Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 126 Xu Chu: I touched your hair!

As usual, Liu Bian handed the matter of confiscating property and exterminating the family over to Guo Tu to handle, but he deliberately asked Cao Song to assist him and teach Guo Tu how to confiscate property.

With a sharp weapon in the body, the murderous heart starts from the beginning.

Guo Tu is not lacking in ruthlessness, but what he lacks is experience and insight.

Outside the gate of Lord Ping's palace, Guo Tu and Cao Song stood side by side, with two hundred guards from the Prince's Palace led by Xu Chu behind them.

The warm sunlight shines on the suits of armor, emitting a dark and cold light.

Naturally, there was no need for Guo Tu, the Chief Justice, and Cao Song, the Minister of Agriculture, to knock on the door personally.

Xu Chu raised his thick eyebrows slightly, and with long strides, he took the initiative to pass the two of them, reached out and grasped the door knocker painted with gold foil, knocked hard on the red door, and shouted loudly: "The Minister of Agriculture and the Chief Supervisor of the Court of Justice are here to serve under the order of the emperor. You will open the door immediately!"

"Calling for souls! We at the Heike clan's mansion do not accept outside visitors!"

Perhaps he was used to being domineering, and when Xu Chu knocked on the door, he only uttered a scolding. As for the Grand Minister of Agriculture with a rank of two thousand stones and the Chief Justice of the Court with a rank of more than a thousand stones who were standing outside the door as Xu Chu mentioned, the people inside the door turned a deaf ear to them and did not even open the door a crack.

This inevitably made Xu Chu, who was standing in front of the door, look somewhat embarrassed.

But this could not change the fate of the Taira clan.

Although there were some minor disturbances regarding Cao Song's impeachment of Zhao Rao, the court officials had almost no objection to Zhao Rao's treatment, and they all firmly supported the prince's decision to execute his entire family.

The reason was that Zhao Rao and her relatives and followers were too arrogant and almost offended all the powerful people in the capital.

There are relatives and friends in the capital everywhere, and a thousand-stone official is no match for a dog. Therefore, there are very few cases in Luoyang City where people cause trouble and eventually bring disaster to their families.

Unless the two parties in conflict are the eunuch group and the scholar class.

Zhao Rao is another unique case.

"Hanguanjiuyi·Volume 2" states: "Palace ladies select official maids who are eight years old or older, serving the empress or below, and marry at the age of thirty-five. Wet nurses are official maids."

Official maids were those who were confined to the imperial palace because of a crime. Men were official slaves, and women were official maids. In other words, Zhao Rao was a woman who was confined to the imperial palace as a slave because of a crime. She was a pariah and a household slave!

But this household slave was different from the eunuchs and other household slaves of the emperor. Although they were all household slaves, the wet nurse still had the grace of feeding the child. No matter how crazy the scholar was, he would not dare to attack Zhao Rao easily.

Because of this, Zhao Rao became rampant and unbridled. The relatives, guests, and servants in the palace acted recklessly and even beat scholars in the streets. But who dared to touch the emperor's wet nurse?
Even though the censors repeatedly advised the emperor to impeach Zhao Rao, Liu Hong, who gradually understood the reasons why Emperor Xiaohuan implemented the Party Ban, was in the midst of a fierce battle with the scholars by taking advantage of the eunuchs.

When Zhao Rao heard about the censor's impeachment and the quarrel with the scholars, he not only did not take it as an offense, but praised it highly and gave him pearls and jade and increased his fief.

So Zhao Rao became more and more unscrupulous, even beating jailers and tax collectors, and even ignoring the three dukes and nine ministers. Anyway, no one could deal with her.

Zhang Ji, who was also a member of the eunuch group, met Zhao Rao as the prime minister of the current dynasty. His servants asked him to let Zhao Rao go first, but he had no choice.

This is also the reason why the servants of Zhao Rao's family dared to refuse even Cao Song, the Minister of Agriculture, from entering the house!

Xu Chu, who was turned away, remained expressionless. He slowly turned around and looked at Guo Tu and Cao Song, saying calmly, "Grand Minister of Agriculture Cao, Chief Supervisor Guo, I am a warrior and not good at speaking."

Cao Song and Guo Tu looked at each other and nodded slightly, not wanting to make things difficult for the prince's trusted and beloved general. So Cao Song took a step forward, ready to try to knock on the door himself.

If even knocking on the door was of no avail, he planned to ask the prince for instructions, and after receiving the order, he would order someone to break down the door directly.

Xu Chu stretched out his hand to block Cao Song's attack, shook his head slightly, and then looked at the guards of the Crown Prince's Mansion behind him and shouted, "Bring up the baton for me!"

Two guards from the Crown Prince's Palace came forward, one in front and one behind, holding a battering ram. The front part of the battering ram was conical and wrapped with a thick piece of iron.

"Go, get out of the way!"

However, Xu Chu did not let the two men bang on the door. Instead, he snatched the battering ram from the two guards of the Prince's Mansion with his hands like iron pliers. The muscles in his arms bulged instantly, and blue veins popped out and wrapped around the pair of thick arms like thin snakes.

Cao Song stared at Guo Tu with wide eyes, full of shock, and hurriedly pointed at Xu Chu, opening his mouth but unable to say anything.

Guo Tu, however, remained calm, having discerned Cao Song's intention from his silent expression. Turning his gaze towards Xu Chu, who had already ascended the steps to the palace gate, carrying a baton, he said calmly, "Xu Zhongkang and Dian Junming are different from the others. They are the Crown Prince's most trusted generals."

Cao Song was lost in thought when he heard this, sensing that Guo Tu seemed to be hiding something. Sun Wentai, Lü Fengxian, Guan Yu, and the like were all valiant generals of their day, so why had Dian Junming and Xu Zhongkang stood out from the crowd and become the crown prince's most trusted generals?
On the steps, Xu Chu picked up the striker indifferently and looked at the red door.

Guo Tu and Cao Song were still somewhat wary of Zhao Rao, but Xu Chu did not need to be so.

When the prince said he wanted to confiscate the property and execute the clan, he led his troops to help Guo Tu and Cao Song confiscate the property and execute the clan, and he was determined to complete the task assigned by the prince no matter how difficult it was.

And since you don’t answer my knock on the door, then break it in!
As Xu Chu slammed the battering ram against the mansion door, Cao Song heard the loud bang and was instantly enlightened.

Whatever the prince wanted to do but was difficult to do or even inconvenient to express his opinion on, Xu Chu not only helped him do it, but he also never asked for permission.

If such a sensible general were not the most trusted, it would seem that the prince was not good at judging people.

The conversation between Cao Song and Guo Tu did not reach Xu Chu's ears. After only seven hits, before the servants inside the door could react, several deep holes were left on the door, and the door bolt was broken.

However, Cao Song looked at the hole on the red door, frowned slightly, and then looked at the door knocker wrapped in gold foil, as if thinking about something.

Looking at Xu Chu holding the wooden hammer and looking very imposing, all the servants became angry instantly.

The Ping family did not participate in state affairs. Even if there were eunuchs in the palace who had contact with Zhao Rao, they did not dare to inform her of the news, and they did not even know why Xu Chu broke in.

Hey, you tip off other criminals for the sake of reward, but what do you gain by tipping off a dying man?
Are you hoping that he will appear in your dream in the middle of the night to thank you?
Cao Song laughed at himself, wondering how come he, a man of his age, was not as smart and insightful as a 23-year-old warrior? He almost had to ask for permission.

But if Cao Song were given another chance to choose, he would still choose to ask for permission.

Politicians who have lived to a certain age are accustomed to seeking benefits and avoiding harm. This is a consciousness engraved in their bones, and they will never act without orders.

Just as he was feeling emotional, a group of retainers and servants from Lord Taira's residence rushed out shouting and holding swords, bows and crossbows, and surrounded Xu Chu. Seeing this, the guards from the Crown Prince's residence also drew their swords and rushed forward.

The clanking sounds of unsheathed blades echoed one after another. As the two groups confronted each other, the leader of the Ping clan was none other than Zhao Ping, the Marquis of Duting, son of Zhao Rao. He pointed a sharp blade at Xu Chu and shouted angrily, "You mediocre slave, do you know whose residence this is? How dare you trespass!"

Xu Chu threw the striking wood in his hand heavily to the ground. The striking wood made a dull sound when it fell to the ground, as if it was hitting people's hearts.

"The Crown Prince has granted me the title of Marquis of Guannei, and Xu Chu as the commander of the Crown Prince's guards!"

"I wonder who it is." Zhao Ping was stunned at first, then he burst into laughter, his face full of disdain, and snorted coldly: "Aren't you just a martial artist? Who are you trying to scare with a knife? If you dare, try to touch a hair on my head."

Xu Chu glanced at Zhao Ping, a hint of disgust flashed in his eyes, but he still didn't want to bother with a dying man.

But Zhao Ping became more and more aggressive, his words becoming more and more arrogant. While shouting, he approached Xu Chu step by step with a knife in his hand, and the tip of the knife swayed in the air as he walked.

"Dare you?" Zhao Ping's eyes were full of contempt. He pointed at Xu Chu with the unsheathed blade in his hand and said sarcastically, "If you don't dare, get out!"

Just as Zhao Ping was getting closer to Xu Chu, the blade was getting closer and closer to his neck.

Xu Chu's eyes instantly became as fierce as a tiger. In a flash, his right hand drew out the sword from his waist like lightning. The sharp blade slashed across Zhao Ping's throat with a whistling sound.

In an instant, a stream of dark red blood gushed out from the wound like a fountain, drawing arcs in the air and splashing on Xu Chu's face and armor, staining the armor, which was already glowing with a faint glow, with a bloodthirsty color.

"I touched your hair."

Xu Chu looked down at Zhao Ping, who was lying on the ground and still gushing blood. Zhao Ping's eyes were wide open, and his hands were covering his neck in vain, trying to stop the life that was constantly slipping away, but blood still oozed out from between his fingers, staining the ground red.

Zhao Ping's body twitched uncontrollably, his legs kicked continuously, raising dust from the ground. After a while, a pool of blood emitting a fishy smell formed beside him.

Xu Chu snorted, with no mercy in his eyes. He stepped on Zhao Ping's still twitching body and strode through the gate of the mansion.

(2755 words)
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PS: The derogatory term for soldiers in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period should be "yongnu".

"Records of the Three Kingdoms": Yi sent Ma Dai to pursue and kill him, and brought his head to Yi. Yi stood up and stepped on him, saying, "You useless slave! Can you do evil again?"

(End of this chapter)