Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1142 Forgiveness
Yuan Xi and his men hurried to the Zhao family. After a search, they finally found Chen Deng who was imprisoned in a dungeon with a very hidden entrance. They also found hundreds of women in tattered clothes.

Yuan Xi asked the soldiers to properly place the woman in the house first, and the previous members of the Zhao family were driven out. A young scholar was still unconvinced and shouted a few times, then was picked up by the soldiers and thrown aside, groaning on the ground.

Yuan Xi had no time to take care of him, and ordered Chen Deng to be carried out of the prison.

Chen Deng was seriously ill before, and most of the Chen family members were not in Xuzhou, so there was not much help. Therefore, the Zhao family directly tricked Chen Deng into locking him up and announced that Chen Deng was missing.

If Yuan Xi had not arrived in Guangling in time, even if Chen Deng had not died of illness, he would have been killed by the Zhao family.

When Chen Deng was rescued, he was already dying. He lay on a stretcher and said to Yuan Xi, "I am ashamed that I have failed to live up to the trust of my lord."

Yuan Xi sighed, "Yuanlong has done a good job, you should recover."

Chen Deng said with all his strength: "I am about to die, but I still have something to report about the Zhao family."

"The reason why the Zhao family suddenly attacked Deng was certainly because Deng was seriously ill, which caused some people's family ambitions to swell, but the most important point is that Deng discovered that the Zhao family was colluding with Zuo Rong of Jiangdong, and Zuo Rong should have defected to the Wu Kingdom now."

Yuan Xi suddenly realized that everything was connected. He previously thought that Guangling was the rear area, but for the State of Wu, it was a real front line where they could attack.

I still underestimated Sun Quan. If he could plant a stake in Guangling, he would definitely plan to attack Shouchun to defend against Lu Xun of Jizhou, or even directly counterattack Jiangbei.

It was true that he and Cao Cao were stuck in a tug-of-war in Jizhou. It would be strange if Sun Quan didn't jump out as he was a man who would take advantage of any opportunity.

Yuan Xi had Chen Deng carried into the car, then turned around and asked the women who had been tortured beyond recognition.

At first, these women were still alert and refused to say anything until Yuan Xi said, "I have killed the head of the Zhao family, and I have also captured Zuo He. If you don't testify, the rest of the Zhao family will most likely deny their involvement."

"Of course, if this is your choice, I won't force it."

The women were finally moved. They knelt on the ground and asked Yuan Xi to seek justice with tears in their eyes. Listening to their crying and complaining about how they were imprisoned and tortured by Zuo He and others, and their horrific experiences, Sun Li, Lu Lingqi and others on the side were also extremely surprised.

Lu Lingqi asked, "Why is this Zuo He so excessive? Who gave him the courage?"

Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "There is the Zhao family, but in the final analysis, it is me."

"My connivance allowed the Xuzhou nobles to do whatever they wanted. In order to stabilize the rear, I knew there was a problem in Xuzhou, but I didn't discover it in time."

He bowed deeply to the women. "I will definitely give you justice in this matter."

The girls were at a loss, and all knelt and kowtowed. Yuan Xi turned and walked out the door. Lu Lingqi hurriedly followed him, but heard Yuan Xi sigh: "It was obviously me who let them down, but in the end they wanted to thank me. It's really ironic."

Lu Lingqi said softly: "This is not my husband's problem, this is the world's problem."

"If I were not from the Lu family, I might have ended up like these women."

"Now all my husband can do is to rescue them and give them a place to stay."

"And at least they were rescued by their husbands, but how many of the millions of women in the world are still trapped in prison?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xi sighed and said, "You are right. There are still countless people in the world who are being insulted, harmed, and tortured. The world has abandoned them. If we don't save them, who else can save them?"

He turned to Zhang Rang and said, "Catch all the members of the Zhao family and those rebellious families and interrogate them one by one. Don't wrongly accuse the good guys, but don't let any bad guys go either!"

"Also, investigate the Zuohe family and the Buddhist and Taoist forces behind them, and make sure to catch them all in one fell swoop!"

After hearing this, Zhang Fang immediately took the order and left in a hurry.

A comprehensive investigation and purge soon began in the city. A large number of people were arrested and imprisoned, and they were forced to identify each other and make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences, otherwise they would have to take all the blame.

Under this tactic, the children of the major families turned against each other and accused each other of other families. Even the children of their own family came just to seek a way to survive.

They had already inquired about it. The Zhao family and several other families sent troops to besiege the King of Jin. This was a rebellion punishable by death. In order to save their lives, these young men were willing to sell their parents out.

In order to give an explanation to the people, Yuan Xi adopted the method of public trial, and held the interrogation of all the people involved from various families in front of the government gate and on both sides of the street so that the people could watch.

For this purpose, Yuan Xi mobilized officials from around Guangling to assist in the trial, which was presided over by Bu Zhi. As the case was tried, the truth gradually came to light.

The people of Guangling then realized that most of the salaries and money they paid were embezzled by these families. Not only that, the major families also used the guise of worshiping Buddha to coerce and imprison decent women, secretly develop cults, and control their slaves to do evil.

As one scandal after another was exposed, the people were outraged and the calls for severe punishment of the families involved grew louder and louder.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Yuan Xi asked Bu Zhi to choose a day to announce the verdict and prepared to kill.

When Bu Zhi held the bamboo slips and looked at the names on the list, his fingers could not help but tremble slightly.

So many people were executed at the same time, and they were all wealthy landlords. This has never happened in Guangling in the past hundred years, right?

The King of Jin wants to conquer the world, isn't he afraid of opposition from the nobles of the world?

At the same time, Lu Lingqi asked Yuan Xi the same question.

Yuan Xi was surprised and asked, "Your brain can already think of such a complicated thing?"

Lu Lingqi was slightly angry: "I also have brains, okay!"

Yuan Xi was amused and said with a smile: "Well, in fact, you should understand that there are no nobles in the world who are not corrupt, it's just a matter of degree."

"We can't kill them all, we can only serve as a warning to others. After we kill this group, there are still their descendants, and there will be no end to their descendants."

"Even if their entire clan is exterminated, a new group of landlords and nobles will emerge and follow the same old path." "This is determined by human nature and the system of the world. It is born with the kingship. As long as the dynasty exists, it cannot be completely eradicated."

"So all I can do now is to release the poisonous blood and let the whole world be peaceful for a few years."

"Even this kind of opportunity is not so easy to find. Now that I have caught them, I will never let them go."

"They have gained so many benefits and committed the sin of fighting for it. It is time for them to pay with their lives."

At noon the next day, the first batch of criminals in Guangling City were executed in the middle of the avenue in the center of the city.

There were not many people, just a few of them, and they were the family heads and Zuo He who had caused trouble before.

Only when they were tied to the pillars on the city wall and their flesh was cut off one by one by the knives did they understand what kind of torture was waiting for them.

Under the fear of pain and death, the Xuzhou gentry behaved in a disgraceful manner. They first wailed and begged for mercy, but when they found there was no hope, they began to collapse. Some shouted and cursed, some roared, and all fell into madness.

However, it was of no use, and in the end several family heads died one after another.

Only Zuo He was quite stubborn. He looked crazy and roared, "All of you will go to hell!"

"And after I die, I will wait in Paradise to judge you!"

"When the time comes, I will watch with my own eyes as you suffer in the eighteen levels of hell and never be able to escape rebirth!"

Yuan Xi clapped his hands. "You are quite tough. Believing in a cult can also make people determined. It's very interesting."

"Unfortunately, you are on the wrong path. The more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you are. You cannot enter the paradise because there is no such thing."

Zuo He shouted: "What do you know!"

"You've worked so hard to talk nonsense, what do you know about Buddhism..."

Yuan Xi said leisurely: "But I know how to stargaze."

"Observing the stars tells me that there is no Buddha. It is all imagined by you evil people."

Zuo He sneered: "You are a liar, stargazing is all a lie!"

Yuan Xi smiled, "Look, you believe in the Buddha who can't be verified, but you don't believe in me who conquered half of the world by observing the stars."

"Now that I have skinned you to death, and your Buddha has not come to save you, am I asking you to die early and be reborn?"

"You forcibly abducted a woman from the people. Was that also the will of the Buddha?"

"I have decided your life or death now, and you are not willing to call me Buddha?"

Zuo He's cheeks had turned pale due to blood loss, but now they were flushed with anger and turned red, "You farted!"

"I……"

Yuan Xi interrupted him, "Zao clan members, I will send them to accompany you on the journey."

"You wait for them in your world. This is what you want, isn't it?"

After saying that, he ignored Zuo He and turned away, leaving only Zuo He's hoarse cries as he was cut by the knife.

Yuan Xi walked back to the car and saw the girl from the Bu family watching with a complicated expression. He said, "Why, you can't stand this kind of scene?"

The Bu family girl whispered: "No, but I always feel that this kind of torture..."

Yuan Xi said, "Don't think that this is just to intimidate the Bu family and you. It's also about the tragic experiences of those abused women."

"We don't have the power to forgive them. I believe that in the hearts of those women, the way Zuo He was treated was the most fair outcome."

"The world is in chaos and disorder. If we want to establish a new order, we must make sure those who disregard the order receive the punishment they deserve."

"Otherwise, how can we talk about punishing the criminals?"

After hearing this, the Bu family girl suddenly felt enlightened. She bowed and said, "I understand your Majesty's intention."

"I have already felt so devastated before I even fell into his hands. How can those women who have been tortured feel so heartbroken and hateful?"

"Your Majesty is right. No one can forgive for others. This may be why I want to see his end."

"I believe that in the future, if the world is in the hands of the king, the people will definitely live better than before."

Yuan Xi rode on his horse, "I hope so. I also hope that the people of the world will keep watching me, and whether I disappoint them in the end, or make them feel that supporting me is the right thing to do."

"I will be leaving in a few days. It's interesting to say that I seem to have known you for a long time."

"Your name is Master Bu Lian?"

The Bu family girl blushed, "How did the king know?"

Yuan Xi smiled and rode away, "I'm here to watch the stars."

(End of this chapter)