The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 183 What to do

Chapter 183 What to do
"Brother?! Brother!!"

Sima Zhao's face was full of despair and he kept shouting.

Sima Shi just lay on the bed, motionless.

After vomiting blood during the court meeting, Sima Zhao hurriedly brought his brother back to the mansion. As soon as he returned, Sima Shi fainted.

After the imperial physician came to check, he said helplessly that the patient was in a critical condition and there was basically no way to cure him.

The general's health was not good to begin with. He had just undergone surgery and had not yet rested. He was busy all day long, running around in this cold winter. It was a miracle that he could hold on until now.

Sima Zhao was so angry that he wanted to kill the imperial physician immediately, but was stopped by Sima Fu.

"Brother! Don't scare me! Wake up, brother!"

"Zi Shang, stop yelling."

Sima Fu interrupted Sima Zhao's howling. He sat aside with a stern face and a very solemn expression.

"Ziyuan hasn't woken up, but the ministers won't stop. We must find a way to stop them as soon as possible."

Sima Zhao glanced at him, then asked angrily, "Where is Zhong Hui? Where did Zhong Hui go?!"

"General, please don't shout. I'm coming."

Then he heard a sound coming from outside the door. Sima Zhao raised his head and saw Zhong Hui walking quickly in.

He looked very tired, his eyes were red and his spirit was depressed.

"Shiji! You are finally here, those traitors"

Sima Zhao was immediately excited when he saw him. He hurried forward and took his hand. He was about to talk about the affairs in the court, but Zhong Hui interrupted him, "No need to say more, I already know."

Sima Zhao immediately shut up.

Zhong Hui looked at Sima Shi lying on the bed, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes, and he slowly sat down beside Sima Shi.

"Three days ago, the general sent me a letter saying that the ministers in the court seemed to be doing something unlawful and asked me to return as soon as possible."

"I didn't expect that I'd be a step too late."

"I have heard about what happened in the court."

Zhong Hui was frowning at this moment, looking very ugly.

Sima Zhao looked at his brother, whose life or death was uncertain, and gritted his teeth. "This is all Cao Mao's fault! I once said that if we keep this boy alive, he will eventually become a big problem for us. Brother also ordered that if anything happened to him, Cao Mao should be killed. I think we can act now!"

Zhong Hui snorted coldly, "What does this have to do with Your Majesty?"

"Are the ministers opposing us because of Your Majesty?"

"What's the point of killing His Majesty?"

"The only effect is to make us die faster."

Sima Zhao felt that this sentence was particularly harsh. He knew that Zhong Hui had always had a good relationship with the emperor, but now, he did not dare to scold Zhong Hui again.

"Then kill the Queen Mother?"

"Then they will die even faster. In fact, the people you send may not even be able to break into Zhaoyang Palace."

Sima Zhao became even more furious. "What should we do? Should we just keep delaying like this? Sima Xun has just returned home, and that foolish woman actually issued an imperial edict to dismiss him! If we delay any further, she'll issue more and more imperial edicts. I'm afraid even his position as general will be dismissed!"

"I'm going to draft the Grand General's Order on my brother's behalf and let Sima Xun continue to serve! I don't believe that the Grand General's Order is inferior to that damned Empress Dowager's decree!"

Zhong Hui frowned and did not answer.

Under the current circumstances, if we only consider the greater good, then the general's order is really not as good as the empress dowager's decree.

The general commanded the national army, and the minister was in charge of national politics.

However, the order of the general is only the order of the minister, while the decree of the empress dowager is beyond the level of the minister. The order of the general cannot depose the emperor, but the decree of the empress dowager can. The order of the general cannot depose the empress dowager, but the decree of the empress dowager can depose the general!

Zhong Hui quickly fell into deep thought. He suddenly remembered something and slowly looked at Sima Zhao.

"General, I do have a way to protect our clan and fight against the aristocratic families."

Sima Zhao's eyes lit up, "Shi Ji, please speak!"

"Alliance."

"With whom?"

"emperor."

"What?! Are you crazy?!"

Sima Zhao widened his eyes and almost jumped up.

Others may not know, but Sima Zhao sees it clearly. How could the Queen Mother have the courage to collude with the rebels to deal with the Sima family?

The one who could do all this was Cao Mao!
It was he who pushed all this forward and created the current situation.

He immediately asked, "Mr. Zhong! Do you know what big thing my brother wants to do?!"

"know."

"Then do you know who is responsible for all this?"

"I know that too."

"Since you already know everything, why would you ask me to form an alliance with our greatest enemy?! Do you want to rebel too?"

Sima Zhao finally couldn't bear it anymore. He was originally angry because Zhong Hui was close to Cao Mao. He felt that Zhong Hui had made a complete show of his cards; he was the emperor's man!

Zhong Hui was not angry. He said, "General, starting from today's court meeting, Your Majesty is no longer our enemy. The entire court, both civil and military officials, are our enemies."

"In the current situation, the ministers are coercing the Queen Mother and trying to dethrone the general."

"And the general's orders cannot stop the queen mother's orders."

"The only thing that can contradict the Empress Dowager's decree on the basis of righteousness is the Emperor's decree."

Sima Zhao was unconvinced. He said, "I have over 100,000 elite soldiers in the central army. How many troops does the Queen Mother have?"

Zhong Hui shook his head. "General, you really underestimate these powerful families. The problems of the Central Army are far more complicated than you think. Although the Central Commander, Central Comforter, and Central Guard are all our men, the military posts below them are all held by the sons of the aristocratic families."

"You ordered them to attack and kill the ministers. Do you think they would follow you?" "Except for the central army, which provincial governors and prefects in various places are not from aristocratic families? Which of the four expeditions and four garrisons is not connected to the ministers in the court?"

"The current situation simply cannot be resolved by brute force."

Sima Zhao took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He had never thought in his life that he would fall to this point. He had never thought that one day he would even need to join forces with the emperor. Thinking of this, Sima Zhao even wanted to laugh.

"Mr. Zhong, the Emperor's decree is not as good as the Empress Dowager's, and the Emperor will not join forces with us."

"Not necessarily. How can the imperial edict of the real emperor be inferior to that of the empress dowager? Besides, the emperor has Guanqiu Jian on his side."

Sima Zhao's eyes twitched. "From what I hear, you're going to join forces with Guanqiu Jian?"
Zhong Hui continued, "Furthermore, neither Your Majesty nor we benefit from the actions of the aristocratic families. After all, it is Your Majesty and us that the aristocratic families are seeking to prey upon. Your Majesty is a wise man, and he will surely see through this."

Sima Zhao shook his head. He still didn't believe Zhong Hui's nonsense.

How could someone join forces with someone who wants to usurp his throne to deal with the ministers in the court?

Sima Fu was staring at Zhong Hui thoughtfully at this moment.

Unlike Sima Zhao, Sima Fu thought this was feasible.

The emperor was indeed very smart. Lu Yu's actions not only harmed the interests of the Sima family, but also harmed the interests of the emperor.

However, once they join forces with the emperor and make peace with Guanqiu Jian, and everyone joins forces to deal with the aristocratic families, all the preparations made by the Sima family over the years will be in vain.

At this moment, someone suddenly spoke up: "General, I have an idea."

Sima Zhao looked at the person who spoke, who was none other than Sima Zhao's confidant Xun Xu.

Because of Xun Yi's betrayal, Sima Zhao looked at him with a strange look in his eyes, "What can you do?"

Xun Xu said firmly, "I have received the general's kindness and will never betray him. However, given the current situation, I believe that I cannot continue to fight with the other ministers. This will not benefit anyone."

"Instead of joining forces with His Majesty as Lord Zhong suggested, it would be better to simply agree with the ministers!"

"However, before agreeing to this, I must get all the ministers to abandon the Queen Mother and stand on my side. I can even use them to pacify Guanqiu Jian."

Xun Xu spoke very excitedly.

Zhong Hui couldn't help but laugh. "Xun Jun is truly a man of great talent! Once the general has agreed to the ministers' request, will it still be his turn to give orders for the rest of the matter?"

"That's better than a desperate situation. Even if nothing great happens, we can still become the world's number one family! It's a way out!"

Xun Xu said with a solemn oath.

Zhong Hui pointed at him and said to Sima Zhao, "General, you can beat this villain out with a stick!"

"The general's cause has reached this point. Is there still a chance to give up? In this kind of situation, if you don't move forward, you will die. His words now seem to be treating us like Cao Shuang! Let us voluntarily hand over the power in our hands and integrate into their ranks!"

Xun Xu flew into a rage, pointing his finger at Zhong Hui and cursing, "You've clearly defected to the Emperor and are now trying to use my Sima family to help him achieve his great cause!"

Sima Zhao could not hear their quarrel. He lay down in front of Sima Shi with a look of despair on his face, tears streaming down his face.

Sima Shi closed his eyes tightly and his breathing became weaker and weaker.

"Master! Throw away the bamboo horse in your hand! Go back to the study! Study!!"

"Master! It's your fault as the eldest brother for letting your younger brother make mistakes! Stretch out your hand!"

"Master, you don't even understand this? Sigh~~ How are you going to achieve great things in the future?"

"Master, what happened today must not be spread outside. She deserves to die. Do you understand?"

"Hahaha, Ziyuan, the three of us can definitely accomplish great things! Let's have a drink!"

"Ziyuan! What did I teach you?! You're hanging out with people like Xiahou Xuan and He Yan all day? Sooner or later, you're going to get me into trouble!"

"Ziyuan, you must marry his daughter. This will benefit the clan."

"My dear? Does your head still hurt? What are you worried about?"

"Father! Dad!"

"Ziyuan! What did I tell you before?! I told you not to get involved with those two! What's going on now?!"

"Ziyuan, we can't keep this girl any longer. Now is a good opportunity. Do it cleanly and don't leave any traces."

"Father, I can't find Mother~~~"

"Master, your father no longer wants me. Just let me die like this. Don't try to persuade me anymore."

"The old thing is not worth pitying, if it weren't for you, humph."

"Ziyuan, prepare some assassins. We can't delay any longer."

"You are actually quite good!"

"Ziyuan. Zong. The clan is entrusted to you. Great cause, great cause. Entrusted to you."

"General"