novelSusiti Chapter 7 Suffering indeed, all I can do is speak of Zhong.
Chapter 7 Suffering indeed, all I can do is speak of Zhong.
After returning from Yang Hong's place, Yuan Yao immediately set about how to rescue Lü Bu's daughter—or, in a sense, Lü Lingqi.
Getting people out of Cao Cao's hands seems difficult, but it's actually not easy at all.
Unless it's Yuan Yao himself, who is rather special, having a clear engagement with Lü Bu's daughter.
This marriage was actually quite complicated, otherwise Yuan Yao wouldn't have thought of it at first.
In the second year of Jian'an, Yuan Shu had just declared himself emperor and urgently needed strong external support to consolidate his power. He set his sights on Lü Bu, wanting to launch a coalition between Xu and Yang, and to form an alliance with Lü Bu through marriage.
When Lü Bu heard that he could arrange a marriage with the Yuan family, he was all smiles. With the full support of his strategist Chen Gong, the marriage was officially settled.
However, as everyone knows, Lü Bu was notoriously fickle. He soon regretted his decision. Seeing that his daughter had already been sent out of the city, he changed his mind at the last minute, not only breaking off the engagement but also capturing Yuan Shu's envoy Han Yin and taking him to Xuchang, where he was beheaded by Cao Cao.
This move completely stunned the Zhong family.
People used to think Yuan Shu was already quite abstract, but they never expected there would be such a master who could turn a marriage alliance into a feud on the spot.
At this point, the marriage should have been off the table. However, a year later, when Lü Bu was besieged in Xiapi and had no other options, he remembered the matter and brought it up again, hoping to get Yuan Shu's reinforcements.
Yuan Shu was so angry he laughed, saying that unless Lü Bu sent his daughter first, there was no point in talking.
Unfortunately, in the end, Lü Bu was unable to break through the siege and send his daughter out of the city.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Zhong clan's ministers, the marriage alliance between Yuan and Lü was a farce and not worth mentioning at all.
But the situation was different with Lü Bu's army.
Yuan Yao's status as a prospective son-in-law was personally approved by Lü Bu himself. As long as he was willing, he could marry Lü Bu's daughter at any time without anyone objecting!
For the same reason, Yuan Yao could also use this as a pretext to demand his fiancée from Cao Cao.
Cao Cao will most likely give it to him.
It wasn't because Cao Cao preferred young married women and had little interest in young girls.
The main point is that this did not harm Cao Cao at all.
Cao Cao had previously opposed the marriage alliance because he did not want to see the Yuan and Lü families unite, but now that Lü Bu was dead, the marriage had lost most of its political significance.
Conversely, if Yuan Yao still insisted on marrying Lady Lü under these circumstances, and others were unaware of Cao Xing's past, they would only think that he was loyal, righteous, and kept his promise.
Therefore, if Cao Cao had been able to help him achieve his goal, this matter would most likely have become a celebrated story among scholars, and perhaps even a popular anecdote in "A New Account of Tales of the World" a few hundred years later.
Thinking of this, Yuan Yao no longer hesitated and immediately decided to write a letter to Xuchang, asking Cao Cao for Lü Lingqi.
Coincidentally, her brother-in-law, Huang Yi, seemed to be neither good at literature nor martial arts, but he was very good at social interactions in these circles of high-ranking officials and nobles, and he was also a master at writing flattering articles.
After several hours of deliberation, Huang Yi successfully produced a masterpiece.
Yuan Yao skimmed through it and felt that it was all over the place, like flowers blooming from the sky and golden lotuses sprang from the ground. This rainbow of flattery was something no one could resist.
Huang Yi was slightly smug, finally able to show off in front of his brother-in-law: "What does Your Highness think?"
Yuan Yao smiled and said, "Very good, but it's still missing a key phrase that can turn stone into gold."
Seeing that Huang Yi was not convinced, Yuan Yao picked up his brush and wrote on the silk scroll:
"To ascend to the heavens and receive the mandate of heaven, how can I bear it; to rule the four seas and grieve for the common people, my heart is broken."
Huang Yi was instantly shocked.
This statement compares Cao Cao to a celestial being, praising him for descending to earth as ordained by Heaven, yet also for his compassion for the common people.
It can be said that he flattered Cao Cao to a high level and with a fresh approach, and it even corresponded perfectly with Cao Cao's famous poems such as "The Ballad of Hao Li", which definitely hit Cao Cao's sweet spot.
Yuan Yao declared confidently, "Just based on those two sentences, Cao Cao will have to send Miss Lü back to me!"
Full of confidence, Yuan Yao sent the messenger to Xuchang and resumed his routine of training troops during the day and discussing the state of the world with Yan Xiang at night.
After being rejected by Liu Ye and Cao Xing in succession, Yuan Yao realized one thing: the reputation of his Zhong family was really too bad.
Otherwise, why would he go to such great lengths to indirectly become Lü Bu's son-in-law in order to win Cao Xing's heart? As for Liu Ye, he didn't give him any chance at all and showed no intention of serving in the government.
This was not only because the Zhong regime was on the verge of collapse and could be destroyed at any moment.
The real problem lies in the mess that Yuan Shu himself created.
Yan Xiang looked dejected: "Your Excellency should not have rashly usurped the title. This move has directly alienated the heroes of the world from us."
Yuan Yao covered his face and sighed, "What's worse is that he didn't even understand the meaning of usurping a title."
Fun fact: Strictly speaking, Yuan Shu did not declare himself emperor; he called himself Zhongjia.
Zhong means second, so the true meaning of Zhongjia or Zhongshi is that they are the second best in the world.
This behavior is... hard to judge.
For example, the Liu family, with its history of 400 years and 24 emperors during the Han Dynasty, is the undisputed GOAT. Yuan Shu clearly wanted to replace the Liu family, but he knew that he was only relying on the legacy of his father and grandfather to build up the prestige of the Three Dukes for several generations. He couldn't compete with the Liu family in terms of strength and achievements, so he settled for second best, calling himself the Executive Deputy GOAT and demanding that others give him that damn respect.
As expected, he ended up becoming the clown who crowned himself.
After all, other talents don't care about this or that. Whether you directly declare yourself emperor or pretend to be a member of the Zhong family, it is undoubtedly an act of usurpation, and you will be severely punished.
Yuan Yao looked tense. In his opinion, Yuan Shu would have been better off just openly rebelling. The worst outcome would have been the same as now, but at least he would have been brave enough to take responsibility. People would only say that his abilities did not match his ambitions, and he would still be considered a hero of his time.
Now, things have turned out this way. He's being coy and unwilling to admit it, thinking he can please both sides, but in reality, he's not getting anywhere. Instead, everyone is convinced that Yuan Shu is all bark and no bite, and that he doesn't even have the courage to rebel and declare himself emperor.
This led to a fundamental lack of righteousness in the Zhong regime. If someone asked whether the Zhong regime wanted to revive or destroy the Han dynasty, everyone would freeze up and be unable to explain themselves, even if their CPU burned out.
Unfortunately, Yuan Shu was extremely arrogant and conceited. As long as he remained in power, he would never admit that his initial decision was wrong. This flaw would continue to plague the Zhong family forever.
No solution.
unless--
A thought popped into Yuan Yao's mind, but he quickly suppressed it.
No, not at least not now.
We'll have to wait a bit longer.
However, if one could gain the loyalty of Cao Xing and the remnants of Lü Bu's army, perhaps there would be a chance...
Keeping these thoughts to himself, Yuan Yao continued to train his troops patiently every day until, after several days, he finally saw the person he had been waiting for.
The messenger who went to Xudu has finally returned.
But when Yuan Yao saw the messenger, his heart sank.
Because there was no one behind the other person, and Miss Lü was nowhere to be seen as he had expected.
There was only one official reply from the Xudu government.
Half an hour later, Yuan Yao urgently summoned Huang Yi and Yan Xiang to his residence to discuss matters.
Upon the arrival of the two, Yuan Yao could no longer contain his emotions and slammed his fist on the table, standing up abruptly.
"I wrote to Cao Cao, asking him to send Lady Lü back to Shouchun to marry me. Xu Du has already replied."
"You absolutely forbid it!"