Seeing the Cao army attack so fiercely, Kong Rong was furious and shouted, "Stop!"
"The Emperor would never issue an edict to let you kill people!"
"You will come with me to see the Emperor and argue this out!"
Cao Chun sneered, "Since the Emperor has no edict, then it is Lord Envoy who decides!"
"Kill them all!"
Seeing their families being hacked down by Cao soldiers, the old, the young, women and children wailing everywhere, Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao cursed and tried to rush over to stop them, but they were kicked to the ground by Cao soldiers and could not get up.
Kong Rong's eyes were bloodshot. He saw the deputy general who had brought him into the city resisting on the shore, but he was pierced by a dozen spears of the Cao army, and his body fell into the water and floated away.
In a short while, the families of the Zhang Miao brothers were all killed. When the remaining soldiers and civilians of Chenliu saw this, they swam back into the water, but were shot to death by the Cao army. The surface of the water was gradually filled with corpses.
Kong Rong's face was bitter, and he said to Zhang Miao, "Mengzhuo, I have harmed you!"
Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao were full of resentment, "Wenju, don't say that. When we meet the Emperor, I will definitely submit a memorial to impeach Cao thief, and I will never let him get away with it!"
Kong Rong gritted his teeth, "Cao Cao is a shameless villain. I will never rest until he is dead!"
Faced with the Cao soldiers, Kong Rong was powerless. He had to order people to lift Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao into the carriage and let the coachman drive away. Before leaving, Kong Rong spat fiercely at Cao Chun.
A deputy general beside Cao Chun came over, held the hilt of his sword, and whispered to Cao Chun, "General, do you want to send troops to follow them and kill them in a deserted place?"
Cao Chun thought for a while and shook his head, "Forget it. Now Kong Rong is an envoy of the Emperor. Without a legitimate reason, it is not good to do it."
"If something happens to them, everyone will know that we did it. It will be difficult for Lord Envoy to explain in front of the Emperor."
"Lord Envoy ordered us to spare a few of their lives earlier, which means that these people are not worth mentioning. Let them go."
Kong Rong and Zhang Miao's carriage left alone. The soldiers and civilians of Chenliu behind them had nowhere to escape and were all killed. Puyang City was finally captured by the Cao army.
The Chenliu Rebellion, which was initiated by Lu Bu and Zhang Chao two years ago and secretly promoted by Yuan Xi, was thus quelled. So far, Cao Cao has finally pacified the entire territory of Yanzhou.
Afterwards, when the news of Zhang Miao's surrender under the Emperor's edict, the fall of Puyang, and the massacre of the entire city reached Ye City, Yuan Xi felt a moment of Trance.
Was it really worth it for the war in Yanzhou to end like this?
Why did the Cao army massacre the city even after Zhang Miao surrendered?
When Yuan Xi left Huaicheng, he clearly understood that there was no order to massacre the city in the Emperor's edict!
Cao Cao took advantage of the loopholes in the edict. This was obviously to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, but the question was, was this to deter the ministers, or to deter Liu Xie?
Yuan Xi felt that Cao Cao's intention was definitely not as simple as disgusting Kong Rong and Zhang Miao. He smelled a hint of danger from it. His fearlessness could only mean that the Cao Cao forces around the Emperor were much larger than he had imagined.
Thinking of this, he wrote a letter to Lu Bu, telling him to be careful of Cao Cao's movements. If Lu Bu could not defeat Cao Cao, then Huaicheng would become the second Xu County, and Cao Cao would be able to control Liu Xie without any scruples.
Yuan Xi was not sure. Did he have too high expectations for Lu Bu?
It seemed that Lu Bu might not be able to bear the position of General.
At the same time, Yuan Shao also received the news of Zhang Miao's surrender and summoned Yuan Xi to discuss the matter.
Yuan Xi walked out of the house and found that Lu Lingqi was talking to Guo Jia's wife, Madam Dong, in the garden. Guo Yi was sitting on a stone bench, reading the bamboo slips in his hand.
He suddenly remembered that there were not many family members in the Ye City mansion. When he left Ye City earlier, he took away the Huan family and his daughter, and later asked Tai Shici to take his family to Guangling. So, only Guo Jia's wife and son were left in the mansion.
Now it seems that Ye City is not suitable for keeping people. Cao Shi is also in a bad situation with Guo Yi. It is better to let them go to Jicheng to live, and it is not a good way for Cao Shi to take Guo Yi all the time. If he wants to make progress, he must go to the Jicheng Righteous School.
Thinking of this, he stepped forward, touched Guo Yi's head, and smiled, "Do you want to see Father?"
Guo Yi immediately replied, "Yes."
Yuan Xi laughed and said to Cao Shi, "Madam, you have worked hard these two years. When this matter is over, I will send Madam and the child to Jicheng."
Madam Dong quickly thanked him. At this time, Yuan Xi's heart moved and he said, "Madam, do you have any relationship with General Dong Cheng of the Chariots and Cavalry?"
Madam Dong raised her head in surprise, "How does Lord Envoy know?"
"I do have some distant relatives with him."
Yuan Xi laughed at Lu Lingqi after hearing this, "In this case, we are all one family."
Dong Cheng relied on Cao Cao to deal with the Baibo army. As a result, Cao Cao eliminated the Baibo generals and immediately turned to deal with Dong Cheng, scaring Dong Cheng half to death and hurriedly defected to Lu Bu.
Now that the two are embracing each other for warmth in order to deal with Cao Cao together, they can be regarded as allies, so Yuan Xi said this to Lu Lingqi.
However, Yuan Xi didn't care much. It was difficult to have a relationship with Dong Cheng based on a distant relative of Madam Dong alone, so he said a few words to Madam Dong and hurried to see Yuan Shao.
As expected, Yuan Shao called Yuan Xi over to discuss how to persuade Zang Hong of Dongwuyang to surrender.
Yuan Xi knew what Yuan Shao meant and said, "I will take care of this matter."
"My identity is special. I belong to the Yuan family, but I am relatively independent. I am also an envoy of the Emperor. Zang Hong should also think about it carefully."
"Although the Emperor's edict is not directly for Zang Hong, the edict itself is ambiguous. I will use it to persuade Zang Hong, it should be useful. After all, Cao Cao can use the edict to deceive the Zhang Miao brothers."
"If Zang Hong is not stupid, he will not expose it even if he sees it, after all, Dongwuyang is a dead end, unless he wants to drag the people of the whole city to be buried with him."
Yuan Shao snorted coldly upon hearing this, "If he weren't brainless, why would he do such a thing!"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Indeed, I don't understand either. If he wanted to save Zhang Miao, he could have simply sent troops. Why rebel with the entire city?"
"Perhaps he sees the Governor and Cao Cao as being in the same camp."
Yuan Shao snorted again: "Foolish!"
"If it weren't for the Emperor's mediation, I would have broken the city and slaughtered him!"
Yuan Xi advised, "Regardless of the strategy, Zang Hong's actions will be praised throughout the land as acts of loyalty and righteousness. If you kill him, you will inevitably face criticism from everyone."
Yuan Shao snorted coldly. He had to admit that Yuan Xi was right. Now, neither he nor Zang Hong could back down. If Yuan Xi hadn't intervened, Yuan Shao would have certainly killed Zang Hong.
Otherwise, if Zang Hong were allowed to live, his subordinates would rebel whenever they felt like it. Where would the prestige of the Yuan clan be?
Now that the Emperor was acting as a shield, if the matter could be resolved, both the Emperor and the Yuan clan would save face. It would be the best outcome.
Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "Alright, I'll have Tian Feng accompany you."
Yuan Xi accepted the order and then asked, "How should Zang Hong be dealt with?"
Yuan Shao pondered for a moment. "He can't stay in Dongwuyang."
"He's not even suitable to stay in Ji Province."
"Find a way to take him away. You can arrange for him to go to You Province or Xu Province, just don't let him appear before me."
Yuan Xi smiled wryly. It was indeed difficult to arrange things for someone as stubborn as Zang Hong. However, since Yuan Shao had suggested it, he had to agree. After all, if he helped Yuan Shao solve his problems, he would definitely be rewarded.
He immediately replied, "In that case, I will set off for Dongwuyang now. If all goes well, the journey of a hundred li or so will only take a few days."
Yuan Shao's face showed a hint of satisfaction. "I have always been confident in your abilities."
As Yuan Xi got up to leave, Yuan Shao stopped him and said, "You have done many things for the Yuan family and have endured many hardships. I remember them all."
Yuan Xi bowed respectfully upon hearing this and then left.
Yuan Xi, accompanied by Tian Feng, Zhao Yun, and several hundred soldiers, visited Dongwuyang. Surprisingly, things went smoothly, and none of the anticipated twists and turns occurred.
Yuan Xi arrived at the city gate, presented the Emperor's decree, and met with Zang Hong inside the city. He vaguely stated that it was Liu Xie's wish. After receiving assurances that the soldiers and civilians within the city would not be held accountable for their past actions, Zang Hong agreed to open the city and surrender.
Yuan Xi was surprised by Zang Hong's straightforwardness and then realized that Zang Hong had dared to be the leader of the Suanzao coalition, indicating his loyalty to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, the Emperor's decree was extremely persuasive to him.
However, although this person dared to act, his thought process was different from ordinary people. How to arrange things for him was truly a troublesome matter for Yuan Xi. Who knew if Zang Hong might suddenly have a change of heart and turn against him?
At this moment, he and Tian Feng stood on the city wall, watching Gao Lan's army enter the city in an orderly manner. Tian Feng patted the city wall and sighed, "This time, I have been of no use at all. How boring!"
Yuan Xi laughed. He had not expected Zang Hong to be so straightforward, so Tian Feng's intention to give a grand lecture was completely thwarted.
He seized the opportunity and said, "I have something to ask for your guidance, sir. In your opinion, how should Zang Hong be arranged for?"
Tian Feng had learned of Yuan Shao's intentions before coming and stroked his beard, saying, "This request from Lord Yuan is indeed a bit unreasonable."
"Who would dare to easily take in a subordinate who has committed treasonous acts?"
Yuan Xi's heart stirred. "Then what about Marquis Wen...?"
Tian Feng said coldly, "This is a choice of how to conduct oneself and establish one's principles."
"If one cannot consistently adhere to the righteousness they uphold and acts solely for the sake of profit without any principles, even if they can temporarily gain the allegiance of many people, it will eventually lead to chaos."
"To pledge allegiance to such a lord indicates that those people are originally opportunistic and ungrateful individuals. If the lord loses power or is in a difficult situation, they will immediately choose the stronger side."
"These people can only share wealth and prosperity, not poverty and hardship."
Yuan Xi listened, lost in thought. Wasn't this Cao Cao of later generations?
Although he proposed the idea of valuing talent over virtue in order to recruit talent, it did indeed attract a large number of talented and ambitious people to join him.
However, among these people, many were simply joining Cao Cao for the sake of profit and power, but they had little loyalty to Cao Cao himself.
Therefore, when the Sima clan usurped Wei, few of Cao Cao's former ministers came out to oppose it.
Although it was partly because the Cao clan had lost the hearts of the people, it also showed that this mechanism for selecting talents still had hidden dangers.
During the Battle of Guandu, many of Cao Cao's subordinates secretly pledged allegiance to and colluded with Yuan Shao, which was clear evidence.
Cao Cao also knew that too many people were involved to investigate, so he burned it all.
From this point of view, Cao Cao was still very magnanimous, including Zhang Xiu, who had let his soldiers kill Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, Dian Wei, and others. Cao Cao was still able to form a marriage alliance with him in the end. Yuan Xi felt that he could not do that.
If it were him, he would definitely take revenge to the death, without end.
Yuan Xi had thought that Cao Cao's approach was the measure of a lord, but according to Tian Feng, Cao Cao's approach was without principle.
This was actually an encouragement to Yuan Xi, because according to his current thinking, he was closer to Liu Bei, who avenged Guan Yu in later generations, and was preparing to fight the Black Mountain Bandits to the death for the sake of Qu Yi.
Yuan Xi also knew that his approach was somewhat emotional, but his way of doing things in his heart was indeed more inclined towards Liu Bei, not Cao Cao.