I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 787: The Great Case Involving Loyal Officials

"General!"

"The secret room and account books have all been found. Please have a look."

Not long after Su Yao entered Guo Tai's mansion, the officers and soldiers of the Jinyiwei soon brought good news.

Under the guidance of everyone, Su Yao came to the secret room where Mrs. Guo kept confidential communications.

Su Yao stepped into the secret room. The dim candlelight flickered, illuminating a room full of piles of documents and account books. The air was filled with an old and decayed smell, as if telling of the secrets and conspiracies that had once taken place here.

Su Yao glanced around sharply, then quickly flipped through the account books and documents on the table.

Then he was surprised to find that this record not only recorded the collusion and exchange of interests between the Baibo Army and the Hedong families, but also involved several powerful families from Taiyuan.

On that day, when the Baibo army entered Taiyuan, there were actually some traitors guiding them behind the scenes.

It turned out that according to their plan, after the Baibo Army plundered Taiyuan, those traitors would clean up the mess and take over the ownerless land after the war.

The Baibo Army gained soldiers and wealth, and the traitors gained land and labor. It was truly a win-win situation.

Just like what many local noble families in Hedong are planning today.

"I see!"

Su Yao snorted coldly:
"I was wondering why Hedong had lost half of its territory, but many of the noble families in Anyi City seemed to be in no hurry to recover the lost territory."

"It turns out that some people didn't suffer any losses at all. They had already made peace with the Baibo bandits and even used them to expand their own power!"

"How dare they be so bold?" Guan Yu took a deep breath.

"Absolutely lawless!"

Zhang Fei was also filled with righteous indignation:

"They are colluding with the rebels like this, aren't they afraid of being punished by the imperial court in the future?!"

——"Of course I'm not afraid!"

A deep male voice came from far away.

Everyone turned around and saw that the person coming was the magistrate of Jiang County, Cheng Zhong, who had surrendered earlier.

"You are quite fast." Su Yao raised his eyebrows.

Cheng Zhong smiled bitterly.

How could it not be fast?
There is no need to think about it, just hand over all the land and wait for people to arrive and meet them.

In comparison, what's happening here is much more important.

"The noble families are the foundation of the region. As long as the Baibo bandits have their heart set on conquering the world, they will not offend all of them."

Cheng Zhong cupped his hands and explained:

"And the court's previous performance was like a terminally ill person, disappointing the world."

"At a time like this, people of insight from all over the world will naturally look for other places to place their bets on multiple fronts."

"If the Baibo bandits succeed, they can expand their power. If the Baibo bandits fail, the imperial court will not rashly take action against them in order to stabilize local rule."

"In this case, there are hundreds of benefits and no harm. Why don't they dare to do it?"

Cheng Zhong's words left Guan and Zhang speechless.

This is indeed a common practice among a few local aristocratic families in Hedong.

Cheng Zhong himself took advantage of this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and expand his own power.

There were many people who acted like him in the fallen areas of Hedong. The secret room contained the ironclad evidence of the collusion between these powerful families and the Baibo Army.

However, the number is really too large, and the scope of involvement is so wide that everyone who sees the list will have a headache.

"If this list is made public, it will not only cause an earthquake in Hedong, but even the people in the court will not be spared."

Cheng Zhong's voice was low and serious. His eyes swept across the people in the secret room and finally landed on Su Yao:
"General, are you sure you want to do this?"

Cheng Zhong's words caused everyone in the secret room to fall silent.

They knew this man was not exaggerating.

Mrs. Guo was a cautious person, and the list she left behind was complete and the evidence was clear.

Each and every one of those things is shocking to watch.

Not only are the top families in Hedong such as Wei, Fan, Yang, and Pei included, but even the Wang family from the neighboring county is on the list.

That’s right, it’s the Wang family of Qi County, who is very popular in the current court - the relative family of Imperial Censor Wang Yun and Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Wang Ling.

"General!"

Guan Yu suddenly stepped out, clasped his fists and said:
"The Hedong Wei family has made great contributions in surrendering the city. The general has just commended them. Not to mention that the Wang family has been loyally following the general since he took office. How can you jump to conclusions based on a few letters from this bandit chieftain and chill the hearts of loyal subjects?"

As soon as Guan Yu finished speaking, Zhang Fei quickly echoed him, "Yes, General! Although I am a rough man, I also know that we can't judge someone guilty just based on these letters!"

Hearing this, Su Yao narrowed his eyes slightly and looked deeply at everyone in the secret room.

Of course he understood Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's concerns.

This list involves a wide range of people. Once it is made public, it will not only cause huge turmoil in Hedong, but may even affect the entire court, making those loyal ministers feel chilled.

However, Su Yao knew better the importance of this list.

It is not only a piece of evidence exposing the collusion between the aristocratic families and the Baibo Army, but also a powerful weapon that can completely disintegrate the power of the Hedong aristocratic families and consolidate the rule of the court.

If this list is not handled properly, the situation in Hedong will never be truly stabilized, and his own reforms and Northern Expedition plans will be seriously hindered.

Old village chief, you really know how to give me problems.

In silence, Su Yao opened the letter related to Wang again.

There, strikingly appeared was the name of the village chief of Su Yao's original Novice Village, the old patriarch of the Wang family.

Seeing the correspondence between the two of them, Su Yao suddenly smiled in his heart.

He recalled that he was worried about the Novice Village falling and Xiao Hong'er being abducted by the Baibo bandits, so he raced against time all the way and inflicted heavy losses on the Baibo bandits.

But in fact, it is obvious that without me, the small village would not have perished.

The old village chief had been prepared for this move and had secretly communicated with the Baibo army in advance, even giving them gifts and promising to help the Baibo bandits prepare food and fodder.

This immediately solved Su Yao's confusion. After all, considering the real history, the Baibo bandits plundered Taiyuan, but the Wang family of Qi County obviously did not perish. Instead, it became stronger in the future. This was obviously inseparable from the protection of the old village chief's flexible moral bottom line.

However, due to Su Yao's activeness, the Baibo Army's plan to move north was shattered, and the old village chief's connection with the Baibo Army in this life ended there.

But, a mistake is a mistake.

It is obviously not a good thing for Wang Yun, who is now a first-rank official, and Wang Ling, who is in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, that their own family members are suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

You know, one of them is in charge of supervising all officials, while the other is in charge of investigation and interrogation. There is no doubt that making this document public will add a stain that will cause them to be criticized, even if they will not be implicated in any crime.

Next, how to decide how to deal with the biggest gains from this war is obviously the top priority at the moment.

(End of this chapter)