Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 333 Father and son argue over crime! Victory news shakes Yecheng!

Xuzhou Xia Pi, the prefectural government office.

Zhou Yu looked at the information sent back from Huainan County in his hand, his body trembled slightly, and he was even a little unsteady on his feet.

Seeing this, Lu Su at the side could not help but sigh: "I told you a long time ago that Sun Zhongmou is young and frivolous, narrow-minded, suspicious, and is not a wise leader."

"Surrendering to the imperial court was his last chance, but he refused to repent and chose to go to war with the imperial court after failing to seize Tongling Ferry."

"It is entirely his own fault that he is in this situation now."

They had received the news that Tongling Ferry was recaptured by Cao Cao several days ago, and they thought Sun Quan would give up, but they did not expect his subsequent behavior to be so shocking.

Sun Quan actually chose to lead his troops to attack Huainan County, intending to capture Hefei occupied by Zhang Liao!
They knew then that it was all over.

As expected, just a few days later, news of defeat came back from the front. Not only did the 30,000-strong army suffer countless casualties, but even Sun Quan himself was captured alive by Zhang Liao.

It was a complete failure.

Zhou Yu clenched the letter in his hand and asked Lu Su with a pale face: "Zijing, is there any way to save him?"

"If you rebel, fight against the imperial court, or pretend to surrender, the emperor will not let you off easily. You will definitely lose your life in the end!"

Zhou Yu could already foresee Sun Quan's fate.

Although all this was the result of Sun Quan's failure to listen to his advice, he could not bear to see his old brother, his current master, die.

Moreover, there was the example of Yuan Shao's rebellion and the extermination of his clan. This time, it is likely that not only Sun Quan will die, but the entire Sun family may be implicated!

Lu Su shook his head and said, "You have always been resourceful. Since even you can't think of a solution, how can I be smarter than you?"

"Gongjin, your heart is in turmoil."

The most important thing for a strategist is to stay calm when facing problems, but Zhou Yu obviously can't stay calm at the moment. After all, worrying too much will lead to confusion.

But even if they stay calm, it is useless. Sun Quan has already fallen into a dead end, and this situation is not something they can change."

Then he said: "Moreover, compared to Sun Zhongmou, you should first consider your future situation and think about how to get a pardon from the court."

"I think you should immediately prepare to surrender the city, take the initiative to hand over half of Xuzhou and surrender."

Lu Su didn't care what would happen to Sun Quan.

What he was concerned about was Zhou Yu's situation.

Zhou Yu joined Sun Ce and Sun Quan in fighting against the imperial court, and also served as an important position such as Grand Commander. Even if he was dismissed from office, he could not erase the crimes he had committed.

If he wants to escape punishment, he has to take the initiative to surrender Xuzhou before the imperial court recovers half of Xuzhou, so as to reduce his crime.

Moreover, the current emperor is wise and values ​​talent. As long as Zhou Yu is willing to plead guilty and show his willingness to serve the court, he is very likely to be pardoned by the emperor or even reinstated.

"This is an act of betrayal. How can I do this?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu flatly rejected Lu Su's proposal.

He has his integrity.

Even though Sun Quan removed him from his position and was suspicious of him in many ways, he still had no intention of betraying him.

"You are so stubborn!"

Lu Su said angrily: "All the troops under Sun Zhongmou were lost in the Battle of Fei. What else can you do if you don't surrender?"

"Moreover, the imperial court's troops are currently too busy to recover the lost territory. When Zhang Liao returns to Xuzhou with his troops and finds that you have not surrendered, you will have no choice but to wait for death!"

"Have you forgotten what you promised me? Do you still want to continue to resist?"

At the beginning, he asked Zhou Yu to promise him that if things failed, he would go with him to serve the court, but now Zhou Yu is still stubborn.

How could this not annoy him?
Zhou Yu had a complicated expression. After a long silence, he sighed deeply and nodded heavily.

That's all.

……

Yecheng, Imperial Palace.

In the Xuanshi.

Liu Xie was sitting behind the dragon table, looking at the memorials presented by Jia Xu and Guo Jia in front of him, frowning as he read.

These two memorials were the solutions proposed by Guo Jia and Jia Xu to the problem of aristocratic families taking advantage of the policy of land reclamation to occupy land.

However, these two methods were unsatisfactory. They only treated the symptoms and not the root cause, and they could not satisfy him.

Although Liu Xie also knew that this matter was indeed not easy to resolve, he couldn't help feeling unhappy as there was no good solution yet.

Because Zhuge Liang left Yecheng and rushed to the front line, the implementation of the land reclamation policy was even less supervised, and those aristocratic families took advantage of policy loopholes to occupy land more unscrupulously.

He was eager to resolve the matter.

At this time, the eunuch beside him whispered, "Your Majesty, it's almost time. All the officials have entered the court and are waiting. It's time to go to the morning court."

"understood."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xie just rubbed his brows and said calmly, "Let them continue to wait. I will go over after I finish dealing with these memorials."

There is still a thick pile of government affairs on the table that needs to be dealt with.

But this was just an excuse. The main reason was that he was very reluctant to go to court. He felt irritated every time he faced the court officials in the court.

So recently, whenever there was a court meeting, he would delay it as much as possible, and would arrive half an hour or an hour late.

Upon hearing this, the eunuch had no choice but to agree.

Liu Xie then asked him: "Has there been any progress in the war on the front line recently? Or is there any new news?"

He has been busy with government affairs recently and has not paid attention to things on the front line for a long time. The last news he received was about Sun Quan's surrender.

The eunuch said respectfully: "Your Majesty, there is no new information about the war. If there is any new information, I will report it to Your Majesty as soon as possible."

"However, Lord Wen and General Zhang are both fighting on the front lines. With the bravery of the two generals, I believe that it won't be long before we hear good news."

Liu Xie felt a little disappointed when he heard this.

The previous war progressed too smoothly, so even though there has been no new news for more than half a month, he feels that the progress is slow.

Thinking of this, he suddenly lost the energy to deal with the memorials.

"Forget it, let's go to Tai'an Palace."

Liu Xie suppressed his thoughts, threw down the memorial in his hand and said, giving up the plan of dealing with the memorial before going to court.

What needs to be faced must be faced eventually.

Soon Liu Xie arrived at Tai'an Palace.

All the civil and military officials gathered in the hall, but because the court meeting started too early and they had to wait in the hall for a long time, many of them were a little drowsy.

But as Liu Xie stepped into the hall, all the ministers perked up and did not dare to show any impoliteness.

Court meetings are usually very boring.

The matters reported and discussed were all minor and insignificant, and the process was quite boring, so after discussing several matters in succession, Liu Xie prepared to announce his withdrawal from court.

But at this time, Yang Xiu suddenly stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report." Liu Xie turned his gaze to him, because on weekdays Yang Xiu seldom spoke in the court, and usually his father Yang Biao spoke more.

"What does Dezu want to report?"

Yang Xiu looked respectful, bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I recently checked the land of my family and found that we have thousands of acres of good farmland.

"So I sent people to investigate carefully and found that these fertile fields were all reclaimed by my Yang family members using the land reclamation policy promulgated by Your Majesty."

"A large number of these fertile fields were registered in the names of slaves and tenant farmers within the clan, in order to circumvent the land quota set by the policy."

All the ministers in the hall were shocked when they heard this.

All the major families are doing this kind of thing, circumventing the land development quota by affiliating themselves with other families. Is this kid Yang Xiu crazy?

Can such words be said openly?
Even Liu Xie's eyes flashed with surprise, but he did not choose to ask immediately. Instead, he waited for Yang Xiu to continue.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty!"

Yang Xiu ignored the gazes of the ministers and said with a heavy expression: "The policy of opening up wasteland is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, but I failed to restrain my clansmen and let them compete with the people for land. This is my fault!"

"I have severely punished all members of my Yang clan who were involved in this incident, and confiscated all the land they obtained through land reclamation."

"I, the Yang family, am willing to hand over all the land we have gained from the reclamation to the national treasury. I also ask Your Majesty to punish me for not strictly restraining my clansmen!"

Yang Xiu's face was full of guilt. Then he knelt down heavily in front of Liu Xie, took out a thick stack of land deeds from his sleeves and presented it to him with both hands.

But it’s not over yet.

After Yang Xiu finished speaking, Yang Biao also knelt down and said with great self-blame: "Your Majesty, I am also guilty!"

"I have known for a long time that my Yang clan members have occupied my farmland, but due to family ties, I chose to turn a blind eye."

"If your majesty wants to punish me, please punish me. I really don't know!"

Yang Biao burst into tears, with tears streaming down his face.

Yang Xiu was shocked when he heard this. He was shocked and angry and said, "My Yang family has been blessed by the country for generations. How could my father do such a thing to protect the country?"

"Father has betrayed His Majesty's trust in me, Yang!"

His tone was filled with grief, but he couldn't help himself in the end. He looked up at Liu Xie and said with red eyes: "Your Majesty, my father is old, and I, his son, should take the blame for him. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Yang Biao was very anxious when he heard this, and immediately said, "Your Majesty! This matter has nothing to do with my son. Please punish me!"

The father and son argued over the crime and the situation was deadlocked.

All the ministers in the hall were silent at this time.

Especially Fu Wan, Cui Yan, the head of the Dong family and others, although they didn't say a word, the looks they gave Yang Xiu and his son were almost murderous.

This shameless father and son!

How can you be so shameless!

Everybody is trying to make profits by taking advantage of the land development policy, but now you, the Yang family, have jumped out to be the good guys, not only donating all the land, but also staging a drama of a father and son arguing over a crime in front of the emperor. What have they become?

Is it necessary to play like this?
You have to know that although it is somewhat immoral to open up new land and occupy it, it is legal from a legal point of view. It is just taking advantage of a loophole.

If everyone does this, it will be difficult for the emperor to punish them.

However, Yang Xiu not only directly revealed the secret, but also took the initiative to confess his guilt, which was equivalent to directly defining the nature of the matter.

It also gave the emperor a reason to punish everyone!

And how many of the ministers in the palace have clean butts?
On the dragon chair.

Liu Xie looked at Yang Biao and his son crying below, and the ministers who looked as if they had eaten a fly, and almost couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Wonderful, really wonderful!"

Liu Xie gave a thumbs up to Yang Biao and Yang Xiu in his heart.

Even though he knew that the father and son had sold out the major families to win his favor and gain profits for the Yang family, he was deeply satisfied.

Liu Xie pretended to be heartbroken and said to Yang Biao and his son, "My two beloved ministers, you really disappoint me."

"Your Yang family is also a wealthy family with thousands of acres of fertile land. Why do you need to compete with those poor people for land?"

Yang Biao said with tears in his eyes: "I know my crime!"

Liu Xie said with a serious expression: "The national law is in place. Yang Gong protected his clansmen from occupying the land, so I have to punish him."

"However, considering Mr. Yang's loyalty to the Han Dynasty, I will fine him one year's salary and ask him to hand over 70% of the land that the Yang family has developed, and the matter will be over."

Liu Xie raised it high and put it down gently.

The only punishment given was a mild one-year salary deduction, and 70% of the land that Yang had acquired through development was confiscated.

Don't be too extreme in everything.

If he confiscated all of the Yang family's land, he would certainly have to deal with other families severely in the future, but doing so would inevitably lead to great resistance.

It is enough to confiscate 70% and keep 30%.

Yang Biao certainly understood Liu Xie's purpose, and a look of joy appeared on his face. He kowtowed and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

After dealing with Yang Biao, Liu Xie praised Yang Xiu again, saying: "Dezu is very clear about justice, and is impartial and selfless to his clansmen and relatives. He has a very Xianyi style."

"This time you took the initiative to expose and report your tribesmen, and handed over the land you had occupied. Not only are you not guilty, but you have actually done a great deed."

"I will promote you to be the constant attendant and serve me."

Yang Xiu was overjoyed when he heard this!

Currently, there are only two constant assistant ministers in the court: Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. Both of them are confidants favored by the emperor and have entered the central government to participate in government affairs!
The emperor gave him this position.

The meaning is self-evident!

Yang Xiu was so excited that his face flushed red, and he said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, I… thank you for your grace!"

All the ministers in the hall looked at Yang Xiu and Yang Biao with envy, jealousy and hatred, and gnashed their teeth in anger.

They hated themselves for not coming up with this idea earlier, to sell out everyone in order to gain the emperor's favor and gain direct access to the core!

Let Yang Xiu be the first to try it!
Liu Xie looked at everyone, suppressed the smile on his face, and said calmly: "After the court is dismissed, each of you should go back and check your clan."

"I believe that this kind of thing is not only happening within the Yang family. If you, my dear ministers, cannot find out, I will have no choice but to ask the Embroidered Uniform Envoy to conduct a thorough investigation."

Jia Xu smiled slightly and glanced at the ministers.

The existence of the Embroidered Uniform Envoy is no longer a secret. Now everyone in the court knows that the emperor has reorganized the Embroidered Uniform Envoy and put Jia Xu in charge of this agency.

The ministers felt bitter, but they did not dare to say anything and bowed their heads to accept the order.

It is one thing to hand it over voluntarily, and it is another thing to be discovered by the Embroidered Uniform Envoy. If you have to choose between the two, you will definitely choose the former.

At least 30% of the land can be retained.

Liu Xie was very satisfied when he saw this. When he was about to announce the adjournment of the court, Gao Lan hurried into the hall.

"Your Majesty, a great victory in Yangzhou!"

(End of this chapter)