17. The Choice of Betrayal (3)
17. The Choice of Betrayal (3)
Cao Cao came to find Lee Seong-hwi.
It just so happened that Lee Seong-hwi had finished all preparations for the operation to slaughter the Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan-nim, after meeting with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun.
"I never thought you would entrust yourself to the military camp of the Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan-nim. You always exceed my expectations."
Her voice sounded as if she were reproaching him.
It was as if she were asking why he had entrusted himself to a petty person like Ding Yuan, and that she wanted to hear the reason for it, just once.
Seeing that, the generals whispered among themselves, saying things like, "Doesn't look like they have a normal relationship," and "He's cheating on the female general."
"Did you come here just to say that—to ask why I went to Ding Yuan's army?"
Lee Seong-hwi asked.
Cao Cao nodded at that.
He couldn't fathom the reason.
After preparing so meticulously, fearing the aftermath of General-in-Chief He Jin's assassination, why had he chosen to follow a petty person like Ding Yuan?
Above all, it didn't add up.
Why Ding Yuan, of all people? He even wondered if he had been so bewitched by that ignorant woman, Lu Bu, that he had lost his ability to discern right from wrong.
"I understand the Colonel of the Vanguard has decided to follow Dong Zhuo. Is that correct?"
Instead of answering, Lee Seong-hwi withheld his response by asking another question.
Cao Cao frowned at that.
To answer a question with another question—what rudeness was this?
However, she decided to answer.
If that question was meant to elicit an answer, there was no reason not to, even if the order was reversed.
"Once the Governor of Bing Province, Dong Zhuo, occupies Luoyang, one cannot remain in office without having ties to him. I am a daughter of the prestigious Cao clan. I need to protect my family in any situation."
She joined Dong Zhuo's command for the sake of her family.
If one were to simplify Cao Cao's words, that would be the conclusion.
She didn't know Dong Zhuo yet.
It seemed she intended to become a third-party observer and watch what kind of politics he would implement as the new master of Luoyang.
If Dong Zhuo turned out to be an excellent statesman,
it seemed she also had the thought of remaining under his command and serving as a loyal subject supporting the Xiliang warlord.
"Your friend wasn't like that. She already looked like she was preparing to 'pants-run'... no, to run away."
"You, the essence of the conversation has been blurred."
Cao Cao cut him off instantly when Lee Seong-hwi brought up Yuan Shao.
That wasn't what she wanted to hear.
What she wanted was an answer. The reason why he had entrusted himself to Ding Yuan.
Her voice had sharp thorns.
Lee Seong-hwi didn't know what exactly was getting on her nerves.
"The reason I avoided answering is none other than this. I intend to tell you not with my mouth, but with my actions."
Cao Cao was not on Ding Yuan's side.
Even if she noticed the plan, she wouldn't report it to Ding Yuan.
The confrontation between Dong Zhuo and Ding Yuan must not drag on.
If the warlords of Bing Province and Xiliang turned Luoyang into a battlefield, most of the people of Luoyang would die a terrible death.
Before it escalated into an all-out war,
one of the two had to fall in Luoyang quickly.
"You always hesitate to answer."
"Yes?"
Lee Seong-hwi asked back at Cao Cao's words.
He didn't understand why she had brought that up out of the blue.
But Cao Cao didn't answer.
It might have been a small revenge for Lee Seong-hwi's hesitation to answer.
"Please do not disappoint me. I know that you have worked more busily than anyone else so far. Seeing the fruits of that effort go to waste is... something I cannot bear."
Toward him, who was wearing a bewildered expression,
Cao Cao spoke with the nuance that she had been watching Lee Seong-hwi for a long time.
Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan, thought he had dealt a blow to Dong Zhuo.
The guy was scared and tucked his tail.
He was optimistic, thinking that Dong Zhuo, surprised by his military power, would leave Luoyang and return to Xiliang just like this.
"Come on in!"
Ding Yuan welcomed his guests with open arms.
The invited guests were the leaders leading the Baibo Bandits and the Black Mountain Bandits, and they possessed large-scale troops spanning across Hexi and Taiyuan Commandery.
With them, he feared nothing in the world.
Ding Yuan was conceiving a bizarre and dangerous plan to bring the troops of the Baibo Bandits and the Black Mountain Bandits into Luoyang to seize the regime.
Inviting bandits into the capital.
It was a level of thinking that could hardly be seen as that of a sane person.
"General Guo Tai will bring his troops. If that happens, Dong Zhuo or whatever his name is won't even be a match."
"Our General Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain is the same. How could I refuse the earnest request of the Inspector of Bing Province? I will run here in one step and wipe out Dong Zhuo."
The plan proceeded in quite some detail.
The Baibo Bandits and Black Mountain Bandits of Hebei would enter the capital and annihilate the Dong Zhuo army. It was natural for Ding Yuan to have the confidence that he could defeat Dong Zhuo in one fell swoop.
Who were the Baibo Bandits and the Black Mountain Bandits?
They were so formidable that even the Imperial Court had given up on subjugating them and had granted titles to each of their leaders, acknowledging their sphere of influence.
"But I didn't know until now that the Inspector of Bing Province possessed such a fancy mansion in Luoyang."
The leaders burst into laughter.
They emptied their filled cups at once, saying they were enjoying such luxury in Luoyang thanks to him.
This mansion had belonged to one of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers.
However, Ding Yuan had mobilized military force to wipe out the family line, and while making the wife and daughters his playthings, he had committed all sorts of heinous acts.
Luoyang was already as good as his own world.
He candidly revealed his aspirations at the gathering of the leaders, saying that no state law could judge him, and that he wouldn't let it happen anyway.
'If only Yang Feng of the Baibo Bandits and Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Bandits come under my command, it won't be a dream to pacify the chaotic times and hold the Han Dynasty in my palm.'
If only that happened.
It would be sufficient compensation for the years spent blocking barbarians in the cold frontier.
Ding Yuan, whose humble origin was a weakness, had once vowed that he would surely reach the position of the greatest in the world someday. And that opportunity was right in front of him.
"General!"
A military officer rushed in from far away.
He let out a sound close to a scream.
But that was only for a moment; the officer, whose back was pierced by a spear that flew from afar, collapsed just like that.
"Kyaaack!!"
"A person, a person has died!"
The dancers who were dancing in front of Ding Yuan and the leaders let out sharp screams.
The women who were serving food and alcohol were the same.
The military officer who had rushed in died without even being able to let out a single scream. Seeing the appearance of the military officer who had died while pouring out blood, Ding Yuan jumped up from his seat.
"Is it that bastard Dong Zhuo? It's that bastard Dong Zhuo! How dare that damn bastard pull a stunt like this...! Lu Bu, where is Lu Bu! I must have entrusted the guard to you!"
Ding Yuan called out loudly for his adopted daughter.
He always looked for Lu Bu whenever he was in a crisis.
Perhaps it was because, even while bragging as if he were the best, he instinctively knew that he was nothing more than a common man.
"Sword! Bring my sword!"
"It's an enemy surprise attack! What on earth are the soldiers doing!"
The leaders shouted loudly.
But if it were normal, his subordinates should have rushed in like arrows. But for some reason, his subordinates were nowhere to be seen.
Who would wear armor at a drinking party? The leaders were in a state where they didn't even have weapons. They stomped their feet in panic at the fact that the enemy had invaded.
"Inspector of Bing Province, Ding Yuan!"
A blonde woman wearing armor appeared.
Holding a weapon that looked very heavy even at a glance in one hand, she walked forward with large strides and stood in front of Ding Yuan.
She was the Lu Bu that Ding Yuan had been looking for so desperately.
Whether she had dealt with countless enemies while coming here, she was covered in blood.
"Oh, you've wiped out the enemies! Well done, I must immediately finish off that bastard Dong Zhuo or whatever..."
"What kind of bullshit are you talking about? This is all your subordinates' blood."
Ding Yuan's face, which had brightened at Lu Bu's appearance, crumbled.
Hadn't she come running after hearing about the crisis?
At Lu Bu's appearance, Ding Yuan thought she had come to save him. But the situation was actually the exact opposite.
Because,
it was Lu Bu herself who was the main culprit.
"Th-this bitch...!! How dare you try to strike your father? You unfilial wretch! How dare you!!"
"I'm a Lu, so why is a Ding my father."
Lu Bu bared her teeth.
As if she had been waiting for this day to come, she swung her Painted Halberd around and boasted of her might.
Today, she would kill Ding Yuan at this spot.
Lu Bu, with her red eyes flashing, decided to slaughter everyone, including Ding Yuan and the bandit leaders.
"This is my farewell, you asshole!!"
Lu Bu broke into the inner garden where the drinking party was being held.
After killing all the armed guards,
she slaughtered all the leaders who blocked her path. She was so unstoppable that it looked like she was cutting down rotten wood.
"Slaughter all of Ding Yuan's gang!"
"Never let the bandits escape! Don't let them live!"
Soldiers poured in from all sides.
They were all a group following Lu Bu, and many generals, including Zhang Liao, were participating.
The group following Ding Yuan all died.
Since they were all dead drunk at the drinking party, the surprise attack succeeded very easily.
"Jang Mun-won! Gao Shun, Wei Xu, Cheng Lian... Jo Seong, Hou Cheng, Hak Maeng, Song Xian...!! You bastards, have you all betrayed your gratitude and stuck to Lu Bu! You damn sons of bitches, it was me who appointed you as military officers! You betray me like this? Heaven will never forgive you!!"
Ding Yuan screamed.
As if he had become a one-sided scapegoat, as if he were saying he was an innocent person, he poured out his anger filled with injustice.
The generals snickered at that sight.
When he disguised himself as the Black Mountain Bandits and slaughtered the people of Luoyang, didn't he thoroughly ignore their cries to spare them?
That it couldn't be helped for the sake of success.
That being born as a peasant was a crime in itself.
That was exactly what Ding Yuan had said.
Now that it was his turn to be sacrificed, the sight of Ding Yuan shouting that it was unfair was shamelessly absurd.
"What, why haven't you killed him yet."
Lee Seong-hwi revealed himself.
Ding Yuan, who had been in confusion due to the betrayal of his subordinates, saw Lee Seong-hwi's face and trembled, wearing a terrified expression.
"Y-you...! By any chance... are you...?"
"Oh, sorry about that. Actually, from the moment I entered your military camp, I came to stab you in the back. Honestly, why would a great guy like me enter under a petty person like you? If you had even a little bit of brains, you wouldn't have accepted me so readily..."
If he had any brains,
he wouldn't have done the foolish thing of slighting Lu Bu, who is called the Flying General of the world.
He wouldn't have betrayed the trust of his subordinates,
nor would he have committed the act of destroying the soldiers' trust by bringing in the Baibo Bandits and the Black Mountain Bandits.
The betrayal taking place now was,
in the end, the outcome that Ding Yuan himself had brought upon himself.
"Die, Father."
Lu Bu held the Painted Halberd with both hands.
Then, she smashed it down mercilessly, making a huge hole in Ding Yuan's head.
A fountain of blood gushed out.
Ding Yuan, unable to even beg for his life, ended his life at the tip of Lu Bu's Painted Halberd.