The news of Liu Qi's ascension to the throne as emperor soon spread to Yecheng, and Cao Pi, who had just ascended the throne for a few months, heard that Liu Qi accepted Wanbang to come to the court when he ascended the throne, and felt that his true emperor with the jade seal of the country was not as good as Liu Qi's fake emperor who did not inherit the jade seal, and his heart was quite uncomfortable.

"Hmph, the Western Regions and the southeast, southwest, and northwest tribes are just that, but the old thief Gongsun Kang received the title of my Great Wei Zuo General and King Xiangping, and it was not enough to go to worship Liu Qi in person, which is unbearable, and the order went down, so that Zhang He, the assassin of Youzhou, led 50,000 cavalry, and Fanyang Wang Zhang cooperated, and he must pacify Gongsun Kang of Liaodong before the autumn, so that the thieves in the world know the fate of disobeying my order."

Cao Pi announced his order in the palace in the court, and even did not discuss this matter with his confidant minister Sima Yi, so that the whole court was shocked, and the great Sima Cao Hong stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter must not be allowed, Liu Qi has just been proclaimed emperor, hundreds of thousands of troops Chen soldiers are on the border, vowing to crusade against our army, in order to promote its so-called orthodox position, our army is even tired of dealing with the Han army, where can we divide troops to deal with Gongsun Kang?" In the bitter cold land of Youzhou, the people's harvest is not high, and it is rare to be quiet for a few years. What's more, Gongsun Kang jumped off the beam clown, swaying from side to side, if His Majesty forcibly conquered, but pushed him to the side of the Han Dynasty, I'm afraid it's not appropriate, right? ”

Cao Pi was furious when he heard this, pointed at Cao Hong and said: "Gongsun Kang has 100,000 troops, and he has long had the heart of disobedience, and now he is connected with Liu Qi, and his ambition is obvious. It's really counterintuitive, could it be that he was bribed by an old thief? ”

Cao Hong saw that Cao Pi was so suspicious of himself, and he was immediately furious, pointing at Cao Pi and saying: "Your Majesty's sentence is a bit wronged, I think that the old minister followed Emperor Wu to conquer the Quartet, and even his life was almost taken into it several times. If it weren't for a military general like us who was crisscrossing the battlefield, where would there be such a situation as His Majesty sitting in the Dragon Court today? His Majesty does not want to repay us as old ministers, but is so indiscriminate, slandering the old ministers, it is really chilling the hearts of the ministers, His Majesty is now the respect of the Ninety-Five, speaking a word, please pay attention to proportion, do not talk nonsense. so as not to cause bad effects. ”

In the end, Cao Hong's words were already full of voice, and it seemed that he was completely in a posture of elders teaching younger generations, and who was Cao Pi? He is the emperor of the current Great Wei, how can he be willing to let Cao Hong be a teacher in the palace? couldn't help sneering and fought back: "Uncle Huang fought really hard back then, and he almost put his life into it several times, such as Jian'an was defeated by Liu Biao in the second year, and Jian'an was defeated by Ma Chao in the twelfth year. In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, he was defeated by Liu Qi, and the emperor's uncle was defeated in successive battles. As a long-defeated general, how can you not encounter risks? As for accepting bribes, isn't the imperial uncle still receiving less? Since you can accept bribes from subordinate soldiers, why can't you accept bribes from Gongsun Kang? ”

Immediately, Cao Pi said in a deep voice: "This matter has been decided, there is no need to discuss it again, as for the deployment of our army and the Han army adjacent to the border." Sima Situ is solely responsible, and Uncle Huang, please rest assured that there will never be Uncle Huang's defeat. ”

Cao Hong listened to Cao Pi's words, and couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry, and immediately brushed his sleeves away. It made the court embarrassed.

And the next day in the court, Cao Pi suddenly heard Sikong Wang Lang come forward to report: "Chen Qi Xià, three days ago there was a terrifying robbery of the people's daughters in the capital, murder and destruction of the door tragedy, the family that was killed is a family surnamed Qiu, the owner of this family is named Qiu Wen, Jian'an was raised as a talent in the fifteenth year, and was the commander of Wuji County, because his father and the king, Ding Wei was at home, but unexpectedly, disaster fell from the sky, Qiu Wen has a daughter, named Xiangyun, who was seen by a slave of a certain family when he was sacrificing to his grandfather, and snatched the woman back to the house, Qiu Wen saw that his daughter was robbed, I had to end the system, and took people to ask for it, but I was beaten by the slaves, Miss Qiu's family was humiliated, and committed suicide with hatred, Qiu Wen came to the door again to make trouble, and threatened to sue the royal court, but that night, Qiu Wen was killed by the wealthy family, such a tragic thing, it was really the anger of people and gods, and the minister asked His Majesty to make a decree to capture the slaves, and the people were angry to comfort the wronged Qiu Wenmanmen. ”

Cao Pi was immediately displeased when he heard this, and said slowly: "At this time, just send Dali to approve the arrest, why bother to play me?" Immediately, Cao Pi woke up to the incident, and hurriedly asked: "Since Yu Shitai asked about this matter, could it be that the murderer is a high-ranking official's slave?" ”

Wang Lang immediately bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty has seen thousands of miles, and what you said is true, the murderer is a slave in the Great Sima Mansion, and Weichen does not dare to arrest him without authorization, so he has to ask His Majesty for advice." ”

Cao Pi was furious when he heard this, and shouted: "What a Cao Hong, yesterday he kept boasting about his past merits and disobeying his orders, and today he actually connived at the murder of evil slaves, and did this evil thing, if I don't punish him severely, how can I convince the world?" ”

So he issued an order to put the big Sima Cao Hong's mansion to death with a cane on the spot, and the big Sima Cao Hong because of the connivance of the slaves for evil, and the corruption and bribery, the crime was extremely heinous, and he was put on death row together, and he was beheaded after the autumn.

Cao Hong was in the court at the time, and when he heard the words, he shouted wrongly, and finally saw Cao Pi so resolute, so he shouted: "Isn't it that I didn't agree to borrow money from me at the beginning?" As for making you so angry? Emperor, if you kill me Cao Hong for personal vendetta today, you will definitely taste the corresponding consequences in the future. ”

Cao Pi listened to Cao Hong's words, his face was even more angry, what Cao Hong said was naturally true, and this was the main reason why he wanted to take revenge for personal gain, but he was drunk in front of the court, he was naturally very faceless, and shouted in a deep voice: "Hugh is talking nonsense, just because you have repeatedly violated the law, and I am strict with the law." ”

When the ministers saw Cao Hong being captured, they all pleaded for mercy, especially Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Lian, Xiahou Ru, Xiahou Heng and other members of the royal family, and even kowtowed and bled to beg Cao Pi to spare Cao Hong's life and make him reform for the sake of Cao Hong's two attempts to save Emperor Wu's life and make him reform himself, but Cao Pi resolutely refused, and said that if there were any more intercessors, they would be guilty of the same crime as Cao Hong.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Lian and others saw that Cao Pi was so determined to execute Cao Hong, so they gathered together to discuss countermeasures, and after some discussion, they decided to cry to the Queen Mother, because Cao Pi ruled the world with filial piety, and with the current situation, the only one who could force him to retreat and release Cao Hong was the Empress Dowager Bian.

So these Cao clan relatives came to the palace of the Empress Dowager Bian, cried to the Empress Dowager Bian, and asked the Empress Dowager to intercede with the emperor and spare his life on the part of Cao Hong's loyalty to the emperor and Cao Hong's great achievements.

When Empress Dowager Bian heard that Cao Pi was going to execute Cao Hong, she was naturally shocked, and hurriedly drove forward to see Cao Pi.

When Cao Pi saw his mother coming, he knew that it was because of Cao Hong's matter, but he didn't dare to say more, and hurriedly smiled and said, "What is the identity of the queen mother?" How to condescend to the children's palace? Just send a palace person over, and you will rush to meet you immediately. ”

Empress Dowager Bian sneered and said, "I'm afraid that by the time the emperor arrives in my palace, Zilian will already be dead." Pi'er, Zilian on family affection, is the uncle of the Ru clan, on the monarch and minister, is the important minister of the country, on kindness, saved the life of the first emperor several times. If you don't care about family affection, don't talk about the ministers, don't talk about kindness and righteousness, you want to kill Zilian, it is really self-destroying the Great Wall, the enemy is fast and the relatives are painful, if the emperor you still serve as my mother, you will spare Zilian's life, then you are not a single old man, it is the first emperor, and you will also feel relieved under the nine springs. ”

In the end, Empress Dowager Bian was already full of grievances, which made Cao Pi feel sad after seeing it, and said with tears: "Queen Mother, please rest assured, my son also knows that Da Sima is my uncle, although the national law is ruthless, but he will also think of family affection." ”

Empress Dowager Bian knew that Cao Pi had a strong personality, although she said so, she might not really listen to her own words, so she thought of another person, after she returned to the palace, she called Cao Pi's queen Li again, told Cao Hong about it again, and then threatened in a deep voice: "If you don't intercede with the emperor for the mourning family and release Zilian, the mourning family will let the emperor abolish your throne." ”

When Empress Li saw Empress Dowager Bian say this, where did she dare to disobey? hurriedly agreed, and then took Cao Pi back to the palace, begging Cao Pi to spare Cao Hong over and over again.

Cao Pi saw that the ministers, the queen mother and the queen all pleaded with Cao Hong, and saw that Cao Hong was in prison and was willing to hand over all the family property and military power.

Therefore, Cao Pi ordered that Cao Hong's property be confiscated, and he was removed from his official position, and he was not hired for life, so that he could go home for retirement.

Seeing that Cao Hong was treated like this, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu and others all pleaded for mercy, hoping to demote Cao Hong instead of exempting him from an official title, but Cao Pi resolutely refused, and had no choice but to give up.

However, since then, the ministers of the DPRK and China have complained a lot and expressed their dissatisfaction with Cao Pi's personal revenge. However, Cao Pi successfully took advantage of this incident to recover the military power from Cao Pi, and at the same time shocked the relatives of the Cao family and the Xiahou clan, as well as those heroes of the first emperor, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

After Cao Hong's incident, there was no longer any voice against Cao Pi's expedition to Liaodong, so Cao Pi appointed Youzhou Assassin Shi Zhang He, Fanyang King Cao Zhang commanded an army of 80,000 to attack Liaodong Gongsun Kang, after three months of hard fighting, Zhang He personally led the army to attack, and killed Gongsun Kang on the spot, thus pacifying the Gongsun Kang forces in one fell swoop, and then Fuyu, Lu Lou, Hao Tapir and other northeastern ethnic groups have submitted to the table, which made Cao Pi's prestige unprecedentedly improved, and Cao Pi, who was overjoyed, ordered a feast to celebrate Zhang He's achievements. (To be continued......)