The three people whose names were called by Liu Wei looked blank.
They couldn't understand how this Han prince, the King of Yunzhong, and the General of Zhenbei, who had been invited by Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, to quell the rebellion, could call out the names of the three of them for the first time today!
The other officials under Liu Yu were also completely dumbfounded.
This prince, who was high and mighty, came to Youzhou and took control of the military, and started to act all high and mighty!
Liu Yu was also completely bewildered. Liu Wei had taken the throne, but instead of deploying troops and making arrangements for a counterattack to reclaim Youzhou, he sent out his three subordinates. Did he intend to send these three to charge into battle?
Wei You, Cheng Xu, and Gongsun Ji were merely officials in Youzhou; what could they possibly do?
However, since he had already stated that he would temporarily hand over power to Liu Wei, he could not say anything at this moment, so he glanced at Wei You, Cheng Xu, and Gongsun Ji.
Before the three could step forward, Tian Kai, standing next to Liu Wei, shouted angrily:
"Wei You, Cheng Xu, Gongsun Ji! Our lord calls your names, why don't you respond?"
Tian Kai is not only intelligent and resourceful, but also adept at reading people's expressions and demeanor.
Tian Kai was quick-witted and resourceful when it came to Liu Bei's overstepping of his bounds, which led to Liu Bei getting a beating while Tian Kai escaped unscathed.
Liu Wei showed him even more favor.
At this moment, seeing that Liu Wei had taken control of the power in Youzhou, he ordered Wei You, Cheng Xu, and Gongsun Ji to come out, but they agreed. Wouldn't this damage the dignity of his lord?
Tian Kai immediately acted as his henchman, shouting angrily first.
At Tian Kai's angry shout, three scholars with different expressions stepped out from among the officials of Youzhou on Liu Yu's side.
Their faces were filled with surprise, but their eyes betrayed their guilty conscience.
"I wonder what Your Highness has summoned us for?" The three walked to the center of the hall, looking at Liu Wei warily.
They were feeling guilty, worried that being called out by name as soon as Liu Wei arrived would definitely not be a good thing!
"What are you three worried about?" Even Liu Yu was puzzled.
Why were their officials so wary of Liu Wei, who had absolutely no prior contact with them?
"Guards, drag these three out and execute them!"
"Their heads were preserved with lime!"
Liu Wei did not answer Liu Yu's question, but instead shouted sternly at the three people in the hall.
What!
Liu Wei's words shocked everyone in the room.
"We're innocent! What crime have we committed?"
"Your Highness, why do you want to kill us?"
"Your Excellency Governor, this prince is disregarding human life; you cannot ignore this!"
The three of them immediately started shouting.
"Your Highness, are you mistaken? What have those three done to deserve such a severe punishment as beheading?"
When Liu Yu saw that Liu Wei was about to kill his men after taking control of Youzhou, he was shocked and hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
"Your Excellency, these three are secretly colluding with Gongsun Zan, instigating him to take advantage of your predicament to demand money and grain!"
"Now that the army is about to launch a counterattack, if Gongsun Zan and the other two from Yi County deliberately cause trouble and hinder our progress, it will definitely affect our counterattack plan!"
"With the campaign imminent, we must first execute these three men, then fortify our defenses and scorched earth to enforce military discipline!"
Liu Wei said coldly.
What!
It turns out that the three of them were secretly colluding with Gongsun Zan?
Liu Yu and his officials were immediately in an uproar.
"Nonsense! How could we possibly collude with Gongsun Zan? You...you're making baseless accusations!"
Wei You immediately exclaimed, "Governor, when you took control of Youzhou, my Wei family was the first to stand up and give our full support! Don't discard us after we've served our purpose!"
Cheng Xu chimed in, "Governor, our Cheng family also contributed half of our wealth to support you back then!"
"My lord, you know me. Although I share the same surname as Gongsun Zan, we have absolutely no connection whatsoever!" Gongsun Ji also cried out in protest.
Even Liu Yu couldn't help but ask anxiously, "Nephew, what evidence do you have for this? These three are my trusted men in Youzhou. Don't wrong them!"
"Master Zongzheng, since I've said it, I must have evidence!"
Liu Wei smiled slightly, then waved to Tian Kai.
Tian Kai took out a stack of letters from his sleeve and presented them to him.
"These are the correspondence between the three of them and Gongsun Zan that my spies intercepted!"
"If we launch a counterattack against Zhang Ju's rebel army from Zhuojun, the three of them will work together from within and without to invite Gongsun Zan to Fanyang to become the ruler of Youzhou!"
Liu Wei took the letter and sneered, "To repel external aggression, we must first pacify internal strife. We cannot rashly send troops until Gongsun Zan is settled."
After saying this, he tossed the letter in front of Wei You, Cheng Xu, and Gongsun Ji, and said sarcastically:
"You three, look for yourselves. Is this your letter? I will not kill someone without evidence!"
"The words in this letter are truly shocking, obsequious, and an eye-opener!"
Wei You, Cheng Xu, and Gongsun Ji's expressions changed drastically.
The three of them did indeed correspond with Gongsun Zan in secret, but they never imagined that these letters would fall into Liu Wei's hands.
At this moment, Wei You suddenly grabbed the letter from the ground, didn't even look at it, stuffed it into his mouth, and swallowed it.
Seeing this, Cheng Xu and Gongsun Ji followed Wei You's example and ate all the letters on the ground.
"Haha, Your Grace, he's framing me!"
"See? He has no evidence; he's framing us!"
After forcing himself to swallow, Wei You burst into wild laughter.
The entire room was stunned. These three were officials from Youzhou, after all. How could they do something so childish and blatant in their attempt to cover up their crimes?
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