"Your Majesty, please spare him this once..."
Sima Yue stood in front of Cao Mao, gripping his hand tightly.
Cao Mao actually held a sword scabbard in his hand, his face blazing with anger.
Guo Ping knelt before the two of them, trembling.
"Father, I really didn't mean to... they were the ones who started it."
Earlier that day, Cao Mao had suddenly received a memorial from the Imperial Secretariat.
He Zeng had delivered it personally, and the person being impeached was rather unusual: Cao Mao's adopted son, Guo Ping.
The people at court still did not dare take Guo Ping lightly. Their own Emperor Wu had had two dearly favored adopted sons, He Yan and Qin Lang.
Both had eventually become heavyweight ministers of Cao Wei. Had it not been for the struggles within the court, their clans would probably have soared along with them long ago.
And now, Guo Ping often reminded the ministers of He and Qin.
No one dared underestimate him.
But He Zeng could not simply ignore this affair either. After all, His Majesty had always enforced the law impartially.
It was a trite story: a few idle young wastrels had gotten into a fight in Luoyang.
Guo Ping and Chen Qian's grandson, Chen Zhi, had beaten up Wang Ji, Gentleman of the Central Secretariat.
And who was this Wang Ji?
He was Commandant Wang Hun's son and Wang Chang's grandson.
Reportedly, he had been beaten quite badly.
Upon learning of this, Cao Mao flew into a rage. He immediately sent men to drag Guo Ping before him, looked around, and, finding nothing else, simply raised his sword scabbard to beat him. Sima Yue hurriedly intervened.
"I sent you to study military strategy under Chen Qian, yet you took his grandson out to make trouble?"