Lu Fang quickly knelt down and said with a tremor,
"Your servant asked, but there was nothing unusual..."
Jiajing walked a few steps closer, bent over, and stared at him with his head down for a while, then said coldly, "If you say there's nothing unusual, then there's nothing unusual..."
Lu Fang was immediately scared out of his wits, kowtowed vigorously, and said with a tremor,
"Your servant doesn't know... Please forgive me, Your Majesty..."
After an unknown amount of time,
With a "snap,"
A stack of case files appeared beside him.
Jiajing said coldly, "Take a look for yourself..."
Lu Fang carefully read through it twice. More than half an hour had passed, but even with his meticulous mind, he couldn't find anything wrong. Jiajing sat alone on the Bagua platform, his gloomy expression clearly visible. Thinking that since he asked, the case files must be problematic, he was stumped and didn't dare to say anything.
After an unknown amount of time,
Jiajing said leisurely,
"Finished reading?"
Lu Fang knelt and said, "Finished, but..."
Hmph!
Jiajing's anger had subsided considerably by then, and he said indifferently,
"Seeing your usual cleverness, why didn't you look at those officials from the princely manor...?"
Lu Fang immediately realized what was going on. He reopened the case files, and saw that at least seven or eight people, from the chief clerk to the imperial chef in the princely manor, had been transferred there at the same time. Among them, two or three were transferred from the Imperial Household Department...
This,
This was undoubtedly where the trick lay!
Based on his years of experience, he could tell at a glance that the person who prepared the case files had already tampered with them, making it difficult for ordinary people to notice. This was because these officials, transferred at the same time, did not have their transfer dates specified, only a small note saying "transferred from the Imperial Household Department."
This was a violation of regulations. According to the rules, the year and month of their entry into the princely manor should have been clearly stated. The person who prepared the case files deliberately omitted this information to conceal something.
"Your Majesty, these seven or eight people were all transferred to the princely manor at the same time..."
Hmph,
Jiajing's face darkened again as he thought of someone making such a big move under his nose, causing so much suffering to his son. He said menacingly,
"Why haven't you gone to investigate?"
Lu Fang also reacted at this moment—
Not long after Prince Jing was confined, someone replaced several important officials in Prince Jing's manor. Then, Prince Jing went mad...
There was a possibility he dared not think too deeply about: Prince Jing might have been harmed! Otherwise, why would His Majesty be so gloomy? So restless?
He dared not ask, but the seriousness of the situation was clear. He immediately retreated in a hurry, flashed out of the hall, and hurried to the Western Garden office.
At this time,
There were four scribes in the office. Lu Fang remembered that Chen Hong had handled the case, so he couldn't let him know. He immediately calmed his breathing and walked in slowly.
Huang Jin was the most filial to him and immediately served him noodles. He knew it was difficult to stay in Yuxigong, and he would go for one or two days at a time. His Majesty supported the use of elixirs, but ordinary people had to eat. Anyone who returned from duty was starving, and a large bowl of noodles was already a habit.
Lu Fang acted calm, slowly finished the noodles, and then asked about some official matters. He then stretched his limbs, said he was tired, and walked out. As his right foot just stepped out, he turned his head and said,
"Jin'er, come here for a moment..."
Walking out of the Western Garden office, he happened to see Chen Hong lingering at the door out of the corner of his eye, seeming to be sizing them up.
Lu Fang immediately stopped and said directly in front of Chen Hong,
"Jin'er, I have a case file here, concerning Prince Jing's succession to the throne back then. His Majesty has realized that the officials in the princely manor were all replaced. Hurry up and investigate. No matter how many people you need to find, find out who replaced those people, when they were replaced, and who instigated them from behind... Also, are these people related to Prince Jing's madness? You need to investigate all of that clearly."
As he spoke, he had a smile on his face and gestured with his hands, as if they were having a casual conversation. How could Huang Jin not understand? He also played along and said,
"I'll go and investigate now. Back then, son remembers, it was mostly related to Chen Hong, and later it must have been Yan Shifan. Your Highness, please rest assured."
Hmm, hmm,
Lu Fang patted his shoulder and walked away with a smile.
...
Prince Yu, disguised as a middle-aged scholar, exuded an elegant aura. Even those close to him could hardly recognize him at first glance when he fanned himself.
At this time,
He had already walked a long way. In an alley, he turned a few corners and arrived at a courtyard. The plaque above the gate read "Shi Shu Pin Gao" (Poetry and Books of High Quality) in four characters, which was very common and unremarkable. He familiarized himself with the surroundings and gently pushed open a large door with a bronze ring.
Passing through a quiet path lined with purple bamboo, he arrived at the main hall. At this moment, two people inside the hall saw Prince Yu arrive and rushed out with a "swish."
The middle-aged scholar at the head stepped forward and respectfully said, "I regret not being able to welcome Your Highness the Crown Prince. Please forgive me."
Prince Yu was very familiar with him and said kindly,
"Chongji, I am traveling incognito, so there is no need for such formality."
This man was named Yin Tai. He was originally a Shujishi of the Hanlin Academy and had served as the Zhan Shi of Prince Yu's manor for a period of time. Later, he was dismissed due to his conflict with Yan Song. He had recently been summoned back by Prince Yu and had been living in this courtyard for many days. Today, he was finally able to meet Prince Yu, and he was moved to tears, saying choked up,
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, for not abandoning Yin Tai, this great禮 (li,禮i.e., a formal bow) must be performed."
He actually completed the kowtow before standing up.
Prince Yu patted his shoulder and smiled,
"Chongji, you don't have to do this anymore."
Yin Tai nodded with tears in his eyes.
A man beside him, with a gloomy expression, also paid his respects at this moment, saying,
"Zhang Er greets Your Highness the Crown Prince."
Prince Yu smiled and said, "Zhang Er, you're joining in on this too? Let's go! Let's talk inside!"
Seeing his easygoing manner, the two of them smiled and entered the hall.
After they were seated,
Prince Yu pondered for a moment and asked,
"Zhang Er, how are things progressing?"
Zhang Er bowed and said,
"Reporting to Your Highness, the investigation has indeed been completed..."
As he was about to speak, he realized Yin Tai was nearby and hesitated.
Prince Yu said kindly,
"Zhang Er, Chongji is one of us and has a feud with the Yan family. You can speak freely."
After Yin Tai left Prince Yu's manor, he was originally selected by the Ministry of Personnel to be the Prefect of Fuzhou. However, when he met Yan Song, Yan Song, seeing that he was from Jiangxi and unmarried, intended to win him over and proposed that he marry one of his concubines as his first wife.
This was originally a common method for the Yan family to form alliances, and it was a common practice in the Great Ming Dynasty. Whenever a prominent figure wanted to promote someone, they would often have him marry a certain woman, who was often a concubine, a maidservant of the prominent figure, or sometimes even a mistress from a brothel. Only if this person could swallow their pride would they be considered a person on the same boat.
However, Yin Tai was extremely sharp. Not only did he refuse, but he also retorted a few words. Yan Song was furious and rescinded his appointment on the spot. Later, Yan Song humiliated him and relegated him to Fuzhou as a Tongzhi, where he endured constant ostracism from his colleagues. Within three months, he was impeached by an imperial censor and sent home, accused of illegally burning official kilns and openly soliciting prostitutes, which was an extreme insult.
Yin Tai had been dejected and unhappy at home for several years. When he suddenly received a secret letter from Prince Yu, sent by someone from Zhang Er, the former second-in-command of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it was like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw. He had been staying in Zhang Er's villa for the past few days. He had initially suspected that Zhang Er was still a member of the Yan family. Seeing how intimately Prince Yu confided in him, he immediately knelt on one knee and said,
"Lord Zhang Er, your subordinate has no ulterior motives."
Good, good!
Zhang Er helped him up and smiled,
"Chongji, we must be cautious in all matters. Please do not misunderstand..."
With his mind at ease, he spoke directly,
"Your Highness, I have also found out... Uh, Prince Raoyang, it is true that I helped Yan Shifan kill him, using a type of poisoned wine from the martial arts world, which ordinary coroners cannot detect... Yan Shifan and he had been acquainted for over ten years, and they engaged in the Yiyong army together in Datong, which was very close. However, Prince Raoyang was actually just a puppet in Yan Shifan's hands. Once the Yiyong army was formed, he found an excuse to have an imperial censor impeach Prince Raoyang and kicked his men out, appointing the local powerful family Li Chong of Datong to take over. Then Prince Raoyang went to Caochuan to defect to Anda..."
As he spoke,
He secretly glanced over and indeed saw that Prince Yu's expression had greatly changed.
He was extremely astute and knew that Prince Yu had sought him out, a disappointed person, to deal with the Yan family. He had no enmity with the Yan family, but in the previous incident in Datong, he had accidentally been tricked by Yan Shifan, lost his official position, and was severely reprimanded by Lu Fang. Not only was he ruined, but his son's succession to the position of Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand Household also became uncertain. He found Yan Song and asked for his help, but Yan Shifan publicly humiliated him, saying he was a plucked phoenix...
It was then that he became furious and was determined to take revenge.