather, entered the palace as an eunuch that the Cao family rose to prominence, greatly increasing their power. However, this also led to the Cao family being labeled as eunuchs and shunned by scholars. To improve their reputation, the Cao family made many efforts, but to no avail. Cao Song spent a huge sum of money to become Taishi for a few months, entering the ranks of the Three Dukes, yet few people were willing to be recruited into his household as officials. The Cao family formed an alliance with the Song family through marriage, hoping to become part of the imperial relatives, but when Empress Song was deposed, the Cao family also fell out of luck.

  Not following the Yuan brothers, making an effort to clear himself, what can Cao Cao do?

  "But the Yuan brothers are not exactly brilliant rulers either. Not to mention their heavy reliance on fame and reputation, they can't even accomplish great things without infighting among themselves. No matter how you look at it, they don't seem like people who will achieve great things." Ding hesitated for a moment before continuing, "In my opinion, for now, it's best not to get too close to them, let's just observe for the time being."

  Cao Cao hesitated, his fist clenched and then released, released and then clenched again, hesitating for a moment before finally making up his mind: "You Yang, do you know about the phoenix egg in Yuan Shao's hands?"

  "Feng luan?" Ding Chong's eyes widened: "You mean, the egg of the phoenix bird?"

  Cao Cao nodded slightly.

  Ding Chong's face changed greatly, and he inhaled a mouthful of cold air. It took him a long time to regain his composure. "So, the Saint... should be on Yuan Shao's body?"

  Cao Cao sighed and said with a bitter smile: "I can't think of anyone else."

  "Since heaven's will is like this, then we can't do anything about it." Ding Chong raised his head, scratched the tip of his brow, thought for a moment, and suddenly said: "Meng De, then you tell me, would Yuan Shao deliberately let the Emperor take away Pingzhou Army?"

  Cao Cao smiled slightly and asked in return: "How can you be so sure?"

  "Just like the Bingzhou army, the Liangzhou army is also elite. One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, Your Majesty simultaneously holding the elite of Liangzhou and Bingzhou seems very powerful, but it's not necessarily a good thing, mutual suspicion is inevitable. They are all cruel and lacking in etiquette, only seeking profit, if the Emperor relies on them to stabilize the situation, they will surely become arrogant and act recklessly. If this happens, Luoyang will inevitably suffer at their hands, public anger will rise, how can the Emperor be good? Driving away the people of Bing and Liang would mean cutting off his own wings, suppressing the ministers and citizens of Luoyang would mean alienating himself from them. No matter what he does, this foolish ruler's crimes, he cannot escape."

  Cao Cao picked up the conversation: "In this case, the Yuan family will be the first to call..."

  Ding Chong responded loudly: "Gather 'round, all who have heard."

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and smiled in understanding. After laughing for a moment, Ding Chong said: "So to say, Xu Shao suddenly came to Luoyang, and then suddenly left, immediately followed by the spread of children's rhymes everywhere, saying that the emperor's life was short, and the great Han would be in chaos, which was also arranged by the Yuan family."

  "It's as I expected." Cao Cao's face darkened: "But this way, Luoyang is likely to be doomed."

  "So we should leave Luoyang ahead of time and can't just sit and wait for death." Ding Chong glanced at Cao Cao: "You invited me here today, is it because of this reason?"

  Cao Cao nodded: "Apart from worrying about the city gate catching fire and harming the fish in the moat, I am also worried about the chaos in the world. If the Yuan family is really waiting for an opportunity to strike as we suspect, then a big war is inevitable. Since that's the case, shouldn't we prepare early? I don't have the prestige of the Yuan brothers, and it would be difficult to recruit enough grain and troops in a short time."

  "Yes, to achieve something, one must prepare in advance. With people and horses at hand, words will carry weight." Ding Chong waved his hand: "Don't worry, my family will definitely support you. Moreover, the Wei brothers are friends with me, I'll write a letter for you to take with you, they won't refuse."

  Cao Cao stroked his palm and smiled: "With the support of the Ding family and the Wei family, plus the power of my Cao clan and Xiahou clan, I should be able to speak up in front of Yuan Shao."

  "It's not suitable to delay, I'll write a letter to Wei now." Ding Chong said, taking big strides towards Cao Cao's study. Halfway there, he added: "You go yourself, leave the family behind, lest you startle the snake in the grass."

  Cao Cao blinked his eyes and nodded, a hint of helpless bitter smile flashing in his eyes.

  ……

  After listening to Cai Yong's words, Liu Bian solved many mysteries, but couldn't solve the final answer. He still didn't know how to hatch this dragon egg and summon the giant dragon. Of course, this dragon egg was almost fossilized, whether it could be hatched or not was a question, maybe the giant dragon had already become extinct, leaving only legends behind.

  If the dragon egg cannot be hatched, he will have to think of another way to unravel the mystery of the dragon civilization. However, before that, he must first find a way to solve the current problem. He called for Lu Zhi and Jia Xu to discuss how to capture the Yuan family and their accomplices in one fell swoop. Especially Yuan Shao, since Yuan Shao is the hope of the Yuan family, taking down Yuan Shao would at least buy some time, even if it can't ultimately solve the problem.

  He had originally wanted to invite Yang Biao as well, but after careful consideration, he gave up. Yang Biao was related to the Yuan family and was Yuan Shu's brother-in-law. The Confucian school emphasized avoiding mentioning the names of respected people and hiding one's relatives. Since the Yuan family's rebellion was not yet clear, he wanted to eradicate them completely, but Yang Biao would definitely not agree. If the news were to leak out, it would be equivalent to giving the Yuan family a reason for rebellion.

  Unexpectedly, even without finding Yang Biao, Liu Bian still encountered no small resistance.

  Resistance came from Lu Zhi.

  Lu Zhi strongly opposed Liu Bian's approach. He slammed his hand on the table, furious, and accused Liu Bian of being reckless and impulsive. The Yuan family had produced three high-ranking officials over four generations, with countless students and former subordinates all over the empire; so far, they had not committed any grave offense worthy of extermination. Acting rashly would only provoke great chaos. If the plan was not kept secret and news leaked out, the Yuan family would be alerted and take drastic action, which would mean that Your Majesty would be handing them a pretext for rebellion and inviting disaster upon yourself.