Xiao Yan seemed not to realize the false intention in Emperor An's words, and only showed anger.
"That's what I said. Although Your Majesty has concerns and asked me to be tolerant in some matters, you will never order me to be executed. Besides, my life belongs to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty really wants to execute me, you can just let someone arrest me openly. Why would you resort to such despicable means?"
"Yue Fengcheng was accusing Your Majesty for no reason. He must have wanted to sow discord between me and Your Majesty. So I tortured him, chopped off his arms and broke his legs, and finally pried the person behind the scenes out of his mouth."
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 hostility between Xiao Yan's eyebrows and a murderous intent in his body.
"Yue Fengcheng said that Lu Chongyuan came to him and promised him a huge reward to take his men to kill me tonight. He also said that Lu Chongyuan personally promised him that he would find a way to transfer the Black Armor Guards left in my mansion before he could take action, and that no one from the Privy Council would be able to help me."
"Lu Chongyuan said that there will be chaos in the capital tonight, and no one will notice the killing in Jiyun Lane. He told them to kill me quickly and then retreat directly. Someone will clean up all the mess for them, and no one will 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 that Yue Fengcheng was deliberately framing me, so I interrogated several other captured assassins. They were killed in the same way as I was when I returned to Beijing 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 palace was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, and Emperor An's face became angrier.
"Lu Chongyuan, he is 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 people to kill him directly, not to mention burning the Forbidden Palace as an excuse to assassinate Emperor An.
Does Lu Chongyuan want the entire Lu family to die?
Cui Lin asked tentatively: "Master Xiao, although you have a grudge against the Lu family, Lu Chongyuan has always been a cautious person. He has never been so foolish as to harm the emperor before. I wonder why he is so stupid today..."
Xiao Yan said coldly: "It's probably 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 he looked at the nose with his eyes and the heart with his nose.
Xiao Yan looked up at Emperor An and said, "Your Majesty has been lenient with the Lu family before, and you are unwilling to punish them severely because of their kindness in assisting you in the early years. I know your Majesty's intention 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 in Lingyun Temple, wanting to destroy her innocence and force her to become a concubine. I was angry that Queen Lu had intervened, but because of her relationship with the Lu family, I couldn't investigate further, so I could only let it go on purpose, wanting to teach the Fourth Prince a lesson. But who would have thought that the Lu family broke with the Queen and her son on the surface, but secretly colluded with the Zhao family to kill the Fourth Prince's wife and framed me, wanting to help the Fourth Prince out of trouble."
"That day, I was really angry at the Lu family for not knowing what was good for them, so I asked Lu Yin to go to Jingzhao Prefecture to warn the Lu family, but I didn't expect that it would hit the Lu family's sore spot."
Emperor An frowned, "Are you saying that Lu Chongyuan killed you just because of this?"
Xiao Yan looked gloomy: "I also find it strange, but apart from this incident, I have not offended the Lu family again recently."
"I only know that Mrs. Lu Guan was not in collusion with Prince Chen. On the day of her death, she kept shouting that she was wronged, but the Fourth Prince and the Lu family did not give her a chance to defend herself. Instead, they forced her to commit suicide on the spot without even giving me time to ask a question."
"Afterwards, I felt something was not right, so I continued to investigate the matter, but I only found out that Guan had no contact with Prince Cheng before she got married, and the Lu family's attitude towards Lu Yin was too strange. I couldn't find any information about his biological parents, and it seemed that the Lu family was deliberately hiding something."
"I wanted to investigate this matter, but Lu Zhao was questioning me at the time. After your majesty gave me 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 that I asked 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 Chen would be brought up again.
But since Guan had already pleaded guilty, the Lu family's reputation had been ruined. Even if it was someone else in the Lu family, they wouldn't be that bad. Why would Lu Chongyuan bother with 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 cover it up.
But the entire Lu family has such power. Lu Chongyuan only vaguely felt that he was about to be exposed, so he took the risk and killed 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 gloomy and murderous face, he just frowned and said in a deep voice:
"I believe I have not killed all of the Lu family, but Lu Chongyuan suddenly wanted to kill me. He even burned down the forbidden palace and ignored the safety of Your Majesty to lead the Black Armor Guards to kill me. It must be because I have hit their sore spot."
"Before entering the palace, I led people 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..."
When Emperor An saw that Xiao Yan was determined not to give up until he got to the bottom of the matter, his face became even uglier.
Lu Chongyuan burned down Fengxi Palace, probably not only to lure away the Black Armor Guards, but also to silence them.
If the person who is 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 said with a cold expression: "Of course this matter must be investigated. The Lu family kept assassins. Lu Chongyuan burned the forbidden palace for his own selfish reasons and caused chaos in the capital. His crime is unforgivable. Lu Chongyuan and all the people in the Lu family will be removed from their official positions and imprisoned for strict trial."
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 and 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 keep quiet in the end.
Emperor An saw through his thoughts and said coldly, "I indulged the Lu family before because I remembered their long-term relationship with the emperor, but the Lu family did not know how to restrain themselves and repeatedly caused trouble in the capital. Now they dare 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.
"I will not show mercy this time. Go ahead and investigate. Find out for me thoroughly. No one who is related to what happened tonight will be spared."
"The Lu family's case is not allowed to be handled by others. You only need to report to me. If anyone dares to interfere, they will be guilty of the same crime as the Lu family!"
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You can read ahead to chapterr 470 (100+ extra chapters) here
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