Lu Heng entered the Qianqing Palace and saluted the emperor in the Dongnuan Pavilion: "See the emperor, long live the emperor, long live, long live."
The emperor waved his hand: "No ceremony. I asked you to come today because there is something for you to investigate secretly."
The emperor deliberately said that there was a secret investigation, and there were no eunuchs in the warm pavilion, and even the eunuchs who were accustomed to serving were sent out... Lu Heng thought about it, he probably had a few. He lowered his eyes and cupped his hands, and said, "I would like to share the worries of Your Majesty. I don't know, what does the Emperor want to know?"
The emperor handed the book to Lu Heng and said, "Come and have a look."
Without the eunuch to do it for him, Lu Heng could only step forward and take the memorial from the emperor. This is a document submitted by two small officials named Sun Yingkui and Cao Bian, saying that they overheard the conversation between Xue Kan and Peng Ze, the minister of personnel. Because the matter is too big to make a choice, I secretly reported it to the emperor and asked the emperor to decide.
Lu Heng finished it quickly, then put down the book, his face heavy.
The emperor was still sitting on the dragon chair very casually, and asked casually, "What do you think?"
Lu Heng didn't want to express his opinion at all. The crown prince is definitely the most taboo topic shared by the emperors of all dynasties, and the emperor is especially suspicious. If Lu Heng said a word wrong, he might plant the seeds of suspicion in the emperor's heart at some point.
Lu Heng looked contemplative. This kind of thing can't be talked about in a blur, so the emperor will feel that he is ready, but he can't think for too long, and the emperor will doubt his intentions.
Lu Heng grasped the degree, "thought" for a while, and said, "I don't know the details, so I can't make any assertions. However, Xue Kan insisted that the memorial was written by himself a few days ago, but now he suddenly changed his tune; A petty official has been interrogating for many days to no avail, but I heard such a complete dialogue yesterday, and I feel that there may be a fraud in this."
Lu Heng secretly picked himself out first. No matter who Xia Wenjin or Zhang Jinggong wanted to support the crown prince, it had nothing to do with Lu Heng, and Lu Heng knew nothing about it. Then, he stood in the emperor's position and analyzed the doubts of these people.
Lu Heng was in charge of intelligence and knew all about these people in the book. Xue Kan is a literate scholar who reads sages and sages stupidly, and is somewhat unrealistic and naive; although Sun Yingkui and Cao Bian are slick, they are absolutely incapable of secretly calculating the first assistant. . No matter Xue Kan, Sun, or Cao, they will not arrange the gossip of the first auxiliary. From their perspective, most of these are true.
But you can't tell the emperor that way. From the emperor's point of view, everyone around him, civil servants, military officers, nobles, and vassal kings, to the queen, concubines, palace maids, and eunuchs, everyone could deceive him. If the first assistant is telling lies, how do you know that these two petty officials are telling the truth
All Lu Heng had to do was to conform to the emperor's heart, saying that these people were indeed likely to be deceived, and they needed to be strictly investigated.
Lu Heng's words were undoubtedly the answer the emperor wanted to hear. The emperor relaxed slightly and said, "You are right. The first prince has just been born, and these people are restless. Go check what they have done in private. Let's see who is doing the trick."
Zhang Jinggong and Xia Wenjin hold their own opinions. Zhang Jinggong said that Xia Wenjin intends to support the prince, and Xia Wenjin's evidence shows that Zhang Jinggong gave Xia Dang a trap in advance. The emperor didn't believe anyone, he needed to know how everything went. The emperor could not trust the Ministry of Punishment or the cabinet, only Lu Hengcha, he was most at ease.
Lu Heng's eyes moved, knowing that this matter was a big deal. Now the emperor's mood is fickle, and he is madly doubting the people around him. The longer he stays in front of the Holy Spirit, the more dangerous it is. Lu Heng took the order and hurriedly found an opportunity to leave.
Not long after Lu Heng came out, he heard from his subordinates that the emperor had called Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, and Zhai Luan, a cabinet scholar, to enter the palace. Lu Heng also knew through Jin Yiwei's news channel that Qin Fu, the head of the Si Li supervisor, had also gone.
Needless to say, they must have read the same envelope as Lu Heng, Lu Heng slowly pondered the names, and said meaningfully "tsk".
Not surprisingly, these three people took over the Xue Kan case next. The emperor did not call people at will. Guo Xun was the leader of the nobles and military attachés. Both Zhang Jinggong and Xia Wenjin in the cabinet were involved in the case, so the emperor called another good man in the cabinet, Zhai Luan, to test the position of the civil servants. And Qin Fu is the director of the printing press and the governor of the East Factory.
Originally, it was just a pedantic scholar who asked for a prince to be established, but Zhang Jinggong took advantage of the topic and wanted to take the opportunity to bring down Xia Wenjin, who disagreed with his political views. The result did not hold back, and the situation suddenly expanded.
The emperor did not have a son before, so he hadn't considered these issues. Now, after Zhang Jinggong's trouble, the emperor suddenly realized that he should consider the issue of courtiers standing in line.
The emperor pulled the military generals, civil officials, and eunuchs into the chaos of the prince, and spared no effort to muddy the water. This seems to be checking Xue Kan, but in fact, this is a thorough investigation of officials of the whole dynasty.
Perhaps Lu Heng was among them. The emperor handed over the case to Guo Xun, Zhai Luan, and Qin Fu in the open, but in private he let Lu Heng investigate secretly. Isn't he testing Lu Heng
Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, which is worthy of the name.
Lu Heng sighed, it was really troublesome. It's no wonder that Lu Heng doesn't look down on this group of people, obviously nothing has happened, and they want to make trouble for themselves. After this time, I don't know how old he will be.
Because he was forced to be involved in the intrigue of these old men, Lu Heng looked very unhappy when he returned to the mansion. After dinner, Wang Yanqing brewed a cup of tea, put it in front of Lu Heng, and asked, "Brother, is there any trouble in the court?"
Knowing that he couldn't hide it from her, Lu Heng said bluntly, "It's a case. A civil servant asked for a crown prince, but the emperor didn't hesitate and ordered me to investigate the tricks."
Wang Yanqing looked at Lu Heng quietly, waiting for his next words. She knew that the case that Lu Heng could handle would not be so simple.
Sure enough, Lu Heng said next: "The officer in charge of the interrogation overheard the civil servant and the prisoner arguing, which involved two elders Zhang and Xia. The emperor took this case very seriously and ordered Guo Xun and Zhai elders. , Supervising and investigating."
Wang Yanqing understood: "Actually, this case is under your secret investigation?"
Lu Heng nodded. The emperor sent a special team to investigate Xue Kan, and then sent Lu Heng to investigate the special team. Two lines, one bright and one dark, can complement each other and monitor each other.
Wang Yanqing sighed slightly and said sincerely, "It's really troublesome to say that."
"What's more troublesome is that I can't let them find out that Jin Yiwei is investigating, otherwise they won't be able to blow up the fish." Lu Heng leaned back and leaned on the back of the chair, "This means that I can't go to the door to arrest people, I can't The interrogation is carried out with great fanfare, and everything has to be figured out by oneself. The other party has two patriarchs and a minister of the Ministry of Personnel. If there is no Jinyiwei pressing down, how can they tell the truth?"
These things are a problem for ordinary people, but for Lu Heng, it must not be a problem at all. Wang Yanqing asked, "Brother, what are you going to do?"
Lu Heng glanced at Wang Yanqing lightly, and said with a half-smile, "Aren't you worried that I can't help?"
"No." Wang Yanqing said with certainty, "Others may be afraid of the powerful, but my brother must have a solution."
Lu Heng was so embarrassed by these words that his vanity was greatly satisfied. He even realized that he said so much just to get her.
He used to think that it was stupid for men to be jealous and fight evil in order to show face in front of women, but now he found that peacocks open their screens and two tigers fight each other, which is a courtship instinct rooted in nature. Animals use territory and food to attract mates. Humans claim to be omnipotent. The means of male competition are more complicated. Wealth, power, intelligence, and appearance are all in the competition.
Lu Heng was praised by Qingqing as he wished, and he no longer sold the secret, and said: "No matter how complicated a case is, it is just a layman after it is opened. This case can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part is to check whether Zhang Jinggong and Peng Ze are not. Knowing Xue Kan's memorial, the second part is to check whether Xia Wenjin instigated Xue Kan to support the crown prince. Let's start with Zhang Shoufu and Peng Shilang."
Both parts contain Xue Kan. Wang Yanqing asked, "Brother, are you going to see Xue Kan?"
"Not in a hurry." Lu Heng said, "Xue Kan is an important witness, and Guo Xun will definitely have to interrogate him back and forth. It's easy to be recognized if he went early. We'll go when they're almost done asking."
"Then your goal is to..."
"Persimmons are to be picked softly." Lu Heng smiled slightly, and there was a glint in his eyes, "It's a shame for the court to be eavesdropped on such an important matter. Let's start with him first. , Peng Ze, Minister of Officials."
·
Xue Kan was imprisoned. Originally, this was just an ordinary case. Every month, many officials were thrown into prison to sober up because they annoyed the emperor. But from a certain day, the emperor suddenly summoned Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding, Zhai Luan, a cabinet scholar, and Qin Fu, the supervisor of the court, to supervise the case together.
Sun Yingkui and Cao Bian, who were originally in charge of the case, were also considered very unlucky. They secretly reported to the emperor, but the emperor did not appreciate it and threw them both into prison.
After Guo Xun took over the matter, he took it upon himself to be the first of the three. It's a pity that the other two were not vegetarians either. Zhai Luan pretended to be deaf and dumb, Qin Fuyang violated the yin, and Zhang Jinggong came in from time to time to intervene. Every day in the prison there was a lot of trouble.
Everyone in the court was in danger for a while, and the ministers were afraid that Xue Kan would confess someone and implicate themselves in it. Peng Ze has been going to the court as usual these days, but he is actually very anxious.
The first assistant said that he would protect him, but it was all Peng Ze's negligence that this matter was leaked.
Peng Ze was uneasy. He really couldn't concentrate on his work, so he had to hide his whereabouts and quietly ran to the Buddhist temple to offer incense.
Peng Ze donated a lot of money for sesame oil, and sat for a long time in the high and cold hall. He looked at the fragrance of Brahma slowly rising in front of him, the half-awake and half-awake Buddha, and finally felt more peaceful in his heart.
Peng Ze walked out and saw a big monk standing in the sun outside the hall. He is kind, with kind eyes, a calm demeanor, and a Buddha-nature of compassion and compassion in his demeanor. Peng Ze seemed to have a feeling, so he took the initiative to walk over and bowed to the monk, and asked, "High monk, do you dare to ask that you are the abbot of your temple?"
The great monk looked at him with a clear understanding of everything in his eyes, and asked, "The donor is polite, and it is the poor monk. The donor is entangled with thoughts, and he is too persistent in fear of not doing good deeds. I hope the donor will see it as soon as possible."
Peng Ze was startled, how did this monk know what was on his mind? He came to this temple completely at random, and even his family didn't know he was here, and this monk also took the initiative to talk to him after seeing it, and there was no possibility of making arrangements in advance. Peng Ze didn't doubt the identity of the monk at all, and asked, "How does the abbot know that I have obsessions?"
The monk shook his head, and said in a tight-lipped manner: "I have done it, but I can't do it. The karma that the donor has created has been written on his face."
Peng Ze was startled and hurriedly asked, "What does the abbot mean by this?"
However, the great monk shook his head and refused to say any more: "The cause of this life and the consequences of the next life are all doomed. If you wronged him in this life, he will be reborn as your son in the next life, and you will be troubled for the rest of your life."
After the great monk finished speaking, he turned around and left without waiting for Peng Ze to ask. He recited the Buddha's name as he walked, the sun shining on him, holy and radiant, as if he was going to go to the sky at any time.
After the great monk left, Peng Ze stood there by himself, stunned for a long time.
In the dark wing room, Wang Yanqing looked at the person who was knocked unconscious and stripped under his feet, and couldn't help but lowered his voice and asked, "Brother, this is a Buddhist holy place, is it really okay for you to do this?"
Before he could finish speaking, the rear window was silently pushed open, and a man in a cassock jumped in. He kicked his legs rudely, touched the top of his bright head, and asked, "Sir, how am I pretending?"
The author says:
Peng Ze: Today, I met an eminent monk who knew me like the back of my hand. The Dharma is profound and admired.
Lu Heng: No, it's not the eminent monk who understands you, it's Jin Yiwei.