Chapter 149: Lao Ji Fufeng, King Wei loses his crown (6000 words!)
In the Wei army camp on the other side of the Han River, Cao Cao was holding a Yuan Day banquet on a high platform.
Today is the first day of the first lunar month in the 25th year of Jian'an.
Yuan Day is the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also known as "Zhengdan."
Because today is the beginning of the year, the beginning of the four seasons, and the beginning of January, it is also called "Three Yuan."
Yuan Day can be said to be the most important festival for the Chinese nation since the Han Dynasty.
At this time every year, various forms of celebrations are held, from the royal family to the common people.
Because of the special nature of Yuan Day, rulers of all dynasties also gave this day special political significance.
The central court would hold a large-scale banquet every day on Yuan Day. At the large-scale banquet, the king would gather with his ministers and everyone would have fun together.
Holding a grand Yuan Day banquet can not only help the king show his kindness and stabilize people's hearts, but also is a way to reflect the prosperity of the country's talents and national strength.
If it were said that before Cao Cao founded his country, he might not have been interested in holding such a banquet.
But since he established the Wei State, he has been regarded as a king, and he is deeply aware that this kind of large-scale banquet with his ministers can sometimes be as useful as an army of tens of thousands.
Therefore, although Cao Cao is still in the army, when the officials came to ask whether they wanted to hold a Yuan Day banquet, Cao Cao replied with the word "yes".
In order to prepare for this banquet, all the Wei officials in the Wei army began intensive preparations under the organization of Dong Zhao, a close minister of Cao Cao.
Dong Zhao followed Cao Cao's wishes and built a banquet table several feet high on the bank of the Han River.
Although the scale of this banquet platform cannot be compared with the Bronze Bird Terrace in Yecheng.
Compared with the Tongque Terrace, the level of luxury seems extremely simple.
But it is not easy to quickly build this high platform in a short period of time.
After the high platform was built, Cao Cao came down to inspect it under the escort of Xu Chu.
Although in order to complete it quickly, except for the important parts of the entire platform, which was laid with stone, most other parts were made of wood, which did not look grand enough.
But he was very satisfied with Dong Zhao's ability to build such an impressive tower in such a short time.
He personally ordered this high platform to be "Linghan Tower."
Ling means to be superior.
Cao Cao named this high platform where the Yuan Day Banquet was held Linghan Terrace, which has two meanings.
One is this high platform, which is found on the foundation next to the Han River, so it is called Linghan.
Ling also means to invade and to pass through.
On the other side of the 100,000 Wei army, there are tens of thousands of Han troops who are Cao Cao's henchmen.
So Cao Cao named the high platform Linghan and expressed his desire to cross the Han River and defeat the Han army on the other side.
Under the intense preparations of the ministers of Wei State, all preparations were finally completed the day before Yuanri arrived.
On this day, on the extremely wide high platform, hundreds of seats had been arranged in two rows on the left and right according to the official positions of the ministers.
Soon after, the special drumming band of the Wei royal court on the high platform started playing music.
Under the pleasant music, many ministers of Cao and Wei began to come to the high platform one after another, led by hundreds of ceremonial officers.
After getting on the high platform, these hundreds of Wei officials began to take their seats according to the seats that had been arranged.
When all the courtiers were seated, the music on the high platform changed from sweet to majestic.
Under the majestic drum music, Cao Cao, wearing a crown and black robes of the princes and kings, began to slowly step onto the high platform, escorted by his own troops on the left and right.
Cao Cao's personal troops are the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, all of whom are strong and powerful men.
Although Cao Cao under their guard was not as tall as them, Cao Cao held the king's sword in his hand, his figure was lifted, and his eagle-like eyes exuded all kinds of fierceness.
After decades of fighting and defeating countless powerful enemies, Cao Cao exuded a domineering and intimidating aura.
With the crown jewels flashing in front of him, Cao Cao stepped firmly step by step onto the high platform that represented supreme authority.
Every time Cao Cao stepped onto the steps, the courtiers on both sides of the steps would bow down and worship him.
As Cao Cao and the throne made of gold and jade on the high platform, which represented the supreme power, got closer and closer, more and more Wei officials on both sides of the steps on the platform bowed down and worshiped.
When Cao Cao finally stood in front of the throne, all the Wei ministers on the entire high platform bowed at Cao Cao's feet.
Among the Wei ministers there were Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, etc., whose reputations were known all over the world, and there were great Confucian scholars like Hua Xin and Wang Lang who had disciples and former officials all over the world.
But no matter how famous they are in the world, they are all willing to submit to Cao Cao at this moment.
Even though he was defeated in Hanzhong, he was still the King of Wei, Cao Mengde, who held the sixth place in the Nine Provinces and could look down on the world.
After Cao Cao sat on the throne, tens of thousands of Wei soldiers under the high platform shouted the word "King of Wei" in unison.
In the army, Cao Cao's prestige was unmatched by anyone.
With tens of thousands of Wei soldiers shouting with all their strength, the word "King of Wei" was deafening, and was clearly transmitted to the camp of the Han army on the other side.
Hearing the deafening cheers, Cao Cao had a smile on his face.
He specifically chose to hold the Yuan Day Banquet on the bank of the Han River in order to show the Han army on the other side the power of the Wei Dynasty.
The higher the power, the more capable it is of deterring the enemy's military morale.
Linghan Tower was built facing the Han River. When Cao Cao sat on the throne, he could watch all the scenes of the Han army camp opposite from the high platform.
Sure enough, when the deafening cheers of the Wei army reached the Han army camp on the other side, countless fires suddenly flashed in the Han army camp.
It looks like panic, but it looks like observation.
Cao Cao was very satisfied with this scene.
After Guan Yu and others in the Han army's camp heard the loud cheers of "King Wei", they all came to the shore and looked towards the other side.
When they saw the lights on the other side brightly lit and the rituals and music playing, they knew that Cao Cao was holding a New Year's Day banquet.
Then Guan Yu and other generals immediately understood Cao Cao's intention to hold a New Year's Day banquet on the other side of the river just a short distance away.
When Guan Yu saw that his soldiers began to panic because of the tens of thousands of high-pitched cheers from the Wei army, he immediately came up with a solution.
Since Meng De is going to attack people's hearts, he will accompany him to the end.
Guan Yu immediately ordered people to go and summon the soldiers with loud voices in the camp.
After the Wei army cheered loudly, the entire Yuan Day banquet kicked off.
The visitor who was in charge of receiving the guests led the clan members and high-ranking officials worth more than 2,000 shi one by one to kneel down at the steps of Wei King Cao Cao.
After kneeling down and worshiping, these senior officials of Cao Wei presented Cao Cao with birthday wine.
When offering wine, the minister who presented the wine first knelt down to give the longevity wine to the Wei King's attendants, and then the attendants knelt down to place the longevity wine in front of the throne.
King Cao Cao of Wei could choose to drink these longevity wines or not, depending on the status of the ministers who offered them in his mind.
Cao Cao drank the wine offered by his clan members with a smile on his face.
But the minister who offers the wine must drink his own cup.
After the wine presentation, it was originally the gift giving session.
However, Cao Cao advocated frugality. In order to avoid giving gifts that would cause his officials to compete with each other and lead to corruption, he abandoned this link.
After the gift-giving session, the visitors on the high platform knelt down and chanted: "I will wait until I offer my cup to you before I bow to you. May your Majesty live forever!"
As soon as the visitor finished speaking these words, all the ministers on the high platform came out and knelt down to play these words. When the ministers knelt down and played these words, there was a great ceremony and music on the high platform.
From then on the formal banquet began.
After King Cao Cao of Wei began to eat, the ministers who were kneeling on the ground dared to sit down and start eating.
Many singers and dancers also began to perform performances for the kings and ministers of the Wei State under the leadership of Ye Zhe.
On the Linghan Terrace, the monarchs and ministers of the Wei Kingdom enjoyed not only fine wines and delicacies, but also graceful dancing, with intoxicating expressions on their faces.
While Cao Cao was intoxicated, he often observed the Han army camp opposite.
Today, he held a grand banquet, drank and sang in front of tens of thousands of enemy troops. This was to express his contempt for those tens of thousands of enemy troops.
He just wants to use tonight's New Year's Day banquet to tell Guan Yu on the other side, and to tell the people of the world that they should not think that they can sit back and relax after winning a few small victories.
The one who really has some remaining strength is Cao Mengde.
And this was also Cao Cao's plan to lure Guan Yu into the enemy.
If Guan Yu thought that he would let down his guard because of the banquet tonight and plan to attack at night, then his wish would be fulfilled.
He still has tens of thousands of troops, who are waiting for danger at the moment.
Due to the anesthesia of alcohol, Cao Cao's mood was very high at this time.
Accompanied by ritual music, he persistently knocked on the wine glass on the dining table and began to sing his favorite song "Gui Sui Shou".
When Cao Cao's emotional singing sounded, the singing, dancing and music in the audience stopped.
Although the turtle lives a long life, it still has its time.
The tan snake rides on the mist and turns into ashes in the end.
The old man is brave and ambitious, but his ambition is thousands of miles.
In his old age, the martyrs are full of ambition.
The period of profit and contraction is not only in heaven;
By cultivating the blessing of good health, you can live forever.
Fortunately, even singing praises one's aspirations.
As Cao Cao's song floated on the high platform, the ministers on the high platform also began to knock on the table to express their sympathy to Cao Cao.
This song "Gui Sui Shou" was composed by Cao Cao after he unified Hebei and before the Battle of Chibi.
Although he was already in his fifties at that time, he had basically unified the north, and the unification of the world was in sight.
Cao Cao wrote this article because he lamented the past and looked forward to the future.
Now that it was another southern expedition, Cao Cao couldn't help but think of this Yuefu poem and sang it out.
Cao Cao sang this poem at this time to motivate himself. After all, after today, he will be sixty-six years old.
Under Cao Cao's singing, all the officials on the high platform also felt something.
Cao Cao is no longer young, and these ministers who have followed Cao Cao for decades are no longer in their prime.
Originally, tonight's New Year's Day banquet had developed to this point, and every step was within Cao Cao's expectation. But unfortunately, Cao Cao had calculated everything, but he only missed Mi Yang in the south.
In other words, Mi Yang's existence had never entered his eyes before.
While the emperor and his ministers were rejoicing on the high platform, an urgent message from Jiangling had been delivered to the lower part of the high platform.
After the messenger arrived under the high platform, he immediately found his superior and reported an urgent military situation to him.
After hearing this military information, the Shangguan's expression immediately changed.
He saw that the King of Wei was having a banquet with his ministers on the high platform, and he hesitated whether to report this urgent military information.
But considering King Wei's strict military laws, delaying military affairs is a capital crime!
As a result, the official who was under the King of Wei's offering of wine immediately came to the high platform under the leadership of the visitor and found King Wei's offering of wine to Dong Zhao.
After meeting Dong Zhao, this official reported to Dong Zhao the urgent military information he had just learned.
Dong Zhao was still intoxicated by Cao Cao's singing, but after hearing the news, his face turned from flushed to pale.
He quickly took the information from this subordinate and read it carefully.
After reading it, Dong Zhao's face was full of shock and disbelief!
How can this be!
That Mi Yang is only twenty years old!
At this time, after Cao Cao chanted Gui Suishou several times, he had stopped enjoying himself.
As a close minister of Cao Cao, Dong Zhao was sitting not far from Cao Cao. The abnormality on his face was quickly noticed by Cao Cao.
Cao Cao, who was already drunk, smiled and asked Dong Zhao, "Gongren, we are celebrating together today, what are you worried about?"
Cao Cao's question caused all the officials on the high platform to focus their attention on Dong Zhao.
Facing Cao Cao's inquiry, Dong Zhao did not dare to explain in a single word.
The look of shock still lingered on his face for a long time, unable to go away.
According to Cao Cao, on this day of celebration, if he reported the shocking news in his hands, Dong Zhao could not imagine the consequences.
And Dong Zhao even knew the real purpose of Cao Cao's New Year's Day banquet today.
Once this news is exposed at this banquet, it will be a slap in Cao Cao's face!
Although Cao Cao was drunk, he was already suspicious when he saw Dong Zhao smiling and looking frightened when he asked him questions.
Just when Cao Cao was suspicious and Dong Zhao was trembling with fear, bursts of reciting came from the Han army camp on the other side.
"Chen Miyang reported: The 24th year of Jian'an"
Because the distance was not far, along with the sound of the wind, the recitation of tens of thousands of soldiers was transmitted very clearly to the ears of everyone on the high platform.
Obviously, this is a battle report.
The content of the battle report at the beginning was very ordinary.
But as tens of thousands of Han troops read aloud the words "Burning the Battalion and the Wu Army's Tens of Thousands of Casualties", the faces of all the Wei officials on the high platform had a look of astonishment on their faces.
When the tens of thousands of Han troops read aloud the words "Fire is raging," and they briefly finished these words, the faces of the Wei ministers on the high platform were all shocked.
As tens of thousands of people continued to read Mi Yang's battle report aloud, the looks of shock on the faces of hundreds of Wei Chen became more and more intense.
The land collapsed, no invaders came before, the corpses drifted, and sentences showing off one's might were like knives driven by the wind into the hearts of hundreds of Wei Chen.
At this time, the faces of hundreds of Wei Chen were already full of horror.
When these sixteen words, "One hundred thousand Wu troops were almost completely wiped out. After several years of accumulation, nothing was left." When these sixteen words were spread to the high platform, most of the hundreds of Wei officials dropped their books due to the shock in their hearts and the loss of consciousness.
.
Hundreds of sticks were smashed on the dining table, and the sound of falling to the ground was like a tragic song sent by Mi Yang to King Cao Cao of Wei.
After tens of thousands of Han soldiers finished reciting, the backs of many people on the high platform were already covered with cold sweat.
They behave like this because the content in this battle report is too shocking.
This battle report was obviously sent to Guan Yu by Mi Yang, the public security guard.
According to Guan Yu's character, since Guan Yu dared to read it out loud in public, it is naturally unlikely to be a lie.
This is also the reason why many Wei Chen were shocked.
But because the content of this battle report was so unbelievable, the faces of everyone on the high platform still showed strong expressions of disbelief.
There is still a glimmer of hope in their hearts, hoping that all this is false.
So they turned their attention to Dong Zhao.
Since Guo Jia's death, Dong Zhao has become Cao Cao's sacrificial wine, and the position of sacrificial wine is dedicated to collecting intelligence for Cao Cao.
But at this time, they saw that Dong Zhao's face looked uglier than theirs after receiving a message, and the last glimmer of hope in the hearts of the ministers was gradually extinguished.
Only Cao Cao still holds on to the last glimmer of hope.
But the smile on his face was no longer there, and his face was filled with an ashen color.
He looked at Dong Zhao with eyes like an eagle, and he almost squeezed out five words from between his teeth and asked, "Is it true?"
Cao Cao's chilling question immediately scared Dong Zhao to his knees.
He kept kowtowing to Cao Cao and said with trembling body, "Just two days ago, Liu Bei worshiped Mi Yang on a high platform in Jiangling!".
Dong Zhao's simple words made Wei King Cao Cao's blood stagnate.
If Liu Bei can worship Mi Yang with great fanfare, can the battle report be fake?
In the past, because he didn't pay much attention to the public security, and the public security was surrounded from all sides, it was impossible to find out much information, so Dong Zhao did not place spies outside the public security city.
So the news Dong Zhao received was the news that Liu Bei had worshiped Mi Yang.
When Dong Zhao confirmed the authenticity of the battle report, all the Wei officials on the high platform had angry expressions on their faces.
How shocked they were by the contents of that battle report just now, how angry they are with Sun Quan now.
That’s an army of 100,000!
Unexpectedly, Mi Yang used 10,000 troops to fight and annihilated the whole army.
Why doesn't Sun Quan die?
Are these their allies?
But after endless anger, the ministers of Wei State felt a deep sense of powerlessness in their hearts.
Sun Quan has been defeated, Liu Bei can focus on heading north, but do they still have hope?
Even, what exactly are they celebrating at their New Year's Day banquet tonight?
Are you making the world laugh?
But at this time, the shock, anger, shame, and powerlessness in the hearts of the Wei officials were far less profound than what Cao Cao felt.
King Cao Cao of Wei struggled to get up from the throne. He was already very old. After knowing that Sun Quan's entire army had been wiped out, he felt as if all his energy and energy had been drained away from him.
After Cao Cao got up from the throne, his movements were trembling. Xu Chu beside him subconsciously wanted to help him, but his big hand was violently thrown away by the furious Cao Cao.
Cao Cao walked step by step under the throne and took the information from Dong Zhao.
He looked at the contents of the message, which also contained a detailed introduction to Mi Yang.
After reading it, Cao Cao, standing in the cold wind, threw the information to the ground, then drew out his king's sword and chopped it with all his strength.
"I have already restrained all the main forces of Jingzhou in the Han River. Why was it so defeated!"
"Why do we have to lose at this time? Mingminggu has already found a breakthrough!"
"Sun's little boy! Sun's little boy!"
"Damn, damn!"
After Cao Cao scolded Sun Quan, the information on the ground had been chopped to pieces by Cao Cao's sword.
Later, Cao Cao felt that it would be difficult to realize his ambition in this life. Because of the sorrow in his heart, he raised his sword to the sky. His mouth was full of grief and anger and he asked:
"Why don't you give me a chance?"
"Back then there was Zhou Yu in Chibi, but today there is Mi Yang in the police."
"I just want to dominate the world, what's wrong with that!"
There is no god in the sky, and Cao Cao's question is destined to get no answer.
At this time, the sky was completely dark with the bright moon hidden and filled with dark clouds.
It's like Cao Cao's hopeless dream.
Cao Cao, who had been so complacent just now, now felt very sad after learning that Mi Yang defeated the Wu army.
Linghan Terrace, which had been so joyful just now, now had a terrifying atmosphere after learning that Mi Yang defeated the Wu army.
Facing the furious Cao Cao, all the Wei ministers on the stage were so frightened that they fell to their knees and trembled.
When Cao Cao raised his sword and asked the sky angrily, he recalled in his mind what those who died under his hands said to him.
"The Duke of Wei is not enough, the King of Wei is not enough, what else does Duke Ming want?"
"Why should the people be so unjust as to kill them?"
"Why betray you? I am a Han official and you are a Han traitor. If I don't attack you, who will I attack?"
"If you can't accomplish anything today, it's destiny. But don't be happy too early, Cao Ah Man. God will always send someone to kill you."
Words that Cao Cao had never cared about before suddenly came to his mind.
"I am an old man who has great ambitions, what a joke!"
"A martyr is full of ambition in his old age, what a joke!"
"It's all a joke!"
He is already sixty-six this year, how much time does he have left?
Cao Cao's self-deprecation can be heard on the high platform.
After laughing at himself, Cao Cao wanted to drag his exhausted body back to the throne.
But before he took two steps, he suddenly threw Wang Jian to the ground, then covered his head with both hands and kept screaming in pain.
"It hurts so much when I'm alone, it hurts when I'm alone"
Cao Cao was already old and frail. He drank a lot of wine tonight and was extremely excited just now, so at this time, he suffered from head wind again.
As his head hurt more and more, Cao Cao could no longer maintain his posture and staggered down.
The moment he fell, the crown on his head fell off his head due to the collision between his body and the ground, and rolled to the side.
This sudden scene exceeded the expectations of everyone on the high platform.
Cao Ren, who was closest to Cao Cao, reacted fastest. He rushed to Cao Cao's side as quickly as possible and helped him up from the ground.
When Cao Ren rushed to Cao Cao's side, the other ministers also reacted and came to Cao Cao's side one after another.
At this time, the ministers on the high platform were already in a mess.
Cao Ren is still the calmest.
He quickly ordered people to summon medical officers, and then ordered Zhang Liao and other generals to immediately lead troops to garrison various camps to prevent Guan Yu from attacking at night.
Finally, Cao Ren ordered the tiger and leopard cavalry to surround the high platform, and no one was allowed to leave at will!
After Cao Ren quickly issued three military orders, everyone's panic was restrained.
At this time, Cao Cao, who was lying in Cao Ren's arms, remembered the dream he had had about "the elk breaking the trough", and he seemed to have figured everything out.
"It turns out it's him!
It’s him!”
Cao Cao grabbed Cao Ren's collar tightly and told him: "You must be careful about Mi Yang when you call Zihuan, that's for sure!"
After saying this, Cao Cao completely fainted.
The ministers burst into tears.
On the first day of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty, King Cao Cao of Wei heard that Mi Yang had defeated a hundred thousand Wu troops. He was so mentally disturbed that he had a recurrence of his headache and fell into a coma.
After tonight, who in the world doesn’t recognize Mi Yang’s name?
I received a short notice and had to work overtime. This is the last chapter tonight.
6000 words are submitted.
Everyone, go to bed early.
The overtime pay isn't much, but the fine for not working is a lot, sooooooo.
Another day of staying up late.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!