Chapter 265: Wedding! Good luck! [Subscribe]

Early in the morning.

Cao Cao was dressed in a black groom's outfit with dark red patterns, a jade belt around his waist, and auspicious cloud shoes on his feet.

Black dress was the main color in the Han Dynasty.

According to the rules, the bride must be picked up at the bride's home.

Diao Chan has no direct blood relatives alive.

Bian Mei and Bai Ke lived in troubled times and have lost their home long ago.

Wen Ji was from Chenliu, but she was from the Cai clan of Xiangyang. Zou Yuan was a captured wife and they would be married off together.

The brides went to Yu Qing's house nearby and waited in the Yu mansion.

The ancient music of chime bells resounds throughout the city.

Boss Cao’s wedding procession was an astonishing sight.

Behind him, headed by Xun Yu on the left, followed by Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Cheng Yu, Dong Zhao, Zhang Miao, Bao Xin and others.

With Zhong Yao's status, when he came to Yecheng from Luoyang in the north, he could only be ranked at the end of the direct line of civil servants.

On the military side, Huang Zhong was the leader, followed by Zhang Liao, Taishi Ci, Li Dian, Xu Huang, Le Jin, Yu Jin, Man Chong and others.

There were also relatives such as Cao Ren, Cao Chun, and Cao Hong, who were responsible for leading the way.

The Xiahou Dun brothers were fighting outside and were unable to come.

But you can come again next time, Boss Cao’s wives are not here yet.

Historically, when Cao Cao was in his forties, he took in a young woman.

Behind him are his two half-brothers, always by his side.

Weddings should be more strictly prevented to ensure safety.

Not only were there crowds of civil and military officials surrounding her, but even Chi Tu, Zhua Huang, Yin and Rui, all had big red flowers on their heads, and came together to the Yu mansion to welcome the bride.

In the Yu family's hall, the brides sat in a row.

They all wore red robes and shawls, but the details were different. Some people who were skilled in embroidery embroidered all kinds of exquisite and auspicious patterns on the wedding dresses.

The girls painted their lips red, wore bright red ornaments on their brows, and waited for Cao Cao to come with exquisite make-up.

According to the procedure, a female official came in first and prepared to teach the brides the rules after they got married.

When the female official saw those people, she was stunned.

The women sat together, looking gorgeous and incomparable.

It was only after the maid beside Yu Qing reminded her that the female official came to her senses.

She taught women the five virtues, including how to balance yin and yang in the boudoir, and what to do and how to do it after marriage.

Only Diao Chan listened carefully.

Yu Qing already has a child, so she knows everything.

Bai Ke and Bian Mei were experts in the ways of men and women. The court lady had too few tricks to say and her knowledge of the boudoir was not even one tenth of what they had.

After the female official finished speaking, drums and music started outside the hall.

Cao Cao has arrived.

When the girls saw him come in, their eyes lit up.

There are many daughters-in-law, and they cannot walk hand in hand.

So the official in charge of etiquette wore a red silk ribbon in the middle, Cao Cao held the silk ribbon, and the wives each held a part of the red ribbon and followed him out.

"It's so unbecoming. He didn't perform the ritual for me, nor did he change his tone and call me father."

Cai Yong complained to Yu Wen from behind: "He just called me brother Bojie. Don't you think it's infuriating? There's a huge generation gap between us."

Yu Wen said, "When we were drinking at the mansion the other day, I heard Wen Ji quietly call her son-in-law uncle. If you follow Wen Ji's way of addressing you, it's not wrong for him to call you brother."

Cai Yong was so angry that he almost pulled off a beard: "You took advantage of me and elevated yourself to a higher level."

The bride went out and got on the chariot.

Suddenly, drums and music sounded and everyone cheered.

Today is a special day, and even the streets of Yecheng are hung with red silk.

The whole city was delighted, and some people were looking at the blocked main street from two or three streets away.

But one could see carriages covered in red and decorated with colorful ribbons, and people and horses passing by one after another.

"Dear wives, let's sleep together tonight." Boss Cao joked in the car.

The women said in unison, "We have already discussed it. We will all stay in the main house tonight, but the rooms will be mixed up. Whoever's room the husband enters will stay in that room."

Cao Cao thought to himself that you two are very talented, so he would let you increase your knowledge tonight.

When they arrived at Cao's house, he led his wives into the house.

The courtyard was also covered in red.

The newlyweds got off the car and the crowd gathered on both sides.

Hua Tuo, Zhang Zhongjing and Zheng Xuan, all highly respected people, were responsible for presiding over the wedding.

"The Centennial Ceremony has begun!"

In the main hall, maids holding red candles entered in pairs.

Next came the bride and groom. Cao Cao and his wives faced the guests and bowed.

Lian Yin and Rui followed suit, imitating Cao Cao and the bride, causing everyone to laugh.

Then comes the wedding ceremony.

Parents serve wine to the newlyweds at the wedding.

Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, sat high in the main seat in the hall with a smile on his face.

My son is so capable.

Cao Cao's biological mother died early, and standing next to Cao Song was his fat concubine who was famous in history and has now become a concubine.

Afterwards, the bride and groom sit opposite each other at separate tables, drink the same wine, and eat the same meat, which is called the Tonglao Li.

A gourd is cut into two halves, and the husband and wife each hold one half to drink from, and then they exchange the halves, meaning to become one, which is called the Heqin Ceremony.

It is probably similar to the wedding wine ceremony in later generations.

Cao Cao had six wives, which made it very difficult for the person looking for the gourd.

How to cut a gourd into pieces to feed six brides and grooms?

This is a mathematical problem that needs to be solved. Later, Zheng Xuan, who went to look for the gourd himself, thought of using seven gourds grown on a vine instead.

So the Calabash Brothers also came to attend the wedding.

The last item is for the newlyweds to each take a strand of hair and tie them into a knot, which is called the hair-tying ceremony.

"The ceremony is over! Great joy! Great fortune! Heaven and earth celebrate!"

The three wedding celebrants spoke in unison.

Cai Yong played the qin himself, and the tune flowed like clouds and water. Zheng Xuan promoted the power of Confucianism, connected the heavens with strange phenomena, and began to brag:
"Today, there is a person favored by heaven, who is performing a centenary ceremony. Heaven, earth and people are celebrating together!"

Zheng Xuan stretched out his hand and pointed, and the clouds in the sky rolled like flowing water.

The clouds rolled and changed, and as they floated they seemed like a unicorn, or a dragon and a phoenix, with thousands of auspicious rays of light hanging down, as if heaven and earth were truly celebrating together.

Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing looked at each other.

In the past, the two had never shown their skills.

But this world is full of spiritual energy, and all schools of thought can practice.

Doctors are not good at fighting, but there is a breath of vitality in the hands of the two men.

They are medical masters and sages that appear once in a thousand years.

When the two of them attacked at the same time, a vitality spread throughout Cao's mansion, attracting clusters of flowers in the garden. At the end of the cold winter, the flowers blossomed with vitality, colorful and in full bloom!

Zheng Xuan then shouted again and took out a scroll of a sage.

The scroll was engraved with a dragon and a phoenix, and he had prepared it specifically for the wedding.

Confucianism has a magical power called calling a deer a horse, which is also a kind of words from saints.

Zheng Xuan held out his hand and boasted loudly, "This phoenix is ​​a real phoenix, and this dragon is a real dragon. The dragon and the phoenix are in harmony, and our family will prosper and our descendants will be blessed!"

In an instant, a dragon and a phoenix really rose into the sky from the sage's scroll. They swelled in the wind. The phoenix had five colors and the dragon had five claws. They circled high in the sky over Yecheng!
The wedding was now complete and the whole city was filled with cheers.

Cao Cao's wives and concubines were brought to the back house with smiles on their faces.

In the evening, the couple will have another gathering.

Guests from each courtyard began to take their seats.

Cao Cao walked quickly to the study.

It's already noon, Xiliang is under attack, how is the battle going?
Earlier, Li Jue and Guo Si learned that someone was coming to attack and quickly came out to mobilize troops.

They have had a hard time in the past two years. They were caught in the middle, fighting against Cao's army and suffering many defeats. They have long lost their spirit.

Hearing shouts of killing coming from all directions, Li Jue and Guo Si met and exchanged information.

"There are people attacking from the front and back. There is only one possibility!"

Li Jue asked, "Ma Teng and Cao's army are joining forces to attack?"

"Didn't the news we received say that Cao Cao was getting married in Yecheng?"

"He was bluffing. He attacked suddenly when we thought it was impossible."

Li Jue's face was grim: "Cao Mengde has been driving us westward, asking us to help him clear the way. Now that we have Ma Teng working for him, he wants to kill us.

He is coming to occupy Liangzhou, we can’t stay in Hexi any longer!

This is really too much!"

Both of them had the ferocity of desperadoes on their faces.

In history, Li Jue and Guo Si fell out and attacked each other shortly after they occupied Chang'an.

But because of the pressure from Cao's army, the two of them and Fan Chou led their troops to garrison in several surrounding counties, where they gathered together for warmth and were quite united.

At this time, the two men led the troops to break through in two directions.

Li Jue prepared to lead his troops to the southwest corner to meet up with Fan Chou, and then break out to the west.

They had fought with Ma Teng before and knew the details of Ma Teng's troops, so they were easier to deal with than Cao's army.

Guo Si prepared to move northward to seek survival.

The two agreed to reunite after escaping, and then separated.

In theory, dividing the troops is a taboo, as they will be defeated one by one.

But if we don’t divide our forces now, we will surely die, and we may not even have a chance to escape.

The two men separated in embarrassment, but they didn't expect that they had fallen into the scheme of Cao Cao, Jia Xu, Guo Jia and others.

Cao's camp has been at war for years and is currently trying to avoid a major war.

This time, Cao Cao used clever tactics and united his troops.

Cao's army did not deploy too many troops itself.

Ma Teng’s 20,000 men are the main force.

It was approaching noon and the sun was shining brightly.

Ma Chao squatted on the south side of the Hexi Corridor, on a low mountain that was a remnant of the Qilian Mountains.

He took a branch in his hand and drew the route around him on the ground, muttering:
"My father told me to lie in ambush here and wait, saying that Cao Mengde gave him orders to predict that Li Jue and Guo Si would have at least one route to escape from here."

"Don't you know that the battlefield is ever-changing and the situation of the army is unpredictable? It's nonsense to predict the use of troops in advance..."

Ma Chao was very familiar with the surrounding terrain.

He drew four lines on the ground and looked at them for a long time:

"The route from Qilian Pass is the longest and most difficult to travel. The mountains on both sides are undulating, making it easy for ambushes to occur. Li Jue and Guo Si were stupid to choose this place... My father actually believed him and joined me in guarding the other side..."

Before he finished speaking, a scout came running over and said, "Major General, the enemy is approaching and has reached the mountain pass."

Ma Chao, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, was stunned.

In the distance, a group of soldiers emerged from the valley in a panic and were about to pass by the place where Ma Chao and his men were ambushing.

The leader was Li Jue.

The man beside him was of burly build, it was Fan Chou!

It’s really coming... Ma Chao suppressed the throbbing in his heart, rushed to the front of the battlefield, and asked his troops to hide carefully.

When the enemy closed the distance and passed by the foot of the mountain, Ma Chao gave an order, and rushed towards Li Jue's team with a spear in hand, cutting off the enemy's attack.

Li Jue was horrified, but it was too late to dodge.

The two sides started fighting in an instant.

Opposite the low hill where Ma Chao had just hidden, on another valley, stood his father, Ma Teng.

Beside him was a man in a white robe dancing like a dragon. It was Zhao Yun!

When Ma Teng saw Li Jue's troops, he was also secretly surprised.

"Duke Wei is truly a great military talent. The enemy fears him, and I am very lucky!"

Zhao Yun smiled and said, "If you meet Duke Wei, you will understand it more deeply!"

He added, "I want to end the war as soon as possible and rush back to attend the ceremony of conferring the title of general. I did not take action for the sake of gaining merit, but I can put the blame on you afterwards, how about that?"

Ma Teng said modestly: "General Zilong, please go ahead." He thought to himself that my son is also very brave.

It may not be that easy for you to take away the merit from my son.

The next moment, Zhao Yun let out a long whistle, the sound as clear as an arrow piercing the clouds, and then he attacked.

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(End of this chapter)