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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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"His sons share that aura. In the military, we have a saying: 'You do not leave a wounded wolf near your sheep.' As long as Cao Pi breathes, there will be men who dream of raising his banner. A caged wolf is still a wolf. I stand with the Chancellor. End the bloodline, and ensure our soldiers never have to fight this war a second time."
Taishi Ci, ever the blunt, uncompromising instrument of war, nodded in fierce agreement. "A sword has no feelings, Your Majesty, and neither should an empire when securing its foundation. I have seen what happens when mercy is shown to ambitious men. They take your mercy, sharpen it, and use it to cut your throat. The Cao family did not hesitate to slaughter their enemies. Why should we afford them a grace they would never have granted us? Eradicate them."
But then, Zhao Yun stepped forward. The Silver Dragon, a man revered not just for his peerless martial skill, but for his profound, unwavering righteousness, looked up at the Dragon Throne.
"Your Imperial Majesty," Zhao Yun began, his voice clear, calm, and carrying a distinct moral weight. "I have slain thousands in your name. I will slay thousands more if you command it. But there is no honor in butchering weeping women and helpless infants. To invoke the Nine Exterminations stains the divine mandate you have so righteously claimed. I say we execute the men of fighting age, those who led armies against us. But let the women and the young children live under heavy guard. Let their bloodline end naturally. A warrior does not strike down a child in a cradle, no matter whose name that child bears."
A murmur of profound respect rippled through the hall. Zhao Yun's words had beautifully articulated the moral agony of the situation.
Jia Xu offered a slow, respectful nod to the generals before turning back to the left side of the aisle. The foundation had been laid by the bureaucrats and the soldiers. Now, it was time for the architects of the empire to finalize the structure.
"We shall conclude with the high ranking ministers," Jia Xu announced. "Minister of Law, Chen Gong. Minister of Rites, Lu Su. Minister of Personnel, Zhuge Liang. And Master Xu Shu. Step forward."
The four men moved into the aisle. The sheer concentration of intellect standing before the throne was staggering. These were the men who translated Lie Fan's will into the reality of the world.
Chen Gong, severe and uncompromising, spoke with the rigid authority of the law. "Your Majesty, Cao Cao usurped the Han, defied the Black Dragon, and brought ruin to the central plains. The legal penalty for grand treason of this magnitude has always been the Nine Exterminations. The law must be blind, and it must be absolute. If we bend the law for the Cao out of pity, we shatter the legal foundation of Hengyuan. I support Chancellor Jia Xu. The law demands their lives."
Lu Su, the wealthy diplomat who always saw the geopolitical ripples of every action, shook his head slowly. "Master Chen Gong speaks of the law, but an Emperor must also consider optics. If word spreads that the Black Dragon slaughtered a surrendered family, including innocent babes, every people in the entire land will remember this gruesome and bloody end."
"They will replace Your Majesty kindness and unification with blood. If we wish to hold the people's trust and love for Your Majesty and keep the land in oeace, we must show a sliver of imperial grace. Let them live under the heaviest watch imaginable. Track every breath, every sickness, every natural death. But let them die of old age."
Zhuge Liang gently fanned himself, his brilliant mind synthesizing the arguments of heaven and earth. "The Heavens require balance, Your Majesty," Zhuge Liang spoke, his melodious voice filling the room. "To eradicate a bloodline entirely is to invite the dark wrath of karma upon your own descendants. Yet, to let them roam free is to invite earthly rebellion."
"We must walk the middle path. Let the Cao Clan wither on the vine. We track every drop of Cao blood. We place them in an estate surrounded by walls of stone and walls of men. They will live, but they will never truly be alive. Their natural extinction will be a testament to your mercy, and their confinement a testament to your power."
Finally, Xu Shu stepped forward, bringing the philosophical arguments down to a terrifying, logistical reality. "If they are to live, Your Majesty, the surveillance cannot be merely strict, it must be absolute, paranoid, and flawless. We must know when a child sneezes in that compound."
"We must ensure no baby is ever smuggled out in a laundry basket, and no loyalist is ever smuggled in. We must watch them until the very last infant takes its final breath of old age. If we commit to letting them live, we commit to a century of unbreakable vigilance."
Having orchestrated the perfect, multi faceted presentation of the dilemma, Jia Xu bowed deeply and stepped backward, yielding the floor entirely back to the Emperor.
High upon the dais, Emperor Lie Fan sat in absolute silence. The chaotic shouting match from earlier felt like a distant memory. Now, he had been presented with the cold, brilliant, and conflicting truths of his closest advisors.
He had listened to them all. He had heard Jia Xu's chilling prophecy of future revenge, Taishi Ci's pragmatic call for blood, Zhao Yun's plea for martial honor, Lu Su's diplomatic warnings, and Zhuge Liang's philosophical balance.
For a long, agonizing moment, the only sound in the Grand Court Hall was the soft crackle of the braziers. Lie Fan closed his eyes behind the veil of jade beads. The weight of the decision pressed down on him, heavier than the black iron armor he wore in battle. He was holding the lives of dozens of people in his hands, balancing their blood against the lives of the millions who would live in the future he was trying to build.
Slowly, Lie Fan opened his eyes. He grasped his white jade scepter and stood up from the Dragon Throne.
The rustle of his heavy Mianfu robes echoed loudly as he stepped to the very edge of the dais, looking down at his assembled court.
"I have heard your counsel," Lie Fan declared, his voice echoing with a profound, terrifying majesty that made every man in the room hold their breath. "I thank you all. You have spoken with the brilliance and the loyalty that I have come to expect from the pillars of Hengyuan. You have laid bare the agonizing duality of the crown: the necessity of the butcher, and the grace of the saint."
Lie Fan paced slowly across the dais, his gaze sweeping over the silent officials.
"Chancellor Jia Xu is correct. The Cao Clan is a leviathan. To leave them entirely intact is to invite the ghosts of Wei to haunt my great grandchildren and the future of my dynasty. Yet, General Zhao Yun is also correct. To slaughter infants in their cribs is to stain the divine mandate with a coward's blood."
He stopped in the center of the dais, his tall figure silhouetted against the golden screen of the ascending dragon.
"I have made my decision."
The court braced itself, bracing for the impact of history.
"The Cao Clan cannot be allowed to harbor the memories of their lost power," Lie Fan proclaimed, his voice ringing with absolute, unyielding finality. "Those who understand what they have lost are the ones who will plot to reclaim it. Therefore, the men of the Cao Clan, those who led armies, those who plotted in the shadows, and those old enough to harbor the venom of vengeance in their hearts, cannot be suffered to live."
Lie Fan raised his scepter, pointing it toward the heavy doors of the hall, as if pointing toward the distant estate where the prisoners waited.
"The entirety of the Cao Clan shall be sentenced to death," Lie Fan decreed, the words striking the room like physical blows.
A collective gasp began to rise from the scholars, but Lie Fan's voice immediately cut through it, raising in volume and absolute authority.
"With an explicit, non negotiable exception!" Lie Fan thundered. "The women of the Cao household, the wives, the concubines, and the daughters, shall be spared the blade. Furthermore, any male child of the Cao bloodline who has not yet reached his eight winter shall also be spared."
The compromise hung in the air, a breathtaking, brutal balancing act between eradication and mercy.
"Why eight years old?" Lie Fan asked the silent room, answering his own question before anyone could speak. "Because a boy of ten remembers he was a prince. He remembers the taste of power, and he will spend his life sharpening a knife in the dark. But a child under eight, raised in absolute captivity, will only ever know the walls of his cage. He will not remember the Wei Dynasty. He will only know the mercy of the Black Dragon."
Lie Fan lowered his scepter, resting it against the floor.
"Those who fall under the sentence of death, Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Ang, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, and all older male relatives, shall be executed with the dignity befitting their former station. They will not be publicly humiliated. They will be given poisoned wine in the privacy of their courtyard before the week is out."
Lie Fan's eyes locked onto Xu Shu and Jia Xu.
"As for those who live, the women and the young children, they shall remain in the Wang estate. They will be placed under the absolute, suffocating surveillance that Master Xu Shu described. They will be given food, warmth, and peace. But they will not be allowed to leave, they will not be allowed to marry, and their bloodline will not be allowed to continue. They will be allowed to die naturally, either due to the quiet passage of age, or the inevitable hand of sickness."
The Emperor of Hengyuan took a deep breath, the heavy, agonizing burden of the judgment finally lifted from his shoulders, replaced by the cold, iron reality of his decree.
"The threat of the Cao Clan ends with the executioner's cup this week," Lie Fan finalized, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that sealed the fate of an era. "And the blood of the Cao Clan will end naturally, quietly, behind locked doors in the decades to come. That is my will. That is the justice of Hengyuan."
The entire court, recognizing the profound, terrifying brilliance of a judgment that satisfied both the demands of state security and the boundaries of imperial grace, dropped to their knees as one.
"The Emperor is infinitely wise! The Emperor is infinitely just! We obey the will of the Dragon Throne! Ten thousand years to the Emperor!"
As the deafening chorus of submission washed over him, Lie Fan stood tall upon the dais, knowing that with this single, brutal edict, the ghosts of the Wei Dynasty had finally, permanently been laid to rest.
As the deafening chorus of submission from the hundreds of kneeling officials washed over the vast expanse of the Grand Court Hall, Lie Fan stand perfectly still in front of the Dragon Throne.
He allowed the echoes of "Ten thousand years to the Emperor!" to fade into the incense heavy air before he slowly raised his right hand, gripping the royal scepter one final time.
"The judgments are set. The edicts are sealed. Let the scribes record this day as the true beginning of the Hengyuan era," Lie Fan declared, his voice carrying the calm, absolute finality of a god closing a chapter of human history. "The Grand Imperial Court is hereby concluded. Return to your ministries. Let the work of peace begin."
Lie Fan lowered his scepter. He did not immediately leave. Instead, he turned his gaze slightly to the left, locking eyes with the dark, impenetrable figure of Chancellor Jia Xu, who still stood at the forefront of the civil assembly. With a subtle, almost imperceptible flick of his fingers, Lie Fan beckoned the Chancellor closer to the dais.
Jia Xu ascended the first few steps, bowing deeply so that only the Emperor could hear his rasping whisper. "Your Imperial Majesty commands?"
Lie Fan leaned forward, the jade beads of his Mian'guan crown clicking softly together. The divine aura of the infallible sovereign faded slightly, replaced by the weariness of a man who had fought a ghost for a decade and was finally about to bury it.
"The decree has been given, Wenhe, but the execution of it must be flawless," Lie Fan murmured, his tone devoid of malice but heavy with solemnity. "You will personally oversee the brewing of the poisoned wine. I want it to be swift and painless. No suffering. They were kings and princes, and they will die with the dignity of their blood. But before the cups are brought to the courtyards of the Wang estate, you are to report directly to me."
Jia Xu's eyes flickered with a brief, calculating curiosity. "You wish to oversee the execution yourself, Your Majesty?"
"No," Lie Fan replied quietly, looking past Jia Xu toward the heavy bronze doors at the far end of the hall. "I wish to have one final, short conversation with Cao Mengde. A man does not share the world with a rival of his magnitude and simply let him fade into the dark without a final word. Let me know the moment the preparations are complete."
Jia Xu understood perfectly. It was not a gloating victor seeking to rub salt in the wounds of the vanquished; it was a profound, martial respect between two dragons who had fought for the same sky. "It shall be done exactly as you wish, Your Majesty. I will inform you the moment the cups are ready to be served."
With the grim logistical details of the execution finalized, Lie Fan stood up from the Dragon Throne.
"Court is dismissed," Jia Xu announced loudly, turning back to the assembly.
As one, the hundreds of civil and military officials dropped to their knees once more, pressing their foreheads to the polished black obsidian floor. They remained entirely motionless, displaying the utmost reverence, as Emperor Lie Fan descended the steps of the dais.
The heavy rustle of his Mianfu robes echoed through the silent hall as he walked down the central aisle, passing the groveling forms of the most powerful men in the continent. He did not look back as he crossed the threshold and left the Grand Court Hall.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0