Chapter 79: Tiger Guards, Part 2 of 2, Please Recommend

The house stood beside the residence of the General of Chariots and Cavalry. Since that office belonged to Cao Cao, the close proximity of the two compounds showed plainly how much trust and favor he bestowed upon Dian Wei.

The mansion was quiet, with very few people in it.

Dian Wei’s family had not come to the capital. Cao Cao had first risen in Dong Commandery, and it was only after the Battle of Puyang that he began to rely heavily on Dian Wei. Thus Dian Wei’s wife and children still lived at their old home in Jiwu, Chenliu. Only when Dian Man grew older, and after Cao Cao moved the capital, did he come with Dian Wei to Xu County.

The vast estate lay empty and still.

After the defeat at Wan, with Dian Wei’s fate unknown, his son Dian Man had intended to surrender the residence. The reason was simple enough. When Dian Wei was alive, he served in the central guard, responsible for protecting Cao Cao’s safety. Placing his quarters beside the General’s residence also made it convenient to guard that compound. Now that Dian Wei was gone, someone had to take up his former duties.

So in truth, it was only a matter of time before Dian Man gave up the place.

What was more, Cao Cao had already appointed Xu Chu as Tiger-Ben Commander and drawn him into the inner guard, making his intention to replace Dian Wei quite clear.

After discussing it with his family, Dian Man simply petitioned Cao Cao in straightforward fashion, saying that he intended to return to his ancestral home and was willing to surrender the residence.

Cao Cao did not agree, but he did reward Dian Man’s family with several hundred acres of fertile land and permitted the Dian clan to build a fortified manor outside Xu City.

This alone showed Cao Cao’s position. Several hundred acres of good farmland was equal to compensation. Allowing the Dian family to establish a fortified manor meant, in other words, that he consented to the old Dian clan raising private retainers in the region around Xu City. What sort of man was Dian Wei? Before his rise, he had been nothing more than a commoner. By all rights, he had no standing to keep armed retainers, much less to do so in the capital. Yet Cao Cao had made exactly such arrangements. It was, in essence, another form of recompense, a way of saying plainly: even if Dian Wei is gone, I will see that the Dian family enjoys wealth and honor for generations.

Dian Man had already dismissed the servants in the mansion and was preparing, once he returned to Xu City, to hand everything over to Xu Chu.

No one had expected that Dian Wei would return at this very moment...

Next door, the General of Chariots and Cavalry’s residence was brilliantly lit and bustling with activity.

To welcome Dian Wei’s miraculous return from the dead, Cao Cao had set a banquet in the General’s residence to receive him.

Of course Cao Peng and the others had no standing to attend such a feast, so under Dian Wei’s arrangements they first returned with their people to the mansion to rest.

"What a huge house!"

When Zhang Shi, Cao Nan, and the others climbed down from the carriage and saw the mansion before them, they could not help exclaiming in wonder.

Only then did they finally feel at ease. A glance at the scale of the estate made it obvious that Dian Wei was no ordinary man in Xu City.

The residence covered more than three hundred thousand square meters.

Its gray walls, over two men high, were joined to the outer wall of the General’s compound.

A grand vermilion gate, studded with bronze bosses. The lion-shaped door rings were as thick as a man’s arm, and when they struck the lacquered doors they gave off loud, hollow thuds.

There was no need to go inside; even standing outside the gate, one could feel the oppressive weight of the place.

Cao Nan murmured, "This house is so big it could be ten times the size of Elder Deng’s."

Cao Peng overheard and could not help laughing.

Elder Deng was the old clan head of Deng Village, Deng Yan.

How could a landowner’s residence be compared with the mansion before them? Yet when he glanced at the neighboring General’s compound, Cao Peng began to feel a little troubled.

It seemed this place was far too close to the General’s residence.

"Father, let’s go inside."

The crowd of country folk entered the mansion and, like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, kept exclaiming in amazement.

The entire estate had nine courtyards in sequence, but the first alone occupied over three thousand square meters. It was arranged along three axes. On the central axis stood the front hall, the middle hall, and the rear hall, together with a double-eaved building; on either side, each auxiliary axis had eleven side rooms, all connected to the halls.

Within the gatehouse, on the beams, crosspieces, and pillars, there was not a single empty space left undecorated.

Cao Peng could not help smiling.

Looking at such a vast residence, he suddenly thought of the tower blocks of his own later age.

If his old friends knew that he lived in such a place, he wondered how envious they would be. Damn it, if such a huge tract of land were developed in later times, it would surely be worth hundreds of millions. Extravagant. The ancients were truly extravagantly damn lavish.

This first courtyard was mainly for receiving guests, while the connected side rooms were for the servants.

Entering the second courtyard, one could immediately feel Dian Wei’s unmistakable style.

That twenty-thousand-square-meter compound had somehow been turned by Dian Wei into a crude military camp. There was a training ground and a horse field, and along both sides of the gravel path leading to the third courtyard stood rows of weapon racks. Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, polearms, hooks, forks, all gleaming in rich abundance, everything one could imagine...

As soon as Wang Mai saw the training ground, he beamed.

"Afu, from now on we’ve got a place to practice martial arts!"

Cao Peng smiled. "All right. Hurry up and put everything away. For now, everyone can find a place to rest in the front hall. The left-hand side rooms will be for Father and Mother, my sister, Uncle Jiuye, and Aunt Hong. As for the row of rooms on the right, I’ll trouble Uncle to let everyone stay there first.

"By the look of it, Uncle Dian probably won’t be back for a while, so let’s make a meal first and fill our stomachs.

"As for the details of where everyone will live, we can discuss them with Uncle Dian when he returns."

At this, everyone sprang into action with excitement.

Even someone as experienced as Wang Meng had never lived in such a large place. Let alone the heroes from Tufushan; upon entering the mansion, they had all grown somewhat dazed. The place was simply too big, and without someone to guide them, they might well lose their way.

For now, they might as well wander around the front hall and the training ground. As for the final arrangements, those would have to wait until Dian Wei came back.

Helping his mother and sister into a room to rest, Cao Peng took out three gold cakes, each weighing a little over a jin, and handed them to Deng Jiuye and his wife.

"Uncle Jiuye, by the looks of it, even if Colonel Dian returns, he won’t have time to attend to this side.

"Please trouble yourself to take these gold cakes into the city and exchange them for cash coins... Uncle, take two men with you and go with Uncle Jiuye. If you run into trouble, just give Colonel Dian’s name. I’m guessing that in Xu City, no one will dare provoke Colonel Dian... After you exchange them, buy some grain and bring it back. Also buy some meat. We’ve been on the road all this time, and we ought to celebrate properly."

The heroes of Tufushan burst out cheering when they heard this.

Wang Meng nodded with a chuckle, called over two of the men, and drove a cart out of the mansion with Deng Jiuye.

"Afu, why does it feel like Mother is dreaming?"

In the side room, Zhang Shi, Cao Nan, and Aunt Hong sat on the bed, all of them looking unusually restrained. When they saw Cao Peng enter, they could not help asking.

It truly did feel like a dream.

Not long ago, mother and daughter had still been prisoners, fearful all day long and not knowing what their future would be.

Yet in the blink of an eye, they had moved into a splendid mansion. The three women were all from humble households; where could they ever have seen such a scene? Cao Nan nodded furiously like a pecking chick, then pinched herself hard. The pain told her she was not dreaming.

"Afu, your brother-in-law... he’ll be all right, won’t he?"

Cao Peng smiled. "Sister, don’t worry. Brother-in-law will be perfectly fine. Things are different now from when we were in Jiyang. By now, we can count ourselves as people with backing. Commander Man Chong is supporting brother-in-law from behind the scenes, and with Colonel Dian’s connection as well, brother-in-law may very well rise to greatness."

Cao Nan’s nose stung, and without knowing why, two lines of clear tears fell.

"I don’t ask that your brother-in-law rise to greatness. I only hope he can come back safe and sound, and I’ll be satisfied."

Aunt Hong held Cao Nan in her arms. She was usually quite talkative, but here, at this moment, she could not utter a single word.

"Mother, you all rest here. I’ll be just outside. If you need anything, call me."

With that, Cao Peng left the side room.

After he closed the door, the room fell quiet... but after he had taken only a few steps away, he heard sudden cries of delighted surprise from the women inside.

Yes, that was more like it.

Cao Peng could not help smiling as he sat down cross-legged beneath the eaves.

Watching the stream of people coming and going, watching Wang Mai and Deng Fan running about, watching Cao Ji and Xiahou Lan strolling through the courtyard, his mind, however, drifted back to the scene at the city gate.

Cao Cao.

He had finally seen Cao Cao.

As he knelt with Dian Wei and the others, Cao Peng had secretly taken a look at him.

Truth be told, Cao Cao had a face of stern resolve, not tall of stature, yet he possessed an indescribable majesty. At that moment, Cao Peng suddenly recalled a saying: this little man is full of power!

That had originally been the First Emperor’s praise of Duke Deng, yet applied to Cao Cao, it seemed in no way excessive.

It was only because there had been many people between them, and because Cao Peng himself was so small, while Cao Cao’s attention was entirely on Dian Wei, that there was no real contact.

Even so, Cao Cao’s bearing and authority had been enough to leave a deep impression on Cao Peng.

The time had come. It was nearly time to carry out his plan... Cao Peng scratched his head and rose to his feet.

"Afu, want to come practice in the training ground?"

Wang Mai and Deng Fan waved to him. Cao Peng thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded in assent.

When lamps were lit, Dian Wei finally returned.

He seemed to have drunk quite a lot. His black face was flushed purple, though his eyes were bright.

Cao Peng was astonished to discover that, in the space of this single banquet, Dian Wei seemed to have changed into a completely different set of clothes. He wore a tiger-patterned inner robe with a hundred-flower battle cloak over it.

On his head sat a gold crown shaped like a tiger’s face, and a pheasant feather was set upright at the top.

"Uncle Dian, why have you changed your attire?" Wang Mai asked in surprise.

Dian Wei laughed heartily, looking thoroughly pleased.

And Cao Peng’s eyes rolled once, and he immediately understood the reason. He had read quite a number of books himself, especially the copies from Deng Ji, most of which he had already perused.

Deng Ji studied the statutes of Han, so Cao Peng had some understanding of the court’s offices and robes.

He quickly stepped forward and clasped his hands. "Congratulations, Uncle Dian. My heartfelt congratulations!"

"Eh? Little Afu, could it be that you know?"

"Seeing your dress, and how delighted you are, your nephew could hazard a guess or two. You must have received a new appointment...

"Heh heh. Tiger-Ben Palace Commander?"

Dian Wei stared for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Little Afu, you are indeed clever... That’s right. My lord intends to restore the Tiger-Ben corps, so he has appointed me Tiger-Ben Palace Commander to serve in the guard of the General’s residence."

The Tiger-Ben Palace Commander was roughly the equivalent of the commander of the central guard regiment in later ages, responsible solely for protecting the supreme leader.

Under him would be one thousand five hundred Tiger-Ben guards, all of them bold and heroic men, selected by the strictest standards.

Cao Peng roughly understood that this was Cao Cao’s way of compensating Dian Wei. After all, Cao Cao had already appointed Xu Chu to take over Dian Wei’s former post. If he simply stripped Xu Chu of the position because Dian Wei had returned, Xu Chu would surely be dissatisfied. So Cao Cao used the office of Tiger-Ben Palace Commander to vindicate Dian Wei. In terms of rank, Dian Wei was still first among the central guard; although Xu Chu had taken over his duties, in practice he would still be under Dian Wei’s control. In this way, both men were promoted by one rank. Though the situation remained more or less the same, the awkwardness had at least been smoothed away.

"Old Wang, now that my lord has established the Tiger-Ben corps, I intend to have you take the post of Tiger-Ben Officer. What say you?"

Wang Meng froze, then was overjoyed.

"I’ll obey whatever Commander Junming orders."

Dian Wei smiled, then turned to Cao Ji. "Brother Cao, on the road you said you were planning to forge blades... I’m afraid that would not be very convenient here, since we’re right next to the General’s residence. If anything were to go wrong, it might disturb my lord. However, my lord has granted me a fortified manor outside Xu City. Why not forge the blades there? When Brother Zhou Cang and the others arrive, let them settle there first."

Cao Ji bowed and agreed.

His tiger eyes glinting, Dian Wei turned his gaze to Cao Peng.

"Afu, I have one matter I would like to entrust to you. I wonder what you think of it?"