Chapter 317: Infuriated and vomiting blood, important ministers of the church
Cao Pi may not have Cao Cao's tenacity, but he has a self-esteem that exceeds Cao Cao's.
Since Cao Pi came to power, the Wei army had been defeated twice.
Whether it was the death of Cao Ren or the defeat of 20,000 Wei cavalry, these two news made Cao Pi fall into a state of rage.
But there is always a degree to everything.
After two consecutive defeats, Cao Pi launched the third war without any scruples because he was supported by Cao Wei's strong national power.
Before the start of this war, he sent 30,000 Cao Wei's central army to the front line.
He appointed Zhang Liao, who currently had the most outstanding military exploits, as the chief general of the three armies, and also had many famous generals as Zhang Liao's assistants.
This kind of troop configuration and this kind of general lineup can be said to be the best configuration that Cao Pi can currently come up with.
But under such circumstances, the Battle of Xiangfan, which Cao Pi had great hopes for and which he regarded as a battle of revenge, declared the defeat of the Wei army with an unprecedented cruelty.
There is not much left of the 70,000-strong army.
The first general of Cao Wei with a different surname died in battle.
These two consequences alone have already brought Cao Pi's heart to the point of collapse.
Since the founding of the Wei Kingdom, the Wei army has never experienced such a disastrous defeat.
Never!
Such a disastrous defeat hit Cao Pi's heart like an iron hammer, and at the same time, it caused Cao Pi's previous psychological defense to collapse in an instant.
When the Yitian Sword slipped from Cao Pi's hand, Cao Pi, who was crying, grabbed Cao Xiu's collar.
Even though Cao Xiu's collar was full of dirt at this time, Cao Pi, who was overwhelmed with grief and anger, didn't care at all.
Now he just wants to ask all the questions in his mind.
After Cao Pi used all his strength to lift Cao Xiu up from the ground, he stared at Cao Xiu with a pair of red eyes. He asked Cao Xiu:
"Back then, you traveled thousands of miles to seek refuge with the late Emperor. The late Emperor treated you like his own son and allowed you to live and eat together with me."
"Later on, you made many military exploits and won the respect of the late emperor, who almost relied on you to become the top minister of the Wei Dynasty. After I became emperor, I ordered you to go south and garrison Fancheng."
"When you set off from Luoyang to take up your post, I came in person in my car, and my father-in-law held hands with you to say goodbye.
Both the late emperor and I have been extremely kind to you, but why, why did you lose Fancheng to me!"
At the beginning, Cao Pi's tone was quite restrained.
But when he talked about Cao Xiu's loss of Fancheng, Cao Pi's tone suddenly became excited.
When he said this, Cao Pi suddenly exerted force on Cao Xiu's collar and pulled Cao Xiu in front of him.
Then he stared at his beloved relative and friend with a pair of cannibalistic eyes, and said with hatred in his mouth:
"Thirty thousand Chinese troops! Forty thousand foreign troops! How could you be so defeated!"
"Why did Zhang Liao die? Did I allow him to die? He has to come back and give me an explanation!"
"Why did you abandon the city and flee? Why!"
A series of questions continued to come out of Cao Pi's mouth. With each question, the resentment in Cao Pi's heart became stronger and stronger.
By the end, the cry in his words had disappeared, leaving only endless anger.
How could this battle be lost, and how could it be lost so miserably?
Obviously from all aspects, their Wei army is in a dominant position.
Isn't the Wei Dynasty not the Zhengshuo of China? Isn't it the master who has been blessed by God and punished the people and suppressed crimes?
How could he be defeated by a mere barbarian soldier?
The collapse of an inherent concept is undoubtedly painful, especially for Cao Pi, because he is one of the creators of this inherent concept.
The questioning voice, filled with sadness and anger, was reaching Cao Xiu’s ears at an extremely fast speed.
And because when Cao Pi was questioning Cao Xiu, he grabbed the hand of Cao Xiu's collar and kept violently shaking Cao Xiu's body.
So under Cao Pi's fierce actions, Cao Xiu was almost pushed to the ground by Cao Pi.
But Cao Xiu, who was suffocating in his heart, had been trying hard to maintain his body shape.
He knew that he was sorry for Cao Pi, and the hatred in his heart made Cao Xiu not want to avoid Cao Pi's repeated angry questions.
But regarding the question Cao Pi asked him, in fact, Cao Pi already knew it from his report just now.
Cao Pi just doesn't want to accept this fact now.
So in the face of Cao Pi's repeated angry questions, Cao Xiu could only grit his teeth and silently bear Cao Pi's anger.
Just as Cao Xiu said, Cao Pi already knew the answer to the questions Cao Pi asked Cao Xiu.
It's just that the answer is not that important now. What Cao Pi needs is a window to vent his anger.
However, as time went by, Cao Pi's movements became slower and slower.
Cao Pi, who had a strong sense of self-esteem, may have had his first reaction when faced with a fact he couldn't accept.
Just like when he cut down the Emperor's Scepter with tears just now, he just wanted to cover up the fact that he had never commanded an army remotely.
And now Cao Pi's questioning of Cao Xiu is also a reaction to escape reality.
But no matter how hard we try to escape, people always have to return to reality.
Seeing the scepter on the ground that he had chopped into two pieces, and seeing Cao Xiu so close in front of him, he knew that there were some established facts that he could not change no matter how much he tried to escape.
So Cao Pi slowly let go of his hands holding Cao Xiu's collar. At the same time, a deep sense of exhaustion began to appear in his eyes.
The moment Cao Pi let go of Cao Xiu, Cao Xiu, as a guilty minister, did not dare to stand in front of Cao Pi, so he immediately knelt on the ground again.
After Cao Xiu knelt down, Cao Pi feebly picked up the Yitian Sword on the ground, his body already shaking more and more.
After roaring violently at Cao Xiu, the anger in Cao Pi's heart not only did not ease at all, but instead intensified the sadness in his heart.
When the strong feeling of sadness enveloped Cao Pi's heart again, Cao Pi looked up to the sky and let out bursts of bitter laughter.
At this time, the sadness in the bursts of bitter laughter became even more tragic.
Perhaps he could further vent his anger and even stabilize people's hearts by punishing Cao Xiu and others.
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Everyone knows that this battle was led by him.
When the news of the Wei army's defeat in this battle spread, the biggest sinner was no one else but the Emperor Cao Wei who "accepted the sky and proclaimed himself emperor".
When this huge sense of irony hit, Cao Pi's body shook even more.
The blow of the Battle of Xiangfan was greater than any previous defeat of the Wei army.
Cao Pi is not Cao Cao. Cao Cao grew up step by step and has an extremely strong heart like Liu Bei. Cao Pi does not have this trait except being young.
So when Cao Pi was completely surrounded by this huge blow, his body suddenly began to shake.
Then a violent cough began to resound in the quiet hall.
Cao Pi's body suffered from some hidden ailments due to physical and mental exhaustion during the battle to seize the throne.
These hidden diseases would not have caused serious problems at Cao Pi's prime age and his pampered environment.
But the premise is that Cao Pi must always maintain a calm and optimistic attitude.
It's a pity that since Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, he was happy except for the day at the Zen platform.
In the following period, with the efforts of Mi Yang and Guan Yu, the pair of son-in-laws, the Wei army suffered three major defeats, leaving Cao Pi in a state of rage and worry most of the time.
Undoubtedly, this will aggravate his condition to a certain extent.
Therefore, it is no surprise that under the violent fluctuations of emotions today, which were first sad, then angry, and then sad again, Cao Pi began to cough violently like that day in the palace in Luoyang.
Cao Pi felt that there was a ball of fire in his throat that made him spit out.
And under Cao Pi's violent coughing, he finally coughed out the fiery mass.
When Cao Pi reached out to catch the fiery ball, he found that his palm was already blood red.
When Cao Pi saw the blood red on his palms, his mind recalled the scene he saw when he was young and served as the commander of the five senses.
It was in the Xudu Palace. When Cao Pi entered the palace to meet Liu Xie, he saw a continuous line of crimson Han flags among countless palace palaces.
As this scene became clearer and clearer in his mind, Cao Pi remembered a saying that began to circulate in Nanyang County after Cao Ren's death:
"If the powerful people are here, who will perish?"
This sentence is said to have been said by Mi Yang. In the past, Cao Pi only thought it was ridiculous when he heard this sentence.
But now these words turned into a shadow, tightly attached to Cao Pi's heart.
Although there are no Yan Han people in the Central Plains, there are Fu Han people in southern Xinjiang.
When these words finally came to his mind, Cao Pi stumbled and fell to the ground due to the discomfort in his body.
Although Cao Pi used both hands to support his body before landing, so that he would not fall down directly, his sudden behavior also frightened all the Wei officials in the hall.
Cao Xiu and other Wei generals did not bother to kneel down to plead guilty at this time. They all stepped forward to Cao Pi's side, trying to help Cao Pi up.
But after they arrived at Cao Pi's side, Cao Pi, who was holding his hands on the ground, began to cough violently again.
This undoubtedly continued to deepen the panic of Cao Xiu and other Wei generals.
Facing the panic of Cao Xiu and other Wei generals, Cao Pi issued an inarticulate order to Cao Xiu while coughing violently:
"Let all the ministers with more than two thousand stones outside the palace come in!"
After issuing this edict, Cao Pi, who was obviously sick, was immediately helped into the inner hall by his attendants.
And there was a chamberlain who was running out of the hall at an extremely fast speed.
After Cao Pi was helped away, Cao Xiu, Zhao Yan and others, who were the first to calm down among the Wei generals, immediately followed the eunuch and ran out of the palace, conveying Cao Pi's order to those who had been waiting outside.
Hundreds of Wei ministers.
Hundreds of Wei ministers were first shocked when they saw the sloppy state of Cao Xiu and others.
This was a terrible failure.
But after this surprise, they soon heard Cao Pi's edict, and then their faces showed joy.
The qualified ministers with a rank of more than two thousand stones immediately began to line up among hundreds of ministers, and then walked towards the main hall under the leadership of Shangshu Ling Chen Jiao.
When many Wei ministers were entering the palace one after another, they soon saw a chamberlain who had just ran out in a hurry. He was anxiously leading several imperial doctors past them from the side hall, and then headed straight towards the main hall.
Run away.
This sudden scene caused unconcealable shock to appear on the faces of many Wei Chen who used to be in high positions.
Your Majesty, is this because your own army was defeated and you are angry?
...
Under the flickering candlelight, dozens of Wei Chen, who were worth two thousand shi, were kneeling in the outer hall, waiting for Cao Pi's arrival.
Several hours had passed since Cao Pi summoned them.
The sky outside the hall had become very dark, but they had not waited for Cao Pi to come out of the inner hall to meet them.
This scene caused a thick layer of gloom to appear on the faces of all the Wei Chens who were already panic-stricken.
Cao Pi is less than thirty-five years old this year. Judging from the fact that Cao Pi has been pampered since childhood, he is at the peak of his life at this age.
Therefore, Cao Pi's sudden illness today was really beyond the expectations of all the Wei officials.
The loss of Fancheng has already made people inside and outside Wancheng panic.
If Cao Pi really falls ill again at this time, then the situation in Wancheng will definitely become worse.
It's just that all the ministers of the Wei State present here, no matter how many tricks they have come up with in the past, can only wait silently in the face of this medicine stone matter.
Just as time passed by, the panic in the hearts of the Wei ministers became more and more serious.
A figure wearing a uniform came out of the dormitory with the support of a woman.
After seeing that figure appear, the faces of all Wei ministers all showed some joy.
It is true that Cao Pi has not done many praiseworthy things since he came to power.
But no matter how bad his performance is, he has done a good job in concentrating power.
Coupled with Cao Pi's status as the emperor, Cao Pi can be said to be the backbone of the current Wei ministers.
When Cao Pi's figure slowly emerged from the dim lights, the eyes of all Wei ministers suddenly focused on Cao Pi's face.
The Wei ministers saw that although Cao Pi was being helped out by Guo Guifei, his face looked quite ruddy and not pale at all.
This made all Wei ministers exhale a long sigh of relief.
What the Wei ministers didn't notice was that Guo Guifei's eyes next to Cao Pi showed deep worry.
Only she knew how Cao Pi quickly regained his rosy complexion.
Cao Pi was helped by Guo Guifei to get to the throne, and he gently took his arm out of Guo Guifei's arms.
Then he waved his sleeves, tried his best to behave as usual, and sat on the throne that represented supreme power.
After Cao Pi sat down, he looked at the ministers present, closed his eyes slightly and said slowly:
"There were tens of thousands of casualties, and Zhang Liao died in battle."
When these eight words fell into the ears of the Wei ministers, they completely ignited the panic in their hearts.
They just knew about such a tragic battle situation!
Almost instantly, the loud noise covered the entire hall.