Burning Ambition

4. Wancheng/Battle of Xiapi

Time: Early 197 C.E.

It was a vibrant, beautiful day, and Mengde was out for a walk with his Cousin, Xiahou Dun; the latter was slightly annoyed that he was out walking with Mengde on his day off when he could go and get drunk, but he couldn't complain too much – it was nice to spend time like this with his Cousin. Xiahou Dun didn't know what to talk about, so the two walked in silence; however, his mind was yearning to ask about Liu Bei and find out if his assumptions were true. He kept trying to push the thoughts to the back of his mind and tell himself that Mengde was just being friendly with the man, but he had a feeling that he knew what was really going on. He was thankful when he saw a messenger walking towards them with what looked like a letter, maybe he could get out of walking with his Cousin after all. The messenger handed Cao Cao the letter, and stated that it was from Zhang Xiu before walking away.

He opened the letter and quickly read it, noticing that Zhang Xiu was offering to surrender to him at Wancheng. He thought it was odd and sounded like a trap, but he decided he was going to go anyway, preferably without too many troops to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. He wanted to go alone, however, Xiahou Dun made him promise to at least take Dian Wei, his fearless and loyal bodyguard. Cao Cao sighed, agreeing to the proposition, and the two set off towards Wancheng to accept Zhang Xiu's fishy surrender.

After two days worth of travel, the two arrived at their destination and were greeted by a joyful Zhang Xiu, who told them that he had prepared a feast in their honor. The smug looking grin on the man's face made Cao Cao and Dian Wei feel apprehensive, and they knew something was about to happen.

"Elai, be prepared." Mengde whispered to Dian Wei, who nodded in response.

They were led into the hallway of a small decent looking palace where Zhang Xiu suddenly stopped and turned to face them, an evil smirk plastered on his face as the group's anxiety was proven correct. He raised his hand up before quickly swinging it down in a command and the palace started to go up in flames. Zhang Xiu quickly escaped outside the palace to rendezvous with his advisor, Jia Xu, and plan what was to come next. 

Cao Cao and Dian Wei also managed to escape the burning palace and the strong smoke that came with it; however, their ordeal was not over yet as Zhang Xiu stood facing them with a crowd of archers on one of the city walls. He gave them the order to shoot and Dian Wei pushed his lord out of the way, taking all of the arrows like a human shield. Cao Cao stared at him in shock, he was frozen in place at the sight of his beloved bodyguard filled with arrows.

"Elai..." Cao Cao whispered, and Dian Wei turned to face him.

"My Lord, go!" He yelled as the archers began loading their bows, preparing to shoot another round of arrows at them.

He hesitated at first, but nodded his head and quickly ran, glancing behind him at the brave Dian Wei. In that moment, he vowed that he would not let Dian Wei's death be in vain, and he vowed to avenge him and bring an end to the chaos. He ran as fast as he could to his horse, mounting it, and hurrying back to Xuchang so he could prepare his army to fight against the vile Zhang Xiu. Within two hours, he had managed to gather his army and stood outside of Wancheng's open gates, the inside still burning bright like his desperate hope to find Dian Wei alive.

After three days of fighting, the chaos at Wancheng subsided and Zhang Xiu lied dead before Cao Cao; however, this brought him no satisfaction, and he began to frantically search for Dian Wei. After thirty minutes of searching, he found him, it just wasn't how he had hoped to see him: his body was riddled with arrows and covered in soot from the dying flames. 

Cao Cao sighed sadly, he wanted to shed a tear for his fallen comrade, but he couldn't bring himself to do it in front of everyone else. He wanted to be alone. Everyone was sad about Dian Wei's death, and they held an extravagant funeral for him; however, Mengde didn't have much time to mourn the loss of his bodyguard and friend before another issue came to light.