Three Kingdoms: I help Liu Bei grow thousands of miles

Chapter 647

Thinking of his mother's words, Cao Zhi looked at Cao Pi on the stage with disdain, and replied neither humble nor overbearing: "Your Majesty, I am also the son of the previous king. How could I overthrow my own kingdom? Is it a crime for the King to subdue his younger brother?"

"It doesn't matter if you don't admit it." Cao Pi sneered, then suddenly looked at Ding Zhen, "Ding Huangmen (Huangmen servant), what do you say?"

Ding Zhen knew that he was wrong, so he evasively said: "We were drunk with the Marquis of Linzi today, how could we plot to overthrow the Wei State? Did your Majesty hear the slander from a traitor?"

Cao Pi then stood up, pointed to the big cauldron in the hall, and said, "I'll give you one more chance. If you admit it, you'll throw yourself into the cauldron. You won't harm your family. If you die and don't repent, hehe."

Ding Yi and Cao Pi had old grievances, relying on the in-laws of the Ding family and the Cao family for generations, and seeing no outsiders in the other courtyard, so she replied firmly: "The king wants to commit a crime, why should Ding Yi judge himself? If he is boiled and killed today. , Historian will write and hum."

"Your Majesty has only just ascended the throne, so you want to use this kind of torture? Wouldn't it make all the officials feel cold?" Ding Yan followed his elder brother's pace.

"Elder brother is already the king of Wei, and he can be convicted just by conjecture, why should I wait for an excuse?" Cao Zhi looked at Cao Pi coldly.

Cao Pi clapped his hands and smiled slightly: "I don't shed tears when I see the coffin. I'll let you see what evidence is. Is Gu You just imagining? Bring him in."

As soon as Cao Pi finished speaking, an old man was brought into the hall. He was a long and dumb porter. Ding Yi and Ding Zhen still knew each other, and the three of them didn't know the meaning of his appearance.

The old man bowed to Cao Pi, and then he actually spoke: "Reporting to Your Majesty, these two came to the other courtyard at three o'clock in Xushi, because they were very loud in Linzihou's room, and the old servant accidentally heard a few words."

The old man was nearly sixty years old, but he spoke clearly and had a superb memory. He repeated what Ding Yi and Ding Zhen said word for word.

During Cao Zhi’s stay in Yecheng, he was very cautious, and he didn’t dare to trust the guards and maidservants in other courtyards, but he had no grudges against the “deaf and dumb” concierge. After getting along with him for a while, Cao Zhi saw that he was pitifully rewarded Property, but he turned out to be Cao Pi's man, thinking of this Cao Zhi felt a chill down his back.

"You spitting blood." Ding Yi panicked at this moment.

"This person is talking nonsense, Your Majesty can't unilaterally trust the porter old man," Ding Zhen reminded.

Cao Pi sneered: "Gu has already produced the evidence you want. Since your brothers don't admit it, and you don't want to go to the cauldron to be punished, then the whole family will accompany you to be buried. General Xu, immediately arrest Ding Yi and Ding Yan. Then they were all escorted to Yecheng and asked to be executed."

"Wei." Xu Chu cupped his fists and accepted the order.

"General Xu, please wait a moment, I am willing to confess, I am willing to step down, please forgive me." Ding Zhen was so frightened that he knelt down when he heard that the whole family was involved, and directly hit the hall with blood on his forehead. .

"Hmph, it's late, let Gucha go out immediately, and the family members will be executed at the same time in a few days." Cao Pi waved his hand, showing the demeanor of a king.

Ding Yi sat paralyzed on the ground after Cao Pi finished speaking, and several warriors immediately entered the hall to erect the two of them. You beast, sooner or later you will die."

Cao Pi was so angry that his brows trembled, and he said angrily: "This thief is already insane, let Gu cut off his tongue and drag him down."

As soon as Ding Yi and Ding Yan were taken out of the palace gate, they heard a scream from outside, probably because Ding Yi's tongue had been cut off, Cao Zhi was fully awake at this time, and was sweating profusely from shock.

"Is the elder brother going to kill the younger brother?" Cao Zhi looked straight at Cao Pi.

Cao Pi snorted softly: "Zijian still doesn't give up now? If the previous king wanted to pass on the throne to you, how could he be in the situation he is today? He even wants to make trouble with Ziwen (Cao Zhang)? This trip is really despicable. Brother knows you You are so talented, you have always been loved by your father, this is beyond your reach, now that the Ding brothers have confessed, what else do you have to say?"

"Hahaha, brother, kill him if he wants to. Why do the Latin brothers go into the water? Isn't it just cooking and killing? Brother, I will go to see the former king." After Cao Zhi finished speaking, he walked towards the boiling cauldron with awe-inspiring righteousness.

"Wait a minute." Cao Pi called Cao Zhi to stop.

"Your Majesty, do you have anything else to say?" Cao Zhi showed no fear.

"Although the death of the brothers of the Ding family is not a pity, but Zijian is my younger brother after all, how can I bear to see you die in this palace of the king of Wei? I know that your poems and essays are world-famous. If you can write a good poem within a stick of incense , I will pardon your crime of conspiracy, if you can't do it because of your reputation, don't blame your brother for being ruthless." Cao Pi sneered and suggested.

"Your brother, try your best." The so-called death is worse than life, Cao Zhi's life has not been enjoyed enough, and he is actually unwilling to die in such embarrassment.

The waiter immediately brought a tripod of incense burner, and the sparks from the incense head slowly devoured downward.

Cao Zhi didn't pay attention to the burning incense at all, but patted his clothes and paced back and forth in the hall thinking. When he took the seventh step, he suddenly noticed the bean stalks that were igniting the fire beside the copper tripod.

"Boil the beans and hold them to make soup, and smash the shu to make juice. The scorpions burn under the kettle, and the beans weep in the kettle. They are born from the same root, so why is it too urgent to fry each other?"

Cao Pi also has a good literary talent. When he finished listening to Cao Zhi's seven-step poem, he suddenly shivered and was greatly touched. He waved his hands and said, "Zi Jian's talent is not as good as mine. Let's go back to the other courtyard to rest."

"That Zhengli (Ding Yi), Jingli (Ding Yan) and their families"

Before Cao Zhi could finish his intercession, he was interrupted roughly by Cao Pi on the stage, "The Ding family has been disobedient for a long time, and it is already merciful not to kill the entire Ding family. Zijian takes care of himself first."

Cao Zhi was stunned, and returned to the other courtyard under the supervision of the warriors. It would be two hours before dawn, but he was destined not to sleep that night.

In the early morning of the next day, Mrs. Ding was arrested and awaiting execution, and Cao Zhi was forced to compose a poem in seven steps. These two incidents quickly spread throughout Yecheng.

All the ministers were in an uproar when they heard the news. They all knew that Cao Pi was settling accounts after the autumn, so few people came forward to intercede.

Cao Pi may hate the Ding brothers, or he may want to use a massacre to establish his prestige, or he may want to cover up the scandal in the harem and divert the attention of those who know it, so he did not let go because of Xia Houshang's personal relationship.

In mid-April, dozens of men from Ding Yi and Ding Zhen were all taken to the downtown of Yecheng to be beheaded. Cao Pi used thunder to establish his majesty.

Mrs. Bian was worried that Cao Zhi would be persecuted, and asked Cao Pi to let him return to the fief. Cao Pi demoted Cao Zhi to be the Marquis of Anxiang, with [-] households in the township, downgraded from the original Marquis of [-] to the Marquis of Hundred at the township level.

In late April, Xia Houchong went to Yecheng to report his funeral. His father Xiahou Dun died of illness in Xudu.

Cao Pi was grateful for his contributions, put on plain clothes, led all the officials, and went to the east gate of Yecheng to mourn for him. He bestowed Xiahou Dun with the posthumous title of Zhonghou and generously bestowed on Xiahou Dun's family.

One night, Xia Houchong came to Xu Chu's house in disguise.

When Xu Chu welcomed Xia Houchong into the mansion, a light flashed in his eyes. He knew that Cao Cao's final order had come.

(End of this chapter)