Chapter 10: Fatal Hospitality
With Wang Yun dead, the emperor asks Dong Zhuo's generals "Hey, so uh, why don't you leave now?"
And they're like, "Oh, well we kind of expected promotions." So they get promotions.
They also try to have a proper funeral for what's left of their boss, but a storm rises up every time they try and eventually all the remains get washed away because the heavens themselves are pissed off at Dong Zhuo. Although why the heavens waited until now to do anything is beyond me.
Also Ma Teng and Han Sui, two governors from northwest China, show up briefly to oust the rebels, but they get stymied at the mountain passes right away and sit around for a couple months before turning around and going home again. I don't know why they even bothered including that bit. But we'll catch up with those two again later.
Anyway, more Yellow Turbans spring up before long, and the new and "improved" imperial court asks Cao Cao to deal with it. He's actually really good at dispersing Turbans and integrating the best of them into his own army, so his forces are getting pretty sizeable.
Eventually Cao Cao decides he's getting pretty rich, and wants to move his father out to his place. On his way, his father has to pass through territory governed by Tao Qian, who has a very high opinion of Cao Cao and wants to get on his good side. So he personally escorts Daddy Cao through his territory, feasts him, and so on, and afterward, he picks out some troops to escort Daddy Cao the rest of the way. Very hospitable guy.
...Except the troops in question used to be Yellow Turbans, and they ain't very disciplined. So they kill Cao Cao's family and make off with their valuables. Cao Cao is understandably furious at this, and decides the person to blame is Tao Qian, who was just trying his best. Poor Tao Qian.
Anyway Cao Cao is going to lead his huge-ass army to Xuzhou so he can kill Tao Qian, along with everybody else in the city for good measure.
You know the saying. A million eyes for an eye.