Novel scene
The Traitor Murders the Imperial Consort 國賊行兇殺貴妃
About this event
The Traitor Murders the Imperial Consort is the first scene of the Chapter 24 title of the Romance, "The traitor of the state commits violence and kills the Imperial Consort; the Imperial Uncle flees in defeat and takes refuge with Yuan Shao," the story of Cao Cao, having uncovered the girdle edict plot, executing Dong Cheng's entire household and entering the palace to strangle Dong Cheng's younger sister, Dong Guifei. The Romance places this scene right after Ji Ping's death in the 1st month of the 5th year of Jian'an. Romance, Ch. 23 §54Romance, Ch. 24 §1–2 · 5–8
Chen Shou's text has no killing of the consort. The Annals of Emperor Wu in Records of Wei 1 and the Biography of the First Sovereign in Records of Shu 2 say only that Dong Cheng and the others were executed when their plot leaked. Records, Wei 1 §58Records, Shu 2 §15
In the Romance
In Chapter 24, on seeing the girdle edict Cao Cao means to depose Emperor Xian and set up another ruler, but gives up when Cheng Yu dissuades him, saying that with the lords not yet subdued, deposing and enthroning would surely become a cause of war. Instead he drags Dong Cheng and the other four men, together with every old person and child of their households, to the city gates and beheads them, and more than 700 die. Romance, Ch. 24 §1–2
His anger still unabated, Cao Cao enters the palace wearing his sword and confronts the emperor, who has been secretly talking with Empress Fu about Dong Cheng's affair, over the edict written in blood from his bitten finger. The emperor begs him to pity Dong Guifei, Dong Cheng's younger sister, who is five months pregnant, and Empress Fu pleads that she be put in the cold palace and killed after giving birth, which would not be too late, but Cao Cao will not listen, asking whether they want to leave the traitor's seed alive to avenge its mother. When Dong Guifei asks to be allowed to die with her body intact, Cao Cao has a white silk cord placed before her, and as the emperor and empress weep, he has soldiers strangle her outside the palace gate. Romance, Ch. 24 §5–8
Cao Cao tells the officials in charge of the palace to behead any imperial in-law or clansman who passes through the palace gates without orders, fills the imperial guard with 3,000 of his trusted men and has Cao Hong watch over them. Then, saying that Ma Teng and Liu Bei, who were among the girdle edict conspirators, must be eliminated, he consults with Cheng Yu and Guo Jia, and following Guo Jia's view that Yuan Shao is suspicious by nature and indecisive, he sets out to attack Liu Bei at Xuzhou. Romance, Ch. 24 §10–13
Where the Romance differs
The execution of Dong Cheng's faction: In Chapter 24 of the Romance, Cao Cao beheads more than 700 members of the households of Dong Cheng and the other four men at the city gates, then enters the palace and strangles even the pregnant Dong Guifei. The Annals of Emperor Wu in the Records say that in the 1st month of spring in the 5th year of Jian'an (200) the plot of Dong Cheng and the others leaked and they were all executed, and the Biography of the First Sovereign likewise says only that the affair was discovered and Dong Cheng and the others were all executed. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that in the 11th month of the 19th year of Jian'an (214), when it came to light that Empress Fu had once written to her father Fu Wan that the emperor resented Cao Cao over Dong Cheng's execution, she was deposed and died. Romance, Ch. 24 §1–2 · 5–8Records, Wei 1 §58 · 142Records, Shu 2 §15
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.