Huang Zhi woke up from a deep sleep, and in front of him was an antique bedroom, with a faint fragrance on the sandalwood couch, and a screen at the head of the bed, draped in a black deep coat, which looked very familiar. He sat up and found himself dressed in an antique plain kudzu pajamas, which were in harmony with the room.

In one corner of the room, the sunlight shines through the papier-mâché window lattice, and a hazy yellow light falls on a dark purple sandalwood desk, and the desk is full of pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Behind the desk is a bookscase with some clumsy bronze vessels and dozens of ancient books. Huang Zhi put his clothes on his body and guessed what era it was.

If he remembered correctly, before he fell asleep, he was in the area of Gongxian in the late Sui Dynasty, living in the barracks of the Wagang Army, and it was impossible for him to live in the scholarly mansion he was currently in. After putting on the deep clothes, he already understood where he was, which was clearly the official uniform of the Wei State in the Three Kingdoms era.

Walking out of the room, he pushed the door open, and the morning sun was cast on his face from the southeast, with a warmth that made people want to moan comfortably. Huang Zhi's room has its back to the west and east, obviously not the main house, but a courtyard outside the door, and two guards stand at the gate of the courtyard.

Seeing Huang Zhi come out, one of the guards immediately trotted over, "Tell Lord Zhang that King Wei asked you to go to his mansion as soon as possible, saying that there is something to discuss." ”

Huang Zhi was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the "Master Zhang" in the mouth of this guard was himself. He called himself Zhang Shixin in the main line of the Three Kingdoms.

Although he had just woken up, he didn't feel hungry. In addition, he was curious about why he suddenly broke away from the main line of the Sui and Tang dynasties and entered the main line of the Three Kingdoms, and he felt that everything would naturally come to light after seeing Cao Ying, so he immediately asked his guards to prepare for the car.

When he left the courtyard gate, he turned around and saw the "Jia Mansion" plaque on the door, and he knew that the place where he lived temporarily was Jia Xu's mansion. As for why this arrangement was made, he couldn't guess it for the time being, so he just sat quietly in the carriage and rushed to Cao Ying's mansion.

"By the way, what year is it?" Although I think this question is very silly, it is better to ask the sergeant who is driving the car than to ask Cao Ying later, so Huang Zhi asked this sentence thoughtlessly.

The sergeant was stunned for a moment, obviously thinking that this adult's question was a bit incredible, but he still answered truthfully, "It's March of the 22nd year of Jian'an. ”

Huang Zhi nodded, and began to ponder in his heart about Cao Ying's intention to summon him.

Since he and Sima Fuqiang broke into the war dream world together, he has also learned from the captain and done enough homework on several main war dreams, especially the Three Kingdoms era that he has always been familiar with. In the 22nd year of Jian'an, 217 according to the modern calendar, it was a brief period of peace after Shu Han took Yizhou to achieve three points of the world, and in 218 before the outbreak of a large-scale Hanzhong War between Shu and Wei.

In such a calm year, what kind of major event can make the dream world respond to Cao Ying's call for himself, it is actually the Three Kingdoms that broke the routine and allowed Huang Zhi to leave the Sui and Tang dynasties and come to the year 217.

Jiafu is only a little more than three miles away from the main gate of the Wei Palace, and before he can figure out a reason, the car has already arrived at the destination. With the title of counselor, Huang Zhi passed through the palace gate very easily, after all, his counselor belonged to the subordinate officials of Guanglu Temple, and was nominally in charge of palace guards and miscellaneous affairs.

Although this "incompetent" counselor was the first time to enter the palace of the king of Wei, Cao Ying was obviously prepared for his arrival, and someone led the way to lead Huang Zhi into the inner room of the palace of Tingzheng, which was the glory of a courtier who was deeply trusted by the king of Wei.

Because he didn't understand Cao Ying's intention to summon him, Huang Zhi was worried in his heart, and he didn't have time to care about the environment of the Wei Palace, so he just followed the Lang official of Guanglu Temple into the Tingzheng Hall quickly. After entering the inner room and having the courtesy of the monarch and the minister with Cao Ying, he sat down under his signal.

Cao Ying advocates frugality, this inner room is an ordinary study furnishings, with a stack of folds on top of several cases, obviously he was busy with government affairs before Huang Zhi's arrival. The east-facing side has an open window, and the warm spring sun warms the room, and a bronze finch incense burner is emitting smoke in the sun.

Cao Ying was obviously in a good mood, and chatted with Huang Zhishu with a smile and a few warm words, and then cut to the topic, "There is a lonely thing to decide, Zihuan (Cao Pi) and Zijian (Cao Zhi), both have the wind, I want to set up a person as an heir, I don't know what Shixin has to say?" ”

Huang Zhi didn't expect that Cao Ying summoned him for this matter, to be honest, this question was so simple that he didn't need to use his brain to give the correct answer. But it is precisely because of this that Huang Zhicai deeply felt that there was a hidden mystery in it, so he didn't dare to answer immediately, but replied with "Rong Chen thinks twice", but he tried hard to recall that period of history in his heart.

Since 214, on the matter of establishing an heir, Cao Ying has frequently sent secret letters to ask all the confidants and wise people.

At that time, everyone replied in private, but Cui Yan, who didn't know each other, actually made a stand in public. In order to flaunt his impartiality and selflessness, he did not support Cao Zhi, who was related to him, but openly supported Cao Pi. At that time, Cao Ying ostensibly praised him for "being noble and bright, sighing", but before announcing Cao Pi as the prince, he gave him death in 216.

In contrast, Jia Xu, the old fox, is different, although he privately supports Cao Pi and supports him in the struggle for an heir. But when Cao Ying asked for his opinion, he did not make a clear statement, but skillfully responded with "Si Yuan Benchu, Liu Jingsheng and his son", which actually implied that Cao Ying could not be abolished and grow up.

Three years ago, Cao Ying was hesitant to choose who to choose as his heir, but on the eve of his heirship in 217, there was no reason for him to still consult all parties on this matter.

At this time, Cao Ying was not in a hurry to force Huang Zhi to answer, but sat on his desk to review the folds, as if he had forgotten his existence. In this way, Huang Zhi's idea was strengthened, and Cao Ying's question was by no means simple.

Cao Ying really doesn't know whether to choose Cao Pi? That's impossible. So why did they still ask Jia Xu and Huang Zhi until 217? Thinking of the different fates of Jia Xu and Cui Yan, Huang Zhi suddenly realized.

Cui Yan had been promoted from Shangshu to lieutenant at that time, and he was in charge of the forbidden army, which was a high power compared to Jia Xu, who was still a doctor. In addition, he has openly expressed his support for Cao Pi, and after Zihuan takes the throne, Cui Yan will inevitably be the number one hero who supports it. But in this way, Cao Ying was worried that after a hundred years, Cui Yan would claim to be a hero, relying on the old and selling the old, which would not be conducive to Cao Pi's future governance, so he simply found a trumped-up charge to get rid of him in 216 and help his son clear the obstacles.

On the contrary, looking at Jia Xu, the official position at this time is really a little low, which is completely incommensurate with his contribution. This is clearly a chance for Cao Ying to leave a favor for his son. Sure enough, after Cao Pi took the throne, he immediately promoted Jia Xu to one of the three princes, which naturally made Jia Wenhe grateful and dedicated.

Cao Ying's imperial trick of "reserve cadres" can be described as very beautiful, and many emperors in later generations have taken this as a model and followed his set to pave the way for their son's succession.

To give a more famous example, before his death, Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, demoted the British Duke Li Ji (Xu Shiji) from the military department Shangshu to the governor of Diezhou, and then promoted him to the left servant of the supreme minister after Gaozong Li Zhi succeeded to the throne. The same famous case also appeared in the Qing Dynasty, where Kangxi was the only Hanchen Zhang Tingyu left by Yongzheng who was worthy of the Taimiao.

This is clearly Cao Ying's choice of an assistant for his son, in other words, for the person in the dream, it is the process of inheriting the favorability. Huang Zhi, who wanted to understand this matter, naturally knew how to answer, and what Jia Xu said naturally couldn't be plagiarized, he could only think of his own things to deal with Cao Ying's "knowingly asked".

After some careful consideration, Huang Zhicai coughed lightly and reminded Cao Ying, who was reviewing the folds, to pay attention to his existence.

Cao Ying put down the brush in his hand and looked up at Huang Zhi, who had already prepared his words.

Huang Zhi saw that he had noticed him, so he said, "The minister thinks that Zihuan and Zijian are comparable to the King of Wei when they are combined, but Zijian is good at poetry and songs, and Zihuan is good at grasping people's hearts. I don't know what King Wei thinks, which one is more suitable for governing the country? ”

Cao Ying laughed when he heard this, and no longer asked about it.

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