12dz Chapter 466 (Must Read): How to Stabilize the Great Wei! Su Yu is Cao Cao's Spokesperson
Chapter 466 (Must Read): How to Stabilize the Great Wei! Su Yu is Cao Cao's Spokesperson
After returning to the mansion
Su Yu wrote a personal letter and sent it urgently to Sima Yi and Yang Xiu in Xuchang by his intelligence guards.
Both were "runaway cattle and horses from the Ministry of Rites".
When Yang Xiu is mentioned, Zhong Yao would certainly know about Sima Yi, who betrayed his sister for personal gain, if he did a little investigation.
Given Zhong Yao's cunning and shrewd nature, he definitely didn't want either Yang Xiu or Sima Yi to serve as the Prefect of Liangzhou.
After all, these two bear the labels of Su Yu and Xun Yu.
There are exceptions to everything.
Su Yu wanted to create momentum for Yang Xiu.
Pretend that Yang Xiu is a confidant, one of their own.
At the same time, Sima Yi was made to appear as a resentful woman who felt her talents were not appreciated and had been abandoned by Su Yu!
He was clearly better at flattering than Yang Xiu, even selling out his sister for personal gain, yet Su Yu chose Yang Xiu over him, causing him to miss out on the position of Prefect of Liangzhou!
The contrast between before and after, coupled with the fact that Sima Yi was a natural actor, is striking.
Even a cunning old fox like Zhong Yao must have thought that Sima Yi could be turned into one of his own!
after all.
The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment, and the stronger the desire to betray.
Finally, if trusted confidants like Jia Kui were unable to take up their posts, Zhong Yao would certainly recommend Sima Yi to be the Prefect of Liangzhou.
That was precisely Su Yu's true purpose.
The question is, why didn't Su Yu directly suggest to Cao Cao that Sima Yi be appointed as the Prefect of Liangzhou?
Because this book requires some thought; it's not just about killing Zhong Yao with a knife and that's it.
(I'll never be this tired in my next book; I'll just start by storing my brain in a container. I'm so stupid, really. I get criticized every day, writing is incredibly tiring, killing my brain cells, and I still get called for filler.)
Even if Zhong Yao is executed, a new representative of the Yuzhou aristocratic families will emerge.
Liangzhou is different from other places, completely different!
This is Zhong Yao's sphere of influence!
If someone is randomly assigned to a position without Zhong Yao's approval, Zhong Yao has a thousand ways to prevent all of that person's administrative measures from being implemented!
Su Yu was not fighting with Zhong Yao.
To be precise, it was about replacing Cao Cao in confronting the powerful families of Yu Province, except for Xun Yu!
Just like Yuan Shao was not only fighting with Ju Shou.
Ju Shou was not an individual, but a group of people.
The two are based on the same principle.
Currently, there has been no complete breakdown in relations between Cao Cao and the aristocratic families of Yu Province.
However, a clash between Su Yu, Cao Cao's representative, and Zhong Yao, the representative of the Yuzhou aristocratic families, was already unavoidable.
(Important PS: The two forces will be referred to as Cao Cao and Su Yu's forces and Zhong Yao's forces from now on.)
The powerful families of Yuzhou want to place their own people in all the important positions!
This is precisely why, decades later, when Cao Shuang turned around and looked back, he felt utterly hopeless.
It's not that he's weak, it's that he really can't win!
According to the popular fiction, Cao Shuang's only rivals were Sima Yi and his three thousand elite soldiers.
If we eliminate them, Cao Shuang's position will be secure.
In reality, Cao Shuang's opponents were almost all the powerful families of Cao Wei.
More than half of the governors and almost all the regional governors of Cao Wei were either members of the powerful families of Yu Province or their followers.
During the Gaopingling Incident, Wang Ling was also mobilizing troops.
If Sima Yi fails, Wang Ling will immediately take over the baton and eliminate Cao Shuang!
As for Sima Yi's subsequent punishment of Wang Ling, it was due to an internal dispute over the distribution of spoils among the powerful families.
Either Sima Yi or Wang Ling will rise to power; both want to be the leader.
However, the two were completely in agreement on their attitude towards Cao Shuang.
……
now.
When Su Yu, Cao Cao, and Cao Ang were all still alive, the Great Wei would surely have prospered.
However, if changes and plans are not made in time.
After the three men pass away, the Great Wei will still, as in the original history, meander back to the nonsensical Western Jin Dynasty and follow the same old path.
Tragedys like the War of the Eight Princes could also reappear in different forms.
The only difference is that it was not the Sima family that usurped the throne, but some other powerful family.
Currently, Cao Cao's territory mainly includes the following areas:
The thirteen regions are: Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Nanyang, Huainan, Qingzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, Bingzhou, Jingzhou, Liaozhou, Liangzhou, and Guanzhong (formerly Sili).
Among them, Cao Cao's three main bases were Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou.
Yanzhou was where Cao Cao first rose to power. Su Yu, Cheng Yu, Li Dian, and Man Chong were all from Yanzhou and were among Cao Cao's most trusted confidants.
Apart from Chen Gong himself, the rest of the group who opposed Cao Cao have all died hundreds of chapters ago.
Therefore, Yanzhou was impregnable, and Zhong Yao couldn't get in even a hair on his head.
The same is true for Xuzhou.
Chen Deng is the current Prefect of Xuzhou. As Su Yu's sworn brother, he would have to be crazy to associate with Zhong Yao.
However, in Yuzhou, the forces of Cao Cao, Su Yu, and Xun Yu were at most evenly matched with the forces of the Yuzhou aristocratic families represented by Zhong Yao.
Xuchang in Yuzhou was the capital of the country, but it was also the old home of the Yuzhou aristocratic families.
This is precisely why Cao Cao insisted on moving the capital to Ye City in the original history, and was promoted to Duke of Wei in Wei County, Ye City.
Yuzhou was ultimately restricted and unable to fully utilize its resources.
However, for the sake of development, Cao Cao needed to gain the support of the powerful families of Yu Province before he could enter the final round of the struggle for hegemony.
Besides the three main forces under Cao Cao's command.
In Nanyang, Huainan, and other places that were later incorporated into Cao Cao's territory, Cao Cao's forces under Su Yu and Zhong Yao each had trusted confidants who controlled important positions.
Zhong Yao's forces held the advantage in Nanyang because the original Nanyang aristocratic families had been completely absorbed by the Yuzhou aristocratic families.
In Huainan, Cao Cao and Su Yu held the advantage.
If Zhang Liao's good brother on the other side of the Yangtze River could have been more helpful and personally brought 100,000 troops to deliver aid, Huainan would have been completely controlled by Cao Cao and Su Yu's forces.
As for the four provinces of Hebei, which were originally Yuan Shao's territory, they have now been fully incorporated into Cao Cao's camp.
Apart from Qingzhou, which never had any major clans to begin with (because the Yellow Turbans were so ruthless, almost everyone was wiped out).
The powerful families of Ji Province, Bing Province, and You Province have lost their qualification to directly enter the final round.
The powerful families of Ji Province, in particular, are far less powerful than they were back then.
Back when Tianlong was alive, the aristocratic families of Jizhou were a powerful faction vying for supremacy with the aristocratic families of Yuzhou!
Of course, these three great families are not without any chance.
However, they need to first align themselves with either Cao Cao and Su Yu's forces or Zhong Yao's forces.
After choosing between the two options, one gradually becomes an important figure in the party, which is a significant step backward, but there is still a possibility of cultivating back to the peak.
Unlike Qingzhou, they didn't even qualify for the finals and were just spectators.
However, the powerful families in these three states, in professional terms, belong to the "powerful swing states".
Despite the fact that Wang Ling, Guo Huai, Cui Yan, Lu Yu, and others appear to be obedient to Cao Cao and Su Yu, they should not be fooled.
However, if Cao Cao and Su Yu's forces are suppressed by the Yu Province aristocratic families led by Zhong Yao, these guys will defect in no time!
After all, these people are all old opportunists. They were Ju Shou's men before, then Yuan Shao's men, then Yuan Shang's men, and now they've become Cao Cao's men.
It's not impossible for him to continue his rebellion and become a slave to six different masters.
Fortunately, Lü Bu went off to expand his territory.
Otherwise, looking back, they'd probably exclaim "666" (a Chinese internet slang term for "awesome"), "People from the Central Plains really know how to have fun!"
Apart from these key states.
Zhong Yao wielded immense influence in the Guanzhong and Liangzhou regions, which was a key reason why he was able to become the current leader of the Yuzhou aristocratic families.
The situation in the Jingzhou region is currently somewhat unpredictable, but it doesn't significantly impact the outcome of the match.
Originally Liaodong, now Liaozhou, the reason Xu Rong and Man Chong were paired together was because both of them were trusted confidants of Cao Cao.
In summary (brief version): Cao Cao's camp currently has a total of thirteen important areas.
Cao Cao's staunch supporters of Su Yu's forces: Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Liaozhou.
Zhong Yao's staunch supporters were in Liangzhou and Guanzhong.
The two are evenly matched: Yuzhou.
The regions in transition are: Jizhou, Youzhou, Bingzhou, Qingzhou, and Jingzhou.
Zhong Yao's advantageous region: Nanyang.
Cao Cao and Su Yu's advantageous region: Huainan.
Whether they could defy fate or follow the old path of Wei transforming into Jin, the struggle between the two sides officially began.
……
P.S.: I spent half a day writing this chapter and revised it seven or eight times because I was afraid that my writing would be incomprehensible and I would get criticized.
If you don't use your brain at all, you can just start the game with a million troops, kill Zhong Yao, Yuan Shao, Ju Shou, Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang, and you're done!
But this book is going to take a slightly more intellectual approach, trying to restore history as much as possible while incorporating fictional elements. I definitely have to stick to that, but the author is really exhausted. (The author breaks down in tears again).
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