All eyes turned toward the speaker, High Minister Jia Kui, and the young prince commanded him to undertake the mission. So he went out of the city and sought to speak with Cao Zhang. Cao Zhang came quickly to the point.
“Who has the late Prince's seal?” asked he.
Jia Kui replied seriously, “There is an eldest son to a house, and an heir-apparent to a state. Such a question from your lordship is unbecoming.”
Cao Zhang held his peace, and the two proceeded into the city to the gates of the palace. There Jia Kui suddenly asked him, “You come as a mourner or as a rival claimant?”
“I am come as a mourner; I never had any ulterior motive.”
“That being so; why bring in your soldiers?”
Whereupon Cao Zhang ordered his escort to retire, and entered the city alone. When the Cao brothers met, they fell into each other's arms and wept. Then Cao Zhang yielded command of all his army, and he was directed to go back to Yanling and guard it. He obediently withdrew.
Cao Pi, being now firmly established, changed the name of the period of his rule to the Prolonged Repose Era, the First Year (AD 220). He made Jia Xu Grand Commandant, Hua Xin Prime Minister, and Wang Lang High Minister, and made many promotions. To the late Prince, he gave the posthumous title of the King of Great Might, and buried him in Gaoling.
To the superintendence of the building of King Cao's tomb, Cao Pi nominated Yu Jin, but with malevolent intent. For when Yu Jin reached his post, he found the walls of the rooms decorated with chalk sketches depicting the drowning of the seven armies and the capture of himself by Guan Yu. Guan Yu was looking very dignified and severe. Pang De was refusing to bow to the victor, while Yu Jin himself was lying in the dust pleading for his life.
Cao Pi had chosen this method of putting Yu Jin to open shame, because Yu Jin had not preferred death to the dishonor of capture, and had sent an artist on purpose to depict the shameful scenes. When Yu Jin saw them, shame and rage alternately took possession of him till he fell ill. Soon after he died.
Soon after the accession, Hua Xin memorialized the Prince of Wu, saying, “The Lord of Yanling has cut himself loose from his army and gone quietly to his post, but your other two brothers did not attend the funeral of their father. Their conduct should be inquired into and punished.”
Cao Pi took up the suggestion and sent commissioners to each. They who were sent to the younger quickly returned to report: “Cao Xiong, the Lord of Xiaohuai, had hanged himself rather than suffer for his fault.”
Cao Pi ordered honorable burial for Cao Xiong and gave him the posthumous title of Prince of Xiaohuai.
Soon after, the envoy to Linzi returned to report: “The Lord of Linzi, Cao Zhi, is spending his time in dissipation, his especial boon companions being two brothers named Ding Zhengli and Ding Jingli. They were very rude. When we presented ourselves, Cao Zhi sat bolt upright, but would not say a word. Ding Zhengli used insulting words, saying, 'King Cao intended our lord to succeed, but was turned there from by the slanderous tongues of certain among you. As soon as he is dead, your master begins to think of punishment for his own flesh and blood.'
“The other brother Ding Jingli said, 'In intellect our lord leads the age, and he ought to have been heir to his father. Now, not only does he not succeed, but he is treated in this harsh way by a lot of courtiers of your sort, ignorant of what genius means.'
“And then Cao Zhi, in a fit of anger, had ordered his lictors to beat the chief envoy and turn him out.”
This treatment of his messenger annoyed Cao Pi greatly, and he dispatched a force of three thousand Imperial Tiger Guards under Xu Chu to arrest his brother and all his immediate surroundings. When Xu Chu arrived Linzi, the gate commander stopped him. Xu Chu slew that general and entered the city, unchallenged. He went to the residence and found Cao Zhi and all his companions dead drunk; so he bound them, put them into carts, and sent them to court in Yejun. He also arrested all the officers of the palace.
Cao Pi's first order was to put to death Ding Zhengli and Ding Jingli. The two brothers were not wholly base; they had a reputation for learning, and many were sorry for them.
Cao Pi's mother, Lady Bian, was alarmed at the severity of the new rule, and the suicide of her youngest son wounded her deeply. When she heard that Cao Zhi had been arrested and his comrades put to death, she left her palace and went to see her eldest son. As soon as he saw her, the Prince hastened to meet her. She began to weep.
