Having offended the Xu family, they probably didn't expect the consequences would be so serious. The Xu family's people are so well-connected that they can even move officials around to look for people for them.
Although they were capable, they were limited after all. How could they get away so easily in front of Lord Xu? Lord Xu's disciples were all over the world. With just one word from him, those people could no longer control the matter.
Lu Yuanrong was in the capital, and as soon as Lord Xu took action, he began to order his subordinates to shirk the responsibility. As smart and cunning as he was, he knew that he had hit a wall this time without anyone telling him.
He was determined to push the Xie family out to take the blame.
But after thinking about it, he felt that simply using the Xie family as a shield would not work - after all, the Xie family only had one Minister Xie who held a high position. It would not be so easy to set up such a large network across the country.
In addition, Emperor Longqing said that he would escort the Xie family to Beijing for trial, which made him even more afraid that the truth would be revealed and he would be implicated. So he had evil thoughts and wanted to shift the blame to the Wei family, who were more capable than the Xie family and had close ties with the Xie family.
This is actually understandable.
The good relationship between the Xie family and the Wei family is no secret in the capital. People from the Xie family send New Year gifts to the Wei family every year, and the relationship has never been interrupted.
At the beginning, many people speculated about their relationship and thought that perhaps the Xie family might become related to the Wei family.
But later, when Shen Chen and Young Master Lin proposed to marry her, everyone naturally knew that the marriage between the Wei family and the Xie family was not going to work. But although the marriage was not going to work, the relationship was still very good.
With this kind of relationship, it makes sense to say that the Wei family is the one supporting the Xie family.
After Lu Yuanrong figured this out, he began to plan with all his might, and took great pains to think of a pretext. He even cried thief, wrote a secret letter to inform on the king, and submitted a secret memorial to secretly denounce the King of Zheng, accusing him of treason.
If the Jinyiwei had not been quick to see the opportunity, and the Zheng Palace had not been heavily guarded because of Princess Zheng's childbirth, not only would the spies they had arranged not succeed, but they would have also been able to track down the spies and catch them. The Zheng Palace would probably have become another wronged soul.
Emperor Longqing was furious. In a rare move, he denounced Lu Yuanrong in front of all the ministers, saying that he had evil intentions, had lost all manners, and had brought shame to all scholars in the world.
He also ordered that the rest of the Lu family be exiled to Lingnan, not allowed to return to Beijing, and not allowed to take up official positions within five generations.
Emperor Longqing was indeed in a bad mood recently. This was the first time that he was so angry. In the court, except for the ministers, everyone else was terrified and kept silent.
Fortunately, Emperor Longqing's anger did not extend to other people. He ordered the Ministry of Justice to fully investigate the case and continue to dig deeper to see if there was anyone else behind the scenes.
After all, although the traitors in Prince Zheng's Mansion had betrayed Lu Yuanrong, it was not necessarily true that Lu Yuanrong was the only mastermind behind the scenes.
At the same time, Emperor Longqing dropped another bomb in public - he ordered Shen Chen to go to Shandong as the governor-general to quell the rebellion.
Such an important task as suppressing the rebellion was actually given to Shen Chen to do, and Emperor Longqing did not have any suspicion about Prince Zheng at all regarding the affairs of Prince Zheng's Mansion. Those who were interested had already fully understood the current situation, so no one dared to question such an important matter.
Since they were going to quell the rebellion, and quelling the rebellion was a big deal, Emperor Longqing decided to let Shen Chen leave the palace after hearing the imperial physician confirm that Shen Chen's health had fully recovered.
He also ordered the officials of the Ministry of Rites to speed up the preparations for the wedding of Marquis Guanzhong and Princess Yonghe.
Since Shen Chen was about to leave the palace, Emperor Longqing returned to the harem after court and instructed Concubine Lin Shu to give some rewards first. Shen Chen's Pingxi Marquis Mansion had been empty for so long and no one lived there, so it was not good to leave it empty.
Now, Concubine Lin Shu is the highest-ranking concubine in the palace. She is in charge of all palace affairs, and the matter of rewards to foreign officials is also handed over to her for disposal.
Concubine Lin Shu agreed, and considerately went to get the emperor Longqing his coat, and personally helped him change into his casual clothes. After she waited for him to sit down, she frowned and said, "One wave has not yet settled when another wave arises. How can these people live in peace?"
Now only she could say these words. Emperor Longqing did not mean to blame her. He waved his hand and asked her to sit beside him. He showed a sarcastic expression on his face and said sarcastically: "People's hearts are like this. As long as they want something, they will want it endlessly and will only try their best to get it. How can they really live in peace?"
Concubine Lin Shu shook her head, drank a sip of tea, covered her belly, and leaned on the soft pillow, then said: "It's just a pity for Princess Zheng. She was not in good health to begin with. She had not seen the prince during her pregnancy. When this happened, the prince was not around. When she was giving birth, those spies even wanted to kill her twice..."
She sighed and said sincerely, "It's really hard for her. A woman who has ended up in such a situation. If it weren't for Princess Shouning's intelligence, she probably wouldn't be able to see King Zheng alive. These people are too cruel. Not only do they want to take people's lives, but they are so bold and dare to frame and blame others... ... They really don't take you seriously."
After Concubine Lin Shu said this, the atmosphere in the palace became even colder. Emperor Longqing did not speak for a long time. After a long while, his voice gradually became colder: "Yes, these people do not take me seriously and treat me like a child! Not only do they want to borrow my knife, but they also want to point at anyone and hit anyone... They use me as a tool to frame people..."
No one likes to be taken advantage of, and those in a superior position naturally hate it even more.
Before he became emperor, Emperor Longqing was able to betray his brothers out of jealousy. He was not a truly broad-minded person. Anyone who dared to rub salt into his wounds or bring up his past after knowing it never had a good ending.
Now Lu Yuanrong and his group are really stepping on an iron plate and are burning their own feet.
Concubine Lin Shu listened carefully to Emperor Longqing scolding those people. She stayed silent for a long time. When Emperor Longqing finally frowned and stopped talking, she saw the right moment and asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, there is one thing I don't understand. Why do you think that this was not done by the Wei family?"
Emperor Longqing smiled. In his heart, the Wei family had been as docile as a cat for so many years. Whether it was wealth or decline, it was all up to him. The Wei family never seemed to dare to have any opinions. When looking at people, impressions are extremely important, and once an impression of a person is made, it is difficult to change. (To be continued)