Chapter 14: Dong Zhuo's Final Day

  Needless to say how delighted Li Yu was about Wang Xue's suspicion in Yizhou, nor how much Liu Bei valued this child of Li Yu!

  We have two flowers blooming, each representing one branch!

  But Dong Zhuo, after being defeated by Li Jue, returned to Chang'an and became even more arrogant and extravagant! His contradictions with Lü Bu also deepened day by day! Wang Yun's plan was carried out, but Dong Zhuo remained completely unaware of it.

  After Dong Zhuo recovered from his illness, he entered the imperial court to discuss matters. Lü Bu held a halberd and followed him, seeing Dong Zhuo talking with Emperor Xian, he took advantage of the opportunity to hold up his halberd and exit through the inner gate, mounting his horse and heading straight for the Prime Minister's residence; he tied his horse in front of the mansion, holding his halberd as he entered the rear hall, searching for Diao Chan. Diao Chan said: "You can go to the back garden by the Phoenix Pavilion and wait for me." Lü Bu held up his halberd and went straight to the Phoenix Pavilion, standing under the pavilion's curved railing waiting for Diao Chan's arrival. After a long time, he saw Diao Chan walking towards him with flowers in her hair, truly like a celestial maiden from the Moon Palace. Seeing Lü Bu, Diao Chan had tears streaming down her face as she spoke to him: "Although I am not Wang Yun's biological daughter, he treated me like his own. Since meeting you, General, I have been willing to serve you with dustpan and broom. My lifelong wish has already been fulfilled. Who would have thought that the Grand Tutor would harbor evil intentions and try to defile me? I was so angry that I wanted to die immediately; but because I had not yet bid farewell to you, General, I endured the humiliation and lived in stealth. Now that I am fortunate enough to see you, my wish is fulfilled! This body has already been defiled and cannot serve a hero again; I want to die before you, to make clear my intentions!" As soon as she finished speaking, she grasped the curved railing and was about to jump into the lotus pond. Lü Bu hastily hugged her, his tiger eyes also filled with tears as he said: "I have known your heart for a long time! I only regret that we cannot speak together!" Diao Chan pulled on Lü Bu's sleeve saying: "In this life, I am unable to be your wife; I wish to make an appointment with you in the next life." Lü Bu also said: "In this life, I am unable to take you as my wife; it is not heroic behavior!" Diao Chan said: "I have been living a life of longing for years, and I hope that you will pity me and save me." Lü Bu said: "I came here empty-handed today, fearing that the old thief would suspect something, so I must leave quickly." Diao Chan grasped Lü Bu's clothes saying: "You are afraid of the old thief like this; my body has no hope of seeing the light of day!" When Lü Bu heard these words, he stood in front of Diao Chan and said: "Let me think of a good plan slowly." After finishing speaking, he held up his halberd and was about to leave. Diao Chan grasped Lü Bu's waist saying: "I have been living in the inner chambers, hearing your name like thunder in my ears; I thought that you were the only hero in this world! Who would have thought that I would be controlled by someone else?" As soon as she finished speaking, tears fell like rain. At this time, Lü Bu was shamed and embarrassed by Diao Chan's words, he repeatedly leaned on his halberd, turned around and hugged Diao Chan, using kind words to comfort her. The two of them were leaning against each other, unwilling to part ways. But at this moment, Lü Bu did not know that danger had already arrived!

  But Dong Zhuo was in the palace, turned his head and didn't see Lü Bu, suspected in his heart, hurriedly bid farewell to Emperor Xian, boarded the carriage and returned to the mansion; saw Lü Bu's horse tied in front of the mansion; asked the gate official, the gate official replied: "Wenhou has gone to the back hall." Dong Zhuo was furious as soon as he heard it, immediately scolded the attendants to retreat, entered the back hall directly, and searched but couldn't find him; called Diao Chan, Diao Chan also didn't see her. Urgently asked the maid, the maid said: "Diao Chan is in the backyard looking at flowers." Dong Zhuo rushed into the backyard, just saw Lü Bu and Diao Chan talking under the Fengyiting, with a halberd leaning on one side. Dong Zhuo was furious, shouted loudly. Lü Bu listened hastily turned his head, saw that it was Dong Zhuo who came, greatly shocked and lost color, turned around and walked away. Dong Zhuo snatched the halberd at this time, held it up and chased after him. Lü Bu ran fast, Dong Zhuo was fat and couldn't catch up, threw the halberd to stab Lü Bu. Lü Bu's martial arts were not something that Dong Zhuo could hurt, turned around and knocked the halberd to the ground. Dong Zhuo picked up the halberd again and chased after him, but Lü Bu had already run far away. Dong Zhuo chased out of the garden gate, one person rushed forward, collided with Dong Zhuo's chest, and Dong Zhuo fell to the ground. It was: The anger that rushes into the sky is high for a thousand feet, the fat body falls to the ground in a heap.

  Here is the translation:

  But it was Li Ru, Dong Zhuo's military advisor, who had knocked him down. Li Ru helped Dong Zhuo up and they sat down in the study. Dong Zhuo's anger still hadn't subsided as he scolded: "Why did you come here?" Li Ru bowed his head and apologized: "I just arrived at the gate and knew that Your Excellency was angry and had entered the rear garden to look for Lü Bu. I hurried over, but ran into Lü Bu who was running away, shouting 'Your Excellency is going to kill me!' I immediately rushed into the garden to persuade you, but accidentally bumped into you. It's my fault! My fault!"

  Dong Zhuo listened and cursed: "Lü Bu is indeed a rebellious thief! He dares to flirt with my beloved concubine, I must kill him!" Li Ru smiled and said: "Your Excellency is mistaken. In the past, King Zhuang of Chu didn't investigate the matter of Jiang Yi's love affair during the Jiezi Conference, but later when he was besieged by the Qin army, Jiang Yi used his dying strength to save him. Now Diao Chan is just a woman, and Lü Bu is Your Excellency's trusted general and the backbone of our army. If Your Excellency takes this opportunity to give Diao Chan to Lü Bu, Lü Bu will certainly be grateful for your great kindness and will definitely repay you with his life. Please consider my words carefully."

  Dong Zhuo listened to Li Ru's words and pondered them for a long time, feeling that there was some truth in them. He said: "Your words are also reasonable, I will think about it." Li Ru saw that Dong Zhuo understood the reasoning behind his words and thanked him before leaving.

  After Li Ru left, Dong Zhuo walked into the rear hall and summoned Diao Chan to ask her: "What were you doing secretly meeting with Lü Bu?" Diao Chan immediately began to cry like she did when she met Lü Bu earlier: "Your Excellency doesn't know! I was just admiring flowers in the rear garden, when Lü Bu suddenly arrived. I was shocked and wanted to retreat, but that Lü Bu said: 'I am Your Excellency's son, why should we avoid each other?' He chased me with his spear to the Fengyi Pavilion. I saw that Lü Bu had ill intentions and was afraid of being taken advantage of, so I tried to throw myself into the lotus pond to die. But just as I was about to do so, Your Excellency arrived and saved my life."

  Dong Zhuo listened and thought for a moment before saying: "I will give you to Lü Bu now, what do you think?" Diao Chan was shocked and cried out on the ground: "I have already served a noble person, how can I be given to a household slave? I would rather die than suffer this humiliation!" She then grabbed a precious sword from the wall and tried to kill herself. Dong Zhuo quickly snatched the sword away and hugged her into his arms, comforting her: "I was just joking!"

  Diao Chan fell into Dong Zhuo's arms, covering her face and crying loudly: "This must be Li Ru's plan! He is close friends with Lü Bu, so he came up with this scheme; but he doesn't care about Your Excellency's dignity or my life. I will make sure to bite him to death!" Dong Zhuo laughed and said to Diao Chan: "Can I bear to abandon you?"

  Diao Chan leaned against Dong Zhuo's chest and said: "Although I have received your love, but I'm afraid it's not safe for me to stay here, I will definitely be harmed by Lü Bu." Dong Zhuo laughed loudly and said: "Tomorrow, we will return to Mei County together and enjoy ourselves, don't worry." Diao Chan then wiped away her tears and thanked him.

  The next day, Li Ru entered and said to Dong Zhuo: "Today is a good day, you can send Diao Chan to Lü Bu." Dong Zhuo said: "Lü Bu is like a son to me, it's not convenient to give him. I will just pardon his crime. You convey my intention to comfort him with kind words." Li Ru was shocked and immediately said to Dong Zhuo: "Master, you can't be fooled by a woman!" Dong Zhuo changed color and angrily scolded Li Ru: "Would your wife be willing to go with Lü Bu? Don't mention Diao Chan again; if you do, you will be beheaded!" Li Ru had no choice but to leave the mansion, looking up at the sky and sighing: "We are all going to die because of a woman's hand!" Although Li Ru had a clever plan, he followed the wrong master! Dong Zhuo is a person with no great ambition, greedy for wealth and beauty! Therefore, there will be disaster today! Li Ru also has no way out, it's hard to turn back now!

  Dong Zhuo ordered the return to Meiwo on that day, and all officials bid farewell. Diao Chan was in the carriage, seeing Lü Bu in the crowd, looking at the carriage. Diao Chan covered her face as if crying. The carriage had already left, but Lü Bu did not leave, lingering on the road, looking at the dust of the carriage, sighing and regretting. Suddenly, he heard someone behind him ask Lü Bu, "Why didn't you follow the Prime Minister, but instead stayed here to gaze and sigh?" Lü Bu turned his head to see that it was Wang Yun, the Minister of Works. After they met, Wang Yun said, "I have been ill for some time and haven't left my door, so I haven't seen you in a long time. Today, the Prime Minister returned to Meiwo, and I had to get out of bed to see him off. But I'm glad to meet you. May I ask, General, you just achieved great merit by protecting the Prime Minister, which is the greatest achievement one can have. Why are you sighing here today?" Lü Bu said, "It's because of your daughter." Wang Yun feigned surprise and said, "Has it been a long time since you've seen her?" Lü Bu said, "That old scoundrel has been favoring me for a long time!" Wang Yun pretended to be shocked and said, "Impossible! I don't believe such a thing! How could the Prime Minister do such a beastly thing!" Lü Bu told Wang Yun about what had happened before. Wang Yun looked up at the sky, stomped his foot, and didn't speak for a long time; after a while, he opened his mouth and said, "I didn't expect the Prime Minister to be so beastly!" After finishing speaking, he grasped Lü Bu's hand and said, "Let's go to my humble abode to discuss this." Lü Bu followed Wang Yun back to Wang Yun's residence.

  King Yuen took Lü Bu's hand and led him into a private room, where he had set out wine to entertain his guest. Lü Bu again recounted the events of their meeting at Fengyi Pavilion in detail. King Yuen said, "The Grand Tutor is my daughter's husband, but he has taken your wife for himself - this is truly a laughingstock for the world! It is not that I am mocking the Grand Tutor, nor that I am mocking you, General, but rather that I, King Yuen, and you, General, are both being mocked! Alas, I am now old and feeble, unable to do anything about it; it's a pity that you, General, with your unparalleled martial arts skills, should also suffer this humiliation!" Lü Bu's anger reached the heavens, and he slammed his fist on the table, shouting loudly. King Yuen saw that Lü Bu had taken the bait, and hastily restrained him, saying, "I misspoke, General - please calm your anger." Lü Bu's anger did not dissipate, and he said, "I swear to kill this old traitor and avenge my shame!" King Yuen quickly covered Lü Bu's mouth, saying, "General, do not speak - I fear it will implicate me." Lü Bu rebuked him, saying, "A great man living in the world cannot be oppressed for long!" King Yuen chuckled and said, "With your talents, General, you are truly not someone who can be restrained by the Grand Tutor." Lü Bu seemed to suddenly understand something, and immediately changed his tune, saying, "I want to kill this old traitor, but I fear it will lead to gossip among later generations due to our father-son relationship." King Yuen smiled upon seeing this, and said, "General, you are surnamed Lü, while the Grand Tutor is surnamed Dong. When we cast our spears, do we consider father-son relationships?" Lü Bu sprang up and bowed to King Yuen, saying, "If not for your words, I would have almost made a mistake!" King Yuen saw that his intentions were now decided, and said to Lü Bu, "General, if you support the Han dynasty, you will be a loyal minister, with your name transmitted through the ages; but if you assist Dong Zhuo, you will be a treacherous minister, recorded in history as a stench for ten thousand years." Lü Bu listened and immediately got up to bow to King Yuen, saying, "I have made up my mind - please do not harbor doubts, sir!" King Yuen stroked his beard and said, "But I fear that things may not go smoothly, and we will invite great disaster instead." Lü Bu drew his dagger and stabbed his arm, making a blood oath. King Yuen knelt to thank him, saying, "The Han dynasty's survival is all thanks to you, General - please do not leak this! When the time comes, I will report back to you with a plan." Lü Bu nodded in agreement and left.

  The next day, Wang Yun immediately invited the Minister of Works, Sun Ru, and the Inspector of the Imperial City, Huang Wan, to discuss the matter. Sun Ru said: "At present, the emperor is newly recovered from his illness, we can send a capable person to go to Meiwo to ask Dong Zhuo to discuss matters; at the same time, with the emperor's secret decree, entrust Lü Bu to ambush soldiers inside the palace gate and lead Dong Zhuo in to execute him: this is the best plan." Huang Wan said: "It's just that I don't know who dares to go?" Sun Ru said: "Lü Bu's fellow townsman, Li Su, was a cavalry commander, because of Dong Zhuo not promoting his official position and instead blaming him for losing Tianshui City, now he is very resentful. If we order this person to go, Dong Zhuo will certainly not suspect." Wang Yun listened and said: "Good! Let's let Li Su go!" Then Wang Yun invited Lü Bu to discuss the matter together. Lü Bu said: "In the past, I advised you to kill Ding Jianyang, it was also this person; now if we don't go, I will execute him first." Then Lü Bu secretly sent someone to invite Li Su to come to the Minister's residence. Lü Bu said to Li Su: "In the past, you told me to kill Ding Jianyang and surrender to Dong Zhuo; now the old thief Dong Zhuo is deceiving the emperor above and cruelly treating the people below, his crimes are full, heaven and man are angry together. Can you transmit the emperor's decree to Meiwo, declare that the national thief Dong Zhuo has entered the palace, ambush soldiers to execute him, support the Han dynasty, and make a loyal minister? What do you think?" Li Su listened, although he also resented Dong Zhuo, but seeing that Dong Zhuo's last reliance Lü Bu had already betrayed Dong Zhuo, and if he didn't respond today, he would die here. Li Su was an intelligent person who thought without hesitation, listening to Lü Bu finish speaking directly said: "I have long wanted to eliminate this thief, I regret not having a like-minded person! Now General, you are willing to do so, it is heaven's gift; how dare I have two hearts!" To dispel Wang Yun and Lü Bu's worries, he immediately broke an arrow as an oath. Wang Yun saw this and finally felt at ease saying: "If you can accomplish this matter, what worry is there that you won't become a prominent official?"

  The next day, Li Su led a group of ten riders out of Chang'an City and headed to Meiwo, where Dong Zhuo was. Someone reported that the Emperor had an edict, and Dong Zhuo ordered Li Su to enter and see him. Li Su entered and bowed to Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo said, "What is the Emperor's edict?" Li Su said, "The Emperor's illness has just been cured, and he wants to gather civil and military officials in the Weiyang Palace to discuss abdicating the throne to the Grand Tutor, so there is this edict." Dong Zhuo was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "What does Wang Yun think?" Li Su said, "Wang, the Minister of Works, has already ordered people to build a platform for receiving the abdication, only waiting for your arrival." Dong Zhuo was extremely happy, like a fool, and then said to Li Su, "I dreamed last night that I was wrapped in a dragon's scales, and today I received this joyful news. The time is ripe and cannot be missed!" He immediately ordered his trusted generals, Li Jue and Guo Si, to lead the Flying Bear Army of three thousand soldiers to guard Meiwo, while he himself set out for the capital that day; then he turned around and said to Li Su, "In the future, when I become Emperor, you will be the Golden Guard." Li Su heard this and thanked Dong Zhuo, saying, "I thank your Excellency for your great kindness, may our Emperor live forever!" Dong Zhuo laughed loudly and then went back to the inner hall to see his mother.

  Dong Zhuo entered the back hall to bid farewell to his mother. Dong Zhuo's mother was over 90 years old at that time, and asked Dong Zhuo: "Where is my son going?" Dong Zhuo replied: "I'm going to accept the Han dynasty's abdication, and Mother will soon be Empress Dowager!" His mother said: "Lately, I've been trembling with fear, I'm afraid it's not a good omen. You should be careful!" Dong Zhuo didn't take it seriously and said to his mother: "Mother will soon be the Queen Mother, why worry about bad news? Don't be suspicious, just wait quietly for the good news!" After finishing speaking, he bid farewell to his mother and ordered preparations to depart. Before leaving, Dong Zhuo entered the back hall to see Diao Chan! Dong Zhuo said to Diao Chan: "Today I will become Emperor, and I will make you a noble concubine." Diao Chan already knew what was going on, so she pretended to be happy, knelt down and thanked him, saying: "Your humble servant thanks Your Majesty for your great kindness, wishing you ten thousand years of life!" Dong Zhuo laughed loudly after hearing this, pulled up Diao Chan, and the two of them did things without any restraint.

  Dong Zhuo and Diao Chan ended their stormy relationship, Dong Zhuo ordered the preparation to return to Chang'an to accept Emperor Xian of Han's abdication! Dong Zhuo was overjoyed at this time, but he didn't know that he had already fallen into Wang Yun's trap, his life was in danger every day! What will happen to Dong Zhuo's life? Please see the next chapter!