Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 300: Acts of Heroism and Righteousness?

After receiving Jia Xu's reply, Qian Zhao led his troops forward and, together with Zhang Liao, broke through Bi Chen's forces and headed towards Dunqiu.

Jia Xu then led his underworld soldiers away, disappearing into the darkness.

The main imperial ceremonial guards remained in place.

Then... the two groups that attacked the camp began fighting each other inside the camp.

There was no other way; both sides were attacking the emperor's carriage, but in the dead of night, both sides mistook the other for his guards...

Soon after, Cao Cao and Li Qian arrived. Cao Cao even shouted in a flamboyant manner, "Cao Cao, the Commandant of the Army, has come to protect the Emperor!"

Unexpectedly, another force arrived, led by a flamboyant leader who shouted, "Cavalry Commandant Zhang Miao has come to protect the Emperor!"

And then... both sides were in an awkward situation.

Bi Chen's men were already locked in a fierce battle with the remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels who had come to abduct the emperor.

This remnant of the Yellow Turban Rebellion came from Black Mountain and was a subordinate of Sui Gu.

Actually, this wasn't something Li Qian "found." Li Qian simply sent a message to both Heishan and Taishan, saying that the emperor's imperial carriage would soon pass through Dongjun and travel eastward along the imperial road.

That's all; we just let it out, nothing else.

Upon hearing the news, Sui Gu sent men to abduct the emperor—this was a real robbery. Sui Gu himself was in the army; he was neither Li Qian's man nor Cao Cao's man.

Cao Cao's original intention was to lure the real Yellow Turban rebels to do this job, and then he and Li Qian would protect the emperor and quell the rebellion. He genuinely wanted to win the merit of saving the emperor, and it was all true; there was no acting involved.

But Cao Cao never expected that Zhang Miao would use a similar method...

Moreover, Zhang Miao wasn't acting; he genuinely had Bi Chen kidnap the emperor, and then Zhang Miao came to his rescue. The only difference was that Zhang Miao used the tactic of forcing Bi Chen to commit the crime by kidnapping the entire family.

No wonder Zhang Miao and Cao Cao were able to become friends back then...

However, there is a slight difference in how the two operate.

This small difference is the biggest difference between people.

After realizing that Zhang Liao hadn't fallen for the trap, Bi Chen quickly withdrew from the battlefield and immediately consulted with Cheng Yu. Since Zhang Liao hadn't been fooled, it meant that the troops escorting the emperor must have been well-prepared, and the attack was unlikely to succeed. Bi Chen naturally had to run away quickly.

The reason Bi Chen wasn't killed on the spot wasn't because Zhang Liao was incompetent, but because Bi Chen wasn't confident in his abilities to begin with.

If we were confident, we wouldn't have needed Cheng Yu to deceive Zhang Liao.

When Cheng Yu learned that Cao Cao's troops had come to protect the emperor, he reacted quickly and immediately took Bi Chen to join Cao Cao. Since they had already failed and been exposed, and Zhang Liao had not fallen for their trick, it was impossible for them to join the emperor now. Zhang Miao was not a decent person, and following him would only lead to their death sooner or later.

At this point, the best course of action is to quickly seek refuge with a third party who can "rescue" Bi Chen and clear his name. Moreover, he can ask Cao Cao for help in rescuing Bi Chen's family—Cao Cao knows Bi Chen, and Cao Cao and Zhang Miao have a good relationship.

Cheng Yu's line of thinking is actually correct.

But what he truly didn't know was that Cao Cao was suffering even more deeply inside...

Cao Cao shouted, "Cao Cao of Pei State has come to the rescue!" But after rushing into the main camp, he found that not only was the emperor not there, but also the chief officials, eunuchs, palace maids and the like who accompanied him were all gone.

He did see Qian Zhao and Zhang Liao's troops rushing forward, but he assumed they were the army accompanying the emperor who had deserted out of fear of death.

There were other people in the main camp, such as some mid- to low-ranking officials who were trembling with fear, as well as some children of high-ranking officials.

Shi Sunrui's son, Shi Sunmeng, is currently in the camp.

The others have run away.

Moreover, Yang Xiu cleverly led Fu De and Fu Shou to the rear guard camp, where they found Jia Xu, who was retreating.

But the problem is, Cao Cao came to rescue the emperor...

But the emperor is not here, and even the officials in charge of the affairs of state are not here. Who is this attempt to save the emperor for?

What a waste of time!

Moreover, judging from the looks of it, we still have to fight a real battle with Sui Gu's Yellow Turban Army—but after the battle, will we be able to clear our names as we wish?

That's not necessarily true...

Cheng Yu and Bi Chen came to join Cao Cao, which is essentially the same as going from being the third most wanted criminal in the Han Dynasty to being the fourth most wanted criminal... There is no fundamental difference.

Number one was Yuan Shao, the leader of the Guandong Coalition, and number two was the unfortunate Zang Hong, who led the oath-taking. Cao Cao was also familiar with Bi Chen, after all, Bi Chen was the current magistrate of Dunqiu, and Cao Cao still paid close attention to places like Dunqiu where he had served as an official.

Upon seeing Bi Chen and Cheng Yu come to surrender, Cao Cao learned of Zhang Miao's plan and smiled bitterly with a mournful face: "The plan was good, but now we've been outsmarted!"

In any case, Cao Cao felt he had to seize the emperor's regalia and some of the officials—at least to prove he was there to rescue the emperor.

After pulling the soldier Sun Meng from the camp to his side and getting closer to the emperor's carriage, Cao Cao saw Zhang Miao, the third wanted criminal, who was also shouting "Save the Emperor!"

It seems that Zhang Miao also realized he had lost out and was now planning to seize the people and the ceremonial entourage.

Meanwhile, the real thief who came to abduct the emperor, Sui Gu, is also in the camp.

Sui Gu's bandit nickname in the Black Mountain was "White Rabbit." He was not a member of the Way of Peace, but he did have many remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion under his command.

Sui Gu was also confused. These rumors were unreliable. The Emperor's convoy was indeed here, but the Emperor was not there. Was this fake news or real news?
Sui Gu really did bring troops to rebel.

He originally thought he could wipe out the Han emperor in one fell swoop, become a super rebel, and make his name surpass all other rebel armies, becoming the leader of all the rebels in the world...

Of course, shrewd thieves wouldn't usually do that, since most thieves are thinking about killing, arson, and then being recruited by the government.

But there are always some people who think that killing the emperor will allow them to become emperor themselves; even in modern times, there are such people...

So after Li Qian spread the word, only Sui Gu came.

But once inside the camp, they discovered there was nothing there except for the ceremonial guards...

The emperor is not here, so we can't have come for nothing, can we?

Then we'll have to rob them.

As a result, Sui Gu's Yellow Turban troops also began looting the main camp's ceremonial guards and imperial carriages.

In fact, for Sui Gu, the enemy was quite clear—anyone other than Sui Gu's own troops was an enemy.

The key point is, when you hear two teams shouting "protect the emperor" and charging so fast, a fight is definitely inevitable!
As a result, the people of Suigu started indiscriminately attacking and looting everywhere, turning the already chaotic situation into complete turmoil.

As a result, the various sides ended up fighting over the emperor's ceremonial procession.

……

That night, Liu Bei set up camp nearly a hundred miles away, far from the chaos.

Jia Xu did send someone back to inform Liu Bei, but Liu Bei remained calm when he learned of the situation the next day. He simply turned to Liu Xie and said, "Your ceremonial regalia is gone... it was stolen."

"Oh, is it possible to get it back?"

Liu Xie seemed quite calm: "If we can't just let it go..."

Cai Yan and Diao Chan, standing nearby, were quite agitated: "Someone has hijacked the emperor?!"

"It wouldn't be considered hijacking the emperor, since the emperor isn't even here... It's more like highway robbery at best."

Liu Bei thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook his head and said, "There's no need to take it back; someone will naturally send it back. But what about the person who sends back the emperor's regalia? It can't be considered saving the emperor, can it?"

"Even the emperor isn't here... this can only be considered an act of heroism at best..."

Zhao Yun said leisurely from the side.

Liu Bei nodded: "That makes sense..."

Two days later, Liu Bei slowly led several hundred carts carrying books past Yuema Pavilion and arrived at Dunqiu County.

Waiting in Dunqiu were Jia Xu, Zhang Liao, Cao Cao, and Li Qian.

The ultimate victor in the battle for the ceremonial guard was Cao Cao...

Cao Cao and Li Qian fought desperately all night, defeating Sui Gu's three thousand men and driving away Zhang Miao's two thousand troops, achieving a result that could be considered an act of bravery and righteousness...

In any case, at least Qian Zhao and Zhang Liao did not directly attack Cao Cao—mainly because Jia Xu prevented them.

As the temporary commander of the emperor's eastern tour entourage, Jia Xu naturally had to receive the brave heroes who came to protect him.

Cao Cao had no choice. The war had already been fought, and the sunk costs were there. He had to whitewash himself as a loyal subject of the emperor, otherwise what would happen to Li Qian?
Jia Xu felt that Cao Cao was still useful, at least for tracking down the number one, two, and three most wanted criminals... Of course, this was up to the 'Emperor' to decide.

(End of this chapter)