After roughly setting the plan for the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang used the excuse of staying in Qinzhou to appease the Qiang people, pacify the place, and stay in the place without returning.

Zhang Xi and Pang Tong each had their own tasks, and within a few days, the two were ordered to leave Qinzhou, one to return to Yongzhou, and the other to Chengdu.

Pang Tong wanted to rush back to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang wrote a letter to the Son of Heaven, telling the real reason why he did not return, and such a big thing as the Northern Expedition also needed someone to coordinate back and forth in the imperial court and prepare various military supplies.

I'm afraid it's not enough for Fa Zheng to dispatch in Chengdu alone, Pang Tong must go back to preside over this matter.

As for Zhang Xi, he also needs to rush back to Yongzhou.

The Northern Expedition army can't just rely on the Northern Army of the Han Dynasty and the Qinzhou county soldiers who have just experienced the Qiang Rebellion, and there are not many soldiers left, and the largest source of soldiers must be the county soldiers of Yongzhou.

Therefore, Zhang Xi must return to Yongzhou as soon as possible, expand the Yongzhou county army, and strive to train a group of useful county soldiers within half a year to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

By the way, Fei Yi had to find a way to spread rumors in the pass, implement a divisive plan, and transfer Sima Yi out of Wancheng.

This matter, it's actually quite difficult, at least Fei Yi thinks it's very difficult.

According to the information obtained by Fei Yi, in the first year of Cao Wei Taihe, Sima Yi, who was an auxiliary minister, was crowned as a hussar general by the new monarch Cao Rong from the general of the Fu army, the governor of Jing, and the affairs of the two states of Henan.

To put it simply, it is to promote Sima Yi to the status of the top three military generals, and at the same time establish Sima Yi's leadership in Nanyang and Yuzhou.

Judging from this appointment, it can be seen that Cao Yi still attaches great importance to Sima Yi, and even Cao Xiu, the general of the clan, has to obey Sima Yi's dispatch.

If you want to separate such an important minister, the difficulty is not ordinary.

This matter, Zhang Xi also knows, but there is no way, the current situation is like this, if you can use the discord to transfer Sima Yi, of course it is the best, if not, wait until the Northern Expedition officially begins, and then think of other ways.

Do your best, just listen to the destiny of heaven.

Fei Yi was also helpless, so he could only follow the ideas provided by Zhang Xi and start to spread out the work of discord with Sima Yi based on his actual work experience.

still have to start from the direction of the "flashy" wind, Fei Yi sent a detailed work, in various counties and counties in the Guannai, to create public opinion to tout Sima Yi's second son, Sima Shi, Sima Zhao.

He also contacted some families in Guanzhong through smuggling in Guanzhong, and through their help, he touted Sima Yi's two sons.

From the folk to the family, the two-pronged approach, infinitely praised the two boys of the Gao Sima clan, touting that they have the ability to be no less than the "five good generals", but unfortunately the luck is not good and cannot be used by the imperial court.

Immediately afterwards, Fei Yi asked Zhang Xi to come forward and begged Zhuge Liang to write a letter to Sima Yi in person, expressing his appreciation for Sima Yi's ability, and at the same time expressing his regret for Sima Yi's loyalty to the Cao family's traitors, faintly revealing a hint of persuasion.

I didn't expect to rely on this letter to drive a wedge between Sima Yi and Cao Ei, but as long as this letter is there, this is a seed of doubt, and whether it can grow in the end depends on the degree of trust between Sima Yi and Cao Ei.

Maybe it won't work now, but when the time comes, it will be decisive.

In this way, after Zhang Xi returned to Yongzhou, various preparations for the Northern Expedition began to be carried out in an orderly manner.

Time passed slowly until two months later.

Sima Yi, who was guarding Wancheng City, suddenly received an urgent call from Luoyang, asking him to rush to Luoyang to discuss matters.

This edict made Sima Yi feel very restless.

In the past two months, Sili, Nanyang, Yuzhou and other places have appeared a lot of remarks, touting the Sima family to the fullest, and even some good deeds have put forward the saying of "Sima Bada".

This statement has already made Sima Yi very uneasy.

This "Sima Bada" refers to the eight brothers of Sima Yi's generation, and there is a word "Da" in the word.

Literally, it's not a big deal, it's a fact, after all.

But when called together, it is easy to remind people of the "Xun's Eight Dragons" of the Yingchuan Xun clan in the past.

Sima Yi said that he couldn't afford this benchmark.

Yingchuan Xun's family, that is after more than 100 years of glorious accumulation, carefully cultivated a generation of talents, this is qualified to be touted as the "Xun's Eight Dragons".

You must know that although the Yingchuan family and the Hedong family both belong to the camp of the Central Plains family, they are only for the Hebei family. Internally, the Yingchuan family and the Hedong family have not dealt with each other much.

Now suddenly compare the Sima family and the Xun family. This is to roast Sima's family on the fire.

The ancestors of the Sima family have never produced a big man at the level of the three princes, that is, Sima Yi's father Sima Fang had an investment vision in his early years, and promoted and recommended Cao Cao, a hero, and the generation of the Sima family also took advantage of the situation and had a place in the Cao Wei Group.

But no matter what, it can't compare with Xun Yu and Xun Yu's two uncles and nephews within the Cao Wei Group, and they can't compete with the Yingchuan family headed by the Xun family.

Now, Xun Yu and Xun Yu have passed away one after another, and the power of the Yingchuan Xun clan in the court has indeed weakened, and the Sima clan, with the rise of Sima Lang, Sima Yi, and Sima Fu in the court, there is indeed a feeling that the Sima clan overshadows the Xun clan.

But. The background, the background is not a level at all.

The so-called "Sima Bada", that is, this brother has real materials, and everyone else is just a few people, "Xun's Eight Dragons", which is each with real materials.

For the sake of a title, Sima offended Xun. In the future, Sima Yi's life in the court may not be very good.

This already made Sima Yi quite uncomfortable, but the house leak also rained overnight and didn't know which pit goods, so he had to count his son into it, what "Sima Bada" was not enough, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao should be added, and the two brothers Sima Zhao were collectively called "Sima Shijie".

If you want the lives of the whole family of my Sima family, you just say it.

Nine is the number of poles, and ten is perfect. Yingchuan Xun's more than 100 years, the accumulation of several generations, can't even ten outstanding talents come up, why do people only dare to tout as "Xun's Eight Dragons"? !

You tout our Sima family, what do you say "Sima Bada", Sima Yi is not easy to say." Sima Shijie"?! I'm really not afraid of the emperor's careful eyes, right?!

Therefore, as soon as this statement appeared, Sima Yi's first reaction was to send someone to investigate and arrest the people who circulated these rumors, and at the same time personally wrote to the Son of Heaven Cao Rong to plead guilty.

This rumor, in the end, was forcibly suppressed by Sima Yi and did not spread, and was only limited to some rumors in Nanyang County.

And Cao Yi was also very satisfied with Sima Yi's attitude, and specially issued a decree to comfort Sima Yi, so that he didn't have to take it to heart, and the emperor of Great Wei would not be swayed by a rumor about his attitude towards the auxiliary minister.

But what the actual situation is, Sima Yi doesn't know, only Cao Yi himself knows.

But no matter what, this rumor was suppressed after all, and it was not widely spread.

But then, the remarks that sprung up like mushrooms after a rain and touted Sima Yi's second son made Sima Yi anxious.

Sima Yi immediately realized that this was not some kind of mutual praise between families, this was someone who was spreading rumors purposefully, but Sima Yi didn't understand why the target was not himself, but his two sons.

It wasn't until one day that Sima Yi received a letter written by Zhuge Liang himself, and Sima Yi had insight into what was going on.

Discrete !!

That Zhuge villager, the dignified prime minister of a country, actually did such a thing.

Let people spread rumors first, elevate the reputation and status of the Sima family, provoke the relationship between the Sima family and the Xun family, and make the Sima family a target within the dynasty and the central family.

Then let people boast about their two sons, boasting about their abilities, catering to the "flashy" wind of the current court, and then causing the disgust of the Son of Heaven.

In the end, he wrote a letter to himself similar to a letter of persuasion, on the one hand, he continued to boast about Sima Yi's ability, and on the other hand, he used this method to arouse the suspicion of the Son of Heaven against himself.

This thing is called killing, and Sima Yi, who is also an old fox, can't see through it.

But the problem is that Sima Yi paced back and forth for a long time, and he still couldn't think of a suitable way to break the game.

The Shu thief's discord plan is very plain, and there is nothing surprising about it, but with today's jealousy of the family and his disgust with the "flashy" wind, this discord plan is just right.

And now Sima Yi's status is really not very high.

Although he is listed among the four major auxiliary ministers, in fact, in terms of military power, he is far inferior to Cao Zhen, in terms of government and politics, he is far inferior to Chen Qun who is sitting in Luoyang, and in terms of proximity, he is not as good as Xiahou Shang, who is the general of Cao Wei's clan.

Of the four auxiliary ministers, Sima Yi's position is at the bottom, and at the same time, it is not irreplaceable.

Not to mention anything else, Cao Xiu, who lives in Runan, has written to impeach Sima Yi more than once, accusing Sima Yi of passively avoiding the war against the Shu thieves in Jingzhou, and in five years, he has not even taken back Deng County.

If it weren't for Cao Xiu's impatience and impeachment of Sima Yi four times in five years, Cao Yi could see clearly the true purpose of his uncle's impeachment, and now Sima Yi should write to resign and go back to Luoyang.

In other words, Sima Yi's status now still depends on the degree of trust in himself by the Son of Heaven, and it is not to the point where he can influence the government. If the Son of Heaven does not trust himself, then Sima Yi, even if he is an auxiliary minister, may be recalled to Luoyang at any time for retirement, and he will no longer have real power.

Therefore, in order to break the game, we must find a way to gain the trust of the Son of Heaven. But there are some things that are really out of Sima Yi's control.

The Son of Heaven hates the "flashy" style, and Sima Yi will also order his two sons to participate in gatherings between the children of the family as little as possible. But the problem is that if you don't let your son attend the party, it won't affect the praise of others.

This is a momentary trend, and it is a tacit understanding derived from the needs of the families for their own interests, and it is not something that you Sima Yi can not participate if you don't want to.

Not to mention Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, one is twenty and the other is seventeen, just when they like to hear others affirm themselves, if it is not an order from your Sima Yi, the two of them will cut off contact with their friends.

As for Zhuge Liang's handwritten letter, it is even more hot.

It's not a matter of keeping it in your hands.

Indeed, in these years, even if they are in enemy countries, it is common for them to exchange letters between old friends, and no matter how arrogant the Son of Heaven is, he still can't control this kind of thing.

But Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi are not old friends, and both parties are in high positions, and this letter still has a strong color of persuasion. Do you dare not let the Son of Heaven know?!

Stay in your hands, and one day you don't know what the reason is, it appeared on the desk of the Son of Heaven, and at that time, it will not be clear that you can explain it in a few words.

Therefore, Sima Yi had only one choice, which was to personally reply a letter to Zhuge Liang, righteously refuse Zhuge Liang's persuasion, and hand over the two letters to the Son of Heaven Cao Rong for a look.

But this way. My own family, whether it is myself or my son, I am afraid that they will be involved in the "flashy" wind, and what the Son of Heaven will think of himself, only the Son of Heaven can know.

Sima Yi was anxious about this, and after sending two letters, he only waited for news from the DPRK.

As a result, within a few days, Sima Yi received the news that he was asked to go to Luoyang to discuss the matter quickly. Can Sima Yi not be nervous!!

(End of chapter)