Chapter 4: The Tyrant's Methods
"In the Gengxu year, the fourth year of the late emperor's reign, plagues broke out frequently. Evildoers were rampant, and the world was in chaos."

"The following year, floods continued, with seven disaster-stricken areas across the country. Then there was a severe drought, locusts ravaged the land, and crops in many places were eaten up. Famine spread across the country, and countless people starved to death."

“Another year, the Yellow River flooded.

There are corpses floating all over the Wei River, and some people are so hungry that they eat the corpses. But you eunuchs indulge your relatives, store food in various places, and make huge profits. "

"I don't know how many people have died in this world because of you!"

"The Taiping Dao is in chaos, the frontline soldiers are fighting bravely, but you are stirring up trouble in the rear and killing loyal people!"

Cao Cao began to denounce and accused eunuchs such as Zhang Rang of causing chaos in the country.

He didn't do it to smack people down.

As soon as the voice came out, it contained the cultural context of cultivation, aroused the Confucian spirit of righteousness, and weakened the popularity of Zhang Rang and others.

Cao Cao's voice was like the law of heaven, and even it had lethality, suppressing all the eunuchs in the palace.

The moment Cao Cao entered the Shangshutai through the secret passage, the following entry appeared before his eyes:

【Zhang Rang: A native of Yuzhou, Yingchuan, one of the "Ten Eunuchs". He served successively as Xiao Huangmen, Zhong Changshi and other positions, and was finally granted the title of Marquis. He extorted and levied heavy taxes, and constantly slandered others, but Emperor Lingdi was extremely favored. 】

[Weakness: Eunuchs depend on the emperor to survive, and rise and fall with the emperor. If you encounter a treacherous eunuch, you can cultivate your literary tradition to attract the noble spirit, and criticize him verbally and pen to suppress him...]

Cao Cao followed the entry's prompts, promoted the power of cultural context, gathered a mysterious destiny, and suppressed the eunuchs in the hall.

When Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were in panic, Xiao Xiang was ordered to kill them.

"Someone come quickly..."

Zhang Rang wanted to fight back, but he was too late.

Xiao Xiang's sword power was as surging as the Yangtze River, only attacking and not defending.

Zhang Rang seemed to be drawn into a battlefield, surrounded by the flash of swords, the biting cold, and the slow movements.

The same was true for other eunuchs.

At this moment, a big hand suddenly stretched out from the knife light beside Zhang Rang.

"what!"

Cao Cao was always listening to the changes in the hall.

Xiao Xiang attacked fiercely from the front, while Cao Cao suddenly appeared on Zhang Rang's flank, and with lightning speed, he grabbed his hair. With his other hand, he slashed across Zhang Rang's neck in an instant.

The slight sound of the blade cutting through bones and tendons makes one's hair stand on end.

The bright red blood gushed out.

Zhang Rang made a gurgling whimpering sound in his throat and his eyes were dull.

The knife flashed again.

Zhao Zhong ran to the door and was hit by a long sword thrown by Cao Cao, which pierced his body from behind. Xiao Xiang then caught up with him and chopped off his head with one blow.

Zhao Zhong's head rolled to the ground.

The hall suddenly became quiet.

As a result of this sudden change, two powerful eunuchs, Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang, were killed one after another.

The other eunuchs, both big and small, shouted at the same time in panic.

These eunuchs were cowards. When their leader died, they were stunned for a moment, and suddenly they all knelt down.

Xiao Xiang turned his head to look at Cao Cao, and a hint of light flashed across his eyes.

He had followed Cao Cao for several years, but this was the first time he saw him kill someone with his own hands.

Two people were killed in a flash.

Cao Cao had already told Yuan Shao that killing these eunuchs should not cause too much commotion.

Killing the main culprit will ensure victory.

Eunuchs usually just serve others and are always submissive. How much integrity do you expect from them?

Now that the leader is dead, do the remaining small fry still have the courage and will to fight to the death?
impossible.

It was because Cao Cao saw this clearly that he dared to enter the palace alone and solve the problem with the simplest and most direct method.

He pulled out the ring-handled knife from Zhao Zhong's neck and threw it to Xiao Xiang on the side.

The knife was borrowed from Xiao Xiang.

He wore two swords on each side, and Cao Cao borrowed one of them.

Zhang Rang died just like that?
Although he saw it with his own eyes, Xiao Xiang vaguely felt that something was wrong.

He came to Zhang Rang's body and wanted to check it out.

"No need to look at it, this Zhang Rang is fake, a stand-in. But Zhao Zhong is real."

Cao Cao said calmly, "Let's go after the real Zhang Rang. Someone will come to clean up the mess."

Historically, after Zhang Rang killed He Jin, he was defeated by the counterattack of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, so he fled secretly and eventually jumped into the river and drowned.

During the process, he also kidnapped the newly enthroned Emperor Liu Bian and Prince of Chenliu Liu Zuohe as hostages.

Historians believe that Zhang Rang was able to escape from the palace without being noticed and take the emperor away because he took advantage of the corridor inside the palace.

The so-called Fudao is a corridor connecting the north and south palaces.

Some corridors are built between pavilions, like skywalks.

When walking along the corridor, you don't have to meet people from outside, you can enter directly from the palace.

However, Cao Cao was one of the very few people who knew the secret passage in the palace, and Zhang Rang actually walked through the secret passage.

----

Zhang Rang, in disguise, had just escaped from the palace with a few close followers.

He killed He Jin and sent out a false edict out of the palace to remove Yuan Shao and others' military power, but it obviously didn't work, so Yuan Shao led his troops to surround the palace.

Judging from Yuan Shao's intention, he would not hesitate to start a war and launch a mutiny to kill all the Ten Attendants.

Zhang Rang was unable to further control the situation.

But he also had other plans. Seeing that Yuan Shao was launching a large-scale war, he prepared to protect himself first.

He used a substitute to leave the palace through a secret passage, and also took hostage the two most important bargaining chips, Emperor Shao Liu Bian and Prince of Chenliu Liu Xie.

Historically, he was pursued after escaping from Luoyang and committed suicide by jumping into the water.

However, Zhang Rang was blocked near the city gate before he could leave Luoyang.

He looked at his disguise in horror as he was stopped and seen through by a team of soldiers rushing out of the street.

The three carriages that Zhang Rang brought were also uncovered by the army. They contained all the treasures that he had collected through years of corruption, as well as the kidnapped and unconscious Emperor Shao Liu Bian and Prince of Chenliu Liu Xie. They caught the people and the evidence!

This team seemed to have foreseen the future and ambushed here in advance.

As soon as Zhang Rang's troops appeared, these people rushed out and caught him red-handed.

Zhang Rang stood in a daze on the drizzling street, his face as terrified as the other eunuchs beside him.

"Whose people do you belong to?" Zhang Rang asked.

There was no response, only crossbow arrows shot everywhere, and Zhang Rang's attendants were quickly shot dead.

The battle was over quickly and the fully armed troops took control of the situation.

The sound of horse hooves could be heard from behind.

Cao Cao rode a tall horse, left the palace through a secret passage, and accompanied by Xiao Xiang, he approached from far away.

Before entering the palace, he instructed his entourage to secretly mobilize his men to ambush near the gate of Luoyang city. One reason was that he remembered that Zhang Rang had escaped in history.

So it’s better to make your move in advance to be prepared.

Be prepared for both situations, inside and outside the palace.

As for being able to predict Zhang Rang's approximate escape route, it was related to the exit of the secret passage in the imperial palace.

There are only two exits.

When Cao Cao entered the palace, he arranged for people to ambush outside, and they really blocked Zhang Rang who was leaving the palace.

"Zhang Rang, someone tried to assassinate me five days ago. Was it you who did it?"

Cao Cao rode closer, feeling the rain falling on his body, feeling slightly cold. He stared at Zhang Rang with sharp eyes and asked unexpectedly.

Zhang Rang's face turned pale, and he said dejectedly, "What did you say?"

It doesn't look fake, and the assassin was not sent by him... When Cao Cao pondered, his heart suddenly tightened.

A streak of black light appeared silently in the void in front of him.

On his horse beside him, Xiao Xiang shouted angrily and rushed forward, trying to stand in front of Cao Cao.

A close call.

Cao Cao moved sideways to avoid the black light that broke through the air, and stretched out his hand to push Xiao Xiang who was rushing towards him aside.

The situation seemed dangerous, and the black light almost pierced Cao Cao's face.

But in fact, Cao Cao was unharmed.

The dim light was suddenly emitted from Zhang Rang's mouth.

He wanted to counterattack and attack Cao Cao.

Unfortunately, the attack failed, and the Xiyuan soldiers who controlled him became furious and forced him to his knees.

After Xiao Xiang landed on the ground, he rushed over and punched Zhang Rang in the nose. Zhang Rang's face was immediately covered in blood.

Cao Cao dismounted, sword in hand, and came behind Zhang Rang.

"Cao Cao, you and Yuan Shao will not survive..."

Zhang Rang's hair was disheveled, his expression was grim, and his voice suddenly stopped.

Cao Cao pressed his forehead with one hand, causing his neck to tense and lean back, then he slashed Zhang Rang's neck with his sword like killing a chicken.

The warm blood splashed a foot high, spilled on the ground, and was slowly washed away by the drizzle.

This eunuch, who had committed so many evil deeds and brought chaos to the court, was twitching all over, as if he couldn't believe that Cao Cao would be so decisive as to kill him right on the street after catching him.

Zhang Rang's throat gurgled: "Cang Tian... is dead... Huang Tian..."

Cao Cao frowned. The slogan of Taiping Dao?
But Zhang Rang's throat was cut and the sound was too unclear, so Cao Cao was not sure whether what he heard was "The Heaven is Dead".

Cao Cao held the hilt of the knife upside down, lowered his wrist, and poked Zhang Rang's temple with the hilt. With a cracking sound, his head shattered.

A powerful force poured out from the other end, shattering the skull and splattering red and white brain matter all over the ground.

Cao Cao's cruelty led to Zhang Rang's death.

[Kill Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang, and the head of the Ten Eunuchs. Your reputation increases by 2000]

When the entry appeared in front of Cao Cao's eyes, there was a clucking sound from the side, like a hen giving birth and struggling to die.

Among the people kneeling down in the army was another eunuch, Duan Gui, who had teamed up with Zhang Rang to kidnap the emperor out of the palace and was one of the Ten Attendants.

Cao Cao sneered.

He took a step forward, the knife flashed, and Duan Gui's head fell to the ground.

[Your reputation increases by 800]

The entry reappears.

Cao Cao turned around and made a gesture to Xiao Xiang about wiping his neck.

It means to cut the weeds at their roots.

Killing Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong was just the beginning.

Their followers, residences in the city, and relatives, who have assisted the tyrant in his atrocities and committed countless evil deeds over the years, will all become targets for hunting down and killing, without any future trouble.

Xiao Xiang immediately assigned people to launch follow-up actions with murderous intent.

In the rain, soldiers searched through Zhang Rang's carriage and confiscated the items one by one as trophies.

At this time, a soldier said: "There is a woman in this car..."

In one of the carriages of Zhang Rang's entourage, in addition to the unconscious Emperor Liu Bian and Prince of Chenliu Liu Xie, there was also a woman who was tied up and wearing a palace robe.

"Are you Concubine Yu?" Cao Cao looked at her.

The woman was wearing a palace dress with charming eyes and eyebrows, and was tied sideways in the car. The rain wet her dress a little, which fit her curvy figure.

The soldiers surrounding the carriage all had strange looks on their faces.

This woman is so beautiful.

She was also brought out of the palace by Zhang Rang. She was the most beloved concubine of the previous emperor and was known as the Jade Beauty, Yu Qing.

A characteristic of this jade beauty is that her feet cannot be seen when she lowers her head, which means she is very wealthy.

It is worth mentioning that after the death of Emperor Ling Liu Hong, Yu Qing was also a widow.

At this moment, her face was pale, and her watery eyes were filled with panic and fear.

Seeing the widow again, people in history have always said that there is some kind of fate between me and other people’s wives… Cao Cao thought self-deprecatingly.

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(End of this chapter)