Chapter 454 The Sixth Brother Personally Goes to Search the House

Shen Chu nodded, "When Luo Heng took me away from the prison, I stabbed him in an attempt to escape."

Fortunately, my master and King Jing of Nanyue came to my rescue, and they can both serve as witnesses.

They saw with their own eyes that Luo Heng was chasing me on the Shen family's ancestral graves outside the city.

The Longqing Emperor was greatly surprised.

"Your master and King Jing of Nanyue? So you've been in Nanyue for the past three years?"

Shen Chu nodded, making no attempt to hide anything.

Pei Yuan has Emperor Longqing's secret guards by his side, so the fact that his master and Shangguan Ye are in the capital cannot be hidden.

"Back then, I was chased by Luo Heng and fell off a cliff. I was seriously injured and on the verge of death. It was my master and King Jing who brought me back to Nanyue and carefully treated me, which saved my life."

Therefore, I humbly request Your Majesty to uphold justice for me and severely punish Luo Heng.

As for the matter of poisoning Prince Rui..."

Shen Chu looked at Pei Yuan.

Pei Yuan bowed and said, "Father should remember the poisoning I suffered three years ago. At that time, the investigation led to the Imperial Guards responsible for checking Shangguan Yi's weapons, but then the trail went cold."

For the past three years, I have suffered greatly from this poison. In order to find a cure as soon as possible, I have been constantly searching for this poison.

Finally, I discovered that this poison originated from a martial arts organization called Fengyun Pavilion, and the poison I was afflicted with was a new type of poison developed by Fengyun Pavilion.

Before poisoning me, Luo Heng had also ordered this assassin from Fengyun Pavilion to try to kill me several times.

And the mastermind behind this underworld organization is none other than Luo Heng.

Emperor Longqing frowned, seemingly hesitant.

"How could a mere underworld organization have such power? And why is Luo Heng targeting you and Shen Chu?"

Pei Yuan pursed his lips slightly and said in a low voice, "Does Father know that Luo Heng is the son of Luo Chao?"

"Oh, that's the late Consort Meng's cousin."

Emperor Longqing's expression changed slightly.

Pei Yuan continued, "When Luo Chao entered the palace, he violated the palace rules and was sentenced to death."

Luo Heng didn't know why he insisted on blaming me for this, so he repeatedly made trouble for me, determined to kill me.

Emperor Longqing's eyes flickered slightly.

He orchestrated the deaths of Consort Meng and Luo Chao, so he naturally knew what had happened.

But I can't say this to Pei Yuan.

He said with a dark face, "So he is the son of a criminal. The Ministry of Personnel has really failed in its duty to allow such a person to enter the court as an official."

Being an official was bad enough, but he even secretly ran a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to a criminal organization or gangster organization)."

Pei Yuan sighed, "Father, you may not know this, but Fengyun Pavilion employs a large number of assassins. They will take any job and kill anyone who pays them, regardless of right or wrong."

I've heard that Fengyun Pavilion's annual profit is nearly a million, and that's not all; Fengyun Pavilion safeguards the Luo family's business.

No wonder the Luo family's business has grown so much in recent years; they have powerful backers both in the imperial court and in the martial arts world.

This profound summary made Emperor Longqing frown even more.

"A powerful patron in the court? Who are you referring to? Prince Heng?"

Pei Yuan lowered his eyes, "Although I have hardly left the Flying Eagle Guard in the past three years, I still have some understanding of the movements of officials in the court."

"Father should have seen the daily reports from the Flying Eagle Guard, right? Didn't Zhou Weizong's report to the palace contain any news about Luo Heng?"

Of course not.

Over the past three years, Luo Heng and Prince Heng have been so close that Prince Heng naturally did not want Emperor Longqing to know about it.

When Zhou Weizong was in the Flying Eagle Guard, he would deliberately conceal the movements of Prince Heng and Luo Heng when he had people compile daily information on the movements of officials in the court.

However, they won't hide everything; there are some overt developments.

There were no private actions taken.

Pei Yuan knew about this, but remained silent and let Zhou Weizong make the arrangements.

Sometimes, they even "kindly" helped Luo Heng and Prince Heng hide a few things.

The Longqing Emperor's face turned ashen.

Luo Heng was close to Prince Heng, and he was not unaware of this.

But he hadn't expected that Luo Heng also had influence in the martial arts world. If Prince Heng possessed both the Luo family's wealth and Luo Heng's martial arts influence...

The thought sent a chill down his spine, and he immediately slammed his hand on the table, saying:

"This is outrageous! Luo Heng, the son of a criminal, actually dared to poison a prince and set fire to the imperial prison."

"Guards! Seize Luo Heng and imprison him immediately!"

He paused, then waved his hand.

"No, Sixth Prince, you go yourself and lead men to arrest Luo Heng for me, and hand him over to the Three Judicial Offices for joint trial."

As for the Luo family, their property will be confiscated and their assets seized. Anyone who disobeys will not be spared.

Shen Chu and Pei Yuan exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of emotion in each other's eyes.

Sure enough, their guess was absolutely right.

Whether Luo Heng poisoned Pei Yuan or nearly killed Shen Chu was of no importance to Emperor Longqing.

The important point is that the Jianghu organization under Luo Heng's control actually serves Prince Heng, and the Luo family's wealth also serves Prince Heng.

This was something the Longqing Emperor could not tolerate.

Luo Heng, it's time for you to pay the price for everything you've done.

Pei Yuan bowed, "Your subject obeys."

He took Shen Chu's hand and said goodbye.

"Wait a minute."

Emperor Longqing waved his hand to stop the two of them, frowning as he looked at Shen Chu.

"Back then, the sixth prince didn't hesitate to turn against the Chen family in order to marry your memorial tablet, and almost made the Empress Dowager sick with anger."

Now that you've acted rashly, the fact that Lao Liu didn't marry Chen Jiaying can no longer be kept a secret.

This matter has ultimately damaged the Chen family's reputation. You two should go and apologize to the Empress Dowager and the Chen family..."

"Your Majesty, your subject He Zhengxiang has a memorial to present."

Suddenly, He Zhengxiang's voice rang out from outside.

Emperor Longqing was interrupted, but he still instructed Pei Yuan and Shen Chu to apologize to the Chen family and the Empress Dowager.

Pei Yuan and Shen Chu nodded in agreement and took their leave.

He Zhengxiang was called in.

"What is it that you must report now?"

He Zhengxiang said, "Our inspector sent to Liangzhou unexpectedly caught a man who had abducted a respectable woman in Liangzhou."

Emperor Longqing's face darkened.

"Is such a trivial matter worth reporting to me? Are you Censors just sitting around doing nothing?"

He Zhengxiang continued, "If this person were an ordinary person, the Inspectorate would naturally have dealt with him directly."

However, when this person was arrested, he kept shouting that he was the son of Grand Secretary Chen and the grand-nephew of the Empress Dowager.

The inspecting censor had no choice but to take the man back to the capital.

The Longqing Emperor was furious. "Nonsense! The Chen family only has one son. Didn't he kill Princess Anping's son a few years ago and was later sentenced to death?"

The incident caused quite a stir back then, with one side being the Empress Dowager's grand-nephew and the other being the princess's son.

Princess Anping once made a scene at the palace over this matter, and almost banged her head against the wall at the entrance of Longquan Palace.

The censors also pressed on relentlessly, submitting impeachments every day.

In the end, Emperor Longqing had no choice but to personally issue an edict to sentence Chen's son to death, thus settling the matter with a life for a life.

Therefore, Emperor Longqing was deeply impressed by it.

He Zhengxiang lowered his head and said, "I also found it strange, so I went to the Ministry of Justice to investigate this matter."

This investigation revealed that Chen, the Grand Secretary, had actually swapped his own son for a death row inmate and then sent the son far away to Liangzhou.

"What?!" The Longqing Emperor roared in fury. "Is this true?"

“It is absolutely true. Your Majesty, I have obtained the relevant testimonies. Please review them.”

At the same time, Pei Yuan led a squad of Flying Eagle Guards to block Luo Heng at his doorstep.