Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 685 The Most Regrettable Thing
Zhang Fei's voice was like thunder in his ears, bringing Cao Cao's mind back to the battlefield.

He knew that Liu Bei's third brother was always outspoken, but no matter what, the call of "Cao dog" in his face made him furious, and he wanted to stand up and fight with the black guy immediately.

I wanted to stand up, to draw my sword, to fight to the death.

But as soon as he moved his body, he felt endless pain in return, which made him groan in pain uncontrollably.

He could not remember the last time he was injured so badly. After all, in the past, he was Cao Xiaolian, the magistrate of Cao County, the captain of Cao, the general of Fenwu, the governor of Dongjun, the governor of Yanzhou, the general of Zhendong, the great general appointed by the little emperor quite tactfully, and the prestigious Prime Minister Cao.

It could have been the King of Wei, but now he was lying on the muddy ground, and even raising one hand was difficult for him.

Then that black face filled the field of vision again, with a look of amazement on his face:

"He was only half-killed by the cannon fire of the Han Weihe Shenwei General Taiping. He is really lucky."

Cao Cao didn't want to pay attention to him. One reason was that seeing this face reminded him of the rude letters this man had written, and he immediately became upset.

Another reason is that he is most concerned about something else at the moment:

"I... lost?"

"otherwise?"

The words "of course" were clearly written on this black face:

"You forced the warriors to be bombarded twice by the Han Weihe Shenwei General Taiping, and the result was that the front army was repelled and the two sides fought hard."

"I led my men across the river and spent a lot of effort to quell the unrest. Now they have no intention of fighting. It's time to surrender or run away. You've already been defeated."

Although this was the only possible outcome from all aspects, when Zhang Fei said it himself, Cao Cao still found it hard to accept it:

"Six years ago, Liu Bei abandoned his army and even his wife could not be protected. The Red Cliff was only saved by Zhou Yu of Jiangdong."

"Six years later, I will suffer a sudden defeat and destroy the foundation I have built for thirty years. How can I rely on this? How can I rely on this!"

The dark face in front of him immediately stopped smiling, and lifted him up with one hand, with a fierce look almost sticking to him:

"Why? Because you massacred the city, killed the people, and murdered innocent families!"

"Do you know that the displaced people all want to eat you alive?"

"Do you know that a thousand years later, the Han people will still remember your massacre?"

The continuous shouting and cursing was like thunder that penetrated Cao Cao's entire body from top to bottom, and even his ears began to buzz.

This only aroused his anger, but before he could curse, Zhang Fei let go of his hand and said:

"You are so vulgar...Ahhhhhhhhhhh..."

This series of ups and downs and the rhythmic wailing made Zhang Fei raise his eyebrows, but seeing his brother coming over, he quickly left after saying a few words:
"I don't have time to listen to the barking of dogs. I'm busy."

Cao Cao swore that his failure to order the entire army to attack and kill Zhang Fei at Changbanpo was definitely the thing he regretted most in his life.

Well, one of my biggest regrets.

As the man in black walked away, a familiar face came into Cao Cao's sight.

The former elegance of his looks could still be vaguely seen between his eyebrows, but the look of disappointment he had when he was in Xudu was no longer visible.

A touch of heroic spirit was supported by the gentle smile in his eyes, and after it passed over his brows, he had three more points of the arrogant knight-errant flavor of his youth.

"I haven't seen you for six years. Meng De looks so handsome and noble." Liu Bei leaned over to greet him, then asked someone to bring two chairs to face the water, and then placed Cao Cao on the recliner, not forgetting to comfort him:
"When Meng De was unconscious just now, a military doctor examined him. He had two broken bones and his internal organs were slightly displaced."

"If you take the medicine regularly and recuperate for three or four months, you should be fine."

Cao Cao felt a little uncomfortable when he was moved to the bed. Then he found that his body's perception seemed to have recovered a little, at least he could make some simple movements, such as he could slightly adjust his sitting posture to make his body sink more comfortably.

However, when he lowered his head, he saw his armor and robe stained with blood and mud.

On the other hand, although Liu Bei was not wearing a hemp cloth robe, he was not wearing the Shu brocade that was produced in abundance in Bazhong. It pales in comparison with his prime minister's attire, but with a hint of chivalry on his face, he seemed more calm.

He shook his head with great effort: "How can I be noble as a prisoner? And what's the point of saying all this? Aren't you going to kill me?"

Waving his hand to signal his guards to stay away, Liu Bei looked at the gurgling river and said straight to the point:

"People were slaughtered in Xuzhou, and their bones were crushed in Jing and Ji."

"My wife died in Dangyang, and the people died in Xinye. This is all for the sake of killing you."

Cao Cao nodded and commented:
"This action is in accordance with your reasoning."

"If you want to confess my crime, you can go to Xudu to find Chen Lin. He will definitely be willing to write another long article."

Liu Bei laughed loudly, patted his thigh and said:
"But this man also had the merit of defeating the Wuhuan in three counties, beheading Tadun and pacifying the north, and sweeping away the barbarians and guarding the border. This merit will also be praised by future generations."

Cao Cao also laughed hard:
"Defeating Wuhuan was only one of the goals. The real goal was to destroy the remnants of the Yuan family. How can that be called a merit?"

"Besides, how can you and I know how future generations will remember and express it? With Xuande's current strength, it is only a matter of time before he can revive the Han Dynasty and become a king or an emperor."

"I am just a Han thief who is not from the Liu clan. Why would I waste my words on this?"

He started coughing before he could finish his words. For a moment, the banks of the Qishui River were silent, with only the water flowing southward.

To Cao Cao, these words were all spoken with anger from the bottom of his heart.

Just as he expressed his wish in the poem he wrote in the tenth year of Jian'an to "unite the nine states and bring peace to the world" and "Duke Zhou spits out food to feed his guests, and the world is at peace", they were all from his heart.

It is just like his lament when he wrote "Statement of Ambition" in the 15th year of Jian'an, "If there were no me in the country, I don't know how many people would be emperors and how many would be kings." This was also his true feeling at that time.

However, only two years later, he fell out with Xun Yu because of his desire to become king and became the target of abuse in "Shuzhi Ling", which was also his original intention.

From my own experience and observation of Liu Bei, it is no more than the same.

What is the difference between Liu Bei and him? It's just a pity that his last name is Cao instead of Liu.

So Cao Cao had a relaxed smile on his face at this moment. So what if he lost?
Even if Liu Bei was truly kind and righteous and had no interest in the man who called himself "I am the lonesome one", didn't these good ministers and brave generals he had raised have any other thoughts when they saw that incompetent emperor?
But what was unexpected was that Liu Bei asked a strange question when he spoke again:

"Where does the water flow to, Meng De?"

After thinking for a moment, Cao Cao sneered:

"Why, do you mean that no matter how you act, the world will eventually belong to Liu Han?"

There was no response to the sneer. When he turned around, he was greeted by Liu Bei's sincere and calm gaze as always:
"Meng De's literary talent is far superior to mine, but his mind is also more important than mine."

After saying this, Liu Bei did not beat around the bush and said:

"I am lucky enough to know where the water is flowing, which is the key to my lucky victory."

(End of this chapter)