Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 89: Evidence of treason? False accusation!
Guo Tu clutched the token given by the prince in both hands. His knuckles turned slightly white due to the force. His chest was heaving violently and his heart was beating harder than ever before. He could even hear the thumping sound of his heart in his chest. His rather fair face also turned a little red.

He stared at the token in his hand, his eyes filled with irrepressible excitement and excitement, as if he was gazing at the most precious treasure in the world.

This token is just a piece of bronze and is worthless, but the power it represents is unparalleled.

A mere token, combined with the personal edict of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in his arms, was enough to mobilize all the embroidered officials in Jizhou.

This token is a symbol of power and a reflection of the prince's trust in him!
Guo Tu slowly placed the token against his cheek and closed his eyes. The token still retained the warmth from his hand. He then placed the token against his nose and sniffed deeply, taking a deep breath.
Although the token only had a coppery smell, it was as refreshing and intoxicating as an aphrodisiac.

However, Guo Tu understood that this power was a reward for the prince's loyalty and achievements. Once the prince no longer trusted his loyalty and ability, this power would be immediately taken back.

On the contrary, if the prince always recognizes his loyalty and ability, the power in his hands will increase day by day!

Guo Tu carefully put the token and imperial edict into his sleeve. As he walked, he flipped through the account book that recorded the details of corruption by various wealthy families, muttering to himself, "Feng family, Pi family, Zhao family, Guo family, Xindu family..."

He looked like a hawk that had found its prey and was ready to take flight at any moment, causing many officials in the government office to unconsciously keep their distance from him.

However, Guo Tu did not care about other people's perceptions of him. He was a lone minister and did not need to care about other people's perceptions.

Returning to the room Lu Zhi had assigned him in the government office, Guo Tu immediately summoned the embroidered official Zhizhi from Xindu City. He extended his index and middle fingers and sternly said, "I'll give you two days to gather intelligence on these five families. This includes their origins, their ancestors, their official titles, the current official titles held by the main and branch branches, and any marriage alliances they have with each other. This and other such information must be thoroughly investigated and collected. No mistakes must be made!"

Guo Tu's eyes were like those of a falcon, and he was kneeling on his heels. The feeling was as if he was being stared at by a falcon, making him feel uneasy. Embroidered clothes pointed directly at him and he quickly bowed and saluted, saying "yes" repeatedly, not daring to delay at all.

He had heard of Guo Tu's bad reputation, and the Embroidered Uniform Messenger had quite a wide range of information channels, so he naturally knew what Guo Tu had done in Yingchuan County.

Never provoke a ruthless person who doesn't even spare his fellow villagers.

Fortunately, the Embroidered Uniform Envoys have archives on local aristocratic families in the offices of various places. Even if they don't have any, they can be borrowed from the offices of states, counties, and prefectures. The main job of this Embroidered Uniform Envoy is to lead his subordinates to screen these materials and information and sort out the most accurate and comprehensive information.

At noon the next day, the embroidered official had worked for a whole day and night, plus a morning without rest, and finally compiled the intelligence and submitted it to Guo Tu.

Guo Tu took the information and flipped through it quickly, a subtle surprise and admiration showing on his face. He asked, "What is your name, where is your hometown, and who is in your family?"

"Your humble servant, Guo Cheng, is from Guangzong, Julu. My father..." Guo Cheng raised his head slightly to look at Guo Tu, and then said, "My father is Guo Yong, the prefect of Nanjun. My eldest brother, Guo Fu, is currently the magistrate of Gaotang. My second brother, Guo Du, died young last year of a cold. I do have two younger sisters at home."

Guo Tu nodded slightly and said no more, as if he was not the one who showed surprise and appreciation just now.

Afterwards, apart from asking for some questions to be reported, Guo Tu had no more words with Guo Cheng, nor did he reward him.

The Embroidered Uniform Messenger is the prince's eyes and ears. Even if he values ​​a certain Embroidered Uniform Messenger, he cannot interfere, let alone make friends with him, otherwise it will only harm others and himself.

Moreover, after reading this integrated intelligence, Guo Tu suddenly no longer had any mixed thoughts.

The Feng, Pi, Zhao, Guo, and Xindu families are the five leading families among the wealthy and powerful families that embezzled granaries, and each has an extraordinary origin.

Feng Qi of Xindu Feng family is the eighth generation grandson of Feng Yi, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai.

Pi Qin of Xindu Pi family is the seventh generation grandson of Pi Tong, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai.

The Zhao family of Xindu, Zhao Ji, are descendants of Xie, the King of Zhao in the late Qin Dynasty.

The Xindu Guo family, including Guo Zhao, and the Zhending Guo family branch to which Queen Mother Guo Shengtong of Peixian Wang (the first empress of Emperor Guangwu) belonged.

The Xindu clan of Xindu, Xindu Yi, is a descendant of Zhang Chi, the grandson of Zhang Er, King Jing of Zhao.

Zhang Chi was the third son of Princess Lu Yuan. He was granted the title of Marquis of Xindu. After the Lü Rebellion, he was deposed and changed his surname to "Xindu" to avoid disaster.

Even Guo Tu was somewhat surprised by the backgrounds of these people; they were truly a gathering of aristocrats. Aside from the Xindu Zhao family, the other four families were either descendants of Han imperial relatives or meritorious officials. It was no wonder they were so brazen in Xindu. Even if Lu Jizhou personally investigated the case and had witnesses and evidence, he wouldn't be able to bring these aristocratic families to justice.

Why does every successful person give back to their family? First, to repay the family for raising them, and second, to hope that the family can be a help to them.

This kind of help may come from a promising talent in the family in the future, or it may come from a small person who is willing to sacrifice his life for the family.

If the head of the family or someone in the clan breaks the law, they will put forward a scapegoat and promise to support the scapegoat's parents, wife and children and to pay huge profits. I wonder how many poor young men in the clan are willing to die for the family.

The reason why Guo Tu knows the tricks of the aristocratic families so well is, well... who isn't a aristocratic family?
There are just a few routines that have remained unchanged for thousands of years and have never been less effective. The Yingchuan Guo family may not use them less than other families.

This is where things get tricky.

Guo Tu gently pinched a strand of hair from his temple, slowly lowered his head, stared at the information seriously, rubbed his hair with his index finger and thumb, racking his brains to think of a way to complete the prince's mission.

The Zhao family of Xindu was easy to deal with, but the other four families were by no means soft persimmons that could be frightened into giving up the grain they had obtained just by accusing them of "collaborating with bandits" without any solid evidence.

Especially the 330,000 shi of grain, which is by no means a small amount.

Even if the grain price before the Yellow Turban Rebellion was 125 coins per dan, these 330,000 dan of grain were worth more than 40 million coins.

Even though the war is about to end, this year's grain harvest is bound to be poor. Even if many of the 330,000 dan of grain are old grain, the wealthy families can mix some sand and straw into it when selling it to increase the weight, and it will be no problem to sell it for more than 100 million yuan.

As for the purchasing power of 100 million coins, let's put it this way. The horse Huang Feidian, which Cao Cao rode on, was delivered to Luoyang by horse traders from the Parthian Empire across 25,000 miles, braving the risks of bandits, wind and sand along the way, and was sold for only 2 million coins.

With such huge profits, rather than believing that these wealthy families were willing to give up the profits they had taken, Guo Tu would rather believe that Zhang Jue was a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

After pondering for a long time, Guo Tu finally sighed.

Since he couldn't kill them all with one blow for the crime of corruption, and the prince seemed to mean that the culprit must be executed, he could only give up on punishing these insects for the crime of corruption.

Just charge him with treason.

As for the evidence of treason?
A hint of cruelty flashed in Guo Tu's eyes.

There is no reason!
(2638 words)
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PS: Dear readers, "莫须有" does not mean "there is no need to have it", but "maybe there is", which does not mean that Guo Tu is going to forcibly convict these wealthy families without any evidence.

PPS: "Book of Han·Biography of Jia Yi" "If there are people who are incompetent, they are not called incompetent, but are said to be 'the lower official is not doing his job'". In the Han Dynasty, "lower official" was already used as a humble word for lower-level officials to refer to themselves when facing their superiors.

PPPS: The five Xindu aristocratic families mentioned above are all the historically documented Xindu aristocratic families that I could find after looking through a lot of information.

(1) The Xindu Feng clan is also known as the Changle Feng clan. The first ancestor of the Changle Feng clan was Feng He, the twelfth-generation grandson of Feng Yi and the great-grandson of Feng Yuan, the prefect of Ji County in Cao Wei. For the time being, the Xindu Feng clan is established as the eighth-generation grandson of Feng Yi.

(2) The Xindu Pi clan: Pi Tong, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, was originally from Xindu, Xindu County;

(3) The Zhao family of Xindu. When King Xie of Zhao rebuilt the State of Zhao at the end of the Qin Dynasty, he made Xindu the capital of Zhao. After being killed by the Han army, his descendants settled in Xindu.

(4) The Xindu Guo family was not well-known in the early days. They were a branch of the Zhending Guo family, but their descendants included Guo Shoujing of the Yuan Dynasty.

(5) Xindu The Xindu clan also exists in historical books. One theory is that they are descendants of Zhang Er, the King Jing of Zhao mentioned above. Another theory is that they originated from the Shentu clan who settled in Xindu, and were derived from the similar pronunciations of "Shentu" and "Xindu".

(End of this chapter)