Xu Chu was loyal and low-key. He did not make friends with the clan or internal and external officials, and was deeply loved by Cao Cao.
However, his friendship with the new master Cao Pi was relatively short, and he did not take on independent guard duties. Instead, he alternated with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry Battalion as guards.
Someone shared the work at hand, Xu Chu had more free time, and he had more time to go home.
Xu Chu Guchen's reputation was well known, and his family was neglected and no one visited him all year round.
The arrival of Xia Houchong broke the tranquility of Xu's house.
Xu Chu, who always behaved in a carefree manner, withdrew the servants and closed the door.
Sensing that there was no one outside the house, Xu Chucai cupped his fists and saluted: "Two months ago, I met the general in Luoyang, but now we are separated by heaven and earth. It is sad to think about it. Mr. Ziman, please express my condolences..."
Xia Houchong took off his hood and bowed his hands in return: "Everyone is destined to die. My father suffered from an old illness and followed the late king. This is destiny..."
"Master Ziman came to Ye to report his funeral, but I wonder if there is anything important to do at this late night?" Xu Chu was not good at small talk, so he quickly got straight to the point and introduced the topic.
"Zilin has a close relationship with the king. Does General Xu know why I came to Yecheng?" Xia Houchong asked in return.
Xu Chu vaguely felt that it was arranged by Xiahou Dun, but he shook his head gently: "I don't know..."
"It's because of my father's last words..." Xia Houchong looked around and saw no one outside the window, so he whispered: "My father wanted the general to kill Sima Yi."
Xu Chu was surprised after hearing this. Although Sima Yi was not the minister of Tuogu, he had a close relationship with Cao Pi. What did Xiahou Dun want to do? Is this really what the late king meant? But why was the summons just now?
Countless question marks filled Xu Chu's face, and he quickly asked: "The Sima family is a prominent family in Hanoi. Are you sure you want to kill the entire family? Master Ziman is not joking with me, is he?"
Xia Houchong shook his head resolutely, "It's not a joke, General Xu should remember the last instructions of the late king. My late father was just passing on the message..."
"But... why not sooner rather than later... but after the general's death?" Xu Chu continued to ask.
Xia Houchong replied: "Because the timing happened to happen, there was a prerequisite for the king's execution of the Sima family, that is, the king would force the Marquis of Linzi to write a poem. If the seven-step poem had not spread to Henan, it would have been Shi's disciple Lin who came to report the funeral."
"Why...why?" Xu Chu looked puzzled.
"My father told me before his death that the late king had received a few prophecies, including the prophecy that the Sima family would succeed the Wei Dynasty. The late king had to eliminate these dangers in advance for the sake of the Wei Kingdom for generations to come," Xia Houchong explained.
"But...but what does this have to do with the seven-step poem?" Xu Chu asked again.
Xia Houchong continued: "The late king knew that the Sima family had a profound background, and rashly annihilating the clan might cause panic among the clan, so he temporarily doubted those prophecies. When two prophecies can come true, he can kill Sima's whole family. One of them is 'Brother He forced his younger brother Cao Zhi to compose poems."
"Where's the other one?" Xu Chu swallowed.
Xia Houchong replied: "The other one came true first, which is 'the traitorous heroes will die after passing down the legacy', and the second one is 'brother forces brother Cao Zhi to compose poems'..."
"Then the third one..."
Xu Chu wanted to ask again, but was stopped by Xia Houchong, "My father didn't tell me later, and maybe the king didn't tell him either. In fact, it's not a good thing to know too many secrets. In addition to causing more troubles, you may also suffer death." .”
Death? Xu Chu suddenly remembered Yang Xiu. He stole Cao Cao's letters and burned them. Could it be that he had read some secret?
Wait, Yang Xiu mocked Sima Yi and Cao Xiu before he died. Thinking of this, Xu Chu's back was cold and the mysterious prophecy in Xia Houchong's mouth might have come from that letter?
"Do you want General Xu to obey the order?" Xia Houchong looked at Xu Chu with doubts on his face.
Killing the entire Sima clan would offend the Henan nobles, so Cao Cao asked Xu Chu to do it because he did not want the Xiahou family to be implicated.
Although Xu Chu is loyal, he is not stupid. He will not inform the Sima family, but he can definitely foresee the consequences.
Xiahou Dun could not control whether Xu Chu would carry out the decree, so he still had backup plans.
If Xu Chu shied away and refused to obey his orders, the Xiahou family would have no choice but to raise dead soldiers outside and secretly assassinate the Sima family.
Xu Chu thought for a moment, clasped his fists and replied: "You must obey the order of the late king. The Sima family's influence is spread all over Yecheng and Xudu. If you want to completely eradicate it, you must plan and prepare carefully, so I will spend some time."
Xia Houchong nodded happily: "My late father praised the 'Huhou' for being trustworthy. Now it turns out that the reputation is well-deserved. The king and the Sima brothers have a close friendship. Now we can only kill them first and then report them. Sima's tribe in Yecheng is handed over to the general. Xu Du's The Xiahou family will handle the matter.
If this matter comes to pass, I will be criticized by the ministers and punished by the king. I will secretly explain everything to the king afterwards, and Xu General can act more secretly, so as not to implicate future generations..."
Xu Chu nodded, "I will set a date here and send it to Xudu in advance..."
"Then you'll have a hard time." Xia Houchong stood up straight and bowed with respect.
After the two talked, Xia Houchong secretly left Xu's house.
Xu Chu stayed up all night that night and thought hard for the next few days, but could not think of a perfect solution.
The open-minded "Tiger Chi" suddenly became sad, and his brother Xu Ding finally discovered the clues.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turbans were rampant, and bandits were also present in the hometowns of Xu Ding and Xu Chu. The two brothers gathered thousands of strong men and clan members to build fortifications to resist the invasion of bandits.
Later, the Xu Chu brothers and their clan all served Cao Cao. Xu Ding was not as powerful as Xu Chu and was overshadowed by him, but he was promoted to General Zhenwei with his military merit.
Xu Ding took advantage of the break to visit his home. He wanted to find out the reason for Xu Chu's strange behavior. Is it because Cao Pi did not trust Cao Cao?
A dangerous secret becomes more dangerous if one more person knows it.
Xu Chu couldn't resist his brother because Xu Ding kept comforting him, saying that if he wanted Cao Pi to treat him like Cao Cao, it would take time for him to settle down.
Seeing that Xu Dinghui had wrong intentions, Xu Chu wanted to fulfill Cao Cao's last wish as soon as possible, so he told Xia Houchong everything he said.
After hearing this, Xu Ding was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time, and finally said angrily: "The Sima family has deep roots and is very close to the king. Now that Zhong Kang takes over this task, I'm afraid it will bring trouble to the Xu family. Could it be intentional by the general?" ..."
"Brother, don't make any assumptions. The king's last military order before his death was for me to obey the general's arrangements, so I must handle this matter..." Xu Chu made up his mind.
Xu Ding stroked his beard, "I think we can only use Xiahou Ziman's method, asking our close swordsmen to pretend to be assassins. Only assassination can save the Xu family from disaster..."
Xu Chu nodded, "This is the only way. I will select people in the past two days. After setting the date, I will inform the Xiahou family that my brother will send someone to send his nephew and Yi'er back to his hometown to visit relatives in the near future. In case this matter ends If we can't control it and the Xu family won't be cut off, Xiahou Ziman promised to protect the Xu family."
"Zhongkang is right. I saw that on the eve of the attack, you claimed to be sick at home early, which can be considered to avoid suspicion..." Xu Ding suggested.
Xu Chu was startled: "You want me to fake my illness to earn money from Sima?"
Xu Ding smiled slightly: "Zhongkang is good. He talks about the art of war, and he can become a general."
"I don't know anything about the art of war. I may have been exposed to it by being around the late king. I only remember a few words..." Xu Chu shook his head slightly.
