The Collection of The End

——AD 160——

In the first year of Benchu ​​(146), Emperor Zhi died and had no children. In the fifteenth year of Emperor Huan, Empress Dowager Liang and General Liang Ji elected him to the throne, and the government was controlled by his relatives.

In the second year of Yanxi (159), Emperor Huan came to power. He first named the knight-errant Wang Yue as "Sword Master" and "Hu Ben General", so that the Liang and Ji party did not dare to act rashly. At the same time, the Queen Mother of Liang died of illness, and the relatives in the palace Since their power was empty, they united with the eunuchs to wipe out all the Liang clan in Luoyang and captured nearly 600 of their members.

Liang Ji was unwilling to fail. After escaping from Luoyang, he gathered many guards around him and tried to force him to the palace. However, the army encountered Wang Yue and blocked the way. Faced with a single man with a sword, no one dared to take a step forward. Liang Ji looked up to the sky and sighed, committing suicide in front of the battle. The influence of the foreign relatives collapsed.

Five eunuchs, including Shan Chao and Zuo Guan, who assisted Emperor Huan in regaining power, were granted the title of Duke Hou on the same day and were called the "Five Marquises".

In addition to the Five Marquises, in order to combat the remnants of his relatives, Emperor Huan also granted eunuchs a large number of eunuchs, including Cao Teng, the Changle Minister, and Zhou Fu, the Taipu of Changle. They were all granted the title of Tinghou for their merits in making policies. Cao Teng was appointed as the official of Changqiu. .

The title can be inherited by future generations. However, as a eunuch, Cao Teng naturally had no heirs. However, in his early years, he contacted the Cao family in his hometown of Qiao County to ask for an adopted son. It happened that at that time, the Cao family was a single family regardless of whether the main family was divided, and there was no concubine. Therefore, He adopted a son named "Xiahou Song" from his in-laws Xiahou's family and changed his name to Cao Song.

Cao Song was twenty-nine years old at that time. Because Emperor Huan had many official positions vacant after he eliminated the Liang Ji Party, he was promoted to the rank of "Sili Xiaowei", in charge of monitoring and reporting around Luoyang.

This was because Emperor Huan could not appoint eunuchs to official positions outside the country, so he had to promote the eunuchs' relatives instead. For a time, many officials in Luoyang were related to eunuchs.

Because the influence of his relatives still remained, Cao Song was busy with official duties and had no time to discipline his legitimate son Cao Cao. As a result, he was quite naughty when he was young, so he asked his cousin Cao Ke to help discipline him.

This Cao Ken was a member of Cao Teng's original clan. He respected the words of sages and sages. Regardless of the fact that Cao Cao was only four years old at this time, he would scold Cao Cao if he behaved inappropriately. If Cao Cao dared to talk back, he would complain to Cao Song.

Since Cao Song trusted this cousin and scolded his son whenever he was accused, when Cao Cao was five years old, he made a plan to drive away his uncle.

————

"Remember what you are going to do when uncle comes later?"

In Cao Song's study, there was a small table suitable for children. There were pens, inks, paper, inkstones and other items on it for Cao Cao's study. However, all of those items were brand new, and only some collections of classics and history showed signs of being turned over.

There were no servants or maids in the room at this time. The boy standing next to the table was Cao Cao. He was not tall, but he had a strong head and a strong head, and there seemed to be light shining in his dark eyes.

"Remember, Geely." A child's voice almost identical to his responded, but no one could be seen.

"Don't call me Ji Li!" Cao Cao said angrily into the air in front of him.

"Okay, Ah Ma." The voice responded.

"These nicknames..." Cao Cao snorted: "My father refused to give me the nicknames in advance. The two nicknames my mother gave me are completely unheard of."

"Then you will give me one?" the voice said: "I suspect that she must have two nicknames because she knew about my existence."

"Do you believe that if I decide which nickname I want, my mother will call you by the other name? Even if she can't see it." Cao Cao agreed with the "voice" guess this time.

"Well..." The voice was speechless for a moment.

"Stop chatting, uncle will be here soon. You can show me your performance as originally planned." Cao Cao pointed to the floor next to the table.

"Uh-huh!" With a strange noise, another "Cao Cao" appeared next to Cao Cao. He made a gesture of reading a book, took two steps, and suddenly fell to the ground with his mouth crooked and his eyes slanted. The body kept twitching.

"...Why are you so ugly? Did you do it on purpose?" Cao Cao looked at "himself" slightly dissatisfied and said.

"That's what stroke is like. Let's go to the old man next door to have a stroke." "Cao Cao" who fell to the ground was also dissatisfied: "Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Forget it, if my father sees the wrinkles or dust on his clothes lying down, this plan of 'Li Dai Tao Zong' will be in vain." Cao Cao shook his head.

"Although we don't have enough education, I don't think that's what the plan is..." "Cao Cao" who fell to the ground muttered again and stood up.

Cao Cao listened attentively, and there seemed to be footsteps coming from outside the door, so he slipped to the study window and quietly turned out. Then he heard the sound of the study door opening and his uncle Cao Ke's scolding: "We're here. Study, why are you still playing around? Sit down quickly!"

Hey, after what happened today, I didn't believe that he still dared to care about him. Cao Cao chuckled and took a detour to the main entrance of Cao's mansion.

————

Cao Cao came to the main gate of Cao Mansion and waited for about half an hour. He saw Cao Song returning in a car and stepped forward to greet him.

"Why did my son go out to greet you today?" Cao Song looked a little tired with a white face and beard, but he looked quite happy when he saw Cao Cao saluting in front of the car.

"Because he heard some rumors about instability in the city, the son asked his uncle what his father was doing. Only then did he learn that his father was working very hard as a lieutenant," Cao Cao said. "The son didn't know how to share his worries with his father, and he felt restless. So I came to greet him in advance and asked my father for advice."

"Oh, these little troubles are not a problem for my father." Cao Song got out of the car and stroked the top of Cao Cao's hair: "You are a great help to my father if you study hard."

"Uh..." Cao Cao looked shy and said to Cao Song: "Due to restlessness, my son ran away from his uncle early today. He will definitely study hard from now on. I also asked my father to help Ah Ma tell the difference."

Cao Song stepped into the gate and looked at the concierge. The concierge knew the opportunity and came forward to report: "Young Master has been waiting here for nearly half an hour."

Cao Song nodded, and then led Cao Cao to the study. On the way, he said some words of respect to his teacher, and Cao Cao naturally agreed.

When Cao Cao approached the study room, he saw "himself" running out of it triumphantly, and he knew that something big had happened.

This "ability" named "Stand-in" after Cao Cao learned about "Wushuang" seems to have existed since his birth. He grew up at the same time as Cao Cao. Usually only he can see it, but he can also decide who can be seen by himself. At present, there is nothing too special, but it seems that Cao Cao's own wisdom has greatly grown. Sometimes he will even look at the basin or bronze mirror and wonder where this five-year-old child came from.

Since the "substitute" does not need separate clothing and food, so far, no servants or maids have noticed anything unusual. The only one who has noticed is her mother, Ding. When talking to her, her eyes would occasionally drift to the "substitute" beside her. , so that Cao Cao had to stick with his "substitute" every time he saw his mother.

At this time, when he saw the "substitute" running to join him, he knew that the plan was successful, so he took two steps back and let his father's body block him. Then, he heard the furious voice of his uncle Cao Ke along with the heavy footsteps. :

"Ju Gao! You came just in time! Your Ah Man must be taught a lesson!"

Cao Song noticed that Cao Cao was hiding quietly behind him, but he only thought that he was embarrassed to see Cao Ke because he was sneaking away, so he responded: "My child is naughty, why do you need to be the same as him?"

"Isn't he naughty?" Cao Ke said angrily: "I was just teaching him how to read and write, but unexpectedly he suddenly suffered from a stroke. I was shocked and was about to call someone to seek medical treatment, but he got up on his own and said, "It's a pity that he wasn't scared." After he died, he jumped through the window and ran away!"

——This is inconsistent with the reservation plan!

——This is called extraordinary performance!

Cao Cao and the "double" looked at each other, and finally followed the original plan and secretly poked his head out from behind Cao Song, making an expression like "Bite me if you can."

"Shuzi!" Cao Ke was furious, strode over and stretched out his hand to catch him: "You think I can't punish you for escaping here in Jugao?!"

Snapped! Cao Song directly slapped his hand back: "You really can't punish him."

"Tall?" Cao Ke looked confused.

Hey~ Cao Cao put on a surprised expression, feeling secretly happy in his heart.

"Sili Xiaowei" is a military position. Although Cao Song looked like a scholar, it would not be a problem if he used his hands to knock down five or six strong sergeants.

"Ah Ma has been waiting for me at the concierge for half an hour, but you said that you 'just' saw him pretending to have a stroke?" Cao Song looked unkind: "Also, although my son is naughty, he is quite filial. How could you say that you made it up?" 'It's a pity I wasn't scared to death'?"

"I'm not -" Cao Ke stared at Cao Cao who looked innocent and confused, then turned back to look at the study, having nothing to say for a moment.

Cao Song added: "So, those accusations you made about Ah Man being naughty and random were probably fabrications. It's just that Ah Man was respectful and didn't refute you."

"I didn't -" Cao Ke couldn't think of how to defend himself at all, so he just retorted dryly.

"No need to say more!" As an inspection official, Cao Song always used the inferences derived from it as facts as long as he found conclusive evidence. Although there were some unjust cases, the emperor was very satisfied with his work so far, so he He was also very decisive in his judgment on this "little case" of his own: "From now on, you don't need to teach Ah Ma anymore. As for what you did, I will mention it to my uncle from the same clan."

"How dare you believe this idiot's words?" Cao Ke pointed his fingers at Cao Cao, and finally turned his head away.

Hey, although what the child said should not be taken seriously, I didn't say anything at all. Those things were all the father's own inferences, weren't they? Shi Shiran thought as Cao Cao looked at Cao Ke's leaving figure.

"Although your uncle behaves shamelessly, you can't be taught without guidance." Cao Song patted Cao Cao's head and said, "While on official business, my father met a senior official under Situ Qiaoxuan, his name was Cai Yong. My father is about the same age and is quite talented and proficient in music. Please ask him to teach you in his spare time."

"Eh? Father, please don't do this!" Cao Cao exclaimed in shock: "My son heard that there is a particularly scary young lady in the Cai family!"

"That's how it's settled." Cao Song smiled.