Time flies. Half a year has passed since Li Su returned from Bingzhou. During this half year, Luoyang has become miserable because of the arrival of the Western Liang Army.

Luoyang, Imperial Palace.

main hall.

Liu Xie, who was already ten years old, sat on the dragon throne, behaving quite well, staring blankly at the civil and military officials in the court.

“Your Majesty, there is a severe drought in Xuzhou. Xuzhou Governor Ding Yuan has reported that there are now refugees all over the place. We should allocate food and fodder to help the victims as soon as possible to avoid another Yellow Turban disaster a few years ago.”

Minister Cui Lie stepped forward and bowed to Liu Xie.

In response to Cui Lie’s request, Liu Xie subconsciously looked at a seat to the side of the dragon throne, where Dong Zhuo was sitting upright and shaving his nails.

“Pah!” Dong Zhuo continued to shave his nails without turning his head, snorting:

“Xuzhou is suffering from a severe drought? Xuzhou Governor Ding Yuan requested the imperial court to allocate grain? No! No!”

“General He invited Ding Yuan to lead his army to defend the emperor, but Ding Yuan was so arrogant that he didn’t even go to Luoyang to pay homage to the new emperor when he ascended the throne. He even wanted to get food from us. What a wishful thinking!”

Dong Zhuo snorted with disdain, not giving any face to Ding Yuan, let alone the court.

When Prime Minister Cui Lie heard that Dong Zhuo was so presumptuous, he was so angry that his veins popped out. Thinking of what Dong Zhuo had done in the past few months, Cui Lie could no longer suppress his anger.

As the news of Li Hong’s serious illness spread, Dong Zhuo’s behavior became more and more unbridled. To say that he was outrageous would be an understatement.

Persecution of officials, innocent killings. Dong Zhuo persecuted low-level officials in the court crazily. Anyone who did not obey Dong Zhuo’s orders was either imprisoned or killed, and Dong Zhuo replaced them with his own people. Even the disobedient eunuchs in the palace were not spared and were slaughtered by Dong Zhuo. He killed at will without any scruples.

They forced the common people’s families to pay tribute, squeezed the common people’s families, collected Xiliang military expenses, and constantly extorted money and supplies from the common people’s families. If anyone did not pay the required military funds, the Xiliang army would directly break into the house to take things away, rob money, and even rape and rob beautiful women.

Dong Zhuo was brutal and ruthless. He laughed when he saw prisoners being tortured and beat officials who were interrogating them. He was arrogant and willful, and did not care about the law. When he went to court, if an official walked faster than him, he would walk in front of him and kick him down.

Dong Zhuo imprisoned the emperor and despised the Son of Heaven. He placed Liu Xie under house arrest in the Luoyang Palace, completely restricting his personal freedom and treating Liu Xie in various humiliating ways, such as forcing Liu Xie to attend banquets and pour wine for Dong Zhuo in order to highlight Dong Zhuo’s prestige.

After Dong Zhuo replaced all the eunuchs in the palace with loyal ones, he entered and left the harem at will, even stayed overnight in the harem, played with the concubines of the previous emperor, and selected ladies from noble families to enter the palace in the name of Liu Xie for his own amusement.

Tyrannical, cruel, powerful, and traitor.

These are the names given to Dong Zhuo by officials from aristocratic families.

“Dong Zhuo, please don’t be so presumptuous. I am reporting to His Majesty. This is a matter concerning the country. It is not for a common man like you to discuss it!”

Cui Lie blew his beard and glared, unable to suppress his inner anger, and shouted loudly at Dong Zhuo.

quiet!
As Cui Lie finished speaking, the hall immediately fell silent.

Yuan Feng, Yang Ci, Huang Wan, Ma Riti, Wang Yun and other civil and military officials were all worried for Cui Lie, saying that Cui Lie was irrational for confronting this villain from Xiliang head-on.

However, they felt happy about Cui Lie’s outburst, and were furious about how Dong Zhuo would treat Cui Lie.

Cui Lie was Si Tu, one of the three highest officials of the dynasty, and could be said to be a top official in the court.

The truth is, what Dong Zhuo did was too much.

Dong Zhuo stopped shaving his nails and looked at Cui Lie, who was dressed elegantly and had gray hair. His eyes were gradually filled with cruelty.

He had not touched top officials like Cui Lie and Yuan Feng. It was Li Ru who reminded him and he had suppressed them. However, these people were very noisy and troublesome and they often clashed with him, Dong Zhuo.

Live peacefully and be a mascot, isn’t that good?

Dong Zhuo thought so as he looked at Cui Lie who was staring at him and clearly looked down on him, with murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

When Li Hong fell ill, Dong Zhuo was no longer afraid of anyone in the world.

He wanted to kill a bigger one to intimidate those who were against him.

Only by killing one can these top families respect Dong Zhuo.

“Cui Lie, who do you think you are? How dare you roar in the court? You only bought your position as Si Tu with money, but I, the general, earned my position by fighting with my sword and gun.”

“He dared to insult the great general, roar in the court, and buy the position of the Three Dukes. He should be killed. Come here.”

Dong Zhuo slammed the table, his whole body filled with tyrannical aura and his voice was loud. Yuan Feng, Yang Ci, Huang Wan, Ma Riti, Wang Yun and other civil and military officials who had been silent in the court were all shocked.

Dong Zhuo actually wanted to kill Cui Lie?

“No, Cui Qing is the prime minister of the dynasty. Dong Zhuo, how dare you?”

The civil and military officials were in an uproar.

However, the Xiliang soldiers guarding the surroundings rushed out and grabbed Cui Lie.

“Dong Zhuo, you thief, you dare to kill me? Even if I become a ghost, I will not let you go. You killed officials indiscriminately, stayed in the harem at night and raped the concubines of the late emperor. You deserve to die, and your entire clan should be killed.” Cui Lie was shocked and angry, and shouted at Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo was irritated by Cui Lie’s words and roared:
“We’ll kill you first. Take you away and chop you up. Chop you up for us!”

The surrounding Xiliang soldiers looked at Dong Zhuo so furious and shrank their heads. They did not dare to be negligent and dragged the frightened and angry Cui Lie out of the hall.

There was a scream, followed by silence.

A bloody head of Cui Lie was brought in.

“Hiss, he, he, really killed Cui Qing!”

“Traitor, traitor.”

“Dong Zhuo, you dare to kill three company members.”

In the court, all the officials were shocked and angry when they saw Cui Lie’s head with his eyes open.

Even Liu Xie, who was sitting on the dragon throne, had a pale face and slumped on the throne.

The sight of Cui Lie’s head was like a bucket of cold water being poured over Dong Zhuo. He did not dare to face the angry officials. Feeling guilty, he cursed the highest-ranking official a few times, then left under the escort of his guards.

Dong Zhuo executed one of the three highest officials in the country, Prime Minister Cui Lie. The officials and top families in Luoyang, who had already suffered from Dong Zhuo’s oppression and exploitation, were completely furious.

A sense of impending storm was spreading in Luoyang.

Yang Ci held a banquet and invited Yuan Feng, Cao Song, Huang Wan, Ma Riti, Wang Yun and other court officials to the gathering.

Half a month later, Dong Zhuo was led to the palace by his guards and was suddenly surrounded and attacked by hundreds of soldiers.

A heroic general, holding a Fang Tian Hua Ji, killed Li Que, a general guarding Dong Zhuo, on the spot.

Dong Zhuo’s personal guards were completely wiped out.

Dong Zhuo himself was stabbed by someone. At the critical moment, Niu Fu came with his troops and rescued Dong Zhuo, and those who were besieging him retreated.

Dong Zhuo was unprecedentedly furious. After a thorough investigation, he issued an arrest warrant for Lu Bu and threatened to send a large army to attack Ding Yuan in Xuzhou.

At this time, everyone realized that the person who sent people to surround and kill Dong Zhuo was actually Ding Yuan, the governor of Xuzhou.

Ding Yuan’s reputation became famous overnight. Although Dong Zhuo threatened to send troops to attack Ding Yuan, there were Yuzhou and Yanzhou in between. Both states disobeyed Dong Zhuo’s orders. Even in Yuzhou, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who each occupied half of Yuzhou, had a grudge against Dong Zhuo. How could Dong Zhuo dare to send troops to Xuzhou?

Dong Zhuo gritted his teeth and swallowed it.

It was Li Ru who gave Dong Zhuo an idea to win over the princes in Guandong and make them his younger brothers. It was because the princes in Guandong had shallow roots that Ding Yuan was so arrogant.

If they could have brothers from Guandong who would obey their orders, there would naturally be someone to help them charge into battle!

Dong Zhuo thought it made perfect sense, so he picked out seven or eight governors and county magistrates from various states and tried to win them over.

Most people ignored him.

However, Cao Cao, who was the prefect of Chenliu County, was won over by Dong Zhuo and immediately expressed his desire to make further progress.

Cao Cao also sent Dong Zhuo a large amount of jewelry and property.

When other princes in Guandong refused to interact with Dong Zhuo and even cursed Dong Zhuo’s envoys, Cao Cao’s submission and respect made Dong Zhuo very happy, and he summoned Cao Cao to Luoyang to meet him.

When Cao Cao arrived in Luoyang, he flattered Dong Zhuo and was willing to obey his orders, but all the ministers scolded Cao Cao.

However, Dong Zhuo liked Cao Cao more and more, let down his guard, became closer to Cao Cao, and expressed his support for Cao Cao to be the governor of Yanzhou.

One day at a banquet, Cao Cao suddenly attacked, wielding the Seven-Star Sword and slashing at Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo was stabbed again.

Unlike the last time when Lu Bu’s assassination attempt was not a big deal, this time Cao Cao’s Seven Star Sword was very sharp. When Cao Cao chopped at him, Dong Zhuo was shocked and instinctively used his arm to block, but one of his arms was chopped off.

With Ding Yuan’s assassination plan, Dong Zhuo was very cautious.

In the end, Cao Cao did not kill Dong Zhuo. He fled Luoyang City in a hurry with Dong Zhuo’s severed arm.

Dong Zhuo was assassinated again and lost an arm. The people and noble families in Luoyang were all delighted.

Cursing Dong Zhuo: You deserve this day!

After Cao Cao escaped from Luoyang, he took Dong Zhuo’s arm and pointed at the broken arm to everyone he met, saying:
“Can you recognize the thief Dong’s arm?”

Cao Cao’s name became famous, and all the heroes in Guandong praised him. (End of this chapter)