Chapter 397: The Royal Family is Cuckolded
Yue Jian and Cang Lang, who were guarding the door, were both shocked. However, Tang Ning remained silent for a moment in response to Cao Dejiang's questioning: "Mr. Cao is wise."
"Don't fool me."
Cao Dejiang had seen through the little girl in front of him. She looked gentle and kind, but in fact she was full of tricks.
"Why did Xiao Yan secretly leave the capital? Do you know that if His Majesty knew about this, deceiving the emperor would result in death?"
Seeing the old man getting angry, Tang Ning softened his voice: "We don't want to either, but things are unpredictable."
Cao Dejiang said expressionlessly: "I'll listen to your story!"
"..." Tang Ning's eyes were filled with helplessness: "I'm not lying to you, my brother went to Shezhou."
Cao Dejiang frowned: "Shezhou?"
Tang Ning looked at the old man opposite him and said, "Brother accidentally found out some old stories about the Crown Prince, which were related to the Lu family. Because the matter was too serious, he dared not disclose it to others, so he left the capital on the pretext of being seriously injured."
"For some reason, someone from the Lu family also went to the Southland, and they seemed to have noticed that someone was investigating these matters. They must have thought that my brother was using the Lingyun Temple incident to divert attention and cover up his actions in the Southland. So they wanted to expose my brother's injuries and accuse him of deceiving the emperor."
Cao Dejiang frowned and thought as he listened to Tang Ning's words, and in an instant he figured out the whole story.
Lu Qin's "assassination attempt" was planned by Xiao Yan in order to give him a legitimate excuse to stay out of public view. Xiao Yan probably left the capital shortly after Emperor An was assassinated.
Lu Chongyuan has always been a man who plans before he acts. He was willing to kill the Fourth Prince's wife and frame her, even acting hastily. He also made Xiao Yan afraid to delegate and personally investigate. And it was related to the Crown Prince and something in Shezhou...
Cao Dejiang's face turned grim. "Twenty years ago, flood relief in the south?"
Tang Ning was somewhat surprised by Cao Dejiang's perceptiveness. He nodded and whispered, "Twenty years ago, Crown Prince Li was ordered to travel south to provide disaster relief. His ship sank, and riots broke out in the south. Crown Prince Li lost the support of the people and was forced to return to the capital. Lord Cao was already in the court at the time, so he should have known about these events."
"Originally, my brother was secretly investigating the Lu family because he was upset about the grain tax case, but who would have thought he would stumble upon this case? My brother's people found a coroner who had performed the autopsies on the hundreds of soldiers who tragically perished in the river while transporting relief grain. He told us that those soldiers had already died before they fell into the water."
Cao Dejiang's expression changed as he listened to the girl opposite continue speaking.
"Most of the coroners back then were silenced. That man only managed to survive because he sensed something was wrong early on and was lucky enough to survive due to the riots and war in the Southland at the time."
"He not only explained that the sinking of the official ship was not an accident, but also explained that during the disaster relief efforts, the Lu family colluded with the officials and bandits in the south, spreading rumors to drive the Crown Prince away due to the chaos. They then replaced the rioters with civilians in exchange for the credit of quelling the chaos."
"Most of the bandits who took advantage of the flood to burn, kill, and loot in the South have been appointed officials, while those who were hanged were all civilians. Not only that, the nearly one million taels of silver on the official ship, as well as most of the grain shipped to the South for disaster relief, also fell into their hands. Moreover..."
Tang Ning paused, then spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, "To quell the chaos as quickly as possible and gain credit in the court, they sealed off the city with kerosene and poisoned the wells, burning nearly 10,000 Rongjiang residents, along with the He family members who had gone to the south to provide disaster relief, to death in Rongjiang County."
"Afterwards, in order to cover up the damage, they opened the floodgates upstream, flooding the Rong River and surrounding villages."
Cao Dejiang was relatively calm at first when he listened to Tang Ning's words. He had long known that the people in the aristocratic families were not clean and would do anything to achieve their goals. Although he hated what the Lu family did, he could still barely remain calm. But when he heard what he said later.
Even Cao Dejiang, who had seen a lot of things in the world, was furious. He slammed the table and trembled with anger.
"The Lu family is crazy?!"
That's the lives of an entire city, nearly 10,000 people! !
Aren't they afraid of the ghosts taking their lives? !
Even though Tang Ning already knew this, she still couldn't calm down when she talked about it again. She looked serious and said, "For the sake of profit and future, what does human life mean to them?"
Cao Dejiang's face turned ashen.
Tang Ning said, "This matter is of such great importance that I didn't want to investigate it. However, there are some things that are hard to know without investigating. If it were any other matter, I could have found an excuse to leave the capital, but this matter must not be made known to His Majesty. Lord Cao should know why, right?"
Cao Dejiang's face turned pale and uncertain, and he certainly knew why.
Because twenty years ago, in addition to the Lu family, the current emperor also went to the South to take over the disaster relief work of Prince Li. Because Emperor An, who was the fifth prince at that time, won the hearts of the people and the favor of the previous emperor by virtue of his disaster relief work, and gained a foothold in the court.
Twenty years ago, after Emperor An returned to Beijing after providing disaster relief, he became extremely famous. He used his merits in disaster relief to ask for the marriage of the current Empress Lu. From then on, he gained the support of the Lu family and entered the court.
Who could believe that Emperor An was unaware of the Lu family's actions back then?
Tang Ning looked at Cao Dejiang, who was shaking with anger, and said softly, "Brother, there's nothing we can do. We can only take a risky move. We originally planned to return within a month, but who knew we would be delayed on the way and still not return, and the Lu family suddenly attacked again."
"If Lord Cao hadn't come to the rescue today, this matter would have been impossible to cover up."
Cao Dejiang shook his head. "I didn't help you at all. You were smart enough to persuade Madam Zhao to work for you, and you were able to understand His Majesty's intentions. You brought up the matter between Prince Cheng and the Lu family to provoke His Majesty's anger towards the Lu family. However, this matter can only be covered up temporarily. Even if Lu Yin came forward, it would be difficult to slander the Lu family."
"It's not fake." Tang Ning said.
Cao Dejiang was stunned for a moment: "The person who is having an affair with Prince Cheng..."
Tang Ning: "It's Queen Lu."
Cao Dejiang's hand twisted and the teacup on the table was knocked over with a "bang". The tea fell on his legs and was still hot even through the cloth. The old man's face was as colorful as if he had run a dyeing factory.
…
The fire on the stove was too strong, so Tang Ning lowered the air vent before adding water to the teapot.
Cao Dejiang sat there for a long time before he digested what he had just heard.
The one who had an affair with Prince Cheng was Empress Lu. The Fourth Prince was not necessarily the son of Emperor An. The Lu family was forced to kill Guan because Empress Lu sacrificed the car to save the king. Lu Chongyuan knew about it but did not dare to expose the Empress. And their Majesty had a huge green hat on his head for twenty years.
Even though Cao Dejiang was knowledgeable and experienced, he couldn't help swallowing.
As expected, there are many royal melons.
Cao Dejiang drank some water to calm his chaotic thoughts, then looked up at Tang Ning and said, "That's fine. With this evidence in hand, it's enough to throw the Lu family into disarray. They probably won't have time to bother Xiao Yan anytime soon..."
Unexpectedly, Tang Ning shook his head: "This handle cannot be used."
Cao Dejiang was surprised: "Why?"
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