The news spread like wildfire, reaching every corner of the empire where royal princes and vassal kings resided.
"You scoundrel! Prince Ning, that hypocrite! That treacherous villain who betrayed his clan for personal gain!"
Inside the Chu King's mansion, an elderly prince with white hair was trembling with anger. He smashed the teacup in his hand on the ground, shattering it into pieces.
"He's good at seeking fame and fortune! He treats all of us like stepping stones for him! Restraint? Discipline? What gives him the right? Are his estates and shops in the Ning Prince's Mansion clean? Were his domineering ceremonial guards and officers born out of thin air?!"
"Exactly! He's using the backs of our entire clan to glorify himself!"
Another young general, who was assisting the state, said indignantly, "He speaks so easily! Extorting money from the people? Indulging in tyranny? So he, Prince Ning, is a saint, and we are all a scourge?"
"Didn't the Prince of Ning's mansion also enjoy all that hard-earned money from the people? He's trying to tie us all up and send us to the chopping block of the imperial court so that he can save himself!"
"He's dreaming!"
One of the chief clerks of the Prince of Shu's residence also received word of this and whispered to his worried prince:
"Your Highness, Prince Ning's actions, ostensibly to eliminate abuses, are in reality for his own enrichment!"
"He received the imperial sword to discipline the imperial clansmen; from now on, which of the Jiangyou vassal states would dare to disobey him in the slightest?"
"Whose pockets will ultimately be filled by the farmland, trade routes, and salt permits under the names of those reprimanded relatives?"
"This is using the blood of the entire imperial clan to dye the crown of Prince Ning alone! By cutting himself off from his own clan, he is courting his own destruction!"
The venomous whispers grew and spread wildly in the depths of the ornately decorated palace, in the luxurious villas and gardens, and even in the dark prison cells of the Imperial Clan Court.
Countless gazes, filled with anger, fear, or calculation, traversed mountains and rivers, fixing their gaze firmly on the majestic Prince Ning's Mansion in Nanchang City.
Never before has the name of Prince Ning been so deeply cursed by so many members of the royal family.
He thought he was being handed a broom to clear away obstacles, but little did he know that the broom had already ignited a raging inferno that could consume him.
Xiaoyuan, Lu Xingjian's study.
The sun's shadow slants westward outside the window, and a mountain of memorials lies piled on the desk.
The topmost document is a copy of the memorial submitted by Shi Jie and others, praising Prince Ning and requesting an imperial edict to restrain the imperial clan.
Lu Xingjian did not read the memorial.
He leaned back in the large huanghuali armchair, toying with a warm, white jade paperweight in his hand.
The light fell on half of his face, and his usually cold and hard lines were strangely relaxed at this moment.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile played on his lips.
"Prince Ning..." The two words rolled silently between his lips, carrying an all-knowing understanding and a cold mockery.
What a brilliant move to retreat in order to advance, what a brilliant move to sacrifice a pawn to save the king.
This Prince Ning seems to be genuinely frightened by the northern barbarians' invasion and the court's possible move to weaken the power of the princes.
Did they intend to use this "righteous indignation" act to cloak themselves in a veneer of "loyalty and diligence" and block the court's blade?
Incidentally, this power of discipline can also be used to legitimately swallow up those eye-catching or wealthy clan properties.
His calculations were undeniably shrewd.
Lu Xingjian's smile deepened slightly, but his eyes grew even colder.
idiot.
He thought that this would win him the court's trust?
He thought that his relatives, whom he had put forward as targets and whom he regarded as easy prey, would sit idly by and wait for their doom.
Those imperial bloodlines, so deeply entrenched and arrogant for a hundred or two hundred years, are not so easy to deal with.
Prince Ning's move, though seemingly clever, was actually planting countless time bombs under his own feet.
He placed himself in opposition to the entire royal family, making him the target of public criticism.
Those princes and generals who were robbed of their profits and humiliated are probably gritting their teeth right now, wishing they could tear them to pieces.
The infighting and feuds within the royal family are often more brutal than the external conflicts.
They brought about their own destruction.
Lu Xingjian uttered those four words silently.
Prince Ning, this knife you've handed me, I can use it, and I'll use it better than you can.
Prince Ning is no longer a threat.
Lu Xingjian turned his gaze to the surveillance reports from the Prince of Lu's residence.
When the Prince of Lu plotted a rebellion, he had only gathered a few thousand men when someone reported him to Yang Yiqing.
Lu Xingjian dispatched three officials—the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—to investigate.
In addition, General Que Yong was ordered to station his troops and more than 1,500 soldiers from Hejian in Dezhou, Deputy General Gui Yong was ordered to station his troops in Daming Prefecture with 1,000 soldiers, and Guerrilla General Jia Jian was ordered to station his troops in Xuzhou with 500 soldiers from Datong. Furthermore, the Censor-in-Chief of Henan, Chen Ke, and the Censor-in-Chief of Huaiyang, Zhang Jin, were ordered to guard key locations.
Public opinion in the capital was in an uproar, with rumors circulating that a major upheaval had taken place within the imperial clan.
However, all talk and no action was taken. When the combined forces were mobilized, King Lu was so frightened that his legs went weak. He immediately changed his tune and shifted the blame for the treason onto his son, King Guishan.
King Guishan was the youngest son of King Lu. He was strong-willed and loved playing with guns and sticks.
When Liu Qi rebelled, more than a thousand bandits came from Zou County to Yanzhou, set up camp outside the East Gate, and attacked the city gate.
King Guishan led his men to defend the city and repelled the attackers with flying arrows. As a result, he was praised by King Lu. From then on, he became even more fond of martial arts and became famous for his bravery and fierceness.
King Lu wept bitterly, “This unfilial son! He made an enemy of Lei Tao, the chief clerk who guarded me, and threatened to tie him up with ropes and beat him to vent his anger. But the chief clerk was wise to avoid trouble and went into hiding.”
"When I learned of this, I reprimanded him for his rudeness, but he refused to listen. He even said he'd rather rebel than put up with the Chief Secretary's rudeness!"
"He also secretly possessed weapons and ammunition; what else could this be but rebellion?!"
The laws of the Great Liang Dynasty prohibit members of the imperial clan from possessing weapons.
Because of King Lu's righteous act of sacrificing his own family, all the charges of treason were pinned on King Guishan.
When the Imperial Guards surrounded the Prince of Guishan's residence, the Prince was sleeping and completely unaware of what was happening, and was immediately bound.
He questioned loudly and resisted fiercely, but to no avail.
During the subsequent interrogation, the Imperial Guards demanded that he hand over the weapons he had secretly kept. Only then did he realize that these were the armor, bows, and crossbows that he had borrowed from the guards of the Lu family when he led his men to resist the bandits attacking the city. Now, these weapons had become evidence of his rebellion.
King Guishan never expected that the one who would send him to his doom would be his own biological father.
However.
The story doesn't end there.
Lei Tao, the chief secretary of the Prince of Lu's mansion, wanted to find a way to confirm the claim that the Prince of Guishan was plotting a rebellion, so he found a wandering sorcerer named Li Xiu.
The three of them racked their brains and together fabricated a story about the Prince of Guishan's rebellion, which they vividly reported to the officials who came to investigate.
The Directorate of Ceremonial, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were not to be trifled with. After repeated interrogations, they quickly uncovered the truth and reported it to Lu Xingjian.
Lu Xingjian held the report, completely bewildered.
In order to protect himself, a father might even shift all the blame onto his son.
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