Chapter 317 Planting the Seeds

Yuan Xi brought Sun Li to the door to welcome Xu You in person. Seeing that Xu You looked rather unnatural, Yuan Xi couldn't help but smile and said, "Sir, your visit to my humble home is a real honor to me."

Xu You wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile: "You thought that the envoy would leave soon, but I remembered a few urgent matters and was afraid of delaying him, so I hurried over here."

"I am really upset to have disturbed you, Lord."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "No, sir, you are dedicated to the public and have an open mind. Why should you be uneasy?"

Xu You felt the sweat on his forehead oozing out again. He glanced at Sun Li who was standing beside him and put his hand on the hilt of a ring-handled sword, and his heart suddenly stopped.

He had already found out that Sun Li was the most capable personal guard of Yuan Xi, and all matters concerning Yuan Xi were handled by this man.

The head of the Black Mountain Army leader hanging on the city wall today was also chopped off by this man, and maybe his nephew's head was also chopped off by this man!

According to the informant, although Sun Li looked young, he was actually quite strong. He hit the leader's neck with his ring-handled sword and chopped off his head, sending it flying far away!

When Xu You heard and remembered his nephew who had been beheaded, his stomach churned and a feeling of fear rose in his stomach.

Although Yuan Xi had gained a great reputation and earned the name of the fierce tiger of the Yuan family, Xu You was attached to Yuan Shang at the time and came to Youzhou to cause trouble, and he did not seem to take Yuan Xi seriously.

There was no other reason. Xu You and Yuan Shao were old friends of the same generation. Xu You's family was quite powerful and he himself was quite capable. Which of the younger generations of the Yuan family would not give him some face?

So after Xu You came to Youzhou, he always felt good about himself until the situation in Jicheng got out of control.

Although his nephew Xu Jie was greedy for some money and grain, his crime was not punishable by death. However, he was killed in public by Yuan Xi!

When Xu You heard the news, a chill ran down his spine. Why didn't Yuan Xi care about Yuan Shang's and his own face?

This has obviously been overdone!

The inside story that came later made Xu You dumbfounded, because the crime Yuan Xi brought against Xu Jie'an was not embezzlement of money, but conspiracy and intention to assassinate Yuan Xi!

Xu You knew his nephew's courage. How could he possibly assassinate Yuan Xi?

However, Yuan Xi produced witnesses and evidence, leaving Xu You speechless. But every time he thought about it, he felt that the matter was weird.

It is true that Yuan Shang wanted to target Yuan Xi, but it was only to suppress and weaken him. He never thought of killing Yuan Xi!

Xu You thought about it afterwards and came up with two possibilities.

One is that in order to kill Xu Jie, Yuan Xi pinned a non-existent crime on him.

Second, this incident did happen, but it was not done by Xu Jie. The mastermind was someone else, and Yuan Xi just used this incident to get rid of Xu Jie!

But no matter what the situation was, Yuan Xi's actions were beyond Xu You's expectations and were too dangerous!

This crazy act disregarded the unspoken rules among scholars. In Xu You's eyes, his life was already threatened. What he wanted was promotion and wealth, not to become a scapegoat in the fight between Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and lose his life!

Xu You saw Yuan Xi collecting evidence on the street during the day, and he became restless after returning. He finally made up his mind to come to Yuan Xi's house to apologize. Otherwise, who knew if someone would pull him out of bed and chop off his head when he was sleeping at night?

Seeing Yuan Xi looking at him with a hint of teasing, Xu You finally couldn't help himself and knelt on the ground and said, "Your ability is limited and I have made many mistakes. Please forgive me, Your Excellency!"

Yuan Xi stepped forward and helped him up, saying with a smile: "Mr. Ziyuan, why do you have to do this? My subordinates have made many mistakes, but I have never done anything to them."

"Please come in and discuss in detail, sir."

Yuan Xi held Xu You's hand and felt him trembling unconsciously. He thought to himself that Xu You was not very courageous.

It turns out that it's good to be a crazy person, killing and killing all the way, everyone will be scared.

Yuan Xi wondered if he was mentally twisted, and vaguely resonated with Cao Cao's killing of the Yanzhou gentry. The only difference between the two was that Cao Cao killed all the common people and gentry, while Yuan Xi only killed officials with bad conduct and bandits.

However, Yuan Xi was also a little troubled. He had tried to scare Xu You by making a show of force, but he didn't expect Xu You to be so timid. He had originally wanted to keep him around to be useful!

Thinking of this, he turned to Sun Li and said, "Go and call Mr. Feng Xiao over."

Xu You was anxious after hearing this, and said hurriedly: "You just wanted to talk to you privately."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi invited Xu You to sit down in the room and asked Sun Li to leave first. Then he said, "Mr. Ziyuan, are you here for some urgent military information?"

Seeing Yuan Xi pretending to be innocent, Xu You stammered, "You and Gong Yu had some disagreements before. Of course, some of the mistakes were caused by You's negligence."

Yuan Xi interrupted him and waved his hand, saying, "Sir, neither you nor Gong Yu are the kind of people who would sacrifice public interests for personal gain. Everyone makes mistakes, so why make such a fuss over a few minor ones?"

The more Yuan Xi said this, the more guilty Xu You felt. He wiped his sweat and said, "It's not a small amount. There is some shortage of money and grain. Although I have tried my best to make up for it, there are still some mistakes. It's all because some people below are too greedy, and I can't stop them."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and asked, "Did the people below take the money and put the blame on the people above?"

"These petty officials are too despicable. Not only do they do evil themselves, but they also slander their superiors. I will investigate them strictly and skin them alive."

Xu You suffered another cardiac arrest. How could he have embezzled money and grain personally?

Naturally, it was the petty clerks who were in charge of the business, embezzled money, falsified the accounts, and then gave the lion's share of the proceeds as a gift to their superiors' subordinates.

The subordinate officials would then withhold a portion of it, and then hand it over to their superiors again. It was passed up layer by layer before it fell into Xu You's hands. In this way, everyone who saw it had a share, and no one could escape the responsibility, so they naturally concealed the truth from each other.

Xu You's stuff has become an unspoken rule in official circles. It neither dirtys his own hands nor makes everyone benefit, making everyone happy.

Now Yuan Xi wanted to investigate from the bottom up, making Xu You confused for a moment. Was Yuan Xi joking to comfort him, or was he really going to do this?

Xu You was feeling very nervous when Guo Jia came in and said with a smile, "I've heard that Ziyuan likes wine, so why don't you come and drink with me?"

"When I was in Yingchuan, I had heard of Mr. Ziyuan's great name for a long time. Now that I have met him, how can I not toast to him with a few glasses of wine?"

Guo Jia turned to Yuan Xi, "Young Master, you won't blame me for making decisions on my own, right?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Sir, you came at the right time. Mr. Ziyuan has worked hard these days. Logically, I should host a banquet to thank him."

As soon as he waved his hand, maids brought wine and food, and others came to drink with him and danced. The scene became lively for a while.

After Xu You was forced to drink several glasses of wine by Guo Jia, he could no longer speak directly to Yuan Xi, so he had to temporarily put aside his thoughts and drink with Guo Jia.

Yuan Xi thought that Guo Jia's arrival was just in time, and Xu You was not someone who could be easily fooled. It was just right that Guo Jia could help him cover up and make Xu You unsure of his true thoughts.

What I want is to make Xu You feel unsure and do things with trepidation, so that he dare not cause trouble at this time.

Xu You is indeed a thunder, but what Yuan Xi wants is to know when and how to make him explode so as to achieve the greatest effect.

When he saw Xu You and Guo Jia talking to each other, he made an excuse that he was not feeling well and left the table first, leaving the two top strategists to argue with each other.

When he walked out, he saw Sun Li still standing outside the door, his hand on the hilt of his knife, and he smiled and said, "You are quite honest. You don't need to unsheathe your knife tonight. Don't be so nervous."

Xu You, who was pouring wine in the room, suddenly shook his hand, the spout of the jug tilted, and the wine spilled all over the table.

Guo Jia drunkenly pulled his hand and said, "Mr. Ziyuan is drunk!"

"Jia has no special strengths, but I am better than you in terms of drinking!"

Xu You thought to himself, you are nothing but a bully, I just don't feel like drinking, look at what you can do!

However, he knew that Guo Jia was Yuan Xi's chief strategist and someone he could not afford to offend, so he forced a smile and said, "Mr. Fengxiao has many wise plans and helped you achieve great achievements. You is ashamed of yourself."

Guo Jia burped and shook his head, saying, "Sir, you are wrong. Your talent is a hundred times greater than mine, but you just haven't encountered a good opportunity."

Xu You gulped down the wine in his hand, "Feng Xiao knows me, but now that Benchu ​​Gong has become powerful, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult to make achievements in the future."

"But it's different for Mr. Fengxiao to assist Master Xianyi. Youzhou has a lot of work to do and there is a lot to be done."

Guo Jia patted Xu You's shoulder with hazy eyes, "Mr. Ziyuan, you are too narrow-minded."

"Mr.'s opportunities are no less than Jia's, and may even be several times more."

Xu You's heart was moved, "What do you mean?"

Guo Jia mumbled incoherently, and Xu You listened attentively, but his heart was in turmoil.

Yuan Xi and Sun Li were talking outside. When they heard that Guo Jia was already trying to please Xu You, they smiled slightly. Regardless of whether Xu You believed it or not, the seed of doubt had already been planted.

Because everyone has desires, especially people like Xu You who have a high opinion of themselves and are keen on fame, wealth and power, who are more easily deceived.

One day he will make a choice, and then it will be time to use the counter-espionage strategy.

Seeing that it was late at night and there was no need to go back to see Xu You again, Yuan Xi asked Sun Li to go back to take care of his family while he went back to his room.

When he reached the corner of the yard, a gust of wind blew over, bringing with it a creaking sound. He looked closely and saw that this was the wooden building he had built earlier.

When this wooden building was built, it was not very solid and would sway slightly when strong winds blew. Later, Yuan Xi, Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian went up there more often, and the wooden building shook violently, with the tendency to become a dangerous building.

After Yuan Xi left, the wooden building had not been repaired for such a long time that it became even more dilapidated.

Yuan Xi was excited and used the moves from the Five Animal Exercises. He jumped up the wooden ladder at an incredible speed and stomped his feet rapidly, climbing up at an incredible speed.

In just a few breaths, Yuan Xi had climbed halfway up the ten-foot-high wooden ladder, but as he climbed higher, the wooden building shook more violently.

There was a constant creaking sound, and the wooden building swayed back and forth more and more violently, and then a scream was heard from above.

Yuan Xi was stunned and stopped, "Who's up there?"

After a while, Hou's voice came softly from the wooden house, "It's my concubine."

Yuan Xi was in mid-air, thinking to himself, after what happened last time, how dare you go up to the wooden building?

But come to think of it, was it me who blocked you this time?