With Mi Zhen's sister-in-law's personal revelation and accusation, and got the ironclad evidence that Mi Zhu once again attempted to assassinate Xuzhou, and even found a secret tunnel outside the city in Mi Zhu's bedroom, Deputy Director Tao, who had long hated Mi Zhu and coveted Mi Zhu's property, was not polite this time, and ordered the entire Mi Zhu clan except Mi Zhen to be imprisoned on the spot. All the soldiers of the Mifu family who dared to resist arrest were also wiped out by Tao Ying's guards and the Xuzhou army that rushed to reinforce them, and no one escaped.

The evidence is conclusive, no matter how deeply rooted the Mizhu family is in the five counties of Xuzhou, and what kind of inextricable connection it has with the wealthy giants in Xuzhou, no one in Xuzhou dared to stand up for Mi Zhu this time, let alone dare to have half a word to cry out for Mi Zhu, but they also went to the book and table, while leaving aside the relationship between their family and Mi Zhu, while advocating strict handling of Mi Zhu, and even some people advocated that Mi Zhu be split and executed, and the three clans were wiped out! - Of course, these people are all wealthy families in Xuzhou who have not been related to the Mizhu family.

However, what makes the scholars in Xuzhou full of praise is that even if our deputy director Tao was almost murdered by Mi Zhu several times, he still showed a benevolent demeanor, and the next day he announced to the five counties of Xuzhou, announcing that this time only Mi Zhu himself and his important accomplices will be held accountable, and the remaining members of the Mi family, relatives and slaves will not be held accountable as long as they are proven not to have participated in Mi Zhu's rebellion after interrogation and investigation! Even the slaves of the Mi clan and the family who participated in the Mi Zhu rebellion, as long as it is proved that they did not know the details in advance or that the crime was not deep, they will not be convicted of capital crimes, but only minor crimes such as exile or hard labor, and those who take the initiative to expose the report can also be pardoned according to the circumstances.

In addition, in order to minimize the turmoil and implicate the innocent, Tao Ying also used Chen Qi, the number one spokesperson for the interests of Xuzhou Gate Valve, to preside over the trial of the case, and Tao Ying's decision also relieved all the Xuzhou wealthy family gate valves who were related to Mi Zhu, and also greatly stabilized the hearts of the people in the five counties of Xuzhou who were all over the Mijia industry. As soon as the order was issued, there were countless Xuzhou Shi clan gate lords who exposed, informed, and cleared up in front of Chen Qi, and most of the tens of thousands of Mi family child servants and diners obediently accepted the investigation and interrogation of the government. The old and refined Chen Jue also fully understood Tao Ying's intention to maintain stability and seek stability, and the Xuzhou family that was unfortunate enough to be related to Mi Zhu was basically dealt with lightly, and even Mi Zhu's wife was not held accountable for the crime of implication, and asked Mi Zhu's wife to sever the relationship with Mi Zhu's husband and wife, and was lenient and generous to the extreme.

Behind the hypocrisy is of course extreme greed, on the night of the incident, Tao Ying sent a large number of pro-confidants to lead the army to Xiapi, Guangling, Donghai and Langya four counties, sealing and confiscating the Mizhu family property in these counties, and the results of the seizure also made Tao Ying, who was tight at hand, smile from ear to ear, just in Mizhu's old nest Donghai County, Tao Ji, who led the team to raid, copied out more than 70 million cash dollars, more than 4,000 catties of gold, countless jewels and jade, in addition to as many as 100 shops and tens of thousands of acres of fields!

With this money, Deputy Director Tao, who has always been bold, naturally rewarded the three armies with confidence and boldness, so that more than 70,000 Xuzhou soldiers had a good year, but Deputy Director Tao's good neighbor, Boss Cao, who was troubled by food shortage, scolded his mother! Because the war destroyed production and just started to store grain, the price of grain in Yanzhou is still as high as thousands of dollars, digging graves everywhere as a golden lieutenant Cao Boss, originally planned to use the smuggling trade to get a batch of grain from Xuzhou to survive the spring famine, as a result, Tao Ying while holding the grain bag and refusing to let go of the grain trade, while killing the biggest smuggling leader in Xuzhou, while also throwing a lot of money to raise the price of Xuzhou, Cao Boss wanted to rely on grain smuggling to cross the famine, not only greatly increased the cost, but also greatly increased the difficulty. Boss Cao, why don't you scold Deputy Director Tao's ancestors for eighteen generations?

By the way, a word of conscience, in fact, Boss Cao is really a little wrong this time Deputy Director Tao, Deputy Director Tao covered his food bag just to protect himself, not deliberately aimed at Boss Cao, Deputy Director Tao also has a more ruthless trick useless - Deputy Director Tao once considered following the example of Uncle Liu Huang or Biyan'er, issuing a piece of money in advance as hundreds or even thousands of false money, forcing the people of Xuzhou to use it, so as to crack down on the rampant grain smuggling on the border of Xuzhou, and at the same time greatly increase Xuzhou's already proud financial revenue. However, considering that this method of exhausting the water is too damaging to the private economy and is also damaging to his reputation of loving the people like a son, Deputy Director Tao has always given up this plan after thinking about it again and again, otherwise, Boss Cao will definitely scold even more than now.

By the way, let's talk about the situation of Mi Zhen's sister, at the time of the incident, although the poor Mi Zhen sister successfully rescued the damned Deputy Director Tao - the sky has no eyes, but when she heard Mi Zhu scolding herself for forgetting her oath in front of her father's brother's spirit, Mi Zhen's sister fainted in Tao Ying's arms again. After being rescued, poor Mi Zhen also hanged herself once, fortunately the maid found and rescued in time, and then after Tao Ying, Cao Ling and the same disease of Lu Die, Xiao Luoli patiently persuaded and enlightened, Mi Zhen's emotions finally regained some calm, Tao Ying took the opportunity to beg the old fox of Xuzhou Chen Qi to accept Mi Zhen as an adopted daughter, and then Chen Qi came forward to promise Mi Zhen's sister to himself as a concubine, and Chen Qi wished to be related to Tao Ying Chen The old fox naturally agreed, first accepted Mi Zhen as a righteous daughter, and then changed the surname of Mi Zhen's sister to Chen, First took Mi Zhen's sister home from Tao Mansion and lived for a few days, and then carried Mi Zhen's sister to Tao Mansion in a sedan chair, and after several tosses, she married Mi Zhen's sister to Tao Ying as a side room.

It was also out of guilt for Mi Zhen's sister, Tao Ying, who was barely surviving Tianliang, violated the etiquette law and welcomed Mi Zhen's sister into Tao's mansion from the middle gate - this is a treatment that Cao Ling did not enjoy, and the poor Mi Zhen sister was moved to tears, and couldn't help crying again in front of the court's guests. At the same time, Tao Ying took out the old Mi family's family property and gave it to Mi Zhen's sister as private money, and the old fox Chen Qi also gave her righteous daughter a very rich dowry, so as time passed, the poor Mi Zhen sister's face finally appeared with a long-lost smile again, and she lived a barely happy life. This is a later story, so I won't mention it here.

One day in mid-February, after receiving the Mi Zhu family property in full, Deputy Director Tao, who had made a lot of money, showed great mercy and rewarded Mi Zhu with a suicide plus a whole corpse and permission to be buried in the ground, but what made Deputy Director Tao angry was that when Mi Zhu was about to drink the wine, he still scolded the ancestors of the old Tao family for eighteen generations, and shouted out that Xuande Gong must avenge himself, and he did not let go of Tao Ying and Mi Zhen as a ghost. After the prison officer reported Mi Zhu's last words to Tao Ying, Tao Ying was so angry that he almost planned to go back on his word, not allowing Mi Zhu to be buried in the ground, and to burn Mi Zhu's body to ashes.

"Lord, by all means." Lu Su, who attaches great importance to the reputation of benevolence and righteousness, persuaded in time and said: "Lord, since you have made so many lenient decisions before, not to pursue the innocent people of Mi Zhu, nor to implicate the relatives of the Mi family, and also decided that Mi Zhu's sister has won the name of benevolence and righteousness, then if the lord burns Mi Zhu's body and scatters ashes, it will inevitably make these benevolent acts go down the drain, which is not good for the reputation of the lord." According to Su's opinion, the lord should give Mi Zhu a whole corpse to be buried in the ground. ”

Tao Ying, who was not superstitious, of course said something angry, and after hearing Lu Su's persuasion, he waved his hand and asked the prison officer to go down to bury Mi Zhu in a coffin, and then Tao Ying sighed again: "I don't understand, what kind of benefits did the big-eared thief give Mi Zhu, how did it come to this point, Mi Zhu is still unrepentant, and he is still looking forward to the big-eared thief returning to Xuzhou?" ”

"Lord, who has no loyal ministers?" Chen Deng, who had just entered the door, opened his mouth and said sincerely: "Standing in the position of the lord and the courtier, Deng, like the lord, also hates Mi Zhu to the core. But if you stand in the standpoint of a bystander, Deng has a lot of respect for Mi Zhu, and it is rare in the world to have such a dedicated courtier who sticks money and sticks to his strength! Under the command of the lord, if there are also a few such courtiers, why worry about the failure of big things and the failure of great causes? ”

"Yuanlong is reasonable, if there are a few such courtiers under my command, and there are a few more virtuous people like Yuanlong and Zijing, why worry about the big thing?" Tao Ying sighed again, and wore a high hat for Chen Deng and Lu Su who were used to surnames.

"The lord has won the award, and he doesn't dare to take it." Chen Deng said modestly, took out a piece of Caihou paper full of words, and said: "Lord, Deng still has a matter to play, I just received the news that something big happened in the Western Capital (Chang'an)." The two thieves who have always been close to each other before, I don't know if they have taken the wrong medicine, and suddenly they led the army to the fire in the western capital, the dead were thousands, and the people were poisoned by the war, and the thieves also robbed the Son of Heaven into the military camp, and when our army was forced to leave the Western Capital, the Son of Heaven had been robbed by Li Dao into Meiwu, and the battle between the two thieves did not stop. ”

"Li Dao Guo Yan is on fire?!" Tao Ying beat a spirit, and then remembered that according to the development of history, it should be a great split within the Xiliang Army, and Boss Cao took the opportunity to take advantage of the plot of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

"It's a pity." Lu Su suddenly screamed pity, and said regretfully: "It's a pity that Xuzhou is too far away from Chang'an, and there is a Cao Ying in the middle, otherwise, this is a godsend opportunity to fish in troubled waters." ”

"Deng, too, is very sorry." Chen Deng echoed: "If our army borders Chang'an and there is no Cao Ying in the middle, then our army can immediately send troops under the banner of Xingbing and Qinwang, not only taking advantage of the internal strife between Li and Guo Yan to get things done, but also trying to welcome the Son of Heaven to Xuzhou, then with the power of the lord, it will be able to benefit immensely." ”

"These two guys have also moved the mind of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes." Tao Ying glanced at Chen Deng and Lu Su appreciatively, and said even more regretfully: "It's really a pity, such a God-given opportunity, it seems that it can only be cheaper Cao Ying or Yuan Shao for nothing, and I don't know which of these two guys has the fastest hand, and he grabbed the Son of Heaven first." ”

"In terms of strength, as long as Yuan Shao is willing, the Son of Heaven will definitely not be able to fly out of his palm." Lu Su said leisurely: "But from the position of Xuzhou, Su is more willing to let Cao Ying choose this cheap, which is in line with the interests of Xuzhou." ”

"Why?" Tao Ying raised his eyebrows.

"Yuan Shao is too strong." Lu Su replied respectfully: "Yuan Shao sits on the two states of Hebei and occupies most of Youzhou, the soldiers are strong, the money and food are abundant, and the overall strength is ten times better than Cao Ying. But if Cao Ying chooses this advantage, the situation will be completely different, Yuan Shao will never allow Cao Ying to indulge the Son of Heaven for a long time, Cao Ying's strength is insufficient, in order to confront Yuan Shao, we must rely on and even curry favor with our army, and our army can also win more strategic maneuver space. ”

"Mr. Zijing is right." Chen Deng nodded and said: "According to the marriage contract, in June this year, the lord will officially become Yuan Shao's son-in-law, if Yuan Shao chooses this cheap, then Yuan Shao is not only the father-in-law of the lord, but also holds the command of the Son of Heaven to command the world, the lord is bound to be more subject to Yuan Shao, and if he wants to be lonely in the south, it will be difficult to climb to the sky." ”

After listening to Lu Su and Chen Deng's analysis, Tao Ying inevitably pondered in his heart, and said secretly: "This is good, the reason why Yuan Sangong and Cao Boss, two good friends, turned their faces and started a war, the fuse is actually Emperor Han Xian, and now if history changes and Yuan Shao gets Emperor Han Xian, then if Yuan Sangong coerces the Son of Heaven to order the princes, Lao Tzu, who is a son-in-law, will definitely be subject to double bird anger, and it will be more difficult to do things." But if history is allowed to develop on a normal track, and Boss Cao arrests Emperor Han Xian back as a son-in-law, then Boss Cao can't resist the Third Duke of Yuan and must please me. ”

Thinking about this, Tao Ying decisively slapped the case, and said categorically: "Zi Jingyuanlong is reasonable, we can't pick this cheap, then it's best to let Cao Thief choose this cheap!" Immediately send someone to contact our envoy and Xizuo in Jizhou, so that they can try to find out Yuan Shao's attitude towards this matter, and then send an envoy to contact Cao Thief, and also inquire about Cao Thief's attitude towards this matter, and find out their situation. If possible, you can join forces with Cao Thief to meet the driver, even if you can't get the Son of Heaven, you can also get the reputation of a loyal minister of the Han family, and by the way, I will be promoted to my official position! ”

Lu Su and Chen Deng agreed together, and then Chen Deng suggested: "Lord, Cao Thief is abnormal, I am afraid that no one in our army envoy is his opponent, not only is it difficult to find out the true attitude of Cao Thief, but it is also possible to fall into his trap." In Yi Deng's opinion, in our army, only the lord can confront the Cao thief head-on, so it is best for the lord to go out in person, first write a letter to the Cao thief, and ask the Cao thief to meet at the border to discuss the matter in person, or you can take the opportunity to bargain in person, and get a piece of the pie in the matter of the Cao thief's welcome, so as to obtain the greatest benefits for Xuzhou. ”

"Yuanlong is too awarded, I am notoriously loyal and honest, where is Cao Ying's opponent of the thief?" Tao Ying said modestly without blushing, and then Tao Ying said without hesitation: "But Cao Thief's deceitfulness must not be guarded against, this matter must be prevented from him taking the opportunity to break up the alliance between our army and Yuan Shao - so the letter has to be written like this, the main content is to ask Cao Thief about Chang'an, inquire about the whereabouts of the Son of Heaven, say some beautiful things such as loyalty and patriotism and concern for the safety of the Son of Heaven, and then ask Cao Thief to negotiate at the border under the pretext of discussing the customs duties of the war horse trade with Cao Thief." ”

"Wonderful!" Chen Deng applauded and said with a smile: "The lord is really clever, so under the book, with the shrewdness of the Cao thief, he must immediately understand that the lord really wants to discuss the matter of Chang'an, and at the same time, even if the Cao thief shakes out the lord's letter, Yuan Shao will not suspect that our army and the Cao thief will join forces and conspire with the Son of Heaven!" ”

…………………… Because of the distance of the road, of course, Boss Cao knew about the fire of Li Dao and Guo Yan much earlier than Tao Ying, and immediately understood that this was a God-given opportunity to fish in troubled waters, and at the same time, the wise men under the command of Boss Cao did not hesitate to put forward the bad idea of blackmailing the Son of Heaven to order the princes. But like Tao Ying, Boss Cao is also very worried about the attitude of Yuan Shao, the leading eldest brother in the alliance of Tao Yuan and Cao, in this matter, and is even more worried about crashing with Yuan Shao's team, causing Cao Yuan to turn his face - then it will definitely be in vain Deputy Director Tao, whom Boss Cao hates the most.

So like Tao Ying, while secretly preparing to fish in troubled waters, Boss Cao couldn't wait to send a large number of people to Jizhou to spy on Yuan Shao's attitude towards the turmoil in Chang'an at any cost. During this period, although Tao Ying's hint letter was delivered to Boss Cao in advance, Boss Cao also saw Tao Ying's flowery intestines at a glance, but Boss Cao still didn't dare to bet easily, and waited patiently for news from Jizhou under the pretext that he could not negotiate with Tao Ying in person for the time being under the pretext that he was busy with government affairs.

Boss Cao did not wait in vain, when the winter wheat in Yanzhou was successfully harvested and put into the warehouse, Jizhou finally came with accurate news - Da Yuan Sangong was not interested in the Son of Heaven at all! Although the strategist of the Great Yuan Sangong also suggested that the Great Yuan Sangong take the robbery and coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but he was fully opposed by the strategist Guo Tu and the general Chun Yuqiong, thinking that the Han family has been in decline for a long time, and now the world is competing for hegemony, and none of the princes put the Son of Heaven in their eyes. The third prince of Yuan, who once tried to make Liu Yu the emperor, also looked down on Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty who was Dong Zhuoli, and adopted the ideas of Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong, and rejected the anti-ear advice of the frustrated professor.

Confirming this news, Boss Cao suddenly burst into laughter, and while inquiring about the situation in Chang'an at any cost, he dispatched troops to transfer troops to Chenliu in advance, ready to fish in troubled waters at any time, as for negotiating with Tao Ying face-to-face - Da Yuan Sangong has already stated that he does not want the Son of Heaven, and Boss Cao still needs to negotiate with Tao Ying, whose military strength is still inferior to his own army? Take the morning and die there!

Cao Boss obviously underestimated the face and skin of Deputy Director Tao, Cao Jun Tanma just sent the news that Emperor Han Xian fled to Hongnong with the help of Yang Feng and Dong Cheng, and also confirmed that the three princes of Yuan Yuan were not interested in Emperor Han Xian, Tao Ying sent a letter to Cao Boss, in the second letter, Tao Ying in addition to once again inquiring about the situation of the Son of Heaven and showing loyalty to the Son of Heaven, and then put forward a new proposal - Tao Ying came forward to persuade the three princes of Yuan to make a move, Tao Yuan and Cao joined forces to welcome Emperor Han Xian back to the Central Plains, and set the capital Yecheng, Fu Han room in the general, save the people from fire and water!

"This scoundrel thief!" After reading the letter, Boss Cao scolded helplessly, knowing that Tao Ying was actually threatening himself, if he didn't let the Xuzhou army share some benefits in this matter, then Tao Ying would come forward to instigate Yuan Shao to welcome him, so that Boss Cao would not get any benefits.

In desperation, Boss Cao had no choice but to instruct Guo Jia next to him: "Feng Xiao, write back to Tao Ying's thief for me, and tell him directly that you can send a team of less than fifty people to the north and go with me to meet him!" As for the face-to-face negotiation, I don't have the time or the heart to bargain with him! ”

(To be continued)