A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"You mean Sima Yi spends his days tending to flowers and plants, fishing and drinking wine, and doesn't even read books anymore?"

Cao Cao observed the actions of Cao Pi and Sima Yi reported by his subordinates and found them extremely suspicious.

One of them just studies at home and does nothing else.

One spends his time tending to flowers and plants, fishing and drinking, doing nothing productive.

These two have completely given up.

Even though Cao Pi and Sima Yi hadn't done anything out of line in the past few years, Cao Cao still didn't trust them.

Neither of these two scoundrels is easy to deal with.

In recent years, his health has also begun to decline. Cao Chong has also successfully completed his apprenticeship under Cheng Yu and has begun to handle state affairs under Wei Xue and Xun Yu.

Cao Cao also noticed that Cao Chong was intentionally or unintentionally eliminating Cao Pi's supporters, and his methods were becoming more and more like Cheng Yu's style: if he could overwhelm them with overwhelming force, he would do so; if he couldn't, he would resort to underhanded tactics and dirty tricks.

Some people went to Cao Pi, but he refused to see them all. This greatly disappointed many ministers and factions who were still hoping for Cao Pi's return to the court, and many of them went to find other powerful figures to rely on.

"So be it. He is still my son after all. As long as you no longer covet the throne, I will ensure you a life of comfort and security."

Cao Cao put down the intelligence report in his hand and sighed. He had read many books when he was young, especially history books, because history books could enlighten him and inspire him.

Whenever Cao Cao read about the history books of how brothers killed each other for the throne, he could not understand: was power really more important than blood relatives?

But once he truly grasped power, he discovered that power is indeed incredibly alluring!

He began to teach his children to be respectful and loving towards their brothers, not wanting a scene of fratricide to occur among his descendants.

But Cao Cao never imagined that such a scene of fratricide would occur while he was still alive, and even among his sons.

This was a huge blow to Cao Cao.

To prevent future generations from following Cao Pi's example, he could only let his descendants see the consequences of his actions, and minimize the political impact of Cao Pi's killing of Cao Ang.

In the 18th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, Cao Cao died of illness in Luoyang. His son, Cao Chong, ascended the throne as Emperor Qianhui.

Before Emperor Qianhui ascended the throne, Cao Cao had already begun to consciously delegate power, which made the political transition between the two emperors extremely smooth. Emperor Qianhui, Cao Chong, easily seized control of the court.

After Emperor Qianhui ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to grant Cao Pi the title of king, intending to drive Cao Pi far away from the country.

From a very young age, Cao Chong felt that his second brother was like a poisonous snake, lurking in the shadows, ready to bite him and kill him at any moment.

His elder brother, Cao Ang, died in this way.

Even though Cao Pi's forces, both overt and covert, have been almost completely wiped out, who knows how many tricks this cunning old fox has up his sleeve?

If killing him is difficult, the farther away the better. He can remotely control the development of Luoyang from thousands of miles away. Are you suggesting we kill him from thousands of miles away?!

In that case, he deserved to die. He had such a huge advantage, yet Cao Pi still managed to turn the tide. His death was not a loss.

After Cao Pi received the imperial edict granting him the title of king, the person delivering the edict was to watch Cao Pi leave Daqian.

Cao Pi didn't delay. He packed a few clothes and led the 2000 soldiers that Cao Chong had given him away from Daqian.

These 2000 soldiers were ostensibly there to protect Cao Pi, but in reality, they were there to monitor him. Their sole purpose was to send Cao Pi to a fiefdom overseas, and to ensure he didn't die, lest Cao Chong be branded as a murderer of his brother.

After these 2001 people left, letters were sent to Cao Chong from time to time, informing him of their travel itinerary.

It wasn't until three years later, after everyone had safely reached the vicinity of the three-way battlefront of the Great Qian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Sasanian Empire in the far west, that the letter reached Cao Chong's hands.

After Cao Chong received the letter and verified its authenticity, he compared it with the letter sent by his mole. Only after confirming that it was correct did he breathe a sigh of relief.

In two more years, once the news has completely faded, his spies will eliminate Cao Pi, and he will be able to rest easy.

He also demoted or drove away the other princes, thus gaining complete control of the entire Daqian Dynasty.

Because Cao Chong rose to power unexpectedly, he did not have much of a powerful family background. Under Cao Cao's tutelage, Cao Chong was not interested in powerful families. After consolidating his rule, he thought of inheriting his father's will and opening up the path for commoners and ordinary people to rise to power.

To open up pathways for the rise of those from humble backgrounds and ordinary people, we must establish more colleges and have more teachers.

The biggest problem is that the imperial court cannot provide that many teachers.

Therefore, Cao Chong ordered that all newly promoted official officials must have more than three years of local teaching experience, which must be in a state-run public college.

This decree immediately aroused dissatisfaction among many forces.

In the land of China, all other professions are considered inferior; only being an official is considered superior.

Holding official positions and wielding power is the pursuit of countless individuals and families.

Studying is already difficult enough, but having to dedicate three years to teaching naturally causes great dissatisfaction.

However, it was still the founding period of the dynasty, and the old ministers who had fought alongside Cao Cao were still around. Cao Chong used the influence of these old ministers to forcefully push this decree through.

Scholars and intellectuals who wanted to become officials flocked to teach at colleges across the country, regardless of whether they could actually succeed.

Whether one can successfully become an official is one thing; whether one has prepared in advance is another.

If they lack teaching experience and miss the opportunity to become officials, they will regret it to the point of heartache.

Moreover, now that the emperor has issued such an order, who knows, in three years there might be fewer people with teaching experience, and those who lack knowledge might also be able to become officials?!

Cao Chong's order did indeed alleviate the problem of teacher shortage.

Over the past three years, countless children have received an education and shed the label of illiterate.

Similarly, this order affected the interests of too many people. Countless people who should have been appointed to official positions were delayed for three years because of this imperial edict, and some were even squeezed out by others.

This group of people naturally hated Cao Chong, the instigator, to the core.

……

"Seventh Brother is still a bit impulsive. How can he issue such an order himself? Someone else should be pushed to the forefront."

At a manor not far from Luoyang, two men were fishing together and discussing Cao Chong's policy.

"However, it must be said that this policy has indeed alleviated the problem of teacher shortage. Ten years later, the number of literate people in the country will be dozens of times greater."

"Even just learning to read is a great merit."

Who are these two people?

Naturally, these were Cao Pi, who should have been thousands of miles away, and Sima Yi, who was living in seclusion outside the city.

"Whether this policy is good or bad, what does it have to do with you and me, young master?"

Sima Yi sat there blankly, quietly looking at his fish slices, as if the world was not on his mind.

"That's not necessarily true."

Cao Pi's smile was like a warm breeze; "The time is almost here!"