Chapter 1173

"But Sister, please rest assured, no matter what injustice your husband has encountered, my husband will definitely help."

"Sister, you have come from thousands of miles away, which shows your trust in my husband."

"Please, Sister, do not be sad for now. Let us enter the mansion first. Sister, tell me what happened, and I will immediately send someone to notify my husband."

"My husband is currently in the Western Regions, but I will inform him of this matter as quickly as possible."

Dong Yi held the Ding woman's hand.

These words made the Ding woman feel a warmth she had not felt for many days.

Thinking of this, the Ding woman looked at Cao Ang, who was kneeling on the ground to the side.

"Zixiu, kowtow."

Cao Ang, who was no more than ten years old, did not understand the Ding woman's meaning, but he still obediently kowtowed to Dong Yi.

And Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xia Houyuan, Xia Houdun, and the group of Cao clansmen who were carrying the coffin also knelt and kowtowed to Dong Yi.

"Sister, quickly let them get up, quickly let them get up."

"I will order the servants to prepare food and lodging first. You must be tired from the long journey; let's arrange for people to rest first."

"Lord Yang, please trouble yourself to notify my husband's subordinates in the county to come here."

Yang Fu, who was standing to the side, nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Dong Yi personally reached out and helped Cao Ang, who was kneeling on the ground, to stand up, then took Cao Ang's left hand and the Ding woman's right hand, and they walked into the Provincial Governor's mansion together.

Ever since Duan Yu's Provincial Governor's mansion was established in Jixian, it had never stopped expanding.

The original Commandery Governor's mansion later became the Provincial Governor's mansion, and now it was the Mansion of the Marquis of Ten Thousand Households.

As more and more people lived in the mansion, the area it occupied also became larger and larger.

After the mansion was opened, Duan Yu's Provincial Governor's mansion became the main place for military and political meetings in the entire Liangzhou.

It was just that Duan Yu was not in Liangzhou at the moment, so there were no officials coming and going in the mansion during this period.

But Dong Yi still chose to handle the reception of the Cao clansmen in the political affairs hall in the front residence.

And as the person in charge of external affairs, in the absence of Duan Yu in Liangzhou, it was most appropriate for Dong Yi to handle such semi-public, semi-private matters.

Soon, under Yang Fu's notification, some of the officials remaining in Jixian, Hanyang, also arrived.

Li Ru, Yang Fu, Jiang Xu, Chen Qing'an, and others were all sitting in the main hall.

After settling the vast majority of the Cao clansmen, only Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang, and Cao Cao's legitimate wife, the Ding woman, remained in the main hall.

As well as some important clansmen like Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xia Houyuan, and Xia Houdun.

"Sister Ding, as far as I know, your husband is a Provincial Inspector, and he died for his country, so you should have been well taken care of," Dong Yi said, looking at the Ding woman.

The Ding woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

When it came to this, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and the others were all filled with anger.

Cao Hong bowed to Dong Yi and said: "My Lady, this matter... this matter is all the fault of that Chancellor of Langya, Liu Bei."

Liu Bei?

Li Ru's eyebrows twitched.

At this moment, besides Cao Cao's family, the only people in the hall who knew Liu Bei were Li Ru and Dong Yi.

Dong Yi had heard the name Liu Bei because her father, Dong Zhuo, had been framed while suppressing rebellions in Jizhou, and it seemed that the name Liu Bei had been mentioned in that incident.

As for Li Ru, there was no need to say more, because Li Ru was in Jizhou at the time.

"Uncle Li." Dong Yi looked at Li Ru.

Li Ru bowed to Dong Yi: "Eldest Young Lady, this person is the Liu Bei who had a conflict with the Lord in Jizhou last year. When in Jizhou, the Lord cut off one of his ears."

Cao Ren nodded: "That's right, it is this person!"

Hearing this, Dong Yi naturally formed a preconceived notion.

"How can this person be so hateful?" Dong Yi's delicate brows furrowed.

Cao Ren immediately explained the ins and outs of the matter.

"That day, we led our army to avenge our eldest brother and chased them to Feixian..."

Cao Ren slowly explained.

That day in Feixian, Cao Ren and Xia Houdun were blocked by Zhang Fei at night, and after the army arrived at dawn, they began to pursue the Qingzhou Huang Jin.

In Feixian, they pursued a large group of Huang Jin.

At that time, a large number of Qingzhou Huang Jin were crossing the river.

Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and others immediately began to pursue, and carried out a slaughter when the Qingzhou Huang Jin were crossing the Wu River.

That day, the entire Wu River was dyed red.

Cao Ren didn't know how many people he had killed.

In any case, corpses were floating all over the Wu River.

After fighting for a whole day at the Wu River, the vast majority of the Qingzhou Huang Jin had been slaughtered.

Before sunset, Cao Ren led the army to bypass the Wu River where they were crossing, and continued the pursuit.

But by that time, Liu Bei had already led another part of the Qingzhou Huang Jin to Linyi, in the territory of the Langya State.

And then a large number of Qingzhou Huang Jin had already entered Linyi City.

Although the vast majority of the Qingzhou Huang Jin had been slaughtered, the ones Liu Bei led away were the elites among the Qingzhou Huang Jin.

There were about two or three hundred thousand able-bodied men.

However, at that time, Cao Ren was eager for revenge, so he led the army to surround Linyi.

Liu Bei stood on the city wall and said that the Qingzhou Huang Jin had already surrendered to the imperial court and had been taken in, telling Cao Ren not to attack the city again, otherwise he would definitely report it to the imperial court.

But knowing that the enemy who killed their brother was in the city, how could the Cao brothers let it rest?

So, after resting for a day, Cao Ren ordered an attack on Linyi.

But with Liu Bei's army, plus two or three hundred thousand Qingzhou Huang Jin, how could they possibly take it?

Linyi was not taken, and instead, they suffered heavy losses.

Three days after attacking the city, Liu Bei sent Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to fight.

If it hadn't been for Dian Wei fighting while severely injured, they would have almost been routed by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Unable to get revenge, suffering heavy losses, and with insufficient grain and fodder, Cao Ren finally had no choice but to order a retreat.

The army retreated to Feixian.

But a few days later, the imperial edict from Luoyang arrived.

The Cao brothers only then realized that Liu Bei had already reported the matter to Luoyang.

The imperial edict reprimanded the Cao brothers for leading troops in rebellion and stripped them of all their official positions.

And Cao Cao's death was also attributed to the crime of advancing troops without authorization and being reckless.

Dying for the country, not only was there no merit, but there was also guilt.

And the Cao clan was about to face punishment after Liu Bei reported to the imperial court again.

Li Ru nodded as he listened: "Although I don't know if Liu Bei has reported to the imperial court, if he has, he will definitely convict you."

"Liu Bei accepted the surrender of a million Qingzhou Huang Jin, but you slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Huang Jin."

"Strictly speaking, what you slaughtered were not Huang Jin, but the commoners Liu Bei had already recruited."

"Hundreds of thousands of commoners... and most of them were the elderly, weak, women, and children. Once this stigma is attached, let alone whether Luoyang will have an imperial edict to blame you, even the local commoners will not tolerate your Cao clan."

Cao Ren, who knew this well, nodded.

"The Master is right, so we had no other choice but to come to Liangzhou to seek refuge with the Marquis of Ji, hoping that the Marquis of Ji can make the decision for us and help my eldest brother get revenge."

"I regret not listening to my eldest brother's words."

"Before my eldest brother was pierced through the chest and died in Zhang Rao's camp, he told us to come to Liangzhou to find the Marquis of Ji and avenge him."

"But we acted on our own..."

Li Ru took a deep breath, then shook his head and said, "Human nature, human nature."

"In that situation at the time, your actions were understandable."

When Cao Cao died, these Cao brothers held tens of thousands of troops, and the enemy who killed their brother was right in front of them; anyone would have gone for revenge.

It was just that in that situation, hatred had blinded their eyes, and many things could not be seen clearly.

Although Li Ru had only heard a rough outline, he knew that the Cao brothers had made several mistakes.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have come to this.

It was clear that they should not have pursued beyond the territory of Yanzhou.

And they should not have attacked Linyi when Liu Bei had clearly stated that the Qingzhou Huang Jin had already surrendered. ===== CHAPTER 1175 =====