Chapter 410: Retreat to Advance, the Lu Family is Imprisoned
Xiao Yan seemed not to notice the hidden meaning in Emperor An's words, and only showed anger.
"That's what I said. Your Majesty may have concerns and ask me to be patient in some matters, but you will never order my execution. Moreover, my life belongs to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty truly wanted to execute me, you could have just had me arrested openly. Why would you resort to such despicable means?"
"Yue Fengcheng has been accusing Your Majesty of this for no reason. He must be trying to sow discord between me and Your Majesty. I tortured him, chopped off his arms and broke his legs, and finally pried the truth out of him."
Emperor An asked coldly, "Who is it?"
Xiao Yan: "Lu Chongyuan!"
Emperor An suddenly raised his eyes, and Cui Lin and the others also looked surprised.
There was a murderous look in Xiao Yan's eyes and a murderous intent in his body.
"Yue Fengcheng said that Lu Chongyuan approached him and promised him a huge reward to take his men tonight to kill me. He also said that Lu Chongyuan personally promised him that he would find a way to transfer the Black Armored Guards left in my mansion before he could take action, and that no one from the Privy Council would be able to help."
"Lu Chongyuan said that there would be chaos in the capital tonight, and no one would notice the killing in Jiyun Alley. He told them to quickly end the battle and kill me, and then retreat directly. Someone would clean up all the mess for them, and no one would know who did it afterwards."
Emperor An's face turned ashen with anger after hearing what Xiao Yan said.
How could Lu Chongyuan guarantee that there would be chaos in the capital and that the Black Armor Guards would be unable to provide assistance? If something happened in the palace and he was assassinated, the Black Armor Guards would definitely enter the palace to protect him as soon as possible.
There were also those assassins who entered the palace to assassinate but committed suicide immediately after failing. There was no time to interrogate them, and the arsonists also disappeared without a trace.
Apart from the Lu family, who else could have such powerful means? !
Xiao Yan continued, "I was afraid Yue Fengcheng was deliberately framing me, so I interrogated several other assassins I had captured. They were killed in the same way I was when I returned to the capital after investigating the grain tax case. I had to use some tricks to pry them open. They are indeed assassins raised by the Lu family."
The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and the rage on Emperor An's face grew.
"Lu Chongyuan, he's so brave!!"
Cui Lin vaguely felt that something was wrong. Lu Chongyuan was not a madman. Although the Lu family had a grudge against Xiao Yan, they were definitely not so stupid as to send someone to kill him directly, not to mention burning down the Forbidden Palace and using the assassination of Emperor An as an excuse.
Does Lu Chongyuan want the entire Lu family to die?
Cui Lin spoke tentatively, "Lord Xiao, although you have a grudge against the Lu family, Lu Chongyuan has always been cautious. He has never been so foolish as to harm the emperor before. I wonder why he is so..."
Xiao Yan said coldly: "Maybe it's because I asked Lu Yin to go to Jingzhao Prefecture."
Cui Lin was stunned.
Cao Dejiang's eyebrows jumped.
Master Liang next to him vaguely guessed something and looked at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose.
Xiao Yan looked up at Emperor An and said, "Your Majesty has been lenient with the Lu family before, and because of their early years of support, he was reluctant to punish them severely. I know Your Majesty's intentions and do not want to embarrass you, so I have been hiding in the palace under the pretext of being seriously injured."
"Later, the Fourth Prince and his men plotted against Tang Ning at Lingyun Temple, intending to discredit her and force her into becoming a concubine. I was furious that Empress Lu had meddled in this, but due to her relationship with the Lu family, I couldn't investigate further. I could only let it go, intending to teach the Fourth Prince a lesson. However, who would have thought that the Lu family, while ostensibly breaking with the Empress and her son, secretly colluded with the Zhao family to murder the Fourth Prince's consort and frame me, hoping to help the Fourth Prince out of this predicament."
"That day, I was really angry at the Lu family for being so ungrateful, so I sent Lu Yin to Jingzhao Prefecture to warn the Lu family. Who knew that he would hit the Lu family in the sore spot?"
Emperor An frowned, "Are you saying that Lu Chongyuan killed you just because of this?"
Xiao Yan's eyes darkened. "This humble official also finds it strange, but apart from this incident, this humble official has not offended the Lu family again recently."
"I only know that Madam Lu Guan was not in cahoots with Prince Cheng. On the day of her death, she cried out that she was wronged, but the Fourth Prince and the Lu family didn't give her a chance to defend herself. Instead, they pressed her to commit suicide on the spot, not even giving me time to ask a single question."
"Afterwards, I felt something was amiss, so I continued investigating the matter. However, I only found out that Guan had no contact with Prince Cheng before she got married. Furthermore, the Lu family's attitude towards Lu Yin was extremely strange. Not only could I not find any information about his biological parents, but it also seemed like the Lu family was deliberately concealing something."
"I originally wanted to investigate this matter thoroughly, but it happened that Lu Zhao was questioning me. After your Majesty's instructions, I had no choice but to give up. If Lu Chongyuan had not colluded with the Zhao family to frame me, I would not have been so angry as to ask Lu Yin to go to Jingzhao Prefecture to sue the Lu family."
Emperor An was a suspicious person. Xiao Yan had already given so many "clues" and mentioned the Lu family several times, as if he was afraid that the matter of Prince Cheng would be brought up again.
But Guan had already confessed his guilt, and the Lu family's reputation had been ruined. Even if someone else in the Lu family was replaced, they wouldn't be that bad. Why would Lu Chongyuan do this?
unless……
The person who actually colluded with Prince Cheng to make peace must not be mentioned at all. Even if this person is exposed, it will bring disaster to the Lu family. Lu Chongyuan would "willingly" sacrifice his eldest daughter-in-law Guan to take the blame for that person. Even if the Lu family's reputation is disgraced, he will not mention it at all, and even help to cover it up.
But who in the entire Lu family could possess such power? The vague feeling that he was about to be exposed made Lu Chongyuan take the risk and kill Xiao Yan to silence him...
A figure suddenly flashed through Emperor An's mind, and the next moment veins bulged on his forehead.
Xiao Yan seemed not to notice Emperor An's sullen, even murderous, face. He only frowned and said in a deep voice:
"I believe I haven't completely wiped out the Lu family, but Lu Chongyuan suddenly wanted to kill me, even burning down the Forbidden Palace and disregarding Your Majesty's safety to lure away the Black Armored Guards to put me to death. This must be because I have hit their sore spot."
"Before entering the palace, I led my men to surround the Lu family and put Lu Chongyuan under guard. If Your Majesty wants to know the reason, why not bring him into the palace and let me interrogate him? I will definitely be able to pry open his mouth and give Your Majesty an explanation..."
Emperor An's expression grew even uglier when he saw that Xiao Yan was determined not to give up until he got to the bottom of the matter.
Lu Chongyuan burned down Fengxi Palace, probably not only to lure away the Black Armor Guards, but also to silence them.
If the person colluding with Prince Cheng is really the one he thinks he is, then Lu Chongyuan must not enter the palace, and this matter must not be known to anyone.
Otherwise, where would he put his face?
Where is the royal family's reputation?
Emperor An's face was cold: "This matter must be investigated. The Lu family raised assassins. Lu Chongyuan burned the Forbidden Palace for his own selfish reasons and caused chaos in the capital. His crimes are unforgivable. Lu Chongyuan and all the officials in the Lu family will be removed from their official positions and imprisoned and strictly interrogated."
He looked at Xiao Yan:
"Since tonight's incident is related to you, you are responsible for investigating the assassination in the palace and the Lu family's affairs. No one else is allowed to interfere."
Xiao Yan frowned: "Your Majesty, why don't you let someone else investigate the Lu family's affairs..."
Emperor An suddenly interrupted: "I told you to come investigate, are you going to disobey my order?"
"I dare not, but if I investigate, I will definitely get to the bottom of it. By then, the Lu family..."
Xiao Yan obviously didn't want to get involved in this matter, fearing that Emperor An would settle the matter peacefully in the end.
Emperor An saw through his thoughts and said coldly, "I indulged the Lu family before because I remembered their long-standing relationship with the emperor. However, the Lu family did not know how to restrain themselves and repeatedly caused trouble in the capital. Now they even dared to burn down the Forbidden Palace and assassinate me..."
Emperor An has always been a person who would rather I betray the world than the world betray him in the slightest. What the Lu family did has crossed his bottom line.
"This time, I will show no mercy. Go ahead and investigate. Get to the bottom of this. No one involved in tonight's incident will be spared."
"The Lu family's case must not be handled by anyone else. You only need to report to me. If anyone dares to interfere, they will be guilty of the same crime as the Lu family!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com