Cao Zhi remembered his mother's words and looked disdainfully towards Cao Pi on the stage. He replied in a neither humble nor condescending manner: "Your Majesty, I am also the son of the late king. How can I subvert my own kingdom? Is your Majesty trying to subjugate me and inflict sin on my younger brother?"

"It doesn't matter if you don't admit it..." Cao Pi said with a sneer, then suddenly looked at Ding Xi, "Ding Huangmen (Huangmen Minister), what do you say?"

Ding Ao knew that he was wrong, so he said evasively: "We were drunk with the Marquis of Linzi today, how could we plot to overthrow the Wei State? Did your Majesty hear the slanderous words of traitors?"

Cao Pi then stood up, pointed at the big cauldron in the palace 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 don't repent, huh..."

Ding Yi had an old grudge with Cao Pi. He believed that the Ding family and the Cao family had been related by marriage for generations, and he did not see outsiders in other courtyards, so he replied firmly: "The king wants to impose a crime, why should Ding Yi defend himself? If he is cooked to death today,

, there will be a historian who will put pen to paper... hum..."

"The king has just ascended the throne, so he has to undergo such torture? Wouldn't it make all the ministers angry?" Ding Kuo followed his brother's footsteps.

"Brother is already the king of Wei. He can be convicted based on mere imagination. Why let us defend him?" Cao Zhi looked at Cao Pi coldly.

Cao Pi clapped his hands and smiled slightly: "I won't shed tears until I see the coffin. I'll let you see what evidence is and whether I'm just imagining it. Bring him in."

As soon as Cao Pi finished speaking, an old man was brought into the hall. He was a tall and mute concierge. Ding Yi and Ding Gong both knew each other, and none of them knew the significance of his appearance.

The old man bowed and saluted Cao Pi, and then he spoke: "Reporting to your Majesty, these two arrived at the other courtyard at three o'clock in the morning. Because they were very loud in the Linzi Marquis' room, I accidentally heard a few words...

"

The old man was nearly sixty years old, but his articulation was clear and his memory was outstanding. He repeated Ding Yi and Ding Yao's words verbatim. After listening, the two of them looked as pale as pig liver.

Cao Zhi was very cautious when he was in Yecheng, especially the guards and maidservants of other courtyards. He had no grudge against the "deaf and mute" concierge. After getting along with him for a while, Cao Zhi even saw that he was pitiful and rewarded him.

property, but he turned out to be Cao Pi's man. Thinking of this, Cao Zhi felt chills on his back.

"You...you are so slanderous..." Ding Yi was already panicking at this time.

"This person is talking nonsense. Your Majesty, you cannot trust the old concierge unilaterally..." Ding Yao reminded.

Cao Pi sneered: "I have already produced the evidence you want. Since your brother does not admit it and is not willing to go to the cauldron to be punished, then the whole family will accompany you to the funeral. General Xu, immediately arrest Ding Yi and the men of the Ding family."

Then they were all escorted to Yecheng for questioning."

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

"General Xu, please wait a moment. I am willing to admit my humble position. I am willing to go to the cauldron. Please have mercy on me..." When Ding Gong heard that the whole clan was implicated, he was so frightened that he knelt down and smashed his head directly in the hall.

Blood flowed freely.

"Humph, it's too late. Get Gucha out immediately. In a few days, the whole family will ask and behead him at the same time." Cao Pi waved his hand, showing his royal demeanor.

After Cao Pi finished speaking, Ding Yao collapsed on the ground. Several warriors immediately entered the palace and helped the two of them. Seeing that the situation was over, Ding Yi cursed loudly: "Cao Pi, the late king's bones are not cold yet, so you accept the former king's concubines and his money to mess with the harem. You are no better than a pig or a dog."

You beast will die a good death sooner or later..."

Cao Pi was so angry that his eyebrows trembled, and he said angrily: "This thief is already crazy. Let me cut off his tongue and drag him down..."

Ding Yi and Ding Gong had just been taken out of the palace door when they heard a scream from outside. It probably meant that Ding Yi's tongue had been cut off. Cao Zhi was so drunk that he was so drunk that he was sweating profusely.

"Brother, are you going to kill your brother?" Cao Zhi looked straight at Cao Pi.

Cao Pi hummed softly: "Zijian, why don't you give up now? If the late king wanted to pass the throne to you, how could he be in the situation he is in today? He actually wanted to collude with Ziwen (Cao Zhang) to cause chaos. This trip is really deplorable. Brother, I know you

He is extremely talented and has always been loved by his father. This is beyond his reach. Now that the Ding brothers have confessed, what else do you have to say?"

"Hahaha, if you want to kill me, I will kill you. Why should the Latin brothers go into the water? Isn't it just cooking and killing? I will go to see the late king now." After Cao Zhi said this with great righteousness, he walked towards the boiling cauldron.

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

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

"Although the death of the Ding brothers is not a pity, Zijian is my brother after all. How can I bear to see you die in the palace of the King of Wei? I know that your poems and articles are world-class. If you can write a good poem in a stick of incense,

, I will pardon your crime of being an accomplice. If you can’t live up to your reputation, don’t blame your brother for being ruthless..." Cao Pi suggested with a sneer.

"Brother, I'll try my best." As the saying goes, it's better to die than to live. Cao Zhi hasn't enjoyed enough in life, and he actually doesn't want to die in such an embarrassment.

The waiter then brought a cauldron of incense burner, and the sparks from the incense head slowly swallowed downwards.

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

"The beans are boiled and made into soup, and the bean sprouts are drained to make juice. The bean leaves are burning under the cauldron, and the beans are weeping in the cauldron. They all grow from the same root, so why fry each other in a hurry?"

Cao Pi also had 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 hand and said, "I am not as talented as Zijian. Let's go back to the other courtyard to rest first..."

"That's the proper etiquette (Ding Yi), salute (Ding Xian) and family members..."

Before Cao Zhi could finish his plea, he was immediately rudely interrupted by Cao Pi on the stage, "The Ding family has been disloyal for a long time. It would be merciless to kill the entire Ding family. Zijian should take care of himself first..."

Cao Zhi was shocked when he heard this. He returned to the other courtyard under the supervision of the warriors. There were still two hours until dawn, but he was destined to not be able to sleep that night.

Early the next morning, Ding was arrested and was about to be executed, and Cao Zhi was forced to write a poem in seven steps. These two things quickly spread throughout Yecheng.

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

Cao Pi may have hated the Ding brothers deeply, or he may have wanted to use a massacre to establish his prestige, or he may have wanted to cover up the scandal in the harem and divert the attention of those who knew about it, so he did not relent because of Xiahou Shang's personal relationship.

In mid-April, dozens of men from Ding Yi and Ding Gong families were all taken to the downtown area of ​​Yecheng and beheaded. Cao Pi used thunderous means to establish his authority.

Mrs. Bian was worried that Cao Zhi would be persecuted, and asked Cao Pi to let him return to the fiefdom. Cao Pi demoted Cao Zhi to the title of Marquis of Anxiang, with a settlement of 800 households, from the original Marquis of 10,000 households to the township-level Marquis of 100 households.

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

Cao Pi was grateful for his contribution, so he personally put on his plain clothes and led hundreds of officials to the east gate of Ye City to pay his respects. He gave Xiahou Dun the posthumous title of Zhonghou and gave generous gifts to Xiahou Dun's family.

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