Chapter 23: Kindness and righteousness should not be abused. My lord, please kill this thief!

Cao Bao's body shook suddenly, and in an instant he solidified into a stone elephant.

The expression on his face was frozen in that extremely complicated moment of mixed emotions.

Shame, helplessness, fear...

All kinds of negative emotions immediately rose from the soles of my feet and enveloped my entire body.

As a traitor, he colluded with Lu Bu to rebel and almost forced Liu Bei into a dead end.

Now he was in command of three thousand soldiers and horses, and he was pursuing Liu Bei relentlessly, intending to kill him completely.

However, Cao Bao never expected that he would end up in such a tragic situation.

He failed to kill Liu Bei and instead became a prisoner, kneeling in front of Liu Bei in humiliation!

For a moment, Cao Bao knelt stiffly on the ground, unable to accept this unbelievable fact.

"Cao Bao, you bastard!"

A roar of angry curse interrupted Cao Bao's trance.

Before he could react, Zhang Fei rushed up to him with a furious face and smashed him hard in the face with his iron fist.

A solid muffled sound.

A scream of agony.

Cao Bao was knocked to the ground and rolled a few steps away.

He opened his mouth and a stream of blood spurted out, with two front teeth mixed in the blood.

While Cao Bao was still dizzy, Zhang Fei jumped up, rode on him, and punched his face with his two fists like raindrops.

"You shameless traitor, I asked you to betray my brother, I asked you to collude with Lu Bu, I asked you to shoot my sister-in-law, I couldn't kill you--"

Zhang Fei roared and cursed, while punching like rain, venting the anger that had been accumulating in his heart for a long time.

The sound of fists hitting flesh, Zhang Fei's curses, and Cao Bao's howls mixed together and echoed on the hilltop.

Everyone was stunned.

Even Liu Bei was stunned for a moment. He did not expect his sworn brother to be so violent. He started beating Cao Bao without waiting for him to open his mouth.

It was not until Cao Bao was beaten black and blue and half dead that he reacted.

"Yide, stop it!"

Hearing Liu Bei's shout, Zhang Fei stopped reluctantly, wiped the blood off his fist on Cao Bao's body, and stood up again.

When Liu Bei lowered his head to look again, Cao Bao's face had been beaten to a bloody mess. He was afraid that even his son-in-law Lu Bu would not be able to recognize him.

There was no trace of pity on Liu Bei's face, nor did he blame Zhang Fei at all.

He also has a temper.

If it weren't for Cao Bao's betrayal, how could Lu Bu have easily captured Xia Pi and almost forced him into a desperate situation?

If he had not been lucky enough to meet Xiao Fang, he would probably have been in such a state of desolation that he had lost all his dignity and was forced to endure humiliation and surrender to Lu Bu.

How could Liu Bei not hate Cao Bao in his heart!
However, he had the magnanimity of a lord and was unwilling to take any action himself to vent his hatred.

Zhang Fei's punches helped him vent his anger, and he felt inexplicably happy.

Liu Bei then said in a calm voice:

"Cao Bao, Lord Tao's last words were for you to lead the Danyang army to join me. You promised Lord Tao in person."

"After I succeeded Xuzhou Mu, I not only let you continue to command the Danyang troops, but also gave you priority in all food and military supplies."

"The official position I give you is higher than that of my two brothers."

"I even intend to let you concurrently serve as the Prime Minister of Xia Pi to show my trust in you."

"Everyone in Xuzhou knows how well I, Liu Bei, treated you."

"And you always pretend to obey me but secretly disobey me. How many bad things have you said to me in front of others and behind their backs?"

"When Yuan Shu's army invaded, you betrayed me and colluded with Lu Bu to launch a surprise attack on Xia Pi, almost forcing me into a dead end!"

"Now that I have withdrawn from Xuzhou, you still refuse to give in and even personally lead your troops to chase me here, determined to kill me!"

"Cao Bao, now that you have fallen to this point, what else do you have to say!"

The more Liu Bei spoke, the angrier he became, as if all the frustration that had been accumulating since he was abducted from Xia Pi was finally being vented at this moment.

Cao Bao's body was trembling, his neck turned red and blue, and his bloodstained face couldn't tell whether it was filled with shame, fear, or anger.

Faced with Liu Bei's questioning, he just lay stiffly on the ground without saying a word.

"Brother, why are you telling this traitor to do this?"

"If you just nod, I will cut him into pieces right now!" Zhang Fei was simple and rough. He had already drawn his sword and was ready to chop people.

Cao Bao, who had been silent, suddenly trembled. After hesitating for a moment, he struggled to get up and knelt down again in front of Liu Bei.

This time, he knelt down voluntarily rather than being forced.

"Lord Xuande, I was wrong!"

"I was confused for a moment and was instigated by Xu Dan. That's why I made a huge mistake and failed Lord Xuande's kindness to me."

"Since the fall of Xia Pi, Bao has been filled with remorse and has been thinking about making amends all the time."

"Lord Xuande, please, for Lord Tao's sake, give Bao another chance to make amends. Bao will definitely sacrifice his own life to repay Lord Xuande's kindness!"

Cao Bao made a tearful confession, portraying himself as an ignorant white lotus who was led astray by the bad boy Xu Dan.

Anyway, Xu Dan had been chopped to pieces by Wei Yan. No matter how hard he tried to put the blame on a dead man, he would never crawl out from underground to confront him in court.

"Fuck your motherfucker!"

"Do you think my brother is a three-year-old child who would believe your lies?"

"If you really regret it, why would you chase me here and kill me?"

Zhang Fei kicked Cao Bao to the ground and scolded him again.

Cao Bao endured the humiliation and stood up again, his face full of regret, and he defended himself:
"General Zhang, calm down. Lü Bu has always been distrustful of me. He forced me to hunt down Lord Xuande to prove my loyalty to him."

"Leopard was forced to lead his army here. He originally wanted to catch up with Lord Xuande and then lead his troops back to Lord Xuande's command."

"Who would have thought that Lord Xuande would devise such a brilliant plan to kill all the leopards without leaving a single piece of armor behind?"

After a long explanation, Cao Bao knocked his forehead deeply to the ground:
"Xuan De, you are kind and righteous. Please show your graciousness and give me, Cao Bao, a chance to make amends for my mistakes."

"I, Cao Bao, swear that I will go through fire and water for Lord Xuande to show my determination."

Faced with his eloquent plea and defense, Zhang Fei had no way to refute it for a moment.

Mi Zhu, Sun Qian and other counselors on his left and right were all sneering.

There was no disguising contempt in his sneering eyes.

At this point, who could not see that Cao Bao was just trying to save his own life and was shamelessly making up lies to win Liu Bei's forgiveness?

He is so afraid of death and has no moral principles at all, how can people not despise him?

As for Liu Bei, of course he would not believe Cao Bao's explanation.

However, looking at Cao Bao who was kneeling on the ground begging, he frowned, and his eyes revealed a bit of hesitation.

Xiao Fang, who was watching coldly from the side, understood what Lao Liu was thinking as soon as he saw his mood change.

He wanted to spare Cao Bao.

It’s not that Old Liu is stupid, he can’t see that Cao Bao is making up lies to save his life.

This is because Lao Liu has a kind-hearted personality and is not the kind of person who would kill anyone.

Even though Cao Bao had betrayed him before, now that he was kneeling and begging for mercy, he naturally felt that there was no need to kill him.

But this time, Xiao Fang could not allow Lao Liu to be soft-hearted and abuse his kindness on someone like Cao Bao.

So he slowly stepped forward, his eyes full of murderous intent, and said sternly:

"My lord, you have been kind to this villain Cao Bao, but this villain did not seek any return. Instead, he sold out his master for fame and fortune, betrayed him, and led Lu Bu to attack Xuzhou, almost forcing my lord into a dead end!"

“The sage once said: Repay evil with kindness. How can you repay kindness?”

"My lord, how many of your soldiers died because of this traitor's rebellion!"

"If you pardon his death, how can you be worthy of those loyal men who died for you?"

"If you don't kill Cao Bao today, wouldn't you become a weak and vulnerable ruler with no prestige in the eyes of your subjects?"

"If you don't have prestige, how can you convince your subordinates?"

"If the soldiers are not obedient, how can the lord achieve success in supporting the Han Dynasty?"

After hearing Xiao Fang's stern words, Liu Bei's body was shocked suddenly, as if he understood something.

Xiao Fang took another deep breath and bowed to Liu Bei:

"Cao Bao's crime is unforgivable, he must be killed!"

"My lord, you must not abuse your kindness and justice towards him."

"Please kill this thief!"

(End of this chapter)