At Cao Pi's mansion, he was practicing swordplay with Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and Shi A in the garden.
Shi A was responsible for the guidance, and Cao Pi and the other three were very dedicated, with sweat flowing from everyone's heads.
The door of the mansion was pushed open from the outside, and Xu Chu and several tiger soldiers rushed in fiercely. They walked straight towards Cao Pi, and the tiger soldiers quickly surrounded them.
Cao Zhen was furious. He took a step forward and yelled: "Xu Chu, are you crazy? Do you know where this place is? How dare you lead troops to rush in like this!?"
Xu Chu responded coldly: "According to Sikong's order, I will take Mr. Huan and the sword master Shi A to the Sikong Mansion for interrogation."
"Interrogation? What did Zihuan commit?" Cao Xiu stepped forward and asked, knowingly.
"I don't know what the specific matter is. The young master has gone, and Sikong will ask for a conclusion." Xu Chu answered Cao Xiu's question, and after speaking, he waved his hand, and several tiger soldiers were about to step forward to capture Cao Pi.
"How dare you! Zihuan is Lord Sikong, how dare you be so rude!" Cao Zhen stepped forward and scolded Hu Shi angrily.
"Now that Sikong asks me to arrest him, he is a prisoner!" Xu Chu responded with his eyes widened, "If anyone dares to stop him again, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu knew Xu Chu's temperament and knew that it was impossible to fight him, so they could only turn their heads and look at Cao Pi.
Cao Pi had already expected such a result, so he acted very calmly and said to Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu: "Zidan and Wen Lie, please don't be rude. General Zhongkang came under the order of his father. Let's not embarrass him!"
Cao Zhen said anxiously: "Zihuan, how could I suddenly arrest you for interrogation? What happened?"
Cao Pi said calmly: "If I am upright, I am not afraid of my shadow being distorted. I have done nothing wrong, so why should I be afraid of interrogation? Get out of my way and I will go back with General Zhongkang."
Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu then stepped aside. Cao Pi stepped forward and said to Xu Chu: "General Zhongkang, please!"
Xu Chu nodded, and then ordered the tiger soldiers: "Take Shi'a back with you."
When the tiger soldiers received the order, they had to step forward to control Shi'a.
Shi A suddenly took action at this moment. He waved the sword in his hand, forced back the tiger soldiers on both sides, and tried to escape.
The tiger soldiers immediately stepped forward to stop him and started fighting with Shi A.
When Cao Pi saw Shi A resisting arrest, he shouted anxiously: "Master Shi, please don't be rude. Put down your weapons quickly and come with me to see my father!"
Shi A did not listen to Cao Pi's greetings at all, but kept waving his sword, trying to force the tiger soldiers back.
Shi'a's swordsmanship is very superb. The ordinary tiger warrior is no match for him, and he is about to break out of the way.
Seeing this, Xu Chu no longer hesitated, drew out the Huanshou knife from his waist, rushed forward, and fought Shi A himself.
Although Shi A's martial arts skills were superb, he was still no match for Xu Chu, who was known as the "Tiger Madman". The two fought for several rounds, and Xu Chu struck out with all his strength, knocking the sword out of Shi A's hand, and then used the ring-shou sword. Put it on his neck.
Several tiger soldiers came forward together, held Shi'a down tightly, and tied him up with ropes.
Cao Pi complained anxiously: "Master Shi, why are you doing this? My father just asked us to go over and ask questions. If you are so stubborn, aren't you making it difficult for General Zhongkang?"
Shi A didn't say anything, he just stared at Xu Chu with an unconvinced look on his face.
Xu Chu waved his hand: "Take it away!"
The tiger soldiers escorted Cao Pi and Shi A towards the outside of the mansion.
Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu stood there, watching everyone leave.
Cao Zhen asked Cao Xiu in a low voice with some worry: "Wen Lie, Zihuan was taken back, will everything be okay?"
Cao Xiu comforted him: "Don't worry, we have cooperated with the trick and acted it out like this. As long as Zihuan sees Sikong and can deal with it as agreed in advance, he will be fine."
After hearing Cao Xiu's words, Cao Zhen still couldn't calm down completely, and his face was still full of worry...
In the hall of Sikong Mansion, Cao Cao sat in the middle with a gloomy expression.
Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Cao Zhi, Yang Biao, and Yang Xiu lined up on both sides, waiting quietly.
Xu Chu walked in quickly from outside, Cao Pi followed behind him, and several other tiger soldiers escorted Shi A behind.
Xu Chu bowed and saluted Cao Cao: "Reporting to Sikong, I have brought Master Cao Pi and his sword master Shi A."
Cao Pi took a step forward, knelt on the ground, and saluted Cao Cao: "My son, Cao Pi, pays homage to my father!"
Shi Aben resisted and refused to kneel down, and was pushed to the ground by Hu Shi.
Cao Cao squinted his eyes and looked at Cao Pi and Shi A who were kneeling in front of him. He was silent for a while and then said: "Zihuan, you know my temper. If you admit what you did, I can give you a lighter sentence."
Cao Pi responded with a confused expression: "Reporting to my father, I really don't know what I did wrong. Please tell me clearly."
"Tell me, what's going on with Ziwen's military situation?" Cao Cao asked Cao Pi straightforwardly.
When Cao Pi saw Cao Cao asking about this matter, he replied very calmly: "This is what my father asked about. I admit that I was indeed wrong about this matter. It was I who asked Boyan and Junlin to inform me of Ziwen's military information at any time." of."
Cao Pi bluntly admitted the matter, which was beyond the expectations of everyone present. Everyone looked at each other, obviously not expecting him to say it so easily.
"Happy for you! Then tell me how you colluded with Dong Cheng to pass on Ziwen's military information to Li Jue?!" Cao Cao continued to ask.
Cao Pi suddenly raised his head, his eyes widened in shock, and argued in an unbelievable tone: "Father, how is this possible? How could I do such a thing? Ziwen is my biological brother, how could I Are you going to help Li Jue harm him?"
Cao Cao looked at Cao Pi coldly, and threw Li Jue's letter directly in front of Cao Pi: "The evidence is solid, see it for yourself!"
Cao Pi lowered his head to pick up the letter on the ground and read it carefully. His expression became more and more panicked. Then he raised his head and defended more eagerly: "Father, I really don't know what is going on. I did tell Uncle Yan Hejunlin conveyed military information to me. But I just care about Ziwen."
"All the military information I received, I showed it to Uncle Zilian immediately and asked him to help analyze whether there were any errors so that I could respond in a timely manner. Apart from that, no one else knew about it. I really didn't know the military information. How it fell into the hands of Li Jue, and how this matter is related to General Dong Cheng, I don’t even know."
Cao Cao looked at Cao Pi coldly and said nothing. He could believe that Cao Pi must be telling the truth when he said he showed Cao Ren the military information. But whether he wanted to help Cao Zhang or harm Cao Zhang is really unclear.
"The person you arrange to communicate with to deliver military information is Shi A beside you? What is his relationship with you?" Cao Cao was silent for a moment and asked.
"Reporting to my father, Master Shi'a is a swordsman I met a few days ago, and I have been learning swordsmanship from him. Seeing that he was good at martial arts and down-to-earth, I asked him to follow Boyan and Junlin. On the one hand, let him protect them secretly, on the other hand, let him convey military information."
"He just came back with the news of Ziwen's victory. I thought the battle ahead was going well, so I didn't arrange for him to return. I left him in the house and did not return to Chang'an." Cao Pi lowered his head and answered Cao Cao's question.
Cao Cao nodded slightly: "It seems that the problem lies with him. Shi A, what's going on? Why don't you just resort to it?"
Shi A knelt on the ground and raised his head and responded: "Back to Sikong, the villain acted according to the Young Master's instructions without making any mistakes. I don't know what to recruit?"
"No mistake, no mistake, I said Sikong summoned you, why did you resist arrest and want to escape?!" Xu Chu, who was standing aside, directly asked Shi A.
Shi A was stunned by Xu Chu's question, he hesitated and did not respond immediately: "I..."
"Give you another chance and tell the truth!" Cao Cao's face became increasingly ugly.
Shi A raised his head, gritted his teeth and continued to speak harshly: "I told the truth. I just sent letters back and forth. I made no mistakes!"
"Okay, I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it." Cao Cao finally got angry and greeted, "Zhongkang, send him to the school affairs office, and then let Zhao Da and Xu Duling Manchong interrogate him . Tell them that no matter what method they use, I will give them three hours to ask me the truth!"
"Here!" Xu Chu agreed, stepped forward, pulled Shi A up from the ground and walked out.
Cao Cao sat on the chair with a cold face and stopped talking. Everyone else stood there and did not dare to say anything. Cao Pi even knelt on the ground, fearing not to move...
…
Three hours passed quickly and it became dark.
The lights had been lit in the main hall of Sikong Mansion, and Cao Cao and others were still sitting there, waiting for the results of Zhao Da and Man Chong's interrogation.
Finally, footsteps sounded outside the hall. Xu Chu and Zhao Da returned from outside and walked in quickly.
"How is it? Is there any result?" Cao Cao asked.
Zhao Da responded respectfully: "Reporting to Sikong, Zhao Da insisted on refusing to admit at first, and his subordinates and Lord Manfu took turns to torture him. Finally, he confessed. He was originally the guardian of General Dong Cheng, and was later bribed with a lot of money and arranged to The purpose of being with Mr. Zi Huan is to monitor Mr. Zi Huan’s every move.”
"Master Zihuan arranged for him to go on an expedition with the two Xiahou masters, and he reported the situation to General Dong Cheng. General Dong ordered him to use the opportunity of conveying military information to Master Cao Pi as an internal agent to pass all the news directly Give it to Li Jue."
"The handwritten letter Li Jue wrote to General Dong Cheng was brought back by him and handed over to General Dong. General Dong was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he asked him to continue to return to Master Zihuan at any time!" General Zhao Da All the interrogation results were reported in detail to Cao Cao.
After hearing Shi A's confession, Cao Pi let out a sigh of relief and looked up at Cao Cao, expecting Cao Cao to let him get up.
Cao Cao did not look at him at all. Instead, he turned to everyone and asked, "Everyone, what do you think of Shi'a's confession?"
Yang Xiu didn't wait for Xun Yu and Guo Jia to speak, and rushed to say: "Sikong, this Shi'a's confession is completely consistent with Dong Ji's confession. At first glance, it sounds reasonable and seems to have no flaws. But it is precisely because there are no flaws that the reason It’s the biggest flaw.”
Cao Cao looked at Yang Xiu and motioned for him to continue: "Where is the flaw?"
"Because all their confessions, plus Master Zihuan's story, reveal two words - coincidence!" Yang Xiu said the key to the problem in one sentence.
"General Dong happened to arrange for Shi A to go to Prince Huan's house for surveillance; Prince Huan happened to arrange for him to follow the two Xiahou princes to the front line; Dong Ji happened to see Shi A deliver Li Jue's letter to General Dong Cheng's Mansion; General Dong happened not to destroy the letter, leaving it to Dong Ji to discover. Everything is so just right!" Yang Xiu then told the problem.
Cao Pi listened to Yang Xiu's analysis and secretly drummed in his heart. He did not expect that he and Cao Xiu's carefully designed lies would be discovered by him.
Cao Pi lowered his head hard and did not dare to make a sound, let alone look at Cao Cao, for fear that if he made any changes, more problems would be exposed.
After listening to Yang Xiu's analysis, Cao Cao looked at Cao Zhi without commenting: "Zijian, what do you think?"
"Father, I think what Dezu said makes sense. The whole thing seems clear, but in fact it is full of doubts. There is obviously something hidden." Cao Zhi echoed Yang Xiu's words and responded to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao looked at Xun Yu and Guo Jia again: "Wen Ruo, Feng Xiao, what do you think?"
Xun Yu and Guo Jia looked at Cao Cao and nodded together: "I also think that the case is not clear yet, and there are still many doubts."
Cao Cao thought for a moment and let out a sigh of relief: "It seems that Manfujun and Zhao Da will continue to interrogate this matter, but this time we can't just interrogate Shi A alone. Dong Ji, Zihuan, Dong Cheng should also be sent over for review!"
Cao Pi was frightened when he heard that Cao Cao said that he would be sent to the school affairs office for interrogation. He begged in a panic: "Father, what I said is the truth!"
Xun Yu looked at Cao Pi, with a hint of unbearability in his eyes, and stepped forward and said, "Sikong, I don't think it's appropriate to handle this matter right now. After all, we still have a few important witnesses who haven't come back, so we'd better wait. "
Guo Jia immediately understood what Xun Yu meant and echoed: "Yes, Sikong, Master Ziwen and the two Xiahou Masters have not come back yet. It is better to wait for their masters to return to the court and then come to the trial."
Yang Xiu looked at Cao Pi, and then at Cao Zhi, who was silent next to him. He rolled his eyes, took it to heart, and stepped forward and said, "Sikong, Xun Lingjun and Military Advisor Guo's suggestions are excellent. I also think that this case can be solved." When Mr. Ziwen comes back, let him handle the matter. Mr. Ziwen is extremely intelligent and observes affairs meticulously. I believe he will have a way to get to the bottom of this matter."
When Yang Xiu said this, he hinted at Cao Zhi with his eyes.
Cao Zhi understood and immediately agreed: "Father, I also think it is most appropriate to leave it to Brother Ziwen to try it at this time."
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Cao Zhi and Yang Xiu. Why didn't he understand Yang Xiu's intention of asking Cao Zhang to interrogate Cao Pi. No matter what the outcome was, it would intensify the conflict between the two, and Cao Zhi could reap the benefits. .
But from another perspective, if this matter is handed over to Cao Zhang for trial, it will also be a severe test for him. See how he handles brotherhood and court disputes. This is also a good opportunity to directly judge Cao Zhang's character.
"Okay, first send Zihuan, Shi A and Dong Ji to the school affairs office for temporary detention. Don't disturb Dong Cheng for the time being. Send someone to monitor his actions day and night. When Ziwen returns to Xudu, he will personally try the case. Case." Cao Cao thought for a moment and made a decision...
