Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 990 Looking for the traitor
Xiao Qiao looked at the moonlight in the sky, feeling bored. After thinking about it, she picked up Qin and went to Yuan Xi's room.
As she approached the door, she heard the sound of Da Qiao playing the piano from inside the house. Xiao Qiao was startled, then stood there under the sycamore tree for a while, then turned around and went back to the room.

Now that Xiao Qiao has gone through the twists and turns of the past two years, she does not feel as disappointed and unwilling as before, because now she has understood the truth that cherishing the present is the most important thing.

Men may not be able to see through things that women can understand, especially those who are in high positions but whose desires are not satisfied.

Mi Fang is currently in an extremely troubled and uneasy state.

The dilemma is because he doesn't know how to choose, and the uneasiness is because someone is forcing him to make a choice.

He threw a thin silk book into the brazier, and the flames immediately rose, almost licking his fingers. Mi Fang subconsciously retracted her hand, and the smell of burnt silk filling her nose made his chest feel tighter.

What made him even more uncomfortable was the letter from Jiangdong, which promised him quite generous conditions. But what really made Mi Fang shaken was the evidence that Mi Fang had secretly sold food and baggage a few days ago.

Even Mi Fang didn't expect that this batch of food would end up flowing to Jiangdong. After all, only Jiangdong could eat it.

But the letter clearly stated that some of the goods and weapons were being traded to Cao Ying!

The concept of goods going to Jiangdong and Cao Ying is completely different. Now Mi Fang's crime of reselling privately has been upgraded to collaboration with the enemy. If this matter is exposed, his fate will be difficult to say!
Thinking of this, Mi Fang panicked. He paced back and forth in the room impatiently. Jiang Dong must have planned it in advance and took advantage of it to threaten him!

What Mi Fang relies on now is his family slaves, because he can only trust these people, and outsiders cannot be tied to the interests of the Mi family.

Guan Yu and himself are not on good terms. He has sued him before, and he must be keeping an eye on him at all times, especially since the other party is currently fighting between the Han River and the Yangtze River. If he really learns that he is selling military goods to Cao Ying, Guan Yu's temper will definitely He will fight to the death with himself, and he might even use military orders to chop off his head!
The more Mi Fang thought about it, the more scared he became. He thought of several countermeasures in his mind, including asking Mrs. Gan to intercede, and seeking refuge with Yuan Xi, etc. But in the end, he found that none of these paths seemed to work.

But then he smiled bitterly, wasn't this all his own fault?
Didn't he foresee this day when he was reselling arms?

Now that he is stationed in Baqiu, as long as he presents the city to Jiangdong, Jiangdong will definitely give him extremely high courtesy. This is what Jiangdong said in his letter.

Now that she had made the decision, Mi Fang started preparing for her surrender. What she lacked now was a certificate of surrender.

Moreover, Yuan Xi seems to have a very unique selection method. All the people he selects are capable people with worldly talents, including those talents he recruits out of the ordinary. They have all proven themselves with their military exploits in a very short period of time. talents.

Mi Fang compared the past one by one and found that with her own ability, it would be difficult for her to become a county magistrate under Yuan Xi. Even if Yuan Xi was willing to promote her, if she could not achieve results by then, wouldn't she become a laughing stock among Yuan Xi's officials? Even your own sister will be looked down upon, right?

It was true that he had saved Mrs. Gan in the first place, and Mrs. Gan had left Liu Bei's only male heir. However, Mrs. Gan's own status had never been high. Obviously Liu Bei had other ideas about the concubine.

Dedicating the city was not an easy task, because there were many subordinates loyal to Liu Bei, so the matter could not be announced to the public and could only be carried out secretly.

But Liu Bei is not alone, he has two brothers.

In contrast, Jiangdong is a good choice. As long as you are rich and powerful, you can live well there, and the custom is for families to stick together. As long as you go there with your belongings, you can establish yourself in the name of the Mi family.

As for whether her family would be held accountable after she defected, Mi Fang thought a lot about it, and finally felt that it shouldn't be a big problem. This was also the most critical point. Liu Bei was kind to people, and there was a high chance that the family members of those who defected would not be held accountable, and As his elder brother, Mi Zhu holds a high position, and if he goes up the ladder, he will be unlikely to be implicated.

Not wanting to implicate Mi Zhen was just one of the reasons. The most important reason was that Yuan Xi did not have idle people under his command.

But Mi Fang only dared to make such a decision because his lord was Liu Bei. If it were Cao Cao, Sun Quan, or Yuan Xi, he wouldn't dare, because those people are very vindictive!

The second was to join Yuan Xi. Mi Fang thought about it a lot, but finally gave up.

Mi Fang learned in detail that Yuan Xi was very strict in the selection of officials. Except for a few confidants who were promoted exceptionally, everyone else, whether they were children of aristocratic families or famous celebrities, initially had to start as county magistrates.

So Mi Fang thought about it again and again and immediately decided to take action.

This letter was written by Lu Meng, the governor of Jiangdong. He also said that if Mi Fang was interested, he would cross the river alone and come to meet her.

Seeing that the other party was so courageous, Mi Fang was also moved, but Mi Fang was not a fool, and the other party's appetite was not small, because if Jiangdong got Baqiu, he would cut off Lukou's retreat. The last piece of land belonging to Jiangxia County fell into Jiangdong's hands.

In this way, Jiangdong has opened up the passage south to the three counties of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang, and half of Jingzhou is under Jiangdong's control!
This is a ground-breaking achievement for Jiangdong. If Mi Fang takes this merit and takes refuge in Jiangdong, she can definitely be made a marquis!

How many buyers are there in the world who are capable of eating so much goods?
Aren't you just taking chances and deceiving yourself?
Things have happened, and the key is how to deal with it next. Should you accept Jiangdong's conditions, or confess to Liu Bei?
Mi Fang knew that Liu Bei alone would be fine. Liu Bei was kind to others and never killed his subordinates who made mistakes, so the worst outcome for her would be to lose her job.

During his time in Jingzhou, he raised thousands of slaves as private soldiers. These private soldiers were well-armed and armored and were stronger than the Jingzhou soldiers. With them, they were enough to suppress the forces loyal to Liu Bei in the city. Kaicheng surrendered and dedicated the city!

But not all domestic slaves can be trusted, because Mi Fang can be sure that there must be one or even several spies among his domestic slaves, including the most confidant.

The confidants he relies on most are all smart and capable people who have run the Mi family business in various places over the years and have made great contributions to Mi Fang. There are four people whom Mi Fang trusts the most. Mi Fang calls them A Da, A Er, and A San. Ah Si. Now Mi Fang knows that among these four people, there is an unknown insider. What he has to do is to catch this person before dedicating the city to avoid ruining his own affairs!
He got up and sent people to ask the four people from various places in the city to come to see him.

A Da is a tall man with a strong body and is now on duty at the city gate. When he arrived in a hurry, he was still wearing armor. When he saw Mi Fang, he bowed his head and said, "Master, why did you ask me to come here?"

Mi Fang smiled and said, "It's nothing serious, I just want to ask you a few questions."

Seeing that Ada's armor was heavy and it was very inconvenient for him to move, he said, "Don't you take off your armor first?"

Ah Da said embarrassedly: "I can't put on the armor by myself. Several personal guards help me put on and take off the armor. And if something happens after I take it off, I have to tell you about it again. I'm afraid it will delay the business, so I usually wear it inside." Wearing armor, please forgive me."

After hearing this, Mi Fang nodded and asked Ah Da to sit leaning on the table. Then she got straight to the point and said, "I got news that someone in the second, third, and fourth men is a collaborator. Who do you think is the most likely person?"

Ah Da was shocked and lost his voice: "This is impossible. The four of us are brothers. Is there someone trying to drive a wedge between us?"

Mi Fang frowned and said, "You know people, they know faces, but you don't know their hearts. You usually guard the city, haven't you had a close relationship with them for a while?"

Ah Da blushed and said, "Having said that, it is unbelievable that they would betray the lord."

Mi Fang said flatly: "You don't need to worry about anything else. You just need to say who you suspect the most."

Ada hesitated for a while, then smiled bitterly and said: "The villain has no evidence. If he really says anything casually, I'm afraid he will frame innocent people."

"But if the master really wants me to say it, I think the third child is the most suspicious."

Mi Fang said: "Why?"

Ah Da replied: "Ah San is the general manager of the Mi Family Trading Company. He has the most contact with people, so he is naturally the most likely to be bribed. But the villain is just guessing. Ah San is an honest person, and he does not seem to be the type to betray his master. Ungrateful people.”

Mi Fang listened without comment and asked: "Is there any more?"

Ah Da shook his head and said, "No, I have been concentrating on defending the city for the past year, so I really don't know much about other things."

Mi Fang listened and said, "You have done well in the past few years."

Ah Da quickly said: "It's all appreciated by the master. Without the master, this villain would not be where he is today."

Mi Fang said: "If that's the case, then if I ask you to surrender in Kaicheng, will you listen?"

Ah Da was startled. He didn't seem to realize what Mi Fang meant. After a while, he opened his eyes wide in surprise and said, "Will the people in the city know this?"

Mi Fang snorted coldly, "You just need to tell me yes or no."

Ah Da gritted his teeth, and finally clasped his fists and said, "The adults are kind to the villain, and the villain should obey his orders."

Mi Fang listened and nodded, "In that case, I will wrong you for a long time."

He called out, and four well-armed slaves immediately came over and surrounded Ada. Mi Fang said, "Go and stay in the next room. When the truth comes to light, you can come out naturally."

When Ah Da saw it, he smiled bitterly, hugged Mi Fang, followed the guards out, and was immediately locked in the room next to him.

Mi Fang said to the guard: "Let Ah Er come over."

A'er is the housekeeper in charge of Mi Fang's internal account books. He was originally a son of a good family. Later, the family was scattered due to war. A'er was also reduced to a slave and was acquired by Mi Fang. Because he had read poems and books and could read and write, he was promoted by Mi Fang. Starting from working as an accountant, he gradually became Mi Fang's confidant. A'er was responsible for many shady things.

Now A'er came in. He was about thirty years old, wearing a scholar's robe, and his behavior was described as more like a scholar than a scholar. It seemed that because he had been unsatisfactory in the first half of his life, he paid more attention to appearance.

But what goes against it is that he has a gloomy appearance, and there is always a trace of nervousness between his eyebrows, which is incompatible with the calm and elegant style of a scholar with a profound background. Although he is shrewd and capable, it is difficult to imitate him, which shows that he has deep feelings in his heart. , is somewhat unconfident.

Facing the same question raised by Mi Fang and Ah Da, Ah Er said without hesitation: "It's possible for all three of them."

(End of this chapter)