If Yuan Shao's entire clan were subjected to Clan Extermination, some of their relatives would die along with them. This was undoubtedly something they did not wish to see.
Yet Liu Xie's stance was so firm...
After much deliberation, Yang Biao still decided to plead for mercy, because his wife was also a member of the Yuan Clan. She was Yuan An's great-granddaughter and, by generation, a younger sister of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao. (P.S. Some accounts also say she was Yuan Shu's daughter.)
Although she had married out of the clan and was not subject to Clan Extermination, the countless threads connecting the two sides meant he ultimately could not stand by and watch the Yuan Clan suffer Clan Extermination.
Just as Yang Biao was about to rise, Yang Xiu, beside him, held him fast and shook his head, his face pale.
"Father, don't."
Yang Xiu's eyes were filled with terror. He lowered his voice as much as he could, and it even trembled faintly. "Father, have you still not seen through this? His Majesty is deliberately using Yuan Shao to draw out the unstable aristocratic forces within the Imperial Court. His Majesty... is going to kill."
"If you step forward now, Father, you'll die!"
How could Yang Xiu not want to plead for mercy himself? But he had just accidentally caught a glimpse of Liu Xie's eyes, and the indifference within them had shocked him.
He suddenly understood why the Son of Heaven had convened court today to judge Yuan Shao, and why the Son of Heaven, usually so composed, had been provoked into losing his temper by a few words from Yuan Shao.
The Son of Heaven was testing the court officials.
With this test, those within the Imperial Court who had dealings with Yuan Shao,