My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 502 Sima Zhongda's First Plan

The words are divided into two parts.

Ma Teng and Pang De hurried all the way, but the message was delayed, so they finally arrived in Xu Du at the end of the first month of the eleventh year of Jian'an.

During the twenty days from the end of the twelfth lunar month to the beginning of the first lunar month, Cao Cao in Xudu would not be idle. Other preparations before becoming prime minister would also be carried out simultaneously.

These petty tasks would naturally fall on Cao Cao's two chief clerks Sima Lang and Mao Jie, and the final executor would definitely be the Shizhong Xi Lu - Xun Yu, who was best at court personnel work, could also help take charge of the overall situation and control the rhythm.

Unfortunately, Xun Yu disagreed with Cao Cao on this matter. He advised Cao Cao to be cautious and not to rush to become prime minister. He also felt that his military achievements on the front line were not stable yet, and it would be easy to be humiliated if he was promoted too hastily.

Since Cao Cao knew Xun Yu's attitude, he would no longer let him worry about the subsequent personnel arrangements and simply trained Sima Lang and others.

On the evening of the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, Sima Lang had just received a mission from Sikong and returned to his residence after finishing his duties. He looked worried.

He has been working for Cao Gong for ten years, rising from a Cao Yuan to his current position as a chief clerk.

But before, when it came to personnel matters, Cao Gong had never let him bypass Xun Lingjun and handle it directly. This was the first time that he was allowed to make a decision on his own without asking Xun Yu, and Sima Lang felt a little uneasy.

"Without Xun Lingjun's supervision, will this matter not be done well enough in the end? Even if it is done well enough, will Xun Lingjun resent me for interfering in other people's affairs when he regains the Prime Minister's approval in the future? Sigh, this is the first time I do something like this, it is really tricky, I must be careful."

Sima Lang secretly warned himself in his heart.

Seeing that her master was so worried, the maid in the mansion did not dare to disturb her. She just made some tea, put it aside, and quietly left.

The tea was also sold from the south. In recent years, people in all parts of the Han Dynasty have gradually become accustomed to drinking roasted tea, which is also the work of Zhuge Jin. It can only be said that enjoyment does not distinguish between enemies and friends. As long as it is useful, the enemy will also pursue it.

Sima Lang pondered for a while, then subconsciously picked up the teacup and took a sip. However, he was too absorbed in the tea and didn't pay attention to the temperature of the tea. He was scalded and spit out the water repeatedly, and even accidentally broke the teacup.

The maid was afraid that she had failed in her duty, so she quickly ran into the main room, quietly picked up the broken pieces, and brought cold water for her master to rinse her mouth.

The sound of the celadon tea set breaking also alarmed the relatives in the next room.

A young man in his twenties came over quickly to check. He looked Sima Lang up and down and said a few words of comfort: "Brother, why are you so uneasy? Did you not cut your hand? Or is it because the official duties of the Sikong Mansion are too busy and stressful?"

Sima Lang raised his eyelids listlessly, not even looking at the young man, and just said weakly:
"Zhongda, our family has encountered a difficult situation. This time, Sikong wants to bypass Xun Lingjun and directly let me help him do some promotion and demotion and offend people. This is not a big deal in itself, but I am afraid that the means are not clean enough. In the future, when Xun Lingjun regains Sikong's trust, he will hate our family."

It turned out that the young man opposite whom Sima Lang called Zhongda was naturally his second brother Sima Yi.

In history, Sima Yi served the Cao family only after the victory of the Yuan and Cao factions was completely decided. Before that, he had been living in seclusion, looking for excuses to wait and see (pretending to have rheumatism), sitting on the fence between Yuan and Cao, thinking about who would win.

In this life, the trajectory of history has been changed so seriously that if Sima Yi still wants to wait until the "Yuan family is completely extinct" before taking up an official position, he may never wait in his entire life - although Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi are dead, Yuan Tan has already surrendered to Liu Bei.

As long as Liu Bei was around, Cao Cao would not dare to guarantee that he could kill Yuan Tan no matter how many years it took.

Therefore, Sima Yi could not wait any longer. Cao Cao wanted to take the position of prime minister while his martial arts prestige was at its peak, so he certainly could not let go of those who were sitting on the fence and waiting.

Many talented people who had previously refused to be recruited, including Sima Yi, were forced to come out and serve as officials this time.

Sima Yi is currently a literary official in the Sikong Mansion. He has only been in office for a few months and is still in the "internship period", so he lives in his eldest brother's house. It is convenient for him to learn and familiarize himself with the work process nearby and to ask questions at any time.

Now that his elder brother was in trouble, Sima Yi naturally had to step forward and help.

Sima Lang then explained the difficulties he had encountered in a casual tone.

"…That was the situation. When Ma Teng arrived in Xudu and accepted the title of General of the Cavalry, the important officials in the court would present a petition to recommend him, saying that the Sikong had great merits and virtues, and that he was humble and self-disciplined, and was willing to give up his title of General of the Cavalry to Ma Teng, and that he should be promoted to the position of Prime Minister.

But if you want to appoint a prime minister, you must abolish the three dukes and let the prime minister take over the power of the three dukes. Among the three dukes, the position of Sikong originally belonged to Cao Gong, so it didn't matter. The position of Taiwei had been vacant since Yang Biao was implicated and dismissed after Yuan Shu was killed six years ago, and there was no appointment later.

The position of Minister of Education is the only one that is difficult to handle. Minister of Education Zhao is an old minister who has followed Your Majesty for many years. Ever since the court escaped from Chang'an and escaped from the hands of Li Jue and Guo Si, Minister of Education Zhao has followed Your Majesty through hardships and dangers. He has been Minister of Education for thirteen years and has never made any mistakes. How can you depose Minister of Education for no reason and concentrate power in the hands of the Prime Minister? "

The Zhao Situ mentioned by Sima Lang was named Zhao Wen, who had fled with Liu Xie for more than ten years and was highly respected by the emperor. However, in reality, this Situ had no power and was just a mascot.

Cao Cao had been supporting him over the years in order to appear more respectable. After he moved the capital to Xu Du, he did not remove all the former court officials.

Sima Yi listened very carefully, but was not in a hurry to express his opinion. After his elder brother finished speaking, he carefully helped to deduce: "So, now the Minister of Works needs you and Mao Zhubu to come up with a way to find an excuse to remove Zhao Situ?"

Sima Lang nodded slowly and painfully: "That's right, this is a job that offends people, and Xun Lingjun has been excluded for pretending to be deaf and dumb. Although the person who will finally take action has been decided to be Shizhong Xi Lu, the solution still needs me and Xiaoxian (Mao Jie) to think of it.

Today, Xiaoxian proposed an idea, saying that he would hint to Situ Zhao that after the New Year, he would use the quota of Situ to select talents every year to select the sons of Cao Gong who were close to him as talents, and then Cao Gong would decline the offer. In this way, Xi Lu could impeach Situ Zhao for abusing his power for personal gain, not distinguishing between the wise and the foolish, and only seeking to appoint people based on personal connections and curry favor with the court officials.

With this excuse, it was just a matter of procedure to remove Zhao Situ's position as one of the Three Dukes. However, this matter was a bit troublesome at the moment. Cao Ang, the eldest son of Cao Gong, had died in Wancheng many years ago, and Cao Pi, the second son, was only eighteen years old.

If we force Situ Zhao to nominate a young man who has not yet reached the age of adulthood as a talent, it would be too embarrassing. If we ask Duke Cao to hold the ceremony of adulthood for Cao Pi in advance, it would easily give people a reason to think that "Duke Cao held the ceremony of adulthood for Cao Pi in advance just to cooperate with Situ Zhao in nominating Cao Pi as a talent."

At that time, who would still believe that this series of actions were done by Situ Zhao on his own to "seek the emperor's will and act on his own initiative"? He would definitely think that all of this was instructed by Cao Gong. "

After listening to his elder brother's analysis, Sima Yi finally understood the whole situation.

It turns out that Cao Cao wanted to be a courtesy name and also wanted to erect a memorial archway for himself.

Not only did he force Zhao Wen to recommend him, he also wanted people all over the world to think that Zhao Wen himself was despicable and shameless and was actively licking him.

In the original history, Cao Cao actually accomplished this, but the problem is that it happened two or three years later, after Cao Cao killed Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and completely destroyed the Yuan family. At that time, Cao Pi was already 21 years old and should have entered the government. Zhao Wen recommended him, so Cao Cao was not suspected of "cooperating".

Now it has been advanced by two or three years, but Cao Pi's age issue is still a problem, and it is difficult for Cao Cao to cooperate with Zhao Wen, so the situation is stuck for a while.

Sima Yi sorted out these contradictions and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head. He suggested, "Brother, what's the difficulty? Cao Gong has so many close relatives, so there's no need to stick to recommending Cao Pi alone, right?"

Sima Lang heard that his second brother seemed to have a solution, and his eyes finally lit up: "Oh? Second brother, do you have a good idea? I always said that you were smart since you were a child, maybe you can find a unique way."

This was the first time Sima Yi had given serious advice to someone in the few months since he entered the government. Sima Lang was pleased to see that his second brother had finally learned how to make plans.

Sima Yi was also a little nervous, and he pulled himself together and said, "The system of recommending talented people is not limited to recommending new officials. Even officials who have been in office for several years can be recommended as talented people as long as they are still young, have outstanding political achievements, and have shown extraordinary talents.

In this case, why not consider hinting to Situ Zhao to replace the person to be nominated with Sun Quan? Sun Quan came to surrender four years ago, when he was only eighteen years old. Later, he married Cao Gong's eldest daughter and is now twenty-two or twenty-three years old.

In terms of age, Sun Quan was four or five years older than Cao Pi, which was just enough to avoid the problem of coming of age. Moreover, although Sun Quan had a nominally noble position and inherited the title of Marquis of Wu, he was still very young and had no real job, and the land of Yangzhou was controlled by Liu Bei.

"Situ Zhao could submit a memorial saying that he found Sun Quan a rare talent and therefore recommended him as a great talent. He suggested that the court grant him another real position and give him authority. Once Situ Zhao submitted the memorial, Cao Gong could be modest and say, 'My son-in-law has no talent, I really don't deserve it.' Then, Shizhong Xi could follow up with an impeachment, saying that Situ Zhao was trying to please Cao Gong. Wouldn't that be a natural thing?"

After listening to his second brother's advice, Sima Lang finally understood.

Why didn't I think of it! If you want to say that Situ Zhao is trying to curry favor with Cao Gong, you don't have to mention his own son! A son-in-law will do! The son is not old enough, but the son-in-law is just old enough. Isn't this like sending a pillow when you are sleepy?

However, it was also because Sun Quan already had a marquisate, which seemed to be in a very high position, and Sima Lang was also in the dark. He had not thought that such a person could be forcibly promoted and forced into a real position.

Anyway, the result of the action being successful or not is not important. As long as it can be shown that Situ Zhao really wants to curry favor with Duke Cao and has no moral integrity, and give Xi Lu a handle to attack him, that will be enough.

After figuring out all these key points, Sima Lang exclaimed: "Second brother! I didn't expect you to be so quick-witted. With time, I'm afraid your achievements will surpass mine!"
I heard that Zhuge Jin once sighed that Liu Bei's second brother was much more talented than him. When I first heard this story, I thought it was just hypocritical, but I didn't expect that our Sima family would do the same now. Tomorrow I will secretly offer advice to the Minister of Works and suggest that the Minister of Zhao recommend Sun Quan. "

(End of this chapter)