Chapter Sixteen: Historical Inertia

  Different timelines, multiple parallel worlds, similar hypotheses were only proposed in the second half of the 20th century. After time travel became popular, countless kind-hearted and ambitious people traveled back to ancient times, doing whatever they wanted, making the target era unrecognizable. However, before this, most science fiction literature involving time travel had to consider the "grandmother paradox", thus raising the issue of historical inertia. In other words, no matter how much influence you exert on the original history, history will still revert to its original course in the overall direction, just like a train that is running, it is impossible for one or two people to change its direction, and it will continue to move forward due to inertia.

  It was unexpected that he would also encounter this unclear and inexplicable "inertia" problem. Although, due to his sudden appearance... or more modestly put, his sudden intervention, the current situation in Xuzhou is vastly different from its original historical course. As a result, the several major forces led by the Cao and Mi families may join hands, control the state government, and Tao Qian also plans to negotiate with Cao Cao, or rather, implement a plan for harmony earlier than originally planned. In the past, when he was in Qingzhou, whether it was summoning Taishi Ci to rescue Douchang or persuading the Gan family father and daughter to withdraw their troops, he had not actually changed the course of history. He did not want to change anything, and even had a bit of fear that if history were altered, he would no longer have the ability to foresee future developments. However, now he truly wants to change history, unwilling for the tragic event of Cao Cao slaughtering the five counties (if it indeed happened) to occur. But will the inertia of history still lead to the murder of Cao Song and his son in Xuzhou... and even half a year or a whole year earlier?

  Looking at the distant flames, he felt his entire body stiffen, a chill ran involuntarily through his limbs, and wherever it passed, blood and muscles seemed to freeze. By his ear, he heard Sun Fan ask in surprise: "Is it the Cao family... sir, how should we respond?"

  He woke up with a start, opening his mouth to shout: "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and save Cao Gong! If anything happens to Cao Gong, there will be war between Xu and Yan, and when the time comes, the corpses will pile up like mountains and the blood will flow like rivers. You... I..." He couldn't finish speaking because Sun Fan had already led the soldiers far away, leaving only two strong men from Tongcheng and a groom by his side.

  He was so angry that he didn't care about his own safety, jumped down from the carriage, changed horses, drew his sword and was about to rush over to help. One of the guards grabbed his horse's reins and said, "Sir, be careful, don't take risks!" Another handed him a long spear and said, "This is better than that sword."

  Two soldiers, you say yours and I'll say mine. The idea is that we're going in opposite directions, after finishing speaking, we glare at each other. Xi Yun brushes aside the hand of the soldier in front who's pulling on the reins, but doesn't take the spear handed over by the soldier behind him, instead stretching out his hand to shout: "Where's my bow and arrow?"

  The earliest bow and arrow that Taishi Ci gave to himself before he was ten years old had already been taken away by the Yellow Turbans on Mount Fenshui. Later, when going to rescue Kong Rong, he asked for another set with a red face, which was slightly harder than before. He always carried it with him for self-defense, and now they were all placed in the carriage. A soldier heard this and quickly went to fetch them, handing them over to him. With his left hand grasping the rough bow arm, Zhen finally calmed down a bit. He instructed the coachman to wait here and told two soldiers: "Follow me to take a look, don't go forward, just shoot arrows at the enemy from a distance, if something happens... you must protect me and run away quickly."

  Two soldiers responded, each holding a weapon, guarding him by his side. He hastily rushed to the outside of the Cao family's mansion gate, only to see the gate wide open, with sounds of fierce fighting coming from inside - before seeing who was attacking the Cao family, he first saw two Langya soldiers standing guard at the door with long spears, and upon seeing Xun, they reported: "Sun's troops have already led the brothers in, the enemy is less than a hundred men, it shouldn't be difficult to win."

  It was Xun Xin who said that what I wanted was not to win, but for the Cao family father and son to survive. He immediately rode his horse into the village and saw flames everywhere, with soldiers fighting in groups, unable to distinguish between friend and foe. There were also some corpses on the ground, mostly servants or guards from the village. His eyes scanned the area, but he couldn't find Sun Fan anywhere, nor could he see the Cao family father and son. Just as he was getting anxious, he heard someone shouting in the distance: "By order of Lord Tao, we have come to capture and kill the Cao family father and son! Which army are you from? How dare you block our way!"

  He was shocked and outraged by what he heard, his hair almost standing on end.

  Has Cao Hong changed his mind? But I'm your nephew-in-law, can't you at least give me a heads up? Or is Tao Qian really planning to kill me, or...

  He was shocked at first, then got angrier as he thought about it, and immediately raised his bow, nocked an arrow, aimed at the shouting man and shot. At this time, the man was only thirty or so steps away from him, and at this distance, shooting a living person, he still had quite some confidence - all of a sudden, a miserable cry was heard, the man's buttocks were hit by the arrow, his body tilted to one side, and immediately two Langya soldiers rushed up, each with a knife, ending the man's life.

  Xī Zǐ, under the protection of two soldiers from Tán City, bypassed several fighting groups and rushed straight to the innermost part of the villa. Regardless of whether they were allies or enemies, all were infantrymen, and he charged forward with his tall horse, so no one dared to block him recklessly. Not far away, Sūn Fán led more than a dozen soldiers from Lángyā to form a circle, resisting some scattered enemy soldiers who had broken through. In the center of the circle was none other than Old Man Cáo, Cáo Sēng, like a mountain of flesh.

  He stared at Cao Song with a pair of frightened big eyes, still panting and occasionally flashing around with Sun Fan's actions - I don't know where he got this flexibility from his clumsy body. He finally put down the huge stone in his heart. Riding over to respond, Cao Song saw him and shouted loudly with a shocked face: "Don't kill me, don't kill me... Tao Qian, you villain, do you want to rob my property?!"

  Xun heard this and couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. He immediately bowed his fist and reported, "General Cao, please calm down. Those are just thieves who forged an order in the name of Tao Qian, Tao Qian would never have any intention to harm General Cao."

  He suddenly looked around, and couldn't help but worry again: "Where is Lord Lü?" What if Cao De has encountered difficulties? Even if Father is still alive, but my younger brother is dead, then Cao Cao will have an excuse to send troops to attack Xuzhou!

  Suddenly, a weak voice came from beside the horse: "It's me, sir... I'm over here..." Xi Yun turned his head to see Cao De leaning against a low wall, covered in blood and waving at him. Xi Yun was both shocked and worried - shocked that this guy had no presence at all, as if he were wearing an invisibility cloak, and how could he be right next to him without being noticed, especially with his bright red clothes; worried that Cao De's injuries might be fatal.

  As the battle situation was absolutely favorable to their side, the enemy soldiers who dared to charge at Sun Fan and others were getting fewer and fewer. It wasn't until then that Gan plucked up the courage to dismount his horse and squatted beside Cao De, asking him: "Gao Di, are you injured?" Cao De stretched out his left arm, revealing a knife wound over two inches long on his upper arm, with blood and flesh blurred together: "Just a minor injury, most of the blood on my body isn't mine."

  As he spoke, he suddenly stared tightly at Zixun's eyes, and a chill that had never been seen before emerged from his gaze, asking word by word: "Who, exactly, is it?"

  He furrowed his brow in confusion: "I don't know." He turned around and ordered Sun Fan: "Make sure to capture a few alive for interrogation!"

  He really didn't know who wanted to murder Cao Song. Just those few words from Cao De, like a sudden clap of thunder, exploded above his head, and in an instant, his mind became exceptionally clear. He had never considered a very important point: the theory that Tao Qian was the mastermind behind the murder of Cao Song didn't make sense at all; it was just a fabrication by historians to blame Tao Qian for Cao Cao's invasion of Xu State.

  Why? Because killing Cao Song would not bring any benefit to Tao Qian, if it was to deal with Cao Cao, then taking Cao Song as a hostage would be valuable, so the capture is possible, but the killing is impossible. Moreover, at this time, although the lords of Guandong were competing, they were still under the rule of the great Han in name, and according to Tao Qian's later example of excluding all difficulties to pay tribute to Emperor Xian of Han, Tao Qian either attached great importance to traditional order or his own reputation. Cao Song was not an ordinary scholar, he was a former Grand Commandant of the great Han, one of the Three Dukes, killing him would only make Tao Qian's prestige plummet, and be despised by scholars from far and near.

  In that case, if Tao Qian was indeed the mastermind behind Cao Song's murder, whether it was Gongsun Zan or Tian Kai, they would not have dared to send troops to rescue him. At this time, Liu Bei had even more face than Tao Qian and would absolutely refuse to obey orders to come forward.

  So, regardless of whether Tao Qian really wanted to kill Cao Shuang or not, on the surface, it had to be disguised as an accident and would not actively send troops to attack like some historical records. In other words, if Xun You was escorting Cao Shuang on the road, and Zhang Ju or Zhang Kai suddenly pulled out a knife, that would be reasonable, but openly attacking under Tao Qian's banner would absolutely not be Tao Qian's intention, nor could it possibly be Cao Hong's intention.

  No matter what, his master Tao Qian was accused of being a ruthless and tyrannical governor who had been forced to resign from the Three Excellencies, and everyone was clamoring for his punishment. Did Cao Hong's face become glorious as an official under Tao Qian? Was his future bright?

  "I have come to capture and kill Cao's father and son on the orders of Lord Tao" - as soon as he heard those words, he should have immediately understood that. It was still Cao De who was clever, "Who...is...it?" As soon as the four words came out, he couldn't help but make Shi Xun's mind clear up, and also made Shi Xun unconsciously look at him with a higher regard.

  It wasn't long before Sun Fan led the Langya troops to victory in battle, killing nearly half of the nearly 100 enemy soldiers who had come to attack and capturing more than 60. After extinguishing the large fire in the courtyard, and having escorted Cao's father and son back into their house, Sun Fan came forward with a cold face to report: "I've investigated, they were all under Yin Duyu's command."

  Xun Wen was shocked: "Yin Li?! Was he personally sent by him?" Yin Li was a general under Zang Ba, and was as famous as Sun Guan and Wu Dun.

  Sun Fan shook his head: "They are under the command of Sun Duwei, but they have always been stationed in Ju County - they claim to be here on orders, but who gave the order, no one knows."

  "Who's the leader?" Xun asked. Sun Fan pointed with his hand: "It's Ming Que, he can't speak anymore." Xun followed the direction of his pointing and saw a corpse lying on the ground below, with several knife wounds on its body, and an arrow stuck in its buttocks, that arrow looked so familiar...

  "Since it's from Ju County, the county magistrate of Ju County is likely to be the one who gave the order." Suddenly, a voice came from beside his ear, and Xun was so startled that he almost jumped up - I said Cao Zhi, when did you follow me?

  "Take good care of and protect Cao Gong," Xun ordered with a frown, "I will rush to Ju County immediately to investigate the matter!"