Yang Xiu and Sima Yi are ordinary colleagues. They met when working in the department. Sima Yi is more powerful.

Both of them served as Cao Cao's chief secretaries, and each was on one side in the battle to seize the throne, so they joined the rivalry scene for the sake of fun. In fact, the two people have been chief registrars for different periods of time and have different functions, so there is not much overlap. There is no record of any fight between the two during this period in history books. They should be just ordinary colleagues, whom we met when working in the department.

The wisdom of Sima Yi and Yang Xiu in "The Alliance of Military Advisors" really amazes the audience. Geniuses can only show their value when they compete with geniuses. If the situation is to crush all living beings, geniuses will also Gives birth to isolation and loneliness. At that time, Sima Yi was as resourceful as the still water, and perhaps only the sharp-edged Yang Xiu could compete with him.

The scene between Sima Yi and Yang Xiu in "The Alliance of Military Advisors":

The battle of wits between Sima Yi and Yang Xiu in the play does not exist in history. Then why choose Yang Xiu, a military advisor whose name does not live up to his real name, as Sima Yi's opponent? This is because the famous counselors of Cao Wei at that time basically supported Cao Pi either openly or covertly, but there were no records of famous counselors who had a clear tendency to support Cao Zhi (which was neither etiquette nor suitable for the king).

The core figures of Cao Zhi’s think tank, the two brothers Ding Yi and Ding Wei, are not well-known in history, and they cannot set off Sima Yi’s "smartness". Yang Xiu is close to Cao Zhi and is known for his intelligence. Therefore, Yang Xiu was chosen to play opposite Sima Yi.

The above content refers to Baidu Encyclopedia - Yang Xiu, Baidu Encyclopedia - Sima Yi