The day gradually brightened, Cao Zhi stayed awake all night, sitting silently in front of a brazier, waiting for the moment when God decided his fate, at this time, there was a rush of footsteps outside, several Xiahoudun's personal soldiers walked quickly into the lobby, Cao Zhi immediately stood up and greeted him, "How is it?" He asked nervously.

"Please come with us!"

Several soldiers did not answer his question, turned around and walked out, Cao Zhi was puzzled, followed the soldiers to the front of the house, only to see a stretcher in front of the house, next to a dozen soldiers standing, on the stretcher lay a person, it was his brother Cao Pi, he had an arrow stuck in his neck, his face was like gold paper, life and death were unknown.

Cao Zhi was taken aback and hurriedly rushed forward, "How is he?" Cao Zhi asked anxiously.

A soldier next to him shook his head, "I'm out of breath, I'm too badly injured." ”

Cao Zhi's legs were weak, and he slowly knelt down in front of his brother, tears welled up, at this time remorse bit his heart like a devil, he held his brother's cold hand, and couldn't help crying loudly, years of ambition and resentment in front of the brotherly affection that was about to disappear, suddenly became so hateful and humble, why did he compete with his eldest brother for the position of the son? Why did you kill Big Brother? How could he explain it to his father and mother!

Cao Zhi lay down on his brother's corpse and wept in mourning, at this time, Xiahoudun helped him up, sighed and said: "People can't be resurrected after death, so let's mourn on Gongzi's Day!" ”

Cao Zhi shook off Xiahoudun's hand suddenly, "Let go of me!" ”

His blood-red teary eyes seemed to erupt with fire, "You killed my brother!" ”

Xiahoudun's one-eyed eyes suddenly became extremely hideous at this moment, and he said coldly: "We are grasshoppers on a rope, the world will not think that I killed him, it is you!" Everyone in the world knows that you killed your brother. ”

Cao Zhi took two steps back and shook his head repeatedly, "No! I didn't do it, I didn't kill my brother, I didn't do it! ”

Xiahoudun snorted, gave the soldiers next to him a look, two tall and strong soldiers tightly held Cao Zhi's arms from both sides, and forcibly pulled Cao Zhi outward, only to see that outside the gate of the mansion, tens of thousands of soldiers gathered, everyone was very excited, when Cao Zhi suddenly appeared, tens of thousands of people raised their arms together and shouted, "Long live Childe!" Banzai! ”

Cao Zhi looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers and shouted, his mind was blank at the moment, he didn't know whether to be happy or sad, Xiahou Dun smiled, "Congratulations to Gongzi on his upcoming ascension to the position of Duke of Wei!" ”。

At the beginning of December of the 24th year of Jian'an, Xiahoudun launched a coup d'état in Yedu, Cao Pi was ambushed and killed by an arrow, and the dispute between the sons of the world finally came to an end.

On the day Cao Zhang learned that his eldest brother Cao Pi was killed, he led 20,000 Youzhou troops back to Youzhou, and no longer participated in the battle of the son, which lasted nearly ten years, and finally ended with Cao Zhi's victory, but in fact, the Cao brothers were all losers, and the final winner was the general Xiahoudun.

Although the internal struggle of the Cao clan finally ended, Cao Wei was defeated on the battlefield, Xiahou was still killed in Bingzhou, the Han army seized Bingzhou, in Qingzhou, the veteran generals Huang Zhong and Lü Meng led 50,000 Han troops from Xuzhou to the north, in Qi County to meet with the Han army sailors who had gone north in advance, so that the strength of the Han army in Qingzhou reached 80,000.

Cao Xiu knew that he could not match the Han army, he could not hold Qingzhou, so he had to use the excuse of returning to the king of Yedu Qin, and led 30,000 Cao troops to retreat north of the Yellow River and retreat in the direction of Yedu.

At this time, the strength of the Cao army still had 110,000 people, but the troops were scattered all over the place, among which Xu Huang's 20,000 Cao army was besieged in Luoyang by the 100,000 army led by Zhao Yun, and the other 20,000 Cao troops were brought back to Youzhou by Cao Zhang, so that the main force of the Cao army that Ye Du could really command was only 70,000 people, and the Han army had reached 500,000 troops after winning the battle of the Central Plains, and the time to unify the world was getting closer and closer.

In the city of Yedu, a hundred tiger cavalry escorted Cao Zhi's carriage on the street slowly, through the window, Cao Zhi found that the street seemed to be lively again, full of hurried pedestrians, which made him feel a little confused, at this time, he suddenly found that there was a long queue in the corner of the street, there were hundreds of people.

"Let's see, what's going on?" Cao Zhi ordered one of the guards.

The guards urged the horse to gallop up, and came back after a while to report: "Prime Minister Qiqi, it is a conscription, and those who serve in the army can get a stone of food immediately, so the registration is relatively enthusiastic." ”

Cao Zhi was slightly unhappy in his heart, he didn't even know about this matter, needless to say, this must be Xiahoudun in the lead, especially what made Cao Zhi dissatisfied was that there were more than 400,000 stone grain in the granary of Yedu, but the grain he could use was only 50,000 stone, and the rest of the grain was all military food, which was in Xiahoudun's hands.

Not only the grain, but also the gold and money in the Yedu treasury were all controlled by Xiahou Xuan, nominally Xiahou Xuan did not interfere in government affairs, but in fact, he controlled the money, food and materials, which was equivalent to controlling the military and political power, and he was just a puppet.

Although Cao Zhi hated it in his heart, he was helpless, so he had to sigh and say, "Keep going!" ”

After a short time, the carriage stopped in front of Cheng Yu's house, since Cheng Yu returned to Yedu, he said that he was ill and did not ask about current affairs, although Cao Zhi replaced his eldest brother as prime minister, but he was very hesitant in his heart, and he needed Cheng Yu's guidance.

In front of the mansion, Cheng Yu's eldest grandson Cheng Ke had been waiting for a long time, and when Cao Zhi slowly stepped out of the carriage, Cheng Ke immediately greeted him, bowed down and said, "See the prime minister!" ”

"No need to be polite, is your grandfather in good health?"

"My grandfather is not in good health and is lying on the sickbed."

Cao Zhi nodded, "I'll go see him." ”

Cheng Ke led Cao Zhi to walk quickly to the inner house, and walked into the ward, only to see Cheng Yu lying on the hospital bed, a maid was feeding him medicine, seeing Cao Zhi walk in, Cheng Yu hurriedly pushed the maid away, struggling to sit up, but Cao Zhi stepped forward to support him, and said repeatedly: "Military advisor, please rest in bed!" ”

Cheng Yu gasped and said, "When the son arrives, I have to sit up!" ”

Cheng Ke stepped forward to help his grandfather sit up, and put a thick mattress behind him, Cao Zhi saw that Cheng Yu was skinny and pale, and he was indeed very sick, not pretending, he was sad in his heart, and asked, "How does the military advisor feel?" ”

Although Cheng Yu was seriously ill, his mind was very clear, he nodded and said: "Thank you Gongzi for your concern, the old man is nearly eighty years old, and he is already a long-lived person, and it is enough to count his life if he doesn't last long, but what is the current situation of Duke Wei, has Gongzi seen it?" ”

"I went to visit my father every day, and sometimes he was in a coma and sometimes he woke up, just."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhi sighed, and said very sadly in his heart: "It's just that my father has run out of oil, he." He doesn't know me anymore. ”

"Hey! That's fine, let him go in peace! ”

Cao Zhi understood Cheng Yu's feelings, why didn't he think so in his heart, if his father came to his senses and knew about their brothers' cannibalism, how would he face his father? His mother washed her face with tears every day, and he didn't dare to see her.

Both of them were silent, and after a long while, Cheng Ke next to him reminded in a low voice: "Didn't the prime minister want to ask my grandfather something?" ”

A sentence reminded Cao Zhi, and he hurriedly said: "Now the external shape is not good, the Han army has captured the state, Cao Xiu was also forced to give up Qingzhou, we are only left with a lonely city in Hebei and Luoyang, I want to ask the military division, what should we do now?" ”

Cheng Yu smiled bitterly, what else could he say, at the beginning he persuaded Cao Pi to go back to Hebei immediately to recruit soldiers, maybe there was a glimmer of hope, now that the overall situation has been decided, even if it is an immortal, it is difficult to reverse, but this kind of desperate words can't be spoken, and Cao Zhi still has to be appeased a few words.

Cheng Yu groaned and said: "I heard that there is a conscription outside, this path is right, now the key is time, whether it is training new recruits, or regrouping, it will take time, at least a year and a half, and in addition, we have to find a way to make Xu Huang's army withdraw to Hebei, so the only thing that Gongzi has to do is to negotiate with the Han State and do his best to gain time." ”

"But. . . Now that the Han army is gaining momentum, are they willing to negotiate concessions? Cao Zhi asked worriedly.

"This difficulty is indeed very difficult, but it is not impossible, after all, it is winter, the Han army has to adjust and rest, and Liu Jing also needs to make political preparations, if you ask Concubine Cao to intercede again, I think there is still a little hope, but in any case, Gongzi must do his best."

Cao Zhi didn't have much hope, but Cheng Yu's last sentence touched him, it is true, even if there is no hope, he has to do his best, Cao Zhi nodded silently, "Thank you for the guidance of the military advisor, Cao Zhi has been taught!" ”

Cao Zhi said goodbye and left, Cheng Ke sent Cao Zhi out of the mansion, at this time, Cheng Yu said to the maid: "Go find the eldest son to meet me!" ”

After a while, the eldest son Cheng Wu hurriedly walked into his father's ward, "Is father looking for a child?" ”

Cheng Yu pointed to the cushion beside him, "Sit down first!" ”

Cheng Wu sat down, at this time, the eldest grandson Cheng Ke returned to his grandfather's ward, he saw that his father was also there, he didn't dare to say much, so he lowered his hand and stood behind his father, Cheng Yu closed his eyes and rested for a while, and then slowly said to the eldest son: "There are some things I didn't say to Cao Zhi, but you should understand that Cao Wei has gone to ......

Cheng Ke next to him couldn't help but say: "Sun Er knows that the Cao brothers' infighting has greatly weakened Cao Wei's strength at a critical moment. ”

Cheng Ke suddenly saw his father's dissatisfied gaze, and he realized that he shouldn't interrupt his grandfather's speech, so frightened that he quickly lowered his head and didn't dare to say more.

Cheng Yu glanced at the eldest grandson lovingly, and said with a slight smile: "The infighting between the Cao brothers is actually just a façade, the fundamental reason is that Cao Cao has not been able to get the support of the scholars, he coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, although he occupied the political advantage, but he lost his footing in morality, at first this moral disadvantage can be ignored, he can even kill Bian Rang and Kong Rong unscrupulously."

But after the defeat in the Battle of Chibi, this moral disadvantage is accumulating day by day, the most obvious is the dissatisfaction of Xun's uncle and nephew with Cao Cao, which is actually the embodiment of the dissatisfaction of the family with him, Cao Cao also tried to entrap the scholars, but failed, Yang Xiu's death was his warning to the scholars after the failure of the envelopment, but it was still meaningless. ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Yu sighed and said: "It wasn't until the year before last that he finally became ruthless, implemented the Ding Order, and completely cleaned up the Shi clan, but it was too late, without the support of the family, Cao Wei's national strength was declining day by day, and the local government was at both ends of the rat, and the people's hearts were not attached, this is the root of Cao Wei's failure, as for the repeated defeats in the war, and the currency was controlled by the Han State, these are just results, do you understand what I mean?" ”

Cheng Wu understood a little, "Father means that Cao Wei has been defeated, let us defect to the Han Kingdom?" ”

Cheng Yu nodded, took out a letter shaft from under the pillow, and handed it to the eldest grandson Cheng Ke, "This is a letter I wrote to Liu Jing, Ke'er can take it to Taiyuan to meet Liu Jing, the king of Han, and it can be regarded as the last bit of inheritance I left to the Cheng family." ”

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