"Lord Hua, summon the Attendant Cavalry and the grand officers at once. Have all the inner officials come to the East Hall for an audience."
"Master Zhang, contact Sima Gan, Zhong Yu, and Zhong Hui. Tell them about this, and have Zhong Hui come to the East Hall."
The two accepted their orders, then immediately turned and left.
Cao Mao, however, suddenly looked at Cheng Ji.
"Lord Cheng, go and fetch General Yang."
After everyone had left on their respective errands, Cao Mao began considering how to strike back.
Having Guanqiu Jian lead troops to Luoyang now was out of the question. Quite apart from the need to defend against the Wu Kingdom, doing so would mean going to war with Sima Zhao. The Central Army and Guanqiu Jian would end up fighting.
It was not that Cao Mao feared Guanqiu Jian could not win. He did not want to go to war with Sima Zhao and thereby let those rebels at the Imperial Court reap the benefits.
He wanted to inherit Sima Shi's wealth. Men like Du Yu and Deng Ai were all talented, and squandering them in internal strife would be utterly inappropriate.
As for Sima Zhao, he had to find a way to strip him of all real power and make himself Sima Shi's successor. Accomplishing this would actually depend on Sima You.
By legal right, Sima You was Sima Shi's son, and certainly had a stronger claim to the inheritance than a younger brother. If Cao Mao could gain Yang Huiyu's support, he could split Sima Shi's forces in two, then gradually win over the capable officials under Sima Zhao.
In the end, even if Sima Zhao refused to bow his head, Cao Mao could still get what he wanted. If Sima Zhao opposed him, he