Soldiers come to the world

It was getting brighter, and Cao Zhi stayed up all night, sitting silently in front of a brazier, waiting for the moment when God would decide his own destiny. In the lobby, Cao Zhi immediately stood up and greeted him, "How is it?" He asked nervously.

"Young master, 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 gate of the mansion, and saw a stretcher in front of the mansion gate, and a dozen soldiers were standing beside it, lying on the stretcher. One of them was his elder brother Cao Pi. He had an arrow stuck in his neck, his face was like gold paper, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

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

A soldier next to him shook his head, "I'm dead, the injury is too serious."

Cao Zhi's legs softened, and he knelt down in front of his elder brother slowly, tears pouring out. At this moment, remorse gnawed at his heart like a devil. He held his elder brother's cold hand, and couldn't help crying loudly. Resentment suddenly became so hateful and humble in front of the soon-to-be-disappeared brotherhood, why did he compete with the eldest brother for the position of the son?Why kill big brother?How could he explain to his father and mother!

Cao Zhi fell on his brother's body and mourned and wept. At this time, Xiahou Dun helped him up, sighed and said, "You can't come back to life after death, my lord."

Cao Zhi slammed Xiahou Dun's hand away, "Let me go!"

He stared at the blood-red teary eyes, as if fire spewed out of them, "You killed my brother!"

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

Cao Zhi took two steps back, shaking his head again and again, "No! I won't do it, I didn't kill my brother, I won't do it!"

Xiahou Dun snorted and winked at the soldiers next to him. Two tall and strong soldiers held Cao Zhi's arms tightly from both sides, and forced Cao Zhi to go out. There were tens of thousands of soldiers gathered outside the gate of the mansion. Everyone was extremely excited. When Cao Zhi suddenly appeared, tens of thousands of people raised their arms and shouted, "Long live, son! Long live!"

Cao Zhi stared blankly at the tens of thousands of soldiers and shouted, his mind was blank at the moment, he didn't know whether it was joy or sadness, Xiahou Dun chuckled, "Congratulations, son, who is about to be crowned Duke Wei!".

At the beginning of December in the 24th year of Jian'an, Xia Houdun launched a coup in Yedu, Cao Pi was ambushed and shot to death, and the battle between the sons finally came to an end. The situation caused Cao Wei to give up the internal strife. General Xu Chu of Huben and Governor Cao Xiu of Qingzhou expressed their views successively. The enemy is now, and Cao Wei needs stability. They support Cao Zhi's succession to the throne. .

On the day Cao Zhang learned of the death of his elder brother Cao Pi, he led [-] Youzhou troops back to Youzhou, and no longer participated in the battle between the sons. The battle between the sons, which lasted nearly ten years, finally ended with Cao Zhi winning. The Cao brothers were all losers, but the final winner was General Xiahou Dun.

Although the struggle within the Cao family finally came to an end, Cao Wei retreated steadily on the battlefield. Xia Houshang was killed in Bingzhou, and the Han army captured Bingzhou. In Qingzhou, veterans Huang Zhong and Lu Meng led 8 Han troops from Xuzhou to the north. The county joined the navy of the Han army that had gone north earlier, bringing the strength of the Han army in Qingzhou to [-].

Cao Xiu knew that he could not compete with the Han army. He couldn't defend Qingzhou, so he had to go back to King Qin of Yedu under the pretext, and led [-] Cao troops back to the north of the Yellow River, retreating in the direction of Yedu.

At this time, Cao's army still had 11 troops, but they were scattered everywhere. Among them, Xu Huang's 7 Cao army was besieged in Luoyang by Zhao Yun's 50 army, and the other [-] Cao troops were brought back to Youzhou by Cao Zhang. The main force of the Cao army that Yedu can really command is only [-], while the Han army has reached [-] troops after winning the Battle of the Central Plains, and the time to unify the world is getting closer and closer.

In the city of Yedu, Cao Zhi's carriage was escorted by a hundred tiger and cardinal cavalry as they drove slowly on the street. Through the window, Cao Zhi found that the street seemed to be bustling again, and there were pedestrians walking in a hurry, which made him a little confused. At this moment , he suddenly discovered that there was a long line of hundreds of people lined up at a corner of the street.

"Go and have a look, what's going on?" Cao Zhi ordered a guard.

The guard urged the horse to run up, and came back in a moment to report: "The prime minister is recruiting, and those who join the army can get a stone of food immediately, so the registration is quite enthusiastic."

Cao Zhi felt a little displeased, he didn't even know about this matter, needless to say, Xiahou Dun must be leading this, especially what made Cao Zhi dissatisfied was that there were more than [-] shi of grain in Yedu's granary, but he could use it The food was only [-] shi, and all the other food was military food, which was in Xiahou Dun's hands.

Not only food, but all the gold and money stored in Yedu's treasury were also controlled by Xiahoudun. Xiahoudun nominally did not interfere in government affairs, but in fact, his control of money, food and materials was equivalent to controlling the military and political power, and he was nothing more than a puppet.

Although Cao Zhi hated in his heart, he had no choice but to sigh and said, "Go on!"

Not long after, the carriage stopped in front of Cheng Yu's mansion. Since Cheng Yu returned to Yedu, he said that he was not sick and did not ask about current affairs. Although Cao Zhi replaced his eldest brother as prime minister, he was very hesitant. Yu's advice.

In front of the mansion, Cheng Yu's eldest grandson, Cheng Ke, had been waiting for a long time. When Cao Zhi slowly got off the carriage, Cheng Ke immediately came up to meet him, bowed and said, "See you, Prime Minister!"

"You don't need to be too polite. How is your grandfather?"

"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 the inner house and walked into the ward. He saw Cheng Yu lying on the sickbed, and a maid was feeding him medicine. Seeing Cao Zhi walking in, Cheng Yu hurriedly pushed the maid away and struggled. He wanted to sit up, but Cao Zhi stepped forward to support him, and said repeatedly: "Military teacher, please stay in bed!"

Cheng Yu gasped and said, "My lord is here, 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 as thin as a stick and his face was pale. He was indeed seriously ill, and he was not pretending. He felt sad and asked, "How does the military commander feel? "

Although Cheng Yu was seriously ill, he was very clear-headed. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your concern, my lord. I'm nearly eighty years old, and I've already lived a long life. Even if I don't live long, that's enough. How is Duke Wei's situation now? My lord Have you seen it?"

"I visit my father every day. Sometimes my father is in a coma, and sometimes he wakes up again, just..."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhi sighed, feeling very sad in his heart: "It's just that my father is exhausted, he. He doesn't know me anymore."

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

Cao Zhi understood Cheng Yu's emotion, why didn't he think this way in his heart, if his father came to his senses and knew about their brothers killing each other, how would he face his father?His mother shed tears every day, and he dared not see her.

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

One sentence reminded Cao Zhi, and he quickly said: "Now the external situation is not good. The Han army has captured Bingzhou, and Cao Xiu was forced to abandon Qingzhou. We are left with only one isolated city in Hebei and Luoyang. I would like to ask the military division, what should we do now?" Is good?"

Cheng Yu smiled wryly. What else could he say? At the beginning, he persuaded Cao Pi to go back to Hebei to recruit soldiers. Maybe there was still a glimmer of hope. A few words to appease Cao Zhi.

Cheng Yu pondered for a while and said: "I heard that the army is being recruited outside. This is the right way. Now the key is time. Whether it is training recruits or reorganizing, it will take time, at least a year and a half. In addition, we have to find a way Let Xu Huang's army withdraw to Hebei, so the only thing you have to do is to negotiate with Han and try your best to buy time."

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

"This is indeed very difficult, but it is not impossible. After all, it is winter, and the Han army needs to adjust and rest. Liu Jing also needs to make political preparations. If I ask Concubine Cao to intercede, I think there is still a little hope. But no matter what, you must do your best.”

Cao Zhi didn't have any hope, but Cheng Yu's last words moved him, it was true, even if there was no hope, he would try his best to do it, Cao Zhi nodded silently, "Thank you for your advice, Cao Zhi has been taught! "

Cao Zhi said goodbye and left, Cheng Ke sent Cao Zhi out of the house, at this moment, Cheng Yu said to the maid: "Go and see the eldest son!"

After a while, the eldest son Cheng Wu hurried 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. Seeing that his father was there, he didn't dare to say anything, so he stood behind his father with his hands down. Cheng Yu closed his eyes and rested for a while, and then slowly said to the eldest son : "I didn't say something to Cao Zhi, but you should understand that Cao Wei's situation is gone..."

Cheng Ke next to him couldn't help but interjected: "Sun'er knows that the internal strife between the Cao brothers greatly weakened Cao Wei's power at the critical moment."

Cheng Ke suddenly saw his father's dissatisfied gaze, and he realized that he shouldn't interrupt his grandfather's speech. He was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head and dared not say any more.

Cheng Yu looked at the eldest grandson lovingly, and said with a slight smile: "The infighting between the Cao brothers is actually just a superficial appearance. The root cause is that Cao Cao has never been able to get the support of the gentry. But morally, he lost his footing. At first, the moral disadvantage was negligible, and he could even kill Bian Rang and Kong Rong recklessly.

However, after the defeat in the Chibi War, this kind of moral disadvantage accumulated day by day, the most obvious being the dissatisfaction of the uncle and nephew of the Xun family towards Cao Cao. Without success, Yang Xiu's death was his warning to the gentry after he failed to win over, 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 and implemented the Ding Decree to clean up the gentry, but it was too late. Without the support of the aristocratic families, Cao Wei's national power was declining day by day. Not attached, this is the root of Cao Wei's failure, as for the repeated defeats in wars, the currency is controlled by Han, these are just the results, do you understand what I mean?"

Cheng Wu understood a little bit, "What does father mean to say, Cao Wei has been defeated, let us go to Han?"

Cheng Yu nodded, took out a letter scroll 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, and meet the King of Han Liu Jing, also It is the last legacy I leave to the Cheng family."

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