20. The Era of Heroes Begins (1)
20. The Era of Heroes Begins (1)
Dong Zhuo, having seized actual power in Luoyang, deposed Empress Dowager He on the charges of poisoning Wang Rong (Lady Wang), the consort of the late Emperor, and Empress Dowager Dong, the biological mother of the late Emperor, and even dragged down her son, the Emperor Liu Bian.
He deposed the Emperor and enthroned the Prince of Chenliu.
New wine must be put into new wineskins. Thinking this way, Dong Zhuo committed these atrocities to create a new ruling class solely for himself.
"You traitorous bastard!"
"How dare a mere subject forcibly depose the Emperor! Do you truly wish to remain a traitor to the Han for the rest of your life!!"
High-ranking officials rose up like a swarm of bees.
Soon, Dong Zhuo's soldiers rushed in and expelled the high-ranking officials who had begun to protest from the Imperial Palace.
The Imperial Palace was like Dong Zhuo's front yard.
There was nowhere he couldn't go, and he even wandered in and out of the princesses' quarters, a forbidden zone for men, to satisfy his lust.
Living in the land of barbarians, he knows nothing of etiquette.
To protest like that would be futile, as Dong Zhuo's actions were far too unrestrained.
"So this is my house? It's my first time seeing such a big building! So this is what the Imperial Palace is. Then is that palace where I'll be staying?"
A young girl with her hair tied in two bunches crossed the Imperial Palace.
Her footsteps were excessively cheerful.
She even trampled on the gardens cultivated by the imperial family and ran around inside the palace, a space reserved only for royalty.
However, no one could stop that girl.
Because this girl, the girl with ash-colored hair, was Dong Zhuo's granddaughter.
"It's completely different from the barren land where sandstorms blew. Even though it's autumn, it's warm during the day, and there are many people wearing stylish clothes. As expected, Luoyang is a whole new world!"
A young girl who hadn't yet put on a hairpin.
She had lived in Longxi Commandery, Liang Province, which was Dong Zhuo's hometown, until now, but ever since her grandfather Dong Zhuo took over the world, she had moved to live in the Imperial Palace.
Lady of Weiyang Dong Bai.
Thanks to her grandfather, she rose to the rank of a feudal lord before she even had her coming-of-age ceremony. She was granted an enormous amount of land, and even though she wasn't royalty, she came to live in the palace.
"Young Lady, how is life in Luoyang?"
Hua Xiong asked.
When the giant, bald man appeared, the palace servants wore terrified expressions.
"It's great. As expected, a person must have power. Look over there, if I had just kept living in the frontier, would I have ever received treatment like this? I would have just been ignored by the higher-ups every time."
"Young Lady, you must be careful with your words. You are a daughter of the Dong clan, are you not someone who will work for the army in the future?"
"I know, I know. Uncle nags me every time. Xu Rong-sukbu is already enough for nagging."
"U, Uncle......."
When the young girl called him 'Uncle', Hua Xiong had a subtle expression.
It was excessively kind for a warrior.
However, he was also inwardly happy. Because he had looked after her like a daughter since she was young.
"Grandfather always said. To live in this world, you must cultivate 'power' above all else. Power is the very definition of justice in this world. If you have power, you can be justice, and you can also be evil. It's something I've heard until my ears developed calluses."
Traitors are just losers.
Even if one steals the country and robs the altars of state, if one can reign as a victor, one will be recorded in history not as a traitor, but as a hero.
Deposing the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
Dong Bai had heard the rumors that made Luoyang noisy in an instant, but she was proud of her grandfather, Dong Zhuo.
That power is enough to replace the Emperor.
It might be natural to be proud of her grandfather, who became a strong man who manipulates the world.
"So we must always be strong. If we show weakness, people who despise us will appear. Whether we're called tyrants or whatever, in the end, if we just have power, everything will be solved."
Seeing such a young girl, Hua Xiong gave a bitter smile as he looked at the fierce woman of Xiliang.
Because she was born in a barren frontier, the first things this young girl learned were the laws of the jungle, survival of the fittest.
If you are strong, you survive, and if you are weak, you die.
After losing her parents to barbarians and bandits, she was raised by her grandfather, so she had a particularly strong tendency to crave the strong and despise the weak.
Military officers moved busily.
Military officers in heavy armor moved their feet quickly and roamed the Imperial Palace.
"Why is it that every time I'm on night duty......!"
Lee Seong-hwi gritted his teeth.
He moved with his subordinates and arrived at the place where the incident occurred.
He came to look at what was hung on the castle gate.
On the gate of Luoyang Castle, a Tally was hung. The owner of that Tally was Yuan Shao, the General of the Central Army who had all actual power taken away by Dong Zhuo.
"Take it down immediately."
Lee Seong-hwi frowned.
The young lady of the Yuan Clan of Runan had done it.
Declaring that she would definitely return to Luoyang someday to cut off the head of the traitor Dong Zhuo, she hung her Tally on the castle gate and fled to the north with her close aides.
"How far have the rumors spread?"
"There isn't a single person among the people of Luoyang who doesn't know. It's too late for us to keep it quiet among ourselves."
"She must have done it on purpose. That colt-like young lady. The more Dong Zhuo's notoriety grows, the more her own reputation for trying to oppose him will be known to the world. Anyway, she's as cunning as a raccoon."
Lee Seong-hwi muttered like that and scratched his head vigorously.
Before long, it even reached Dong Zhuo's ears.
Hearing this, Dong Zhuo said there would be no second act of leniency and issued an order to capture Yuan Shao immediately, putting up a huge bounty.
If caught, one dies unconditionally.
Perhaps Yuan Shao herself knew that, as she disappeared so quickly that one could say she filmed 'Gone with the Wind'.
"Are you not running away?"
Cao Cao was there at some point.
Watching Yuan Shao's Tally slowly coming down from the castle gate, she asked while turning her gaze toward Lee Seong-hwi.
"Why would I?"
"You were friends, weren't you, with that young lady named Yuan Benchu."
"You speak of Benchu quite familiarly."
"I met her at the General-in-Chief's Office. She gave me a whisper that the Ten Eunuchs might assassinate General-in-Chief He Jin. Of course, it failed in the end."
Such a busty young lady, there's no way I wouldn't know.
Lee Seong-hwi smiled brightly as if he vividly remembered Yuan Shao's chest. At that useless digression, Cao Cao frowned and pinched his side for being tactless.
"If I run away... what will you do?"
Will you follow me.
There was a hint of that meaning.
But Lee Seong-hwi refused.
Because he was already a person following Lu Bu.
It's strange to see it as a relationship between a lord and a vassal.
However, he praised Lu Bu in front of Cao Cao, saying that she would become a lord worthy of him someday.
"That kind of stupid girl? Even if the sky falls, that won't happen."
Cao Cao sent a stinging, venomous remark.
Perhaps she had some unknown ill feeling toward Lu Bu, she glared at Lee Seong-hwi and spoke sharply.
A talent who will end up as nothing more than a henchman of a tyrant.
She even went as far as telling Lee Seong-hwi to wake up from his dream, saying it was absolutely impossible for her to become a monarch leading ten thousand people.
"Seeing as you seem to be planning something huge... what will you do for me if I say I will follow you?"
"Anything."
Cao Cao answered immediately.
Perhaps she had been thinking about it for a long time, there was no hesitation in Lee Seong-hwi's question.
I will give you anything.
It implied that she would allow not only the position of second-in-command within the army, but even things beyond that.
"But I have no intention of leaving Luoyang. Because protecting this Luoyang is exactly what I must do. If not me, who would protect Luoyang?"
Lee Seong-hwi chuckled.
It seemed like he was saying it as a joke, but Cao Cao knew that Lee Seong-hwi was by no means speaking empty words.
"Yo, seeing you again today!"
"One-eyed mister?"
"Who's one-eyed. I have both eyes, you know."
Xiahou Dun replied to Lee Seong-hwi's words.
It seemed Xiahou Dun had come to see Cao Cao, not particularly to see Lee Seong-hwi.
"Yuan Benchu ran away, right? Hey, brother. Don't you need to go catch her? I heard the bounty is huge. Right now, the military officers are in an uproar trying to catch Yuan Benchu alone."
"I am full of consideration for all the beautiful girls in this world. I don't want to catch Yuan Shao, who is a beauty, just because of money."
"Your words are slick, but isn't that ultimately dereliction of duty?"
"The world might say so."
They really know how to talk.
Is it because their intelligence is similar?
Lee Seong-hwi and Xiahou Dun burst into laughter.
Then, Cao Cao, who was listening to the men's conversation, wore an absurd expression.
"So brother, do you have any intention of joining us? I can guarantee you a promotion in status and even a meteoric rise someday."
If it's because you regret the position of General of the Feathered Forest, don't worry. I'll give you something bigger later.
Xiahou Dun made an offer to Lee Seong-hwi.
As if he absolutely didn't want to miss him, he even added that Cao Mengde is definitely not the type to just wipe her mouth clean.
Lee Seong-hwi does not trust the Dong Zhuo army.
Rather, he was angry and hateful, and Xiahou Dun thought he was not a petty person who would do his best to be loyal to Dong Zhuo.
"Don't worry even if things don't work out well later. There's also a chance to become the husband of our Mengde. Isn't that quite tempting?"
Xiahou Dun burst into loud laughter.
On the other hand, Cao Cao, who heard that story, turned her head with a flushed face.
As if she couldn't bear to listen,
She took out her anger by poking the innocent dirt ground with the tip of her foot.
"I wonder who will be the one to take down Dong Zhuo?"
Lee Seong-hwi asked.
After confirming that there was no one around, he asked Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun while looking at Yuan Shao's Tally, which had been pulled down by the military officers.
"A person to take down Dong Zhuo... honestly speaking, it's difficult to give a definitive answer as of now."
Xiahou Dun said while scratching his chin.
A person to take down Dong Zhuo, who has such powerful influence, did not come to mind.
Power and authority enough to replace the Emperor.
And even the influence to force the high-ranking officials of the Imperial Palace and the people of Luoyang Castle to follow him. He had become the number one powerful official of the Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang, who claimed to be the False Emperor.
Dong Zhuo's power was so great that it reminded one of Wang Mang, who ended the Han Dynasty's altars of state.
"What about you?"
Lee Seong-hwi asked Cao Cao.
To that, Cao Cao revealed her goal, saying that she would definitely take down Dong Zhuo someday.
Dong Zhuo must be taken down.
It is not to establish justice, nor is it for the Han Dynasty's altars of state. It is probably because only by dragging Dong Zhuo down can she get her hands on the throne he is occupying.
'No, is that just a hasty conclusion? The current Cao Cao was still a loyal subject for the Han Dynasty. She even tried to assassinate Dong Zhuo alone. Although she will later ascend to the position of a powerful official who makes the Emperor a puppet.......'
As of now, there is no one to stop Dong Zhuo.
Lee Seong-hwi was acknowledging that too.
Therefore, he decided to wait quietly for the appearance of a hero who would take down Dong Zhuo.
It would be fine if he became that hero,
But he was still just a weak person without power. He needed to cultivate strength in Dong Zhuo's shadow.
"Then let's see each other later."
Lee Seong-hwi turned his back on Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun.