Yedu in December is also a snow-capped world, the river is frozen, the lake is frozen, and the thick snow covers the entire land of Hebei, at this time it is less than ten days away from the New Year, but the Yedu city can not see the lively and prosperous scene of Chang'an.

The streets are deserted, there is a shortage of goods in the market, there are few transactions, most of the shops are closed, and the only businesses that do a little better are taverns and green houses.

People in Yedu say that the New Year in Yedu is getting bleaker year by year, and the Hefei War has made the New Year of Jian'an 22 years in extreme poverty in the material, after a year of recovery, the supply of grain stocks and various living materials has increased slightly, and the New Year of Jian'an 23 years should be better, but on the contrary, this year's New Year is even more deserted and bleak than last year.

Of course, this is because of the great influence of a political turmoil that purged the officialdom, so that everyone in the officials was in danger, and no one had the heart to handle the New Year's affairs, but the other reason was the intensification of the Ding Decree in Cao Wei's territory, and the demise of the yeoman farmers caused Cao Wei's tax revenue to drop by half, which had reached the point where the Cao Wei regime was difficult to maintain.

The stricken scholars used their methods to protest against the Cao Wei regime, the purchase of properties in Guanzhong, the relocation of the head of the family to the west, etc., among which the boycott of the New Year was also one of the means of resistance of the scholars.

Although the atmosphere of the New Year in Yedu was extremely cold, Cao Pi, the ruler of Cao Wei, was in a particularly happy mood, and a purge of Cao Zhi's forces finally achieved the pre-set goal, and the remnants of Cao Zhi's forces were almost wiped out.

At the same time, Cao Pi was excited that his father's use of the army to implement the Ding Decree had achieved remarkable results, and the government had added one million hectares of cultivated land and 200,000 homesteaders, and this was only the beginning, and by the end of next year, at least one million homesteaders would be added, which meant that the decline in tax revenue next year would be reversed.

For Cao Pi, who is in charge of government affairs, this is an extremely exciting event, and even more happy than winning a battle.

In the room, Cao Pi was pacing back and forth with his negative hands, he had just received the news that Zhong Miao had returned from Chang'an and was about to arrive in Yedu, in Cao Pi's eyes, Zhong Miao was definitely the fish that slipped through the net of this political enemy's purge, and he was a heavyweight who supported Cao Zhi.

Although Cao Pi is inferior to his father Cao Cao in military affairs, he is better than the blue in the political struggle, he knows that the power struggle must be cut to the end, and Cao Zhi must be completely overthrown, and he will not be given any chance to turn over, and Zhong Xuan's survival is a glimmer of hope for Cao Zhi to turn over.

Cao Pi secretly made up his mind that this time he would eradicate Zhong Xuan no matter what, and he could not be allowed to escape this purge, so he would use Zhong Xuan as a net sacrifice for his official purge.

Just thinking about it, there was a guard outside the door to report: "Qi Yu Shizi, Hua Shizhong has arrived." ”

Cao Pi perked up and hurriedly said, "Quickly invite him in!" ”

After a moment, Hua Xin walked into the room quickly, bowed and saluted, "See the prince!" ”

"Sit down and talk."

Cao Pi invited Hua Xin to sit down and said to him: "I just got the news that Zhong Xuan is about to arrive in Yedu. ”

Hua Xin was stunned, of course he knew what Cao Pi meant by saying this to him, Cao Pi wanted to attack Zhong Xuan, which made Hua Xin a little embarrassed, Hua Xin knew Cao Pi very well, the desire for power was too heavy, and he was narrow-minded, he couldn't tolerate dissidents, and he killed Cao Zhi's forces, but sometimes it was not necessarily a good thing to do too much.

Hua Xin is actually a narrow-minded person, but he has brains better than Cao Pi, he knows that the real power of Cao Wei is still in the hands of Cao Cao, if they are in a hurry, it will be self-defeating, it is better to wait for Cao Pi to really ascend the throne, and it is not too late to eradicate Zhong Xuan.

However, although Hua Xin thought so, he did not express it directly, he is a politician after all, the difference between a politician and a politician is that a politician needs to figure out his intentions, and Hua Xin needs to understand Cao Pi's will, once Cao Pi eradicates Zhong Xuan's strong will, Hua Xin will be too opposed, which will be unfavorable to him.

Hua Xin pondered for a moment and said: "Although this purge of Gongzi Zhi's forces has been agreed by Duke Wei, it is also Duke Wei's arrangement to send Zhong Xuan to Jiaozhou, it can be seen that Duke Wei deliberately let Zhong Xuan avoid this purge, if His Highness decides to eradicate Zhong Xuan, we can only think of ways from other aspects." ”

Hua Xin first implicitly reminded Cao Pi that eliminating Zhong Xuan might anger Duke Wei, but he did not insist on opposing it, but handed over the decision to Cao Pi again, and he had already reminded Cao Pi that it was Cao Pi's own business to decide how to decide.

Cao Pi took a confidential information from the table, this is the imperial history of Cheng Yang Tian got a report from Chang'an, recording Zhong Xuan's every move in Chang'an, this is the reason why Cao Pi wanted to eradicate Zhong Xuan, Zhong Xuan was not abducted to Chang'an by the Han army at all, he was treated ceremoniously in Chang'an, and even Liu Jing, the king of Han, personally received him.

Cao Pi felt that this was a good opportunity, of course, he could wait a few more years, and then clean up Zhong Xuan after he fully ascended the throne, but Cao Pi was really a little scared, afraid that his father's order would change overnight, and he would have to consider the succession of his third brother Cao Zhi.

Although Cao Pi also recognized Zhong Xuan as the prime minister's talent, but compared to his power position, he could also give up ten Zhong Xuan, Cao Pi handed the information to Hua Xin, "You take a look first!" ”

Hua Xin took the information and read it carefully, he was also secretly surprised, could it be that Cao Pi wanted to deal with Zhong Xuan, this was indeed an opportunity, but Hua Xin didn't want to take on this matter, he nodded and said: "It is completely reasonable to let Yu Shi come forward to impeach, and the prince of this matter should not show up, stay out of the matter, and believe that the Wei Guild will weigh the pros and cons." ”

Cao Pi nodded, "I think the same way, it's best for me to go to Taiyuan to supervise the Ding order and avoid this matter." ”

Hua Xin stroked his palms and laughed, "The prince is clever, it's really a good idea!" ”

Not long after Hua Xin's farewell, Yang Tian hurried to Cao Pi's Xiangguo Mansion in the imperial history, and Yang Tian was also in charge of Cao Jun's intelligence point in the Han Kingdom.

Although Yang Tian secretly communicated with the Han State on a certain Cheng dù, he was after all the imperial historian of the Wei State and Cao Pi's confidant, and he was also actively working hard for Cao Pi.

Yang Tian rushed to Cao Pi's study and saluted him, Cao Pi ordered him to sit down, and said slowly: "The information you sent is very important, you can use the topic to bring down Zhong Xuan, I will leave this matter to you, I hope you don't let me down." ”

Yang Tian suddenly felt that his shoulders became heavy, and he actually handed over the heavy task of overthrowing Zhong Xuan to himself, but he didn't dare to refuse, so he had to nod silently, Cao Pi looked at him with blazing eyes, and saw that he did not retreat, he was very satisfied, and said: "You first draft a specific plan, give it to me to see, and then I will go to Taiyuan to supervise the Ding Order, and then you impeach Zhong Xuan, at this time, you must implement it as much as possible, you tell me first, how long do you need to prepare the plan?" ”

"Wechen will take about three days!"

Cao Pi shook his head, "Three days is too long, you can give me the plan tomorrow!" ”

Zhong Xuan and a dozen of his entourage returned to Yedu in the afternoon, after a two-month long journey, everyone was also very tired, all kinds of return home and family reunion, Zhong Xuan also prepared to write an envoy report in the evening, to be submitted to Cao Cao early tomorrow morning.

This time, most of Zhong Xuan's entourage were his cronies, but there were also several low-level officials of the Wei State who accompanied Zhong Xuan on the envoy, and among these officials, there was a minor official named Zhang Qi, who was engaged in Honglu and was a native of Yedu.

After breaking up with Zhong Xuan, he also hurried home to reunite with his wife and children, Zhang Qi's family background is okay, there is a small house covering an area of two acres, there are five hectares of ancestral land outside the city of Yedu, and there is a maid in the family, and it is also a well-off family in Yedu.

It was getting dark, the family was sitting by the fire to eat, listening to Zhang Qi tell the interesting story of Jiaozhou, the whole family laughed from time to time, at this moment, someone knocked on the door outside, Zhang Qi's wife was a little unhappy, how to come to the door during dinner, she asked the maid to open the door.

After a while, the maid walked back quickly and said to Zhang Qi: "Master, I am looking for your guest." ”

"I'll take a look!"

Zhang Qi put down the bowl and walked into the courtyard, only to see a person standing in the courtyard, looking at his house, there seemed to be a few followers outside the door, the faint light shone on the face of the visitor, Zhang Qi was stunned for a moment, the person who came turned out to be Yang Tian in the imperial history.

Frightened, he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Xiaguan see Yang Zhongcheng!" ”

Yang Tian glanced at him and smiled, smiling: "Your house is good!" ”

Yang Tian has been badly commented on in the officialdom of Yedu, and he is a notoriously cool official, especially in recent months, he launched the Jian'an Seven Sons Case, cleaned up hundreds of officials, and acted viciously, and no less than 20 officials died in the Imperial History Prison.

Although Zhang Qi had just come back, he also heard about it on the road, and now Yang Tian actually appeared in his house, how could he not be frightened, he didn't know Yang Tian's intentions, so he had to reply stubbornly: "This is the ancestral house, which has been passed down for five generations." ”

"I see, Zhang Zhi, let me stand in the yard and enjoy the snow, it doesn't seem to be hospitality!"

Zhang Qi was so frightened that he hurriedly pushed open the door of the study, "Yang Zhongcheng, please come in!" ”

There was a brazier lit in the study, it was very warm, Zhang Qi was going to take a good rest in the study, but Yang Tian took the lead, he asked Yang Tian to sit down, and walked out of the yard, just when his wife came over and asked, "Who is it?" ”

"Don't ask, go and fry a good pot of tea."

Zhang Qi whispered a few words to his wife, then returned to the study, and said with a smile: "Yang Zhongcheng wait a while, the inner person has gone to sencha." ”

"Huh! I'm not here for tea, I just want to have a chat with Zhang. ”

Yang Tian had a wicked smile on his face, and waved his hand very politely: "Zhang Zhi, please take a seat." ”

Zhang Qi was very afraid of this imperial book, and sat down tremblingly, Yang Tian asked lightly: "Zhang Zhen also went to Chang'an this time!" ”