Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1303 High Place
The abdication between Han and Wei had been prepared intensively for more than half a year. Finally, everything was ready except for the east wind. Liu Xie issued an edict to hold a grand ceremony the next day, abdicating the throne of the Han emperor to King Cao Pi of Wei.

As soon as the news came out, Cao Wei officials in Xudu all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this was related to everyone's vital interests. As for whether they could hold on to it in the future, that was something the Cao clan should consider. As for outsiders like themselves, if they could find a way out in the future, they could also sell them for a better price, right?
However, I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but news from the Jianghuai direction finally arrived.

The first news that came was that Cao Ren and Yu Jin had suffered several defeats in battles and Xiangyang was in a state of emergency. This frightened the Cao Wei officials so much that they wrote a letter suggesting moving the capital. When Cao Pi heard the news, he was extremely angry. He felt that he was incompetent for not being able to build momentum for his abdication at this critical moment!

The other piece of news was quite intriguing, which made the Cao Wei officials who heard it feel mixed emotions.

The good news was that Liu Bei had been seriously injured in the war against the State of Wu and had been bedridden in Changsha. It was feared that he would not survive for more than a few months.

This made the senior officials and generals of Cao Wei feel deeply moved. Cao Cao did not kill Liu Bei for so many years, but let Sun Quan do it instead. No wonder Cao Cao once said when he was alive that if he had a son, he would want him to be like Sun Zhongmou!
But they had not been happy for just one day, as news about the State of Wu made the Cao Wei officials shocked and worried again.

The State of Wu was destroyed by the State of Jin!
Xionghu personally led his troops to capture Nanchang, the capital of Wu. Sun Quan was captured and Wu was destroyed. At the same time, Jin sent envoys to the Han Dynasty to ask for credit. At this time when the Han Dynasty was about to abdicate, it was a slap in the face of Cao Wei!
When Cao Pi heard this, he was so angry that he felt dizzy. After eating two baskets of candied fruits, he took Liu into the house and tortured her before he felt a little relieved.

By the time he leisurely walked out of the door, his face had completely regained its calm. Lying on the ground behind him, Liu was dying.

Cao Pi did not delay and directly summoned a person. The person took advantage of the night and walked all the way from the corridor to the door of Cao Pi's house. Only Wu Zhi led the way the whole time. It was obvious that this person was highly trusted by Cao Pi.

Wu Zhi opened the door and whispered, "The king is waiting inside."

The man entered and the door closed behind him. He saw Cao Pi sitting in the middle, so he stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Zhong Yao greets the king."

Cao Pi waved his hand and said, "My dear, please stand up."

If the officials of Cao Wei saw this scene, they would probably be shocked. When Cao Cao died, Zhong Yao was excluded from the ranks of ministers of state. Later, he was forced to resign and become a commoner because of his involvement in the Wei Feng case. Everyone thought that Zhong Yao was finished.

But only a few people like Wu Zhi knew that Zhong Yao was Cao Pi's true confidant!
Just like Sun Quan had Sun Shao and Yan Jun, two secret subordinates who were extremely loyal to him, Cao Pi was no fool. He had long been cultivating his own trusted forces on purpose. Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo were his absolute trusted subordinates in public, while the several trusted subordinates in secret were a secret, just like Zhong Yao in front of him.

As for how the two got in touch, even Wu Zhi and others didn't know, but Cao Pi called Zhong Yao here late at night, which obviously showed that he trusted him very much.

Cao Pi didn't waste any words and got straight to the point: "Xionghu's move is very sinister. He deliberately waited until the eve of my abdication to do this, just to weaken the authority of my abdication."

"I have a feeling that Xiong Hu will definitely take advantage of the abdication to target me, but I don't know how he will do it, so I asked you to come and talk to me."

Zhong Yao bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise. The evil tiger will definitely take advantage of the opportunity of abdication to create chaos!"

Cao Pi said: "So I want to ask you, my dear, what exactly is he going to do and how to deal with it?"

Zhong Yao said, "The fierce tiger can only do two things."

“One is the threat of force.”

"Yao heard that Xiong Hu was going to return to Shouchun. I am afraid that after he arrives in Shouchun, he will gather the troops from Jianghuai and cooperate with Yecheng to attack Yuzhou and threaten Xudu."

"I'm afraid that Wei's previous feint attack on Shouchun has been seen through. The current forces east of Xudu are not enough to stop the Jin army, so we need to make plans early."

Cao Pi was annoyed when he heard this. "Cao Hong is really incompetent. I ordered him to attack Shouchun from Yuzhou to divert the enemy's attention. But he was stopped by an unknown general of the Jin army, and he also exposed the weakness of this route!"

"When he comes back, I will punish him!"

Zhong Yao said quickly, "No, General Cao is loyal to Your Majesty, and his injuries have not healed yet. It is not easy for him to hold on until now."

"Although Wen Pin has been wasting his time in Jingzhou until middle age and has no outstanding military achievements, he is actually quite good at military strategy. Although he did not directly participate in the Battle of Yecheng, he caused great trouble to the Wei army's supply lines in Yuzhou. This kind of person is definitely not an ordinary person."

Cao Pi didn't want to talk about Cao Hong anymore, so he asked, "What's the other side?"

Zhong Yao said in a deep voice: "It is the action taken by Xionghu directly against the interior of Xudu."

"They could launch a rebellion in Xudu, disrupt the abdication ceremony, or assassinate the king, so the king should pay attention to his safety in the near future."

Cao Pi laughed when he heard this and said, "What a villain! He only knows how to use such despicable means. He dared to send assassins, which shows that he is afraid that I will obtain the Mandate of Heaven!"

"But I won't be too arrogant. I have carefully selected reliable descendants of the Cao and Xiahou families to form the Yulin Guards to protect my safety. I will never let the evil tiger find an opportunity to take advantage of me!"

Zhong Yao showed appreciation on his face, "Your Majesty is right. Seeing Your Majesty mature day by day and live up to your expectations, I am very pleased."

"But I always feel that, besides this, Xionghu has a backup plan."

"I think this backup plan will most likely fall on one person!"

Cao Pi subconsciously asked: "Who?"

Zhong Yao said in a deep voice: "Dong Zhao!"

Cao Pi laughed when he heard this: "Mr. Zhong, you have a lot of grudges against Dong Zhao." "If I hadn't investigated his past in detail and knew that there was no conflict between him and you, I would have thought that Mr. Zhong was venting his anger for personal vengeance."

"I remember that when my father was alive, you had always been targeting him, but later he appointed him as a minister of state, and he has always been conscientious and has done his job well. Why do you think there is something wrong with him, Lord Zhong?"

Zhong Yao bowed and said, "Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty."

"I really haven't found any definite evidence. I can only be sure of one thing. Given Xiong Hu's character, he will never let go of anyone he has met. Xu You and Liu He are like this, so Dong Zhao must be like this too!"

Cao Pi listened and said, "I do agree with you to some extent, my dear."

"Let's not talk about anything else. Liu He has already made his cards clear. He is sure that I will not kill anyone before or after the abdication ceremony, so he is so fearless. He can't escape this account. I will settle with him sooner or later."

"Since Lord Zhong is suspicious of Dong Zhao, I will not ignore him like my father did. How about this? I will ask Dong Zhao to enter the palace early tomorrow morning, in the name of assisting in the succession ceremony, and let Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo keep an eye on him until the ceremony is over. How do you think this is?"

Zhong Yao bowed quickly and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

So the next day Cao Pi issued an order to summon some officials into the palace to preside over the abdication ceremony. At the same time, he strengthened the security in the city, and the atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense.

Finally, the Cao Wei court was fully prepared and the day of abdication arrived.

With the help of Empress Cao, Liu Xie put on the emperor's crown. He said to Liu He beside him, "Is it true that Emperor Liu was seriously injured?"

Liu He said: "I have inquired from many sources and it is indeed true. The condition of King Hannan's injury is extremely grim."

Liu Xie closed his eyes in pain, "God doesn't bless me with the surname Liu!"

He took a step and slowly walked out of the palace gate. Outside were Cao Wei soldiers standing in neat rows, forming two rows that extended to the avenue outside the palace gate. In Liu Xie's eyes, these were not the Yulin Guards who came to greet him, but the devils who were sending him to the road of destruction.

He turned to Liu He and said, "Brother, you don't have to go."

"When I leave, my brother will find a way to leave."

He then laughed at himself and said, "But I'm afraid this is impossible."

He suddenly laughed, and walked forward with big strides while laughing, "Looking at the nine provinces from the top of the pole, the land of the ancestors will be harvested by the descendants. Don't be too happy if the descendants harvest it, because there will be others to harvest it behind you."

Liu He bowed with mixed feelings, and saw Empress Cao helping Liu Xie onto the carriage. The coachman raised his whip, and with a snap, the sound of horse hooves rang out slowly and gloomily, and they headed towards the altar in the center of the city.

When the carriage arrived at the foot of the altar, nearly a thousand Cao Wei officials had already arrived. Liu Xie and Queen Cao got off the carriage. Thousands of eyes looked over. Queen Cao had never seen such a scene before, and her face turned pale.

Liu Xie said in a deep voice: "You wait here."

After he finished speaking, he began to walk up the steps to the altar. He raised his head and saw Cao Pi sitting proudly at the top of the altar in the distance, looking down at him.

Liu Xie silently counted the numbers in his mind. When he reached ninety-nine, he stepped onto the highest platform. He stood up and walked towards Cao Pi, looking straight ahead. Then he bent down and said, "Meet the King of Wei."

Cao Pi looked pleased and turned around, "It's almost time, let's get started."

Liu Xie looked at the other person's back and wondered what would happen if he pushed the other person down from here?
He glanced at the Cao army guards who were eyeing him covetously from all directions, and thought that even if he succeeded, the Cao family would just replace him with another person.

He walked to the front of the platform, looked down at the densely packed heads below, paused, and began to recite the abdication edict that he had already memorized.

"I have been in office for thirty-two years. The world has been in turmoil. Fortunately, thanks to the spirits of my ancestors, I have been able to survive. However, looking up at the sky and observing the people's hearts, I see that the fate of Yan Jing has come to an end, and the fate of the country depends on the Cao family."

The platform was very high and there was no obstruction on all sides, so Liu Xie's voice was extremely clear. The Cao Wei officials present could hear it clearly, as if they were being spoken in their ears.

They raised their heads and looked at Liu Xie's figure on the high platform, all with complicated expressions. They all knew that they were witnessing an extremely rare historical event, and this event was not very glorious.

So some of them were happy, some were sad, some were complacent, and some were ashamed. Liu Xie saw these expressions and wondered if Cao Pi behind him was laughing at this moment?

He calmed himself down and continued reading.

"The king has already established his divine and powerful achievements in the past, and the king is now shining with his bright virtue to meet the time. This is a clear sign of things to come, and it is certain that it will happen."

"When the great way is practiced, the world is for all, and the virtuous and capable are selected. Therefore, Emperor Yao of Tang was not partial to his sons, and his name spread far and wide. I admire and admire him, and now I will follow in Yao's footsteps."

"Zen is in,"

"Prince Jin!"

(End of this chapter)