Three Kingdoms: Fusion of Entries, Change of Destiny

Chapter 217 Do you dare offend King Cao?
With Chen Deng's cooperation, Cao Yan,
Not only did they defeat Yuan Shu's army of over 20,000, but they also killed two of Yuan Shu's generals, Yue Jiu and Li Feng.

In addition to defeating Ji Ling, Chen Ji, and Lei Bo at the beginning, Yuan Shu's five armies collapsed in just half a month!

This filled Chen Deng, who was standing on the city wall overlooking Cao Cao's army chasing Yuan Shao's army, with a myriad of emotions.

"Whether it's Liu Bei, Lü Bu, or Yuan Shu, they are all far inferior to Cao Cao's elite troops..."

Two generals died, and Ji Ling, Lei Bo, Chen Ji, and others went missing.

When the news reached Yuan Shu, who had also been defeated and fled back to Shouchun,
Yuan Shu immediately felt a surge of blood and qi in his chest, and with a "poof," he spat out a mouthful of blood, staggered, and almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Yang Hong and Yan Xiang reacted quickly and caught Yuan Shu.

The seven armies that had attacked Xuzhou with great fanfare and momentum were now completely annihilated.

Originally, after Ji Ling defeated Liu Bei and occupied Xiaopei, the situation in Xuzhou was already extremely favorable to Yuan Shu.

Once Xiapi is captured, Yuan Shu's army can march north to seize Tan County, and then the entire Xu Province.

However, Yuan Shu was first defeated by Lü Bu, who only had a few thousand men, and Ji Ling, Chen Ji, and Lei Bo were then defeated by Cao Yan.

The entire situation deteriorated in an instant.

"Lü Bu! Cao Yan! I will tear you to pieces to vent my hatred!!!"

Yuan Shu roared angrily in the palace, smashing whatever was at hand.

The civil and military officials in the hall remained silent, keeping their mouths down and eyes closed, waiting for Yuan Shu to calm down after he had finished venting his anger.

After waiting for about half an hour, Yuan Shu finally finished venting and calmed down.

At this moment, someone finally stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the army that attacked Xuzhou has now lost half of its strength."

After Sun Ce occupied all six commanderies and eighty-one prefectures, he openly broke with us and stationed his troops in Jianye, eyeing Lujiang covetously.

In my opinion, it would be better to withdraw troops, defend the city, and then send envoys to reconcile with Lü Bu and Sun Ce, thus avoiding a situation where we are surrounded on all sides.

Yuan Shu looked up and saw that the speaker was Yan Xiang.

When Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he advised Yuan Shu by citing the story of King Wen of Zhou, who, despite possessing two-thirds of the empire, still submitted to the Yin dynasty. However, Yuan Shu did not heed his advice.

Yuan Shu was very dissatisfied with Yan Xiang's "lack of tact," so after he became emperor, he did not appoint Yan Xiang to a high-ranking position or bestow generous salary.

But Yan Xiang remained loyal to Yuan Shu, offering him advice and doing mending and patching.

In contrast, Yang Hong was much "smarter".

After discovering that Yuan Shu had "changed," he became more cautious in his words and actions.

Although Yuan Shu appointed him as prime minister, Yang Hong offered advice less than half the frequency he had before.

Honest advice is hard to swallow, but Yuan Shu is no longer willing to listen.

At this moment, someone else came to report: "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Xu Qiu, the governor of Runan, has surrendered without a fight, and Runan Commandery has now been occupied by a detachment led by Cao Cao's Yu Jin!"

Yuan Shu's eyes snapped open, and then another mouthful of blood gushed out!

Runan Commandery—that's the Yuan family's stronghold!

When Yuan Shu forced Xu Qiu to surrender, he saw that Xu Qiu was capable and cared for the people. In order to show his magnanimity and generosity, Yuan Shu allowed him to continue serving as the governor of Runan.

Who would have thought that the old man Deng would be so disrespectful and hand over his hometown to Cao Cao!
After spitting out another mouthful of blood, Yuan Shu felt his vision go black, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

"Save the Emperor! Quickly summon the Imperial Physician!"

Chaos erupted immediately inside the hall, and the civil and military officials were thrown into disarray.

Several imperial physicians rushed over, sweating profusely as they examined Yuan Shu.

With great difficulty, Yuan Shu's condition was finally stabilized, and he was able to slowly wake up.

At this time, Xiaopei and Pengcheng had already fallen into the hands of Cao Cao's army.

Taking Xiapi again is practically impossible and pointless.

Instead of wasting time and effort attacking Xiapi, it would be better to withdraw the army and hold Shouchun firmly to prevent Cao Cao and Liu Bei from launching a joint attack.

After weighing the options, Yuan Shu sighed and ordered, "Issue my decree, ordering all armies to return to defend Shouchun!"

"Yes, sir!" The messenger acknowledged the order and quickly departed.

Yuan Shu stared blankly at the sky outside the main hall, lost in thought.

After a long while, he finally spoke and asked, "Does our army still have any reinforcements to find?" As soon as he said this, the hall fell into complete silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

You were the one who insisted on becoming emperor, even at the cost of your life.
This provoked all the warlords, including Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan, and Liu Biao, to publicly condemn your act of declaring yourself emperor.

In this situation, who will come to your rescue? Who dares to come to your rescue?!

Not stabbing someone in the back is already considered being kind and righteous!

Seeing that no one answered, Yuan Shu waved his hand helplessly and said, "That's enough, let's adjourn the court. Go do what you were doing..."

At this moment, Yuan Shu's departing figure was so hunched, so forlorn.
Compared to his high spirits when he first became emperor.

The contrast is just too great.

Pengcheng.

After Cao Cao's army achieved a great victory at Pengcheng and lifted the siege of Pengcheng, Chen Deng formally submitted to Cao Cao.

However, due to the fact that his father Chen Gui was still serving under Lü Bu, Chen Deng and Cao Yan had not yet made an official announcement.

At this moment, Chen Deng held a victory celebration banquet in the city to entertain Cao Yan and others.

As the banquet progressed past its halfway point, the atmosphere grew increasingly lively, gradually reaching its climax.

Several roughnecks, now shirtless, are loudly playing drinking games.

Scholars such as Xun You, Chen Deng, and Jia Xu were drinking wine and composing poems, enjoying themselves immensely.

Cao Yan, however, did not get involved in either side.

At this moment, he was nothing more than a heartless, human-shaped drinking machine.

No matter who offers a toast, he accepts it without hesitation, drinking as if it were water.

Anyway, with the attributes "Unfazed by Drinking" and "Super Endurance" protecting him, he simply can't get drunk.

When the banquet was in full swing, Chen Deng and Xun You came together to offer a toast.

Judging from their appearance, the two seemed to have had a very pleasant conversation and had become quite close.

That makes sense, after all, they both come from prestigious families, so they should naturally have a lot in common.

Cao Yan raised his glass and smiled as he drank with the two men.

Then, Cao Yan said to Chen Deng, "Yuanlong, my elder brother will certainly not treat your Chen family unfairly, so please rest assured."

Cao Yan had assumed that Chen Deng would have some reservations about him and Lao Cao.

After all, he and Cao Cao were notorious "killers of powerful families".

To Cao Yan's surprise,

“General, please forgive my bluntness,” Chen Deng replied calmly and honestly, “Under the rules set by you and our lord, our aristocratic families are not necessarily doomed. In fact, we still have a lot of room to maneuver.”

Xun You was startled upon hearing this.

This was the result they had reached in their private discussions.

Who would have thought that Chen Deng, with his big mouth, would just blurt it out right in front of Cao Yan!

Even if you know, you can't just say it out loud!

Isn't this slapping the General in the face in front of everyone? And it's a slap, a slap, a slap!

For a general like Cao Yan, who held considerable military power and was also a relative of Cao Cao, killing someone would be incredibly easy.

Cao Yan killed at the hands of many powerful and wealthy families, numbering at least eight hundred or a thousand, earning him the nickname "King Yama Cao".

You think you're from a prestigious family? He'd be more interested in you being from a prestigious family, because that would make killing you much easier!
How dare you talk to him like that? Do you have a death wish?

"Are you out of your mind?!" Xun You scolded in a low voice.

"Why aren't you apologizing to General Hou?" At the same time, he kept tugging at Chen Deng's sleeve, signaling him to apologize to Cao Yan immediately.

however,
Xun You's prediction
The scenario of Cao Yan slapping Chen Deng to death in a fit of rage did not occur.

Instead, he smiled and nodded, revealing a hint of satisfaction!
"?"

(End of this chapter)