Shen Rong's face was ferocious. When he saw Xu You was about to put down the wet linen cloth again, he hurriedly said: "Wait!"
He didn't want to endure the pain of dying anymore, so he quickly begged for mercy. Xu You stopped what he was doing and waited slowly for Shen Rong to speak.
Shen Rong gritted his teeth, "Do you believe it if I say it?"
Xu You sneered and said, "Speak first. As for whether your words are true or not, I will of course let you judge."
Shen Rong composed himself and spoke a name.
Xu You was stunned for a moment, and then the smile on his face froze. He naturally knew that the name was most likely false, but the key was, should he continue interrogating and expose Shen Rong's lies?
The next day when Yuan Xi was reorganizing his army with Tai Shici in the outer city, a guard came and said that Yuan Shao asked Yuan Xi to go to the mansion.
When Yuan Xi arrived, he saw several counselors outside the wing, including Xun Chen, Tian Feng, Shen Pei, Xin Pi and others.
He greeted everyone one by one and then entered the inner room. He saw that the doors and windows had been repaired and Yuan Shao was talking to Xu You.
Yuan Xi's heart is indeed in Yuan Shao's heart, and Xu You is the most trusted by him.
But the key point is that from the perspective of later generations, Yuan Shao's level of understanding people is really not very good. His two best friends in his youth, Cao Cao and Xu You, betrayed him together in later generations. They also worked together to conquer Yecheng and trapped the female family members of Yuan's children. A situation of no return.
If Yuan Shao knew about this now, how would he feel?
When Yuan Shao saw Yuan Xi coming in, he asked Xu You to hand over a tube of bamboo slips and said, "This matter is related to you, so I asked you to come and take a look."
Yuan Xi took it and unfolded it, and found that it was actually the testimony of Xu You interrogating the city gate order Shen Rong. It said very simply that Shen Rong confessed that he was ordered by Yuan Shang to prevent Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi from entering Yecheng.
Yuan Xi rolled up the bamboo tube and pondered.
No matter how you look at it, this confession is reasonable.
Because everyone knows that Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi had conflicts. When Yuan Xi got married in Yecheng, Yuan Shang blocked it several times, but in the end his plan was thwarted by Yuan Xi. He turned around and became a laughing stock among the nobles in Yecheng. .
Therefore, Yuan Shang had a reason and a motive to take this opportunity to trip up Yuan Xi.
Moreover, Shen Pei was Yuan Shang's son, and Shen Rong, as his nephew, had reason to obey Yuan Shang's orders.
But if this is the truth, Yuan Shang's motives and purposes are very impure.
Because it also involved the Five Stone Powder Incident.
If the Yuan family really knows the effectiveness of the Five Stone Powder, it means that Yuan Shang has ulterior motives and wants Yuan Shao to die early and become the lord of Jizhou!
Yuan Xi saw a rare trace of confusion in Yuan Shao's eyes, and knew that this testimony would hit Yuan Shao hard, because if Yuan Shang really had evil intentions, it would mean that Yuan Shao had misjudged the person!
Yuan Xi gently touched the bamboo slip with his hand and pondered in his heart. He naturally knew that the confession in this bamboo slip could not withstand scrutiny, and it would be more beneficial to him to add insult to injury to Yuan Shang. But what should he choose at this time?
If Yuan Shang is found guilty, will Yuan Shao be disappointed in Yuan Shang and hand over Jizhou to him?
Or could it be that Yuan Shao actually didn't believe this testimony at all and was just using it to test himself?
He raised his head slightly and found that Xu You's back was facing him, and he could not see the expression on the other person's face.
Yuan Shao's expression was extremely complicated, so complicated that even Yuan Xi couldn't see through it.
He thought of Yuan Shao's attitude towards Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, what happened in Yecheng in the past few years, and the memories of his predecessor. Why did Yuan Shao choose Yuan Shang?
His heart moved, he raised his head and glanced at Xu You's back.
Yuan Shao understood and said to Xu You: "You go down first."
After hearing this, Xu You stood up and walked back. When he passed by Yuan Xi, he glanced at Yuan Xi out of the corner of his eyes and found that the face on the other side was blank, so he walked back and closed the door.
Yuan Xi waited for the footsteps to go away, then lowered his voice and said: "This confession is in line with Xianfu's usual style, because he just likes to make small moves, but he is not firm enough in doing things, so that he fails to succeed and fails more than he does. "
Yuan Shao looked sad. He knew that Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang had a bad relationship, but he didn't expect Yuan Xi to be so ruthless in his evaluation.
He said: "Then Xianyi also thinks that Xianfu is highly suspicious?"
However, to Yuan Shao's surprise, Yuan Xi said flatly: "No, his suspicion should be smaller than anyone else's."
Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly opened, "Why do you say that?"
Yuan Xi said calmly: "It's very simple. If I were a prominent figure and planned the conspiracy in advance, there would be no need to leave Yecheng and go south to Yuzhou in order to achieve military exploits."
"If I can poison my father and bribe the city gate order to hide important military information, it must be for the sake of the position of the Lord of Jizhou."
"Then why do I have to lead my troops thousands of miles to fight Yuan Shu, causing chaos in the rear?"
"I'll just stay in Yecheng and wait for my father to run out of gas, so I can successfully take over the position of head of the Yuan family, right?"
"Why did you go to Yuzhou to fight when you knew that Five Stone Powder could cause my father's physical problems? As a result, you didn't have time to get back and everything happened."
Yuan Xi's idea is very simple. This kind of key event in the fight for the position of the head of the family is not a murder that requires the creation of an alibi. If the heir wants to successfully take over the position of the head of the family, he will definitely keep a close eye on the head of the family's every move. How can it be like this? Yuan Shang also ran so far away that he didn't show up in Yecheng at the critical moment?
Otherwise, now that Yuan Shao is seriously ill, Yuan Shang has long been acting as the head of the family. No matter whether the Five Stones Powder incident was planned by Yuan Shang or not, who cares? Why wait to let others investigate the case?
After hearing this, Yuan Shao's eyes lit up and he said, "I thought you two didn't get along, and you would never speak up for him."
Yuan Xi sighed softly, "I really don't like Xianfu, but these are two different things."
"I hate being deceived and used more."
Yuan Shao stared at the roof in a daze, and then looked at Yuan Xi for a long time, "What a pity, I have discovered now that Xian Yi, your greatest advantage is not military skill or strategy, but magnanimity."
"What a pity, if I had found out earlier."
He came back to his senses immediately and said with a waning tone: "Forget it, you are also the head of the branch family now, and I am not qualified to teach you a lesson."
"What else do you have to say?"
Yuan Xi spoke out: "Shen Rong is dishonest and most likely gave false testimony."
"Please father, please give him to me and give me three days to make sure his mouth is pried open."
Yuan Shao did not hesitate and said decisively: "Okay."
"But if you go too far, you will have to give Zhengnan an explanation in the end."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that he really knew that his son was like his father, but he was afraid that Yuan Shao had already understood that whether Shen Rong told the truth or not, he would not survive in his hands.
Because Yuan Xi is the kind of person who must retaliate for his anger. Since his messenger died because of this, there must be a head to pay tribute to him.
But in comparison, this is not important. What is important is that from this moment on, Yuan Xi won Yuan Shao's trust.
Yuan Shao is not a fool. No matter whether the other person is his son or not, he will not consider the motives of the person who rushed back at all. But now Yuan Xi's performance has cleared away the suspicion for himself and reassured Yuan Shao that the most important thing will be taken care of. Leave the key matters to Yuan Xi.
After Yuan Xi wanted to understand this, his mood was quite complicated. This was the relationship between father and son mixed with strategy and power. Although it was very cruel and ruthless, it was extremely real.
A son has only one father, but a father has more than one son, just like the lord and his subordinates, the emperor and his ministers.
Xu You, Xun Chen and others were waiting outside, but Yuan Shao sent someone to call them in. When Xu You heard this, he discovered that it was Yuan Shao who asked him to hand over Shen Rong to Yuan Xi!
This made it clear that he didn't believe the testimony. Xu You accepted the order respectfully on the surface, but he was thinking about it in his heart, because this was far beyond his expectation.
In Xu You's view, Yuan Xi was most likely going to add insult to injury because of his personal enmity with Yuan Shang.
But in Yuan Shao's mind, can Yuan Xi really surpass Yuan Shang now?
If Yuan Xi testifies against Yuan Shang, will it arouse Yuan Shao's resentment and cause turmoil in Yecheng?
But now it seems that things did not develop as he expected.
Xu You chose this testimony based on his own position.
Because he is clearly biased towards Yuan Shang, and by presenting this testimony, it will appear that his position is fair and equitable, and it will also allow him to distance himself from the matter and ensure his own safety.
This is the most important thing. As for Yuan Shao's subsequent reaction, it is completely out of Xu You's consideration. Anyway, as long as he kills Shen Rong's testimony, Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction will be passed on to Shen Pei.
Although Xu You and Shen Pei are both members of Yuan Shang in name, only Xu You knows in his heart that he is not on Yuan Shang's side, nor is he on Yuan Shao's side.
He only stands on his own side.
When he was working for Yuan Shang in Beixin City, his nephew was killed and he almost lost his life. Xu You saw clearly that he was not a pawn used by others. He was not willing to accept it. He wanted to find ways to survive. He did not want to be used by others. use.
So after Shen Rong spit out a rather absurd testimony, Xu You copied it intact, looking forward to a big drama.
But now, this big drama seems to have ended without even opening the curtain.
After the matter was settled, Yuan Shao asked Xun Chen and others to come in and said to everyone: "Xian Yi rushed thousands of miles to help the city and repulsed Cao's army in Cangtingjin. He just arrived at Yecheng last night."
"Ye City is suffering from internal and external troubles. Cao's army can come at any time from outside. Even Chunyu Qiong suffered a big loss and cannot afford to be injured so far. Ye City also needs someone to guard against the enemy."
"I plan to leave the military affairs in the city to Xianyi before Xianfu comes back. After all, my body is no longer suitable for working day and night."
After hearing this, all the counselors were secretly shocked. Although Yuan Shao had emphasized that this period was an extraordinary period and everything would be business as usual when Yuan Shang came back, would he still be willing to let this fierce tiger take control of Ye City?
In particular, several counselors from Yuan Tan's faction were worried. After all, they knew what Yuan Tan was doing in Xuzhou. Is Yuan Xi the kind of person who swallows his anger?
The most uncomfortable one among them is Xun Chen. As a member of the Xun family and dependent on Yuan Tan, his current situation is embarrassing enough. Now that this fierce tiger has a mortal enemy with Cao Cao, who knows if he will target him?
The current situation of Yuan Xi's army is not bad for the two factions who have already lined up, but it is definitely not good. Their previous plans have failed. Who would have thought that the vicious tiger who should least come back is actually The first to arrive?
Yuan Xi turned a blind eye to the uneasy looks of all the counselors. He straightened up slightly, smiled at everyone and cupped his hands, "This way, gentlemen, I can help you."
A word came to everyone's mind involuntarily.
Smiling tiger!
(End of chapter)
