I Have a Date with a Thousand-year-old Female Corpse-Chapter 1877 - 1878: Ruthless, Savage, and Merciless

Chapter 1877: Chapter 1878: Ruthless, Savage, and Merciless
The shock you brought them is already considerable, but every time they see you, they feel genuine pride and honor—following you, the world is yours to conquer!
"How is it? Have you caught Liu Bei?" You touched your nose, even though he already guessed the answer, he still wanted to hear the explanation.
Little Liu lowered his head and softly said, "No."
"Did he hide, or did he leave beforehand?"
"Liu Bei had already detected it beforehand and left the city through a secret passage, and he also destroyed the passage, so..." Little Liu felt uneasy in his heart, your punishments could be extremely harsh. If there was even the slightest slack in training, what awaited them was endless punishment. Often, your personal guard members would rather die on the battlefield than be exhausted to death in training.
"If he could be captured by you so easily, he wouldn’t be Liu Bei. Hmph, he does have some tricks. Since it’s like this, this play should end. Let’s go, let’s meet Official Tao together."
"Yes!"
You led the guard team, hands behind your back, and walked proudly into Tao Qian’s mansion. Although each of those Danyang Soldiers held weapons, none of them dared to step forward. To use a common metaphor, you were a wildly fierce Tiger King, while the people behind you were a pack of wolves that devoured without leaving bones! The sense of oppression they created together even forced these battle-hardened Danyang Soldiers to lower their heads and retreat. Some of the weaker ones even trembled in their limbs.
"Where is Official Tao?" Upon entering Tao Qian’s residence, you asked someone who appeared to be a general.
Although that person was dressed in a general’s attire, upon your inquiry, he actually kneeled right away, clutching his head, not daring to face you, but kept shouting at the ground, "Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!"
You smiled warmly and asked the people around you with a gentle smile, "Where is Official Tao?"
The Danyang Soldiers didn’t dare to look directly at you, and no one answered.
"In that case, I will have to find him myself."
Just as you finished speaking, a man stepped quickly out from the courtyard, bowed slightly to you, and said, "General Fenyong, Official Tao invites you."
"You stay here and mingle with these brothers, I’ll go to see Official Tao."
You threw out a sentence, then followed the man into the inner courtyard.
Tao Qian lay on his bed. This time he didn’t let a maid serve him, but rather dismissed everyone, leaving only him and you in the large room.
"General Fenyong, long time no see." Tao Qian didn’t get up, just motioned for you to sit down.
You smiled, dragged over a tea table, and sat down on it. Looking at Tao Qian, he now resembled an aged old man, lacking any aura of a regional leader.
"Official Tao, I have already cleaned up the household for you. How will you thank me?" Your words were direct and without any pretense of courtesy.
Upon hearing this, Tao Qian suddenly coughed violently. When he stopped coughing, the handkerchief in his hand was already stained with his blood.
Tao Qian weakly looked at you and said, "As the general can see, this old body is gravely ill and truly incapable of governing the province. I have the intention to pass on the governor position to you. What do you think?"
You crossed your legs, the smile on your face remained calm, as if that sentence did not arouse much interest in you. You glanced around, smiling, and said, "Official Tao, your living environment is quite good, with deep courtyards, charming maids, and valiant guards."
Seeing you evading the topic, Tao Qian knew you were negotiating terms with him. After a few more intense coughs, he sighed, "If General Li has other requests, please don’t hesitate to mention them?"
"Requests, what requests could I have? On the contrary, I want to hear the conditions of your abdication, Official Tao." You picked up an object from the tea table and idly toyed with it.
Hearing this, Tao Qian hurriedly said, "I don’t ask for much, just hope that General Li preserves my Tao family’s foundation in Xuzhou and my two unfilial sons."
"That... is out of the question!"
The object in your hand suddenly slipped, then shattered on the ground.
"You! You... cough! Cough, cough! Cough!"
Tao Qian got agitated, once again coughing blood. This time, his body trembled violently due to the excessive excitement.
Seemingly not noticing, you continued speaking to yourself, "Speaking of which, Official Tao, your two useless sons are really something. Their combined daily expenses range from three to ten gold coins, plus all sorts of miscellaneous relatives in your family. If I save all the money spent on these wastrels, it would be enough to support a thousand-strong troop. Besides, your Tao family’s foundation is a big piece of meat. Do you think I’ll continue to let your Tao family manage it?"
"Then... then, cough! Cough, cough! What do you actually want?" Tao Qian stood up in agitation, pointing at you and asking.
"Want?" You shrugged your shoulders, suddenly laughed out loud, "Are you kidding? Do you think I address you as Official Tao and still consider you the governor of Xuzhou? Let me tell you, I am nothing like Liu Bei. He is a hypocrite, whereas I don’t even care for the genuine gentleman’s title others might offer me. I’m a thug, an evil boss! I want all of your Tao family’s wealth, all your troops, and the entire Xuzhou!"
"You... you..." Blood spilled from Tao Qian’s mouth again, agitated emotions caused his old illness to relapse, his whole body lay on the bed trembling uncontrollably in apparent agony.
"I’ll be frank then," You smilingly walked to Tao Qian’s side, "Actually, the reason I came in was for the people outside to see. Rest in peace; later, I will announce to the entire Xuzhou that you, Official Tao, died of illness, and I took over as the governor of Xuzhou."
Saying this, your hand lightly patted Tao Qian on the back. Instantly, Tao Qian’s body arched dramatically, his face showed extreme agony, then, with a "Puff!", it seemed like Tao Qian expelled all the blood in his body, suddenly collapsing, passing away.
"Alright, the obstacles are resolved, now I’ve got lots to keep me busy." You clapped your hands, turned, and walked out briskly.
It was an early winter afternoon, the news of Tao Qian’s death spread throughout Xuzhou within three days. When the other forces in Xuzhou received the news, Cao Bao and your army had already arrived simultaneously. In a hasty week, the entire Xuzhou City was firmly in your grasp.
As for Cao Bao, previously under your instigation and the match-making by the lady Zhao Yu, Cao Bao married off his daughter Cao Yuan to your capable general Wei Yan. With this marriage tie, Cao Bao and you were considered bound together.
For the people of Xuzhou, the change in regime didn’t matter much to them. The streets mainly spread stories about you and some of the women and generals by your side. It could almost be said that besides your official wife Zhao Yu, everyone around you was tarnished, with Red Rakshasa Ren Hongchang and White Ghost Xiao Liu being talked about the most.
Of course, the hot topic was the governor of Xuzhou, which was you. Due to your high status, ordinary people dared not nickname you, so they only referred to you as the "Evil Man" to avoid mentioning your real name.
Meanwhile, you completely disrupted the original power divisions of Xuzhou, splitting Xuzhou into four cities: "Pengcheng, Guangling, Kaiyang, Xiapi". Except for Guangling, which was controlled by Cao Bao, the other three cities were occupied by your troops. Among them, Kaiyang’s chief guardian was Yu Jin, Pengcheng’s chief guardians were Yue Jin and Wei Yan, and Xiapi’s chief guardians were Zhao Yu and Ren Hongchang.