Sima Yi, along with the Grand Commandant Jiang Ji and others, led troops out of Luoyang to the pontoon bridge above the Luo River, where he sent a memorial to the emperor, Cao Fang, listing out Cao Shuang's crimes (e.g. not fulfilling his duty as regent, corrupting the government, conspiring against the throne) and requesting the emperor to remove Cao Shuang and his brothers from their positions of power. Cao Shuang blocked the memorial from reaching Cao Fang and left the emperor at the south of the Yi River while ordering his men to cut down trees to build anti-cavalry blockades and station about 1,000 troops nearby to guard against Sima Yi's advances. Sima Yi sent Xu Yun () and Chen Tai to persuade Cao Shuang to plead guilty as early as possible. He additionally sent Yin Damu (), a man whom Cao Shuang trusted, to tell him that nothing more would result from this aside from his dismissal. Huan Fan, the Minister of Finance (), had previously left the city to visit Cao Shuang's camp, with Sima Yi commenting: "The 'bag of wisdom' is gone." Jiang Ji responded: "Huan Fan is indeed wise, but stupid horses are too much attached to the beans in their manger. Cao Shuang is certain not to employ his counsel." Huan Fan attempted to convince Cao Shuang and his brothers to flee to Xuchang with the emperor, and to issue an edict denouncing Sima Yi as a traitor and drafting troops to fight back, but they remained undecided.