The eldest prince was stunned when he heard her proposal. He knew Yu Zizhen's intention, but the problem was, how could he afford to dig a tunnel in his bedroom?
You know, there are many spies around him and the emperor. If these people find even the slightest thing wrong, they will immediately tell their masters behind them.
Of course, Yu Zizhen knew this, but she felt that the situation was already so chaotic that the eldest prince and the emperor could actually take some extraordinary actions.
She said to Xiao Yuanjin, "Lu Tong and Xiao Lu are clearly out to deal with Your Majesty. If the Queen Mother can't hold on, do you think Your Majesty and you will have any chance of survival under Xiao Lu's hands?"
Xiao Yuanjin didn't even need to think before answering Yu Zizhen, "No."
He took a deep breath and said, "Let me ask my father what he thinks."
Yu Zizhen nodded. "The assassins Lu Tong sent to kill Lord Yang have confessed. After being tortured, they confessed that it was Lord Fan's eldest son, Fan Zhongming's father, who ordered them to kill Lord Yang."
As for the motive for the murder, those assassins said that they were just following orders and they really had no idea about the motive.
Of course, Fan Ting's family would not accept such a huge blame, but with the confessions of those assassins, Jingzhao Prefecture could legitimately bring Fan Zhongming's father to the government office for questioning and even detain him.
Seeing those people rushing into the Fan Mansion with a tough attitude and "inviting" his eldest son to leave without any courtesy, Fan Ting knew that the Lu family could no longer tolerate them.
What he didn't tell his children and grandchildren was that he had actually realized this as early as when Yang Zhengde was assassinated in the street.
At that time, he had already asked his trusted people to transfer a lot of property out, but the Lu family actually broke up with him so quickly, which was something Fan Ting had never expected.
He didn't know that Mrs. Lu actually didn't approve of what Lu Tong did, and Lu Tong had no way back since he had made up his mind, so he had to do what he had originally planned.
In order to prevent Da Lu from having time to stop him, he not only instructed the traitor in Da Lu's palace to increase the dosage of the medicine, but also took advantage of Da Lu's weakness to start eliminating dissidents in a drastic manner.
It was his anxiety that caused Fan Ting to miscalculate, and he did not have time to evacuate the elderly, weak, women and children in his home.
When the Fan Mansion was surrounded by the troops of the Five Military Commandery, Fan Ting felt both regretful and heartbroken.
What he regretted was that his arrogance had harmed his entire family, and what made him heartbroken was that most of his children and grandchildren would probably die at the hands of Lu Tong in the near future.
The only thing that made him feel fortunate was that the families of his second son and eldest daughter were no longer under siege by the Qi army.
His second son and eldest son-in-law were both sent out and were not in the capital at the moment. Now that their Fan Mansion was surrounded, the people he left outside the mansion would naturally pass the news to his second son and eldest son-in-law quickly.
With the profound heritage accumulated by the Fan family over five or six hundred years, and the close network of interpersonal relationships unique to them as a prominent family, Fan Ting believed that his second son and eldest daughter's family would definitely not fall into Lu Tong's hands.
He was mentally prepared to fight to the death with the Lu family until every member of his family took his last breath. However, his eldest son's family, including Fan Zhongming, and his younger son and daughter who had not yet married were not as ruthless as Fan Ting.
As the eldest son and grandson of the Fan family, Fan Zhongming and his father did not care much about their own safety, but they could not bear to let the innocent children in the family suffer.
Fan Zhongming's second brother is three and a half years younger than him, and is still just a teenager now, not to mention his third brother and two sisters who are still very childish.
These four people were his biological brothers and sisters from the same mother. Fan Zhongming really couldn't bear to wait for them to die in political struggles.
He thought of sending away the elderly, the weak, women and children in his family, and even managed to sneak out and find Yu Zizhen, who had just come out of the palace, and asked her to help his family, which was on the verge of collapse.
Yu Zizhen really didn't expect Fan Zhongming to come to her for help. She said to Fan Zhongming in surprise, "I thought you would go to find Chen Hushan."
After all, although the two of them usually hang out with the eldest prince, their relationship with the eldest prince, Yu Zizhen, Fang Huaiying, and Yang Shixian is never as close as the relationship between the eldest prince, Yu Zizhen, Fang Huaiying, and Yang Shixian.
Yu Zizhen could clearly feel that there was some gap between these two people and the four of them.
Hearing her say this, Fan Zhongming's face suddenly turned visibly pale.
Yu Zizhen was startled by his sudden expression change. She quickly explained, "Don't think too much. I'm not mocking you. I really think so. After all, you do have a better relationship with him."
Fan Zhongming couldn't deny this, and a wry smile appeared on his lips. Before this, he and Chen Hushan did get along better.
In his opinion, Chen Hushan was a smart man like him, while Yu Zizhen was like Yang Shixian, who was somewhat stupid.
In the past, Fan Zhongming felt that if he had too close contact with such people, he would sooner or later be implicated by their recklessness and so-called principles.
At that time, he never imagined that one day, when their Fan family encountered disaster, he thought about it and realized that the only person he could safely entrust the women and children in the family to was not Chen Hushan, who had a similar temperament to him and knew how to seek benefits and avoid harm, but Yu Zizhen, a reckless man whom he had secretly disliked for not being tactful enough.
At this time, Fan Zhongming no longer cared about the so-called dignity and decency of being the eldest grandson of a prominent family. He knew that when facing someone like Yu Zizhen, frankness was the fastest way to gain people's trust.
Taking a deep breath, Fan Zhongming analyzed his changed thoughts very frankly.
Yu Zizhen didn't make things difficult for him. She said, "In that case, I'll help Brother Fan."
The two men discussed how to sneak the person out and successfully take him out of the capital. After all the necessary precautions had been finalized, Yu Zizhen leaned back in the carriage seat and said, "Don't worry, as long as they obey orders and actively cooperate along the way, my people will do their best to protect them."
She didn't say the second half of the sentence, but Fan Zhongming still heard her unspoken meaning - if his family members were confused and wanted to take over the situation, then Yu Zizhen's people would never tolerate them.
It's unlikely that he would be killed, but it's very likely that he would just abandon him halfway.
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