Xiao Heng was clearly trying to put pressure on him, but Lu Qing had no way to stop it.
If it were in the past, she could have instigated Xiao Heng to overstep his authority. After all, Xiao Heng was the crown prince, and directly intervening in the affairs of the Embroidered Uniform Guard itself carried a strong suspicion of power grabbing.
But now, Emperor Yuanfeng's support for Xiao Heng's new appointment has reached its peak. He almost dotes on Xiao Heng. There were voices in the court supporting the fifth prince before, but when Xiao Heng returned after making merit, these voices have now completely disappeared. It can be said that Xiao Heng can completely order him like this.
Chen Dong had already bowed to Lu Qing and said, "Zhenfu, since it is His Highness's order, why do you have to disobey His Highness' order?"
Well, even the word "disobedience" was used. Lu Qing walked out unwillingly.
Xiao Heng looked at Master Wang calmly: "Did you see it? This is your last chance. Think about it carefully. Do you want to fight to the end and see if those people can protect you, or do you want to trust me?"
Master Wang closed his eyes and quickly made a decision.
There were scars on his face and eyes, and his hair was stuck to them, making him feel itchy and painful, but he couldn't care less now. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Actually, the person that Cheng Dingan and the others were talking about... the one who brought wine to Master Su was me."
It was as if something was spreading in the air. Xiao Heng was silent for a moment and motioned for Master Wang to continue.
Master Wang's tone was very bitter: "Master Su and I were classmates. When he was young, he was actually very talented in writing. But because his uncle joined the army, he was determined to have his son inherit his father's career, so he took him to the battlefield to kill the enemy early. He has always been very good to me. When we were in the academy, he had a good relationship and took good care of me. At that time, I was just a poor scholar, but he didn't look down on me..."
This is a friendship that dates back to the teenage years.
"Later, he followed my uncle to Jizhou and came back six years later. By that time, we had already married and had children. I also passed the imperial examination and was selected as a scholar-official. I stayed in the Hanlin Academy as an editor. I lived a hard life for three years. I had no rich family background and I had offended my superiors, so I was almost sent to a remote area to be a county magistrate..." Master Wang still remembers what happened back then very clearly.
At that time, he was depressed and didn't know how to tell his family.
I went to see Master Su. At that time, Master Su's eldest son, now Su Rong, was celebrating his tenth birthday.
The eldest son of the Bo family celebrated his tenth birthday, and many dignitaries and officials gathered.
He was squeezed in there and didn't even know where to sit.
Inferiority, unwillingness, and resentment.
He had so many emotions in his heart, and each of them made him feel suffocated. He just sat there in a daze until very late that day.
He waited until the banquet was over and then Master Su came to find him in person and invited him to stay the night at his home. His mind was in a mess at that time, so he actually stayed the night at the Su home.
The next morning, he changed into the clothes that Master Su had sent him, and found a silver note worth one thousand taels tucked inside.
One thousand taels was an unimaginable amount of money for the Wang family at that time.
It turned out that Master Su had seen that he was unhappy and thought that he was short of money, so he helped him in this way.
He was in a daze. He left the Su family and took the silver to find a master to try to establish a relationship. However, the master looked at the silver note and sneered, "You have offended the Tao family. Do you know who the Tao family is? Their ancestor was Lord Tao Zhu. Although they are a branch of the branch, they have the most silver. A mere one thousand taels is not enough to treat them to a meal!"
Eating? A meal can cost a thousand taels of silver?!
That was something that Master Wang could not imagine.
He became even more confused.
At the same time, I couldn't help but have a shameful thought.
The Su family is a count, what don't they have? ! Master Su wanted to help him, but he was only willing to give him one thousand taels of silver!
Just one thousand taels, not even enough for a meal for the rich and powerful!
He knew in his heart that he shouldn't think like this, and he couldn't think like this, but knowing is one thing, and not being able to do it is another. The gap in his heart grew bigger and bigger, and he began to distance himself from Master Su and didn't want to drink and discuss things with Master Su anymore.
Because someone helped him at this time.
They are the Xu family, the in-laws of the Tao family.
It was Xu Yonghong, who later became Duke of Chengguo, who helped him. He was so grateful that he didn't know how to repay him.
Xu Yonghong smiled mysteriously: "How can you have nothing? You clearly have a priceless treasure!"
He was confused and terrified.
Later I learned that the treasure was Master Su’s trust.
He successfully framed Master Su, who had complete trust in him.
That day he went to find Master Su and reminded him that something happened in the hunting ground. Master Su led his troops into the hunting ground and confirmed the accusation that he was instigated by the prince to assassinate the emperor.
Master Wang was shaking as he spoke these words.
Some things were done at the time, but when you think back on them later, your conscience still feels the same.
Xiao Heng didn't quite believe his expression of grief. He smiled sarcastically, "But you said you knew you were wrong, but in the end you didn't do anything wrong. You married your sister to Mr. He Er because you wanted to monitor the He family, right? You want to be the first to know about any movement in the He family. Or, you were also responsible for leaking the news of Mr. He's death in Shandong? And you asked your fifth brother to marry the eldest daughter of our Marquis' Mansion in order to find out my background, right?"
Say what you know you are wrong.
I knew it was wrong, but I still did all the wrong things.
Master Wang fell silent, and after a moment he pursed his lips and said, "Once you do something wrong, there's no going back."
Those people used the leverage over him to constantly threaten him. They gave him connections, helped him climb the career ladder, and created momentum for him, making him look like a good official who was honest and upright. With threats and inducements, it was really difficult for Master Wang to pull himself out.
Xiao Heng never believed in this nonsense. If he knew how to repent after doing something wrong, he would not continue to do wrong.
What's more, Master Wang really wanted to kill Su Rong in the end and push Master He to take the blame.
When it came time to kill the entire family, Master Wang didn't hesitate at all.
He hummed, and said calmly, "Okay, let's continue. Who are those people? Besides Duke Cheng, Xu Yonghong, who are the others?"
Oh, Lu Qing should also be counted as one.
Looking at the anxious look on his face just now, it was obvious that he was extremely guilty.