Chapter 733: Xu You: Mediocre Lord! Mediocre Lord! (2nd update!)

Seeing Xu You's posture of wanting to put him to death and not let the matter rest, Guo Tu was also enraged. Before Yuan Shao could speak, Guo Tu bowed to him: "My Lord! I admit the blame for failing to suppress Zhang Fei, but I think compared to Xu You's crimes, mine is nothing!"

"Hmm?"

Yuan Shao looked at Xu You, bewildered, which made Guo Tu's heart skip a beat: "Oh no! Guo Tu isn't going to expose my embezzlement of military grain, is he?"

If so, that would be truly terrible.

However, the thing you fear most is what happens. The next moment, Guo Tu continued: "My Lord, you don't know yet! Back when you were attacking Gongsun Zan in Youzhou, Xu You had already ordered his son and steward to embezzle and resell military grain in the rear!"

"Over the past few years, the grain he resold is no less than 300,000 shi, and he obtained no less than tens of thousands of gold!"

"What?"

Yuan Shao was shocked and furious as he looked at Xu You: "Xu You! Is what Guo Tu said true?"

"This..."

Xu You didn't know what to say!

He wanted to deny it!

But he didn't do so.

Because he knew very well that since Guo Tu dared to expose this matter at this time, it meant he had absolute evidence, and denying it would be useless.

It might even have the opposite effect.

Therefore, Xu You could only silently admit his guilt: "My Lord! Your subordinate is guilty; I should not have been greedy for a moment. Please, My Lord, consider the years I have spent planning for you and spare me this once!"

With that, Xu You knelt down with a thud.

"You..."

Yuan Shao, seeing Xu You like this, felt both angry and amused.

He knew very well what a proud person Xu You was!

He was angry at Xu You's insatiable greed, even embezzling military grain.

But Xu You's greed wasn't a one-day affair; how could Yuan Shao not know?

It was just that he had turned a blind eye in the past.

But today's matter was too serious and truly angered Yuan Shao.

And since the matter had been exposed by Guo Tu, if he didn't punish Xu You, wouldn't others follow suit in the future?

If that happened, everything would be in complete chaos.

Moreover, in this campaign against Cao Cao, his own grain supplies were not abundant, and he had forcibly requisitioned a lot of military grain from many noble families.

Many noble families already had opinions about him.

It was at such a critical juncture that Xu You still greedily embezzled a large amount of military grain without any sense of the big picture, which was what truly angered Yuan Shao.

Therefore, he waved his hand and said coldly: "Enough! Men, take Xu You to the army prison first, and we will deal with him after the war ends!"

"Yes!"

Two personal guards at the door took the order, one on each side, and dragged Xu You away by his arms.

"My Lord, forgive me! Forgive me!"

Xu You struggled, wanting to argue for something, but Yuan Shao wouldn't listen to a word he said and had the guards drag him away by force.

At this moment, Guo Tu turned his head and gave Xu You a cold, mocking smile.

As if to say: You're dead! I will never give you a chance to turn the tables.

This made Xu You's heart turn cold.

On the contrary, Ju Shou, seeing this, couldn't help but plead for Xu You: "My Lord! This is a time when we need people; wouldn't it be better to spare Xu You for now, record his crimes, and let him make amends for his sins?"

After all, compared to Guo Tu, who was purely a troublemaker, Ju Shou felt that Xu You at least had a good brain and could often give better, more feasible suggestions.

And since Yuan Shao could temporarily ignore Guo Tu's failure to suppress Zhang Fei, why couldn't he give Xu You a chance?

Guo Tu, seeing this, became anxious and couldn't help glaring at Ju Shou before advising Yuan Shao: "My Lord! Absolutely not! Xu You must already harbor resentment toward you!"

"Furthermore, I heard he is a classmate and friend of Cao Cao. What if he chooses to collude with Cao Cao out of resentment and leaks our military intelligence, wouldn't that ruin your great cause, My Lord?"

"Therefore, you must not release Xu You at this time. If you want to spare him, wait until you have defeated Cao Cao;"

"By then, sparing Xu You can also demonstrate your benevolence, My Lord, can it not?"

Of course, Guo Tu was just saying that.

He knew Yuan Shao very well; even if that time came, Xu You wouldn't get off easily.

Not to mention, he was still there.

During this period, Guo Tu would never miss a chance to torture Xu You.

He would definitely find a way to kill Xu You before then.

Yuan Shao, hearing Guo Tu's words, felt Guo Tu was righteous and nodded: "Good! Then let's do as you say, Gongze! Temporarily detain Xu You and wait until the war is over."

Clearly, Yuan Shao had taken Guo Tu's words to heart.

He knew very well that Xu You was indeed a classmate of Cao Cao, and he was truly afraid that Xu You would choose to collude with Cao Cao at this time.

"Drag him away! Lock him up first!"

Yuan Shao waved his hand at the two guards who had already dragged Xu You to the door, and they continued to drag him away.

Xu You's heart sank to the bottom: "It's over! It's completely over. Even if Yuan Shao defeats Cao Cao in the future and doesn't kill me, with Guo Tu around, I'm afraid I won't live until then!"

"However, fortunately, I had the foresight and had already made preparations, leaving myself a way out!"

"Since you are unjust to me, Yuan Shao, don't blame me! Hmph!" ===== CHAPTER 735 =====