Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 406 Convergence
When the thunder struck from the sky, no one expected that the lightning would fall on the heads of Sima Yi and Sima Zhao, father and son, just as Sima Yi and Sima Zhao did not expect Cheng Ji to betray them.

Everyone was stunned.

What is this scenario?
Did divine thunder from heaven kill Sima Yi and his son?
this.
The many noble families present looked at each other and saw the fear in each other's eyes.

Is there really such a thing in this world?

But why could Cao Mao ask God to punish him?
They were not stupid people, and they began to think frantically about what Cao Mao had done to achieve such a goal.

Soon, everyone thought of a crucial point.

Cao Mao had been led by Chen Ying to the Chen family's ancestral temple to worship in the past, and the place where the golden light had just appeared seemed to be in Guandu City.

They naturally thought of the various rumors about the "Chen family" back then.

Wang Ming looked at Xie Wuya standing next to him with a look of curiosity on his face: "Your Xie family once had an alliance with the Chen family. Do you know whether the Chen family's supernatural powers are true or false?"

Xie Wuya stood there, looking carefree and unrestrained.

He simply glanced at Wang Ming calmly and said, "How would I know such a thing? The one who married into the Chen family was an ancestor of my Xie family, who was a figure from decades or even a hundred years ago."

Xie Wuya pointed to Cao Mao, who was standing on the carriage in the distance with a firm and solemn look on his face, and said, "But, isn't there a suitable person here? Why don't you go ask him?"

Wang Ming was speechless. Why should he ask Cao Mao at this time?

You must know that he was one of the people who forced Cao Mao to abdicate!
Just as everyone was talking, several soldiers came running hurriedly from a distance with looks of fear on their faces.

"The Sima family has been punished by heaven!"

There was fear in their eyes, and they looked like they were frightened by something.

What happened?
After careful questioning, everyone discovered that it was not just Sima Yi and Sima Zhao who died, but all of Sima Yi's sons and Sima Zhao's sons were killed!
And they were all killed by the divine thunder that fell from the sky!

This could not help but make all the children of the noble families even more terrified, and they all subconsciously looked at the person standing on the carriage.

At this time, these noble families who stood above everyone else learned another piece of news.

Almost the entire Langya City was controlled by Cao’s people!

Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen led their troops to surround Langya, and many ministers in the court jumped out and announced that they were members of the "Cao family" and were their backup in the court!
This is simply sensational!

After the Sima family usurped the throne, they had almost eliminated all the people left by Cao Mao and those who were biased towards the Cao family. Why did so many people suddenly appear at this time? What was going on!

Cao Mao was standing on the carriage, just like when he left the Weiyang Palace. He turned around and looked at everyone, especially the people from the six major families of "Wang, Xie, Lu, Zhuge, Xun, and Chen" in the crowd.

"A few."

With a confident smile, he said softly, "Please follow me. I will give you a satisfactory answer to all these questions."

Everyone looked at each other. There was no other way at this time. They could only listen to Cao Mao's words and follow him into the Weiyang Palace.

Weiyang Palace
Cao Mao calmly narrated everything that happened today, and then gave everyone a reasonable explanation.

Before his father Cao Rui died, he sensed the ambition of the Sima family and was also aware of Chen Ying's health problems. After much thought, Emperor Ming and Prime Minister Chen Ying finally came up with a solution.

Will count.

He deliberately cooperated with the Sima family and allowed them to usurp the throne, while he hid most of his power or pledged allegiance to the Sima family in order to preserve his power.

Cao Rui calculated that after his death, if Chen Ying died as well, no one would be able to resist the Sima family. And given Sima Yi's character, he would definitely want to kill them all and wipe out the entire clan.

This is something Sima Yi can do - or rather, it is something Sima Yi will definitely do.

This is the key to the Cao family's "revival".

He arranged for Cheng Ji and others to stay by Sima's side in advance to gain their trust. He also knew that these people would be abandoned by Sima at the critical moment - after all, Sima could not afford and did not want to bear the crime of murdering the emperor.

In this case, a scapegoat must be found.

The Chengji brothers, who were disciples of the Cao family and then defected to the Sima family, were very suitable.

why?
Because there are good reasons.

Cheng Ji and his companions were afraid that Cao Mao and his companions would regain power and take revenge on them, so they disobeyed the emperor's order and killed all the Cao family members.

No one would think this reason is wrong.

And it was precisely because of this reason that Sima could put all the blame on the Chengji brothers and live a clean life himself.

This was the first trap set by Cao Rui and Chen Ying for Sima Yi.

Sima Yi stepped in.

The second trap was the three demands put forward by Cao Mao. In fact, the first two demands were nonsense, and Cao Mao did not expect Sima to really keep his word.

His most important request was the third one, "swearing an oath by the Luo River."

In Cao Mao's original thinking, he thought that Chen Ying and Cao Rui wanted to use the public opinion of the world to accuse the Sima family and then ruin the Sima family's reputation - after that he could ask Chen family for help.

The Chen family will not interfere in internal affairs, but they will definitely take care of such dirty matters.

The Chen family didn't even have to take action. As long as Cao Mao rose up and brought the forces left behind by Chen Ying and Cao Rui, he would be able to compete with the Sima family. In this case, if he united with many other aristocratic families, the Sima family would surely be defeated.

But this was beyond Cao Mao's expectations.

He didn't expect that this trap was actually a "divine punishment" that fell from the sky. He had already written a draft in his mind about what he should say to smooth things over when he asked the heaven to punish Sima but the heaven did not respond.

This request was not something he had prepared. It was only when the moment came that one of Chen Ying's servants came to him and told him Chen Ying's request.

The third trap was that Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen resigned and returned home.

There is a difference between voluntarily resigning and passively resigning, especially in the case of Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen, who were not first-rate generals but could be considered famous generals. After they voluntarily resigned, Sima's people came to take charge of their soldiers. These people were originally Cao's confidants, but after Sima came, these people became Sima's biggest concern.

In this case, their interests will definitely be harmed.

This is inevitable.

It was even a blatant conspiracy, because if Sima did not give some benefits to the soldiers who followed him, who would follow him?

When some people benefit, the interests of others will inevitably be damaged. At this time, divisions and differences appeared among the soldiers. This is why Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen promoted some soldiers in advance.

These people naturally bear the mark of the Cao family.

At this time, when the Cao family was in an advantageous position and held the righteousness of the world, Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen stood up and asked these people to join them and let the entire Cao family stand up again. Naturally, these people were willing to do so.

why?
Because they were originally Cao's people and had been suppressed.

So how much worse can it get?

If they succeed, they will be considered as following the dragon.

This is a huge achievement, a business with no downsides, how could they not be willing?
So today, when Sima Yan had not yet brought the soldiers from Kyoto, Cao Shuang and Cao Zhen had already led the soldiers to besiege Langya City.

These three traps were carefully prepared by Cao Rui and Chen Ying, and Sima Yi perfectly stepped into them one by one, leading to the final outcome where Cao Mao is sitting in the Weiyang Palace today and becoming the final winner.

Wang Ming sat there, smacking his lips and sighing: "As expected of Prime Minister Chen, he did nothing before he died. I thought he had given up, but I never thought he had such preparations."

Xie Wuya thought more.

He knew that although Cao Mao seemed to have won at this time, he had not actually won because he was still missing the most crucial link.

That was the negotiation.

Do the six great families dare to allow Cao Mao to continue to be emperor?
They dare not.

why?
Because they made great efforts for the Sima family to become emperor, and some of them even had the blood of the Cao family on their hands. How could such a group of people, such a group of enemies of the Cao family, dare to let Cao Mao return to the throne?
It's just a joke.

They also wanted to seek benefits, and asked Cao Mao to swear an oath on the Luo River, but the oath on the Luo River was still effective, after all, Emperor Guangwu kept it, and the Han Dynasty prospered afterwards. Sima Yi did not want to keep it, and was finally struck to death by lightning.

But Sima Yi's example shows that oaths can be broken.

There are so many ways to kill a person, they don't dare to take the risk.

They were afraid that Cao would make a list later.

Chen Ying of the Chen family has now passed away. Even though the Chen family agreed to let Cao Mao use the power of the ancestral hall for Chen Ying's sake, they have not sent anyone to replace Chen Ying until today, and Chen Ying's descendants have also returned to Guandu, which means that the Chen family does not intend to interfere in this matter.

If the Chen family does not take action, the six major families of Langya will only suffer losses in a fight with the Cao family - the Cao family will definitely suffer the greater damage or even be destroyed in the end.

This is beyond doubt.

So now comes the question.

How to do.

Let Cao Mao become emperor? The six great families disagree.

Let Sima's surviving offspring be crowned emperor? Cao disagreed.

Let one of the six great families become emperor? The other families, Cao family, and Sima family all disagreed.

Therefore, the Weiyang Palace is currently very silent, and no one is willing to speak first because they are afraid that other noble families will misunderstand them and think that they are planning to "become emperor".

Cao Mao looked at the silence of the crowd with a faint smile on his lips.

"Everyone, now that the Sima thief has been executed, the country cannot be without a ruler for a day, so let's discuss what to do."

He looked around at everyone, with a hint of teasing in his eyes: "Who wants to be emperor?"

Everyone remained silent.

After a long while, Lu Huai, the head of the Lu family, spoke up. He looked at Cao Mao and said, "I believe you also know that we can't let you become emperor, nor can we let the Cao family continue to become emperor."

He was frank: “We are afraid.”

"But you will never agree to the Sima family's descendants becoming emperors."

He did not say to choose one from the six great families, or to choose an ordinary person from others to be the emperor.

You must have the ability to become emperor, right?

Cao Mao smiled slightly, which Chen Ying had anticipated before his death.

He came up with a solution that everyone could agree on.

And it obtained the consent of Cao Rui and the Cao clan.

When Cao knew that Sima's claim to the throne was inevitable and that they would inevitably become subjects, they already knew their own fate. No matter whether they won or lost, they could not continue to claim the throne.

In that case, why not find someone who is acceptable to everyone?
"I do have a candidate and a plan."

"It won't cause much damage to your interests, and Cao can accept it."

"Would you like to listen?"

Lu Huai looked at Cao Mao's expression and felt dazed. A bold and unbelievable idea popped up in his mind.

This flash of inspiration came to me.

"You say."

Cao Mao spoke calmly, with a hint of lament in his voice: "In fact, the Wei Dynasty was inherited from the Han Dynasty. The Han Emperor Liu Xie abdicated the throne to my grandfather."

“It has been passed down to me.”

"It can be said that the orthodoxy of Wei is Han."

"My great-grandfather, Cao Cao, was also a minister of the Han Dynasty. He supported Emperor Xian because he was deeply hurt by the Han emperor and the emperor did not have a clear will to stay."

He looked at everyone and stated word by word the bold possibility that no one had ever thought of.

"Since you cannot accept me becoming emperor, and I cannot accept Sima becoming emperor, you cannot find a suitable candidate."

"Then it means that the great Wei's national destiny inherited from the great Han has been cut off. In this case..."

Cao Mao stood up and claimed that he had changed.

"I want to learn from Wang Mang and return power to Han and the throne to Liu."

He looked at the crowd and said softly, "Chang'an has already known about this matter and has agreed to implement the Nine-Rank System in Chang'an and the Han Dynasty. However, the Zhongzheng officials of the Nine-Rank System cannot all be from aristocratic families."

"This will not harm your interests."

"What do you think?"

Everyone stayed there, especially Zhuge Ke.

Everyone knows that the current prime minister of the Han Dynasty is his younger brother. If these two things really merge and the Han Dynasty reappears, to what extent will the Zhuge family prosper?
Zhuge Ke immediately expressed his agreement on behalf of the Zhuge family.

Wang Ming, Xie Wuya and Lu Huai also agreed instantly without any hesitation.

why?
Because Lu Huai's uncle, Lu Zhi, was once the Minister of the Secretariat of the Han Dynasty, and Lu Zhi's eldest grandson Lu Qin resigned in anger when Cao replaced Liu and defected to the Han Dynasty. Now he serves as an internal clerk in the Prime Minister's Office of the Han Dynasty.

Wang Ming and Xie Wuya are Lu Qin's sons-in-law.

Among the six major families, Wang, Xie, Lu, and Zhuge all expressed their agreement.

The confluence of East and West is a foregone conclusion.

Cao Mao looked at everyone with a bright smile on his face.

This is Chen Ying’s fourth trap.

Everything was just as his teacher expected.

(End of this chapter)