At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Guo Jin lowered his throat: "Mr. Cheng, Your Majesty told me one thing a few days ago, and His Majesty hoped that I could do it, but I think it's very tricky, and it's not something I can do." , so I hope I can ask Cheng Gong for help."

Cheng Yu frowned.

"His Royal Highness, please tell me."

"It's about Cao Hong, the left general of the guard."

Guo Jin sighed: "Mr. Cheng should also know that General Cao is the richest man in the world, with more than 20 mu of land in his family, and more than [-] tenants and tenants. His power is huge and spread all over Sili, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou and Jizhou. Does Cheng Gong think it is suitable for the vast family business?"

Cheng Yu immediately understood the purpose of Guo Jin's visit.

But he was very surprised. He felt that such a thing should not have been entrusted to the prince by the emperor, but right now, the prince is really doing this.

The crown prince's mother, the current empress, can be named Cao.

Before the attack on the Cao family, that is, the collection of agricultural taxes on Qingzhang land, there was no deliberate attack, and the result...

Actually let the crown prince do such a thing?

Let the crown prince do such a thing to his own mother clan and to an important support for his stable rule after he ascends the throne?

What is the emperor thinking?

Cheng Yu didn't dare to continue to think about Guo Peng's thoughts, so he said: "General Cao owns more than [-] mu of land, which is indeed too large.

However, some of these lands existed before His Majesty took the throne, and the later expansions were all manor lands plundered from powerful hands. There is really no problem. Strictly speaking, it did not violate His Majesty's regulations. "

Guo Jin nodded.

"Actually, I also view this matter in the same way, but Cheng Gong, His Majesty has such a request, and we can't change it. What His Majesty means is that General Cao has too much land, and the manor has too many people.

Too much is a bit too much, and it's not in line with the way of being a minister, so Your Majesty hopes that I can do it myself, return the part of the land in the hands of General Cao, and return it to ordinary farmers to cultivate, instead of concentrating all of it in the hands of General Cao. "

Cheng Yu understood Guo Jin's reason for coming.

It is well known that the emperor hates land annexation. In order to clean up the land annexers and stop the momentum of land annexation, the emperor did not hesitate to set off a huge change.

Right now, the reform is almost over, but as some people who have made no mistakes in politics, the emperor has no aboveboard reason to take action against them.

Mr. Guo has always paid attention to a legitimate name when doing things. Even if it is a fabricated reason, he must give a reason to fool everyone. There is no such thing as saying here and doing it there.

But this time the situation was different. The target was Cao Hong and the Cao family. Guo Peng might feel that this matter was different from other matters, so he actually wanted to hand over this matter to Guo Jin.

It's not that Guo Jin can't do this, but Guo Jin also has difficulties.

Chapter 1314 One thousand 220 four makes His Majesty unhappy, this is the greatest sin

First of all, in terms of kinship, Cao Hong is Guo Jin's elder. This relationship is here, and he will be a little scruples and a little embarrassed when he makes a move.

Moreover, Empress Cao is Guo Jin's mother, whose surname is Cao. If Guo Jin comes here blatantly and persecutes Cao Hong blatantly, it will be hard to explain it over there.

So that part is really a problem.

Cao Hong had already handed over part of his benefits, and carried out the work of measuring the land. He was willing to pay as much tax as he wanted every year, but Guo Peng and his son were still unwilling to let him go.

But this can't be blamed on the royal father and son, Cao Hong's goal is really too big.

With more than 20 mu of land and more than 1 hidden households, they are larger, richer, and more populous than some small countries in the Spring and Autumn Period. What are you Cao Zilian doing?

Are you trying to take the opportunity to cause trouble?

If you are smart enough, you should hand over these things yourself, find a better reason, and flatter the emperor, and your end will not necessarily be worse than Cao Ren.

But you don't have that awareness.

Now, let the royal father and son keep an eye on you and find a way to get you.

Against the emperor, can you still have a good end?

Cheng Yu felt that the whole of Luoyang, which had been terrified by his style of handling things recently, was very suitable for doing this kind of thing, so Guo Jin followed him.

It was inconvenient for Guo to do this kind of thing, but Cheng Yu was not worried.

The crown prince has never experienced the cruelty of political struggle, so he knows the high-end political skills of killing people with a knife.

Yes, yes, the Wei Empire has successors.

Cheng Yu laughed at himself, then straightened his face and looked at Guo Jin seriously.

"His Royal Highness thinks that Cao Hong is guilty?"

Guo Jin pursed her lips and shook her head.

"It should be innocent. Cao Hong did not violate the laws of the country. He did not annex the farm land. What he annexed was the land of those big landlords, and those lands were not within the scope of the imperial court's registration."

"No, he's guilty."

Cheng Yu shook his head.

This surprised Guo Jin.

"What is he guilty of?"

"He made His Majesty dissatisfied, this is a crime."

Cheng Yu said: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, governing on behalf of Heaven, with the constitution of heaven in his mouth, and following the law when he speaks. Whatever His Majesty says, he does. Cao Zilian dissatisfied His Majesty and made His Majesty unhappy. This is the greatest sin. What is there to question?"

Guo Jin immediately felt that Cheng Yu was right.

"What Chenggong said is very true. To dissatisfy His Majesty is the greatest crime. The crime committed by Cao Hong is really great."

"Yes, it's really big."

Cheng Yu nodded: "So to punish Cao Zilian, let Cao Zilian change his wrong ways, return the land that Fei Fei occupied to the government, and let the government distribute it, that is a matter of course and right. If Cao Zilian objects, it is a crime of treason."

"Treason?"

Guo Jin was a little surprised, she didn't expect Cheng Yu to accuse someone like that.

"Yes, treason. The emperor has an order. If the ministers don't follow it, it is a crime. If they resist, it is the crime of treason. The crime of treason is a crime that can be executed."

"But... this... this is not to the point of beheading, is it?"

Guo Jin was a little surprised that Cheng Yu's fighting power was so strong.

"Whether to be executed or not depends entirely on Cao Zilian's own behavior. If he can admit his mistakes in time and hand over what he shouldn't get, then he won't have to die, but if he persists in his obsession, the problem will be serious."

Cheng Yu solemnly said words that Guo Jin couldn't think of.

"But... this... this matter, it's inconvenient for me and His Majesty to come forward, right?"

It was so simple for Guo Jin to seek Cheng Yu's help, because he was too embarrassed to personally impeach Cao Hong.

Guo Peng told him that he can use any means, and everything is up to his own will. Guo Jin thought about it and felt that killing people with a knife can be used.

Otherwise, he would be really depressed facing the large group of Cao's children during festivals.

Of course, at this time, Guo Jin also finally realized the unpleasant feeling that Guo Peng had brought to him when he said that "the whole court is full of Cao's children".

There are too many, and you have to be scruples here and there. Those guys are greedy and never think about the emperor. They only know their own interests, not the emperor's interests.

Under such circumstances, Guo Jin accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction.

These dissatisfaction accumulated slowly, to a certain extent, which made Guo Jin very uncomfortable.

So when Guo Peng told him to let him personally dismember Cao Hong's manor, apart from hesitation, he still felt a bit of insignificant joy in his heart.

That kind of happy feeling that you don't have to be tied up all of a sudden after being tied up for a long time.

It's really enjoyable, really.

But after thinking about it, he was envious of his father's tyrannical tactics when he saw his father beat the world's tyrants with swift and violent methods, but he didn't know what to do when he faced Cao Hong's manor.

He didn't know what excuse to use to attack, or in other words, excuses were not important, what was important was that he didn't know what he should do when faced with a group of Cao's relatives after he attacked.

Especially when facing the mother.

No, I can't show up in person, I have to hide behind the scenes, absolutely not known.

Guo Jin determined this basic principle.

After that, he thought of Cheng Yu, who had a very bad reputation in Luoyang City recently, comparable to a devil.

Cheng Yu dared to clean up anyone, and not long ago he dealt with Guo Jun's father-in-law Yuan Si severely. Yuan Si didn't dare to let a fart go, and he vomited out all the land in Runan County.

If it was Cheng Yu, there must be a way to dismember Cao Hong's manor, so that Cao Hong could not continue to annex the land, expand his power, and could no longer threaten the rule of the Guo Wei Empire.

With this in mind, Guo Jin came to seek Cheng Yu's help. At the same time, he also wanted to learn something from Cheng Yu.

Learn a little trick.

And Cheng Yu also knew very well that it was not convenient to come forward directly, which was the main reason why Guo Jin came to seek his help.

"Naturally, there is no need for His Majesty and Your Highness to come forward. The reason why the old minister said this is to tell His Highness that Cao Hong is not innocent. Cao Hong is guilty, and the crime is serious and minor. It is only in Your Majesty's opinion."

Guo Jin expressed his understanding.

"Then, how do we dismember Cao Hong's manor and force him to spit out his land and population?"

Cheng Yu pinched his beard and smiled.

"Why do you need to worry, Your Highness? There is nothing to worry about the so-called crime of wanting to commit crimes. What's more, this is something His Majesty entrusts His Highness to do. In this matter, His Highness can also commit crimes that he wants to commit. There is no reason to worry about it."

"How to say?"

Guo Jin asked quickly.

"Cao Zilian's manor is so vast and spread across several states, he must not be managing it alone. Usually, he must entrust the management of the manor spread across several states to others."

"Yes, as far as I know, the Cao Clan's manor is managed by Cao Hong's cronies and servants, and only in terms of specific accounts will some Cao Clan people be arranged to review and check, so as to prevent the people below from profiting from it. "

"Then it's all right? The stewards of Cao Zilian's several state manors are all in contact with those manor owners who rebelled before, and they have written letters. They have evil intentions and intend to rebel!"

Cheng Yu grinned, very viciously.

"This……"

Guo Jin turned pale with shock: "Mr. Cheng, this... how could Mrs. Cao do such a thing? It's impossible for him? If you tell me, will anyone believe it?"

"It doesn't matter what you believe."

Cheng Yu spread his hands: "The purpose of His Highness is to dismember Cao Zilian's manor and force him to spit out the land. As long as this purpose is achieved, it doesn't matter what means are used. Your Highness, didn't His Majesty also say that His Highness is free to use any means to destroy the land?" Do you want to do this? Could it be that His Highness can't bear it?"

Guo Jin was silent for a while.

Chapter 1315 One thousand two hundred and twenty five someone wants to frame me!

The Cao family is a relative, the same as the Xiahou family. They are two die-hard families who have followed Guo Peng since the earliest incident and have firmly supported Guo Peng until now.

The Guo family and the Xiahou family and the Cao family were intermarried, so both the Xiahou family and the Cao family are called relatives.

Therefore, the Xiahou family and the Cao family have always been regarded as Guo's die-hard loyalists.

No matter what happens, the Cao family and the Xiahou family will definitely support the Guo family unconditionally. This is something everyone will believe, and it is also something Guo Jin is willing to believe.

Although Guo Peng punished Cao Cao many times, he never caused any substantial blow to Cao Cao. He used him repeatedly while punishing him, and trusted him very much.

It should be the same with other Cao's children.

just.

Guo Jin still remembers that once, Guo Peng said something to him.

Guo Peng told him that he had no relatives, no uncle, only Cao Cao, the chief assistant of the cabinet.

He kept this passage in his heart, and kept telling himself not to act emotionally.

He has done this to many people, but Guo Jin has been deliberately avoiding the Cao family and the Cao family who is related to his mother until Guo Peng gave him this task.

Guo Peng had already retired Cao Ren before that and took back all of Cao Ren's powers. In a sense, Guo Peng solved Cao Ren.

Now, it's Cao Hong's turn.

It's Guo Jin's turn.

This kind of thing can't be done well, what face do you have to say that you are a qualified heir in front of your father?