Since Cao Pi ascended the throne, he has used thunderous means to deal with several brothers who are threatening to his throne.

Inheriting his father's power was only Cao Pi's first step.

He learned from the history of chaos in the late Han Dynasty and did not want to be underestimated like Emperor Xian of Han.

After a long period of thinking and discussion with Jia Xu, Sima Yi and others, Cao Pi believed that only by strengthening his centralization can he consolidate his power and move towards the highest throne of power, the throne.

Therefore, while rewarding civil and military officials, he quickly concentrated his power in his hands. After stabilizing the situation, he began to use various methods to consolidate his power.

Cao Pi won over and supported his own political forces, redistributed his share of the rights cake, and at the same time spared no effort to crack down on and eliminate alien forces.

If you want to replace Emperor Xian of Han, you must first make the aliens identify with him. Cao Pi sent envoys to intimidate various ethnic minority tribes in the north, and force the army to attack the border, forcing the emperor, Fuyu Shanyu, Yanqi, and King Yutian to all send envoys to pay homage and make contributions.

Because envoys from many countries came to pay tribute, Cao Pi's personal prestige steadily increased.

Cao Pi knew very well that although he inherited his father's authority, he was still far from being in terms of qualifications and prestige!

If we want to continue to increase our prestige and replace Emperor Xian of Han, this is essential to the external war.

Cao Pi assembled his army and horses, led 300,000 armored soldiers, and moved south.

Although the target of the conquest was not determined, because Sun Quan had not come to congratulate him for a long time, he had a vague intention to hold Sun Quan accountable in the south.

Seeing Cao Pi's command of the troops south, Sun Quan couldn't sit still. When he confronted Liu Bei, he did not want to give Cao Pi any excuses to turn against each other, so he quickly sent an envoy to Yecheng to offer his contribution.

As a confidant of Cao Pi, Xiahou Shang was known as the first person in the younger generation of the Xiahou family.

After Cao Cao passed away, he kept following Cao Pi to make suggestions.

Cao Cao appointed Xiahou Shang and Xu Huang to guard Xiangyang together. Cao Cao was seriously ill in Luoyang and summoned his family's confidants to explain the funeral. Xiahou Shang also came to Luoyang.

After Cao Cao passed away, Xiahou Shangzheng escorted Cao Cao's coffin back to Yecheng.

After Cao Pi ascended the throne, he was awarded the title of great meritorious officials. He worked together to calculate the contributions of Xiahou Shang's previous conquest of Wuhuan and Hanzhong. He was granted the title of Marquis of Pingling Ting, appointed as the attendant of the Sanqi, and moved to the leadership of the army.

While Xiahou Shang was stationed in Xiangyang, he received a secret letter from Shangyong's brothers Shen Dan. The letter said that Shangyong's prefect Meng Da was in conflict with the garrison Liu Feng, and suggested that Xiahou Shang attack Shangyong, and they were willing to act as internal supporters.

Because Cao Cao died of illness, Xiahou Shang had never made any effort to deal with this matter. Seeing that Cao Pi had the intention to attack Liu Bei, he reported to Cao Pi:

"Liu Bei sent Meng Da as the prefect of Shangyong, but he did not fully trust him. He also sent his adopted son Liu Feng as a general to command troops and impose military and political divisions, causing the two to be disagreement. I have instigated Shen Dan and Shen Yi brothers, and they promised to act as internal supporters. I want to follow the example of Lu Meng in Jiangdong and lead the army to attack Shangyong. There are high mountains and dangerous roads, and it happens to be Shen Dan again. Shen Yi is stationed at those dangerous intersections. Liu Feng and Meng Da must have thought that we would attack. Therefore, we will be able to reach Shangyong without knowing it, destroy Liu Bei's army, and occupy Shangyong. In addition to attacking Hanzhong, Shangyong can also go directly to Jiangzhou. In this way, we will have another bridgehead to attack Liu Bei in Xichuan in the future."

When Cao Pi heard this, he was right and immediately agreed to Xiahou Shang's suggestion and sent him and Xu Huang to lead troops to attack Shangyong.

...

...

After Guan Yu and his son were captured and killed by Lu Meng, Liu Feng and Meng Da were always in a state of fear.

Although Shangyong has high mountains and long roads, he is now attacked from both sides. Lu Xun, the prefect of Yidu, can attack Shangyong from Fangling at any time.

The Cao army in Xiangyang can also attack Shangyong through Xicheng.

Liu Feng and Meng Da’s worries were not only afraid of the attacks of Cao’s army and Sun Quan’s army, but also afraid that Liu Bei would punish them for not saving Guan Yu.

Liu Feng is not a human being inside and outside now. The reason is that it has a lot to do with Meng Da’s bewitching, and he is very dissatisfied with Meng Da.

After the loss of Jingzhou, Shangyong was even more important. Liu Feng dared not make any mistakes and personally led his troops to Fangling to give priority to resisting the attack from Lu Xun.

As for Xicheng, which was originally focused on defense, Liu Feng was worried about Meng Da, so he could only entrust him to the Shen brothers.

Liu Feng asked Meng Da for trouble many times to vent his anger, but Meng Da tolerated it. The Shen Dan brothers saw the disagreement in his eyes and felt a strange intention in his heart.

Meng Da himself also had thousands of soldiers. Although he did not confront Liu Feng, he had the trust of his best friend Fa Zheng, so he was not afraid of Liu Feng. He kept giving in, but he just wanted to occupy the word "reason".

What Meng Da was worried about was the military advisor Zhuge Liang, because he had heard a lot of news recently that the incident of him leading troops to kill Zhuge Liang's brother-in-law Kuai Qi has been leaked.

Meng Da knew that once Zhuge Liang confirmed that he had killed Kuai Qi and had to deal with him, even Fa Zheng could not protect him.

Not long after, news came that Fa Zheng passed away. Meng Da had no backer and felt even more uneasy.

After thinking about it, Meng Da believed that there was only one way to protect himself, that was to make great contributions, be valued by Liu Bei, and compete with Zhuge Liang.

Therefore, Meng Da put special attention in Shangyong's governance and guarding.

The Shen brothers contacted Xiahou Shang's little moves to hide from the careless Liu Feng, but the cunning Meng Da saw the clues.

If Meng Da wants to make great achievements like Fazheng, he can achieve the same achievements as Fazheng, and Zhuge Liang will not be able to do anything to him at that time.

So Meng Da secretly arranged for the purpose of accidentally arresting the Shen brothers and seizing their military power.

Meng Da’s martial arts and military ability are not very outstanding. If he can unite and cooperate with Liu Feng, he can really make great contributions.

But he was incompatible with Liu Feng, and he was eager to make contributions and decided to use the tricks to lure Cao's army to attack and defeat him in one fell swoop.

If you make such a great contribution, you will definitely be valued by Liu Bei and become the second Fa Zheng. The small matter of killing Kuai Qi by chance on the battlefield is not a big deal even if he is Zhuge Liang's brother-in-law.

Just when Meng Da made a wishful thinking and wanted to implement this plan, he accidentally received a letter from his friend Peng Yi, saying that Liu Bei wanted to cure him for not saving Guan Yu.

Peng Yi and Meng Da were once accepted as officials by Liu Zhang, and they had a close relationship.

Zhuge Liang submitted a memorial to punish Liu Feng and Meng Da separately. After Peng Wei returned home, he immediately wrote a secret letter and sent his confidant to report to Meng Da.

After receiving the letter, Meng Da was caught off guard!

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei would not wait until he made meritorious service and received a reward, so he would be punished. He was a little hesitant about receiving meritorious service. While weighing the pros and cons, people declared to seek a meeting.
Chapter completed!