Is Shi Xie really loyal to Soochow and Sun Quan?
For most Koto people, yes, there is no doubt about it.
In the fifteenth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan sent Bu Zhao as the governor of Jiaozhou and led his army into Jiaozhou. Shi Xie immediately led his brothers to surrender.
He also took the initiative to send his son Shiren to Soochow as a hostage to appease Sun Quan. Sun Quan also reciprocated and appointed Shiren as the prefect of Wuchang.
Being the governor of Wuchang is not a false position.
Even within Jiangdong, it is not something that can be done casually.
Moreover, after Shi Xie surrendered, he often sent envoys to see Sun Quan and report every important matter in Jiaozhou.
They also presented a large amount of spices and fine-grained kudzu cloth, as well as other treasures such as pearls, shells, glass, jade, tortoise shells, rhinoceros horns, ivory and other treasures, as well as exotic fruits, bananas, coconuts, longans and the like.
If this is not considered loyal, are there still loyal ministers in Soochow?
…
Shi Xie looked at his hands that were as dry as chicken feet, and there was almost no vitality in them.
He looked at the face in the bronze mirror, which was wrapped in wrinkled old leather like a skull, and grinned silently... Even he felt a little bit scary.
He is now eighty-five years old and has lived to an incredible age. There is nothing unsatisfactory in this life.
It has been two hundred years since the Shi family came to Jiaozhou to escape chaos during Wang Mang's period.
He Shixie and his brothers served as governors of various counties in a state, and he himself took charge of the affairs of the state.
When entering and leaving, bells and chimes are rung, majesty is displayed, pipes and flutes are played, and the road is full of chariots and horses. There are often dozens of monks burning incense among the chariots and horses.
The wives and concubines all rode in small carriages with curtains, and all the children were followed by soldiers on horseback.
The power of the Shi family in Jiaozhou can be said to be at its peak.
The most rare thing is that the Shi family has a very good reputation among the common people and scholars.
Shi Xie himself was open-minded in politics and actively accepted the Central Plains people who fled south to seek refuge. He brought advanced technology and culture to Jiaozhou and promoted its development.
He studied meticulously and valued the spread of Confucianism. When dealing with scholars, he was open-minded, generous and courteous. Hundreds of famous people from the Central Plains came to him, including Liu Ba, who once avoided Lao Liu.
With the conditions in Jiaozhou, there was no way he could participate in the struggle for world hegemony. He himself did not have much ambition, he just wanted to continue to create a pure land for his family in Jiaozhou.
But all this changed with the arrival of Dang Chuzhao and his army.
Shi Xie had always been cautious. Ever since Sun Quan tried to get involved in Jiaozhou, he had tried his best to express his surrender and dependence to the lord of Jiangdong whom he had never met before.
But Shi Xie, who had been in the power arena all his life, could easily see that what Sun Quan wanted was not surrender and dependence.
But to completely control Jiaozhou - just like Cao Wei's intention for Soochow.
If Soochow sent troops to attack by force, the Shi family would be unable to resist with the strength of Jiaozhou, but sometimes they could attack by force without sufficient force.
It is also very important to have a famous teacher.
The Shi family had an excellent reputation in Jiaozhou, and Shi Xie took the initiative to express his surrender. Sun Quan had no reason to attack.
As a result, the power tentacles extended by the Sun family to Jiaozhou stayed on the surface in embarrassment and frustration, unable to go deep into it.
On the surface, Jiaozhou is the territory of the Sun family, but neither Bu Zhi nor the current Lu Dai, the governor of Jiaozhou who represents Sun Quan, can directly interfere in the internal affairs of Jiaozhou.
It has the meaning of an emperor and a vassal state.
If Shi Xie wants to continue to maintain this relationship, he must keep Soochow in an environment with external pressure.
After the Battle of Jingzhou, Sun Quan's plan to expand westward was thwarted again. The north could not capture Hefei, and the west could not capture Jingzhou, and his vitality was also damaged...
But Shi Xie did not relax and read Jiang Dong's jokes. The older he got, the more careful he became, but he sensed some danger.
At that time, Sun Quan surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, signed an armistice agreement with Liu Bei, and focused on recruiting troops.
It happened that at this time, the news that his son Shihui cursed Sun Quan after drinking was still spreading, and it even reached Bu Zhi's ears.
Normally this would not be a big deal, but combined with several things, he was really afraid that Sun Quan would take the opportunity to send troops to attack Jiaozhou.
So he decisively launched the back-up plan arranged in Nanzhong.
Yes, strictly speaking, the Nanzhong Rebellion was actually planned by Ta Shixie.
The people who guided Yong Kai behind his back were not Sun Quan's people, but his people.
However, he did not hide Nanzhong's arrangements from Sun Quan. At this time, activating Nanzhong's back-up plan was an opportunity for Sun Quan and others who had just suffered a loss from Jingzhou to weaken Liu Bei.
But none of them expected that Shi Xie's enthusiasm for this was not out of loyalty to Sun Quan and Jiang Dong.
If Yong Kai and others succeed, Nanzhong will nominally be included in Jiangdong's sphere of influence. However, if we want to exert influence on Nanzhong, don't we have to go through Jiaozhou, which borders Nanzhong?
By then, the Tajik family will have the resources and means to control Nanzhong in their own hands.
If things don't work out, Liu Bei's brains will definitely be able to see that Jiangdong is the mastermind behind the scenes. The two sides are at odds with each other, and his family's Jiaozhou will be safer.
But he didn't expect that the relationship between Cao Wei and Jiangdong would take a turn for the worse, and Sun Quan, who was forced to do so, had to bow his head again and take the initiative to join forces with Liu to fight against Cao.
He even took advantage of this opportunity to make a move against his family.
Jiangdong seems to be in danger now, but Lu Dai's soldiers and horses have not been mobilized, and they are still firmly entrenched in his Jiaozhou territory.
While gathering troops, Lu Dai carried out Sun Quan's orders without compromise, sent people to Jiaozhi to question Shi Hui for his inappropriate behavior, and blamed Shi Hui for inciting the rebellion in Nanzhong.
The meaning of temptation is obvious.
If he leads an uprising in Jiaozhou for the sake of his son's life, Lu Dai can justifiably launch an attack on them.
Jiaozhou had little food and few soldiers, so he was not sure of victory.
So Shi Xie made a move that surprised everyone - he personally ordered Shi Hui to be beheaded and sent his head to Lu Dai.
Lu Dai also didn't expect that Shi Xie, who was old and frail and had always been generous, could be so courageous.
The previous plan to quickly settle the state in one fell swoop and clear out his own backyard before Cao Pi sent troops was all in vain.
He could only pinch his nose and praise Shi Xie's act of righteousness in killing his relatives, and according to the alternative plan, he sent someone to send the letter Sun Quan had prepared in advance and Shi Hui's head to Chengdu.
No matter how Shi Xie chooses, Sun Quan has an explanation for Liu Bei.
Moreover, there was no loss to Sun Quan. The Shi family was something he would have to clean up sooner or later.
However, in the original history, Sun Quan started to clean up the Shi family after Shi Xie died...
Now that Shi Xie had forced his son to death before he was buried, this caused a major change in the mind of the uncrowned king of Jiaozhou.
"Sun Quan...I swear to kill you." Shi Xie's silent murmur disappeared without a trace before he left his mouth.
…
Liu Bei and his son were a little surprised when they looked at the emblem heads on the tray in front of them and listened to Sun Quan's autographed letter read by the envoy.
They thought that Sun Quan would compromise, but they didn't expect that he could do it to this extent.
Even Zhang Wen on the side was in a daze. He was not lamenting the talent and decisive decision-making of King Wu Sun Quan.
But I feel a bit cold in my heart...
"I didn't expect King Wu to arrange it like this."
He knew something about the situation of the Shi family, but now when there was a need, King Wu Sun Quan would take action as soon as it was time to do so without any hesitation.
Thinking about the monarchs and ministers of Shu Han who had come to see him recently... Zhang Wen felt very uncomfortable.
(End of chapter)
