Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 14. Death of Cao Cao
As for Cao Cao, ever since he was frightened by Guan Yu's head in Luoyang, he had nightmares every night. In his dreams, Guan Yu was staring at him with his eyes wide open and angry.

After just a few days, Cao Cao became visibly haggard. In desperation, Cao Cao asked the officials, hoping that someone who understood the theory of ghosts and gods could help him solve his problems.

Finally, some people said that the old palace in Luoyang was quite old, and countless innocent souls had died there throughout the dynasties. In addition, when Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang, even more people died tragically, so a new palace could be built for living.

Cao Cao agreed with this, but was troubled by the lack of skilled craftsmen. It happened that the Grand Marshal Jia Xu recommended a craftsman named Su Yue, who could do the job.

Cao Cao was very pleased and ordered Su Yue to come and design and supervise the construction of the new palace.

Su Yue did not dare to neglect it, and worked overtime to draw the blueprint of the new palace and presented it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was very happy when he saw it. The perfect design of the nine-room palace met Cao Cao's aesthetic taste. Cao Cao ordered Su Yue to start the work as soon as possible, but Su Yue was embarrassed.

Su Yue reported to Cao Cao that it was extremely difficult to find beams for this kind of hall, and perhaps only the big pear tree next to the Yuelong Temple in Yuelongtan met this standard.

Cao Cao was overjoyed and ordered people to go and cut down the pear wood. As soon as the pear wood arrived, he started construction.

Unexpectedly, the next day, the craftsmen who were sent out returned with pale faces, and reported to Cao Cao that the big pear tree could not be damaged by axes or saws, and even the bark could not be broken.

Cao Cao was furious, thinking that the craftsmen were delaying under some excuse, so he personally led his guards to the Yuelong Temple to take a look.

When Cao Cao arrived at the Yuelong Temple, he took a look and found the tree to be truly magnificent. The trunk stood tall and straight without any bends, and its momentum reached the sky. It was truly a pillar of the country.

Cao Cao ordered his men to start cutting down the tree. It was truly a spectacle to see the axe and saw hitting the tree trunk as hard as gold and iron, without even leaving a white mark.

The local elders also came to persuade the public that the tree was hundreds of years old and already had some fairy spirit; and it was rumored that fairies had lived there in the past, so it should not be cut down.

Naturally, Cao Cao scoffed at this. He had been ruling the country for more than 40 years since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. From the emperor to the common people, everyone was in awe and submitted to him. How could he be afraid of the so-called power of ghosts and gods?
Cao Cao personally dismounted, drew his sword and chopped at the tree. The tree opened immediately, but the bark opened like a person, and bright red blood burst out, spraying all over Cao Cao, frightening him so much that he dropped his sword on the ground, hurriedly mounted his horse and fled back to Luoyang City.

At night, Cao Cao was restless and unable to sleep. Suddenly, he saw a man holding a sword entering the hall. Cao Cao was shocked and asked who the man was.

"I am the god of the pear tree. I have come to avenge what happened during the day. I have come to kill you!"

The man only said this one sentence before he drew his sword and charged towards Cao Cao. Cao Cao was so scared that he kept calling for the guards outside the palace, but no one came in to rescue him.

Cao Cao suddenly woke up and found that he seemed to have just had a dream. The guards outside the door were frightened by Cao Cao's shouting and were already on standby outside.

After Cao Cao sent the guards away, he felt a terrible headache, as if someone was hitting him with a sledgehammer.

With no other options, Cao Cao could only seek medical treatment and medicine everywhere, hoping that someone could cure his migraine.

Hua Xin made a memorial recommending the genius doctor Hua Tuo. It happened that Hua Tuo was in Jincheng, not far away. He could be summoned by express horse in a few days. Cao Cao was overjoyed and ordered people to invite Hua Tuo with generous gifts to come and treat the disease.

When Hua Tuo arrived, he carefully examined Cao Cao's body and came to a conclusion.

"Your Majesty, this is a headache. The wind is stuck in the brain and cannot be expelled. Medicine cannot cure it."

When Cao Cao heard that Hua Tuo actually knew his problem, he quickly asked:

"Now that the miracle doctor knows the root of the disease, what good method can be used to cure this stubborn disease?"

Hua Tuo pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

“Your Majesty, you can take Ma Fei San first, and you will lose consciousness. Then use a sharp axe to open the skull, take out the root of the disease, and then suture it, and you will recover.” Cao Cao was furious, thinking that Hua Tuo wanted to kill him in this way.

"Ridiculous! I have never heard of anyone surviving after having their skull opened! Are you going to kill me?!"

Hua Tuo still had a serious expression on his face. He asked Guan Yu to scrape his bones to treat the poison without changing his expression, so why is the king so suspicious?
It would have been better if Hua Tuo did not mention Guan Yu, but when he mentioned Guan Yu, Cao Cao became even more suspicious.

"Scraping the bones to treat the poison is for the arm, how can you chop off the head? You and Guan Yu have always been good friends, are you taking this opportunity to avenge Guan Yu?!"

He immediately ordered his guards to arrest Hua Tuo, put him in prison, and execute him soon.

When Jia Xu heard the plea for mercy, he thought that Hua Tuo was a great doctor and should not be killed easily. However, the furious Cao Cao would not listen to him and insisted on classifying Hua Tuo as a traitor like Ji Ping.

People were helpless and could only watch the miraculous doctor die in prison, and his work "Qing Nang Shu" was lost.

After Cao Cao killed Hua Tuo, his headache became worse and he even had hallucinations. Every day, Cao Cao could feel that the dead, such as Fu Wan, Dong Cheng, and Empress Fu, were watching him from the dark corners of the palace.

From then on, Cao Cao's health deteriorated further and further, and he was even unable to get out of bed. He could only rely on his guards to summon important officials to discuss matters.

Suddenly one day, Cao Cao felt that he would not live long, so he ordered his guards to summon important officials such as Cao Hong, Chen Qun, Sima Yi, and Jia Xu to delay his final affairs.

Cao Cao spoke only after everyone had finished their ceremony.

"I have dominated the world for more than 30 years, and all the heroes have been destroyed. Only Sun Quan of Jiangdong and Liu Bei of Xishu have not been eliminated. I am now seriously ill and can no longer talk with you. I have entrusted my family affairs to you. My eldest son Cao Ang, born to Liu, unfortunately died in Wancheng at an early age; now Bian has four sons: Pi, Zhang, Zhi, and Xiong.

The third son, Zhi, whom I loved all my life, was vain and dishonest, addicted to alcohol and indulged himself, so he was not made the heir.

The second son, Cao Zhang, was brave but not wise; the fourth son, Cao Xiong, was ill-fated and difficult to protect.

Only my eldest son, Cao Pi, is sincere and respectful, and can inherit my career. You should assist him. "

Cao Hong and other old men all shed tears and vowed to follow Cao Cao's will.

Later, Cao Cao also instructed that the famous incense be distributed to his concubines for their living. He also set up 72 suspicious tombs to prevent others from imitating his early tomb-robbing activities.

After Cao Cao finished saying this, he couldn't help but sigh, as if he was reminiscing about his glorious years, and then closed his eyes forever.

At this point, the foundation of the Cao Wei dynasty, which divided the world into three parts, was established. Cao Cao, later known as Emperor Wu of Wei, died at the age of 66.

Cao Cao was dead, but his son Cao Pi was not as "honest and respectful" as Cao Cao thought. Under the instigation of Hua Xin, Sima Fu, Chen Jiao and others, Cao Pi ascended the throne directly in front of Cao Cao's coffin and forced Emperor Xian of Han to issue an edict.

Cao Pi quickly recovered his brother Cao Zhang and released him from military power, and threatened Cao Xiong and Cao Zhi with the crime of being unfilial. Cao Xiong was so frightened that he hanged himself, while Cao Zhi was captured by Xu Chu and the Tiger Guards.

After Lady Bian pleaded for mercy, Cao Pi decided not to kill Cao Zhi directly, but ordered him to compose a poem within seven steps. However, Cao Zhi, a talented man, could not compose a poem within seven steps, and the poem implied fratricide, so Cao Pi gave up the intention of killing him and demoted him to Marquis of Anxiang.

At this point, Cao Wei’s not-so-peaceful and smooth power transition was completed.

(End of this chapter)