In 249, Sima Yi, with support of officials who were tired of Cao Shuang's incompetence, (after issuing an edit in Empress Dowager Guo's name) carried out a "coup d'état" and deposed Cao Shuang, and later had him and his associates, as well as all their clans, slaughtered, and then took complete control of the government. (This shocked the officials who initially supported Sima Yi, but by then it was too late to try to prevent it.) After Sima Yi's death in 251, his son Sima Shi succeeded him and kept the government in as much control as his father did. In 254, Sima Shi carried out another purge of officials who resisted him. (It was suspected that these officials were plotting with the emperor Cao Fang and perhaps Empress Dowager Guo to try to counteract against the Simas, but a link was never clearly shown.) From that point on, any official who dared to be close to the emperor and the empress dowager was doing so at his peril.