Chapter 353 352 Breakthrough

When Gao Gong said "stirring up the water" before, Wei Guangde felt strange. Now that he heard him say "putting blame on someone", Wei Guangde realized that he seemed to be preparing for the conspiracy to be exposed.

Obviously, the other party has noticed something is wrong.

If Dongchang wants to investigate the elixir, he will first take away the remaining elixir. Later, during further investigation, he will naturally take away the servants who have the opportunity to come into contact with the elixir. Naturally, at this stage, it is easiest to leak information.

Then the other party used the method of disturbing the public, that is, spreading the previous rumors, linking Lu Bing's death to the second king and the vassal.

What's the result?

Can Emperor Jiajing continue to pursue it?

No matter who it is, the final result may involve one of his sons.

Either King Jing really did it, or King Yu put the blame on King Jing.

So what if it is found out? How to deal with it?

Thinking about it, after Emperor Jiajing knew all this, his only choice was to settle the matter and suspend the investigation.

After figuring this out, Wei Guangde let out a long sigh.

"Prince Yu is not involved in this matter."

Although Wei Guangde knew that King Yu was weak in the palace, he still asked this question.

Prince Yu was weak by nature, and he would definitely consult Gao Gong no matter what he did. Therefore, when Wei Guangde asked this question, his eyes were fixed on Gao Gong's face, carefully distinguishing every change, including his eyes.

It's just that Gao Gong's expression remained unchanged, without any change at all, which made Wei Guangde feel a little more at ease.

Gao Gong was seen shaking his head slightly. Although Prince Yu was completely unaware of this matter, Gao Gong now had to analyze it carefully because inadvertently, Prince Yu's palace had been involved in this conspiracy.

If they don't take some action, if Emperor Jiajing mistakenly thinks that it is Prince Yu's palace who plots to murder Lu Bing, and also kills Prince Jing by the way, the consequences will definitely not be what they are willing to bear.

"What was your relationship with Governor Lu during his lifetime?"

Gao Gong suddenly asked.

"He is one of my elders, a trustworthy elder."

Wei Guangde replied.

"Is he the source of your information?"

This issue is very important to Gao Gong, because once it is established, it means that Lu Bing is actually one of the non-staff forces in Prince Yu's palace.

Wei Guangde stared at Gao Gong blankly. At this time, he had already understood what Gao Gong wanted to express.

Nodding, Wei Guangde replied: "Yes."

"I will tell His Highness tomorrow that before I just sent people to the Lu Mansion to express my condolences as usual, this time Your Highness will go in person, and you will also be present."

Gao Gong said to Wei Guangde without thinking.

"Um?"

After being slightly surprised, Wei Guangde understood what Gao Gong meant. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Prince Yu's Mansion wanted everyone to know that Lu Bing was from Prince Yu's Mansion, and that Lu Mansion would be bound to Prince Yu's Mansion from now on.

"If you do this, will your Majesty be in trouble?"

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant. Lu Bing had always remained neutral in front of Emperor Jiajing. If the news that he had defected to Prince Yu's Palace was released now, it would probably have a bad impact on the Lu Palace.

"I don't care about that much anymore."

Gao Gong said: "I am almost certain that Yan Shifan is planning this matter, and the last person to take action is probably King Jing."

"How can I see it?"

Wei Guangde asked.

In his opinion, the more hidden such a thing is, the better, and the fewer people know about it, the better. If you have the ability to solve it, you should never involve other people in it. It will only increase the risk of exposure.

Chen Ju once said that Emperor Jiajing used the Jinyi Guards to monitor the officials, but the officials also tried their best to bribe the emperor's servants to tip off the news.

Chen Ju was not sure how many of the eunuchs and chamberlains in the Yongshou Palace were receiving money from the Yan family, but he had heard that the Yan family seemed to know about Emperor Jiajing's words and deeds in the Yongshou Palace. This was also the case for Yan Shifan. The reason why you can guess the riddle of Emperor Jiajing many times.

Gao Gong said that this matter was planned by Yan Shifan and implemented by King Jing. This was too arbitrary.

"Your source must have said that the only ones who can do this are the Yan family and Prince Jing."

Gao Gong said, and when he saw Wei Guangde nodding, he continued: "The Yan family did not dare to interfere in this matter. Although Yan Song has a great family, he is probably not as good as Lu Bing, but His Majesty needs him to control the situation of the court, so Favored him most of the time.

If the Yan family takes action to harm Lu Bing, what awaits the Yan family is not only the catastrophe of confiscation and annihilation of the family, but also to avoid such a crisis, the Yan family must lure King Jing to take action.

His Majesty will not kill his own son no matter what. "

At this point, Gao Gong blinked and continued: "The struggle between the Lu family and the Yan family is probably more dangerous than what we have seen, and Yan Song was forced to do something evil.

Guangde, after you go back, you must be careful about food and accommodation. You must bring more guards with you when you go out. You must not be careless. "

Wei Guangde originally wanted to remind Gao Gong to pay attention to safety, but unexpectedly it was Gao Gong who said this instead.

"That's what I mean too. The Yan family will use dark tactics to deal with political opponents, and there's no guarantee they won't do the same to people in the palace."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

"Tomorrow morning I will go to the palace to meet with the prince and inform him of today's events. You must be at the Lu family before noon, and His Highness will definitely be there by then."

Wei Guangde nodded. He was probably the only one who dared to plan an itinerary for Prince Yu.

If Yin Shizhen and Chen Yiqin said this, Wei Guangde would not believe it, because then King Yu would definitely ask Gao Gong first if he wanted to do this.

However, after Wei Guangde thought carefully for a while, he finally said: "But in this way, I am not showing to His Majesty that the palace also has power in private, and has infiltrated key departments such as Jin Yiwei. I am afraid it will arouse His Majesty's suspicion."

"Yes, this is the most difficult problem."

Gao Gong nodded, "There must be hidden stakes in Dongchang in the Lu Mansion. Just tell the truth when the time comes."

"Tell the truth?"

When Wei Guangde heard this, he was sweating slightly. This was because he was trying to put himself on the line, and Lu Bing was passing the news to Prince Yu's Mansion through himself.

Wei Guangde knew in his heart that Lu Bingyou had secretly revealed some information to him, but the gang was not from Prince Yu's Mansion, but from him.

Lu Bing always adhered to the principle of impartiality in the battle between the two kings and strictly implemented the orders of Emperor Jiajing. The result of not offending both sides would be offending both sides.

In fact, Prince Yu's Mansion is full of complaints against him, the governor of mainland China, because in the eyes of the people in Prince Yu's Mansion, as a close minister of the emperor, you should advise the emperor to act in accordance with the ancestral system. After Zhuang Jing, Prince Zhuang, he will It should be King Yu who is the elder brother and takes over as the crown prince.

This was also when Wei Guangde did not appear. During the reign of Emperor Longqing, Gao Gong deposed and ransacked the Lu family in order to attack political opponents and frame the Lu family. It was not until Emperor Wanli that he was acquitted with the help of Zhang Juzheng.

But it probably won't happen now. After this incident, the Lu family has been tied to the big ship of Prince Yu's Mansion, and a big backer has been found for Lu Bing's descendants.

Although Wei Guangde felt something was wrong in his heart, the main reason was that he did not communicate the matter with Lu Yi, and others might not appreciate it if he acted rashly.

However, Wei Guangde then thought about Lu Yi's attitude towards him when he went to the Lu family to express his condolences that day, and thought that when he came to the Lu family, he would not turn away Prince Yu.

Wei Guangde thought about going to Lu's house early and talking to Lu Yi about the matter alone so that he could be mentally prepared.

Although the influence of the Lu family has been greatly reduced without Lu Bing, Lu Bing has been running Jinyiwei for many years and must have many close people. If he can really win over the Lu family to join King Yu, King Yu's influence in Jinyiwei will also be greatly increased. .

But then, Wei Guangde thought of Xiyuan.

Forget it, I remember hearing Chen Ju say last time that during the Aoshan Lantern Festival, when he came into contact with King Yu, he was noticed by that person, and it was absolutely impossible to get rid of it.

Anyway, he has already had a conflict with the Yan family, and Wei Guangde doesn't want to keep covering it up. Just carve the three characters "Prince Yu's Mansion" on his head. As long as Prince Yu doesn't fall, he will be safe.

Wei Guangde doesn't plan to hide anymore. In fact, continuing to hide is just to deceive low-level and unfamiliar officials. Those who are really in power have their own channels to find out information. It is estimated that they have known about him and Prince Yu's palace for a long time. It’s related.

"Only in this way can Yan Shifan's follow-up plan be broken."

At this time, Gao Gong spoke again and continued: "Didn't he want to muddy the waters and make Your Majesty suspect that King Yu had killed Lu Bing? Didn't he want to put the blame on Prince Yu's palace and destroy Prince Yu's impression in His Majesty's heart?

We don't know what he will do next, but as long as Prince Yu goes to the Lu Mansion to express condolences and reveals that Lu Bing is secretly supporting our Prince Yu Mansion, then his follow-up plans will be ineffective. "

Gao Gong looked at Wei Guangde, "Yan Shifan is too insidious and cunning. It is really difficult for us to guess his follow-up plan, so we will just cut off this path for him. Lu Bing is one of our people and has a high position. There will only be fools at that time." Only then will I believe his arrangements.”

Wei Guangde nodded when he heard this, and had already thought about what to say to Lu Yi.

I think Lu Yi would choose to say those words to him when he met him. Lu Bing must have made an explanation before his death, otherwise Lu Yi would never have said so much to him when they first met, and asked him to protect the family in a timely manner. .

Although I don't know what Lu Bing said, now that Lu Bing is gone, Wei Guangde can use the topic to say a few words at will.

Speaking of which, it had been more than half a month since Lu Bing's death, but because many relatives of the Lu family were still in Huguang and on their way here, the funeral period had not passed and the burial had not been carried out.

According to the discussion between Zhu Xixiao and Lu Yi, Lu Bing's funeral was scheduled for three months to facilitate relatives and friends from all over the place to come to pay their respects and express their condolences.

In ancient China, the length of the funeral period varied, ranging from 3 days to 30 days, mainly determined by the mourner. In ancient times, the coffin was usually kept for 3 months, and the burial period could be as long as 7 months.

According to the traditional custom of the Han people, when a parent dies, the children must go to the funeral, otherwise it is considered unfilial.

Relatives and friends will mourn and pay homage to the deceased in the future, which is called "mourning" or "condolences."

All mourners must wear mourning clothes. In ancient times, the mourning clothes of the Han people were divided into five types: zhansheng, qixian, dagong, xiaogong, and weaving linen. They were called the "five clothes". They were made of linen of different thicknesses and fines, and were worn differently according to the relationship between them. The mourning clothes are called "wearing linen and wearing mourning".

It's just that in later generations, white cloth was often used as mourning clothes, while in modern cities at that time Wei Guangde usually wore white flowers on the chest and black gauze on the arms.

Wei Guangde first went to the Hanlin Academy for duty, then found an excuse to visit Zhan Shifu, and then came out of the Hanlin Academy.

After all, he already held many positions, so he had every reason to leave early and go to other yamen. Moreover, during the time he spent in the Hanlin Academy, Yu Jiu began to transform into a veteran, and was no longer as honest as before.

After Wei Guangde left the Hanlin Academy, he naturally did not go to Zhan Shi's Mansion. Instead, he said to Li San, who was driving the horse, "Let's go to Lu Mansion."

"Please drive."

Li San whipped the packhorse with his whip, and the horse felt pain and stretched its long legs to drag the carriage forward.

Wei Guangde closed his eyes in the carriage until he felt the shaking of the carriage stopped and the carriage had stopped.

"Master, we're here."

Lian San, who was driving the carriage, reported to him in a low voice outside the carriage.

"Okay."

Wei Guangde simply agreed, then lifted the curtain and got out of the carriage.

At this time, the atmosphere in front of the Lu Mansion was no longer the same as before, and it looked depressed.

When Wei Guangde came here to pay his respects for the first time, there were still a lot of cars and people outside the gate of the Lu Mansion. Many officials in Beijing came to pay their respects. However, by now, everyone who should have come had come, and Lu Bing had long been forgotten.

Li San drove the car to the horse tie stone outside the Lu Mansion and parked it. The neat row of horse tie stones here were empty at this time, with only his car.

After getting off the car, Li San took out Wei Guangde's name card from his arms and rushed to meet the steward from Lu Mansion before Wei Guangde and said, "My master is here to pay his respects."

Wei Guangde's name card was still very useful. Although the steward was surprised that Wei Guangde came at this time, he respectfully let Wei Guangde into the mansion, took Wei Guangde to the mourning hall, and arranged for someone to take the name card to notify the third young master Lu Yi.

Familiar with the route, Wei Guangde lit three incense sticks in the mourning hall. When he stood up after the ceremony, he heard footsteps in the distance, and someone was jogging all the way.

Looking sideways, it was indeed Lu Yi.

Lu Yi came to the mourning hall and saluted Wei Guangde first. This was also etiquette. After the guest paid his respects, the host had to return the courtesy. Then the two of them went into a side room.

Although Lu Yi was surprised by Wei Guangde's sudden visit, he was not worried.

Yes, if someone like Wei Guangde suddenly visited many years after the old man's death, that would be the most terrifying thing.

Now, the old man's coffin is parked there, and no one would dare to make trouble at this time. No matter who it is, the one in Xiyuan would never agree.

"Master Wei, please have tea."

After the two sat down, a servant brought tea and Lu Yi said.

In fact, Lu Yi is older than Wei Guangde, and his official rank is far higher than Wei Guangde's sixth rank, but because he is a military general, even the Lu family, who has received the emperor's grace, has to bow their heads when facing civil officials in the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde picked up the teacup on the table, gently scraped the tea leaves on the water with the cup lid, took a sip, and then nodded.

Without any polite topic about whether the tea is good or not, Wei Guangde got straight to the point: "I don't know how many things about me Master Lu told you at the beginning?"

Wei Guangde's directness made Lu Yi slightly stunned.

Lu Bing didn't say much about Wei Guangde. Lu Yi just vaguely remembered that his father had praised Wei Guangde's youth and outstanding ability, and then casually said "Wei Guangde is trustworthy".

Wei Guangde's visit today, could there be some connection between him and his father?