Chapter 170 The truth comes out
When the censor saw that Marquis of Ji'an Lu Zhongheng remained silent, he thought that Lu Zhongheng was frightened by Deng Qianqiu's attitude.

At this time, Lu Zhongheng is their trump card. As long as Lu Zhongheng lays out all the evidence and proves that Deng Qianqiu accepted benefits, even if Deng Qianqiu does not die, he will be skinned alive.

Therefore, the censor became anxious. Seeing that Lu Zhongheng still kept his head down and said nothing, he shouted, "Marquis Ji'an, now that things have come to this, you should think it over. If you still want to cover up and conceal it, then... Deng Qianqiu will not let you go, and you are also involved in the crime of deceiving the emperor, which is unforgivable. This matter concerns the whole Lu family, so you must think carefully."

This is a naked threat, you have to tell the truth.

If you don't tell the truth, you will really die without a burial place.

Hu Weiyong looked at Lu Zhongheng with a smile on his face, hoping that Lu Zhongheng would bite Deng Qianqiu to death immediately.

Many things can be remedied if only the truth is told.

Deng Qianqiu also smiled and said, "Lu Zhongheng, you old dog, why are you silent? Don't you see that your followers are teaching you to speak the truth? Come on, tell everyone, I am all ears, I want to hear how many gifts you gave me! How many Hu concubines, how many acres of land, and how much silver! If you don't tell me, as they say, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor, and you can't get away with it. If you don't tell me, some people will say, isn't there Ningyuan Hou Fei Ju?"

Deng Qianqiu was full of energy. No one expected that Deng Qianqiu had such a good psychological quality. At this time, it was he who urged Lawrence Lu to tell the truth.

When the censor heard Deng Qianqiu repeatedly saying that he and Lu Zhongheng were gang members, he was immediately unable to breathe. He was about to refute, but then he thought that it would not make much sense to refute at the moment, and the most important thing at the moment was to let Lu Zhongheng speak.

All officials fell silent, so silent that even their breathing was barely audible, and everyone looked at Lawrence Lu nervously.

Zhu Yuanzhang had completely lost his patience and sneered, "Lu Zhongheng, I am right here, do you still want to hide something?"

This sentence was not spoken loudly, but to the officials, it was deafening and shook the rubble.

Lawrence Lu shuddered, and then began to cry, saying in panic: "I...I...Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am guilty of a thousand deaths, a thousand deaths."

Immediately, he, who was tied up, knocked his head against the ground and kowtowed continuously.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned as he watched, and shouted impatiently, "Speak."

"Chen...chen...chen..."

A smile appeared on Hu Weiyong's face. Finally...it was about to begin.

He raised his eyes and glanced at Deng Qianqiu. He was confident that as long as Lawrence Lu could find a way to kill Deng Qianqiu, he would definitely mobilize all the officials and force His Majesty to sentence Deng Qianqiu to death.

Lu Zhongheng said: "I...I did not bribe Deng Qianqiu..."

When these words were spoken, all officials were in an uproar.

Zhu Yuanzhang was even more stunned.

No?

No way?
What people outside say seems to be true, could it be groundless?
The smile on Hu Weiyong's face froze and he looked incredulous.

There will definitely be traces of these secret activities, and with so many traces, it is impossible for Lu Zhongheng to deny it. Once verified, he is not only involved in bribery and the assassination of Deng Qianqiu, but even... the crime of deceiving the emperor.

With so many charges, how could Lawrence Lu afford it?

The censor shouted impatiently: "You are talking nonsense..."

Deng Qianqiu laughed: "He's talking nonsense? Oh, you mean you know more than him? He didn't know whether he gave me silver and Hu Ji to Deng Qianqiu, but you did? Do you have a clairvoyance or a sharp ear? You didn't make up this rumor, did you?"

Deng Qianqiu's words were extremely vicious, almost equivalent to directly chopping the censor with a knife.

However, at the moment, both sides have already exposed their true intentions and are at the point of a fight to the death, so Deng Qianqiu certainly won't be polite.

The censor was furious: "What I mean is that this Marquis of Ji'an...will definitely not admit his guilt and accept punishment..."

Deng Qianqiu said: "So, it is Marquis Ji'an who deceived the emperor? May I ask what crime is deceiving the emperor? If I remember correctly, it should be the execution of the whole clan."

Deng Qianqiu said, looking at Lawrence Lu and said, "Brother Lu, did you hear that? Did you hear that? He said you were deceiving the emperor. He wants to force your whole family to death. There are so many people in your family, and he doesn't want to keep any of them. Brother Lu...are you afraid?"

The censor was a little panicked. He couldn't understand why he was being alienated out of the blue.

He looked fearfully at Hu Weiyong, whose face had already turned pale, then looked at Lu Zhongheng and said hurriedly, "Marquis Ji'an...just report the truth."

When Ji'an Marquis Lu Zhongheng heard the words "execution of the entire clan", he shuddered all over and was frightened to death.

He knew very well in his heart that the current emperor was really capable of doing such a thing.

Now, hearing Deng Qianqiu and the censor arguing with each other, he was already extremely frightened. He kowtowed like crazy and said with trembling lips, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty... I... I am sorry to Your Majesty. I... really did not give a single cent... to Deng Qianqiu. These... are all verified. If Your Majesty does not believe it..." He paused, but hurriedly said, "If Your Majesty does not believe it, I have evidence. I have evidence. Your Majesty can have someone search my house. The land in Shangyuan County is still in my hands. In addition, there is the so-called Hu Ji. Your Majesty can go to the Deng family to check. Let alone the Hu Ji, even if there is half a Hu person in their Deng family, I am willing to beg for death with my whole family. As for silver, I did not give a penny... I... I am short of silver myself, so how can I give silver to others..."

As he spoke, he burst into tears and said, "Your Majesty, I am afraid of poverty. I was just a commoner in the beginning. It was only because I followed Your Majesty and made contributions that I have what I have today. Since I followed Your Majesty into Nanjing, I have only been in and never out... I have accounts, I have land deeds, and I have concubines at home. Your Majesty can check and interrogate them. I swear here today that if I give Deng Qianqiu a penny, my whole family will be wiped out, and the Lu family will be wiped out!"

Oh wow.

Many people gasped.

This is quite cruel.

He had evidence to support his oath, and he made it with such passion and emotion.

If any of the Lu family members dared to give Deng Qianqiu a penny, I'm afraid they wouldn't dare to say such words.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang was really a little confused.

If that is the case, then why did this matter get to such an unmanageable point?
The censor was also confused. He felt that his brain was a little stuck. He always felt that something was wrong, but when he wanted to find out the truth, he found that what Lu Zhongheng said seemed to have no loopholes.

The one who was most speechless was Hu Weiyong.

Even though Hu Weiyong was extremely intelligent, well versed in the ways of the world, and had an emotional intelligence that ordinary people could not achieve, at this moment, he actually felt a little brain-twitching.

its not right!
Hu Ji...

Land...

And silver...

He Lu Zhongheng didn't send any of them out?
So what about the Hu concubines, land, and silver that Hu Weiyong gave away?
Hu Weiyong stared at Lu Zhongheng with burning eyes.

Hu Weiyong was not an ordinary person. He always calculated things with his fingers before asking people to do things. It was absolutely impossible for him to let the people do things suffer losses. After all, people like him were good at calculating.

For example, among the dozen or so Hu concubines sent out, Hu Weiyong would deliberately send more, so that people like Lu Zhongheng could get some benefits and keep two or three of them. In this way, people would be more willing to work hard for him.

only……

Suddenly, in a flash, a very terrifying idea popped up in Hu Weiyong's mind.

Is there a possibility...for example...that Lu Zhongheng didn't send any of them out and kept them all for himself?

No way, no way. I have been through half my life, met countless people, and experienced the ups and downs in the officialdom, but I have never seen such a person.

What's more, the person who was assigned the task was not one person, but two people!
Could it be that both of them...

Hu Weiyong suddenly felt his heart twitch violently, and his face turned even darker.

"You, you are talking nonsense..." The censor was unwilling to accept it and shouted, "It is widely rumored outside, you... you must be afraid of being punished, so... that's why you want to deny it."

Lu Zhongheng howled, "It's all true, it's all true! I beg Your Majesty to immediately order the Yiluansi, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate and other judicial departments to conduct a thorough investigation. My family has the accounts, the concubine Hu is also there, and the land deeds are also there. The land that is rumored outside is not missing a single acre. If Your Majesty does not believe me, then Ningyuan Hou Fei Ju also knows the inside story of this matter. Your Majesty can interrogate Fei Ju. If I tell even a lie, I will be torn into pieces and there will be no place to bury my body."

"..."

There was silence in the hall.

The censor was suddenly speechless.

He even thought himself a little funny.

After all this effort, it ended up like this?
He even wanted to run away immediately and hide back in the class, and he just hated himself for being so stupid. Why did he stand up at this time?
Hu Weiyong stared at Lu Zhongheng with a very gloomy look.

Lu Zhongheng also seemed to feel guilty and did not dare to go to see Hu Weiyong.

Only Deng Qianqiu sneered and said, "Your Majesty, I also beg Your Majesty to immediately ask the officials to thoroughly investigate this case and make sure to clear my name. I have suffered so much. I have served Your Majesty with all my heart and soul, but people in the market, even those with ulterior motives, have been making rumors and throwing feces at me every day! They are trying to kill me! Who am I? I am just a thousand households. Why would someone go to so much trouble and make such a fuss? That's why I thought that this was aimed at the Crown Prince. Everyone in the world knows that I am a subordinate of the Crown Prince... To slander me is to put the Crown Prince to death!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials changed color.

Shit, this is even bigger.

(End of this chapter)