Chapter 3: Cao Cao's gradual transformation

This was an excuse he had thought of long ago. From now on, whenever he talked about his family background, he would say that he was a descendant of the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty who lived in seclusion from the world - it couldn't be more false, but no one dared to say it, so there was no such possibility.

The Zhou Dynasty had already perished, and there were three eras in between: the Warring States Period, the Qin Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty.

There's no way to prove he is, but no one can prove he isn't either!
For example, Cao Cao now didn't believe it at all, but he didn't refute it either.

Instead, he shook his head and followed Ji Hao's topic and said, "The court is indeed facing many problems at the moment, especially the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which was so powerful that all places suffered disasters. But it is not to the extent that rituals and music have collapsed. There are still some people who care about the people and want to save the world."

At this point, he smiled and added: "For example, I, Cao Mengde!"

This is an attempt to fool Ji Hao.

Being able to take the life of the leader of hundreds of bandits is as easy as taking something out of a bag. With such martial arts skills, even if he is not the best in the world, he has the potential to become a good general.

Worth recruiting.

Even though Cao Mengde has nothing now, he only has the military rank of "Captain" but does not have a single soldier under his command.

However, he wanted to recruit Ji Hao, and Ji Hao also wanted to take him as his younger brother: Although Cao Cao was a treacherous hero in troubled times, he was later known as Cao the Thief, the King of Wei, and even the Emperor Wu of Wei.

But there is another saying, which is "a capable minister who governs the world."

If the world had not been in chaos, leaving him with no place to display his talents, and the emperor was incompetent, unable to pacify the country and control Cao Cao, Cao Cao might not have become a treacherous hero.

He never proclaimed himself emperor throughout his life.

Not to mention that after the Tongque Tower, he found that not many people supported him and felt that the time was not right, so he did not become emperor. That was still ten years before Cao Cao's death.

After ten years, isn't the time ripe?
After his death, his son Cao Pi ascended the throne and became emperor within less than a year. Before his death, was Cao Cao less prestigious than Cao Pi, or was he less capable than Cao Pi?
If you wanted to be emperor, you would have ascended the throne long ago!
Or maybe I'm not that interested in imperial power.

"Neither I nor you have the final say on this. We have to go to the capital Luoyang and take a look at the current emperor and the current civil and military officials to be sure," said Ji Hao.

Hearing this, Cao Cao nodded.

He smiled and said, "I just so happen to be going to the capital as well, would you like to come with me?"

"Row."

From then on, the two of them traveled together and rushed to the capital.

During this period, Cao Cao still had a strong sense of belonging to the Han Dynasty. He constantly told Ji Hao about the good things about the court, hoping to make him let go of his "prejudice" against the Han Dynasty.

But as he spoke, he gradually lost confidence.

Because what he saw along the way was completely different from what he remembered: bandits and refugees, bones everywhere, locust plagues that made people homeless and forced them to eat their own children, and the plague was spreading unbridled with no one to control it.

The quality of a place depends entirely on the local officials and families.

If they don't care, no one will care, and it's as if the court doesn't exist.

"If, I mean if, the world really collapses and there is no order, what will you do, Brother Chengtian?" Cao Cao asked as they approached Luoyang.

Ji Hao smiled at this.

He said: "Then do your best to seek peace for the people of the world! As descendants of Yan and Huang, we should take it as our responsibility to help the world, and never forget our ancestors' teachings for thousands of years!"

He was just short of saying "I want to rebel".

But Cao Cao did not scold him. Instead, he nodded in agreement. Then he frowned and said, "But this is not something that can be achieved simply by having great martial arts skills!"

He also thought that Ji Hao wanted to use his martial arts to save the world, and was very pessimistic about it.

If martial arts could pacify the world, the name of the country today would be "Chu" instead of Han - even the Overlord ended up committing suicide at the Wujiang River, so what can a mere warrior do?
This is also the reason why Cao Cao did not practice martial arts hard but chose to study military books hard.

But Ji Hao was not naive enough to think that he could rule the world with just his bravery, so he said mysteriously: "It doesn't matter. As a descendant of Yan and Huang, I have my own family tradition, called Dragon Slaying Technique! It can be used to cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. It has been passed down for thousands of years and is unfathomable!"

Hearing this, Cao Cao curled his lips, obviously not believing it. He just thought Ji Hao might be a nerd.

But with his emotional intelligence, he did not expose it directly, but said: "Now that treacherous officials are in power and the world is in chaos, no matter how great your ambitions are, it will be difficult to realize them!"

This is an exclamation.

But Ji Hao followed the topic and directly extended an olive branch, saying: "Follow me, I guarantee you will have the opportunity to display your talents!"

Very abrupt.

But after a few days of getting along, Cao Cao thought Ji Hao was a man of great ambitions. In addition, he was skilled in martial arts, and he had been thinking about how to recruit him. Therefore, he asked him a question: "Putting aside the ancestral teachings, what are your own ambitions, Brother Chengtian?"

The easiest way to understand a person is to start from his ideals, and it is also the easiest way to recruit him.

This was Cao Cao’s idea.

However, Ji Hao put on a serious expression when he heard this, and said slowly: "Establish a mind for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the people, inherit the unique knowledge of the past sages, and bring peace to the world for all eternity!"

When these words were spoken, Cao Cao's eyes widened.

He looked Ji Hao up and down, as if at this moment he truly knew him.

Really, that sentence is too destructive!
"Could it be that you really have the skills to slay dragons and reshape the world?" Cao Cao murmured.

But Ji Hao knew that too much is as bad as too little, so he didn't say anything else.

Instead, he took out the fine steel spear from behind and began to practice "shaking the spear" on horseback, which is the martial art of continuously stabbing and shaking out the spear.

This is the basis of using a gun and also the mystery of using a gun.

Monthly stick, annual knife, lifetime gun, that's what you practiced throughout your life.
However, he was not practicing martial arts at that time, but while practicing, he "accidentally" dropped the book "Dragon Slaying Technique" in his arms.

Cao Cao looked over with curiosity and happened to see the title of the book with extremely ugly handwriting on the cover.

Because it was in simplified Chinese, he couldn't quite understand it.

But we can roughly guess that it is the three words "dragon slaying technique".

At this moment, a breeze blew by, just blowing open the first page, revealing a message on the title page that was also twisted and crooked. It was also difficult to understand, but the general meaning could be guessed: The people are water, the king is the boat, water can carry the boat, but it can also capsize it!

Just fourteen words, but they describe the rulers and people throughout the ages.

It fully reveals the essence of imperial power.

It made his expression stiffen.

"This book can explain the relationship between the imperial power and the people so clearly. It is definitely not written by any of the Hundred Schools of Thought. It is a unique art of power and manipulation passed down by the imperial family!"

In a flash, Cao Cao imagined a lot of things.

I believed it completely. Even if it was not left by Emperor Huang, it was definitely a family letter passed down from generation to generation by the Zhou royal family!

It will never be spread outside!

"If what this book says is true, it was the common people who supported the Han Dynasty four hundred years ago, then now is the moment when the common people are about to overturn the Han Dynasty!"

Cao Cao believed that the other party did not go out for a walk because he was bored in the mountains.

Instead, many generations waited hundreds of years before they got this chance.

"As a descendant of the Zhou royal family, he wants to overthrow the Han Dynasty and restore the Zhou Dynasty, re-establish rituals and music, and regain the throne of the Son of Heaven!"

(End of this chapter)