My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 241 The Secret of the Palace
Not to mention that Lu Yi and Lu Bu were both top-notch generals.

Gao Shun and Zhang Xun had also practiced martial arts for many years, and their five senses and six perceptions were far superior to those of ordinary people. They immediately noticed the abnormality behind the screen.

"Alas, this Zhang Rang said yesterday that I was making a fuss out of nothing, but now that I see him in person, he is even worse than I was yesterday!"

Zhao Zhong cursed inwardly when he saw this, but he still immediately provided cover for Zhang Rang.

"Oh... hehe, behind the screen is our little dog. I was bored today so I brought him to the duty room to play. Maybe he was frightened by seeing a stranger."

As he spoke, Zhao Zhong called out to Zhang Rang through the screen with concern.

"Dog, dog, these are all your master's friends, don't be scared!"

"Wang Wang Wang..."

In order to win the appreciation of the foolish emperor Liu Hong, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others did not have much real talent or knowledge.

However, he is very good at sneaky tricks such as imitating dog barking.

In a hurry, Zhang Rang immediately used his best skills and imitated the puppy's slightly alert barking so vividly that no one could hear the flaw.

After hearing the barking of a puppy coming from behind the screen, Lu Yi and others finally let down their guard.

"Haha, puppies can also relieve loneliness. People in my hometown also like to keep pets."

After Lu Yi laughed in agreement, he wanted to get to the point, but the dog behind the screen suddenly started barking rapidly, as if it was looking for its owner.

"The puppy can't leave its owner alone for a moment. My friend, please sit down and have some tea. I'll go clean up and come back soon!"

Zhao Zhong's heart moved, and he realized that it was Zhang Rang calling him. He immediately asked a few eunuchs to pour tea for Lu Yi and others. He apologized and hid behind the screen.

"We are a little tired after walking all the way, so we would like to sit down and rest for a while. You can do as you please, sir."

It was natural for Lu Yi to ask Zhao Zhong for a favor.

"Hmph! This eunuch actually values ​​dogs more than people. How abominable!" But seeing this, Lu Bu behind him snorted coldly in dissatisfaction.

Gao Shun and Zhang Xun were also obviously angry, and the slight good impression they had just had towards Zhao Zhong disappeared immediately.

"Brother Zhang, did you see that person's face clearly?"

"Is it exactly the same as the late emperor as I said?"

As soon as Zhao Zhong entered behind the screen, he saw Zhang Rang with a shocked expression and immediately asked proudly.

Zhang Rang's questioning yesterday made him quite angry, but now he has finally turned the tables.

"Oh, Brother Zhao is still angry with me at this time. What does it matter if our family loses some face? Now is the critical moment, we still need to hint at his background."

Zhang Rang tried to comfort Zhao Zhong repeatedly with an anxious look on his face, but he was still a little dazed.

"I never thought there would be two people in this world who look so alike. This person is so similar to the late emperor, I'm afraid he is really his bloodline."

"It's not completely unprecedented for people to look similar. Although the possibility is very small, it's possible that this child has no relationship with the late emperor. Now that the late emperor has passed away for many years, most of the eunuchs and palace maids in the harem are gone. How to determine whether this child is related to the late emperor has become a difficult task!"

After a day's rest, Zhao Zhong regained some clarity and rationality, and thought about it with some concern.

"The late emperor entered the palace at the age of fifteen and ascended the throne. He never left the palace for the rest of his life. During this time, he had several princes. If this child is indeed the late emperor's offspring, he must be one of these children."

Zhang Rang had thought about this issue a long time ago. He stayed up almost all night last night, reorganizing his memories as an eyewitness.

"But, these princes all died young, and we all watched them being buried with our own eyes. How is this possible?"

Zhao Zhong said disappointedly after hearing this.

"No!"

"Have you forgotten? Although there were reports that a prince died young, no one had ever witnessed his burial!"

Zhang Rang suddenly changed the subject and spoke to him in a sharp tone.

"You...you are talking about the illegitimate son born by that palace maid?"

Zhao Zhong's expression suddenly changed when he heard this and he became excited.

"That's right!"

Zhang Rang sneered and explained.

"The late emperor was a high-ranking official, but many of his sons died one after another. Even a fool can see that there is something fishy going on!"

"Are you saying that someone wants to make the late emperor extinct?!"

Zhao Zhong was startled at first when he heard this, but then he thought about the fact that Liu Zhi died when he was over 30 years old, and that he had thousands of beauties in his harem, and that they were not infertile. However, whenever there was news of a concubine being pregnant, the concubine would either have a miscarriage or the prince would die young.

Only a few princesses finally had a good end.

Therefore, Zhao Zhong had every reason to suspect that someone was plotting against Liu Zhi.

"Not bad!"

"Besides, I happen to know who did it!"

Zhang Rang's eyes were gleaming with coldness and his tone was full of hatred.

"who?"

Zhao Zhong asked again and again.

"It's the late emperor's empress, Liang Nvying!"

"is her!"

When Zhao Zhong thought of this person, he was shocked.

"Liang Nuying relied on the fact that she was the sister of the former empress dowager and the power of her brother Liang Ji to monopolize the emperor's favor and slaughter the concubines at will. Whenever a concubine became pregnant, she would secretly instruct someone to poison her food. Even if she was lucky enough to give birth, as long as it was not a princess, she would definitely secretly harm her. As a result, the late emperor, although a dignified emperor, had no offspring."

"Even some of the common folks in the countryside would have been grandfathers by the time the late emperor passed away, but it's a pity that the late emperor passed away without an heir!"

Zhang Rang's tone was filled with grief.

"How did you know that?" Zhang Rang still couldn't believe it.

Liu Zhi is the emperor. Who dares to attack his descendants?
"This is what the late emperor told me himself!" Zhang Rang said affirmatively.

"What!" Zhao Zhong was shocked when he heard that.

"Although Liang Nuying thought she had done it perfectly, she didn't know that God is watching her. If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself!"

"The late emperor had long suspected Liang Nuying, so he sent people to investigate secretly, and indeed, the evidence led back to Liang Nuying."

"But the late emperor was afraid of the power of the great general Liang Ji, so he could not take revenge and could only gradually distance himself from Liang Nvying."

"Liang Nuying had a heart as vicious as a snake and scorpion. She could not escape the punishment of heaven and died of depression before she was thirty."

"It's fine if this bitch dies, but she caused the late emperor to be childless."

"Your Majesty told me this by chance when he was drunk and felt sad because he felt lonely."

Zhang Rang sighed.

“There is such a secret!”

Zhao Zhong's status was not as high as Zhang Rang's at that time, so he did not know the details. Now that the late emperor has passed away and the Liang family has been killed, these secrets are no longer worth keeping secret, so he learned the secret.

"After the palace maid was favored by His Majesty, she was also retaliated by Liang Nuying. But I don't know if it was God's will that the late emperor would be spared. After being poisoned by Liang Nuying, the palace maid actually survived and even saved the baby in her belly, giving birth to a prince!"

"The late emperor was overjoyed when he got this child and sent many people to protect him, but he still encountered many crises afterwards. In the end, the prince still couldn't escape Liang Nuying's clutches and died in an accident."

Zhang Rang ignored the shocked Zhao Zhong and continued his story.

"However, unlike the princes who died young in the past, the late emperor used the excuse that this child was born out of wedlock to a palace maid, and not only did he not allow a mourning hall to be set up for him, he also did not allow his coffin to be placed in the imperial mausoleum. As a result, no one knew where he was buried, and no one was able to see him for the last time."

"At that time, I secretly felt sorry for them. They were all the flesh and blood of the late emperor. Why did the late emperor favor one over the other and bury them hastily?" "Now it seems that perhaps this was done intentionally by the late emperor!"

"You mean..."

Zhao Zhong was a smart person, otherwise he would not have been one of the Ten Attendants. He suddenly came to his senses when he heard this.

"The late emperor could not disobey the powerful Liang family, but he was unwilling to watch his only child being harmed by Liang Nvying, so he pretended that the child had died, but in fact he sent him out of Liang Nvying's sight and secretly took him to another place to protect and raise him?"

"That's right!"

Zhang Rang took over Zhao Zhong's words.

"And the reason why the late emperor did not clear the name of the little prince and did not allow him to enter the imperial mausoleum was perhaps to conceal his true identity!"

"So, maybe this Lu Yi is really the son of the late emperor!"

Zhao Zhong was so excited when he heard this that his whole body began to tremble.

"What!?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Rang grabbed Zhao Zhong's shoulders and asked.

"What did you say his name was?"

"This boy's name is Lu Yi, and he is from Jiuyuan. What's wrong?"

Zhao Zhong asked in confusion.

"You are so confused!"

Zhang Rang became more certain about Lu Yi's identity.

"Have you forgotten the most reliable guards around the late emperor?"

"Are you talking about Guard Lu?" Zhao Zhong recalled, and suddenly a tall man with superb martial arts skills who always stood behind the late emperor holding a spear appeared in his mind.

"That's right!" Zhang Rang was so excited that his whole body was shaking as if he had grasped something.

"Guardian Lu was loyal to the late emperor and was always by his side. But the strange thing was that after the prince died, Guardian Lu suddenly disappeared and has never appeared since. It was as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth..."

"Now that I think about it, it is very likely that Guard Lu received the order from the late emperor and secretly took the faked-dead little prince out of the palace to raise him!"

"Hearing you put it this way, it's not impossible!"

Zhao Zhong still frowned when he heard this.

"But, when the late emperor passed away, why didn't Guard Lu bring the little prince back to the palace to inherit the throne?"

"Have you forgotten again? The late emperor passed away in a hurry!"

"Then how can Guard Lu get the news in time and return to Luoyang?"

"Moreover, even if we got the news, the situation was turbulent and dangerous at the time. Lü Yi was the only heir of the late emperor. Lü Huwei was cautious by nature and would not want to let Lü Yi take risks in order to protect the late emperor's descendants."

"On the other hand, Lü Yi did not receive recognition from the previous emperor, and Liu Hong succeeded to the throne very quickly. Even if Guard Lü wanted to take Lü Yi back to his roots, it would be too late!"

"It makes sense..."

"Zhang Rangru, what you said makes sense!"

"If this boy is indeed the son of the late emperor, then the late emperor will have an heir!"

Zhao Zhong was moved by Zhang Rang's explanation, and infinite hope surged in his heart again.

But he changed his mind and felt disappointed again.

"That being said, the late emperor has passed away for a long time. There is no one in the world who can prove his identity. Even if he is really the late emperor's son, we cannot prove it!"

"No!"

Zhang Rang suddenly laughed when he heard this.

"Before I came here yesterday, I searched the palace on purpose."

"We found several palace maids who had delivered the prince!"

"That prince has an obvious feature that is enough to distinguish him from other people. You only need to verify it a little to determine whether he is real or fake!"

"What characteristics?" Zhao Zhong asked quickly.

"There is a round red birthmark on the right chest of the prince. This circle is completely natural. Even if you imitate it deliberately, you can't draw such a regular circle. As long as Brother Zhao uses indirect methods, you can tell the difference!"

Zhang Rang said firmly.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Without further delay, I will investigate the truth!"

Zhao Zhong was so excited when he heard this.

He received great kindness from Liu Zhi, but was unable to repay him, and felt extremely guilty.

If God gave him another chance and sent Liu Zhi's only son to him, he would repay Liu Zhi's kindness even at the cost of his life.

"Okay, I'll wait for your good news behind this screen!" Zhang Rang was no less enthusiastic.

The emperor’s grace was so great that he could only repay it with his own death.

In fact, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others did do this in history.

When Yuan Shao and others were in rebellion, they could clearly use the emperor to control the princes and use Liu Bian and Liu Xie as amulets.

However, in order to prevent the chaotic soldiers from taking the opportunity to hurt the two, they would rather jump into the river and commit suicide than implicate the two.

They could do this even to Liu Hong's two sons who were not as good to them as Liu Zhi. So they would be even more desperate to kill Liu Zhi's only offspring!
"Cough cough..."

"My little dog can't leave us alone for a moment. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long!"

After Zhao Zhong nodded solemnly to Zhang Rang, he straightened his messy clothes a little, calmed down his excited emotions, and walked out from behind the screen with an apologetic smile on his face.

The conversation between Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang seemed long, but in fact it was only a few words, so Lu Yi and others did not notice anything unusual.

"Eunuch Zhao is busy with official business, and it's a rare pastime to have a dog to relieve his mood. We are all rough men from border counties, and our kung fu is worthless, so it's reasonable for us to wait for a while!"

However, Lu Yi smiled and helped Zhao Zhong cover up.

Even though he came from the future, he understood that when asking someone to do something for you, especially when asking someone in the government to do something for you.

Maybe ten thousand good words are not as good as one bad word.

You never know when you might offend someone.

They hold the key power, so it would be a bit exaggerated to say that they want someone to succeed.

But it is easy to ruin a big thing.

Therefore, when Lu Yi faced Zhao Zhong, although he was also dissatisfied with the actions of the Ten Attendants in his heart, he still had to put on an acceptable show.

Zhao Zhongping's ears would become callused from hearing these perfunctory flatteries.

But when you consider that the person who said this is most likely your little master, the significance of this becomes very different.

"The young master has had such a hard time in the past twenty years, and Zhong has not had time to serve and take care of him. I didn't expect that before we even got to know each other, the young master would actually ask about our well-being first..."

“What a sin…”

“What a sin…!”

……

(End of this chapter)