frightfiction Chapter 542 Cao Pi Ascends the Throne
Chapter 542 Cao Pi Ascends the Throne
Luoyang.
Upon returning to the capital, Cao Pi did not immediately announce Cao Cao's death. Instead, he used Cao Cao's name to carry out a series of personnel adjustments, appointing Jia Xu as Grand Commandant, Hua Xin as Chancellor, Wang Lang as Imperial Censor, Cao Ren as General-in-Chief, posthumously conferring the title of Grand Marshal on the deceased Xiahou Dun, and even restoring Zhong Yao's official position, who had been demoted due to his involvement in the Wei Feng case.
Cao Pi redistributed power through personnel adjustments, ensuring that those capable of causing trouble would not do so and that the court would not descend into chaos after Cao Cao's death, before announcing Cao Cao's death and holding his funeral.
The coup began immediately after the funeral. Zhong Yao, who had been reinstated, was the first to submit a memorial urging Cao Pi to take the throne. Others followed suit and joined forces to force Emperor Liu Xie to abdicate in favor of Cao Pi.
Although Emperor Liu Xie was unwilling, what could he do now that things had come to this point? He had no choice but to reluctantly agree to abdicate.
But such things usually require three refusals. Cao Pi couldn't possibly accept it on the first try. If he had accepted it so eagerly, what kind of person would he have become?
Therefore, Liu Xie's request for Cao Pi to abdicate was rejected. After three rounds of back and forth, Cao Pi finally agreed to succeed to the throne. Although there were minor incidents such as Zu Bi, the official in charge of the imperial seal, refusing to hand over the seal, and Empress Cao Jie angrily scolding Cao Pi, the whole process went relatively smoothly.
When Cao Pi finished dealing with the abdication matters, it was September of the 26th year of Jian'an. On the 13th of September, he led his ministers to ascend the altar outside the city to offer sacrifices to Heaven, ascend the throne, establish the state of Wei, and change the era name to Huangchu.
Thus, the Han Dynasty, which had existed for over four hundred years, perished for the second time after Wang Mang usurped the throne. Whether it could be revived depended on Liu Bei.
……
Jiangling.
Liu Bei woke up, but instead of getting up immediately, he kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep, recalling the recent events in his mind.
He had completely recovered from the shock of Cao Cao's death. Cao Cao was old and seriously ill, and his sudden death was expected. It was just that the psychological pressure he had put on Liu Bei before his death was too great, which caused Liu Bei to lose his composure on the spot after receiving the news of Cao Cao's death. However, he returned to normal after losing his composure.
What truly troubled Liu Bei were the future events that Guan Xing mentioned. The amount of information Guan Xing provided was so vast that no one could digest it instantly; it required a great deal of time to carefully organize it.
As Liu Bei quickly processed this information in his mind, he secretly resolved that he must succeed in the Northern Expedition and never allow the Sima family to usurp the throne again.
He could accept the Sima family's usurpation of the throne, but the resulting chaos of the Five Barbarian Invasions that lasted for three hundred years was too terrifying. The people of the Han Dynasty had no reason to suffer such a heavy calamity. Since he had chosen to support the Han Dynasty, he had to ensure the safety of the people of the Han Dynasty.
There is only one way to permanently protect the Han people from invasion by foreign tribes: to completely exterminate the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qiang, Jie, Di, and other nomadic tribes that wreak havoc on the Central Plains.
There's also the Goguryeo region in Liaodong. Guan Xing said that the black soil in Liaodong is one of the three major black soil regions in the world and is the most suitable land for cultivation in the world. But now Liaodong is full of swamps. Ethnic minorities such as Buyeo and Goguryeo live by fishing and hunting. Where is the black soil?
If what Guan Xing said is true, then it must be buried under the swamp. The swamp needs to be cleared out before it can be seen, which requires a major water conservancy project to divert all the water in the swamp to the sea.
Furthermore, Funan and Champa rice must be obtained, and the Mekong River plain must also be acquired to turn the plain into fertile land for the Han Dynasty. Otherwise, if the Funan people cultivate the fertile land and then rapidly develop using Champa rice, it will pose a fatal threat to the Han Dynasty.
If you don't occupy land, someone else will. And if someone occupies it and becomes powerful, they will turn around and attack you, seizing your wealth and land. The Han Dynasty learned this lesson the hard way.
When the Han Dynasty was founded, the Xiongnu rose to power and besieged Emperor Gaozu at Baideng Mountain. They even wrote letters to harass Empress Lü.
Leaving aside the historical evaluation of Empress Lü, she was the true mother of the Han Dynasty at the time. How could any Han person feel good about being humiliated and mocked by the Xiongnu?
But the Xiongnu were too powerful at the time, so powerful that it was despair-inducing. Many Han Dynasty officials and scholars could not muster the will to resist them. Their first reaction to the Xiongnu was to make peace through marriage. If Emperor Wu of Han had not risen to power and crushed the Xiongnu Empire head-on, washing away the humiliation of the Han Dynasty for seventy years, the Han Dynasty would probably still be spending money to buy peace, just like the Song Dynasty mentioned by Guan Xing.
The Xiongnu cast a deep shadow over the Han Dynasty, so successive Han emperors never allowed any country or tribe to emerge around the Han Dynasty that could threaten it. If any neighboring country showed any sign of threatening the Han Dynasty, they had to take decisive action to nip the threat in the bud.
Although Liu Bei had not yet declared himself emperor, he already considered himself emperor in his heart. Especially after receiving news of Cao Cao's death, with the passing of his arch-enemy Cao Cao, no one in the world could stop him from becoming emperor.
Therefore, Liu Bei had already assumed the identity of an emperor. As an emperor, he naturally had to consider the things that an emperor should consider: unifying the world and making the Han Dynasty stronger. These were the things that an emperor should consider.
After careful consideration, Liu Bei tragically realized that even if he unified the country, he would still have a great deal to do, but his age seemed to be limiting his options. What a pity…
If only I had met Guan Xing sooner, if only I had been thirty or fifty years younger!
If he were the same age as Guan Xing now, he would surely have propelled the Han Dynasty to unprecedented heights, surpassing even the so-called prosperous Tang Dynasty of Kaiyuan era that Guan Xing spoke of.
Just as he was imagining a wonderful future, he suddenly heard Chen Dao call out from outside the tent: "Your Majesty, General Guan and the strategist request an audience."
Liu Bei suddenly opened his eyes and nodded to Sun Shangxiang, who was sitting by the bedside serving him, saying, "Let them in."
Sun Shangxiang got up and invited Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang into the room. After bowing, she tactfully took her leave. Guan Yu came to the bedside and said with delight, "Brother, it's so good that you're awake. We were so scared just now."
Liu Bei sat up and leaned against the bed, saying, "It's nothing, I was just momentarily distracted. Now that I think about it, Mengde and I were kindred spirits. Now that he's gone, shouldn't I offer him some incense as a gesture of respect?"
It's rare to find a true friend in life. He and Cao Cao had a honeymoon period, and after fighting for decades, they developed a friendship. Now that Cao Cao is dead, he seems to have gained spiritual relief but also lost his goal.
He used to consider defeating Cao Cao as his life's goal, but now that Cao Cao is dead, his goal is gone.
Guan Yu said, "I have already set up a memorial tablet for Prime Minister Cao. To be honest, I felt quite bad when I suddenly heard the news of the Prime Minister's death."
Liu Bei laughed and said, "It is only right. Cao Cao treated you well in Xuchang back then, so you should pay your respects. I will go and offer incense later. But we need to do this in secret and not let too many people know. Besides, Cao Cao has already declared himself a king, so from now on we should address him as the King of Wei."
Liu Bei did not intend to deny Cao Cao's throne. The reason was simple: the higher Cao Cao's status and the stronger his power, the more valuable Liu Bei's victory over Cao Cao would be.
Your achievements depend on the strength and status of your opponents. If your opponent is a weakling like Yuan Shu, there's nothing to brag about if you win. But if your opponent is a peerless hero like Cao Cao, it's a different story, and historical evaluations will be completely different.
Take Liu Bang and Xiang Yu as examples. Liu Bang defeated the invincible Xiang Yu, which led to his reputation as Emperor Gaozu of Han. Xiang Yu defeated all his rivals but was defeated by Emperor Gaozu of Han, which was still a glorious defeat. After all, he was defeated by Emperor Gaozu of Han, not by the other six kingdoms. Emperor Gaozu and Xiang Yu complemented each other.
The same applies to Liu Bei and Cao Cao. The higher Cao Cao's status, the more valuable Liu Bei became. Therefore, Liu Bei not only did not intend to suppress Cao Cao's status, but also wanted to give Cao Cao the most objective and fair evaluation, for both Cao Cao's sake and his own.
Guan Yu nodded in agreement, and Liu Bei then looked at the paper covered in writing in Guan Yu's hand and asked, "What is this?"
Guan Yu handed over the paper and said, "This is the 'Memorial on Dispatching the Troops' that I forced An Guo to write. That kid An Guo didn't remember it completely, and he wrote it down every other sentence. I saw that forcing him any further wouldn't have any effect, so I had the strategist supplement it. Take a look."