The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 34 The Only Candidate
Luoyang, the General’s Mansion.

"Brother."

Sima Zhao bent his waist, maintaining a saluting posture.

Sima Shi was lying on his side on the bed with an extremely gloomy face. As his younger brother, Sima Zhao was frightened when he saw his brother's eyes.

"After Guo De's death, the ministers stopped submitting petitions."

"I'm planning to build momentum for Prince Pengcheng. While the Queen Mother is in a panic, I'll force her to write an imperial edict to enthrone Prince Pengcheng as emperor. I've already decided on the person I want to support, and I'm ready to let him..."

"madness."

Sima Shi directly interrupted his younger brother.

"If you support the King of Pengcheng, then the Guo family will completely lose their power, and the Queen Mother will no longer be the Queen Mother. She will never let you do this even if she dies."

Sima Zhao was stunned and asked, "Isn't it your idea to support the King of Pengcheng?"

"I proposed to support the King of Pengcheng in order to force the Guo family to make concessions and compromise, so that Wang could serve as the Central Guard General and share command of the Imperial Palace Guard with the Guo family."

Sima Zhao suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. You never really thought about letting Prince Pengcheng become emperor. No wonder you backed down on this matter."

"But, brother, you have already offended the Guo family. Once Guo De dies, there will be no chance of reconciliation between our two families. It would be better to let the Queen Mother step down and make Prince Pengcheng the emperor."

Sima Shi had no expression on his face.

He said coldly: "Families interact with each other based on interests."

"Back then, the Cao family almost wiped out the entire Guo family, but in the end, the Guo family was still grateful to them."

"Killing Guo De is nothing. As long as you can provide enough benefits, he can still be your confidant."

"Besides, I was the one who killed him. What does it have to do with you?"

Sima Zhao woke up again.

"Brother, can't we still support Cao Mao?"

"Although this brat is young, his behavior and actions are almost demonic. What will happen if he grows up? We must not support him as emperor. It would be best if he were killed to prevent future troubles!"

Sima Shi sneered.

"You're finally right for once. However, you can't kill this man. Only I can do it."

"As for the choice of emperor, Cao Huan, son of Yan Wang Cao Yu, is young and intelligent, and can serve as the emperor's sacrifice."

"Alright, then, let's make him the emperor! But, brother, when will you take action on Cao Mao?"

"No hurry, wait until the new emperor ascends the throne, then the Duke will die of illness."

Sima Shi waved his hand and said, "Go and prepare quickly!"

Just as Sima Zhao received the order, a man rushed in from outside the door.

The person who came was Zhong Hui.

Zhong Hui had a very close relationship with Sima Shi, who was very tolerant of him. Even Sima Zhao did not dare to break into Sima Shi's study, but Zhong Hui dared to do so.

"General! Something happened!"

"Oh?"

"General Guanqiu Jian, the Eastern Guardian, has sent someone to see the General."

Sima Shi sat up suddenly, and a hint of surprise finally flashed in his eyes.

Sima Shi had already reorganized the imperial court, making it so that no minister dared to resist him, but Sima Shi still had concerns at the local level.

Cao Wei's system continued that of the Han Dynasty, with the army divided into the central army and the outer army.

The central army was of course to guard Luoyang and protect the emperor, while the outer army was to "command the military affairs of all states, and be given the title of general of four expeditions and four garrisons."

Foreign troops are still the central army and do not belong to the state and county troops. They can be regarded as the central army stationed in different war zones.

Sima Shi, the great general, could nominally command all Chinese and foreign troops, but whether they were willing to obey was another question.

Among these "governors", there were both Sima family confidants and Cao Wei's loyal ministers.

Guanqiu Jian was a rather unstable factor.

He was very famous, comparable to Xiahou Xuan, and had a wide network of contacts, with friends both in the government and the country. At the same time, he was a good fighter, and had achieved the best record in the entire Chinese expedition to the Northeast. He also had 60,000 elite troops under his command, all of whom were veterans who had followed him in battle for a long time.

Sima Shi was extremely polite to him because he was not completely sure that he could get rid of him.

If he allied with the State of Wu and called on the governors at home to attack him, and Jiang Wei from the State of Shu took advantage of the situation with Xiahou Ba, the Sima family would be in real trouble.

"Change my clothes!"

Sima Shi hurriedly made preparations.

When the messenger sent by Guanqiu Jian walked into the study, he saw a bright and energetic Sima Shi.

Although there was still some viciousness between his brows, he looked very imposing and did not look seriously ill at all.

"General!"

After paying his respects, the man hurriedly handed Guanqiu Jian's letter to Sima Shi. Sima Shi read the letter, his face changing from gloomy to bright.

"Okay, I understand. I will reply to the General Zhendong later. You can wait in the mansion for a while."

The man bowed again and then left.

After he left, Sima Zhao and Zhong Hui walked in.

Sima Shi's face looked very ugly. Sima Zhao was about to step forward to check the letter, but Zhong Hui took it first and started reading it directly.

Sima Zhao frowned and said nothing.

When Zhong Hui saw this, he was immediately shocked.

This letter from Guanqiu Jian is about Cao Mao.

In his letter he stated:
King Cao Fang of Qi did do some wrong things, and the general's ambition to emulate Huo Guang is commendable, but such behavior is bound to cause controversy.

Fortunately, the new emperor you are going to support is intelligent, kind-hearted, generous and virtuous, and is fully qualified to be the ruler of a country.

I admire him very much and support your decision.

I have informed General Guo Huai, General Sima Zhao, General Zhuge Dan, General Hu Zun, General Wang Chang, General Shi Bao and others of this good news, and most of them agree.

The general is indeed wise. With the new emperor ascending the throne, the Wei Dynasty will surely prosper.

Finally, there are some normal greetings.

After reading the letter, Zhong Hui's eyes were filled with shock.

"How is this possible? Guanqiu Jian has always been grateful to Emperor Liezu and wants to repay his kindness. I predicted earlier that the issue of deposing and enthroning the emperor might make him rebellious. He would never agree to the dethronement and enthronement, so how could he support Cao Mao now?"

Sima Zhao then snatched the letter from his hand and read it in its entirety.

"You even wrote me a letter? How come I didn't know about it?"

Sima Shi ignored his brother and just looked at Zhong Hui, his eyes narrowed. "Why would Guanqiu Jian speak up for Cao Mao? Regarding Xiahou Xuan's matter, even if someone rushed to Huainan, he couldn't have sent an envoy so quickly."

"Unless someone contacted him in advance and informed him of their plan."

"Impossible! Our informants close to him said that no outsiders have come to see him in recent days. Only his son has sent him letters."

Zhong Hui defended himself.

Sima Shi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

This was the first time Sima Shi laughed, and when he laughed, his face became even more terrifying and gloomy.

“It turns out that the contact was made through his son.”

"Good boy, I really thought he wasn't afraid of death, but it turns out he had already made preparations."

Zhong Hui said in astonishment and doubt, "This could not possibly be Cao Mao's doing! He's only thirteen or fourteen years old. How could he have such a plan?! He has great sages around him!"

"Guo Ze is a dullard, not worth mentioning. This must be Yang Zong's plan!"

"Yang Zong, this man, once assisted Cao Shuang and became an enemy of the general. The general has pardoned his crimes, yet he still refuses to repent! General, kill him immediately!"

"No!!"

Sima Zhao quickly said, "Mr. Yang is a man of great talent. I am useful to him. He must not be killed!"

"General, what do you mean? Are you trying to protect the thieves?"

"How dare you talk to me like that?!"

The two men immediately started arguing. Sima Shi looked at them with narrowed eyes and shook his head again.

"No need to argue."

"We must be cautious about Guanqiu Jian's affairs. We are not yet prepared. Guo Huai in the west has heard that he is seriously ill in bed, and Zhuge Dan in the south has heard that he is dissatisfied with Guanqiu Jian."

"But now, Guo Huai is still alive, and Zhuge Dan is still Guanqiu Jian's close friend."

"If we act rashly, we won't be able to face these three armies."

Sima Zhao frowned, "Brother, do you mean to still support Cao Mao as emperor?"

"He's already causing unrest in the world. If he becomes emperor, wouldn't the situation be even worse?"

Sima Shi said calmly: "Don't worry."

"Schemes of deceit are not worthy of even a child's basic abilities, so why should we mention them?"

"The one we should be dealing with now is not Cao Mao, but Guanqiu Jian. I will not be at peace until Guanqiu Jian is dead."

"Shi Ji, please go to Yuzhou for me."

"only!"

ps: The first showdown between A Mao and Sima Shi is about to begin. A Mao has fought with Sima Zhao before, so many people think that the enemy is not strong enough. Next, he will face Sima Shi directly, and the tension will definitely be high.

(End of this chapter)