Lü Boshe 呂伯奢

In Chapter 4 of the Romance, Cao Cao draws a precious sword to stab Dong Zhuo, but Dong Zhuo sees him in a dressing mirror and turns around, and Lü Bu arrives leading a horse; flustered, Cao Cao kneels and says he wishes to present the precious sword, then leaves the chancellery on the pretext of trying out the horse and flees to the southeast. Dong Zhuo circulates documents everywhere and has portraits drawn so that Cao Cao may be caught, promising a thousand pieces of gold and a marquisate of ten thousand households to whoever captures and delivers him, and the same punishment for whoever hides him. Seized at Zhongmou County, Cao Cao sets off with the magistrate Chen Gong for Cao Cao's home after Chen Gong, moved by his loyalty and righteousness, abandons his office to follow him. Romance, Ch. 4 §29–30 · 33–34 · 37

After three days on the road they reach the Chenggao area as night falls, and Cao Cao points into the depths of the woods and says that Lü Boshe, his father's sworn brother, lives here, so they should ask for news of his family and stay the night. Lü Boshe tells him that the court has circulated documents everywhere and is pressing urgently to catch him, and that his father has already fled to Chenliu. On hearing that Cao Cao owes his life to Chen Gong, Lü Boshe bows to Chen Gong, saying that but for the Commissioner the Cao family would have been wiped out, and invites him to rest in his humble house that night. Going inside and coming out again only after a long while, he says that there is no good wine in the house, so he will go and buy a jar of it in the western village, and hurriedly rides off on a donkey. Romance, Ch. 4 §38–39

After sitting for a long while, Cao Cao and Chen Gong hear the sound of a blade being sharpened behind the manor. Cao Cao says that Lü Boshe is not a close kinsman, so his going out like this is suspicious, and proposes that they listen in secret; when they hear the words 'Bind it and then kill it, how about that?' from behind the thatched hall, he says that if they do not strike first they will be captured, and with Chen Gong he draws his sword and rushes in, killing eight people in a row without regard to man or woman. Searching as far as the kitchen, they find a pig tied up for slaughter, and Chen Gong says that Mengde's suspicious mind has led them to kill good people by mistake. Romance, Ch. 4 §40–41

The two hurriedly leave the manor, and before they have gone two li, Lü Boshe comes along with two bottles of wine hung from the front of his donkey's saddle and fruit and vegetables in his hands. He says he has told his household to kill a pig to entertain them and urges them to turn their horses around at once, but Cao Cao says that as a man under accusation he cannot stay long, and whips his horse on without looking back. Before he has gone many paces, Cao Cao draws his sword, turns back and calls out, 'Who is that coming there?', and as Lü Boshe turns his head to look, Cao Cao cuts him down from his donkey. Romance, Ch. 4 §41–42

When Chen Gong, greatly shocked, says that what happened earlier was a mistake but asks what this is now, Cao Cao answers that if Lü Boshe went home, saw that many people had been killed and came after them leading a crowd, they would surely meet disaster. When Chen Gong says that killing knowingly and deliberately is a great injustice, Cao Cao says that he would rather betray all the people of the realm than let the people of the realm betray him. That night at an inn Chen Gong, calling Cao Cao a man with the heart of a wolf, draws his sword to kill him, and in Chapter 5 he changes his mind, abandons Cao Cao and leaves alone for Dong Commandery. Romance, Ch. 4 §42–44Romance, Ch. 5 §1