Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 143.

Last time, Sima Jiao was secretly entertaining thoughts of usurping the throne,

but that stirred up a rebellion

in the southeastern corner of the Kingdom of Wei, led by the general Zhuge Dan.

Zhuge Dan also asked for and received help from the Kingdom of Wu, so now he set himself

to preparing for a showdown against Sima Zhao.

Meanwhile, a memorial that Zhuge Dan has sent to the emperor arrived in the Wei capital.

This memorial was a justification for Zhuge Dan's rebellion,

and it included a long laundry list of Sima Zhao's offenses.

Sima Zhao was naturally ticked off and wanted to personally go put down this little upstart,

but his advisor Jia Chong said,

My lord, you have inherited your father and brother's work,

but your own virtue and kindness have yet to be felt throughout the realm.

If you leave the capital and the emperor now, something might happen at court, and it will be

too late for regrets. Why don't you have the Empress Dowager and the Emperor accompany

you on your campaign? That will ensure nothing goes wrong.

Now, it makes sense to take the emperor along since, after all, he was the symbol of authority.

But the Empress Dowager? Really? Well, remember how Sima Zhao's own father seized power at court.

While the then-emperor was out of the capital, Sima Yi's own father seized power at court. While the then emperor was out of the capital,

Sima Yi went to the Empress Dowager and basically forced her to give his coup her blessings.

So Sima Zhao was not going to take any chances. He went and told the Empress Dowager,

...