When Cao Pi heard that Hua Xin could use a plan to remove Cao Zhi, he was quite moved and replied:

"Zi Jian is extremely talented, so he may not be able to get trapped!"

When Hua Xin saw that Cao Pi really had the intention to kill Cao Zhi, he replied:

"I heard that Cao Zijian is proud of his literary talent. The lord can summon him to try it out with his talent. Then he can use the method of provoking him to get trapped, or he can be ashamed and committed suicide, which is of no fame as the lord."

Cao Pi immediately figured out Hua Xin’s idea and nodded in agreement. So he conspired with Hua Xin “so… like this”.

Cao Pi promised his mother not to kill Cao Zhi, but did not say that he would not be punished, let alone prevent him from committing suicide.

Cao Pi was also very confident in this plan, so he went to the court to discuss matters and summoned Cao Zhi to see him.

When Cao Zhi was in Linzi, it was his home court. He relied on his alcohol to let his subordinates scold the envoy. Now that he knew that his brother had the intention to kill him, he naturally would not leave him an excuse, and he was afraid to apologize.

Cao Pi said:

"Although I have a brotherly relationship with you, the righteousness belongs to the monarch and minister, how can you be contemptuous of your talent? In the past, when you were in the past, you often used articles to show others to win favor. I always suspected that you were writing with others. It is not difficult to distinguish the true or false. Today I limited you to recite a poem in seven steps. If you can succeed, it means that you have real talents and knowledge, and you can avoid death; if you cannot, it means that you used others to write with others in the past articles, and you still have the face to live in the world? Even if you want to live with shame, I will punish you for deceiving the king, and I will never forgive you!"

Cao Zhi was originally a person with real talent and knowledge. All his works in the past were done by himself.

Cao Cao also suspected that Cao Zhi had invited many gunmen to write a good article in advance, but after many verifications, it was proved that Cao Zhi had real talents and knowledge, so he loved this son very much and almost made Cao Zhi the heir.

Cao Pi grew up with Cao Zhi since he was a child. He was not as good as his younger brother in terms of knowledge, but he was better at strategy. Of course, he didn't think his younger brother was asking someone to write for him. He just made an excuse and dug a hole, and waited for Cao Zhi to jump in.

It is not difficult to write works in a short time, but even Cao Zhi is difficult to write high-quality works on site.

With Cao Zhi's arrogant personality, if he writes high-quality works, he will not be able to attract the attention of experts. He would rather admit defeat than fool people casually. Then he would not be able to bear the face and commit suicide in shame and anger.

Cao Zhi was full of confidence and said to Cao Pi:

"Please give a question."

Cao Pi's own talent is not bad, and it is not difficult for him to ask questions improvised.

He looked up and saw an ink painting hanging in the hall, painting two cows, fighting under the earth wall, and one cow fell into a well and died.

He pointed to the painting and said:

"That is, the title is this painting. The poem is not allowed to be in the words "two bulls are fighting under the wall, and one bull falls into a well and dies."

Cao Zhi didn't answer, but raised his right foot with his hands on his back, took the first step.

It is also possible to calculate the time by step, but Cao Zhi did not stop his right foot in the air to delay the time, and he raised his left foot while landing on the ground to take the second step.

Of course, there was no quick step, but the official steps that were neither quick nor slow. When the seventh step, his poem was completed.

Cao Zhi chanted out:

"Two meats walk together, with concave bones on their heads. When they meet at the foot of a mountain, they rise and fall into each other. The two enemies are not strong, and the other meat lies in the earth cave. It is not that they are weaker than their strength, and they will not be fully discharged."

This poem is very consistent with the requirements of the title Cao Pi put forward. It has excellent writing and artistic conception, and Cao Pi has nothing to say.

If he followed Cao Pi's previous disagreement, he would definitely continue to make things difficult for Cao Zhi. I don't know if it was because Ma Su had plagiarized another seven-step poem by Cao Zhi, or if Cao Pi suddenly changed his temperament, he did not continue to make things difficult for Cao Zhi.

Cao Pi said:

"Although your talent is true, the national laws cannot be abolished. Death crimes can be avoided, and punishments cannot be escaped. Are you convinced by deposing you to Anxiang Marquis?"

Cao Zhi thanked him and retreated, and went to Anxiang to settle down.

...

...

Because of Fazheng's dissuasion, Liu Bei gave up the idea of ​​seeking revenge on Sun Quan immediately.

But he didn't want to miss the opportunity to take revenge. On the basis of the 30,000 elite troops in Yong'an, he added another 20,000 troops, staring at him and ready to counterattack Jingzhou at any time.

This time, Liu Bei's loss was not just about territory, but about talents. The talents he collected in Jingzhou used to die and reduce, accounting for one-third of Liu Bei's entire official system.

There are also those Jingzhou families who have almost all depended on Sun Quan.

Of course, some of them were originally fencemen and sent people to express their loyalty to Liu Bei and wait for him to counterattack Jingzhou as soon as possible.

There are also some aristocratic families, whose family has been valued by Sun Quan, and they have followed Sun Quan wholeheartedly, including Pan Jun, Hao Pu and others whom Liu Bei designated to reuse.

Therefore, Liu Bei must counterattack Jingzhou, for territory and talents.

Fa Zheng was seriously ill, and Liu Bei sent the best doctors and the best medications to treat him, but because Fa Zheng got typhoid fever, the effect was not obvious.

Originally, Fazheng had survived the dangerous period and could be cured.

Who knew that after the news of Guan Yu's defeat came, it would be a heavy blow to the entire Liu Bei group.

Because Fa Zheng was the one who strongly advocated the continued attack, his defeat this time was inseparable from him.

Although Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others did not say that, Fa Zheng himself could not get around this hurdle and felt depressed and guilty.

In order to save this situation, Fa Zheng dragged his sick body to sleep all night and planned a remedy method for several days.

The solution was not thought out, but instead aggravated the condition. After struggling for a month, Fa Zheng died of death.

In the spring of the 25th year of Jian'an (220), Fa Zheng died at the age of 45.

Fa Zheng's death made Liu Bei very sad and cried for several days.

Subsequently, Liu Bei posthumously named him Marquis of Yi and gave his son Fa Miao the title of Marquis of Guannei.

As Fa Zheng’s golden partner, Huang Zhong returned from visiting Fa Zheng that day and suffered a cold from practicing martial arts at night. There was nothing big about it.

However, due to the decline in resistance to old age, he became infected with wind and cold and could not heal for a long time.

Huang Zhong was born as a military general. Although he was old, his physical resistance was not comparable to Fa Zheng. His illness was not serious and he had to be cured if he had to see it.

But after receiving the news of Fa Zheng's death, Huang Zhong attended Fa Zheng's funeral because of his extraordinary relationship with Fa Zheng.

After returning, Huang Zhong's condition worsened.

Liu Bei was also very concerned about Huang Zhong and sent a doctor to treat it, but Huang Zhong's cold also turned into typhoid fever. After less than a month of delay, he left the world.

Because Huang Zhong's son Huang Xu died young and had no descendants, Liu Bei did not give him a reward and ordered a grand funeral.

In less than three months, the combination of Guan Yu and Ma Liang disappeared. Then, the golden combination of Huang Zhong and Fa Zheng, who Liu Bei was proud of, also left the world together, indicating that the Liu Bei group's talent losses were serious and began to decline.
Chapter completed!