Yedu in December is also a world of snowy white. The rivers are frozen, the lakes are frozen, and thick snow covers the entire land of Hebei. It is less than ten days before the New Year, but the bustling scene of Chang'an cannot be seen in Yedu City.

The streets are deserted, the market is short of goods and transactions are few, and most shops are closed. Businesses with slightly better business are only taverns and brothels.

People in Yedu say that the New Year in Yedu is getting worse every year. The Hefei War once spent the 22nd New Year of Jian'an in extreme supplies. After a year of recovery, the supply of grain inventory and various daily necessities have increased slightly. The New Year in the 23rd New Year of Jian'an should have improved, but on the contrary, this year's New Year is even more deserted and bleaker than last year.

This is certainly because a political storm that purged the officialdom has had a great impact, which has caused everyone to be in danger and no one has the heart to handle the New Year. Another reason is that the increasingly fierce orders in the territory of Cao Wei. The demise of self-cultivated farmers has greatly reduced Cao Wei's tax revenue by half, which has reached a point where the Cao Wei regime is difficult to maintain. Cao Cao had no choice but to finally attack the gentry with a large population and cultivated land in his later years.

The attacked gentry protested the Cao Wei regime in their ways, established industries in Guanzhong, moved the head of the family westward, etc. The boycott of the New Year was also one of the means of resistance by the gentry.

Although the New Year atmosphere of Yedu is extremely deserted, Cao Pi, the ruler of Cao Wei, was in a particularly happy mood. A purge against Cao Zhi's power finally achieved the pre-set goal. Cao Zhi's remnants were almost defeated. With Xiahou Dun being transferred back to Yedu to serve as a famous and unpowered general, Cao Zhen was in charge of Xuchang and took over the military power of Yuzhou, marking a complete victory in Cao Pi's purge battle.

At the same time, what made Cao Pi excited was that his father used the army to promote Ding Ling to achieve great results. The government added one million hectares of new arable land and 200,000 self-cultivated farmers. This was just the beginning. By the end of next year, at least more than one million self-cultivated farmers would be added, which means that the trend of declining tax revenue next year will be reversed.

Finance and taxation and expenditure are the foundation of a regime. For Cao Pi, who is in charge of government affairs, this is an extremely exciting event, and it is even more happy than winning a battle.

In the room, Cao Pi was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. He had just received the news that Zhong Yao had returned from Chang'an and was about to arrive in Yedu. In Cao Pi's eyes, Zhong Yao was definitely the one who escaped the net by the political enemy's purge this time, and a heavyweight figure supporting Cao Zhi.

Although Cao Pi was not as good as his father Cao Cao in military terms, he was better than his political struggle. He knew very well that the power struggle should be killed and that Cao Zhi must be completely defeated without giving him any chance to turn over. The existence of Zhong Yao is the glimmer of hope for Cao Zhi to turn over.

Cao Pi secretly made up his mind to eliminate Zhong Yao no matter what, so that he could not escape this cleaning. He would use Zhong Yao as his net-closing sacrifice for this official cleaning.

Just as he was thinking, a guard outside the door reported: "Qi Zhuan, Shi Zhong Hua has arrived."

Cao Pi was excited and hurriedly said, "Come in quickly!"

After a moment, Hua Xin quickly walked into the room and bowed, "See the prince!"

"Sit down and talk."

Cao Pi asked Hua Xin to sit down and said to him: "I just got the news that Zhong Yao is about to arrive in Yedu."

Hua Xin was stunned. Of course he knew what Cao Pi said to him. Cao Pi wanted to attack Zhong Yao, which made Hua Xin a little embarrassed. Hua Xin knew Cao Pi very well. He had too much desire for power and was narrow-minded and could not tolerate dissidents. He killed Cao Zhi's power, but sometimes doing too much may not be a good thing.

Hua Xin is actually a narrow-minded person, but he is smarter than Cao Pi. He knows that Cao Wei’s real power is still in the hands of Cao Cao. If they are too hasty, they will backfire. It would be better to wait until Cao Pi truly ascends the throne and eliminate Zhong Yao.

However, although Hua Xin thought so, he did not directly express it. After all, he is a politician. The difference between a politician and a politician is that politicians need to understand the superior intentions, and Hua Xin needs to understand Cao Pi's will. Once Cao Pi's will to eradicate Zhong Yao's will, Hua Xin will be too opposed, which will be detrimental to him.

Hua Xin pondered for a moment and said, "Although the power of Mr. Zhi was approved by Duke Wei, sending Zhong Yao to Jiaozhou was also the same arrangement. It can be seen that Duke Wei deliberately asked Zhong Yao to avoid this purge. If Your Highness decides to eradicate Zhong Yao, it is imperative that we can only think of solutions from another aspect."

Hua Xin first implicitly reminded Cao Pi that eradicating Zhong Yao might anger Duke Wei, but he did not insist on opposing it, but handed over the decision-making power to Cao Pi. He had already reminded Cao Pi that it was Cao Pi's own business.

Cao Pi took a confidential piece of information from the table. This was the news that the Censor Yang Tian received from Chang'an, recording Zhong Yao's every move in Chang'an. This is why Cao Pi wanted to eliminate Zhong Yao. Zhong Yao was not kidnapped by the Han army to Chang'an at all. He received grand courtesy in Chang'an, and even King Liu Jing of Han met him in person.

Cao Pi felt that this was a good opportunity. Of course, he could wait a few more years before dealing with Zhong Yao after he fully ascended the throne. However, Cao Pi was really a little scared, afraid that his father would change his orders every day, and he would consider his third brother Cao Zhi's succession. It was this mentality of worrying about gains and losses that made Cao Pi finally decide to attack Zhong Yao and use Zhong Yao to test his father's determination to succeed to the throne.

Although Cao Pi once recognized Zhong Yao as the prime minister, compared with his power, he could also give up ten Zhong Yao. Cao Pi handed the information to Hua Xin, "You have a look first!"

Hua Xin took the information and looked carefully. He was also secretly surprised. Could it be that Cao Pi wanted to deal with Zhong Yao? This was indeed an opportunity? However, Hua Xin did not want to take over this matter. He nodded and said, "It is completely reasonable to ask the censor to impeach him. The prince should not show up in this matter. Stay out of the matter, and believe that the Wei Guild weighs the pros and cons."

Cao Pi nodded, "I think so too. It's better for me to go to Taiyuan to urge Ding Ling to avoid this matter."

Hua Xin smiled and said, "The prince is a good idea, it's true!"

Not long after Hua Xin said goodbye, the Chief Censor Yang Tian hurried to Cao Pi's Prime Minister's Mansion. Yang Tian also also took charge of Cao's army's intelligence point in the Han Dynasty. The information Cao Pi received was reported to him by the Chang'an intelligence point.

Although Yang Tian secretly communicated with the Han Dynasty to some extent, he was the Chief Censor of Wei State and Cao Pi's confidant, and he was also actively working for Cao Pi.

Yang Tian rushed to Cao Pi's study and bowed to him. Cao Pi asked him to sit down and said slowly: "The information you sent is very important. You can use the issue to defeat Zhong Yao. I will leave this matter to you. I hope you don't disappoint me."

Yang Tian suddenly felt his shoulders become heavier, and he actually handed over the important task of overthrowing Zhong Yao to himself, but he did not dare to refuse, so he had to nodded silently. Cao Pi looked at him with bright eyes. Seeing that he did not retreat, he was very satisfied and said, "You first draft a specific plan and leave it to me. Then I will go to Taiyuan to urge Ding Ling to impeach Zhong Yao. You should implement it as soon as possible. Tell me first, how long does it take to prepare the plan?"

"It will take about three days for the Wei Minister!"

Cao Pi shook his head, "Three days are too long, you will give me the plan tomorrow!"

Zhong Yao and more than a dozen followers returned to Yedu in the afternoon. After two months of long journey, everyone was very tired and returned home to reunite with their families. Zhong Yao was also preparing to write a mission report to Cao Cao in the evening and submit it to him tomorrow morning.

This time, most of Zhong Yao's followers were his confidants, but there were also several low-level officials from the Wei State who accompanied Zhong Yao on missions. Among these officials, there was a small official named Zhang Qi who served as the Honglu, a local native of Yedu.

After breaking up with Zhong Yao, he hurried home to reunite with his wife and children. Zhang Qi's family is still well-off. He has a small house covering an area of ​​two acres. There is five hectares of ancestral land outside the city of Yedu, and there is also a maid in his family. He is also a well-off family in Yedu.

As the sky got darker, the family was sitting by the stove having a meal. Listening to Zhang Qi telling interesting stories about Jiaozhou, laughter came from time to time. At this moment, someone knocked on the door outside. Zhang Qi's wife was a little unhappy. Why did she ask the maid to open the door when she was having a meal?

Soon, the girl walked back quickly and said to Zhang Qi: "Master, you are looking for your guest."

"I'll go and have a look!"

Zhang Qi put down the bowl and walked into the yard. He saw a person standing in the yard with his hands behind his back, looking at his house. There seemed to be several followers outside the door, and the faint light shone on the face of the visitor. Zhang Qi was stunned. The visitor turned out to be Yang Tian, ​​the chief censor.

He was so scared that he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Sir, please see Yang Zhongcheng!"

Yang Tian glanced at him and smiled, saying, "Your house is good!"

Yang Tian made a lot of bad comments in the officialdom of Yedu and was a famous cruel official. Especially in recent months, he launched the case of the Seven Sons of Jian'an, cleared hundreds of officials, and started viciously. There were no less than twenty officials who died in the Censor's Prison.

Although Zhang Qi had just returned, he also heard about this on the way. Now that Yang Tian has appeared in his home, how could he not frighten him? He didn't know Yang Tian's intentions, so he had to bite the bullet and answer: "This is the ancestral house, which has been passed down for five generations."

"So that's it. Zhang is engaged. Letting me stand in the yard to enjoy the snow is not a way to treat guests!"

Zhang Qi was so scared that he quickly pushed open the study door, "Yang Zhongcheng, please come in!"

The brazier had been lit in the study room, which was very warm. Zhang Qi was about to take a good rest in the study room, but Yang Tian took the lead. He asked Yang Tian to sit down and walked out of the yard. His wife came over and asked, "Who is it?"

"Don't ask more, go and fry a pot of good tea."

Zhang Qi whispered to his wife, then returned to the study and said with a smile: "Yang Zhongcheng waited for a while, and the person inside has gone to tea."

"Haha! I'm not here to have tea, I just want to talk to Zhang."

Yang Tian had a treacherous smile on his face and waved his hand politely: "Please sit in the business of serving Zhang."

Zhang Qi was very afraid of the Imperial Book Chief and sat down tremblingly. Then Yang Tian asked lightly: "Jiang Shishi has also gone to Chang'an this time!"
Chapter completed!