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The sky gradually became brighter. Cao Zhi did not sleep all night, silently sitting in front of a brazier, waiting for the moment when God decided his destiny. At this time, a burst of rapid footsteps came from outside. Several Xiahou Dun's personal soldiers quickly walked into the lobby. Cao Zhi immediately stood up and greeted him, "How is it?" he asked nervously.

"Please follow us!"

Several soldiers did not answer his questions and turned around and walked out. Cao Zhi was confused and followed the soldiers to the front of the mansion. He saw a stretcher in front of the mansion. There was a dozen soldiers standing next to it. There was a person lying on the stretcher. It was his brother Cao Pi. He had an arrow inserted around his neck, his face as gold paper, and he didn't know how to live or die.

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

A soldier next to him shook his head, "I've died and I'm seriously injured."

Cao Zhi's legs became weak and he slowly knelt down in front of his brother. Tears surged out. At this time, regret bit his heart like a devil. He held his brother's cold hand and couldn't help crying loudly. Years of ambition and resentment suddenly became so hateful and humble in the face of the brother's family affection that was about to disappear. Why did he compete with his elder brother for the position of life? Why did he kill his elder brother? How did he explain to his father and mother!

Cao Zhi leaned on his elder brother's body and cried sadly. At this time, Xiahou Dun helped him up and sighed, "A person cannot be resurrected when he dies. Please mourn me!"

Cao Zhi suddenly shook Xiahou Dun's hand and said, "Let me go!"

He stared at his blood-red tears, and fire seemed to spurt out of his eyes, "You killed my brother!"

At this moment, Xiahou Dun's one-eyed eyes suddenly became particularly ferocious. He said coldly: "We are grasshoppers on a rope. People in the world will not think that I killed him, it is you! Everyone in the world knows that you killed your brother."

Cao Zhi took two steps back and shook his head repeatedly, "No! I don't want to do it, I didn't kill my brother, I don't do it!"

Xiahou Dun snorted and gave a wink to the soldiers beside him. Two tall and strong soldiers held Cao Zhi's arms tightly from both sides and forced Cao Zhi to walk out. He saw that tens of thousands of soldiers gathered outside the mansion gate, and everyone was extremely excited. When Cao Zhi suddenly appeared, tens of thousands of people raised their arms and shouted, "Long live the husband! Long live!"

Cao Zhi stared at the tens of thousands of soldiers and shouted. At this moment, his mind was blank. I don’t know if it was joy or sorrow. Xiahou Dun smiled, “Congratulations to Duke Wei for being about to be promoted to Duke Wei!”

..

In early December of the 24th year of Jian'an, Xiahou Dun launched a coup in Yedu. Cao Pi was ambushed and killed by arrows. The battle for the world finally came to an end. At the same time, news of the Han army conquering the Yuan and seizing the important road of Jingxing came. The severe external situation caused Cao Wei to give up the dispute. General Xu Chu of Tiger Ben and the governor of Qingzhou Cao Xiu successively expressed their views that the enemy was in the face of the great enemy, and Cao Wei needed stability. They supported Cao Zhi to succeed the position of Shishi. Cao Zhi, under the support of the Yedu official, took office as prime minister of the Han Dynasty.

On the day when Cao Zhang learned that his eldest brother Cao Pi was dead, he led 20,000 Youzhou troops back to Youzhou and no longer participated in the worldly dispute. The worldly dispute that lasted for nearly ten years ended with Cao Zhi's victory. But in fact, the Cao brothers were both losers, and the final winner was General Xiahou Dun.

Although the internal struggle of the Cao family finally ended, Cao Wei retreated steadily on the battlefield. Xiahou was still killed in Bingzhou, and the Han army captured Bingzhou. In Qingzhou, veteran generals Huang Zhong and Lu Meng led 50,000 Han troops from Xuzhou to the north, and joined the Han army navy who went north in Qi County, so that the Han army's troops in Qingzhou reached 80,000.

Cao Xiu knew that he could not compete with the Han army, so he could not defend Qingzhou, so he had to use the excuse of returning to Yedu to serve the king, and led tens of Cao troops to retreat north of the Yellow River and retreat to Yedu.

At this time, the Cao army had 110,000 troops, but the troops were scattered all over the country. Among them, Xu Huang's 20,000 Cao army was besieged in Luoyang by a 100,000 army led by Zhao Yun, and the other 20,000 Cao army was brought back to Youzhou by Cao Zhang, so that the main force of the Cao army who could truly command Yedu was only 70,000. After the Han army won the Battle of the Central Plains, its troops reached 500,000, and the time for unification of the world was getting closer and closer.

In Yedu City, a famous Hu Ben cavalry guarding Cao Zhi's carriage slowly walked on the street. Through the car window, Cao Zhi found that the street seemed to be bustling again, with pedestrians walking in a hurry, which made him feel a little confused. At this time, he suddenly found that there were a long queue in a corner of the street, with as many as several people.

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

The guard urged the horse to run up and came back for a moment to report: "You reported to the Prime Minister that he was recruiting troops. Those who joined the army could immediately get a stone of food, so the registration was quite enthusiastic."

Cao Zhi was a little unhappy. He didn't know about this at all. Needless to say, Xiahou Dun must be the leader. What made Cao Zhi dissatisfied was that there were more than 400,000 stones of grain in the grain silo in Yedu, but the grain he could use was only 50,000 stones, and the other grain was actually military ration, which was in the hands of Xiahou Dun.

Not only grain, but also all the gold and money stored in Yedu were controlled by Xiahou Dun. In name, Xiahou Dun did not interfere in government affairs, but in fact, his control of money, grain and materials was equivalent to controlling the military and political power, and he was just a puppet.

Although Cao Zhi hated him, he had no choice but to sigh and said, "Continue to move forward!"

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of Cheng Yu's mansion. Since Cheng Yu returned to Yedu, he has been ill and does not care about current affairs. Although Cao Zhi replaced his elder brother as prime minister, he was very confused and needed Cheng Yu's guidance.

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

"No need to be polite, is your grandfather in good health?"

"My grandfather was in poor health and lay on the sickbed."

Cao Zhi nodded, "I'll go see him."

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

Cheng Yu gasped and said, "My husband is here, I will always sit up!"

Cheng Ke stepped forward and helped his grandfather sit up, and put a thick mattress behind him. Seeing that Cheng Yu was thin and pale, Cao Zhi was indeed very ill, not pretending, and he felt sad and asked, "How does the military advisor feel?"

Although Cheng Yu was seriously ill, his mind was very clear. He nodded and said, "Thank you for your concern. I am nearly 80 years old and I am a long-lived person. Even if I don't tell my fortune for a long time, it's enough. What's the situation of Duke Wei now? Have you ever seen it?"

"I go to visit my father every day, and sometimes I wake up, just."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhi sighed and said extremely sadly: "It's just that my father is exhausted, he. He doesn't know me anymore."

"Hey! That's good, let him go quietly!"

Cao Zhi understood Cheng Yu's feelings, and he thought so. If his father woke up and knew about the tragedy of their brothers, how should he face his father? His mother cried every day, and he would not dare to see his mother.

Both of them were silent. After a while, Cheng Ke next to him whispered: "Didn't the Prime Minister ask his grandfather what's going on?"

A sentence reminded Cao Zhi, and he hurriedly said: "The external situation is not good now. The Han army has captured Bingzhou, and Cao Xiu has also been forced to give up Qingzhou. We are only an isolated city in Hebei and Luoyang. I want to ask the military advisor, what should we do now?"

Cheng Yu smiled bitterly, what else could he say? When he advised Cao Pi to return to Hebei to recruit soldiers immediately, there might be a glimmer of hope. Now the overall situation is settled, and even gods can't reverse it. However, if you can't say such desperate words, you still have to comfort Cao Zhi.

Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and said, "I heard that there are recruiting troops outside. This is right. The key now is time. Whether it is training new recruits or reorganizing the team, it will take time, at least a year and a half. In addition, we have to find a way to withdraw Xu Huang's army back to Hebei. Therefore, the only thing the Gong has to do is to negotiate with the Han Kingdom and try his best to get time."

"But. Now the Han army is in full swing. Are they willing to negotiate and make concessions?" Cao Zhi asked worriedly.

"This is really difficult, but it is not impossible. After all, it is winter now, and the Han army needs to adjust and rest, and Liu Jing also needs to make political preparations. If I ask Concubine Cao to have a relationship, I think there is still some hope, but no matter what, the Lord must do it."

Cao Zhi didn't hold any hope, but Cheng Yu's last words touched him. It was true. Even if there was no hope, he would do his best. Cao Zhi nodded silently, "Thank you for your guidance from the military advisor, Cao Zhi has received the teaching!"

Cao Zhi said goodbye and left, Cheng Ke sent Cao Zhi out of the mansion. At this time, Cheng Yu said to the maid: "Go and find the eldest son to see me!"

After a moment, Chang Chengwu hurried into his father's ward, "Does his father look for a child?"

Cheng Yu pointed to the cushion beside him, "Sit down first!"

Cheng Wu sat down. At this time, Changsun Cheng Ke returned to his grandfather's ward. Seeing that his father was there, he didn't dare to say much, so he stood behind his father with his hands down. Cheng Yu closed his eyes and rested for a while, then slowly said to Chang: "I didn't say something clearly to Cao Zhi, but you should understand that Cao Wei's situation is gone."

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

Cheng Ke suddenly saw his father's dissatisfied gaze, and he realized that he shouldn't interrupt his grandfather's words. He was so scared that he quickly lowered his head and did not dare to say more.

Cheng Yu looked at Changsun lovingly and smiled, "The internal strife of the Cao brothers is actually just an appearance. The fundamental reason is that Cao Cao has never been able to get the support of the gentry. He used the heaven to command the princes. Although he gave him political advantage, he lost his moral strength. At first, this moral disadvantage could be ignored. He could even kill Bian Rang and Kong Rong without restraint.

However, after the defeat of the Battle of Chibi, this moral disadvantage accumulates day by day. The most obvious is the dissatisfaction of Xun's uncle and nephew with Cao Cao. This is actually a manifestation of the dissatisfaction of the aristocratic families with him. Cao Cao also tried to win over the gentry, but failed. Yang Xiu's death was his warning to the gentry after the failure to win over, but it still had no meaning."

Speaking of this, Cheng Yu sighed and said, "It was not until the previous year that he finally became fierce, promoted the Ding Ling and completely dealt with the gentry, but it was too late. Without the support of the aristocratic families, Cao Wei's national strength was declining, and the local governments were both sides of the rat, and the people were not attached to it. This was the root of Cao Wei's failure. As for the repeated failures in wars and the control of the Han Dynasty, these were just results. Do you understand what I mean?"

Cheng Wu understood a little, "What my father meant is that Cao Wei has been defeated, so let us defect to Han?"

Cheng Yu nodded, took out a letter scroll from under the pillow, and handed it to Changsun Cheng Ke, "This is a letter I wrote to Liu Jing. Keer can take it to the original and meet the King of Han Liu Jing. This is also the last inheritance I left for the Cheng family."
Chapter completed!