My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 650: Taking Advantage of Defeat to Get a Promotion
The thirteenth year of Jian'an, the second day of July.

It was the third day after Cao Cao decided to promote Xun Yu in public but demote him in secret and remove him from his key position.

At nightfall that day, in the city of Xudu, at the residence of Shizhong Xi Lu, a visitor was anxiously discussing something with the host.

The visitor was Sima Yi, an official from the Prime Minister's Office who had returned from the front line ten days ago.

The issue that the two discussed was naturally how to convert the military merit of "pacifying Liu Biao" into official rank and rewards as soon as possible according to the Prime Minister's wishes, so as to accomplish that great task for the Prime Minister.

"Lord Xun's words are very convincing, and he always takes the lead in claiming the greater good. He has already refuted my proposal twice. If the Prime Minister does not push for this matter, I am afraid it will be difficult to handle...

It's not that I don't want to try my best, but I'm worried that being too hasty will damage the prime minister's reputation for being humble."

Xi Lu showed a bitter look on his face and tactfully expressed his difficulties to Sima Yi. He also hoped that Sima Yi could try to make things clear to his superiors and either ask for more time or find more supporters.

Sima Yi's official position was naturally much lower than Xi Lu's. He was very sensible and took the initiative to share Xi Lu's worries and said:

"Don't worry, Minister Xi. The Prime Minister will definitely make a decision on this matter. We will not be the only ones left to convince Lord Xun. I have already conveyed all your concerns to Prime Minister Chen. There will be a result soon..."

Xi Lu then relaxed a little, and the two of them talked about some details to see if there was anything else that could be advanced or if there was anything that could be done to fill in the gaps.

I don't know how long they talked, when the waiter of Xi Lu's mansion suddenly rushed in and reported anxiously: "Sir, the Prime Minister's secret messenger has arrived, carrying a secret letter from the Prime Minister to you and Sima Caoyuan. I have brought him to the main hall."

Xi Lu was startled and hurried out to greet him with Sima Yi.

They all knew that it was already dark and the gates of Xudu were closed, and would not be opened again until tomorrow morning.

If it was a less urgent messenger, he would probably have to wait outside the city until dawn before coming in.

If it was extremely urgent, the city gate captain would approve it and lower a hanging basket from the tower to pull the messenger up. In any case, the city gate could not be opened.

No matter what, Cao Cao's secret letter was delivered at this time, which must mean some important decision.

The two men came to the main hall and comforted the messenger with a few words. Xi Lu also asked the maid in the mansion to prepare wine and food to entertain the messenger. Then Xi Lu opened Cao Cao's letter and began to read it.

He just glanced at it quickly, and then as if he had been electrocuted, he looked up at Sima Yi, and quickly lowered his head again.

"...The Prime Minister is very determined this time, is he really going to go this far?

Your Majesty may not have any ulterior motives. He may just feel that the Prime Minister’s decision was too hasty and difficult to convince the public, so he wants to slow down…”

Xi Lu was Cao Cao's white glove, specializing in doing dirty work. He had no moral integrity and had no friendship with Xun Yu.

But when he saw the resolute words in Cao Cao's letter, he still felt a little sad.

An old man who had followed Cao Cao for nearly twenty years and was his absolute confidant, was unexpectedly demoted and sidelined just because of a disagreement over this matter.

The Prime Minister is really difficult to serve.

Moreover, he sincerely felt that Xun Yu's opposition this time was not purely for the sake of opposition, or because he was overwhelmed with a sense of morality, but also because he considered that "this little contribution is really not worthy of being made a duke, and it will give people all over the world more excuses to oppose him."

Based on the current objective strength and status between Cao and Liu, Xun Yu’s concern cannot be said to be wrong.

Sima Yi, who was standing by, felt a sense of crisis when he saw that Xi Lu was feeling such grief over the death of the rabbit.

Xi Lu was the most shameless of all the important officials in Xudu. He had done many dirty things for the prime minister.

The fact that the prime minister became the prime minister, the three highest officials were abolished, and the former prime minister Zhao Wen was removed were all the work of Xi Lu.

If a person like this is shaken, how many of the officials in Xudu will wait and see?
Sima Yi knew that he could not hesitate at this moment. He racked his brains to help Xi Lu strengthen his determination:

"The Shizhong is kind-hearted and considerate of his colleagues. I really admire him! If Xun Lingjun could have the vision of the Shizhong, why would he do this?
Of course I know that Xun Lingjun has no selfish motives, and the Prime Minister actually knows that too. But Xun Lingjun is not sensible enough, and he does not understand the danger of the war in Jingbei.

The Prime Minister's reply this time was so urgent, but he didn't explain the reason. I guess it might be because of the war on the front line, and there has been another change."

Xi Lu shuddered slightly when he heard this analysis, and lowered his voice to ask cautiously: "Zhongda, do you think the war on the front line will be very unfavorable? And... is it getting more and more unfavorable?"

Sima Yi was unwilling to elaborate, and just said: "I didn't say that. Anyway, the Prime Minister must have his reasons for being anxious."

Seeing that the other party was so tight-lipped and unwilling to take responsibility, Xi Lu could only remain silent for a long time before he sighed:

"Well, I can only ask His Majesty to promote Lord Xun to a more prominent position. However, Lord Xun has already openly opposed this matter. If the Prime Minister immediately pushes it forward after removing him, it will inevitably let the world see his true intentions.

Even if we don't say anything, Liu Bei will definitely take the opportunity to stir up trouble and incite people. We still have to think of a way to silence the gossips."

Sima Yi couldn't help but nod slightly, he had thought of this too.

Some things still need to be acted out more realistically; it's definitely not good to be completely open about it.

At least turn off the lights.

In order to make Xi Lu willing to do it, Sima Yi put himself in his shoes and thought of a few tricks. Finally, he suggested in a negotiating tone:

“I think it would be better if the Minister of the Court wrote back to the Prime Minister and stated clearly the reasons why His Majesty and other court officials objected. Then, he suggested that the Prime Minister slightly reduce the treatment of the Duke, or humbly resign the fiefdom of several counties after Your Majesty issues an edict, so as to stop the people from speaking out.

In this way, the prime minister can appear humble and not care about his fiefdom.

On the other hand, it can also be said that Xun Lingjun was not against the prime minister's title of duke, but was against the prime minister's fief being too large. Later, the prime minister took the initiative to resign part of the fief, and Xun Lingjun no longer opposed it.

People in the world will no longer doubt the prime minister's true intention of promoting him in public but demoting him in secret."

Xi Lu thought about it carefully, and finally his brows relaxed and he nodded repeatedly.

The trick Sima Yi mentioned can indeed stop the slander. Although there are variables, as long as Xun Yu does not commit suicide, this variable will hardly break out.

As long as Xun Yu doesn't jump out to object and insist on stating "What I opposed was not just the fact that Cao Cao's fiefdom was too large, but the fact that he was given the title of Duke", then the matter can be fooled.

Of course, if Xun Yu insisted on jumping out to slap him in the face, it would be his own fault. Xi Lu believed that when the matter was settled, Xun Yu would not be so stubborn.

After sorting out the causes and consequences, Xi Lu sighed and made a decisive statement:
"Well, Zhongda is still a thoughtful person. I will write a letter tonight and reply to the Prime Minister. This matter will be handled according to this idea."

Sima Yi struck while the iron was hot and added one last thing: "If you feel that simply reducing the fiefdom is not enough to silence the people, you can also advise the Prime Minister to decline other minor matters, such as ancestral temples and etiquette."

Xi Lu nodded and wrote down all these potential points for concession.

……

After Xi Lu and Sima Yi had an urgent consultation, they replied to Cao Cao in a secret letter with the latest ideas for advancing the matter.

Wancheng and Xudu are not far away. It only takes a little over a day to get there by expedited travel, and a round trip takes only three days, so the matter is progressing very quickly.

Three days later, at the court meeting on the fifth day of July, Xi Lu presented a memorial to the emperor, stating the various achievements of Shangshu Ling Xun Yu in recent years and requesting that Xun Yu be conferred the title of Junior Tutor.

Xun Yu strongly objected, saying that he was not worthy of the position, but it didn't work. Cao Cao arranged several other people to insist on promoting Xun Yu.

Emperor Liu Xie still didn't know what Cao Cao was up to, but since Cao Cao's agent was so insistent, Liu Xie had no choice but to go along with it. He also felt that it didn't seem to be any harm for Xun Yu to have a higher official position.

Just five days after Xun Yu was removed, at the next grand court meeting, a proposal to confer the title of Duke on Cao Cao in recognition of his contribution in pacifying Liu Biao was sent to the emperor's desk in accordance with the procedure.

Liu Xie was shocked when he saw the memorial and asked his ministers for their opinions. However, many people seemed to have received the news in advance and did not come to the court meeting that day.

Including Xun Yu, who had just been promoted to the position of Junior Tutor, Cao Cao also sent guards and doctors to treat his illness, and he was forced to stay at home on the pretext of illness.

All the court officials who came basically spoke in unison and praised Cao Cao's merits.

When things came to this point, Liu Xie had nothing to say. After a slight struggle, he finally followed the public opinion and asked Zhong Yao to draft an edict to confer the title of Duke of Wei on Cao Cao.

The edict written by Zhong Yao naturally had to praise Cao Cao's historical achievements, and concluded with "…he respected the imperial family, showed his succession to the unrivaled lineage, and all his old virtues and previous achievements were ranked highly; even though Yi Yin was worthy of the Emperor's respect, and Duke Zhou was famous throughout the world, they were not as good as him…"

Anyway, speaking of Cao Cao's merits, Yi Yin and Zhou Gong were not as good as him. In this case, the emperor must have said, "I have heard that the previous kings established bright virtues, gave them land and divided it among the people... so as to protect the royal family and control the world..."

To put it bluntly, it is to use the example that King Cheng of Zhou needed Taigong, Duke Zhou, and Duke Shao to deal with the rebellion of Guan and Cai, to prove that in today's world, the emperor also needs Cao Cao to deal with Liu Bei who is similar to "Guan/Cai".

After all, when King Cheng of Zhou was in power, Guan Shu and Cai Shu, who rebelled in the "Rebellion of the Three Guards", were also the younger brothers of King Wu and the uncles of King Cheng. The fight between Duke Zhou and Duke Shao against the two of them was actually a civil war between brothers.

Cao Cao is now a foreigner, and if he wants to use an excuse to help the emperor fight against Liu Bei, the uncle of the Han Dynasty, he can only compare Liu Bei to Guan Yu and Cai Yu, showing that "even if the emperor's uncle rebels, he should be destroyed, let alone you are not the emperor's uncle."

Of course, Cao Cao still had a big disadvantage compared to Duke Zhou and Duke Shao, that is, he was of a different surname. So it was not "uncle fighting uncle", but "a different surname fighting uncle". He had no choice but to let Zhong Yao make a long and boring fuss, emphasizing Taigong more in the edict and downplaying Zhou and Zhao, because Jiang Taigong was also of a different surname.

Anyway, there is really nothing to elaborate on these word games that use classics to compare ancient people. No matter which side you stand on, isn't it easy to find a few righteous ancient people whose behavior patterns meet your current needs?

After the imperial edict was completed, Liu Xie asked Zhong Yao to personally deliver it to Wancheng. The subsequent events were naturally full of refusal scenes.

Historically, when Cao Cao was conferred the title of Duke and King, he declined it. It was not only when Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself Emperor that he had to decline it, but he declined it at every step before, which was simply a repetitive show, and he never felt tired of it.

Each round of resignation would be separated by at least a five-day grand court meeting.

That is, on the tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth day of the lunar month, Liu Xie issued an edict, which was then sent to Wancheng urgently.

Cao Cao immediately asked the scholars around him to write a letter of resignation and send it back to Xu Du as soon as possible, so that he could resign before the next court meeting.

This way, the emperor would ask Zhong Yao to draft a new edict with more earnest words during the next court meeting.

This process was repeated over and over again, and the entire play took at least twenty days to perform.

This is the fastest speed Cao Cao can operate.

While such manipulation is taking place in the rear, the military confrontation on the front line will certainly not be affected.

Anyway, Cao's army has just suffered two defeats and is no longer able to launch a counterattack. They are about to go on the defensive, so they might as well just continue to defend.

These twenty days were enough for Guan Yu's reinforcements to arrive at Wuchang from Yangzhou. Even when Cao Cao finished his performance, Guan Yu had already arrived at the front for more than ten days.

In other words, Liu Bei was not in a hurry to attack and did not seize this opportunity to immediately launch a decisive battle, which allowed Cao Cao to complete these plays in peace.

However, the time wasted by Cao Cao also allowed Liu Bei to be more relaxed in gathering his troops.

Originally, after Guan Yu arrived, it would take more than a month for Zhang Fei's Yizhou army to arrive.

By the time Cao Cao had finished all this, Zhang Fei's reinforcements had already gathered in Ba County and were setting sail. In at most another twenty days, Zhang Fei's 50,000 to 60,000 men would be able to reach the front.

……

After twenty days of manipulation, Cao Cao eventually became the Duke of Wei in an inglorious manner.

The whole process was full of bumps and bruises, and a lot of face was lost, causing people all over the world to poke holes in their backs.

Liu Bei's camp has not yet reacted, that's because Cao Cao did a good job of keeping it secret. In the first two rounds of resignation, the news was basically blocked and not announced immediately.

Basically, Cao Cao only spread the news when everything was set in stone and only the last two steps were left.

Considering the borders of the areas actually controlled by Cao and Liu, which are now in a wartime state, there is no natural population movement, and it is difficult for spies to infiltrate.

Therefore, all this news would not reach Liu Bei's control area until at least half a month later, and only then could Liu Bei use it to make a case.

After several rounds of bargaining, the actual fiefdom and supporting ritual specifications of the title of Duke of Wei that Cao Cao finally obtained were much lower than those in original history.

Originally, according to the imperial edict written by Zhong Yao on behalf of the emperor, ten counties were gathered together and given to the Duke of Wei. Those ten counties also spanned Jizhou, Yanzhou and Sili.

Now, Cao Cao's fiefdom has been compressed to only four counties, and only Henei belongs to Sili. The remaining three counties are all under the jurisdiction of Jizhou, and there is no territory of Yanzhou at all.

Such a compromise result was also Cao Cao's bottom line - Cao Cao needed to ensure that he had territory spanning at least two states when he was first conferred the title of Duke of Wei to create an established fact.

That is, "Duke Wei's territory is not limited to a certain state", so that there will be an excuse to add it at any time in the future.

If we limit ourselves to Jizhou at the beginning, it will be more troublesome to expand across borders in the future.

In addition to the reduction of his fiefdom, Cao Cao also made great restrictions on the ancestral temple rituals of the Duke of Wei - historically, Cao Cao directly added the Nine Gifts when he was conferred the title of Duke.

This was also the standard supporting operation before Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty. Wang Mang was not granted a royal title before usurping the Han Dynasty. He was only granted the title of Duke of Anhan, and then was given the title of "Prime Minister". Finally, his identity before usurping the Han Dynasty was "Regent Emperor", and then he usurped the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, in the eyes of people during the Jian'an period, if one wanted to usurp the Han Dynasty, being crowned a king was not a necessary step. As long as one was conferred the title of duke and the nine gifts, Wang Mang's prerequisites had been met.

(Note: Wang Mang skipped the step of being crowned king, but after he became the "Prime Minister", the Western Han court agreed on etiquette and laws, confirming the honorific status of the "Prime Minister", which was higher than that of other kings. Therefore, it was impossible for Wang Mang to go back and lower his status to become a king.)
But now, because Cao Cao's position is not as stable as it was in history, when he was conferred the title of Duke, he was forced to resolutely decline the courtesy of "adding nine gifts".

In the end, Cao Cao only accepted Liu Xie's permission to build a temple for Cao's ancestors and worship them in Yecheng, Weijun.

At the same time, he singled out and accepted four of the nine gifts, namely, the lexuan, zhuhu, huben and jiuchang, which were used in offering sacrifices to the Cao family's ancestral temple.

In other words, the musical instruments such as chime bells and chime stones hung in the Cao family ancestral temple were of the same specifications as those of the emperor.

The color and specifications of the ancestral temple's gate, the sacrificial tripods and gui containers and the food and wine inside them, and the equipment of the guards guarding the ancestral temple are all the same as those of the emperor.

As for the other five items for Cao Cao's personal use, such as the emperor's standard carriage and horses, clothing, axes, bows and arrows, and steps, Cao Cao did not use them.

(Note: The treatment of "Nabi" means that when ministers are allowed to enter the palace, they must take the path reserved for the emperor.)
Such a standard of selection can both bring benefits and eliminate slander from the world to the greatest extent.

When others said this, Cao Cao could refute it: He could sacrifice himself and refuse all the courtesy the emperor gave him. But he could not refuse the courtesy the emperor gave to his ancestors on behalf of his ancestors, which was also a manifestation of filial piety.

This allows you to get close to the edge while still having room to maneuver. In theory, you are just rubbing your way in, not getting in, but if you keep rubbing your way in, you can get a little more if you are not careful.

All of this was finally completed before the end of July.

Cao Cao's actions certainly led to dissatisfaction among many people in the Xudu court. However, the voices of opposition would definitely take time to connect and brew, and it would not emerge immediately.

And these news finally reached the southern part of Jingzhou and the area controlled by Liu Bei in August.

After hearing all this, Liu Bei was naturally very angry. He cried and lamented in public many times that "Your Majesty was bullied by Cao thieves and had no autonomy."

He then expressed his intention to speed up the elimination of traitors, support the Han Dynasty, and make those traitors pay the price on the battlefield.

Of course, all this has not happened yet. Liu Bei is still dealing with the matter of reuniting his brothers and gathering reinforcements.

(End of this chapter)