At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

"Didn't I ask Zhong De to investigate this matter now?"

Guo Peng frowned in displeasure: "Do you know what this incident has become? Do you know how bad this incident has caused? Since I started clearing the land, people have been making troubles!

Cao Hong's manor, Qiao Rui's adjutant, Guo Yang's Huangzhuang, and Mi Zhu's protection!Everything was done by people around me, people related to the royal family!Where does this tell me to put my face? "

Chapter 1317 One Thousand 220 Seven Pang Tong Suddenly Understands Everything

Facing Guo Peng's anger, Cao Cao quickly knelt down and pleaded guilty.

He is very familiar with Guo Peng's methods of doing things and the means of dealing with his courtiers.

Anyway, just plead guilty and never contradict the emperor, that's fine.

As long as you do something like contradicting Guo Peng, you won't have this life, and you can wait for the next life to start a new life.

"I... I am guilty, I am guilty!"

Guo Peng waved his hand.

"Get up, you are not guilty, others are guilty, but the more this is the case, the more people will associate these things with me. Outsiders don't know the difference between the emperor and the royal family, and they don't know the difference between us relatives. Just know that we are one.

If one person makes a mistake, the whole group is a jerk. If one person is guilty, the whole group is a criminal. This is the view of outsiders. Now that the royal family and their relatives have accidents one after another, I am the emperor, am I afraid that I am also guilty? "

Cao Cao was taken aback.

"No, Your Majesty is not guilty, the one who is guilty is someone else, not Your Majesty!"

"Others won't see it that way!"

Guo Peng said angrily: "Besides, what is Cao Hong doing? I can't manage such a big manor by myself. If something like that happens, rebellion, rebellion! My own son wouldn't dare to do that. How dare he?"

Cao Cao quickly defended himself.

"Your Majesty, there are too many problems in this matter, many of which make people puzzled, such as those letters, once normal people see that the rebellion subsides, they will definitely destroy those letters in a hurry, how can they be kept after so long Now, where was it finally discovered?"

Pang Tong, who was standing aside, had already finished reading the playbook, and was now silently listening to the conversation between Guo Peng and Cao Cao, and felt that what Cao Cao said made sense.

This method of framing is not advanced, and normal people can figure out the awkwardness here.

It has been so long since the rebellion was quelled. If you insist on incriminating evidence, you must be able to justify yourself. Once a normal person sees that the rebels are gone, they will definitely destroy the evidence of collaborating with the enemy before it is too late. How can they still keep it and even be discovered?

It doesn't make sense at all.

Cao Cao wanted to use this method to prove that he was right, and Pang Tong also agreed in his heart.

But unfortunately, the emperor didn't think so.

"You said that normal people would do this, but what if the people in his manor are not normal?"

The emperor was dumbfounded by what Cao Cao and Pang Tong said in one sentence.

This……

This does not mean that the people in Cao Hong Manor must be normal. What if they are abnormal?

Many things are really outrageous. There have been many brain-dead incidents from ancient times to the present, such as being drowned in feces, being smashed by a cauldron and bleeding to death, or choking to death after eating a piece of cake. , These things are so abnormal, but they happened.

Based on this, Guo Peng said that those people in Cao Hong Manor were not normal, but they were also normal, right?

"Not to mention, there is already evidence to prove that they rebelled, but there is no evidence to prove that they were wronged. If you want to prove that they were wronged, you must provide convincing evidence. Otherwise, why say that they did not What about guilt?"

Guo Peng added another sentence, and now Cao Cao didn't know if he had made a mistake.

Pang Tong was also a little confused, and he went around to show the emperor that he couldn't think anymore.

Cao Cao calmed down with great difficulty and felt that he could not continue.

"Your Majesty, the matter of rebellion is really too big. Let alone Zi Lian, he...does Your Majesty really believe that Zi Lian will rebel?"

This question is very level.

Guo Peng pursed his lips and thought about Cao Hong's behavior.

Military is remarkable, he is a good general, politically he is a complete coward, and economically he is a complete miser.

It can also be said that he is a man with only blood and courage.

Indeed, Cao Hong can only display his bloody courage on the battlefield, and if he is out of that environment, he is a coward.

Guo Peng beat him, but he didn't dare to fight back, asked him to collect taxes, he didn't dare to resist, and took Cao's caravan as his own, he was bitter and dared not resist.

If it were other tyrants, they would really stand up and resist with force, but Cao Hong didn't seem to have done anything other than lying on the ground and crying loudly.

Now it is suddenly said that Cao Hong is inseparable from the rebellion. For people who are relatively familiar with Cao Hong, it is indeed a bit of an insult to the intelligence quotient.

But so what?

Excuse, the excuse is already in hand, with this excuse, you can do a lot of things, Guo Jin took a lot of effort to pass this excuse to Guo Peng, of course Guo Peng can't just increase the difficulty of Guo Jin's completion of the test .

Guo Jin has not yet dismembered Cao Hong's power, so it is the right choice to use the power of others to help him achieve this goal.

He found Cheng Yu for help, which seemed very clever to Guo Peng.

Killing someone with a borrowed knife is not something that anyone can do well. Without sufficient preparation, it is easy to be bitten back.

But so far, Guo Jin has kept herself well hidden, and no one has discovered her. The Cao family doesn't know who is going to mess with them. Of course, it is impossible for Guo Peng to say.

There are a few flaws, but...

It's not bad. Now that Guo's father and son are in this position, a few small flaws can't change anything. Qin Hui can kill Yue Fei because it's Zhao Jiumei's intention. , how could the Cao family escape from his Wuzhishan?

Even if you think about it, you know it's impossible.

"It's not that I don't know what kind of person he is, that's why I asked Zhong De to investigate instead of directly taking him into prison for interrogation. Tell me this here, why not find proof that he is innocent!"

Guo Peng looked very annoyed: "Such a big manor is not managed well, and such a big incident caused people to doubt you, Cao. Is this something I would like to see? What is the problem? Why Cao Hong? Go back and think about it carefully!"

After speaking, Guo Peng let Cao Cao leave without giving him any more chances to defend himself.

Naturally, Guo Peng thought that Cao Cao would not be unable to understand this kind of thing. If he could not understand this matter, he would not be Cao Mengde.

After Cao Cao left, Guo Peng turned to look at Pang Tong who was standing beside him.

"Shi Yuan, tell me, is Cao Hong really innocent?"

Pang Tong was stunned for a moment, blinked his eyes, and was about to say something, but realized something, pursed his lips, and then spoke slowly.

"I don't know the ins and outs of this matter, I don't know General Cao's character, and I don't know what's going on in those manors. I only know that this matter is related to rebellion. It must be taken seriously and must not be tolerated."

Guo Peng looked at Pang Tong and grinned.

"You're right. Even if it's related to the Cao family, this matter can't be taken lightly, but... Shi Yuan, do you think there is any problem with that evidence? Is it true or false?"

Pang Tong hesitated for a moment.

"I think that this evidence is unlikely to be true."

"Because you also think that those who manage the manor will not be stupid enough to keep the evidence of collaborating with the enemy until now?"

"Yes……"

"Well, it's interesting."

Guo Peng nodded: "However, why do I feel that these evidences seem true?"

Really?

Pang Tong felt a little difficult to understand what Guo Peng meant.

"Your Majesty, this..."

"Shiyuan, there are some things that don't really matter whether they are true or false. The important thing is something other than true or false."

Pang Tong frowned for a moment, then suddenly his eyes widened.

He felt that he seemed to understand what Guo Peng meant by these words.

I just don't know if Cao Cao has understood it.

This is crucial.

Chapter 1318 One thousand two hundred and twenty-eight Cao Cao suddenly opened his eyes

After Cao Cao left the South Study Room, he didn't go back to the cabinet to check on the room. Seeing that it was getting late, he went straight home.

Back home, Mrs. Ding greeted her anxiously.

"How about Zilian?"

Cao Cao sighed and shook his head.

"The situation is not good. Someone is manipulating behind the scenes and targeting Zilian secretly. I find this incident very strange."

Madam Ding frowned.

"Zilian's wife came, and when she came, she hugged me and cried, saying that Cheng Zhongde was very brutal when he went to arrest people, and he didn't even know if Zilian was going to be killed."

"kill?"

Cao Cao shook his head again and again: "No, Zilian is not guilty at all. Even if someone under his command has lost his head and done something wrong, Zilian is still innocent. If there is something wrong with Zilian, the entire guard army will be implicated. Look at the current guard Isn’t the army all right? Zilian will be fine.”

"But isn't Zi Lian taken away by Cheng Zhongde now? Who is Cheng Zhongde? How many people have died under his hands? No one in the whole capital dares to make things difficult for Cheng Zhongde."

Mrs. Ding said worriedly: "Otherwise, let's ask someone to enter the palace, please Alan? I feel that only Alan can convince His Majesty."

Cao Cao was quite moved, but after thinking about it, he still felt that something was wrong.

"Before, Mi Zizhong broke the law, Mi's family was investigated, many people died, and the family properties of many branches were confiscated. Mrs. Mi in the palace never came forward to participate in this matter from the beginning to the end. Now Mrs. Mi's treatment remains the same. , I haven’t heard of any problems, I think this is the correct way.”

Cao Cao shook his head.

"Your Majesty has always insisted that the harem should not be involved in politics, and the wives in the harem have never participated in any government affairs. At most, they wrote letters to persuade the clansmen not to confront His Majesty. Presumably it was His Majesty's request. Now we rashly ask Alan to intercede, in case His Majesty is angry... ..."

Cao Cao didn't continue talking, but Mrs. Ding basically understood what Cao Cao meant.

Compared with them, Cao Lan's status is the biggest guarantee of the Cao family.

When the emperor was furious, Mi Zhu was almost killed. The beggar said that for the sake of Mrs. Mi and Mrs. Mi's sons and daughters, let Mi Zhu go, and don't do things that hurt the feelings of the family.

Guo Peng did take these things into consideration, so he didn't attack Mi Zhu, but spared Mi Zhu's life.

The women in the harem can't do anything directly, but they can make Guo Peng worry because of their own existence.

Madam Mi is like this, Cao Lan is even more so.

Doing nothing may be the best statement.

Cao Cao told Mrs. Ding what he was thinking, and Mrs. Ding thought it made sense, so she went back and told Cao Hong's wife about it, telling her not to worry, Cao Hong's life would not be in danger.

Since Cao Hong was not in danger of his life, Cao Hong's wife left Cao Cao's mansion crying. Cao Cao was just about to have a meal here, and Cao Chun came over there.

"Brother, what's the matter? Zilian...how could it be?"

Cao Chun and Cao Hong served together in the Guard Army. They went on an expedition to the Western Regions with the army, and later came back with Guo Jin. They have been recuperating all the time.

Now he is recuperating, when he suddenly learned that Cao Hong was gone, he was shocked, and immediately went to Cao Cao's mansion to inquire about the news - Cao Ren had already returned to his hometown in Qiao County for vacation, and even if Cao Ren was here, it would be nothing use.

Cao Cao shook his head helplessly and smiled wryly.

"Have you had dinner?"

"How can I even think about eating? It's all over."

"Let's eat a little before talking, after all, we have to eat."

Cao Cao left Cao Chun for dinner, and then told him about it.

Cao Chun was furious when he heard this.

"How can someone be so stupid? After the rebellion has subsided, why do you still keep the letters between the two parties? I'm afraid that others will not know?"

Cao Cao shook his head with a wry smile.

"I thought so too, but this is just speculation, not evidence. The person who plotted Zilian behind his back came up with evidence. His Majesty was very angry, so he asked Cheng Zhongde to take Zilian away and assist in the investigation. I don't know what's going on with Zilian right now."

"Who is plotting against Zilian behind his back?"