At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

"Cao Hong is a minister! He hides his armaments privately, hides himself in thousands of households, what does he want to do! Ah? He raises his arms, and an army of 1 people can gallop! Thousands of soldiers gallop! Does he want to be emperor?"

Guo Peng slapped the table and roared angrily: "Get out! Find the evidence, and kill him! Kill him!!"

Cheng Yu was frightened and immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

"I obey the order! I will do it immediately!"

"and many more."

Guo Peng stopped Cheng Yu who was about to run out: "First look for evidence, and after you find the evidence, spread the news. I want everyone to know, remember, everyone."

Cheng Yu was puzzled for a moment.

But soon, the fear in his heart overwhelmed his doubts, and he immediately rushed out of the South Study Room to do things according to Guo Peng's needs.

Cheng Yu returned to Sili Xiaowei's mansion, and soon sent people to Cao Hong's manor in Qingzhou and Jizhou to investigate whether there were really a large number of ordnance. This evidence must be obtained.

Then, indeed, a large amount of ordnance was found.

Cao Hong's manor has quite a number of arsenals, and each arsenal contains a large number of weapons. It is indeed not difficult to arm the army.

The only problem is that most of these ordnance are the ordnance of the former Han Dynasty, without the ordnance of the Wei Army, it should be the spoils they got during the process of annexing the manor.

In order to protect their property and status in the former Han Dynasty, it is very normal to train private soldiers to collect ordnance and so on.

But in the state of Wei, after the implementation of the Yantie official-run policy and the prohibition of private possession of ordnance, such things were linked to rebellion, and everyone avoided it.

The evidence is conclusive, and there is nothing to say. Even if Cao Hong was killed because of this, no one can say anything wrong.

For indeed, he committed a capital crime.

There is nothing more to say about this matter.

Chapter 1323 One thousand two hundred and thirty

At the end of November in the ninth year of Yande, an astonishing news spread in Luoyang City.

General Zuo of the Wei Army and Cao Hong, the Marquis of Lecheng, were accused of rebellion by Cheng Yu, the school captain of Sili, because a large amount of ordnance was found in his home estate, and there were blacksmith households and other clearly prohibited existences.

What's more, several manors of Cao Hong were rumored to be related to the rebellious tyrants, and they were punished for several crimes.

Sentenced to death.

Cao Hong was about to be beheaded.

All family property will be confiscated, and family members will be treated cruelly even if they are accused of crimes-men will be beheaded and women will be sold.

Emperor Guo Peng thought of Cao Hong's past achievements, exempted Cao Hong's family from the death penalty, and changed it to exile. They were exiled to Jiaozhou and could never return to the Central Plains.

Because of the conclusive evidence, the emperor was extremely annoyed when he learned of the incident, and Cao Hong was sentenced to death.

The death penalty was determined before the officials knew about it. When the officials knew about it, Cao Hong's death penalty had been sent to the cabinet and the Ministry of Punishment for filing, and then it was supervised by Sili Xiaowei's office.

Cao Cao was dumbfounded at the time, and sat on the ground at a loss, his face full of panic, and he didn't know what happened.

The thing about hiding weapons...

Guo Peng actually...

Want to kill Cao Hong?

Cao Cao's mediation, which he felt confident before, had no effect at all. The emperor did not accept this condition at all, and actually wanted to kill Cao Hong.

This……

How can this be?

Cao Hong is the Cao family, a relative of the Guo family, and the earliest group of Yuan Cong who raised the army with Guo Peng. Yuan Cong is a veteran!

It was loyal and loyal all the way, for the cause of Guo Peng and the Wei Empire.

Although Cao Hong himself was a bit greedy, he was really brave in battle. He climbed to the city first several times, captured the city, and made great achievements.

His status as General Zuo of the Guards was actually accumulated by his military exploits.

Among the generals of the Cao family, Cao Hong's ability is not considered bad, and he is also very experienced in war. He was once considered to be the representative of the generals of the Cao family in the Central Army after Cao Ren retired.

In the end, he was about to be killed.

Cao Cao completely lost his composure.

Of course, not only Cao Cao, but also Cao Chun lost his composure after learning about this.

Not to mention Cao Hong's family, Cao Ren, who hurried back to Luoyang from his hometown in Qiao County when he learned that Cao Hong had something to do, was also stupid.

The news spread to the palace, and when Cao Lan heard about it, she couldn't help shaking her hand even though she often asked herself to be calm, and broke a bowl.

The rest of the generals and officials of the Cao family and the Xiahou family were all outside. They knew that this matter was only a matter of time. The officials and generals of the Cao family in the capital were all shocked by this.

Not only the Cao and Xiahou clans, but also the Guo clan was shocked by this.

If Guo Peng's handling of the Mi family and the Tian family can still be regarded as the fact that the Tian family and the Mi family have followed Guo Peng for a short time and cannot be compared with the Cao family and the Xiahou family, then the treatment of Cao Hong this time is enough to prove Guo Peng's eyes are already red, regardless of his identity.

No matter who you are, as long as you break the red line and break the law, Guo Peng will punish you.

Regardless of whether you are the Xiahou family of the Cao family, in the future even the Guo family members may find it difficult to protect themselves—not counting Guo Yang, the Guo family basically has a little understanding of the affairs between him and Guo Peng.

But the Xiahou family of the Cao family really followed Guo Peng from the beginning of Guo Peng's army, and made great contributions with him in the southern and northern wars.

Cao Hong may have joined relatively late, and did not fight the Yellow Turbans with Guo Peng. Cao Hong came to join him when Guo Peng was promoted to Captain Hu Karasuma after the Battle of the Yellow Turbans, at the same time as Cheng Yu.

But despite this, Cao Hong was also Yuan Cong. Before that, except for Zang Hong who was killed because of political issues and Guo Peng's confrontation, Guo Peng did not kill any Yuan Cong.

Mi Zhu was rescued.

But this time...

Cao Cao pleaded for mercy, but was scolded by Guo Peng.

Guo Jia pleaded for mercy, but was angrily reprimanded by Guo Peng.

Zaozhi and Wang Can pleaded together, but Guo Peng hit him on the head with a plea form and kicked them out of the South Study Room, and they were not allowed to bring up the matter again.

The censor doctor Guo Hong and the censor Zhongcheng Qiaorui pleaded together, but Guo Peng didn't see them at all, so he hung them outside the South Study Room and refused to let them in.

Cao Chun went to the table to intercede, but Guo Peng threw the table to the cabinet and didn't even look at it.

Cao Ren, who had already retired, pleaded with tears of blood as a duke, but Guo Peng burned his petition and ignored it.

The staff officer ordered Xizhong to intercede, but Guo Peng angrily reprimanded him [Unclear, An Neng is the staff order], so frightened that Xizhong no longer dared to speak.

Yuan Cong's old officials and new cronies who had some status and power among the hundred officials came forward one after another, trying to get Guo Peng to take back his life. At worst, he had to be like Mi Zhu, at least to save his life and not be killed.

Cao Hong is a real general, a hero from Yuan Cong, who fought with Guo Peng all the way, and his current status cannot be said that he did not fight all the way by himself.

Although Guo Peng has denounced Yuan Cong's old ministers to this day, he has never killed Cao Hong's meritorious veterans.

This is not a good sign.

The relationship between the emperor and Yuan Cong's veterans symbolized the internal balance of the ruling group in the early empire and the power checks and balances within the entrepreneurial group.

When this balance is broken, the empire is no longer the striving group that it was in the entrepreneurial period.

Obviously, this balance has been broken now, and the emperor even wants to punch through this balance, so that there is not even a single frame left for this balance to exist.

Nowadays, when the imperial power is extremely expanded, none of the courtiers is not worried about their personal safety.

Now that Cao Hong was about to be killed, the rabbit died and the fox was in grief, regardless of whether they had any relationship with Cao Hong or whether they had any enmity, they all went to the table to try to save Cao Hong.

If Cao Hong is not dead, the political atmosphere of the Wei Empire can barely be maintained, and everyone's personal safety is still guaranteed.

If Cao Hong were to die, the political atmosphere in the Wei Empire would take a turn for the worse, and everyone would be in danger. No one would know whether their head would still be alive tomorrow.

When the emperor gets angry, when they go to court, they have to prepare suicide notes, coffins, and say goodbye to their families in advance. .

This is very scary.

Who wants to live such a life?

But their continuous efforts not only failed to save Cao Hong, but angered the emperor instead.

Dong Zhao, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and Xinbi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, went to the rescue of Cao Hong. The emperor was probably annoyed, and in a fit of anger gave the two of them twenty court sticks each. Dare not continue to save Cao Hong.

Cao Cao really couldn't accept this situation and risked his life to plead for mercy. Guo Peng was furious and ordered Cao Cao to be grounded and not allowed to leave the house until Cao Hong was killed.

Cao Cao was forcibly taken out of the palace and locked in his own home, where he was not allowed to leave the house, surrounded by black-armored guards and inner court eunuchs to supervise him, and Cao Cao was not allowed to go out until Cao Hong was killed.

There is also gossip in the inner palace that the emperor lived directly in the South Study Room in order to avoid the empress' intercession, and did not go to the harem to avoid interference from the harem.

And it is strictly ordered that no one, including the princes, will be allowed to intercede for Cao Hong. If there is one, we will never tolerate it!

Cao Hong's death penalty was determined to death.

Sili school lieutenant Cheng Yu submitted Cao Hong's conviction report to the emperor overnight, which was approved by the emperor.

In order to avoid long nights and dreams, the emperor ordered that three days later, on the second day of December in the ninth year of Yande, Cao Hong should be executed.

There were only three days left, and the entire high-level circle of the central court fell into an atmosphere of bleakness and fear.

They thought about Cao Hong who was about to be executed, tasted the emperor's murderous aura permeating the air, and thought of themselves who might encounter the same situation in the future, despairing and shivering.

Today is Cao Hong, and tomorrow it may be me. Cao's relatives and Yuan Cong's veteran will not be forgiven, and they will all be killed, let alone their foreign ministers?

The coercion of the imperial power made them breathless and painful.

They retreated one after another, retreating far away, worshiping the mighty imperial power, trembling under the pressure of the imperial power, and humblely begging for survival.

And in such an atmosphere, only one person went upstream and walked out of a different path.

Crown Prince Guo Jin.

On the morning of the first day of December in the ninth year of Yande, the Crown Prince and Yin Guojin of Henan came to Sili Xiaowei's Mansion, accompanied by Lu Yi, Cao Zhen, Lu Yu, Xia Houshang, Cao Tai, Xia Houheng, and Guan Ping.

chapter 1324 one thousand two hundred and thirty four

Before the incident, Guo Jin set off to conduct research in various counties in Yin, Henan, and observe the production and population conditions of each county.

After more than ten days of research, I just returned to Luoyang on the afternoon of November [-]th.

When I heard this, I was shocked.

Cao Zhen, Xia Houshang, Cao Tai, and Xia Houheng are all descendants of relatives, and they are also related to Cao Hong. When they learned about this, they were shocked and looked at Guo Jin in a panic.

Guo Jin pondered for a moment, and asked about the situation of Lu Yu who stayed behind.

Lu Yu told the relevant situation again.

In Cao Hong's manor, there are privately hidden weapons, blacksmiths and other illegal existences, and they can pull up an army to rebel at any time, so Cheng Yu, the captain of Sili, accused him of having the intention of rebelling.

The emperor was furious and decided to execute Cao Hong.

It is true that Cao Hong hid weapons privately, and there were blacksmiths in the manor.

However, there are different opinions on whether to rebel, and no one can give an accurate answer, and most people think it is impossible.

Cao Hong's identity and status, as well as his previous style of behavior are enough to show that he is not a person who will rebel, and it is unnecessary, even unimaginable. No one thinks that Cao Hong will rebel.

Cao Zhen, Xia Houshang, Cao Tai, and Xia Houheng firmly believed that Cao Hong could not rebel.

They knew what kind of person Cao Hong was like.

Very rich, but also very stingy, preoccupied, and finally borrowing a little money, and still chasing after debts, withholding money, how can he have the demeanor of doing big things?

The relatives of Cao's family and Xiahou's family all had a very negative view of Cao Hong, and it was almost unpopular to publicize him as a negative teaching material for the city.

This can also rebel?

impossible!

There must be something wrong with this!

This old thief Cheng Yu must be trying to frame Zhongliang!

They pointed the finger at Cheng Yu, hoping that Guo Jin could do something.

Lu Yu expressed his disapproval, and told Guo Jin the tragic situation after the ministers came to rescue.