Chapter 658 Changes in Yecheng
Obviously, Cao Shuang's power consolidation was not very clever, but rather very simple.
Because the emperor was still young, he drafted the edict as a minister entrusted with the care of the orphan. He kicked out a large number of officials from local prominent families in Hebei and distributed power to the children of the royal family.
Of course, influenced by the fart of Luoshui fabricated by Ma Su, Cao Shuang did not only support his confidants as before. Instead, he looked for capable children from the royal family in various places to serve as officials.
At the very least, he could not be a complete playboy. If he wanted to get to the top, he would definitely not be able to do so without some ability.
In the final analysis, no matter how defensive the royal family was, we were all family. At this time of life and death for the royal family, they were the only people worthy of trust.
While distributing power to the children of the royal family and consolidating and integrating power, Cao Shuang also set about seizing military power in various places.
He appointed Cao Xi as the governor of Yanzhou, the general of Zhennan, and the governor of tens of thousands of troops in the southern part of the province. He ordered Xiahou Xuan to be responsible for the defense of Taihang Mountain and control tens of thousands of people in one go. As for the Liaodong Army and the Jizhou Army, Cao Shuang even arranged all his confidants in them.
He did not ask for outstanding ability, but only asked to be able to control the military power.
After all, Cao Shuang still had some pursuits, and he still hoped to save Cao Wei's defeat. However, his series of rescue measures were a complete joke in the eyes of some people.
Soon, Cao Shuang received a report that Sima Shi, who had been mourning for Sima Yi for more than half a year in Nanpi, suddenly came back. He returned from Nanpi with Sima Yi's spirit tablet, and the specific reason was unknown.
This aroused Cao Shuang's vigilance, after all, Sima Shi's ability was obvious to all.
With such thoughts, Cao Shuang personally led people to visit Sima Mansion. At Sima Mansion, Cao Shuang saw Sima Shi, who was wearing mourning clothes and mourning for Sima Yi with his younger brother Sima Zhao.
"Meet the general!" After Cao Shuang came in, Sima Shi saluted expressionlessly, and it seemed that he did not like Cao Shuang.
This was normal. Cao Shuang had just taken away all the military power while he was mourning, and anyone would be angry. Cao Shuang didn't care. He chatted with Sima Shi and just pretended to glance at Sima Mansion casually.
There was no problem. The entire Sima Mansion was very simple and nothing could be hidden. According to Cao Shuang's estimation, Sima Shi should not be able to do anything.
However, just as Cao Shuang was pacing and preparing to leave, he ran into Sima Zhao. The moment he saw Cao Shuang, Sima Zhao's face suddenly changed slightly.
This change made Cao Shuang suspicious, but soon he heard a noisy voice.
"Ming Gong, the bastard Cao Shuang you just mentioned..."
A young and somewhat unreasonable boy followed Sima Zhao slowly, and kept muttering. When he saw Cao Shuang, his face also changed, and then he knelt down and begged Cao Shuang for mercy.
This change made Cao Shuang react. I think you two were just criticizing me, no wonder you are so nervous.
After figuring this out, Cao Shuang breathed a sigh of relief. After reprimanding Sima Zhao for his bad habit of casually recruiting knights, Cao Shuang left Sima Mansion.
He still had a lot of things to do, and he really didn't have time to stare at Sima Shi every day.
After Cao Shuang left, Sima Zhao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Brother... I..."
"It's okay, you just knew our plan not long ago, and you haven't prepared yourself mentally yet. It's normal that you can't control your expression." Sima Shi shook his head and comforted him gently. Then he looked at the young man behind Sima Zhao meaningfully and said calmly.
"But Cao Shuang is right, you really should identify your staff."
Sima Shi also recognized the identity of this staff under his brother's command. He was only seventeen years old and looked a bit like Zhong Yao. It turned out that he was Zhong Hui, the youngest son left by Zhong Yao.
Sima Shi didn't expect that this person would become Sima Zhao's staff. You know, Zhong Hui's father was forced to death by Sima Yi himself...
Because of this, Sima Shi was still very wary of Zhong Hui. But Sima Zhao didn't care about it. He seemed to rely on this young man very much.
At present, it seems that Zhong Hui has been working loyally for Sima Zhao. At that critical moment just now, if Zhong Hui hadn't rescued him, I'm afraid Cao Shuang would have noticed it.
I hope... it's okay.
Sima Shi shook his head, and his expression quickly became extremely serious. He looked at Sima Zhao, as if giving his last instructions.
"Brother Zhao, tonight will be the most critical moment for me to implement my plan! If this succeeds, we still have a chance to breathe. If it fails, we can't even die at the hands of Ma Su!"
"I will take action at three o'clock tonight. If I fail at five o'clock, you will immediately take people to escape from Yecheng and go to Liaodong to find Yang Hu."
"He and I are sworn brothers. If I fail, he will also protect you!"
After speaking, Sima Shi turned and entered the inner room, where a dead soldier appeared at some point and was waiting for Sima Shi.
Sima Shi, like Jiang Wei, likes to raise dead soldiers. But he is much stronger than Jiang Wei. Sima Shi can even raise his assassins invisibly.
In the past few years, when Sima Yi was recuperating in Nanpi, all the intelligence was handed over to Sima Shi. With the support of his assassins, the Sima family can have an intelligence network comparable to that of the school.
And now, Sima Shi has ordered all assassins in Hebei to gather. He is ready to rely on this group of assassins to do something big.
…………
…………
…………
Late that night, in the blind spots of the patrol team in Yecheng, countless figures began to move. Nearly two thousand figures in black slowly emerged from the darkness.
This group of dead soldiers seemed to have grown out of the ground and appeared in Yecheng overnight.
At three o'clock in the morning, Sima Shi appeared in Sima's mansion. He put on the military uniform that was hidden somewhere unknown, and gave an order with a stern face.
"All troops, listen to the order! Seize the arsenal!"
At Sima Shi's order, a large number of figures quickly moved to the east of the city and headed straight for the arsenal in Yecheng.
In any coup, the most important thing is to seize the arsenal. After all, it is equipped with weapons and equipment for the entire capital, which is the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Only by seizing the arsenal, Sima Shi's two thousand dead soldiers can be regarded as truly combat-effective.
In the Gaopingling Incident in history, Sima Yi also took the lead in seizing the Luoyang arsenal, and then completed the subsequent actions.
But this time, the problem Sima Shi faced was a bit difficult. Because after Ma Su's loudspeaker propaganda, Cao Shuang also took this matter very seriously and made certain countermeasures.
In short, Cao Shuang's home was inside the Yecheng Arsenal...