Chapter 400: So what if you have made contributions? Those who defy me will perish! Your servant Xiao Fang begs the king to ascend the throne and inherit the throne!

Xun Yu looked at the empty food box with a confused look.

After being absent-minded for a long time, his eyes suddenly focused and his body shuddered violently.

Despair, horror, sadness...

Countless negative emotions suddenly surged up from the bottom of my heart and enveloped my whole body in an instant.

Finally, it turned into a helpless bitter smile.

"Meng De, you and I have fought side by side for more than ten years, but I have finally become your enemy..."

Xun Yu muttered to himself, raised his head tremblingly, and looked towards Chang'an with a desperate and bitter look.

"Ugh--"

A sigh with complicated meanings was heard in the empty lobby.

Disappointment, regret, resentment, sadness...

In another hall.

Xiahou Shang and Dong Zhao were kneeling opposite each other, toasting each other with wine.

As Xiahou Shang was a member of the royal family, his official rank naturally rose when Cao Cao proclaimed himself emperor.

In addition to being the prefect of Tianshui, Cao Cao also appointed him as General Anxi, commander-in-chief of the Liangzhou troops, and conferred him the title of Marquis of Lueyang County.

In addition to being promoted to the title of Xianghou, Dong Zhao was also promoted to the position of Taichang.

The two of them thus became important officials of the country and the founding ministers of the Qin Dynasty, so they were naturally very proud of themselves.

"Taichang Dong, there is one thing I don't understand. Why did the emperor give Xun Wenruo an empty food box? Please enlighten me, Taichang?"

After a few drinks, Xiahou Shang looked up at Dong Zhao with a puzzled look.

Cao Cao had given him a secret order before. If Xun Yu refused to accept the title of Grand Tutor and still called him "King of Qin" instead of "Your Majesty", then Xiahou Shang would give Xun Yu the empty food box.

Xiahou Shang obeyed the order, but with his intelligence, he could not understand Cao Cao's intention.

"Food is a blessing."

"As a minister, whose salary do you receive? Naturally, it is the salary of the monarch."

"Xun Wenruo claimed to be a minister of the Han Dynasty. He originally ate Han salary, but now the Han Dynasty has fallen. Where does Han salary come from?"

"Since he has no Han salary, he can only eat my Qin salary."

"But the emperor gave him an empty food box. General Xiahou, can't you see the meaning behind this?"

Dong Zhao played with the wine glass in his hand and explained with a meaningful look in his eyes.

Xiahou Shang suddenly realized and exclaimed:
"An empty food box means no fortune!"

"Xun Yu has no Han salary to eat, and the emperor won't let him eat Qin salary. Could it be that the emperor wants to force him to--"

Before Xiahou Shang finished speaking, he looked anxiously at Dong Zhao.

Dong Zhao nodded slightly, agreeing with his guess.

No salary means no food, and no food means starvation to death. Cao Cao is trying to force Xun Yu to commit suicide!

"Xun Wenruo is a meritorious official of the Qin Dynasty. If it weren't for Xun Wenruo, Lu Bu would have been able to steal Yanzhou..."

Xiahou Shang was halfway through his words when he suddenly remembered something and swallowed it back.

If we continue to talk about this, wouldn't Cao Cao be regarded as a heartless and disloyal villain who forced his meritorious officials to death?

"Gong is merit, fault is fault."

“Sometimes merits and demerits can be offset, but sometimes they cannot.”

"Xun Wenruo failed to follow the will of heaven and insisted on going against it. He has come to this point today. It can only be said that he has brought this upon himself."

"He chose his own path, so he can't blame anyone."

Dong Zhao, however, was very insightful and always talked about destiny.

Just like he had abandoned the Han Dynasty early on and defected to Cao Cao, offering advice to Cao Cao to use the emperor to control the princes and achieve the goal of becoming a king or a hegemon.

Now that Cao Cao has become emperor, he is also happy to accept the reward without any psychological burden and becomes a founding hero.

In his eyes, everything he did was just following fate.

"Well, what Dong Taichang said makes sense. It is indeed destiny that our Great Qin will replace the Han Dynasty."

"Xun Wenruo went against the will of heaven and ended up in this situation. It was all his own fault. He can't blame anyone else."

Xiahou Shang then understood and nodded heavily in agreement.

Just then, the personal guards arrived in a hurry and broke into the hall.

"General, Minister of Rites, something has happened!"

"Xun Lingjun he...he...he committed suicide by taking poison!"

Xiahou Shang's body shook, his expression changed suddenly, and he looked anxiously at Dong Zhao.

There was both shock and admiration in his eyes.

Dong Zhao’s words came true!
When Xun Yu saw the food box, he really understood Cao Cao's hint and finally chose to commit suicide.

"Xun Wenruo, you have the talent to be a king's assistant, but unfortunately you don't know your destiny."

"What a pity, what a pity."

"Zhao offers you a drink, and may you have a pleasant journey."

Dong Zhao stood up, walked outside the hall, raised his glass in the direction of Xun Yu, and then poured all the wine in the glass onto the ground.

...

In the spring of that year, Cao Cao abolished the Han Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor, and established the Qin Dynasty.

...

Yecheng, Chu Palace.

Inside the Golden Palace, a huge sand table has been displayed.

Liu Bei, together with his advisers including Xiao Fang, Zhuge Liang, Tian Feng, Chen Deng, etc., were watching the sand table and discussing the military strategy for the future war against Qin.

The sound of hurried footsteps was heard, and Chen Dao rushed into the hall holding a silk book high.

"Your Majesty, the spies in Guanzhong are reporting this in secret!"

"read!"

Liu Bei kept his eyes on the sand table and just waved his hands slightly.

Chen Dao unfolded the silk book, took a deep breath, and read aloud:

"On the fifth day of this month, the thief Cao forced the emperor to abdicate the throne. He has already plotted to usurp the throne and announced his ascension to the throne as emperor!" Liu Bei, who had been concentrating on the sand table, was suddenly shocked. He raised his head abruptly and looked at the silk book in Chen Dao's hand in shock.

Zhuge Liang, Tian Feng, Chen Deng and other counselors were all shocked.

The news that Cao Cao had usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor instantly caused a great shock in the palace.

Only Xiao Fang raised the corner of his mouth slightly, as if he had expected this and was not shocked or surprised at all.

"brush!"

Shocked, Liu Bei snatched the silk book from Chen Dao's hand and glanced at it with disbelief.

Cao Pi led his troops into the palace and forced the emperor to write a letter of abdication. The ministers of Qin presented a petition to respectfully invite Cao Cao to take the throne...

After Cao Cao declined three times and requested three times, he reluctantly agreed, and then built an altar in the south of Chang'an to offer sacrifices to heaven, abolished the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, and demoted the emperor to the Duke of Yongchang...

The entire process of Cao Cao's usurpation of the throne and becoming emperor is clearly written on the silk book.

"Cao thief, you actually dared to usurp the throne and commit treason, imitating that traitor Yuan Shu and proclaiming himself emperor!"

"You are a traitor who usurped the Han Dynasty. I will kill you!"

Liu Bei threw the silk letter to the ground fiercely and shouted:

"Send my imperial edict to summon all civil and military officials to the palace to discuss the rebellion!"

Half an hour later.

All the civil and military officials in Yecheng gathered in the Golden Palace.

"Everyone, news has been sent back from Guanzhong that the thief Cao has usurped the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor!"

"As a descendant of the Liu family and the King of Chu of the Han Dynasty, how can I turn a blind eye to this?"

"I wish to mobilize all the troops in my country to destroy the fake Qin, kill the traitor Cao Cao, and rebuild our great Han country!"

"I summoned you all here today to discuss the plan of attacking Qin!"

Liu Bei, sitting high in the throne, announced to his ministers in an indignant tone his decision to attack Qin and destroy Cao.

There was an immediate explosion inside the hall.

All the civil and military officials in the court were indignant at Cao Cao's abolition of the Han Dynasty and his declaration of emperorship, and they cursed him one after another.

"I am willing to be the vanguard, lead the army into Chang'an, and capture the traitor Cao Cao alive!"

"I am willing to risk my life to crush the false Qin and destroy Cao the thief for the king!"

"Your Majesty, I wish..."

All the generals requested to fight, and the shouts of war rose one after another in the hall, as if they were going to overturn the entire hall.

Liu Bei nodded in satisfaction and turned his gaze to Xiao Fang:
"Jinglue, what do you think?"

He was obviously not yet blinded by Cao Cao's usurpation of the Han Dynasty. Naturally, he had to seek Xiao Fang's opinion on such a major event as the attack on Qin, which was related to the country's destiny.

"The thief Cao deposed the Han Dynasty and usurped the throne, and proclaimed himself emperor. This is an unforgivable crime, and everyone has the right to kill him!"

"As the patriarch of the Liu clan, it is your unshirkable responsibility to defeat Cao Cao."

"but…"

After Xiao Fang's indignation, he changed the subject and said with a salutation:
"I think that before Your Majesty leads his army to attack Qin and destroy Cao, there is one more important thing you need to do first!"

Liu Bei was stunned.

All the ministers were also stunned, and their blank eyes turned to Xiao Fang.

Is there anything more important and urgent than defeating Cao Cao?

Xiao Fang slowly walked to the front of the hall, straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and bowed to Liu Bei:
"Your Highness, your servant Xiao Fang, respectfully requests that before you send out troops to fight the enemy, you first ascend the throne, inherit the throne, and restore the ancestral temples and the country of the Great Han!"

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Liu Bei, who was full of indignation, sat on the throne in a daze, and was even absent-minded for a moment.

All the ministers were also shocked, and excitement gradually began to emerge in their wide eyes.

"A country cannot be without a ruler for a day, and the people cannot be without a king for a day!"

"Now Cao Cao is forcing the emperor to abdicate the throne. Our Han dynasty has collapsed, our ancestral temples have been destroyed, and our national destiny has ended!"

"The most important thing now is to support the new emperor, rebuild our Han Dynasty ancestral temple, continue the great dynasty, and rebuild the country!"

"Your Majesty is a member of the royal family, the King of Chu of the Han Dynasty, and you hold the nine provinces in your hands. You have made great contributions to the country and are admired by all the people!"

"Looking at all the descendants of the Liu family in the world, who is more qualified than the king to inherit the throne of our Han Dynasty and continue the orthodox tradition?"

"Your Majesty, your humble servant Xiao Fang, begs Your Majesty to consider the country of Han and obey the will of heaven and the people, ascend the throne and inherit the great throne!"

Every word Xiao Fang spoke was as fierce as thunder, echoing in the hall.

Zhuge Liang, Tian Feng, Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci and other civil and military officials were awakened at once and all fell into ecstasy and excitement.

Xiao Fang is trying to persuade him to ascend the throne!
He wants to single-handedly help Liu Bei to the throne!
Since ancient times, it has been common practice for the throne to be inherited by the son after the father's death.

But there are always exceptions. If the emperor dies without an heir, he must be chosen from among the princes.

There have been many such examples since the Han Dynasty.

For example, Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Xuan of Han, and Emperor Huan of Han all succeeded to the throne as vassal states.

Now Liu Xie failed to hold on to the throne and was forced to abdicate by Cao Cao. He even became the Duke of Yongchang of the Qin Dynasty. His lineage had lost the qualification to be supported as emperor.

Then naturally, only a virtuous and capable person can be chosen from among the Liu clan to inherit the throne.

Looking across the world, is there anyone more capable than Liu Bei?
It was legitimate for Liu Bei to ascend the throne, inherit the throne, and rebuild the Han Dynasty!
"Your Majesty!"

Huang Zhong reacted and followed him out of the class, bowing with deep emotion:
"Of the thirteen states in the world, the king has already obtained nine!"

"Your Majesty's divine power and heroic strategy, Your Majesty's achievements are comparable to the rebirth of Emperor Guangwu!"

"If the king doesn't sit on the throne of the Han emperor, who else is qualified to sit on it?"

"I, your humble servant, also beg you to obey the will of heaven and the will of the people, ascend to the throne as emperor, and inherit the Han Dynasty!"

When Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not in the court, Huang Zhong became the chief military general.

Xiao Fang and Huang Zhong, the leaders of the civil and military officials, all stood up to persuade him to ascend the throne, and the blood of the officials was instantly ignited.

"Your Majesty, we implore you to obey the will of heaven and the people, ascend to the throne as emperor, and inherit the throne!"

"Your Majesty, we implore you to obey the will of heaven and the people, ascend to the throne as emperor, and inherit the throne!"

The ministers were moved and their voices of persuading him to ascend the throne were like thunder and sea, echoing in the hall.

Looking at the ministers who came together to persuade him to ascend the throne, Liu Bei was in unprecedented shock.

(End of this chapter)