“Milord! I am innocent! You can’t do this! I did not betray you! It is Sun Qian! He is the traitor! He is the one that surrendered to Liu Mang! I am innocent!” Mi Zhu shouted in the secret prison.
However, his efforts were wasted. This is because there had been many others like him in the secret prison. All of them had shouted that they were innocent.
“Stop shouting. Once you are here, it does not matter even if you were treated unjustly.” One person who was annoyed by the shouting suddenly said. This was a secret prison. It was the also the place Liu Bei secretly execute his enemies. Liu Pi was killed by the people managing this place. All the people in Xuzhou that did not listen to Liu Bei were also placed here. Right now, the secret prison had a lot of occupants.
Liu Pi’s subordinates was placed here. They would not be convinced about Liu Pi’s death so they were imprisoned. One day, their heads would somehow be found on the battlefield.
Zhang Xiu’s officials had also been placed here. None of them did anything wrong. It was only a matter of whether Liu Bei wanted them dead.
“Open the prison door!” Outside Mi Zhu’s cell were a group of people with Sun Qian standing behind all of them. They were all Sun Qian and Jian Yong’s men. The one that gave the orders was one of Sun Qian’s men.
The guys managing the prison did not do anything when they heard this command. Although Sun Qian was a high official under Liu Bei, everyone in the secret prison had no authority. Jian Yong was in charge of the prison and the people only listened to Liu Bei and Jian Yong’s commands. Even Sun Qian had to stand aside.
Fortunately one of Jian Yong’s subordinates waved his hand. Only then did these people take out a key to unlock the door.
“Hm?” Sun Qian furrowed his brows the moment he walked in. The secret prison was too dirty. The prison cells were dirty and dark with cockroaches and mouse all over. There was also the strong smell of blood mixed with the smell of mold. The stench made people frown naturally.
“Where is Mi Zhu?”
“The noisiest one is Mi Zhu.” The head of the jailer replied and pointed to a cell. He then had another jailer escort Sun Qian in.
As Mi Zhu was just brought in, he was the noisiest as he still had the energy to scream. The others had been locked up for so long that they no longer had the energy.
“Military Advisor Sun Qian! Do you recognize me! It’s me! Cao Hui!” One person suddenly shouted from a cell. He slammed onto the bars of the cell to get Sun Qian’s attention.
“Cao Hui?” Sun Qian looked at the prisoner in disgust. While Cao Hui seemed familiar, he could not remember who Cao Hui was. He felt even more disgusted when the prisoner with a fishy smell approached him.
“That’s right! It’s me! Cao Hui! I was one of General Liu Pi’s 1000-men general! You cannot remember me? I visited your residence once!”
“Liu Pi’s 1000-men general?” Sun Qian finally remembered a little. When Liu Bei arrived at Yuzhou, Liu Pi surrendered. At that time, there were many people that visited Sun Qian. At that time, Sun Qian was Liu Bei’s only strategist and had high position. Cao Hui was one of those that visited Sun Qian and gave him a gift. However, he had been much more robust and healthy looking. Now he looked thin and shriveled up.
“Military Advisor Sun Qian! Please save me! I did not betray the Left General! I am really innocent! I will listen to his words in the future! Sun Qian! Please save me! Let me out! I will the Left General’s dog! I will bite whoever he tells me to bite!” Cao Hui’s voice was miserable but it could not move Sun Qian.
Politics was just that cruel. If you stand on the wrong side, you will get purged.
“Military Advisor Sun Qian!”
“Stop speaking so much nonsense! You must have a death wish!” Just as Sun Qian left, a jailer went and beat up Cao Hui. Cao Hui who had been a 1000-men general was now reduced to a person begging to stay alive.
“Milord is here to release me! I knew that he would not abandon me! I did not betray Milord!” Mi Zhu said cheerfully when he heard the sound of people approaching. However, his mood immediately dropped when he heard Sun Qian’s voice.
“Lord Mi Zhu. How is prison?”
“Sun Qian Sun Gongyou? You brigand!” Mi Zhu’s expression turned malevolent. It was Sun Qian that made him suffer like this.
“Aiya. You look like you are suffering! What a pity. Who asked you to betray the Lord? You should have just been a good brother-in-law!” Sun Qian said arrogantly.
“Sun Qian! The one that betrayed the Lord is you! Not me!” Mi Zhu yelled back.
Sun Qian did not reply immediately and instead approached Mi Zhu. The moment he was certain that he could not be heard by the others present, he said, “That’s right. Even if I was the traitor, nobody knows this. Oh right, you do know that I was the traitor. What a pity. You have to take this secret with you to your grave!”
“Why did Milord sent you?” Mi Zhu knew that he could no longer escape. This is because Jian Yong and Liu Bei were the ones that controlled this prison. If Sun Qian could come here it would mean that Liu Bei have no intentions of letting Mi Zhu leave the prison alive.
“At first, you were only guilty but you won’t die! It is a pity you brought up the Mi Family. You yourself know that the Lord hates owing others favors!” Had Mi Zhu not mention the Mi Family’s contributions, Liu Bei may have spared him. However, Mi Zhu’s actions only brought the opposite effect.
“Sun Qian. We had no animosity before this! Why do you want to harm me?” Mi Zhu wanted to know this before he died.
“Haha! That is because you made a mistake! You end up being too close to Fatty Pang!” Sun Qian said “Fatty Pang” with full of killing intent.
“Fatty Pang?” Mi Zhu finally understood when he heard this. Mi Zhu who wanted to raise the Mi Family to a higher position needed a backer. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei hated him while Sun Qian was on the same faction as these two. Meanwhile, Jian Yong wanted to remain neutral and not participate in conflicts. So Mi Zhu had no choice but to rely on Pang Tong. This inadvertently offended Sun Qian.
“Besides that, you ended up knowing too much!” Sun Qian added. Initially, Sun Qian had no intention to kill Mi Zhu. However, Mi Zhu ended up knowing too much and had to be eliminated.
“Haha. I understand now.” Mi Zhu said with a desolate smile. This was a fight between two giants and he was simply targeted because he was affiliated with Pang Tong. Liu Bei also did not have any use for him. As the saying goes, a small favor should be repaid many times more. Since the favor cannot be repaid, the benefactor should just go and die!
“Master Gongyou. I admit defeat.” Mi Zhu was a merchant. He knew that losing as a merchant meant losing money. Losing as a politician meant death. “I hope Master Gongyou consider us colleagues working together for the Lord over many years and make it quick.”
“You want to die? It won’t be so easy!”
