Cheng Can believes that Long Bo used the assassination of Lin Jiulang as a pretense, that his real goal was to use He Fu’s desperation to seek revenge to plot an assassination of the Emperor. The assassination was to be carried out by a meticulous plan of blowing up the Heavenly Lantern Tower. Mao Shun’s draft drawing of the Lantern Tower has a line of words in fine print in handwriting similar to He Zhizheng’s. However, the fire at the archive destroyed everything so there is nothing there to corroborate this theory.
程参判断龙波就是利用何孚报仇心切，他真正的计划是假借刺杀林九郎，然后精心部署炸毁太上玄元灯楼，以灯楼刺杀圣上。毛顺画的大灯楼的草图上有人模仿何执正的笔记写了一行小字，但档案房全部被烧已经无从查证，程参觉得徐宾可疑。徐宾悄悄回家，打开灵堂地板下面的密道把圣上请出来，他说他用大案犊术算出了这一切，拼命向圣上毛遂自荐。何执正正对庞灵进行突审，认定他是林九郎的暗桩，林九郎痛心疾首，原来庞灵是林腾空的未婚夫。永王自以为胜券在握，已经做好了继位的准备，封大伦提前预祝他继任大统，永王当场把他杀了灭口。
