After ascending to the throne of King Wei, Cao Cao, who was over 60 years old, gradually changed his mentality. He began to be proud of this and couldn't help but feel a little complacent. He seemed more arrogant on some occasions. After going out, he would use car clothes and ceremonial guards of the same specification as the emperor. Not only that, even his favorite son Cao Zhi began to imitate.

Only Cao Pi did not imitate his father Cao Cao under Wu Zhi's persuasion, but instead became more and more humble in dealing with others, forming a completely opposite image with Cao Zhi, secretly winning the praise of many people.

Seeing this, some people who still had a hint of thought and loyalty to the Han Dynasty could not help but sigh. Even Lou Gui, who had a deep friendship with Cao Cao, once said to others privately: "Look, how happy the King of Wei and his son look. The King of Wei is no longer the former military captain..."

This sentence soon reached Cao Cao's ears. Cao Cao, who was already very suspicious, and his mentality changed after entering the twilight period, made this suspicion and defense even more serious. Cao Cao and Lou Gui have always been dissatisfied with each other, so he immediately sent Xi Shuo, a good relationship with Lou Gui, to test.

Xi Zu pretended to talk about Cao Cao and asked him: "When the reputation of the King of Wei has reached the peak of the tripod, you had already raised an army with the King of Wei. Now you should be very pleased to see that he has achieved such achievements?"

As a result, Lou Gui replied unrestrainedly: "I was not able to think of Cao Gong's position as the King of Wei, now that he was in the high position of King Wei, not to mention that he could do what he could do in life. Why should he sigh for the so-called achievements of others?"

Although this sentence is somewhat disrespectful to Cao Cao to a certain extent, it is definitely not a sin that is unforgivable. However, after hearing Xi Shu's report, Cao Cao was furious and immediately ordered Lou Gui to be imprisoned and held in the Tingweisi.

Sima Yi, who was present at that time, seemed to feel this phenomenon vaguely:

As Cao Cao's status and age continue to rise, he gradually began to indulge in his own rational constraints, and his mind became more and more complex, more and more elusive, and more and more dangerous...

Not long after, Cao Cao ordered his old friend Lou Gui who had followed most of his life to be executed. This incident had a great impact at that time and also made many ministers afraid that they might fall to the ground because of their words at any time.

Perhaps Cao Cao himself did not notice that when he gradually reached a high position step by step, it means that he will get further and further away from the people around him. At this moment, everything he has gained makes him afraid that he will lose one day.

Recently, Cao Cao heard that someone set up a stall on the street market in Yecheng to tell fortunes, and every hexagram must be effective. At this time, since Cao Cao was awarded the title of King of Wei, the strange phenomena of "Sima Food Tank" and "Flying Winged White Tiger" have appeared more and more frequently in his dreams, which made him very distressed. So he sent someone to invite the scholar to come and divine him a divination to measure good or bad luck.

However, the prime minister refused to come to explain the dream for Cao Cao, which made Cao Cao very dissatisfied. He immediately ordered Lieutenant Cui Yan to be imprisoned. Some officials in the court had asked him to explain the dream before, but could not bear to be harmed by Cao Cao, so he secretly informed him of the news. Unexpectedly, the prime minister did not escape, but sat in the main hall waiting for Cui Yan to arrest him.

This incredible behavior made Cui Yan very puzzled. He asked after jailing the prime minister:

"Sir, since you have the chance to escape, why do you still fall into the trap?"

The ostentatious scholar smiled calmly and said, "If the King of Wei wants to kill me, he will not be the one who sent me."

According to the self-introduction of the accuser, his name is Ge Xuan, and his courtesy name is Xiaoxian, and he is from Danyang. Cui Yan planned to plead with Cao Cao for this after a simple trial, and wanted to give him a way out for Ge Xuan to benefit the countryside. However, just when Cui Yan revealed this idea to Ge Xuan, Ge Xuan said to Cui Yan:

"I predict that the King of Wei will come here in person to see me divination and interpretation of dreams. At that time, please not only not participate in the intervention, but also to be ill and stay away from this matter, otherwise you may suffer a bloody disaster soon."

Cui Yan is a very upright person. He will never murder others for his own selfish interests, so he rejected Ge Xuan's suggestions.

Ge Xuan, who watched Cui Yan leave behind his back, reminded him again:

"Sir, don't regret it..."

It turned out that late at night two days later, Cao Cao asked Cui Yan to go to the prison of Tingweisi to meet Ge Xuan in person. After that, Cao Cao deliberately arranged Cui Yan outside the prison gate to guard and disperse all the prison guards. Only then did he feel at ease to tell Ge Xuan about the strange things he had encountered in his dreams over the years, hoping that Ge Xuan could solve his doubts.

After listening to Cao Cao's description, Ge Xuan, who was sitting on the ground and drawing gossip graphics with stones, raised his head and looked at Cao Cao and said:

"Zhonghu is a divine beast guarding the dragon vein of the Han royal family. Since it appeared in the king's dream, you may have angered it, so it frequently breaks into your dreams. As for the trough of the horse... If King Wei or your successor completely overthrow the Han Dynasty, then Zhonghu will turn into four horses to seize your country and country as a punishment..."

This is not the first time Cao Cao has heard of such similar words. As early as a few years ago, when he first encountered such a dream, he had asked his minister Zuo Ci to explain his dream. As a result, Zuo Ci actually read the poem he saw on the wall of King Xiao of Liang back then, which made Cao Cao sweat in a cold sweat.

"According to Mr. I said, the Cao Wei I founded in the future will be replaced by this 'Tung Hu' or four horses with troughs, right?"

Ge Xuan shook his head and said, "Whether 'Zhonghu' or Cao Wei' are just a mere move in the dust of history. After decades of unification of the country, the Emperor Star will inevitably face the rise of another Emperor Star on the northern grassland..."

And what Ge Xuan said today is just to convey those two lines of poetry in a more popular and explicit way.

After hearing what Ge Xuan said, Cao Cao, who was expressionless, said nothing, and did not react at all. He turned around and left the prison quietly with a pale face. When he walked to the door and saw Cui Yan, he only left him one sentence:

"Kill him for me..."

Cui Yan didn't want to do this in his heart, but no matter how dissatisfied and suspicious he had, since Cao Cao clearly stated this intention, he had to obey his orders.

However, just when he was about to execute Ge Xuan, he found that there was no one in the cage that was originally detained.

Cao Cao was very furious when he learned about this and immediately ordered the whole city to search for Ge Xuan. However, Ge Xuan, who had used Taoist techniques to escape, had already left quietly with a Taoist boy who was only seven years old a year.

Shortly after leaving the city, Ge Xuan saw Zuo Ci and Liu She who had been waiting at the fork in the road, so he stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Zuo Ci and said, "You have seen Master Yuan Fang..."

Zuo Ci looked at his expression but seemed much more serious. He glanced at the Taoist boy beside Ge Xuan and then turned his eyes back to Ge Xuan's face: "I really didn't expect that so many years have passed, and you still like to make trouble so much..."

Ge Xuan chuckled and replied: "It's a bit exaggerating to say nonsense. I'm just a different path from the master, because I think Cao Cao will soon realize the true meaning of 'Sima Food Tank'. At that time, the path Sima Yi will take will become more and more difficult, which is also a chance to measure his aura."

As Ge Xuan's mentor, Zuo Ci knew him very well. Ge Xuan was a person with extremely high talent in Taoism and did not play according to common sense. As for the involvement between him and "Liu Ji", it was one of his characteristics of doing things casually, because like Zuo Ci, he was a person without desires, and a person who truly had no desires had no weaknesses and flaws.

After Ge Xuan left with Taoist boy, Liu Sheyao looked at Yecheng buried in the dust floating in the air:

"What will you do next..."

Since Cao Cao was granted the title of King of Wei, many civil officials who were inclined to the rank of the power of the country often wrote some flattery memorials to praise Cao Cao's achievements, including Yang Xun, recommended by Cui Yan.

Because Cui Yan himself has the reputation of being "righteous and honest, and recommending talent based on merit", those who secretly mocked Yang Xun had to turn their attention to Cui Yan. Later, someone copied the form written by Yang Xun and gave it to Cui Yan. After reading it, Cui Yan unconsciously said this sentence:

"After reading this article, Yang Xun just did what a minister should do. Time, time, as time continues to change, all things in the world will definitely change."

Originally, Cui Yan did not target anyone, but just explained Yang Xun's statement. But what he didn't expect was that this sentence had completely changed its flavor in the nervously sensitive Cao Cao's ears. When he heard this sentence, he immediately thought of the prophecy that Ge Xuan had calculated for him before, and the only person responsible for the trial of this matter from beginning to end.

Did Ge Xuan also tell Cui Yan the prophecy of interpreting the dream? Cao Cao couldn't help but be so suspicious:

As time changes, everything will definitely change... Doesn't this mean that the country of Wei will change in the future?

With his one-sided distortion of what Cui Yan said, Cao Cao ordered Cui Yan, who was at fault and even had no intention of offending him, to completely block Cui Yan's mouth, to dismiss him from office and dismiss him from office. He even tattooed him and demoted him to a disciple.

After Cao Pi, who had always respected Cui Yan very much, learned that, he could not bear to see such a noble man suffer such humiliation, so he wanted to plead with Cao Cao. However, Wu Zhi and Sima Yi stopped him, and Wu Zhi said to Cao Pi:

"If pleading can help Cui Yan, then Yang Xiu, who has been staying close to Cao Cao and seeing through his heart, has long suggested that Cao Zhi go, but Cao Zhi has not done anything until now when Cui Yan was punished. It can be seen that Yang Xiu also saw that Cui Yan could not be saved. On the contrary, speaking for him will cause trouble."

Sima Yi agreed with Wu Zhi's opinion: "Since he was awarded the title of King of Wei, he has been continuously trying to kill two influential figures, Lou Gui and Cui Yan. It can be seen that the King of Wei's suspicion and killing are getting stronger and stronger. At this time, the young master needs to be careful and take every step forward. He must not act by will, thus arousing the King of Wei's suspicion."

After Lou Gui's death, although almost everyone knew that Cui Yan was framed for no reason, because of his fear of Cao Cao, no one dared to speak up for him. Later, Cao Cao sent someone to secretly observe whether Cui Yan had any actions after becoming a disciple. He thought Cui Yan understood his intention to commit suicide, but Cui Yan worked as usual every day, and was nothing unusual.

After hearing this reply, Cao Cao immediately leaked his murderous aura and said in a low tone:

"Cui Yan is such a proud and arrogant person. When he encountered such humiliation as a slave, he had never thought of committing suicide. He must have great resentment towards me. Could it be that he would force me to do it myself?"

The news reached Cui Yan's ears and he understood Cao Cao's original intention, so he sighed to the sky and said:

"It turns out that the King of Wei already wants to kill me, it's because I, Cui Yan, are too stupid..."

Finally, Cui Yan pulled out his sword from the waist of the messenger who came to pass the message, and then slaughtered his neck...

Originally, everyone knew that Cao Cao was afraid of killing his own nature. If he saw that he could not tolerate people, even his old acquaintance, old friends, Zhu Kongrong, Xu You and Lou Gui, could kill them. However, some of these people were very regrettable, but the fundamental problem was more or less their own problems.
Chapter completed!