Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 347 Please kill Cao Mengde!
Yuan Ji placed the teacup in his hand on the table and looked at Dong Zhuo indifferently.

"Captain, don't worry. The imperial physician has come to see him. He is in good health, but he cannot overwork himself."

He said with a meaningful tone: "If the captain had come a little earlier, my father would have been able to see you. But half an hour ago, my father waited for a long time, so he rested."

There was finally a hint of apology in Yuan Ji's voice.

"It's not good to wake up again after this rest, otherwise you won't be able to sleep all night."

"How rude."

Dong Zhuo listened to Yuan Ji's warning words, and a hint of coldness appeared in his brows, but it disappeared in an instant. He just smiled faintly: "What are you talking about, young master? I am just a rough man, how can I be rude?"

He scratched his head: "But the master called me here this time, is there something going on?"

When talking about serious matters, the two people's expressions became serious. Yuan Ji said softly: "Indeed, there are some things."

He frowned slightly: "General He originally wanted to use your power to get rid of the treacherous Ten Eunuchs, but now the Ten Eunuchs have persuaded the emperor to invite King An to Chang'an City. In this case, it is not convenient for us to act rashly."

"No one knows what King An's attitude towards those people is."

Dong Zhuo nodded and said, "I see."

"So what should we do now?"

He smiled awkwardly: "I am a rough man and don't understand these things. I will just listen to the eldest master."

Yuan Ji then tried to appease Dong Zhuo, and finally just said, "Wait."

Wait?
Yuan Ji met Dong Zhuo's gaze and nodded: "Yes, that's what I'm waiting for."

He narrowed his eyes and said, "King An has come to the capital, and we are not the only ones who are anxious."

"The Ten Eunuchs and other noble families will all be anxious. After all, as long as this person is here, he will not tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes."

Yuan Ji held a folding fan in his hand, with a calm smile on his face: "The Ten Attendants thought that by inviting King An to come, they could save their lives, but what they didn't know was that King An would not let them go first."

"I grew up listening to the stories of King An, so I naturally understand the character and temper of the current King An."

"Just wait and see."

"Whether it was the horse-riding incident that happened in Chang'an City today, or what the Zhao Ran clan members did a few days ago."

"There will be a result tomorrow."

"perhaps."

Yuan Ji said with a playful smile: "Perhaps, that is a result that no one wants to see."

Post
The troops led by Dong Zhuo were all stationed not far outside the city of Chang'an, and he only had a few dozen soldiers with him. This was the requirement of the city of Chang'an and also the requirement of the imperial court.

The one who controls the military forces of the world today is naturally General He.

With King An present at this time, He Jin naturally did not need to cooperate with Dong Zhuo for the time being in order to get rid of those Ten Attendants. It was for this reason that He Jin did not allow Dong Zhuo to lead his troops into the city.

Dong Zhuo sighed, and ordered Niu Fu, who was beside him, to settle all the soldiers he had brought in. Then he looked at Jia Xu and said, "Based on what you saw today, what do you think I should do?"

"You must know that if you make a mistake, all the steps will be wrong."

"I can make a few mistakes, but Xiliang doesn't have that chance."

Jia Xu narrowed his eyes and whispered, "The Yuan family will surely fall, and most of the noble families will not be left alive."

"They will definitely make trouble tomorrow, but King An will definitely not pay attention to their so-called trouble. Instead, he will resolve all issues quickly and decisively in the end, leaving no problems unsolved."

Jia Xu smiled faintly, his expression was very calm, which was a necessary task for him as one of the best strategists in the world.

It is also his ability to make a living.

Dong Zhuo raised his eyebrows: "You have so much confidence in His Royal Highness King An, but so little confidence in the Yuan family?"

Jia Xu just smiled and said nothing, and just invited Dong Zhuo to watch the fun tomorrow.

The dark night gradually passed, and the big sun in the sky slowly rose and then covered everything.

Those who were well-informed had naturally already learned about the arrival of King An. There was no surprise on anyone's face when they saw him at the head of all officials. Some people who were not well-informed could guess about the situation by looking at the reactions of their colleagues around them.

After all, they are all people sitting in this position.

Not just anyone can attend court.

As soon as He Jin walked in, he saw Chen Chengji sitting at the front row, in the seat that originally belonged to him, with his eyes closed.

He, who was originally arrogant, did not say a word at this moment. He even pretended to be very calm and polite as he walked in front of the prime minister who was resting his eyes, and then said softly: "I was going to meet King An yesterday, but I was too busy with official duties yesterday and didn't have the original time."

"This is really rude of Mr. He."

He bowed and saluted, and the ministers around him were all a little surprised. When did this man become so polite and sensible?

Chen Chengji opened his eyes and didn't even stand up. He just smiled and waved his hand.

At this time, Chen Chengji not only had the dual blessings of the positions of "Prime Minister" and "King An", he even had the title of "Grand Master", so it was reasonable for him not to stand up when he saw He Jin.

It should be noted that the Chen family's privilege of "wearing sword and shoes into the palace, and praising and worshipping without being named" has been passed down for hundreds of years.

In the old Han Dynasty, the Chen family wanted to be given a higher title, but Chen Linwu refused it. In the end, the title fell on Chen. The main reason was that apart from Chen, no one else had the ability to do this.

When the court meeting began, a group of people began to discuss government affairs noisily as usual.

After most of the disasters and rebellions had been discussed, everyone gradually quieted down. There was silence in the Weiyang Palace, and everyone seemed to be waiting for something.

Finally, a certain Imperial Censor from the Imperial Censorate slowly stood up and walked out, standing in the center of the hall.

There was a hint of determination in his brow.

He just opened his mouth slowly, his voice was like thunder, lifting everyone's spirits.

All that was heard was that the man said, "Your Majesty, I want to impeach Cao Cao, the commander of Chang'an. He has acted like a scoundrel, accepted bribes many times, and wrongly accused the sons of noble families."

"As far as I know, Commandant Cao had been somewhat dissatisfied with King An in the early years. And yesterday, when King An just arrived in Chang'an City, he found a random reason to punish the children of the Li family."

He raised his head and said, "The Li family's son rode his horse in the street. This crime is indeed punishable by caning."

"But the Li family's children are usually strong and healthy. How could they be beaten to death by a mere caning?"

"This is definitely the villain Cao Cao taking the opportunity to express his dissatisfaction with Chen and King An!"

"Your Majesty, please order a strict investigation of Cao Cao!"

boom!
These words were like thunder from the sky, striking the court in an instant.

In an instant, everyone was whispering. Dissatisfied with King An, caning, and... beating him to death!
Someone immediately stood up, with anger on his face, "Your Majesty, I heard that the soldiers under Commandant Cao have a skill that allows them to beat people so that they appear to have no injuries, but in fact their bodies are completely broken."

"Also, although he looked bloody and battered, he actually had no internal injuries. They were all superficial. He will recover in a day or two."

He raised his head and said, "I suspect that Commander Cao hinted to his men to beat the Li family members to death in order to vent his dissatisfaction with His Royal Highness King An, the noble families, and the court!"

As soon as this person finished speaking, another person came out with a serious look on his face.

"Your Majesty, I have often heard from my family that Commander Cao is arrogant and willful, and has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Your Majesty and King An. He has even openly accepted bribes, manipulated Han laws, and sold official positions and titles."

"My grandson once told me that Commander Cao once said that he would let them go as long as they were willing to pay."

"Whether they are the dandy boys in the capital or the children of the noble families, they have all been threatened by this Commander Cao at some point."

He raised his head and said word by word: "And why was it such a coincidence yesterday?"

"It happened that someone rode a horse yesterday, and it happened that Captain Cao killed someone with a stick yesterday?"

"Captain Cao has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the aristocratic families, and isn't the Chen family the largest aristocratic family in the world?"

These people were determined to pull Chen into the camp of the aristocratic families.

In other words, the Chen family should have originally been in the camp of the aristocratic families, but the Chen family has always been unwilling to express its position and unwilling to stand with them.

Liu Hong had a bit of anger in his brow. He looked at Cao Cao, who was sitting on the side with a relaxed look on his face, and asked, "Meng De, is what they said true? Did you really beat a noble family kid to death in the street yesterday?"

Cao Cao’s mind was full of thoughts.

When the young man from a noble family passed away, he was still in very good health, with only minor skin injuries.

After all, his purpose was not to break off relations with the aristocratic families. He just wanted to give those people a family motto so that these children of aristocratic families would not dare to violate Han law again.

Killing is not the goal, the goal is to educate.

But now, these imperial censors said that the young man from the Li family died after returning home?

Then there is only one possibility.

A bitter smile quickly crossed his lips. He was still too young. After that young man returned home, he was afraid that he would find a way to die at home.

This is also a chess move by the aristocratic family.

Cao Cao stood up and slowly stepped out of the line, then whispered, "Your Majesty, I did not kill any noble family member in battle yesterday."

He raised his head and looked at Liu Hong. "Yesterday, the Li family's sons rode their horses into Chang'an City and attacked. This violated Han law. That is why I will order them to be punished with twenty strokes of the cane according to Han law."

"When this person left, he was still in very good health. He was even able to leave alone without the escort of the Chang'an Duwei Mansion."

“Therefore, I do not understand the circumstances of this person’s death.”

Liu Hong's eyes slid towards the imperial censors, and at this time the head of the Li family stood up with tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty, please make the decision for me!"

Li Fuhuai knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, his entire face filled with grief.

His position was not very high, only a rank of 1,000 stones, but he was barely able to attend court.

"The one who was beaten to death was my third son. He didn't like crowds on weekdays. That day, he heard from his servant that he had seen King An, so he rode his horse to get a glimpse of King An's face."

"So ride the horse."

He raised his head and said, "This is the fault of my third son. I dare not complain about being wronged."

"Just. Just"

Li Fuhuai said in a low voice: "It's just that after the third son returned home, he was fine at first, with only some minor skin injuries. I also wanted him to learn a lesson, so I didn't care about it and didn't pay for his ransom."

"After all, I thought, it's just twenty strokes of the cane. How could the third son, who has been practicing martial arts since he was young, not be able to withstand it?"

"In the second half of the night, the third son suddenly developed a high fever, and when I asked the doctor to come, the third son was already dead."

"The doctor who came said that he had never seen such a cruel beating. There was a hidden force in the beating. At first, the person would not care, but would die in the pain afterwards."

He raised his head suddenly and said: "My three sons violated Han law, and it is not a pity to die."

"But nothing happened in the past. Why did those twenty strokes of the cane cost him his life yesterday?"

"This is not the first time that the Third Son has been caned, Your Majesty!"

Li Fuhuai said: "It can only be that Cao Cao is dissatisfied with His Royal Highness King An. It just so happened that my third son bumped into his anger yesterday, and then he used my third son as a vent to vent his dissatisfaction with King An."

"King An has worked hard and made great contributions to our Han Dynasty for generations."

"In the past, during the reign of Emperor Ren, many kings plotted rebellion. King An of the Chen family suppressed the rebellion. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu, the Chen family's ancestor, King An of that generation, Chen Chong, assisted Emperor Guangwu in expelling the rebellion and restoring the Han Dynasty."

"And today, King An, seeing that the Han Dynasty is in danger, has entered the capital again to assist Your Majesty."

"How can I describe the achievements of King An?"

"Cao Cao's actions are extremely disrespectful to King An!"

"Minister, please execute Cao Mengde!"

As soon as Li Fuhuai's words came out, all the censors who followed him to impeach Cao Cao said, "Your Majesty, please execute Cao Mengde!"

He Jin just glanced at Cao Cao standing there, and several names flashed through his mind. They were the sons of powerful and wealthy people who had been dealt with by Cao Cao in the past, including his nephew.

He immediately stepped forward and echoed, "Your Majesty, Cao Cao's crimes are so heinous that they cannot be listed in words."

"Minister, please execute Cao Mengde!"

Many of Chen's disciples in the court remained silent upon seeing this, while other opposing forces desperately agreed, as if their identities had been reversed in an instant.

Chen Chengji sat at the front, saying nothing.

Cao Cao was kneeling on the ground with his fists clenched tightly in his sleeves.

He thought these people just wanted him to resign, but he didn't expect that they actually wanted his life!

Everyone's eyes turned to Chen Chengji who was in the front.

His words can determine the direction of this matter.

Even the emperor looked at Chen Chengji and asked humbly, "What does King An think about this matter?"

(End of this chapter)