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Chapter 304 Killing two birds with one stone

"You actually... managed to persuade Lu Zhang to help?" Zhu Yu's surprise did not diminish at all; she felt utterly incredulous. "Could it be that once he left the Duke of Yan's side, he lost all his backbone? That he would be willing to help you with such a huge favor?"

"If we do this, we'll expose our whereabouts. Aren't you afraid he'll use that to set a trap for you?"

“I don’t have that much influence, and he’s not that stupid.” Lu Qing was amused by Zhu Yu’s surprise. After catching her breath, she said to her seriously, “Chi Fu Wei must have been instructed not to come to Shuo Di, so I asked the Shadow Guard to find a way to send a message to Chi Fu Wei and have them devise a plan to have Lu Zhang lead people to station and patrol at the pass closest to the Wu Tie Mine.”

When your father's personal guards returned with the news, they clearly mentioned that Zhu Jie's men had set off first, but it was obvious that the men he sent back had not come to the Prince's residence. It was self-evident who they were reporting to.

When our group arrived at the Wutie Mine, we were indeed surrounded by Pang Yutang's son. Your father originally wanted to retreat, but unexpectedly, his retreat route was blocked by Pang Yutang.

I advised him to feign defeat after a brief battle and flee towards the pass to escape. The Pang father and son, unsuspecting, gave chase, only to be caught red-handed by Lu Zhang and his men.

Zhu Yu suddenly realized: "So Lu Zhang personally wiped out the rebels causing trouble in Shuo, which not only helped my father, but also became our witness, proving that neither my father nor Shuo had any intention of rebelling."
This move was indeed brilliant, but... Lu Zhang...

If we do this, we won't kill eight thousand enemies but lose ten thousand of our own. Although it proves the innocence of Shuo Kingdom and my father, in the end, it will give others a handle to use against us, won't it?

I still don't understand. The Duke of Yan was clearly going to great lengths to kill you, trying to pin some crime on you, so why would Lu Zhang be willing to clear my father's name?

“Madam has been working so hard lately, worrying about so many things that she has forgotten why Shuo Kingdom was caught up in the mystery of a potential rebellion.” Lu Qing smiled and shook his head. “Not only do we want to prove that Shuo Kingdom has no intention of rebelling, but Lu Zhang does too.”

Zhu Yu was taken aback, only then realizing that he had been used to placing Lu Zhang on the opposite side of their position and treating him as an opponent to be wary of. He had actually forgotten something by accident. The reason why Shuo Kingdom was suspected of having rebellious intentions was because a batch of weapons made of black iron flowed from Shuo Kingdom into Jie Kingdom and were seized by General Situ and his eldest son from a group of "Jie Kingdom bandits" who were causing trouble on the border.

The Jie Kingdom happens to be Lu Zhang's in-laws' family and Yan Shu's maternal family.

Faced with the charge of "plotting rebellion," the Shuo and Jie kingdoms were truly in the same boat. If either side's crime was proven, the other would be severely punished, and it would be very difficult for them to clear their name.

Lu Qing is the son-in-law of the Shuo Kingdom, and Lu Zhang is the son-in-law of the Jie Kingdom. Neither of them wants their in-laws to be involved in such trouble. However, because of the principle of "family members concealing each other's faults," it is difficult for them to personally verify that their in-laws have no intention of rebelling and that everything is a conspiracy by others. Even if they could prove it, it would probably not be convincing.

However, given the long-standing discord between the Duke of Yan's faction and Lu Qing, if Lu Zhang could prove that Prince Zhu Cheng of Shuo had no intention of rebelling and that it was all the work of the Pang family in collusion with outsiders, then the credibility would be much higher.

After all, if there were even the slightest indication, the Duke of Yan would have been eager to immediately confirm the King of Shuo's guilt and implicate Lu Qing as well. And after Lu Zhang proved Zhu Cheng's innocence, the rumors of collusion between Shuo and Jie in a traditional rebellion were also dispelled. Rather than simply helping Lu Qing, it would be more accurate to say that Lu Qing provided him with an opportunity to indirectly resolve his own troubles.

“I have already agreed. I will help your father draft a memorial to the Emperor, praising Lu Zhang’s contribution in helping to suppress the bandits,” Lu Qing said, seeing Zhu Yu’s expression and knowing that she had understood. “Given Lu Zhang’s personality, this is a great temptation for him, and it would be hard for him to refuse.”

Zhu Yu believed this. Lu Zhang seemed to have always been under the spotlight of being "the most outstanding son of Emperor Jin," receiving praise and flattery like a star, and enjoying it.

“I believe Lu Zhang is easy to fool, but… his maternal grandfather isn’t as simple-minded as he is.” Zhu Yu genuinely felt that Lu Qing had cleverly turned Lu Zhang into a pawn, which was truly ingenious. However, the thought of Duke Yan, Zhao Bi, filled her with worry. “What if Duke Yan uses our return to Shuoguo as a pretext to make a big deal out of it later?”

"Based on my understanding of him, Lu Zhang probably wouldn't even mention that he saw us here." Lu Qing wasn't worried about that. "You haven't seen him interact with the Duke of Yan very often, so you don't know the inside story."

Although Duke Yan always protected Lu Zhang, he was also extremely strict with him. Lu Zhang had to be extra careful in his words and actions in front of Zhao Bi.

Zhao Bi had extremely high expectations of Lu Zhang, and any shortcomings in his performance would result in severe reprimands.

Lu Zhang might not have been particularly afraid of the Emperor in private, but he had great reverence for his maternal grandfather.

Last time at General Cao's mansion, when faced with Cao Chenfeng's matter, Lu Zhang did not follow Zhao Bi's suggestion to stay out of it. Instead, he was easily swayed by a few words and took the initiative to do the porcelain work. Afterwards, he was said to have been severely reprimanded by Zhao Bi, who did not give him a good look for a long time until the wedding.

This time, if he tells Zhao Bi the whole story, Zhao Bi will probably realize that Lu Zhang was tricked by me. Even if he doesn't see through it, Lu Zhang indirectly helped us so much, which is not something the Duke of Yan would be happy to see.

In recent years, Lu Zhang has grown older and become more independent. Although he still needs Zhao Bi's protection, he is not as obedient as he used to be.

He wanted to gain favor with the emperor but didn't want Zhao Bi to scold or blame him, so he couldn't help but want to stand out in this situation, and afterwards he had to find ways to deceive Zhao Bi.

Otherwise, why do you think he would identify himself as General Yi after helping your father out of that predicament?

Zhu Yu looked at the smiling Lu Qing in surprise. She originally thought that "General Yi" was a fake identity that Lu Qing had come up with for Lu Zhang, but she did not expect that it was actually Lu Zhang's own doing.

"Using this plan on Lu Zhang... feels a bit like bullying him." She couldn't help but shake her head. "With your intelligence and skills, it feels like if you sold Lu Zhang out, he'd still be happily counting the money for you!"