Not long after, Cao Pi, who was far away in Luoyang, also received the second secret message from Xiahou Shang in the palace.
When Cao Pi heard that Xia Hou Shang had submitted a second secret memorial, his heart skipped a beat.
At first he thought something happened in the south, but after reading Xia Houshang's secret performance, excitement appeared on his face.
When Xiahou Shang wrote the first secret memorial, Cao Pi had intended to agree to Xiahou Shang's sending troops, but this was dissuaded by Sima Yi and Jiang Ji.
Under the dissuasion of two close ministers, Cao Pi temporarily left Xiahou Shang's first secret memorial without reply.
When Xiahou Shang's second secret memorial was delivered to him, Cao Pi immediately summoned a group of close ministers to discuss the matter again after looking at the contents of Xiahou Shang's secret memorial.
Since Cao Pi officially became the emperor through Zen, he began to work hard to govern in the name of the emperor.
Because he had read scriptures since he was a child, Cao Pi wanted to be a Confucian benevolent monarch.
In terms of the concept of governing the country, Cao Pi pursued imitating the ancient world of benevolent monarchs and virtuous ministers.
On the one hand, he instituted laws to cut down vassals, crack down on dissidents, continue to consolidate his own power, and issued edicts to strictly prohibit his relatives and eunuchs from intervening in politics.
On the other hand, he cultivated himself with the people, issued edicts that were quite beneficial to the people, and vigorously developed Confucianism among the people.
Cao Pi wanted to educate the people as soon as possible, restore the order of social life, promote social economic and cultural development, and restore the national strength of the north.
Not to mention Cao Pi's personal morality and some of his general mistakes, he indeed made outstanding contributions to the development of northern internal affairs.
Historically, a few years later, the north would raise hundreds of thousands of troops at every turn. Even in the later stages, it would not be a problem to send hundreds of thousands of troops to fight a protracted war. The foundation for all this was laid during Cao Pi's reign.
In terms of political ambitions, Cao Pi has always wanted to inherit Cao Cao's ambition to unify the country.
Under Cao Pi's order, a group of close friends quickly came to the hall.
After a group of important officials arrived, Cao Pi ordered his attendants to show them Xiahou Shang's secret memorials one by one.
Cao Pi summoned not many ministers, but they were all people he could trust, so he was not afraid of leaking secrets.
After several upstarts from Cao Wei read Xia Houshang's second secret memorial, everyone's faces could not conceal their shock.
Cao Pi was a monarch who was deeply influenced by Confucian culture since childhood, so all the ministers he trusted were familiar with Confucian classics.
Among such a group of monarchs and ministers, Meng Da's determination to establish his will had a greater impact on them.
There may have been important ministers who would have advised Cao Pi to act cautiously before, but after Meng Da's move of cutting off his hair, no ministers spoke to dissuade him.
Otherwise, if Cao Pi asks you to decide whether you are willing or not, no minister will be able to answer.
Seeing that none of his close friends had any objections, Cao Pi began to look excited on his face.
If Xia Houshang and Cao Ren wanted to get rid of Mi Yang more personally, Cao Pi focused on the overall situation of the world today and wanted to take Xicheng into his hands as soon as possible.
Because Xicheng, or Hanxing County, is a transportation hub connecting Hanzhong and Xiangyang.
If he can hold Hanxing County in his hands, he can cut off the fastest connection between Hanzhong and Xiangyang with one blow.
….
In this way, when Liu Bei launches a large-scale Northern Expedition in the future, he will undoubtedly be unable to coordinate with the east and west, so that he can defeat them one by one.
Moreover, as a traditional Confucian monarch, Cao Pi believed in destiny.
Some time ago, after Cao Pi established the Wei Dynasty, he heard the four words "Tianbu Zuoer" said by his sister Cao Jie from Zhang Yin.
Cao Pi felt bad about those four characters, so he ordered someone to carve the official Chinese characters "The Great Wei received the Han Chuan Guo Xi" on the shoulder of the imperial seal, in order to prove to himself that he was not a "usurper of the Han Dynasty".
After completing this move, he felt much more at ease.
After completing this move, Cao Pi recently heard that Cao Zhi was crying for Liu Xiefa, which made him very dissatisfied.
Just because he had not been on the throne for a long time, he could not do anything to his younger brother.
Too harsh a treatment.
But precisely because he did not punish Cao Zhi to vent his anger, he always felt that there was a kind of haze surrounding him in his heart.
Although he hates Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi is his brother after all.
Now even his younger brother believed the rumors and cried for Liu Xiefa, which made Cao Pi even more uncertain about what others thought.
What is destiny?
The destiny of heaven is the surrender of human hearts and the surrender of all nations.
Now, just when Cao Pi was feeling gloomy, his biggest rival, General Meng Da, decided to defect to the north and submit to justice.
Cao Pi had also heard of Meng Da's reputation. Meng Da was not the kind of unknown general.
This filled Cao Pi's heart with joy.
Cao Pi was determined to set Meng Da as a benchmark.
Cao Pi smiled and said to all the close ministers in the palace:
"In the past, Yin Zhi turned his back on Shang and returned to the Zhou Dynasty; he traveled hundreds of miles from Yu to enter the Qin Dynasty; Le Yi felt that the barbarians were sloughing off the cicadas; Wang Zunzhi went against the will and went to the Qin Dynasty; all of them reviewed the effects of success and failure.
Knowing the inevitability of success or failure, we describe it in pictures and write down its merits in good history.
This son has a pure and virtuous attitude, excellent abilities, clear determination and profound understanding of righteousness.
I humbly look to the west, thinking about it and regretting that I didn't realize it earlier, so I sigh.
In the past, when Yu Qing came to Zhao, he met again to take the chancellor, and Chen Ping went to Han, where he paid a visit to the chariot, and his son came to me. It was at this time.
The edict: Order the envoy to bring my royal horse to show your loyalty and love. "
When Cao Pi issued this edict, Sima Yi, Jiang Ji, Chen Qun, and Zhu Shuo in the hall already frowned slightly.
Cao Pi's old habit relapsed, and he began to reward the people he loved indiscriminately.
The royal horse is the exclusive mount of Cao Pi, the emperor. How can it be rewarded to his subordinates?
But after Cao Pi said the above words, he felt that there was something lacking. How could such a reward reflect Meng Da's loyalty?
The heart of a loyal minister cannot be cold.
Cao Pi thought for a while and then said: "Now the sea is clear and stable. I want to unify thousands of miles. I have three warnings of boundless dust. There is no danger of dogs barking in mid-summer."
Zidu returned to Shunyi and returned to the north. He issued an edict to brighten the roads of his family to show his nobility. If Zidu wants to come to see you, you should first make arrangements and have some security, and then slowly ride to the north.
I then worshiped Da as a regular servant of Sanqi, led the general in the Western Expedition, and granted the title of Marquis of Pingyang Ting. "
Every time Cao Pi issued an edict, Huangmen Shilang would record Cao Pi's edict.
These edicts will be sent to Nanyang soon.
But after Cao Pi finished speaking about the latest edict, Jiang Ji, who was loyal and upright, finally couldn't help it. He bowed to Cao Pi and said:
….
"Now that Mengda intends to submit to Your Majesty, it is actually due to Your Majesty's divine power. However, Mengda has unclear talents and is not loyal, so how can he rush to reward him too generously?"
"I hope your majesty will think twice. If your majesty wants to reward you, it will not be too late to reward Meng Da after he has successfully performed his righteous deeds."
Jiang Ji's advice attracted looks of approval on the faces of several other important ministers.
But after hearing this, Cao Pi had a smile on his face. He waved his hands and said, "I will protect him from others, just like shooting a mugwort arrow in the middle of the ear."
"Otherwise, how can we maintain the loyalty of "breaking the will"? "
Seeing that Cao Pi insisted on this, and thinking that Meng Da's move was indeed not suspicious, Jiang Ji had no choice but to retreat.
After Jiang Ji retreated, Cao Pi immediately ordered Huangmen Shilang, who had finished recording the edict, to send his edict to Xiahou Shang as soon as possible, and he must have Xiahou Shang deliver it to Meng Da as soon as possible.
What Cao Pi didn't know was that shortly after his edict was issued, the first fraud in the post-Three Kingdoms period was about to occur.
And soon, he, the Emperor of Wei, will also become the laughing stock of the world!
...
Under Cao Pi's imperial edict, his edict was quickly delivered to Xiahou Shang of Wudang County.
At this time, Cao Ren's army had not yet arrived.
After all, Nanyang County is a large southern county that defends the Central Plains, and there are tens of thousands of Guan Yu's troops in Xiangyang.
Watching with eager eyes.
In this case, Cao Ren must arrange all the defenses in Nanyang so that he can lead his army southward with peace of mind.
When Xiahou Shang received Cao Pi's edict, he excitedly bowed to the north three times.
Your Majesty is truly the emperor!
Although Cao Ren's army has not yet arrived, in Cao Ren's reply to Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Shang already knew that Cao Ren would soon lead an army to Wudang County for a personal expedition.
Under such circumstances, what Xiahou Shang has to do during this period of time is to, on the one hand, step up training of troops and horses and collect boats, and on the other hand, strengthen the relationship with Meng Da to appease him.
At this point, as Xiahou Shang, who was the first to contact Meng Da to surrender, he has become the middleman between Meng Da and Cao Wei.
And he had no doubts about Meng Da. At this time, he had already bet all his treasure on Meng Da.
Different from the beginning, it was Meng Da who contacted Xia Houshang eagerly, fearing that he would not trust him.
Now Xiahou Shang is trying every possible means to strengthen his connection with Meng Da, and is deeply afraid that something unexpected will happen to him.
With this mentality, after Xiahou Shang received Cao Pi's edict, he immediately ordered Li Fu to carry Cao Pi's edict and return to the Hanshui Army Stronghold to inform Meng Da of Cao Pi's grace.
Li Fu embraced Cao Pi's edict in excitement, and soon returned to the Han River military stronghold to find Meng Da.
When Meng Da read the edict given to him by Cao Pi, great surprise appeared on his face.
What he didn't expect was that Cao Pi would value him so much.
Looking at the bright red seal on the edict and the reward given to him by Cao Pi, Meng Da was really moved for a moment.
But then this idea of greed was quickly dispelled by the reason in Mengda's mind.
He has been following Mi Yang for several months, and he already knows a lot about Mi Yang's methods.
Compared with his former superior Liu Feng, Mi Yang is definitely not the arrogant character.
….
Since Mi Yang dared to let him use this false surrender strategy, there must be countermeasures.
Besides, his only son, Meng Xing, is currently in Mi Yang's county government.
Under such circumstances, Mengda would not take that risk.
Just like Xia Houshang, Xia Houshang gave all his trust to Meng Da, and Meng Da also gave all his trust to Mi Yang.
After receiving Cao Pi's order, Meng Da ordered Li Fu to go down and have a good rest.
Then late at night, he went to the county government alone to find Mi Yang to report the latest situation.
Thanks to the previous purge, Mi Yang currently has absolute control over Xicheng.
Under such circumstances, as long as Mi Yang made proper arrangements, no one would notice Meng Da's secret meeting with Mi Yang late at night.
Because Mi Yang had recently been preoccupied with seducing Xia Houshang, Mi Yang went to bed very late during this period, worried that Meng Da would have important things to report at any time.
Under the leadership of Gan Gao, Meng Da met Mi Yang in a remote hall in the county government.
After Mi Yang saw Meng Da, he smiled and handed several letters in his hand to Meng Da for viewing.
Meng Da respectfully took the letter from Mi Yang and read it carefully.
After Meng Da read it, a smile appeared on his face.
These letters were written to Mi Yang by Lu Yi and Deng Ai respectively.
Not long ago, after several of them learned about Meng Da's confession, they all wrote letters to defend Meng Da, believing that he would not have any rebellious intentions.
Moreover, their words vaguely revealed that Mi Yang was forcing Meng Da too much.
This shows how much impact Meng Da's previous confession of cutting off his hair had on everyone.
After reading the petitions from Lu Yi and Deng Ai, Meng Da felt a warm feeling in his heart.
Perhaps he has suffered a lot of grievances during this period, and perhaps his colleagues did not have much enthusiasm for him in the past, but fortunately they were willing to believe him at the critical moment.
This is something Mengda has never experienced before.
After being moved, Meng Da handed the edict given to him by Cao Pi in his arms to Mi Yang to read.
After reading it, Mi Yang raised his eyebrows lightly and couldn't help but sigh at Cao Pi's great work.
However, this is also in line with Cao Pi's character in history. The fact that he was deceived by Sun Quan has a lot to do with his own character.
Then Meng Da reported something to Mi Yang:
Today, Xiahou Shang not only asked Li Fu to bring Cao Pi's edict of reward, but also discussed with Meng Da the follow-up march in the letter.
In order to cooperate internally and externally, of course, Mengda must be informed of his army's advance strategy and approximate strength, so that they can cooperate seamlessly in the future.
After Mi Yang learned that Cao Ren would personally fight, a look of surprise appeared on his face. Unexpectedly, he caught a bigger fish.
After informing Mi Yang of the general situation, Meng Da said to Mi Yang: "If Cao Ren comes in person, he will bring a large army. However, our army only has 10,000 people, so I'm afraid there will be no danger."
Meng Da's advice made Mi Yang nod. He had already considered this.
Even if Cao Ren didn't come in person, Mi Yang had no intention of defeating Xiahou Shang's 20,000 troops with only his 10,000 troops.
Mi Yang looked at Meng Da and saw that his long hair was gone.
With his hair not growing long, Mengda couldn't even tie his crown, so he could only let his hair hang loosely.
….
In today's aesthetics, adults with disheveled hair will be ridiculed.
Feeling Meng Da's dedication in her heart, Mi Yang reached out and patted Meng Da on the shoulder and said:
"Zidu doesn't need to worry about the military strength. Zidu only needs to investigate Cao Ren's further movements for me in detail."
"If this thing comes to pass, even if I don't need any merit of my own, I will still recommend my son to become a marquis."
Hearing what Mi Yang said, Meng Da bowed to Mi Yang excitedly and said excitedly: "Thank you, General."
...
Just two days before Cao Pi's edict was delivered to Meng Da, a team carrying Wang Ling quickly arrived outside Nanzheng City in Hanzhong County.
When being blocked by the city guards, Fa Miao, the leader of this secret team, took out a gold medal and then said to the soldiers at the city gate:
"Your Majesty, your Majesty is in urgent need. Anyone who dares to stand in his way will be killed without mercy!"
After checking the identity of this group of people, the city guards immediately stepped aside respectfully.
After no one stopped him, Fa Miao, who was Liu Bei's envoy, led a group of people behind him and quickly rushed into Nanzheng City.
If Mi Yang were present, he would definitely be able to recognize who the group of people behind Fa Miao were.
Zhang Nan, Feng Xi, Fu Kuang, Cheng Ji, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Zhao Tong, etc.
Some of these people died in the Yiling Battle in history, but their fate has changed in this life.
Mi Yang's previous letter was not only a bold statement to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei's "good deeds" were not just spiritual encouragement.
Now everything is ready, just waiting for the fish to be caught!
The Han Dynasty wants to be re-established, how can it be done without the blood of thieves?
Soy sauce history
