Ying Shao 應劭

In Chapter 10 of the Romance, when Cao Cao has strategists on the civil side and fierce generals on the military side and holds sway over the lands east of the mountains, he sends Ying Shao, Administrator of Taishan, to Langya Commandery to bring back his father, Cao Song. Cao Song, who had fled the disorder in Chenliu and was living in seclusion in Langya, receives the letter and sets out for Yan Province with his younger brother Cao De and more than forty members of his household, old and young, accompanied by more than a hundred attendants and more than a hundred carts. Romance, Ch. 10 §27

On the way Tao Qian, Administrator of Xu Province, goes beyond his borders to welcome Cao Song, entertains him with banquets for two days, and has the Commandant Zhang Kai escort him with 500 of his soldiers. When heavy rain catches them between Hua and Fei and they have to lodge at an old temple, Zhang Kai, originally one of the Yellow Turban remnants, plots with his chieftains to kill Cao Song's family that night and seize their goods. Cao De goes out sword in hand to look and is stabbed to death, Cao Song hides in a privy with his concubine and is killed by the rampaging soldiers, and Ying Shao, barely escaping with his life, goes to take refuge with Yuan Shao. Zhang Kai kills Cao Song's entire household, seizes their goods, sets fire to the temple and flees to Huainan. Romance, Ch. 10 §28–31

When one of Ying Shao's soldiers who escaped with his life reports this to Cao Cao, Cao Cao wails and collapses to the ground. Saying that Tao Qian let his soldiers loose to kill his father and is an enemy with whom he cannot live under the same sky, he has Xun Yu and Cheng Yu hold the three counties of Juancheng, Fan and Dong'e with 30,000 troops, and leads all the rest to invade Xu Province. Romance, Ch. 10 §33