I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 533 Doing evil

What disappointed him was that the emperor did not treat him with the same attitude as he did towards Yuan Shu.

Not only that, Yuan Wei would have been fine, but He Jin, the former general whom he had high hopes for, did not stand up for him after Cai Yong spoke up for Yang Zhong.

gas! shake! cold!
But he gritted his teeth and insisted that he was wronged. After all, he was now the imperial carriage commander, and relying on just two pieces of evidence that were highly suspicious was not enough to convict him, nor was it enough to convince the world.

When Yuan Shao returned to his seat after making another defense, he suddenly felt a little relieved when he heard the names of powerful families appear one after another from Jia Xu's mouth.

Fortunately, he met the present emperor who abides by the rules. If it was the late emperor, the eunuch only needed to say a few words in front of the late emperor, and he would be taken to the imperial prison for interrogation the next moment.

Yuan Shao set out to attend court before daybreak. By the time he left the court, it was already past noon. Covered in cold sweats and extremely hungry, Yuan Shao ate the public meal with his ministers.

Although he had no appetite, Yuan Shao, like other court officials, put on an open-minded attitude.

Another hour passed after the meal and the court meeting finally ended.

Yuan Shao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But he understood that his name was mentioned repeatedly in the court. In addition to the emperor's desire to suppress the Yuan family, he was afraid that even if Pang Ji did not confess, Jia Xu and his ilk had already become suspicious of him.

Yuan Shao wondered if he had left any loopholes - the letter should not have any - so it was time to seal the tunnel.

And the old servant in the family who knew about his contact with Pang Ji... Yuan Shao clenched his fists - a real man should not be soft-hearted!

"Original..."

Yuan Shao looked up and saw that the person who spoke was Yuan Wei.

Hate? Anger? Guilt? For a moment, he suddenly didn't know how to face Yuan Wei.

"I intend to follow Gong Lu's suggestion and divide the Ru'nan Yuan clan. What do you think?"

"Just follow your uncle's instructions. I will listen to your arrangements."

Hearing Yuan Shao say this, it was not like Yuan Shao's style. Yuan Wei immediately thought of the worries in his heart. He looked around and saw that no one except Yuan Shu was paying attention to this side, so he asked in a low voice: "Are you really in contact with that person?"

Yuan Shao said: "It's fine if my uncle doesn't want to speak for me, why do you have to speculate on me?"

Seeing that Yuan Shao did not jump up to argue with him, Yuan Wei's heart sank.

He had already confirmed in his heart: Yes, that's right, Yuan Shao did it too.

Without paying any more attention to Yuan Shao, Yuan Wei walked away.

When he left, he was still thinking. In fact, in his mind, besides Yuan Ji, he valued Yuan Shao the most. After all, Yuan Shu's shortcomings were too obvious.

But now, Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao have both gone astray.

Instead, it was Yuan Shu, the person he originally thought was most likely to cause trouble, who was about to take over the Yuan family's banner.

However, now the Yuan family’s banner is about to split.

Well, didn't the Yuan family of Runan migrate from Chen County? Even if they were from different counties and had distant relations, they were still one family hundreds of years ago!

Thinking of this, Yuan Wei felt better.

He immediately went to Yuan Shu and said, "Benchu ​​agreed."

"He actually agreed so quietly?" Yuan Shu was a little surprised. Having been competitive with Yuan Shao since childhood, he thought he knew Yuan Shao quite well.

"Wait...could it be..." Yuan Shu looked at Yuan Wei in shock, with a look of suspicion on his face.

"There is no evidence yet." Yuan Wei said. He thought, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao are brothers after all. At this moment, Yuan Shu should think of helping Yuan Shao, right?

"Divide the family, divide the clan, divide it quickly! It will be too late if we don't do it!" "Uncle, make a decision when necessary. Think about Yindi and the others, think about Xin'er in the palace, think about your brother's children, and don't let them be implicated."

Yuan Wei closed his eyes and sighed deeply—he couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "What a sin!"

……

"There must be Pang Ji's accomplices in the court. After today's provocation, they are very likely to take action." In the School Affairs Department, Jia Xu summoned his most capable men.

"Everything that needs to be explained was explained yesterday. You must be careful and don't miss any abnormality! Especially for things like servants dying suddenly or returning home due to illness, you must pay special attention."

Jia Xu glanced at his subordinates and said, "I hope you won't miss this great achievement!"

……

"Captain Yuan, will you come with us?"

When the time came, Yuan Shao suddenly gave up struggling. Facing Jia Xu who had come to him personally, he asked, "If I say that I had no knowledge of Pang Ji's stirring up unrest in Guandong from the beginning, would you believe me?"

Even Jia Xu was a little surprised to see this scene.

After all, in his opinion, he had not yet obtained solid evidence, and Yuan Shao still had room for quibbling. Although Jia Xu believed that after locking on to the target, he would soon find real evidence, not fabricated evidence.

However, he really thought about Yuan Shao's question and said, "I believe it."

"Thank you!" Yuan Shao said with a smile, "It's a good thing for a dying man to say this, but I don't know if my crime can implicate fewer people."

"The emperor will decide the punishment, but if Captain Yuan can continue to cooperate, I am willing to speak a few good words for you in front of the emperor to reduce your punishment." Jia Xu said seriously, "As long as you can prove that you have not participated in stirring up civil unrest, it may not be a crime that will punish your entire clan."

"The premise is that you are as honest as you are now."

With Yuan Shao imprisoned, the School Affairs Department once again showed its power.

With the cooperation of General Sima Manchong, the imperial prison was overcrowded for a while.

Among those arrested were officials with a rank of more than 600 dan (stones of official salary), and Yuan Shao was not the only one with a rank of more than 2,000 dan (stones of official salary).

What was presented to Liu Bian every day were just lists of names.

In addition, some officials, both large and small, impeached the Ministry of Education for arbitrarily arresting important officials and disregarding the law, although in fact the arrests were carried out by the general's troops.

In response, Liu Bian ignored them all.

At this time, severe punishment should be used.

In comparison, the Runan Yuan family completed the division, and Yuan Shu moved with a branch of the Yuan family to Luoyang County and became the patriarch of the Henan Yuan family. This seems to be less eye-catching.

But in fact, some people still noticed it.

Yang Zhong looked at Yang Biao with some resentment.

That day in the court, the person who vouched for him was not his cousin, with whom he had a very good relationship, but his superior Cai Yong.

We've been brothers for so many years, and you don't believe it?

It’s better not to wait for this clan!
Yang Biao was a little embarrassed, and used the good reason Yang Xiu reminded him to defend himself, saying: "Your Majesty is not a tyrannical person, and will not implicate innocent people."

"So, when the time came, I didn't defend my brother because I believed that his innocence would be cleared."

"To be honest, I was considering the matter of splitting the clan at that time, and my reaction was indeed a step slower than Cai Bojie. But later I thought that if we wanted to split the clan, this might be an opportunity, so I didn't say anything more."

At this point, Yang Biao said seriously, "My brother, I think that if the Yuan family splits up, will the emperor want my Yang family to follow suit?"

(End of this chapter)