A poet also wrote concerning Guan Ning:
As Hua Xin hurried the unhappy woman out of the hall, the Emperor saw her. He went over and clasped her to his bosom, weeping.
Hua Xin tried to force her onward, saying, “The Duke of Wei ordered no delay!”
“My doom is sealed,” wept the Empress.
“And I know not when my turn will come,” sighed the Emperor.
The soldiers hustled the Empress onward, leaving His Majesty beating his breast in despair.
“Can it be that such things happen in the world?” cried the Emperor to Chi Lu, who stood by.
And the Emperor swooned. Chi Lu made the courtiers pick him up, and they bore him into the Palace.
Meanwhile, the unhappy Empress had been taken before Cao Cao.
“I have dealt well with you,” said he angrily, “and you requited me by plotting my murder. It is the death of one of us, I see.”
He ordered the executioners to beat her till she died. After this, he went into the Palace, seized her two sons and had them poisoned. In the evening of the same day the whole households of Mu Shun and Fu Wan were put to death publicly. Such terrible deeds spread terror everywhere. They happened in the eleventh month of the nineteenth year of Rebuilt Tranquillity (AD 214).
The Emperor grieved bitterly over the loss of his consort, and in his despair refused all food. Cao Cao did not wish him to die of starvation and loneliness, so he proposed his own daughter as consort.
“Be not sad;” said Cao Cao, “thy servant is no rebel. My daughter is already in your palace as a secondary lady. She is wise and dutiful, fit to be your consort and occupy the first rank.”
Emperor Xian dared not refuse, and therefore at the new year (AD 215), in the time of the festivities, Lady Cao's name was inscribed on the dynastic rolls as Empress. And no one of the courtiers dared protest.
Wherefore Cao Cao became even more powerful. But it pleased him not to have rivals in the land, so he again thought of subduing Liu Bei and Sun Quan.
Jia Xu proposed, saying, “Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren, who are serving on the frontiers, should be called to give their advice.”
They were sent for, and Cao Ren was the first to arrive. As a relative, he felt he had the right to see the great minister without delay and went directly to the palace.
But it happened that Cao Cao had been drinking heavily, and his faithful henchman, Xu Chu, would not admit the new arrival.
“I am of the family,” said Cao Ren, angry at the hindrance. “Dare you stop me?”
“General, you may be a relative, but here you are but an officer from the frontier. I am of little account, but a duty lies on me here in the palace. Our lord is overcome with wine and asleep, and I dare not allow you to enter.”
The refusal came to Cao Cao's knowledge, and he commended the loyalty of Xu Chu.
Soon after, Xiahou Dun came and was called to the council.
Xiahou Dun gave his opinion, saying, “The two rivals should be left until Zhang Lu of Hanzhong has been subdued. The great army that can overcome Zhang Lu will be in condition to attack the Western Land of Rivers, and it will be conquered without difficulty.”
The advice coincided with Cao Cao's own idea, and so he prepared an expedition for the west.
What happened will be told in later chapters.
The expedition against the Eastern Land of Rivers went out in three divisions. Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He were Leaders of the Van; Cao Cao with his commanders marched in the center; and Cao Ren brought up the rear. Xiahou Dun was in charge of the commissariat.
The spies soon carried the news into Hanzhong, and Zhang Lu called in his brother Zhang Wei to consult how to meet the attack.
