Emperor Xian of Han was crying his eyes out.
Tears and snot streamed down his face, leaving him without a shred of imperial dignity.
He looked like a child whose favorite toy had been snatched away, his sobs filled with grievance and indignation.
"Traitorous ministers and rebels!"
"Fa Zheng, Li Yan-those two are nothing less than traitorous ministers and rebels against our Great Han!"
He sobbed as he wiped haphazardly at his tears with his sleeve, his words broken and incoherent.
"My imperial uncle... my imperial uncle, he..."
"He is of the imperial clan! He is my imperial uncle!"
"I am still here in Xu Capital! The Son of Heaven of Great Han is still here!"
"They... they are ministers of Great Han, drawing Han stipends and enjoying Han's grace! How dare they, how dare they commit such an act of treason!"
"They actually defected straight to that rebel Yang!"
"Where... where does that leave my dignity, the dignity of our Great Han?"
Liu Xie's sobs echoed through the deathly silent court, sounding particularly grating.
His grief was genuine.
However worthless Liu Zhang might have been, his surname was still Liu, and he was a member of Liu Xie's imperial clan.
Now this territory belonging to the Liu family had simply been swallowed by a "Great Yang Empire" that had sprung up from who knew where. How was that any different from slapping him, the Son of Heaven of Great Han, hard across the face before the whole world?
The moment the emperor cried, the ministers below seemed to find an outlet for their feelings.
Led by Xun Yu, the civil officials all dropped to their knees, aged faces streaming with tears as their wails shook the heavens.
"Your Majesty, please restrain your grief!"
"Such traitors to the nation deserve death at anyone's hands!"
"We are incompetent, allowing the realm to fall to such a state! We are guilty!"
For a time, weeping filled the entire court, and the atmosphere grew unbearably oppressive.
It was as though Great Han's final day had come.
Cao Cao stood beside the Son of Heaven, veins bulging on the back of the hand gripping his sword hilt, his entire body trembling slightly.
Not from grief, but from fury.
An uncontrollable rage surged from his chest straight to the crown of his head.
Outrageous!
Utterly outrageous!
He, Cao Cao, had toiled away here, relocating the capital, establishing military farms, and campaigning north and south, finally creating the advantageous position of "holding the Son of Heaven to command the feudal lords."
For what?
Wasn't it so that one day he could sweep through all six directions and unite the realm with rightful authority?
And what had happened?
Before he had even had the chance to set his sights on Yizhou, Yang Feng, tucked away in his little corner, had merely wagged his tongue through some inexplicable "Heavenly Screen" and gotten those two idiots, Fa Zheng and Li Yan, to slaughter Liu Zhang, then hand over the vast territory of Yizhou on a platter.
What kind of nonsense was this?
This was even more absurd than Dong Zhuo deposing and enthroning emperors back then!
This was no longer a slap in the Han imperial house's face. It was clearly a slap in his, Cao Mengde's, face!
He felt like an old farmer who had worked himself to the bone tending his fields, only for the wastrel next door to set up a livestream in his field just as the harvest was about to ripen, whereupon a bunch of fools harvested his grain for him, packaged it up, and delivered it to the wastrel's house.
Who the fuck could put up with that?
Amid this chaos and fury, a clear, composed voice flowed slowly into the seething cauldron of oil like a stream of spring water.
"Your Majesty, Minister of Works, esteemed colleagues, why take things so far?"
Everyone turned toward the voice and saw Guo Jia, the military adviser libationer, slowly step out of the ranks.
There was not the slightest panic on his face. Instead, he wore a faint smile, as though this great event that could shake the foundations of the state was no more than an insignificant farce in his eyes.
Guo Jia first cupped his hands to the Son of Heaven and Cao Cao, then swept his gaze across the weeping civil and military officials and declared in a ringing voice.
"In my view, Fa Zheng and Li Yan are merely men who see no farther than mice."
His voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly, making even the heaven-shaking wails falter involuntarily.
All eyes focused on him, waiting for what he would say next.
The corners of Guo Jia's mouth lifted slightly as he continued.
"Why did they surrender to Yang Feng?"
"Simply because they watched that Heavenly Screen and thought Yang Feng was some man chosen by destiny who could accomplish great things."
"But they forgot that the Heavenly Screen said it would reveal today that the chancellor and General Lü Bu were about to join forces to attack Huainan."
At these words, Cao Cao's eyes shifted slightly.
Guo Jia's voice brimmed with powerful confidence and persuasive force.
"Consider this, everyone."
"The chancellor commands troops like a god, with profound schemes and far-reaching foresight. Who in the world can compare?"
"And Lü Bu is an unrivaled warrior who stands above all others under heaven. Before his valor, even ghosts and gods give way."
"With these two joining forces, two jades becoming one, who under heaven could possibly stand against them?"
He paused, a trace of disdain entering his tone.
"What sort of figure is that Yang Feng?"
"Nothing but a clown leaping across the rafters who happened to seize Huainan."
"With the chancellor's divine strategy and Lü Bu's divine valor, wouldn't taking a mere Huainan be as easy as turning over a hand?"
"Yizhou announcing that it has joined his so-called Great Yang Empire might look impressive, but in truth, it is stupidity beyond measure."
"When the chancellor's army arrives and Yang Feng's forces collapse like a falling mountain, I would like to see how Fa Zheng and Li Yan clean up their mess!"
Guo Jia's words seemed to possess magic, instantly sweeping away the despair that had gripped the court.
Watching the light return to everyone's eyes, he delivered his final conclusion.
"When Yang Feng is defeated, the hearts of Yizhou's people will surely scatter, and it will fall into chaos without a battle."
"The chancellor need only march west and pacify it with a proclamation. All of Yizhou will be his for the taking."
"Your Majesty, Minister of Works, how is this a crisis?"
"This is clearly Heaven delivering that land of abundance into the chancellor's hands!"
"This is a Heaven-sent opportunity!"
Boom!
Guo Jia's speech was like morning bells and evening drums, loud enough to awaken the deaf.
Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie, who had been bawling only moments before, instantly stopped crying. His eyes widened into perfect circles, and a spark of light rekindled in his dim gaze.
That was right!
If Yang Feng was defeated by Cao Cao, wouldn't Yizhou become a land without a master?
If Cao Cao then went to conquer it, wouldn't that mean it was still territory belonging to his Great Han?
Beside him, Cao Cao's tightly knitted brows also relaxed completely, and a terrifying light shot from his eyes.
The anger in his heart had dissipated, replaced by boundless ambition and burning desire.
Exactly!
Fengxiao was absolutely right!
How had he gotten himself stuck inside an ox horn?
Yang Feng had resolved the troublesome matter of Liu Zhang, an imperial clansman, for him, and had also left Yizhou's people in a panic. Wasn't that simply shoving a cooked duck right up to his mouth?
As long as he first dealt with Yang Feng, the chief culprit, wouldn't Yizhou be as good as in his pocket?
"Fengxiao truly is my Zifang!"
Cao Cao could not help exclaiming in admiration, the pent-up gloom in his heart swept away.
The ministers below also began to see the point. One after another, they wiped away their tears and whispered among themselves, expressions of sudden understanding appearing on their faces.
"Military Adviser Guo is absolutely right!"
"It truly is a Heaven-sent opportunity!"
"Seen this way, we really were like the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall!"
In a few short moments, the court's atmosphere turned from clouds of sorrow and mists of misery to brimming confidence.
Cao Cao and Emperor Xian of Han exchanged a glance, each seeing hope in the other's eyes, and only then did they let the matter rest.
Meanwhile, as the winds and clouds shifted in the court at Xu Capital...
Elsewhere, in Liu Bei's main camp in Yuzhou...
Having just received a secret report rushed over by a scout riding at full gallop, the three brothers, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, likewise learned that Liu Zhang of Yizhou had been killed and that the entire province had submitted to Yang Feng.