Chapter 81: Strange Case In Xuchang
At the same moment when the great battle between Gan Ning and Huang Zu erupted in Jingzhou, the Battle of Guandu between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao also broke out. This time history did not deviate; Cao Cao achieved victory with few against many, burning Wuchao triggered chaos in Yuan Shao’s army, the Cao Army seized the moment and utterly crushed Yuan Shao’s forces, Yuan Shao’s army of over 100,000 was completely annihilated, countless surrendered, Yuan Shao fled in panic back to Yecheng, the Cao Army immediately advanced north in force, pushing into Hebei, and from then on the Yellow River was no longer the dividing line between the Cao and Yuan families.
News of the Cao Army’s great victory reached inside Xuchang City, Xuchang City was completely in revelry, the main street was filled everywhere with singing and dancing, the passionate sounds of gongs and drums could be heard everywhere, the entire city was celebrating the victory.
All restaurants and eateries inside the city were packed with guests. In East City of Xuchang City there was an Old Xuchang Restaurant, of very high class, the guests who came here to drink and dine were all either rich or noble.
That evening, the Old Xuchang Restaurant inside was filled with guests. People generally ate dinner quite early, mostly starting around four o’clock and ending around six, on one hand because they had not eaten at noon and were hungry, on the other hand because there was a curfew at night, everyone had to return home before dark.
At this time it was exactly two quarters past shen, that is around five-thirty in the afternoon, the peak period for drinking and feasting in the restaurant had already passed, the drinking guests all hurriedly settled their bills and took their leave. In a private room on the second floor, more than a dozen officials had also nearly finished their drinking and revelry, the beautiful maidens who accompanied the drinks had all taken their respective reward money and smilingly took their leave, the table was a mess of dishes and cups.
The officials had also eaten and drunk their fill, they rose to thank and bid farewell to the host who was footing the bill today. Today’s host was precisely Sun Yi. Although on the surface he had conceded, stating he would no longer strive to be master of Jiangdong, in reality he had never conceded. Sun Quan had used deceitful and despicable means to capture him, how could he possibly concede? Now he had even been sent to Xuchang as a hostage, Sun Yi’s heart was filled with even more resentment.
However, Sun Yi had now matured much more. A few days ago he had written a letter to his mother, requesting that his fiancée Xu Wei be sent to Xuchang to get married.
Perhaps because Cao Cao wanted to make use of him, he was quite accommodating toward Sun Yi, not only giving him a mansion and beautiful concubines, but also not assigning anyone to surveil him, and even allowing him to widely build connections in Xuchang.
So in these past few months Sun Yi had almost invited guests for drinks every day. For officials’ weddings, funerals, and marriages, he always sent money and gifts, spending money like water, at least a thousand guan qian per month.
Spending a lot of money brought him reputation. When officials in Xuchang mentioned Sun Yi, everyone praised him as wise and capable.
Sun Yi accompanied the several guests walking behind him out of the restaurant. It was very lively in front of the restaurant door, carriages came and went, everyone was exchanging pleasantries and farewells.
A carriage drove by, suddenly a poisoned short crossbow bolt shot out from the carriage, fast as lightning with strong force, aimed at Sun Yi’s head. Although Sun Yi was highly skilled in martial arts, he had drunk and was slightly drunk, alcohol severely numbed his nerves, he surprisingly had no reaction at all. “Pfft!” The bolt struck right at his temple, Sun Yi gave a muffled grunt and fell backward to the ground.
More than a dozen personal guards were greatly shocked and rushed forward together to rescue him. The crossbow bolt had pierced through his skull, before the poison could even take effect, Sun Yi was already dead on the spot.
There was immediately great chaos in front of the restaurant, the personal guards shouted loudly: “Assassin! Assassin!”
The personal guards blocked the carriage, but inside the carriage there was no one, the coachman had a bewildered look on his face and shouted: “This is Inspector Chen’s carriage, not the assassin!”
The carriage belonged to Attending Censor Chen Qun. Chen Qun was exchanging farewells with Sun Yi, he had not expected the assassin to be hiding in his carriage, Chen Qun was also stunned.
Just as there was great chaos in front of the restaurant, a carriage drove out of the East City Gate, soon arriving at the dock. A man wearing a conical hat with a Jiangdong accent got out and went to the dock, slipped into a passenger ship, the passenger ship immediately left following the carriage.
Inside the cabin, Wang Xiaoman asked: “How did it go?”
The man removed the short crossbow from his arm and laughed: “Success!”
Wang Xiaoman finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had lurked in Xuchang for more than a month, patiently waiting for an opportunity and observing Sun Yi’s weaknesses. Sun Yi was highly skilled in martial arts, assassinating him was not easy. His only weakness was at the end of drinking parties, when he had drunk too much his reactions would be sluggish, and when seeing off guests the personal guards would stay a bit farther away, that was the best opportunity.
Wang Xiaoman and his subordinates finally seized the opportunity and struck successfully with one blow.
The passenger ship quickly left Xuchang, heading south.
Half a shichen later, the city gates closed, the whole city was under martial law, all inns were searching for the assassin, a large group of case-handling officials also came to Sun Yi’s residence, conducting a thorough investigation, and offering a reward for clues.
The results were obvious, all kinds of searches and investigations turned up nothing, no clues at all, and no signs of any assassin could be found. The only thing that could barely be called a clue was that a coachman reported for a reward: not long after the incident, near the restaurant where it happened he had carried a guest to the dock outside the city. The guest was not very old, around twenty or thirty, very strong and robust, wearing a conical hat that covered his face, seemed to have an accent from the Jiangdong area, and at the time got on a ship and left.
Three days later, Cao Cao returned to Xuchang. Hearing that Sun Yi had been assassinated, Cao Cao was immediately furious and at once summoned his second son Cao Pi who was stationed in Xuchang for questioning.
“Reporting to Father, we have thoroughly searched and conducted all kinds of investigations, all turned up nothing. The opponent planned meticulously and had been planning for a long time, that’s why we found no clues.”
“Not a single clue?” Cao Cao asked angrily.
“A coachman said that not long after the assassination occurred, he carried a man wearing a conical hat out of the city to the dock. We all suspect that man is very likely the assassin.”
“What features did the assassin have?”
“The man spoke official language, but the coachman is quite experienced and worldly, he heard that the man had a bit of an accent from the Jiangdong side, and there was a ship to meet him. We investigated carefully, that ship was of unknown origin, but someone heard the boatman had a Jiangdong accent, from the Wu Commandery side.”
Cao Cao’s expression changed, he said coldly: “Sun Quan still made his move!”
“Father, could it be someone deliberately framing?”
Cao Cao shook his head, “Not framing, framing requires deliberately leaving clues, but the assassin left no clues at all. If not for the reward, that coachman wouldn’t have reported to the officials at all. What would be the point of their framing?”
Cao Pi bowed and said: “Father is right, your son thinks it could also be Sun Ben’s doing, deliberately stirring up internal contradictions in Jiangdong, or possibly enemies of Sun Yi. It is said that when he was in Kuaiji Commandery he was brutal and bloodthirsty.”
Cao Cao sighed, “In just half a year, two of the Sun Family brothers have been assassinated, absolutely not a coincidence. This is the cruelty of their internal power struggle!”
Cao Cao was already convinced that it was Sun Quan, to eliminate future threats, sending someone to assassinate his brother, just like what happened to Sun Ce.
After a moment, Cao Cao asked again: “Any other major events?”
Cao Pi hurriedly said: “There is another major event: Gan Ning and Sun Quan joined forces to capture Lujiang Commandery, defeating Huang Zu, and immediately after Gan Ning led the navy to crush Huang Zu in Jiangxia, killing tens of thousands of enemies, Huang Zu’s navy completely annihilated.”
Cao Cao suddenly widened his eyes, he could hardly believe it—Gan Ning had actually greatly defeated Huang Zu, how had he done it?
Cao Pi said: “Father can ask Strategist Jia for the specific details, your son heard it from him, and only knows the rough outline!”
Cao Cao immediately ordered: “Quickly summon Jia Xu to see me!”
