By the beginning of December, this rumor, which was quite unfavorable to Zhao Hongrun, had become more and more intense. At least in Daliang City, it had reached the point where no one knew about it.
Everywhere in the city, the following conversations occurred from time to time:
"Hey, have you heard? Marquis Yuanling's family order is dead."
"I heard about it. I heard that the family leader was ordered by Marquis Yuanling to guard and rob, and colluded with outsiders to destroy the master's shop, in order to frame His Highness Prince Su..."
"What? What you heard is all in the past... I tell you, before he died, that Yuan Linghou family leader wrote a confession of guilt on the wall of the prison in blood.
, confessed that his master, Marquis Yuanling, had instructed him to guard and frame His Highness Prince Su... What is strange is that Marquis Yuanling tried his best to deny that it was him who had instructed him, believing that the blood letter was forged by His Highness Prince Su..."
"Why did His Highness Prince Su forge that blood letter?"
"You still don't understand? Your Highness, Prince Su, has long been dissatisfied with the big nobles in the country... Don't you know? In fact, His Highness Prince Su has already collected many evidences of the big nobles' crimes, and he is just waiting for the opportunity to arrest them.
Catch them all in one fell swoop..."
"Eh? This... a powerful person in the country? This has a lot of implications..."
"That's not what I'm saying...but I support His Royal Highness Prince Su in doing this. Those noble gentlemen in the country...hey!"
"Hey, His Royal Highness Prince Su is too impatient..."
In the end, the rumor seemed to have turned into a solid fact. On the basis of this rumor, many versions of the rumor were once again extended. For example, "King Su has persuaded the court to severely punish the land annexation", or "
The imperial court is about to ban more than 30% of the local nobles in the country."
The spread of these rumors made the prestige of the imperial court and Prince Su Zhao Hongrun among the people suddenly rise, but the credibility among the domestic nobles declined rapidly.
Even later, local nobles showed obvious clique behavior.
The most direct manifestation is that local nobles began to reject the "Su Clan Chamber of Commerce", secretly attacked the properties of the nobles who joined the "Su Clan Chamber of Commerce", deliberately created chaos, and affected the normal operation of the "Su Clan Chamber of Commerce" in local stores.
The nobles and aristocratic merchants who had cooperated with the imperial court also began to act against the imperial court. Although they did not openly oppose the imperial court, they had deliberately delayed the delivery date, deliberately hoarded food and did not distribute it to the market.
The occurrence of these incidents caused various local county magistrates to report to the county government one after another, and the county government then reported to the imperial court.
Of course, Zhao Hongrun was not aware of the changes in these places at this time. He was still within the confinement period and was staying in his study in Prince Su's Mansion, thinking about the death of Feng Guan, the family leader of the Yuanling Marquis Mansion.
The mastermind behind the scenes.
I have to say that regarding the mastermind behind the scenes, Zhao Hongrun has been suspicious of this and that in recent days, and has successively identified many people who are suspected of being the mastermind behind the scenes.
The first thing he thought of was, of course, King Qing Hongxin, but this idea just crossed his mind and was rejected by him.
The reason is very simple, because at the banquet at Prince Qing's Mansion, Zhao Hongrun roped in Chengling Prince Zhao Shen, Anping Marquis Zhao Tan and others, but pushed Yuanling Marquis Feng Shu and others to the opposite side and was ready to suppress them.
In this case, Yuanling Hou Feng Shu and others had only one way out, and that was to stand firmly on the side of Qing Wang Hongxin.
In other words, Qing Wang Hongxin did not need to use this trick to win the support of Yuanling Hou Feng Shu and others. For the Qing King, this kind of trick was just superfluous, and even once the deeds were exposed, it was very likely to make the original
The situation was not good and Qing Wang Hongxin became the target of public criticism.
The second object of suspicion is Xiang Wang Hongjing.
To be honest, Zhao Hongrun didn't understand this Third Emperor Brother very well.
But thinking about it carefully, Zhao Hongrun didn't think that the Third Emperor Brother had any motive for doing this.
You must know that there is no essential conflict of interest between Xiang Wang Hongjing and Zhao Hongrun, and with the character of this third emperor brother, it is impossible for him to be so desperate for the sake of Qing Wang Hongxin - frame him Zhao Hongrun and strengthen the domestic aristocracy.
What can Zhao Hongjing get from supporting Qing Wang Hongxin?
Taking huge risks just to make a wedding dress for King Qing Hongxin, and wholeheartedly sending him to the throne of Wei Kingdom?
Is Xiang Wang Hongjing so noble?
Totally unrealistic!
If King Xiang Hongjing really had this kind of consciousness, then King Yong Hongyu had a good relationship with him, so there was no need for him to abandon King Yong and join King Qing.
As for King Yong, it is impossible.
You must know that in the matter of the "Four Orders of Hedong", King Yong Hongyu firmly rejected the demands of the domestic nobles, which made those nobles switch to King Qing.
This is enough to prove that Yong Wang Hongyu does not want to have a dispute with Zhao Hongrun.
In this case, Yongwang Hongyu would not do anything to frame Zhao Hongrun. After all, the Fengguan incident was much worse in nature than the "Hedong Four Orders" incident.
After excluding the three royal brothers, King Qing Hongxin, King Xiang Hongjing, and King Yong Hongyu, Zhao Hongrun also once suspected Zhao Hongli, the former Prince of the East Palace.
But after thinking about it carefully, Zhao Hongrun once again rejected his guess.
The reason is very simple, because the eldest prince Zhao Hongli currently retains only one confidant in Luo Yao, and Luo Yao is an upright gentleman, and his strategies have always been scheming. This kind of conspiracy is not Luo Yao's style.
"Then, who could it be?"
Zhao Hongrun frowned and thought for a long time, and successively eliminated many suspects.
"Is Chao Lidong in charge of the general's residence? No, this guy is very stupid. How could he come up with such a clever plan to kill himself...Old guy Zhao Tairu? No, this old guy is cunning and cunning. He knows the "rules" but he doesn't know how to use them.
Treat me with such despicable means..."
After much deliberation, Zhao Hongrun still couldn't think of a result.
Just when Zhao Hongrun was upset, Zongwei Lu Mu stepped into the study, cupped his fists and said: "Your Highness, I am from the Imperial Guards Department."
"Arch Guards Department?" Zhao Hongrun was stunned for a moment, feeling a little surprised.
Because, the full name of "Gong Wei Division" is "Cui Gong Palace Royal Court Guard Division", which is a secret defense division established by Emperor Wei in the past two years. Although it is officially named under the name of the inner chamberlain, there are only two people in the entire Wei State who can mobilize this guard -
-Except for Emperor Wei, there was only Tong Xian, the eunuch who was the confidant of Emperor Wei.
In a sense, Emperor Wei's trust in the Imperial Guards was greater than that of the Imperial Guards.
"Please!" Zhao Hongrun nodded and said.
Lu Mu clasped his fists and retreated. After a moment, he led a man in bright armor and walked in.
Zhao Hongrun recognized this person, he was "Tong Xin, the Right Commander of the Imperial Guards in Chui Gong Hall", and he was also the cousin of the great eunuch Tong Xian.
If I could describe Tong Xin in one sentence, it would be - this person is an eagle dog from the Tian family.
"Commander Tong, this is really the first time that Commander Tong has visited me."
Zhao Hongrun smiled and said hello to Tong Xin.
"His Royal Highness King Su." Tong Xin walked forward with a smile on his face, cupped his hands and clasped his fists, then took a look inside the room and saw that only the Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao was in the room, and suddenly his expression became serious and he lowered his voice and said: "Your Highness,
At your Majesty's invitation, Your Majesty will be summoned to the Manlu Palace immediately."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun nodded slightly.
In fact, he had expected this - Feng Guan's death was causing a lot of uproar, and he didn't believe that his father had not heard about it.
On the contrary, Zhao Hongrun was puzzled that his father only sent someone to summon him today. He thought it would be earlier.
Taking Zong Wei Wei Jiao and Lu Mu with him, Zhao Hongrun followed Tong Xin out of the mansion and boarded the carriage that Tong Xin had taken outside the mansion.
About half an hour later, the carriage drove to the palace.
At this time, the status of the Archguard Division in the palace can be highlighted - when Zhao Hongrun, Zong Wei Jiao Lu Mu, Tong Xin and other imperial guards got off the carriage, the guards guarding the palace gate did not search Tong Xin at all.
If you want to wait for others, you will be allowed to go directly.
Along the road inside the palace, Zhao Hongrun and his party arrived at Ganlu Hall under the guidance of Tong Xin and others.
Only then did Zhao Hongrun realize that none of the imperial guards or Lang Wei could be seen outside the Ganlu Palace. There were guards from the Arch Guard Division everywhere.
At this time, the person on duty at Ganlu Hall was also an acquaintance, it was "Yan Shun, the left commander of the Imperial Guards at Chui Gong Hall".
"What's going on?"
Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly. He felt that the atmosphere in Ganlu Hall was a bit solemn.
Just when Zhao Hongrun was secretly wondering, Yan Shun stepped forward, cupped his hands and clasped his fists, and whispered: "His Royal Highness, King Su, Your Majesty is waiting for His Highness in the palace."
Zhao Hongrun nodded and walked into the Ganlu Hall with all kinds of guesses. Under the guidance of Yan Shun, Zhao Hongrun came to the side hall and saw Emperor Wei who was in the side hall.
Emperor Wei was seen sitting on a chair, wiping a sword with cold light.
Perhaps hearing the footsteps, Emperor Wei raised his head, glanced at Zhao Hongrun, and said lightly: "Hongrun, you are careless."
"..." Zhao Hongrun was stunned for a moment, then frowned slightly and said, "Yes, I was negligent."
"Neglect?" Emperor Wei chuckled lightly, looked at the sharp sword in his hand, and said lightly: "I have been waiting for you for several days, waiting for you to take the initiative to report to me, but you never came. It can be seen that you still can't think of it at this moment.
Who is behind this?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel a little surprised, because from his father's tone, it seemed that Emperor Wei had guessed the mastermind behind "Fengguan's death".
"My son is stupid, please show me." Zhao Hongrun said in a rare serious tone, because he knew the seriousness of this matter, so he was not in the mood to joke with Emperor Wei.
Emperor Wei took a deep look at the most respected son in front of him, wiped the spotless sword in his hand, and said in a deep voice: "You can't guess the mastermind behind the death of Marquis Yuanling's family, that's because in your eyes,
Those people did this to frame you... But in fact, that is not the case. In my eyes, those people caused Feng Guan to die mysteriously in prison and left a bloody confession full of loopholes before his death in order to confuse the situation.
Let the nobles in the country unite to hate you, doubt the imperial court, and sow discord in order to cause civil strife in the Wei Dynasty... Then now you tell me who is the mastermind behind this matter."
After hearing what Emperor Wei said, Zhao Hongrun was shocked. He finally realized why he had felt such a strong sense of disobedience these days.
The reason is simple, because he guessed wrong - Feng Guan's death was not directed at him, but its real purpose was to stir up internal instability in the Wei state.
There is only one person, or to be more precise, a "power" who can do this and has the strength to do so in Wei State.
"The remnants of the Xiao family!"
Zhao Hongrun narrowed his eyes and said word by word.