Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

On November 25th of the first year of Jianxing, the Wei army stationed in Dangyin, Hanoi formally surrendered to the Han.

At the surrender ceremony, Zhuge Liang praised Sima Yi and many Wei generals for their witty understanding of current affairs and tomorrow, and also expressed his regret for Sima Yi's sudden illness before the ceremony.

After a series of sacrifices, swearing, reporting to God and other activities, Zhuge Liang announced on the spot that he would present to the emperor and ask for titles for many Cao Wei generals who surrendered.

The list of please seal is naturally provided by Wang Ling in a letter after the fact. Those who secretly participated in the execution of Sima Yi will basically get a fourth-rank position.

The rest of the generals who were kept in the dark and didn't wake up until Sima Yi's death couldn't help complaining about Wang Ling.If it had been said that Zhuge Liang wanted Sima Yi to die, then all of them would actively participate.

However, in order to stop Youyou's mouth, Wang Ling also promised afterwards that as long as everyone kept their mouths tight and said that Sima Yi died suddenly, then in the future when everyone enters the Han Dynasty together, they will hold together to keep warm and will definitely fight for everyone's interests.

After some reassurance, this matter also ended with Sima Yi's death.More than [-] Wei troops surrendered on the spot and accepted the reorganization of the Han army. The old, weak, sick and disabled were released as soon as they should be released. When they were young and strong, they were temporarily reorganized into an army and went north.

However, going northward at this time is actually meaningless, because as early as mid-November, Cao Zhi, who was still involved in the country, heard the news that Xia Houyuan had committed suicide and that Guan Yu had defeated Cao's army on the eastern front, so he quickly withdrew his troops and returned to Yecheng.

At the same time, all the soldiers and horses of Xiangguo had also withdrawn. He hoped to gather some troops to fight a final defensive battle with the Han army in Yecheng.

But Cao Zhi was still on the road, and most of the soldiers and horses dispersed.

Most of Cao Wei's current soldiers and horses are soldiers from aristocratic families. The Han army is almost fighting outside the city of Yecheng. Sima Yi has also accepted the surrender. The news quickly spread throughout Hebei. No matter how stupid the aristocratic families know, there is no hope. .

Therefore, the leading generals of the aristocratic families fled with their subordinates one after another, and only a few thousand loyalists were left for Cao Zhi to bring back to Yecheng.

As for Guan Yu, Shen Chen, and Zhuge Liang, there were hundreds of letters sent by the aristocratic families every day, and a large number of Hebei aristocratic families submitted petitions to surrender, expressing their willingness to submit to the great man.

At this moment, Cao Wei had no chance of turning the tables. After Cao Zhi returned to Yecheng, there were basically less than three to four thousand people left.Now the whole city of Ye is in turmoil, a large number of dignitaries from aristocratic families have fled, and the common people have also left frantically, Ye city is in chaos.

Cao Zhi did not prevent the people from leaving. Some members of the Cao family fled, and some committed suicide. Now the emperor has become a widow. Many people in the palace are fleeing, and chaos has filled the entire city.

By late November, the armies of Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Guan Yu had surrounded Yecheng. The gates of Yecheng were closed tightly, and almost all the people who should run away also ran away, and the whole city became empty.

"Prime Minister, Xiaoqing (Hussar General)!"

"General Marshal, General Chariot, General Wei, Zilong (uncle)."

Outside the south gate of Ye City, on the country road about ten miles away from the city, there was a convoy slowly approaching.

Guan Yu took Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun to wait under the pavilion beside the road.

After the convoy arrived, Zhuge Liang got off the carriage, and Shen Chen, who was riding beside him, also got off his horse.

The six greeted each other.

Zhang Fei had always been a general on Zhuge Liang's side before, and he was Zhuge Liang's number one fierce general. When confronting Sima Yi Yingchuan, he led the army to challenge many times.

When Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen surrendered 12 Wei troops this time, he heard that Guan Yu had already reached Yecheng, so he hurried over first.

After the 12 Wei army was surrendered, because the army was bloated and there were many aftermaths to deal with, Zhuge Liang planned to deal with these matters first, and let Guan Yu take Yecheng first, and then go north to sweep Hebei and Youzhou, and directly take Liaodong .

Unexpectedly, Shangshutai, Zhongshusheng and Menxia Temple sent Liu Chan an edict asking him to go to Yecheng.

Now Liu Chan has arrived in Luoyang to personally supervise the battle. Although the capital has not been moved to Luoyang, the three provinces and departments have also followed the emperor Luan to the old capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, the speed of message transmission is still very fast, and it can be sent back and forth in almost three days.

After receiving Liu Chan's edict, Zhuge Liang ordered Wu Yi to be the main general temporarily, leaving Zhou Buyi, Ma Liang, Huang Quan, Cai Du and others as assistants. He and Shen Chen took only a few thousand people to Yecheng non-stop.

The reason why he was in such a hurry was that Cao Zhi gave Liu Chan a watch and was willing to surrender. This is also one of the main reasons why Guan Yu, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun and the others besieged and did not attack.

At this moment, everyone gathers.

Shen Chen raised his head and glanced at Guan Yu, whom he hadn't seen for more than a year.

He saw that Guan Yu really needed to raise his head, because Guan Yu was 1.8 meters tall, while he was [-] meters tall, about the same as Zhuge Liang, who was a head taller than him.

However, in the past, when Guan Yu stood in front of Shen Chen, Shen Chen would feel that the other party was like a giant, full of oppression.

But now he has no such feeling at all. Guan Yu's hair and beard have turned white, and his face is covered with wrinkles. Then a few centimeters.

Time is not forgiving, time will dilute everything and change everything.Even emperors, generals, gifted scholars and beauties, in the end, they are nothing but a handful of loess, and they will not be any different from others.

"Uncle Yun."

Shen Chen looked at Guan Yu and hesitated to speak.

Guan Yu smiled, and also patted Shen Chen on the shoulder, but did not speak.

He is 67 years old, and even Zhang Fei is 63 years old. At their age, many things can be seen for a long time.

"Let's go."

Guan Yu said.

A group of people followed the road and headed towards the camp.

At this time, the Han army had more than a dozen troops and nearly 20 people outside Yecheng. The camps were continuous, and the banners covered the sky and the sun, and surrounded Yecheng tightly.

After arriving in the commander's camp, everyone sat in rows, no one took the main seat, and there were all giants here, even Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, who were smaller, one was General Wei and the other was a former general.

Theoretically speaking, although Guan Yu is a Grand Marshal, this position is an honorary position. In fact, his position is still a Grand General, that is, a Grand Marshal and a Grand General. In the ranking of officials in the Han Dynasty, these two positions are both first-rank .

And Zhuge Liang's position as prime minister is also the first grade, and the two should be in the same rank.

However, the prime minister is the head of a hundred officials and has the political and military power of the whole country. The real one is under one person and over ten thousand people, so in a sense, Guan Yu will be dispatched by Zhuge Liang.

It’s just that Zhuge Liang was more humble, so there was no chief seat. Everyone sat facing each other according to the order of the position. In the Han Dynasty, the right was the most respected. , facing Shen Chen is Zhang Fei, followed by Ma Chao and Zhao Yun.

After everyone sat down, Zhuge Liang asked, "Generalissimo, what has Yecheng become?"

Guan Yu said: "Cao Zhi fled back to Yecheng, and the people in the big city fled one after another. We didn't stop them, and we didn't hurt the people. We don't know what's going on in the city now. Some officials who escaped said that Cao Zhi's people fled. In the imperial palace, the city gates are not guarded by anyone."

"Yes, Your Majesty must let us surround the city first, otherwise, according to my intention, we will directly enter the city, tie up that little Cao Zhi and send him to Luoyang, what need to spend so much time to do, we can directly regain the world gone."

Zhang Fei spread his hands and shouted, "Now we are still waiting outside the city, making it look like that little Cao Zhi is still some kind of Great Wei Emperor. Do we need to be so troublesome?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Yide doesn't need to be impatient, there should be a process."

Although Cao Zhi expressed his willingness to surrender, the ancient emperors had a set of procedures for surrender, just like Liu Chan and Sun Hao expressed their expressions when they were destroyed in history.

The first thing is to prepare the ceremony of subjugation, plain chariots and white horses, the meat is tied up with the face exposed, the sheep is led by the biscuit, the doctor is subdued, the scholar is a coffin, and the relatives are led out of the city.The person who accepted the surrender had to come and untie him personally, accept the treasure, and burn the coffin, and this set of rituals will end.

Zhuge Liang is now representing Liu Chan to accept Cao Zhi's surrender ceremony.

Immediately Zhuge Liang sent someone to Yecheng to issue a notice to Cao Zhi, and at this moment in Yecheng, Cao Zhi was still sitting alone in the palace hall, with more than 30 ministers, his wife, concubines and children, a total of more than [-] people .

After a while, a small yellow door hurried in and reported to him: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhuge has arrived outside the city with the imperial edict of the Emperor of Han."

Cao Zhichang sighed, stood up and said, "Let's go."

The things used for the ceremony outside were all ready. Cao Zhi should have taken off his clothes, tied his hands, held a jade pendant in his mouth, and then led the sheep, but he didn't do that. Instead, he asked a young man to replace him.

More than 50 people walked out of the palace slowly. The street was empty, and there was no one there. Only two rows of Han soldiers stood in the direction of the city gate in the distance.

Surrounded by soldiers, a middle-aged official of the Han Dynasty came over, first saluted Cao Zhi, and then led them out of the city.

Outside the city, Zhuge Liang and others were already standing in the north wind. The snow had stopped recently, but the weather was still very cold. The boy who took off Cao Zhi's clothes was only in his teens, and was shivering from the cold. Seeing this, Cao Zhi sighed With a sound, he hugged him in his arms and continued to move forward.

Soon they came to the front, and the middle-aged official pointed to Cao Zhi and said to Zhuge Liang: "Prime Minister, this is Emperor Wei."

Zhuge Liang glanced at Cao Zhi with some doubts, and asked, "What do you mean, sir?"

Cao Zhiling then stood up and said: "The three prosperity of the great man is also the destiny. Wei does not have the destiny, and the destruction of the country is a matter of course. My throne was forced by Cao Rui before he died. He wanted me to be the king of subjugation, but I am not I owe Cao Pi and his son, so today I have passed the throne to my nephew Cao Lin, I hope you will treat him kindly."

Zhuge Liang frowned.

He felt that Cao Zhi's character was somewhat problematic. Before the kingdom was destroyed, he passed the throne to his nephew, obviously because he didn't want to be the king of the country. It seemed a little unkind to do so.

However, Shen Chen understood Cao Zhi better. He said in Zhuge Liang's ear: "Cao Pi and his son are quite harsh on Cao Zhi. They not only strictly guarded Cao Zhi, but also repeatedly suppressed him, almost killing him. Have you heard about the seven-step poem?" "

"I see."

Only then did Zhuge Liang understand why Cao Zhi did this.

Cao Pi and his son treated Cao Zhi so badly, Cao Rui was about to destroy the country, and he wanted to persecute his uncle, and pass on the throne to him as the king of subjugation. Although Cao Zhi reluctantly accepted it because of Cao Cao's affection, but at this point, He doesn't want to continue to be the seed of resentment and blame Cao Pi and his son.

So it is a matter of course to do so, but the responsibility that should have been borne by Cao Pi and Cao Rui's father and son was forced to be placed on Cao Pi's youngest son, Cao Rui's younger brother Cao Lin, which is indeed a bit pitiful.

Under normal circumstances, Liu Chan's imperial edict should be read out first, and then continue the process.Seeing this, Zhuge Liang went up to help Cao Lin untie the rope, accepted the jade seal, asked someone to dress Cao Lin, burned the coffin, and then read the imperial edict.

The content of the imperial edict is very simple. First of all, it says that the great man was ordered by the heavens, and he was destined by the heavens. Cao Cao conspired against him, and Cao Pi usurped the Han.But as the so-called destiny belongs to virtue, the virtuous will not commit crimes to those who are willing to surrender, and Cao Cao, Cao Pi and other chief culprits are dead, so Cao Zhi will not be condemned, and he will be named Hou Yunyun of Guiming.

Cao Zhi accepted the edict on behalf of Cao Lin, the Cao family and many surrendered officials kowtowed and kowtowed, and the ceremony ended.

Zhuge Liang was about to order someone to send them to Luoyang. Cao Zhi looked at the sword on his waist and said, "Prime Minister, Zhi has something to ask."

"What's the matter with Guiming Hou?"

Zhuge Liang asked.

Cao Zhi smiled wryly, raised his head and looked at the sky, and said softly: "Cao Pi is the elder brother of my mother and compatriots, but I have been tabooed by him all my life, and my life is like walking on thin ice. Now that the Great Wei has perished, I am much more relaxed. Hou, please give it to my nephew, the heir is innocent, please be kind to the prime minister."

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice: "Han is a country of benevolence, righteousness and etiquette. Since you have accepted your surrender, they will not be harmed. Please rest assured."

"So, I have nothing to miss."

Cao Zhi walked up to Zhuge Liang, tidied up his clothes, bowed his hands to him, and said, "Prime Minister, please lend me the sword at my waist, and allow me to cut myself. My father eats Han's salary, but he is sorry for the big man. My elder brother was bequeathed by his father. , I am sorry for the people of the people. They are all dead, so I should bear the responsibility for this crime, to thank the world."

Zhuge Liang was surprised and said, "Why are you here?"

Cao Zhi shook his head and said resolutely: "Zhi's death has been decided. Even if the Prime Minister refuses to agree, I will go up to the tower and jump down. Please borrow the sword."

"Ugh."

Zhuge Liang let out a long sigh.

He knew that it was useless to persuade the person who wanted to die, so he untied the sword from his waist and handed it over with both hands, which can be regarded as respect for Cao Zhi.

Shen Chen looked at Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhi also looked at him, his eyes full of death.

Holding the sword in both hands, he bent down to salute Shen Chen and said, "General Hussars, the Cao family is sorry for your Deng and Chen family. Although I was only two years old at that time, I also heard about the massacre of Xuzhou by my father. The Cao family can have what it is today. This is God's punishment for us, I hope General Hussars can take Zhi Zhi's self-imposed suicide as an excuse, and don't embarrass the rest of Cao's descendants."

Shen Chen said coldly: "I have killed enough of your Cao family, the only pity is that I didn't behead Cao Cao's old thief with my own hands. Do you think your head can surpass my hundreds of folks from Zhuangyang, and Is it the blood debt of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou?"

Cao Zhi sighed and said, "Then how can the general spare Cao's descendants?"

"."

Shen Chen hesitated for a while when asked back, not knowing what to say.

The direct enemies who massacred Xuzhou were basically dead. Several of Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahouyuan, Le Jin and others were executed by him, and the second generation of the Cao family was also killed by him. Think carefully Think, maybe there is no enemy.

Before Pang Hui opened the Miemen to revenge, the atmosphere at that time was basically not popular if princes or countries were at war.Even Yuan Shao's descendants were not killed by Cao Cao. Many descendants of Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and others survived. For example, Yuan Shuji, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was a descendant of Yuan Xi.

Therefore, if the direct enemy has been killed and the anger is directed at the descendants of the enemy, it may be criticized in later generations, but at least in the Han Dynasty, this was an indiscriminate killing of innocents. Will not harm the family.

Thinking of this, Shen Chen sighed and said: "After all, I am not a brutal person like the Cao thief. The mastermind and executor who slaughtered Xuzhou are basically dead. I will not embarrass the descendants of the Cao family, but you must Tell me about Thief Cao's tomb."

Cao Zhi was surprised: "Is the general planning to dissect the coffin and kill the corpse?"

"This is what Thief Cao owes me."

Shen Chen looked at him indifferently, he didn't necessarily dissect the coffin and kill the corpse, but why Cao Cao could be buried in a grand manner, and hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou should be treated as floating corpses in Surabaya?

At least he had to throw his bones out by the side of the road and let him become the "bones exposed in the wild" in his poem to relieve his hatred.

Cao Zhi's face was ashen, and finally said: "Okay, I will tell you."

As he spoke, he told Shen Chen the address.

In the end, he took a few steps back and said to Shen Chen, "I hope the general can keep his promise."

"Ah."

Shen Chen nodded.

Cao Zhi raised his sword with both hands, walked outside the south gate of Ye City, raised his head, and looked at the capital of Cao Wei.

Suddenly I don't know why there are many emotions in my heart.

This city used to be the seat of the Yuan family, but was later occupied by the Cao family and became the capital of the Wei state.Now, it's time to call it quits.

I have never owed the Cao family.

Cao Zhi turned his head and looked at his wife, feeling a little bit reluctant, but he was determined to die. He had told his wife and children about these things a long time ago, and told them not to be sad. It is worthwhile to exchange his life for the peace of the descendants of the Cao family.

such a pity.

Obviously I didn't do anything wrong, but in the end I still have to pay off the debts of my father and the elder brother who persecuted me everywhere. There is really no reason in this world.

Cao Zhi drew out his sword without hesitation, aimed at his neck and wiped it heavily without any hesitation.

"Pfft!"

The sharp sword that Liu Bei bestowed on Zhuge Liang instantly slit his throat, cut his neck artery, and blood spurted out.

"Husband!"

Although Cao Zhi's wife knew that her husband was going to commit suicide, seeing this scene, she was still heartbroken and rushed over and threw herself on Cao Zhi's body.

Cao Zhi fell to the ground, before he died, his eyes softly looked at his crying wife and children, and he fell silent after a while.

"I'm leaving, brother, please help with the aftermath."

When Shen Chen saw this scene, he didn't know why, but felt dull and lost interest.

It seems a bit cheap for Cao Cao to write off the blood debt of the Cao family like this.

But looked up at the world.

There are no people in this world who have any hatred against him, basically all of them are dead, and there are even many people who have nothing to do with his hatred, but the people surnamed Cao suffer.

At this moment, Shen Chen had the feeling of drawing his sword and looking around in a daze, not knowing who to take revenge on.

No wonder Wu Zixu wanted to dissect the coffin and kill the corpse.

It's really uncomfortable to feel that only some of the enemies died in his own hands, but the chief villain, Cao Cao, died of a natural illness.

But that's life, isn't it?

Shen Chen stepped on the wet mud and walked towards the camp.