Chapter 824 People's Hearts Are in Chaos 1
Chang'an in the Wei State was gloomy and solemn; the surging Wei River could not take away a trace of the solemnity.
The entire Guanzhong area was shrouded in a low atmosphere.
Hedong was defeated.
Heluo was defeated.
The Wei State had lost everything east of Guanzhong, leaving only Guanzhong, Liangzhou and Shuzhong.
Shu became independent and increasingly alienated from the imperial court, to the point of cutting off all communication between the inside and the outside.
Liangzhou is remote and there are many unusual movements.
The State of Wei had fallen into an unprecedented predicament.
Above the court.
Cao Chengsi roared, "He is truly incompetent to the extreme. As a great general, he caused such a great defeat, almost destroying the country and the clan. If we don't kill him, we won't be able to win the hearts of the people in Wei."
Dao Cao died on the battlefield, but the others were kneeling in the hall in shackles. They were all dishevelled and their prison uniforms were tattered. Some of them had big mouths and drooled uncontrollably. These former nobles had ended up in this situation. They had lost so miserably that someone had to take the blame.
If there is a king who dares to take responsibility, he will naturally be able to bear it alone.
But in the Wei Kingdom today, the emperor is a child and the empress dowager is a palace maid. Cao Chengsi wishes they were dead, but the rest of the ministers are not qualified.
The only outcome for these generals who went to war was death.
They were able to survive until now because Cao Chengsi was not sure whether Yan would directly attack Guanzhong. Now Murong Ke was directly recalled with a gold medal. As a conspirator, Cao Chengsi immediately knew that his counter-espionage plan had worked, and he immediately let go.
The only sound in the hall was Cao Chengsi's indignant voice. The prisoners kneeling on the ground had their mouths stuffed on purpose on the way here, causing them to be basically mute now. They were drooling uncontrollably because they couldn't close their mouths at all.
All that could be heard were hoarse and unpleasant roars, as well as the ferocious attempts to climb to the top to tell of their grievances. Seeing this scene, the empress dowager felt a little scared, and the emperor was so frightened that he burst into tears. The empress dowager picked up the emperor and left a sentence, "This matter will be handed over to King Jincheng for disposal. Take the emperor away first to prevent these criminals from offending the emperor." After that, she hurried away.
The departure of the Queen Mother seemed to have taken away the last ray of light from the people in the hall. Their hands were still stretched forward, but they did not move. They just stared blankly at the Queen Mother's hurriedly fleeing back, and Cao Chengsi's increasingly obvious smile that he could not suppress no matter how hard he tried.
Cao Chengsi said almost without hesitation: "Drag him away and behead him!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an official in the hall stepped out and said loudly: "King Jincheng, this is not in compliance with the laws of our Great Wei. They are all clan members, so they must first be convicted by the clan leader, and then they must be judged by our Great Wei. Even if they are sentenced to beheading, they must wait until autumn, and finally they must be reviewed again before they can be executed."
Cao Chengsi's eyes, like those of a tiger or a wolf, instantly stared at him, and he said sinisterly, "You should go and tell the families of the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died. I will now cut these criminals who caused the defeat of our Wei army into pieces. Who agrees and who opposes?"
His words were like a glacier looming down. It was obvious that he was the number one villain responsible for the deaths of these soldiers, but he spoke so righteously. It was really shameless. Everyone in the hall was silent. At this point, who could resist Cao Chengsi?
The guards standing outside the hall dragged these people away one by one. Their weak struggles and roars filled with blood and tears naturally could not move a man like Cao Chengsi. He sneered as he watched all his political enemies being dragged away.
Accompanied by several screams.
The ministers sitting on both sides could not bear to watch. Cao Chengsi walked in the hall, slowly raised his arms, looked around at the ministers and laughed loudly: "Now that the treacherous people have been eliminated, the sacred Luoshen will surely bless our Great Wei and prolong the country's prosperity. My ministers, you should present your congratulatory letters and promote the righteous spirit of our Great Wei."
He laughed loudly towards the sky and left the hall. Naturally, his followers quickly followed him, all of them looking very happy.
After this incident, Cao Chengsi had almost no rivals in the Wei State, and his followers naturally rose in power, with wealth and power just around the corner.
The rest of the people in the hall left with heavy steps. What will the Wei Kingdom be like in the future?
Nobody knows.
The hot blood spilled during the beheading quickly cooled on the ground and even gradually turned into frost. The weather was getting colder, but it was not colder than people's hearts.
After Cao Mao's death, the only regent left is Cao Chengsi.
When he was in his twenties or nearly thirty, he had already become a general of the Wei State, the governor of Yongzhou, and was also appointed as the Shangshu Shi, the commander-in-chief of all internal and external military affairs, and was granted the title of Prince of Jincheng County.
This scene is quite similar to that of Cao Shuang back then, who also monopolized power in this way.
The only difference is that Cao Shuang had an opponent in Sima Yi, while Cao Chengsi had no opponent.
Cao Shuang had a problem with his brain, but Cao Chengsi had no problem with political struggles.
After returning to Jincheng Palace, Cao Chengsi immediately summoned his followers. Almost everyone had a strange light flashing in their eyes, and they stared at Cao Chengsi with shining eyes.
Cao Chengsi took a deep breath and said slowly: "Everyone, now that all the treacherous officials have been executed, the Wei Kingdom is finally in our hands. It is time for us to support the kingdom and protect the ancestral temple.
For some of you, I will send you out to be provincial governors, and for some of you, I will promote you to higher positions in the court, and replace all those treacherous officials, so that my Great Wei will be filled with righteous people!"
When Cao Chengsi said the words "Zhongzheng Yingchao", he himself was very solemn, but some of his followers were not thick-skinned enough and could only force themselves not to laugh out loud.
Cao Chengsi knew, and others knew too, that Cao Chengsi's move was to allow his cronies to control power from the imperial court to the local levels. Everyone who holds power would do the same.
"My lord, what should we do now?"
Cao Chengsi's cousin asked this question, and Cao Chengsi said without hesitation: "Follow me into the palace tomorrow, and first replace all the guards in the palace, and then you will start to go to various places in my Great Wei to inspect those noble families.
We must make sure that all the nobles are on our side. Although the power in the court cannot be given to these nobles, the local areas still need their help. "
Everyone was shocked. Cao Chengsi did not talk about any good strategies for governing the country, but continued to strengthen his own power. This attitude was already very clear.
The next most important thing is to start undermining the emperor and the empress dowager in order to seize power and usurp the throne. Everything else must give way to this matter.
The next day.
Cao Chengsi led a group of his trusted followers, exchanged his private army for palace guards, and went to meet the empress dowager and the emperor.
The little emperor didn't understand these things and just looked at them curiously. But the queen mother realized something was wrong. Her expression changed drastically and turned pale. Her pretty face lost all color. She asked in horror, "Prince Jincheng, you brought troops into the palace. What are you going to do?"
Cao Chengsi knelt on one knee and said in a deep voice: "Empress Dowager, I have received news that a few of the palace guards are accomplices of those traitors. I am worried that the Empress Dowager and His Majesty the Emperor will be in danger, so I am recruiting warriors loyal to the Emperor to replace those people to ensure His Majesty's safety."
The group was in the palace, and then they heard some noises coming from outside, followed by some dragging sounds, and soon it became quiet. Cao Chengsi smiled and said, "Don't worry, Queen Mother, these treacherous people only account for a small part, and the guards are safe now.
I will now take my leave.
The Queen Mother can enjoy her wealth and luxury in the palace. I am busy with official duties, so I will leave now."
After Cao Chengsi finished speaking, he left. The Queen Mother looked at Cao Chengsi's leaving figure and realized that the man in front of her was not a loyal minister and that she might have fallen into a trap before.
She looked at the little emperor in the hall, a hint of bitterness flashed in her eyes. How could the Great Wei fall into such a misfortune?
Since Cao Shuang, there has been no loyal and upright minister to be found. There are only endless struggles and endless ambitious people. Until now, there is not even one person to whom the government can be entrusted.
She originally thought that Cao Chengsi would be the person she could trust, but now it seems that it was just Cao Chengsi's disguise, and he was also an ambitious person.
…
After Cao Chengsi left the palace, he felt extremely refreshed. After today's cleanup, his control over the palace suddenly increased by many levels. Although he could not completely control the palace due to his reputation in the court and the public, he thought there was no rush for the time being.
The next thing to do is to purge former political enemies and their followers. Those who are unwilling to surrender should be killed or exiled.
Cao Chengsi arranged the tasks step by step, but someone felt something was wrong, so he asked, "My king, aren't we going to recover Hedong and Heluo?"
Cao Chengsi paused and looked at him as if he was looking at a fool. The man naturally knew that he had said something wrong and quickly lowered his head. Cao Chengsi looked at the others again, taking in their reactions, and immediately knew that many people had questions.
So he groaned for a moment and said, "Our army was defeated in Hedong and Heluo, and the field army suffered heavy losses. For at least a few years, we will not be able to attack. You should all know this. Even if I don't know much about military affairs, I know that defending a city is different from attacking a city. You should know this better."
Everyone nodded, this is the truth. Cao Chengsi said: "Liang State occupies Heluo, but because of this, it will confront Yan State and Han State. We Wei State only need to guard the pass of Qiaohan and sit back and watch the fight in Guandong.
As for Hedong, the counter-espionage plan in Yan State has just shown results, and the struggle between the Queen Mother of Yan and Murong Ke will not be stopped for a while. If we attack Hedong at this time, wouldn't it give Murong Ke a chance to escape from Jicheng?
Rather than fighting Murong Ke again on the battlefield, we should wait until Murong Ke dies in Jicheng before we attack. As long as we do not attack Yan, the Queen Mother of Yan will never let Murong Ke cross Taihang Mountain. We may even hear the news that Taiyuan King Murong Ke's kingdom will be renamed soon."
Cao Chengsi had a very good grasp of the Queen Mother of Yan's psychology.
Naturally, Cao Chengsi's actions could not be hidden from others, but at the beginning others did not react in time, so Cao Chengsi took the initiative. After returning to the mansion, many ministers who opposed Cao Chengsi immediately began to contact each other to overthrow Cao Chengsi's rule.
The fierce struggle between Cao Chengsi and other factions had completely neglected the state affairs of Wei, and it had reached the point where a distinction between high and low was necessary, and even a matter of life and death.
…
"Liangzhou rebelled again!"
In Cao Chengsi's Jincheng Palace, all the shogunate members had gloomy faces. He clapped his hands and said angrily, "Liangzhou, a mere province, has rebelled twice in just one year. This is a slap in the face of me, the general.
I don’t know how many people in the court are laughing at me.
The last time we put down the rebellion in Liangzhou, we were too lenient. This time we must cleanse Liangzhou thoroughly and make it completely peaceful."
Cao Xu said with a stiff upper lip: "Brother Wang, the last rebellion in Liangzhou resulted in heavy losses, so they are rebelling again this time. If they suffer heavy losses again this time, our strength in Chang'an may be affected.
We must be careful and cautious in suppressing the rebellion this time. I'm afraid it won't work if we kill people in Liang Province. It will provoke resistance from the people of Liang Province. The people there are fierce and fierce. If they turn against the court, it will be like Dong Zhuo's past. "
Xiliang Dong Zhuo.
As soon as these words appeared, Cao Chengsi immediately calmed down. They were right. The land of Liangzhou was not easy to mess with. One careless move would lead to war. Moreover, the people of Liangzhou were born excellent cavalrymen, brave and good at fighting. If the gate was opened to let the people from the Western Regions in, everything would be doomed.
and.
Cao Chengsi suddenly realized something. "Although the people of Liangzhou are strong, our Wei imperial guards are even stronger. But when we suppressed the rebellion last time, we suffered heavy losses. Those people of Liangzhou always seem to be able to anticipate the enemy. This is very wrong.
Could it be that someone in the court sent intelligence to the people of Liangzhou and deliberately leaked the news of my army to them, which resulted in my army suffering such tragic consequences?"
Cao Xu immediately nodded frantically and said, "Brother Wang, it is very likely. In fact, when my brother went to Liangzhou to rebel, he felt something was wrong. My Tianbing is the elite of Wei. Even if Liangzhou is brave, they can't be the opponent of my army.
There must be traitors in the court. Although they are not involved in confidential matters, they are in high positions after all. Food and fodder cannot be avoided by them. They just want to weaken our strength by taking advantage of the rebellion in Liang Province, and then defeat us in Chang'an."
Cao Chengsi stood up and paced, frowning and said, "Yes, that must be the case. It seems that we cannot go to Liangzhou so quickly this time. We should suppress the news first. We should first find and kill those who have ill intentions towards us in Chang'an. The rebellion in Liangzhou is just a small matter. As long as we guard Guanzhong, the four counties in Hexi are just desolate places. We can't enter the fertile areas of Guanzhong. When we are free, as long as the food is cut off, the people in the four counties will come to beg the king's army to enter the four counties."
hiss.
How cruel.
The food shortage that Cao Chengsi made light of was not a simple matter. The four counties in Hexi had never been able to be self-sufficient. After the population in that land was relocated, it exceeded the upper limit of the population that could be accommodated. Therefore, the four counties had always been subordinate units of Guanzhong because they needed the food from Guanzhong to sustain their livelihoods.
If the food supply to the four counties is cut off, within a few months, the four counties will be littered with corpses. This is no exaggeration. The death toll will not be 10,000 or 20,000, but 100,000, 200,000, or even more.
If there is only enough food in the world to feed nine people, but there are ten people, what will be the result?
Would it be that everyone eats a little less so that everyone can survive?
Won't.
The result would be a crazy massacre, and it would be lucky if five people were still alive.
Cao Chengsi caused so many people to die with just a casual attitude. Even his followers felt a chill running through their bodies.
Would Cao Chengsi be a good lord?
They were deeply suspicious.
In this world where the Luo family has left countless marks, all the Holy Kings have the same characteristic, that is, excellence in personal character, that is, benevolence, and that is leading by example.
Since the Bang Zhou Dynasty, the holy kings were all those who were extremely capable and loyal, because those kings who used imperial tactics were targeted by the Luo family and never achieved anything, such as King Xi of Zhou, who created the bloody royal domain that caused the Luo Kingdom to not pay tribute to the Zhou Dynasty for a hundred years.
He was a man of political tactics. If Luo's moral standards were not so high, King Xi of Zhou could have used benefits, such as granting land, promoting titles, granting people, and other benefits that no princes would refuse, to pull Luo into his camp. But unfortunately, he met Luo, who refused to cooperate with such an emperor without hesitation.
So he could only sadly become a tyrant ruler of Zhou and was reviled by later generations until now.
Another example is King Yi of Zhou. He should have become a character that caused chaos in the country, but because of his kind character, the Luo family supported him and he eventually achieved great achievements. Although he was not a sage king, he was a character that could not be ignored in the Zhou Dynasty.
For a thousand years, when choosing an ally, the Luo family has always placed the person's character first, rather than simply considering interests, which has subtly influenced the world.
Until the Han Dynasty, there had actually not been much change. The people of the world had higher expectations of the emperor, and it could not be simply summarized as "a good person cannot be an emperor."
The emperor can kill people decisively, but it is very simple. The powerful and wealthy want fairness. If the emperor has double standards, it means he does not respect his subjects. The powerful and wealthy will dare to draw their swords against the emperor, and the people of the world will support such behavior.
Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng, once served as the crown prince and King of Jiujiang, Liu Qi, who died because of this. He killed the son of the Duke of Qi. If Liu Qi had not been demoted at that time, people all over the world would have been dissatisfied and the laws of the Han Dynasty would have been destroyed.
Those emperors who were unwilling to follow these principles, and those emperors who thought they were supreme, all became tyrants, or even were given a bad posthumous title. This was the choice of the people of the world.
In other words, people all over the world don't like an emperor who is mean and ungrateful.
Under this kind of atmosphere, people like Cao Chengsi would naturally be questioned, but in just a few decades, it seems that people like Cao Chengsi are no longer uncommon.
and.
No one stood up to oppose such people as clearly as Luo did, so people all over the world tacitly accepted this.
Cao Chengsi naturally had no idea what these people were thinking. He had already begun thinking about how to deal with his political enemies. Those people were like hiding insects, and they could not be killed or eradicated. Why couldn't they just accept his rule obediently?
…
After a brief investigation, Cao Chengsi found that the matter could not be investigated further. The clues would be cut off after a certain point. He immediately knew that someone of high status was obstructing the investigation.
But he at least proved one thing, that is, there really was someone who was secretly colluding with the rebels in Liangzhou. This fact made him shocked and angry. It was something that was completely beyond his expectations.
To a certain extent, he even suspected that the Liangzhou rebels were taking orders from a certain force that was hostile to him. What was even more terrifying was that he had no idea who was leading this force.
He thought he had already eliminated all of the former regent's followers, and the remaining ones were obviously his own people and his allies. Only a few people did not belong to his side, but they did not have the ability to resist.
This is not normal!
At this critical moment, Cao Xu sent Cao Chengsi a crucial piece of news, "The Queen Mother summoned her clansmen to the capital, and brought clan soldiers with her. They have now entered the palace. It is said that she will confer titles of duke on her relatives and let them take over the palace guards."
???
Cao Chengsi stared at Cao Xu, speechless. After a long while, he asked in disbelief, "You let the clan soldiers swagger into the palace? And you only found out now?"
He was completely stupid. This matter was really too weird. Of course, he couldn't say that he had 100% control over the palace, but there was no way he could let an army enter the palace without knowing it.
Not to mention entering the palace, an army would have been discovered as soon as it entered Chang'an, and would have been killed on the way by bandits armed with Wei army weapons.
Cao Xu smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Wang, it is said that this army has only a few hundred people. They pretended to be ordinary people and entered in batches. After all, the Queen Mother is the ruler of the palace. It is normal for her to order some people to enter the palace. We have not torn our faces with the Queen Mother, so we naturally dare not do these disloyal actions."
Cao Chengsi knew that Cao Xu was right. The empress dowager and the emperor were the natural monarchs of this country. Even his ancestor Cao Cao almost failed to control Liu Xie. This was the emperor's natural advantage.
But he still couldn't bear to see things getting out of his control.
"Follow me into the palace. I want to ask the Queen Mother what she wants to do by summoning such a large group of soldiers. I also want to ask her whether her people really want to be my enemy."
Enter the palace?
Cao Xu looked at Cao Chengsi in shock. In his opinion, Cao Chengsi was completely anxious and had completely lost his usual composure. He quickly advised, "Brother Wang, are you going to break up with the Queen Mother by entering the palace at this time?
If so, my brother thinks we can just send troops to besiege them, but if not, then just pretend we don't know about it and send someone to inquire about it later.
It's just a few hundred people. The strength of our troops is far beyond that of a few hundred people. I think you don't need to be so anxious."
Cao Xu's words were crucial, and they successfully calmed down the angry Cao Chengsi. He took a few deep breaths, turned his head and looked at Cao Xu and said, "We can't wait any longer. Take down all the people on the list who may have colluded with the Liangzhou rebels.
Then, while fighting Liangzhou, he began to prepare to seize power.
It is too dangerous to let the Queen Mother and the Emperor remain in their positions. They must step down as soon as possible."
Cao Xu hesitated to speak, Cao Chengsi asked impatiently: "Just say it if you have something to say."
Cao Xu lowered his head and asked, "Brother Wang, according to current practice, the previous monarch is usually given the title of Duke of a county. We..."
Abdication would give dignity to the royal family of the previous dynasty. The Duke of Longxi in Wei, the Duke of Liaoxi in Yan, and the Duke of Liang all followed this model, but that was a case of a different surname usurping the throne and forcing the other party to flatter the ancestral temple.
If Cao Chengsi seized power, since both of them were from the Cao family, it would be ridiculous to ask the young emperor to flatter the ancestral temple. Hearing this, Cao Chengsi frowned and said, "The young emperor was still young, and he caught a cold and died."
Cao Xu's body trembled. It was another regicide. Cao Mao had died at the hands of Cao Chengsi. He didn't expect that Cao Mao's son would also die at the hands of Cao Chengsi. "Brother Wang, the Queen Mother..."
If the emperor is young, they can just let him die young, and other people will not think there is anything wrong with it, but the empress dowager is an adult, and she cannot be killed easily, as it will be difficult to cover up the gossips of the people of the world. The regicide ascended the throne. The last such king was in the Zhou Dynasty, an era of collapsed rituals and music, and his final end was not good.
Cao Chengsi could not ascend the throne with such a reputation.
Cao Chengsi pondered for a moment and said, "We need to think more about this woman, the Queen Mother. A woman who has lost her husband and her son is always easy to control. After all, she is a fool.
You go and deal with the emperor's affairs first. I hope to see the results as soon as possible. I can't wait to take that position."
He lowered his head and whispered, "Brother Wang, I understand. I will go down and make arrangements right away."
Cao Chengsi certainly would not rush into the palace and kill the emperor with a knife. That would be too brutal. If he did that, the day he became emperor, there would probably be rebellion everywhere.
He has so many spies in the palace, so it is not difficult for him to give the emperor some medicine or create some accidents. A child's body is too fragile.
To put it bluntly, even if Cao Chengsi did nothing, it would be a big question whether the emperor could live to the age of ten. Based on past experience, even for the royal family, it would be considered lucky if they could raise three or four out of ten children.
However, Cao Chengsi was not prepared to take the gamble. He wanted the emperor to die peacefully.
His goal was very simple, which was to safely ascend the throne of emperor and fulfill his long-cherished wish.
He has worked so hard for this goal for so long and almost gave up everything. He must not fail!
————
Regicide, throne seizure, conspiracy and coup d'état, suddenly, the world seemed to have returned to the era of the collapse of rituals and music. The death of one person represented the beginning of a new era.
The death of Emperor Shang of Wei was not unacceptable under the medical conditions in ancient times, but everyone believed that he died in a conspiracy. This suspicion did not require evidence, it only needed to come from the heart.
Because people believed that in that era, regicide was a very likely thing to happen, and the turmoil in people's hearts at that time can be seen from this. - Zhuxia·Northern and Southern Dynasties
(End of this chapter)
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