The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 495 Two Different Things

"What?! The princes were assassinated?!"

Cao Yan's eyes widened and he trembled with fear.

"Not an assassination."

"It was murder. I went over there and there were dozens of people who had tied him up like a piglet and were about to set him on fire!"

Hearing Hu Zun's words, Cao Yan was stunned at first, and then he became furious.

Hey you dogs!

The Emperor just handed this matter over to me, and you're playing with fire here, right?!

Cao Yan could even imagine what would happen if they succeeded. Wouldn't he be burned to death by the emperor's wrath?
Cao Yan was extremely frightened at this moment, and he looked at Hu Zun beside him with relief.

"Thank goodness General Hu is here, otherwise, I really don't know what kind of mess it would have been. Thank you, General, thank you, General!"

Hu Zun was actually in a good mood.

That’s right, General Hu has made great contributions again this time.

After being captured, Gong Shahong started to bite people everywhere in order to preserve his clan as much as possible.

The current situation is different from the past. If it were in the past, Gong Shahong would not be afraid if something happened, because there would be people in the court who would speak for him, and those local people who had trade relations with him would also do their best to help him get rid of the crime.

At most, he would just be transferred to another place to continue serving as an official.

But now, the emperor knows about this, and the three families may not be able to survive. Everyone has seen clearly the fate of those corrupt officials.

Gong Shahong also knew that these people would definitely not help him and would instead blame him for everything, so he decided to go all out.

Gong Shahong's reckless move would bring disaster to the rest of the people.

Hu Zun immediately summoned his soldiers and arrested all the people impeached by Gong Shahong.

When Lao Hu handles cases, he never pays much attention to evidence; he just wants a list of names.

The local wealthy families were in dire straits. Although their farmland was clearly their own, it was confiscated by Lao Hu in the name of public land. They were even charged with the crime of jointly selling the public land.

In order to avoid being held responsible for this crime, the big families racked their brains and finally made a compromise with Hu Zun: you can take the farmland, but you have to take this crime!
Hu Zun was not in a hurry to argue with them. He was just waiting for Cao Yan to come. After Cao Yan came, he would try to get as many people on the list as possible.

Hu Zun grabbed Cao Yan's arm. His hand was so strong that it hurt Cao Yan, but he didn't dare to resist.

Cao Yan is not a gentleman. He helps whoever is stronger, and he does so without any bottom line.

At first, he was afraid that Sima Shi would write a letter to request the dethronement of King Qi, and now he is afraid that Cao Mao will also kill his old friends without mercy.

When the two of them arrived at the palace, Cao Zhi hurried over to greet them.

Cao Yan immediately put on a smile.

"Your Majesty!"

"Zong Zhenggong!"

When the two met, Cao Zhi seemed to be touched in some way as if he were seeing his relatives, and couldn't help but complain.

Hu Zun glanced at Hu Lie, who quickly stood beside his father.

Hu Zun then said, "You two continue to discuss this matter. I will go and get busy."

The two men bid farewell to Hu Zun.

After the two left, Cao Zhi sat down with Cao Yan, and Cao Zhi talked about the grievances he had suffered.

"Brother, these people are not human beings!"

Since there were no outsiders here, Cao Zhi simply addressed him as "brother." He said helplessly, "After I arrived here, there were only a few dozen veteran soldiers around me. Although I no longer have the defense commander, the local officials don't care about my status. Even the county magistrate was unwilling to give way when he saw my carriage!"

"As for those big clans, they are going too far!"

"There's not much food in the mansion, so I wanted to buy some farmland, but the family wouldn't allow it."

Cao Zhi expressed his grievances, and Cao Yan continued to comfort him.

"I already know about the king's affairs. Before I set out, His Majesty said that the King of Jibei was a wise man and would not do anything evil. Someone must have bullied him."

"I never thought these villains would be so ruthless and mad as to dare to murder the princes!"

"How audacious! After something like this happened, I must bring the king back to Luoyang and meet His Majesty!"

The two of them started chatting, and Cao Zhi's mood immediately became good.

He is still very grateful to the current emperor. Our Great Wei finally has an emperor who no longer murders his relatives.

This is really rare.

The quality of life of the princes also rose sharply after the new emperor ascended the throne.

When Cao Mao forcibly moved them out of Hebei, they were a little afraid of Cao Mao. They were all afraid that the emperor would start fishing like Cao Rui did to see who had other ideas.

However, the emperor's attitude towards King Qi and King Pengcheng was enough to prove his goodwill towards the royal family.

Even the King of Qi and the King of Pengcheng were pardoned, so what are they?

Cao Mao's reputation among the princes was still very high, and the royal family members trusted him more and more.

Cao Yan asked Cao Zhi a lot of questions, and then he handed the matter over to Guo Ze on the side.

At first, Cao Zhi was a little confused about who the person in front of him was. When he learned that it was a cavalryman beside the emperor, he was shocked and almost bowed to see him. Guo Ze held him back and began to convey the emperor's intention.

Cao Zhi had a very good chat with the two of them and they talked about a lot of things.

The topic finally fell on Hu Zun.

Cao Zhi said, "I heard that the sons of generals outside the court cannot accompany them, but General Hu Zun's son..." Cao Yan smiled and asked, "Are you talking about his son Hu Lie?"

Cao Zhi nodded.

"He does not serve under General Hu Zun."

"Then why is he here?"

"Your Majesty previously sent knights at full speed to deliver the imperial edict. Is Your Majesty aware of this?"

"The general has said so. I know."

"Hu Lie is the knight who is galloping here."

Cao Zhi was stunned for a moment, then he sighed: "As expected of General Hu."

He even dared to treat the emperor's envoys as his own people.

At this moment, Hu Lie couldn't help but talk about this matter.

"Father, my mission is complete, and it's time to return and report to His Majesty."

Hu Zun glanced at him and subconsciously wanted to slap him, but Hu Lie kept his distance.

Hu Lie, like his father, was a big and strong man, not good-looking, and his personality was also very similar to his father, a rough and unruly warrior from the northwest. Historically, he finally died at the hands of the Tubo Xianbei people.

At that time, disasters occurred in various parts of Liangzhou and the people had no harvest.

So, after discussion, all the ministers agreed that the people of Liangzhou were going to rebel again, so they sent Hu Lie there to slowly slaughter them. Then the Tufa tribe gathered the victims, and hundreds of thousands of people rebelled and attacked the Western Jin Dynasty.

Hu Lie was surrounded by the enemy, but no reinforcements arrived, and he was killed in battle.

This incident caused great turmoil in the Western Jin Dynasty.

Hu Zun looked at his useless son and said unhappily, "Why do you think His Majesty asked you to come here?"

"Do you think you can run fast? Or is there no one left in the court to deliver the imperial edict?"

Hu Lie didn't dare to answer.

Hu Zun snorted coldly, "Your Majesty asked you to come here just so that I can use yours!"

"Shut up later. If you ruin my plans, I will..."

"Drag him to death."

Hu Lie took over the conversation very tacitly.

When Hu Zun led him into the mansion, there were already many people standing there.

These people were all quite old, well-dressed, and were chatting leisurely.

Even in the current situation, these people have not lost their so-called celebrity style and they still maintain their dignity.

Of course, this kind of decency only applies when there are outsiders present.

Hu Zun had experienced how quickly they changed their expressions.

When there were outsiders standing by, none of them were afraid of life or death. They held their heads high, each one more courageous than the other, and did not take life or death seriously at all.

But when they were alone with Hu Zun, they quickly became cowardly, lowered their heads, and some even cried for mercy.

This left Hu Zun puzzled.

But once someone came in, these people who had just been crying and begging for mercy hurriedly stood up and put on the demeanor of celebrities again.

Hu Zun didn't know whether they were afraid of death or not.

They're not normal anyway.

When Hu Zun appeared, everyone stopped rebelling and looked at him.

These are the big clans that were bitten out by Gong Shahong.

In their view, it's not a big deal. It's just eating up some public land. Who doesn't do that?
If you want to punish someone, punish the one who sold the land. They are all innocent.

But Hu Zun insisted on making a big deal out of this matter, and even insisted that the officials of Qingxu colluded with the big families to sell public land together in an attempt to harm the emperor.

That would be a serious crime, and the big families all knew Hu Zun's character, so they all admitted their guilt.

They followed Hu Zun to the conference hall. Hu Zun sat in the upper seat and didn't even let the others sit down. He was even more domineering than Cao Mao.

These people didn't feel embarrassed and just stood in front of Hu Zun.

Liu Ji cleared his throat at this moment. As the first person pushed forward by Gong Shahong, he began negotiations with Hu Zun on behalf of many big families.

"General, we really didn't know those were public lands. If we had known, we would never have dared to purchase them. We admit our fault."

Hu Zun narrowed his eyes. Although he looked strong, it was extremely difficult to kill these people.

Look at these big families below, Wang Ji's family members, Hua Biao's family members, Zheng Xiaotong's relatives, Zhuge Dan's family members, Chen Qian's family members, and Wang Su's family members. To be honest, Liu Ji is the easiest to deal with. As for the rest, Hu Zun may not dare to kill them.

Not to mention Hu Zun, I'm afraid even the emperor wouldn't dare to act rashly.

This is the value of the rise of a great family, that is, the value of a powerful family.

To move them, we must first move those in the temple.

Even Cao Mao would have to bleed heavily.

No matter how close these generals and talented people were to Cao Mao, their clansmen would invariably take the path of annexation, because this was a necessary condition for the rise of the aristocratic families. The accumulation of wealth and land allowed the children of the family to break away from the status of farming and reading, and only study without farming, so that they would have a lot of resources to train the next generation, and then rise from generation to generation.
Hu Zun waved his hand and said, "Just tell me how to solve it!"

(End of this chapter)