Chapter 681

He had already heard that Seeing Xun You and Guo Jia had both appeared by Gu Yi's side this time.

Especially Seeing Xun You.

He even partnered with Zhang Liao to defeat Hu Chuquan's one hundred thousand Southern Xiongnu cavalry and went straight to the Southern Xiongnu royal court.

This credit and battle record were enough for Seeing Xun You's name to go down in history.

But for Seeing Xun Yu, this uncle, it was very heartbreaking!

Once upon a time.

Seeing Xun You and Guo Jia were considered confidant friends by Seeing Xun Yu.

As a result, now even these two had joined the enemy camp together.

This blow could be said to be quite severe for Seeing Xun Yu.

"Sigh..."

In the City Lord's Mansion, Cao Cao and Seeing Xun Yu sighed in unison.

"Mentally and physically exhausted" could be said to be the most appropriate description of their current mental state.

However.

Just when the two were feeling worried and frowning about the future situation.

Dian Wei walked in from outside and reported to Cao Cao in a muffled voice:

"Reporting to my lord, a team of over two hundred people has appeared at the gate of Beihai City; the leader claims to be Sima Fang and says he wants to request an audience with my lord."

This kind of thing shouldn't have been Dian Wei's responsibility to report.

After all, his main job was to follow by Cao Cao's side.

Responsible for guarding Cao Cao's personal safety.

But he happened to be sent by Cao Cao to patrol the city today.

And happened to encounter this matter, so he ran over to ask Cao Cao for instructions.

"Sima Fang?"

"Invite him in quickly!"

A flash of joy and gratitude shot out from Cao Cao's eyes.

Back then, the reason Cao Cao was able to be recommended as a Filial and Incorrupt was precisely by using the quota of the Sima family of Henei.

In other words, Cao Cao's recommender was precisely the head of the Sima family, Sima Fang.

In the late Han era, especially in the official circle.

The roles of the recommender and the person who performed the capping ceremony were both very significant.

It is no exaggeration to say that the person recommended and the person capped even needed to use the etiquette of treating a teacher to treat them.

Although Cao Cao being recommended by Sima Fang was mainly because of the friendship between the Cao family and the Sima family.

But regardless, according to the Han ritual system, Cao Cao needed to hold a certain degree of respect for Sima Fang.

Therefore.

Hearing that Sima Fang and the people of the Sima family had arrived in Beihai at this moment, Cao Cao naturally had to fulfill the duties of a host.

"My lord, this Sima family is probably wanting to come and defect to you."

Seeing Xun Yu had already seen through everything in his heart.

As the contemporary head of the Xun family of Yingchuan, Seeing Xun Yu naturally knew the matter of aristocratic families very well.

The Sima family of Henei, according to regional division, was at the junction of the four provinces of Hebei and the Central Plains.

But the awkward thing is.

The Sima family did not belong to the Jizhou aristocratic families.

At the same time, it did not belong to the Yuzhou aristocratic families.

This resulted in the Sima family having only two choices.

One was to continue to maintain a "neither fish nor fowl" state, drifting outside the two major aristocratic family factions.

The other was to maintain relatively good relations with both major aristocratic family factions.

When there were changes in the world, choose one side to join, or establish a new faction.

In the original history, Sima Fang played this move quite smoothly.

Before the Battle of Guandu, the Sima family was on good terms with Yuan Shao, and at the same time, sent the eldest son, Sima Lang, to Cao Cao to serve in an official position.

However.

When Cao Cao wanted to recruit Sima Fang's second son, Sima Yi, Sima Fang tried every possible way to keep him from entering officialdom.

Refusing to enter officialdom was by no means Sima Yi's personal behavior.

Matters between aristocratic families, especially the eldest sons of aristocratic families, all their behaviors were more or less backed by the hints of family elders.

If there was no nod from Sima Fang, Sima Yi would not have kept refusing Cao Cao's recruitment.

When Cao Cao broke through Ye City.

Sima Fang immediately changed the wind direction.

It wasn't just Sima Yi.

Even the third son, Sima Fu, was sent to the Cao camp together.

Although the Sima family was not considered Cao Cao's venture capital investor.

But Sima Fang's eldest son, Sima Lang, had already entered the Sikong Mansion to serve when Cao Cao welcomed Liu Xie.

Plus Sima Fang's grace of recommendation to Cao Cao, and the relationship that the Sima family had always carefully maintained with the Yuzhou aristocratic families.

This resulted in the Sima family not being squeezed out in the Cao camp.

On the contrary, they would receive further heavy use.

From Cao Cao appointing Sima Lang as the Inspector of Yanzhou, one could see the clues.

Regardless of Cao Cao's perception of Sima Yi as a person.

But for the Sima family as a whole, Cao Cao's overall impression was still quite good.

And the later things gradually became familiar.

In the era of Cao Pi, the Sima family was heavily used and became one of the four major aristocratic families of the Cao camp in the era of Cao Pi.

(ps: The four major aristocratic families of the Cao camp in the era of Cao Pi were the Zhong family of Yingchuan, the Chen family of Yingchuan, the Sima family of Henei, and the Wang family of Taiyuan.)

The Zhong family of Yingchuan need not be mentioned; the old man Zhong Yao had already vaguely sat firmly as the second-in-command of civil officials in the era of Cao Cao.

At the same time, his influence in the literary world was quite large, and he even became the most famous calligrapher of the late Han era.

Except for not being famous in the Romance.

In the elementary school textbooks of later generations, the figure of this old man Zhong Yao even appeared.

The Chen family of Yingchuan took over part of the political power of the Xun family after the decline of the Xun family.

The head of the family, Chen Qun, was even one of Cao Pi's famous "Four Friends of the Crown Prince" and the founder of the "Nine-Rank Official System."

The Sima family of Henei could be considered Sima Fang and Sima Lang laying the foundation, and Sima Yi, Sima Fu, and others further carrying forward the family.

The Wang family of Taiyuan refers to Wang Yun's family.

After Cao Zhi failed in the struggle for the heir, Cao Cao weakened the power of the Jizhou aristocratic families and turned to support the Wang family of Taiyuan to become the number one aristocratic family in Hebei.

The head of the family was also served by Wang Yun's nephew, Wang Ling.

After the Gaoping Tombs Incident, Wang Ling became the number one rebel in Huainan, competing with the Sima family for power within Cao Wei.

In short.

Among these four major aristocratic families in the era of Cao Pi, only the Sima family had the weakest foundation.

But the Sima family became the final winner.

From this, it can be seen that the Sima family's planning was really not small.

However.

The most worthy point to affirm is.

Sima Fang, Sima Yi, and Sima Fu of the Sima family were all long-lived.

Especially this guy Sima Fang.

Damn it, the time of his death was almost later than Cao Cao's, do you dare to believe it?

In fact, his age was more than ten years older than Cao Cao's.

That is to say, by the time he died, Sima Fang was already over seventy, approaching eighty.

Although Sima Yi didn't live as long as his father Sima Fang, he also lived to be seventy-one.

Sima Yi's third brother, Sima Fu, lived to be ninety-two, which could be considered the longest-lived person in the Sima family. ===== CHAPTER 682 =====