The final result was that all the lands of those clans were robbed by Cao Boyang. Cao Boyang gave part of the land to the "loyal ministers of the office", and then started the army expansion plan non-stop.

Gongsun Xiong really couldn't understand how Cao Boyang, as the king of a country, could his thoughts and actions be like a bully who had just taken over a neighborhood? He already has supreme power, so why should he rely on manipulation to encroach on the interests of his subjects? Even tyrants like Ji, Xu, and Jin Xiangong would not launch an indiscriminate purge operation against their brothers and nephews, right? Is he still dissatisfied with the position of monarch and trying to become a great slave owner? If only that made sense!

Thinking of this, Gongsun Xiong broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately rushed to the palace and begged Cao Boyang to re-investigate the "rebellion" incident and give justice to the victims.

Cao Boyang said slowly: "Investigating the case is the responsibility of the Judicial Bureau, and no one can interfere. The Judicial Office has already found out very clearly, and the punishment is also made in accordance with the "Cao Punishment", and there is nothing wrong with it. The files are all in the Governor's Office, and the Master can consult them himself. As for the Master's words of 'justice,' the widow did not know what he meant. ”

Gongsun Xiong said angrily: "Uncle Jun! Putting aside the causes and consequences of each incident, let's just talk about the crime! The more than 30 families who were convicted were of the same clan as the king, all of whom were descendants of King Wen and Uncle Cao, and had lived on the land of Cao for generations, resisting aggression and building the country together with the public office. The major clans have been keeping to themselves for hundreds of years, why did all of a sudden all of a sudden become traitors? What lured them to betray the office? And what do they gain from betrayal? Why did the relatives of the public family become traitors, but the traitors of Qin and Jin (Gongsun Qiang) were praised as 'loyal ministers and righteous soldiers'? If he doesn't love Qin and Jin, how can he love Cao Guo? How can there be such a truth in the world?! ”

Cao Boyang was already quite impatient, but because he was afraid of Gongsun Xiong's fame and power, he didn't dare to take action against him for the time being.

Cao Boyang put on a kind smile and said: "The master is reasonable, the widow will arrange for the secretary to review this matter, and he will definitely give the master a satisfactory answer!" ”

After Gongsun Xiong left, Gongsun Qiang crept out from behind the screen again.

A few days later, Cao Boyang handed over the newly recruited army to Gongsun Xiong for training, and then handed over the command of the lower army to his brother Gongzicheng. After Gongzicheng took over, he made a major transfer of officers at all levels, and he transferred all the commanders and five centurions to idle positions without command, and appointed his own cronies to replace them; He also promoted some of the centurions who were highly regarded by Gongsun Xiong to the lieutenants of the five centurions, who appeared to be promoted on the surface, but in fact lost their command.

The newly recruited army was mixed in with a large number of ruffians, like aunts and pimps, and Gongsun Xiong was struggling with how to train them to become real warriors, only to receive news that his old subordinates had been robbed of their command; Gongsun Xiong almost took the lives of a few hangers in anger.

Gongsun Xiong was irritable and depressed: he tried again and again to dissuade Cao Boyang in an attempt to salvage the situation, only to be met with deception again and again and an even more uncontrollable and dangerous situation.

After a series of alarming incidents, Gongsun Xiong completely lost confidence in Cao Boyang and this office. He was discouraged, so he told Cao Boyang to return to his hometown. Cao Boyang pretended to keep him once, praised him twice, and then approved the request categorically, as if he was afraid that he would regret it.

Gongsun Xiong returned to Fengyi Baiqiu, hoping to escape from the treacherous political struggle and live out his old age without fighting with the world. But in the autumn of the death of the country in danger, who can be alone?

Cao Boyang kicked off the biggest stumbling block on the road to dictatorship, and the next step is to control the minds of the Chinese people.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the aristocracy generally no longer attached importance to the quality education of their children, so private schools came into being. As soon as the emergence of private school, it was enthusiastically sought after from the aristocracy to the commoners, the children of the aristocracy hoped to become the pillars of the country through learning, and the children of the commoners hoped to get ahead through learning, so the private school developed rapidly and prosperously.

The same is true of the Cao State, where each city has a private school, three or two in a small city, a dozen in a big city, and more than 20 in Taoqiu.

In the face of Cao Boyang's autocratic dictatorship, the Confucian scholars in private schools began to express their dissatisfaction, those with moderate temperaments complained, those with strong emotions vented their dissatisfaction without concealment, and the extreme people even began to encourage the people of the country to resist tyranny.

The informers of the all-pervasive "Loyalty Alliance" began to act in full swing, secretly and carefully recording the words of the Confucian scholars, collecting their "crimes", and then denounced them to their masters.

Gongsun Qiang carried a bamboo slip with a "crime" written on it into the palace (because there were too many of them) and handed the crime to Cao Boyang. Cao Boyang spot-checked dozens of copies and found that the most stern wording was all respected old masters in China, and among them was his enlightenment teacher and uncle Gongzi.

Cao Boyang found it difficult to do so, and he demanded that Gongsun Qiang deal with the "slanderers" gently—after all, there was no precedent for violent suppression of those who criticized the monarch's mistakes.

Gongsun Qiang then removed people like Gongzi from the list, gathered some small people with no background and said: "Slandering the monarch is a great crime!" I have a record of every bad word you say. According to the criminal law, you were all condemned and punished, but Uncle Jun remembered your first offense and was not prepared to hold you responsible. But there is no next time! You must make up for your mistakes, and in the future, you are only allowed to praise the king, praise everywhere, praise all the time, and praise cannot be overstated! Whoever does well will be rewarded handsomely. If anyone doesn't want to say it, get out of Cao State; Whoever dares to slander him again, I will pull out his tongue, so that he will not chew his tongue again. ”

The Confucian scholars did not dare to confront this big devil in person, and left angrily one after another; Many people packed their bags and left Taoqiu on the same day – the high-minded scholars would rather go into exile than wag their tails at the powerful like lackeys.

But driving away some little people can't eradicate the root cause, Gongsun Qiang's intimidation instead aroused a strong backlash from Gongzi Mo and others, and the old man broke into the palace alone regardless of his own safety, pointing at Cao Boyang's nose and scolding him for "the seed of the dead country".

Soon Zigong came to Taoqiu (Confucius had already settled in Chen at this time) to discuss business with Cao Guoren, and was entrusted by Confucius to visit Gongzi Yuan. He doesn't know much about the changes that have taken place in Cao Guo in recent years, and still treats Cao Guo as a normal country.

Zigong entered Taoqiu one evening. The next morning, as soon as he walked out of the inn, he felt that something was wrong: the pedestrians on the street were like ashes and walking like walking meat; From time to time, hurried armed patrols passed him, their eyes glaring at everyone in the way. Zigong felt as if Taoqiu had become a city occupied by the enemy.