In a mansion in Xudu, Sima Yi hurried in and walked through the corridor to the hall.
In the hall, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi sat opposite each other drinking tea without saying a word.
Cao Pi sat upright, and his movements when drinking tea were natural and elegant. Every move he made was in accordance with etiquette, elegant and polite.
Cao Zhi sat with his arms open, imageless, picking up the tea cup and putting it down again.
Sima Yi came in and saluted Cao Zhi.
Neither Cao Pi nor Cao Zhi had official positions. Cao Pi was the eldest son of Wuping Hou after all, and Cao Zhi was not even the eldest son. However, Sima Yi was very polite and bowed with the etiquette of a lower official.
Cao Zhi nodded slightly but did not answer.
Sima Yi then bowed in front of Cao Pi and said loudly: "Zihuan, I am really not at fault, but General Beifu often bullies me. Please protect me, Zihuan!"
He just came back from the battlefield in Hefei. In less than a month of traveling back and forth to Hefei, Sima Yi lost a lot of weight. His face did not change, but his heart became more cold-blooded.
The battle in Hefei was too brutal. In order to protect himself, he saw through Jiangdong Army's strategies many times and made great contributions. However, he also gave orders to abandon the soldiers defending the city.
The polishing of the battlefield made him more tolerant, and he could not bear to mention the death of his younger brother Sima Jin at the hands of Cao Wu, lest Cao Pi suspect that he was secretly raising soldiers to die.
"Zi Huan saw with his own eyes how he humiliated me that day in Beifu. At the celebrity gathering in Xiangyang City, one of his maids scolded me in public, and Zijian also saw it. Another of his maids wanted to kill me. Zi Jian and Cang Shu were both present at this incident..."
Sima Yi lay on the ground and said a lot of things that Cao Wu was targeting him.
Cao Pi listened quietly, and then came over. He helped Sima Yi up kindly and said, "Zhongda, don't worry. General Beifu is too arrogant. Zijian and I have already made a plan."
Sima Yi looked at Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhi chuckled and said: "General Beifu went south to join the army without being summoned. He first killed the captain Ding Fang for no reason, and then indulged his slaves in the army to release the enemy general. He was proud and complacent and disrespected the emperor. He caused an uproar among all the officials, and took the lead in exempting his close associates from the corvee, which broke the rules. One by one, these incidents have been reported to the censor's station, and they are just waiting to be punished. "
After hearing what they said, Sima Yi not only showed no joy, but his expression changed and he murmured: "No!"
Cao Zhi was surprised: "Hey, why not?"
Sima Yi hesitated and said nothing.
Cao Pi said: "Zhongda, you and I will never go against each other. There is no need to be taboo."
Sima Yi then smiled bitterly and said: "How dare two Beifu generals be so rampant? What he relies on is neither prestige nor power, but the Prime Minister's trust. As long as the Prime Minister believes in him, these small things will not defeat him, but will only make him Things haven’t changed.”
The last time Baiguan went to Beifu, if Sima Yi had known that Cao Wu was so trusted by Cao Cao, it would have been impossible for him to take action.
Now that Cao Wu has made great achievements in the southern battlefield, it is even more difficult to move. According to Sima Yi's intention, let Cao Pi protect himself first, and then find a way to attack Cao Wu.
When he takes action, he must strike quickly with thunderous means, without releasing a trace of life.
Cao Zhi muttered, "Zhongda, do you think we two don't know about this? Although I don't know why my father trusts him so much, since the two of us have decided to join forces, we will naturally not hold back. We want to take advantage of my father's absence to take advantage of the matter." Finish it to avoid future troubles."
Cao Pi nodded and said: "The impeachment of hundreds of officials has put pressure on Xun Lingjun. He has been unable to leave due to illness. The next step is to only ask for the emperor's edict to release him and move him out of Xudu."
Sima Yi was confused: "But when the Prime Minister comes back, won't you two be implicated? And the Prime Minister can still bring him back with just a transfer order?"
He was puzzled by this tactic of alerting others.
Cao Pi said with a smile: "Zhongda, you don't know something. The plan is to do this. First encourage the officials to impeach him, and then Zijian and I will come forward and find officials who are familiar with each other to protect him, creating a situation of controversy in the court. . In the end, under the pressure from the two of us, the court not only refused to remove him from the title of general, but also promoted him to the rank of general!"
"this……"
Sima Yi did not expect that Cao Pi and Cao Zhi had such thoughts. In this way, when Cao Cao came back, he would not know that Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were behind the scenes, and thought that the two of them fought hard to protect Cao Wu.
Sima Yi asked: "Then where is the release place..."
Cao Pi smiled: "Since the general is being released, he must be at the border. But Jiangdong has just suffered a defeat and may counterattack at any time. We cannot go to the Jiangdong front line to avoid hurting my uncle."
Cao Zhi also said: "The Southern Huns have just invaded the border, so they cannot go."
Sima Yi slapped his forehead: "Then we can only go to Longxi!"
Cao Pi and Cao Zhi looked at each other and continued talking.
"That's right, in Longxi, Weiwei Ma Teng has just arrived in Beijing, and Liangzhou is the most stable place. He was sent to Longxi to garrison, which is nominally a frontier, but there is no danger. Letting him go to Longxi to guard the border is exactly what the two of us are doing. My uncle expressed his filial piety, but his original intention was to avoid the disputes in the court and then come back."
"Since there is no danger, there is no need to repay father for such a trivial matter."
"It's just a small thing. Guard Ma Teng missed his son in his hometown, so he sent a messenger to find him."
When the two of them reached this point, they stopped talking.
Sima Yi finally understood the full extent of the two men's plan.
Ma Teng was originally the leader of the Xiliang warlords, but now he was old. In order to protect his son Ma Chao, he continued to serve as mercenaries in Xiliang. But he was tired of killing, so he went to Xudu and became a guard in Jiuqing. This is what happened before the Battle of Chibi.
Ma Teng's whole family, except Ma Chao, is all in Xudu.
Although Ma Teng is a rough man, he is not stupid. He must know that one hundred years from now, one of Cao Pi and Cao Zhi will inherit Cao Cao's legacy.
So when two people take action at the same time and ask him to do a small thing.
How could Ma Teng, who didn't know Cao Wu's true status in Cao Cao's heart, not agree.
The Central Plains was initially settled, but the frontiers were still unsettled. It was normal for a general to be sent abroad and die on the road.
At that time, who would know that this series of schemes were all done by Cao Pi and Cao Zhi?
This plan is really clever!
Sima Yi admired him and said, "I wonder whose handwriting this serial plan came from?"
"Yingchuan Chen family, Chen Changwen!"
"Hongnong Yang family, Yang Dezu!"
Two people actually gave two different answers.
Cao Zhi sneered and stepped back.
Cao Pi returned with a smile.
Sima Yi understood that Chen Qun and Yang Xiu probably planned all this together.
Both of them are the elites of this generation of aristocratic families. Their knowledge and ability are top-notch, and this plan is indeed top-notch.
This is a temple fight, and their motives will not be revealed at every step. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi will hide the matter of instigating the impeachment of hundreds of officials, and then expose the matter of arguing for Cao Wu, making everyone think that they are just well-intentioned He did something wrong and got Cao Wu killed.
In this way, even if Cao Cao is suspicious, he will not blame them for it.
Among the legitimate sons, the two of them are most likely to inherit Cao Cao's family business. How could they be dealt with at the same time?
I am afraid that after Cao Wu is eliminated, there will still be a fight between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, and between Chen Qun and Yang Xiu.
Sima Yi thought for a while and then said: "The first step, the impeachment of all officials, how is it carried out?"
He was afraid that someone would see his flaws at the first step. After all, many of the officials were personally promoted by Xun Lingjun.
"I have to thank Runan Prefect Man Chong for being the first to write a letter to impeach my uncle. Other officials followed suit when they saw that my father was away and asked you to be sick."
"That's good, that's good."
Sima Yi was very satisfied with this answer. Man Chong was famous for his uprightness and could not be bribed. He impeached him first, which proved that no one was behind the scenes.
He was relieved, now that it was really perfect.
Sima Yi sneered in his heart, Beifu Cao Wu, if you want to blame him, you can only blame yourself for your many unjust actions, which Man Chong can't stand.
Just wait, the Xiliang Cavalry's butcher knife will make you regret your arrogant and domineering life!
…
In that wine shop, Xia Houmao's confession had come to an end.
"My father asked me to make good friends with the officials in the capital. Ma Tenggui was a guard captain, and his third son Ma Tie wanted to be a cavalry captain, but he didn't get the credit. I relied on my father's old connections to help him get through, and he became a cavalry captain. Captain, so I became familiar with him..."
Cao Wu, who was sitting on the horse, sneered: "So Cao Pi thought of you and used you to set up a matchmaking relationship with old man Ma Teng?"
"Yes...yes. But Zihuan forced me to do so. I didn't want to do this!"
"Did he force you to go to Beifu that day?"
"This...this...is because I don't know the majesty of my uncle. I did something wrong!"
Xia Houmao lowered his head just now.
He has been a playboy since he was a child. He has been running rampant in Xudu for a long time and has never been so embarrassed. However, the cheap uncle in front of him who rides up the stairs seems to have the ability to overpower all the playboys. It seems that he is the real playboy. Compared with him, Compared to that, I really am nothing.
Cao Wujian had all the questions he needed to ask. With Xiahou Dun's relationship at hand, he didn't really intend to do anything to Xiahou Mao, so he said, "Get out of here!"
Xiahou Mao stood up as if he was being pardoned.
Cao Wu saw that he was wearing armor and didn't like anything about him. He pointed a riding crop at him and said, "If a man wants to make contributions, he should go to the front line. Wearing a suit of armor and swaggering through the capital, what kind of skill is that?"
Speaking of this, Xia Houmao actually raised his neck and said: "I want my uncle to know that I am already familiar with strategy and the art of war, but my father does not let me go to the battlefield and I have no chance to serve the country!"
Cao Wu rolled his eyes, "Your father Xiahou Dun has no strength to speak of. No one in Cao's camp can defeat him except Dian Wei Xu Chu."
But when it comes to fighting, he is much worse than other people in the Xiahou Cao. The so-called "never won a battle, never stopped being promoted" is talking about Xiahou Dun.
As for Xia Houmao, it was even more of a sigh.
History books say that he was timid and unintelligent, with no martial arts in mind, but good at managing people's lives. Translated into human words, it is contemporary Zhao Kuo.
Cao Wu didn't want to have too many interactions with such a person.
But when he learned about the impeachment of hundreds of officials today, he immediately thought that it was probably Cao Pi or Cao Zhi.
So he never thought about how to deal with the impeachment of hundreds of officials, but came directly to find Xia Houmao, who was very close to Cao Pi.
There is no need to play around with twists and turns, and there is no need to do too much layout.
In the temple fight, he only needs one move, which is to slap the board hard. If the board fails, he will stab him with a dozen swords.
Those who are timid are the ones who have not seen the situation clearly.
The sky fell, but my brother Cao Mengde was holding him up.
Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, and their advisers never dreamed that this seamless plan would be ruined by an arrogant and domineering man.
