Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 41.

Last time, Cao Cao had just chased off Yuan Shang and captured Ji province,

the former power base of the Yuan clan.

He executed Shenpei, the advisor to the Yuan's who had put up a dogged defense of the city.

Now Cao Cao was just about to enter his newly conquered prize, when he saw that his troops

had captured Chen Lin, the man who once upon a time had

written a decree for Yuan Shao that had badmouthed Cao Cao and his forefathers.

You can refer back to the post on our website for episode 28 to see a link to the full text

of this denunciation.

Suffice it to say,

Cao Cao and his forefathers do not come off very well in this piece.

When you were writing that declaration for Yuan Shao,

you could have stopped at just denouncing me.

Why did you have to drag my forefathers into it too?

Cao Cao asked Chen Lin, who replied,

The arrow had been loaded, and the bowstring pulled back.

I had no choice but to fire it.

Cao Cao's men wanted him to execute Chen Lin for writing all those nasty things about his ancestors,

but Cao Cao spared him on account of the

fact that he was a writer of a rare caliber. In fact, Cao Cao kept him on as an aide, so once again,

Cao Cao is showing magnanimity and mercy to his enemies, even the ones who trolled him and his family

...