Li Jue and Guo Si now controlled the government. They arranged their men to work near the Emperor and keep eyes on him. All the decisions on the government ministers were made by Li Jue and Guo Si. In order to gain some support, they called Ju Jie to the Capital and promoted him. One day, they received the report that Ma Teng, the Governor of Xiliang, and Han Sui, the Governor of Bing Province, led a hundred thousand troops toward Changan. Ma Teng and Han Sui had first sent secret messengers to the Capital, and gained support of ministers Ma Yu, Zhong Tiao, and Liu Fan. The three ministers secretly reported to the Emperor, and the Emperor gave the order that Ma Teng and Han Sui to come to Changan and arrest the rebels. Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and Fan Diao received the report that Ma Teng and Han Sui were coming. They held a meeting. An advisor Jia Xiang said, "The enemy come from afar. We don't need to fight them. We can stay in our strongholds and wait for them to run out of their supplies. Within a hundred days they will retreat. That will be the time for us to attack." Li Meng and Wang Fang said, "Not a good plan. We will take ten thousand men and immediately take Ma Teng and Han Sui's heads." Jia Xiang said, "If you fight now, you will lose." Li Meng and Wang Fang said, "We will submit us for execution if we lose. But if we win, we will take your head." Jia Xiang said to Li Jue, "A hundred miles west of Changan, there is a mountain. The road is very narrow and steep there. We can ask General Zhang and General Fan to guard that place. Then we can send Li Meng and Wang Fang out to fight." Li Jue and Guo Si followed his advise. Li Meng and Wang Fang took fifteen thousand men and camped a hundred fifty miles from Changan.
The army of Xiliang arrived and set up formation. Li Meng and Wang Fang led their men out. Ma Teng and Han Sui rode side by side. Ma Teng said, "Who will arrest these rebels for me?" A young knight, holding a long spear, charged forward on his horse. This was Ma Teng's son, Ma Chao. He was only seventeen years old. Wang Fang saw a kid challenging for a fight. He thought this was going to be easy, and rode out to fight Ma Chao. In a just few rounds, Ma Chao killed Wang Fang, and turned back. Li Meng rushed toward Ma Chao. Mao Chao seemed that he was not aware of Li Meng. Ma Teng shouted to him, "Someone is behind you!" Before he could finish the sentence, Mao Chao already had Li Meng on the back of his horse. Mao Chao knew that Li Meng was coming, and slowed down intentionally. When Li Meng charged him, he just ducked Li Meng's spear, and snatched Li Meng from his horse. Li Meng's army lost their leaders, and started to flee. Ma Teng and Han Sui ordered to attack, and advanced all the way to the Pass. They camped just below the Pass.
Li Jue and Guo Si now realized that Jia Xiang was right. They stayed in their strongholds and refused to fight. The army of Xiliang ran out of supplies in two months. By that time, a servant of Minister Ma Yu reported to Li Jue that his master and Liu Fan, Zhong Tiao, were inside connections of Ma Teng and Han Sui. Li Jue and Guo Si immediately executed three of them, and killed everyone in their families. They brought the heads to the camp and hung them at the gate. Ma Teng and Han Sui had to withdraw. Li Jue ordered Zhang Ji to pursue Ma Teng, and Fan Diao to pursue Han Sui. The army of Xiliang was thus defeated. Ma Chao fought hard and fended off Zhang Ji. Fan Diao caught up Han Sui near Chengcang. Han Sui stopped his horse, and said to Fan Diao, "We are from the same hometown. Why are you so merciless." Fan Diao stopped and said, "I am just following the order." Han Sui said, "I did this for the country. You don't need to follow your orders so closely." Fan Diao turned around and withdrew. Han Sui thus was able to escape.
Li Jue's nephew Li Bie, reported this to his uncle. Li Jue was angry, and wanted to attack Fan Diao. Jie Xiang said, "Don't need to do that. We will have a celebration banquet, and invite Zhang Ji and Fan Diao. If you want to kill him on the banquet, that's easy." Li Jue sent invitation, and they both came. Halfway through the banquet, Li Jue suddenly said, "Fan Diao, why did you connect with Han Sui, and plan to rebel?" Fan Diao was surprised. Before he can say a word, he was killed by the guards. Zhang Ji was scared, and crawled to the floor. Li Jue helped him up and said, "Fan Diao was planning to rebel. You don't need to worry. I depend on you." He gave all of Fan Diao's army to Zhang Ji. Zhang Ji then returned to Xuannong.
Since Li Jue and Guo Si defeated the army of Xiliang, other governors did not dare to challenge them. Jia Xiang gave advice to go easy on the people and to befriend famous people. The government started normal functions. At this time, the Yellow Turbans rebels gathered a few hundred men and started again in Qing Province. Zhu Jie recommended Cao Cao to put down the rebellion. Li Jue asked, "Where is Cao Cao now?" Zhu Jie said, "He is now Governor of Dongjun (East Town) and has quite an army. He can easily put down the rebels." Li Jue immediately wrote up an order for the Emperor and sent to Cao Cao and the Governor of Jibei, Bao Xin. Cao Cao and Bao Xin led their armies to Shouyang and fought with the rebels. Bao Xin advanced too fast and was killed by the rebels. Cao Cao chased the rebels to north of Ji. Tens of thousands of rebels surrendered. Cao Cao marched them ahead of his own troops. Everywhere they went the rebels surrendered without a fight. In a hundred days, Cao Cao collected three hundred thousand rebel soldiers, and their families of more than a million people. Cao Cao selected the best of the soldiers and formed an army of Qingzhuo. The rest were sent back to their farms. The news went to Changan. The Emperor promoted Cao Cao. He now gained respect from the whole nation.
Cao Cao stayed in Hong Province. He continued to received various kind of people to work for him. There were two intellectuals, Xun Yu and his nephew Xun You, who came from Ying Province. Xun Yun was working for Yuan Shao. Now he defected to Cao Cao, and brought his nephew. Cao Cao was glad to have them. He said, "This is God's gift to me." He gave both of them positions in his army. Xun Yu said, "I know that there is a respected man in Hong Zhuo. His name is Cheng Yu. He lives in Dongjun." Cao Cao said, "Yes, I have heard of him." He sent people to look for him. They reported that Cheng Yu was studying in the mountains. Cao Cao sent an invitation. Cheng Yu came. He recommended another person, Xun Yu's hometown acquaintance, Guo Jia. Guo Jia in turn recommended Liu Ye, who was a descendent of the Han Emperor Guangwu. Liu Ye recommended two people, Man Chong and Luu Qian. Then Man Chong and Luu Qian recommended Mao Jie from Chenliu. Cao Cao hired all of them to work for him.
One day a men led a troop of a few hundred and came to Cao Cao. The man was from Taishan. His name was Yu Jin. He mastered marshal arts and had excellent skills with horse and arrows. Cao Cao gave him a rank in his army. Another day, Xiahou Dun introduced a man to Cao Cao. Xiahou Dun said, "This man is from Chenliu. His name is Dian Wei. He used to work for Zhang Miao. He had a quarrel with people, killed a dozen of Zhang Miao's men, and fled to the mountains. I found him on a hunting trip. I saw him chased a tiger. He is an unusual man." Cao Cao said, "He looks big. He must be very powerful." Xiahou Dun said, "Once he killed a men for a friend. He walked through the streets with a head in his hand, and no one dared to go near him. He uses a pair of spears, each weighs eighty pounds." Cao Cao asked Dian Wei to show them. Dian Wei took the spears and got on a horse. He rode back and forth a few times. Just then the wind started, and the flag pole was about to fall under the wind. Several soldiers were trying to hold it upright. Dian Wei got off the horse, and took hold of the flagpole. The flag flew in the wind, but the flagpole did not move an inch. Cao Cao was very impressed. He used Dian Wei as his personal guard. Cao Cao gave his own uniform, horse and saddle to Dian Wei.
Cao Cao sent Ying Shao, the Governor of Taishan to Langya to get his father Cao Song and his family. Cao Song was living in Langya since he escaped from Chenliu. He received the letter from Cao Cao. He and Cao Cao's brother Cao De and the family of forty people, left for Hong Province. Along with them were more than a hundred servants, and a hundred carriages. When they passed by Xu Province, the Governor Tao Qian who wanted to befriend Cao Cao, greeted his family. He gave a banquet in Cao Song's honor, and kept them for two days. When Cao Song left, Tao Qian sent an officer Zhang Kai and five hundred soldiers to escort them. When they traveled to a place between Hua and Fei, it was the end of summer and a storm suddenly arrived. They had to stop at an old temple. The monks received them. Cao Song arranged for his family to stay in the temple, and ordered Zhang Kai's soldiers to stay outside. The soldiers were in the rain, and were very unhappy. Zhang Kai talked to the captains, "We used to be the Yellow Turbans. Since we surrendered to Tao Qian, we haven't gained benefit. You can see Cao's family has many valuable stuff in their carriages. If you want to be rich this is the time. Tonight at midnight, we will kill all of them, take the goods, and go to the mountains." Everyone agreed. That night, the rain hadn't stopped. Suddenly roars arose outside the temple. Cao De took his sword and went out to check. He was immediately killed. Cao Song and his concubine ran to the backyard. They wanted to jumped over the wall. But she was too fat and couldn't get out. So they hid in the restroom. They were both killed by the soldiers. Ying Shao managed to escape and defected to Yuan Shao. Zhang Kai killed all of Cao Cao's family, took the goods, burnt down the temple, and with the five hundred people went to Huainan.
Some of the soldiers Ying Shao brought escaped and reported back to Cao Cao. Cao Cao heard the news of his father's death and fell to the ground. He was helped to his feet by others. Cao Cao said, "Tao Qian's soldiers killed my father. I will revenge it as long as I live. I will take all of my army and cleanse the entire province of Xu." He ordered Xun Yu and Cheng Yu and thirty thousand troops to stay and guard the three counties, Yancheng, Fanxian and Donga. He took the rest of the army and marched toward Xu Province. Xiahou Dun, Yu Jin and Dian Wei were vanguards. Cao Cao gave the order that every city they took, they would killed all the people in the city. The governor of Jiujiang, named Bian Rang, who was a friend of Tao Qian, heard of Cao Cao's invasion. He took his five thousand troops and tried to stop Cao Cao. All of them were killed by Xiahou Dun's troops. Chen Gong was holding a position at Dongjun. He had become a friend of Tao Qian's. He came to see Cao Cao. Cao Cao knew that he was going to persuade him not to invade Xu Province. But since Chen Gong saved his life once before, he had to receive him. Chen Gong said to Cao Cao, "I heard that you wanted to revenge your father's death, and ordered to kill everyone in Xu Province. I'd like to ask you to think before you do this. Tao Qian is a well regarded man. Your father was murdered by Zhang Kai, not Tao Qian. Besides, the people of Xu Province had nothing to do with your father's death. Killing is not a good thing." Cao Cao said, "You have already left me, without even saying goodbye. How can you have enough face to come to see me at this time? My family was killed by Tao Qian. I will kill him and take out his heart. You can say anything you like, but I will not listen to any of it." Chen Gong left. He said, "Now I don't have face to see Tao Qian either." And he left for Zhang Miao, the Governor of Chenliu.
Tao Qian received the report of Cao Cao's invasion. He cried, "How did I offend the God, so the disaster will descend on the people of Xu Province!" His general, Cao Bao, said, "I will help you defend Xu Province." Tao Qian had no other choice, but to lead his army out to meet Cao Cao. Cao Cao's soldiers were all wearing white, in mourning of Cao Cao's father. From a distance it looked like snow covering the land. The two armies set up formations opposing each other. Cao Cao rode out to the front. Tao Qian also rode to the front. He bowed on the horse, and said, "I wanted to befriend you and sent Zhang Kai to escort your family. Who would have known that he could do something like that. I had nothing to do with it." Cao Cao said, "******! You murdered my father. This is no place for you to speak. Arrest this old thief for me!" Xiahou Dun rode out to Tao Qian. Tao Qian hurriedly rode back to the formation. Xiaohou Dun followed him, and was intercepted by Cao Bao. Just as they started to fight, a storm came. Both armies broke the formations due to the heavy wind. They all withdrew.
Tao Qian went back to the city. He held a meeting with the officers. He said, "We will not be able to stop Cao Cao. I will surrender myself to Cao Cao and save the people of Xu Province." A man said, "Governor you ruled Xu Province for years, and people are very grateful for your kindness. Although Cao Cao's army is numerous, they cannot just defeat us yet. If you and the people of Xu Province keep up the defense and avoid fighting with Cao Cao, I have a plan that will bury him." Others were surprised to hear this, and asked him what plan he had. Who was this guy? You will know in the next chapter.