At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 429 The Murderer
After Zhu Qizhen drank the licorice soup, he still felt weak and drowsy.

Jin Yiwei has already heard the news and has come to control everyone in the Shangshan Supervisor, from the grocery shoppers to the cookers, including those who wash rice and vegetables, and are investigating one by one.

The emperor was poisoned and almost died. This is something that has never happened in the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years.

Surprisingly, except for Zhu Qizhen himself, no one else showed signs of being poisoned.

Now that the prince is young, King Zhou, as the only royal family, is left in the palace by the queen mother to temporarily preside over the overall situation.

Yuan Bin's face was blacker than carbon, and when he came to Zhu Qizhen's bed, he saluted and said, "I will die!"

Zhu Qizhen smiled wryly, and said, "It's none of your business...cough cough..."

The king of Zhou hurriedly said: "The emperor is weak, and it is not appropriate to work too hard. Let's rest first!"

Zhu Qizhen nodded and slowly closed his eyes.

Yuan Bin wanted to ask a few more questions, but saw King Zhou beckoning to him, then got up and went to the side hall.

"Your Highness!"

Yuan Bin understood and followed.

King Zhou took a deep breath and said, "Commander Yuan, has any abnormality been found during the investigation?"

Yuan Bin frowned, shook his head, and said, "Humblely, I have investigated Shangshan Supervisor to the bottom. I have inspected all the ingredients and found no problems."

King Zhou also fell into deep thought, and continued to ask: "What about other meals? Besides lunch, what else did the emperor eat?"

Yuan Bin sighed, and said: "I really can't find any problems. The strange thing is that in the palace, except for the emperor, no one else showed signs of being poisoned. This... how to explain it?"

King Zhou pondered for a long time after listening, and then said: "Either, the emperor ate some special food, or...someone deliberately murdered him!"

"You mean... there are assassins in the palace?"

"This king is just guessing..."

King Zhou was talking, looked inside, and said: "It's just that the emperor is weak now, so it's not appropriate to disturb him for the time being."

Yuan Bin frowned, feeling suspicious in his heart.

Assassins sneaked into the palace, this kind of thing is no joke!
After a long time, he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "In that case, I will continue to follow this clue and leave!"

Returning to Shangshan Supervisor, the school captains have already controlled everyone.

The imperial physicians were also recruited to check all the ingredients and dishes repeatedly, even the swill bucket.

However, until dark, still nothing was found.

Yuan Bin's face became more and more ugly, almost turned the whole palace upside down, but where is the murderer?

The ingredients of each dish, the source and quality of each ingredient have been checked no less than three times.

Even the cooking process was not spared, and even the chefs in the imperial kitchen were interrogated separately, whether the cooking time, heat, and seasoning of each dish were appropriate, and so on.

As long as there is a conflict in the answers of two people, it can be used as a new breakthrough to continue the investigation.

However, he was disappointed again.

Everyone's answers were surprisingly consistent, even the cooking details of the dishes were exactly the same.

In desperation, Yuan Bin simply ordered the Supervisor of Shangshan to re-cook today's lunch.

After the dishes were served, he tasted all the dishes himself, and then waited to see if he had any adverse reactions.

However... still no problems!
On the other side, Wynn stayed up all night, and the whole Dongchang mobilized to search around the palace, looking for any suspicious people or clues.

His luck was the same as Jin Yiwei's, he couldn't even find a clue!
Late at night, Kunning Palace.

Empress Dowager Sun looked solemn, her fingers kept tapping on the armrest of the grand master's chair, and the worry on her face was obvious.

The last time I was so worried was five years ago, when the emperor personally marched and was ambushed by the Oirat army.

Over the years, she saw with her own eyes that the ignorant child grew into a wise king step by step, and the pride in her heart grew day by day.

Once upon a time, Emperor Taizong conquered Mobei, conquered Annan, and sailed to the West, making great achievements in the world.

Although the territory of Emperor Renxuan did not expand, the people got rest and recuperation, laying a solid foundation for the centuries-old foundation of future generations.

Now she sees with her own eyes that her son, the orthodox emperor of Ming Dynasty, has made contributions far surpassing that of his ancestors, making Han people spread all over the world, and he has truly become a king in the world!
However, the most dangerous hidden danger lurks around.

The murderer must be found, otherwise, the emperor is still in danger.

She had arranged for people to search around the palace, but no clues were found.

Empress Qian and Concubine Zhou stood on both sides of the Empress Dowager, both frowning and dignified.

Empress Dowager Sun took a deep breath and said, "What happened today must have a result."

Empress Qian and Concubine Zhou nodded at the same time, waiting for her to continue.

"Have you checked the maids around you?"

"Lady?"

Empress Qian and Concubine Zhou looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

Empress Dowager Sun continued: "Even the emperor's food can be poisoned, which shows that there is still a big flaw in the safety of the palace. How the poison was sent in and who ordered it is still unclear. Aijia thinks carefully. However, the maids in the inner palace are the easiest to approach the emperor, and their identities, backgrounds, and whereabouts all need to be verified."

At this time, Huai En came in from the outside, bowed and said, "I want to report to the Empress Dowager, all the maids on duty today have been brought here."

As he spoke, he took out a roster and handed it over.

Empress Dowager Sun said: "This is the list, please take a look!"

Empress Qian took them over and looked at them one by one, while Concubine Zhou also watched from the side.

"Bing Qingyan, 16 years old, born in a poor family, has been in the palace for two years."

"Jiang Ruolan, has a good family background, and was sent to the palace by her parents last year."

"Zhang Yating, 20 years old, has been sold to the palace for three years because of her family's difficulties."

The three of them were carefully checking the information of each court lady, but they still didn't find anything suspicious.

Empress Dowager Sun sighed and said, "Wynn, I'll leave it to you next."

"Yes!"

Wynn ordered these maids to be interrogated one by one, and then they took out their confessions and cross-certified them.

He hoped to find out some clues in this way, but after a whole night of interrogation, he didn't find any problems.

All confessions can be cross-verified with others, that is, no one is lying.

This is difficult...

This night, people in the Forbidden City stayed up all night.

Everyone was looking for the murderer hidden in the palace, but nothing was found.

In the early morning, Empress Qian made a bowl of hot porridge with her own hands, and ordered someone to bring it to Zhu Qizhen.

Yuan Bin subconsciously stopped him, ready to take a bite.

Just when he picked up the spoon, he froze!
"You are humble and rude, please forgive me!"

Maybe because he was dizzy from investigating the case, he actually stopped Queen Qian and went to check the bowl of porridge.

Empress Qian didn't know whether to be angry or sympathetic.

"Commander Yuan, please stand up!"

Only then did Yuan Bin stand up, lowered his head, and said, "Humble and incompetent, I searched all night, but still can't find any problems..."

Empress Qian said: "The Palace and the Queen Mother also searched overnight, but they didn't find anything."

Hearing this, Yuan Bin felt even more disappointed. As the commander of Jin Yiwei, he saw the emperor being poisoned, but he still couldn't find where the murderer was hiding.

They don't even know how they poisoned them!
Empress Qian seemed to see what he was thinking, and said comfortingly, "Commander Yuan, don't be discouraged. The emperor's condition has stabilized. If you continue to investigate, you will always find out the result!"

Yuan Bin didn't say anything more, and quietly stepped aside.

What he can do now is to stand guard in front of Fengtian Hall, and whoever wants to see the emperor must check carefully.

Never let this happen again!
Empress Qian led people into Fengtian Hall, brought over hot porridge, and fed it to Zhu Qizhen herself.

At this time, Zhu Qizhen was still very weak, and after drinking two sips, he no longer had any strength.

Empress Qian put the porridge on one piece and asked, "How is your Majesty feeling?"

Zhu Qizhen closed his eyes, shook his head feebly, and said, "I can't die..."

Empress Qian looked at King Zhou at the side, and cast a questioning look.

The king of Zhou understood and said: "The pulse of the emperor has stabilized. Drink licorice soup twice a day. After ten days, it will recover."

Empress Qian asked again: "Is there any problem with the medicine from the Tai Hospital?"

After the two incidents between Empress Dowager Sun and Zhu Qizhen, her trust in the Tai Hospital has long since declined.

King Zhou nodded and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I have personally inspected it, and there is absolutely no problem."

"That's fine..."

Empress Qian sighed quietly, and said: "But I don't know how the villain poisoned it. Why was only the emperor poisoned, but the others were safe?"

"Father!"

Before King Zhou could answer, a child's voice came from outside the hall.

Immediately afterwards, he saw Prince Zhu Jianshen walking over with a bowl of steaming soup, followed by Zhu Jianlin and Zhu Jianshu.

The three of them stepped forward, first saluted Empress Qian, and then, Zhu Jianshen held the soup and said, "Father, this is fish soup made by my own hands, to nourish your body."

Zhu Qizhen slowly opened his eyes, and was about to speak, when he was startled suddenly, his expression became very strange.

King Zhou seemed to have noticed something, reached out to take the fish soup, took a closer look, and was stunned.

Empress Qian didn't know why, so she asked, "Is there something wrong with this soup?"

This is a bowl of fish soup. Generally speaking, the fish soup made by Yushanfang is made of crucian carp, which is delicious and nourishing.

However, there are a few small miscellaneous fish in this bowl of fish soup!
These fish are really too small, only the size of an adult's finger, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like they were bought by the imperial dining room.

In the inner courtyard of the palace, you can't afford any expensive ingredients, and you won't even want this kind of small miscellaneous fish.

Zhou Wang was stunned for a long time, then turned his head to look at Zhu Qizhen, then at Zhu Jianshen, his expression became strange.

Zhu Qizhen looked like he was about to cry, but he raised his finger and pointed at the fish soup.

The king of Zhou asked, "Did the emperor also drink fish soup yesterday?"

Zhu Qizhen nodded, and two words popped out of his throat: "Drink..."

Empress Qian was even more surprised, and asked again: "What's wrong with this soup?"

King Zhou took the spoon and scooped up a small fish from the fish soup. After observing it carefully for a long time, his expression changed drastically.

"Your Highness, who made this fish soup?"

Zhu Jianshen looked proud and said, "I did it myself!"

"And I!"

"And I!"

Zhu Jianlin and Zhu Jianshu rushed to answer first.

The King of Zhou asked again, "Where are these fish caught?"

Zhu Jianshen looked even more proud, and said, "It's the electric fish tool that Master Tong made for me, it's electric in the ditch!"

"Electric fish device?"

King Zhou didn't know what electricity was, but he vaguely guessed the truth of the matter.

Zhu Jianshen also explained: "It is to use the battery to fully charge, then take it to the river, and connect it with two copper wires... By the way, the copper wire must be wrapped with cotton yarn, otherwise it will leak electricity!"

King Zhou nodded dully and said, "You...continue!"

"Put the copper wire in the river, turn it on when you see a fish, the fish will be stunned, and you can catch it."

"Corona?"

"It's because of an electric shock, it won't kill you, it will come back to life after a while, so the electric fish can be eaten."

"Well...and then what?"

"Then I will take it to make soup for my father!"

King Zhou picked up the spoon again and looked at the little fish carefully, with a strange expression and indescribable surprise.

Empress Qian had already noticed the problem, so she leaned over to take a look. It was just a strange little fish, and she couldn't see anything.

"This fish..."

"It's a puffer fish!"

King Zhou smiled wryly, this fact is too absurd.

Empress Qian was puzzled and asked, "What is puffer fish?"

"Beizhili is also called Latou, which is highly poisonous!"

"what……"

Empress Qian was startled, and took a step back subconsciously.

King Zhou put the spoon aside, and said to Zhu Qizhen, "Your Majesty, the source of the poison has been found, and it is this little puffer fish. I think...you also drank the soup yesterday."

Zhu Qizhen wanted to cry but had no tears, so he nodded and closed his eyes.

He was so busy studying the drawings yesterday that he didn't even notice what was in the fish soup.

Seeing the three dutiful sons stewing fish soup for themselves, I was still happy...

After being poisoned, he lost his sanity. Until now, he felt dizzy when he opened his eyes. He couldn't remember drinking a bowl of miscellaneous fish soup yesterday...

Zhu Jian saw that the stewed fish soup was in the harem, not in the imperial dining room, so Yuan Bin naturally couldn't find any clues.

If the three brothers hadn't come to show their filial piety today, this case might have become an eternal mystery.

The king of Zhou held the fish soup and didn't know what to do. This was evidence of poisoning the emperor, but...

He looked at Zhu Jianshen, then at Zhu Jianlin and Zhu Jianshu, all three of them looked at him helplessly, as if they didn't know what happened.

"Your Highness, you... you should go back first!"

Zhu Jianshen asked: "Isn't Father not drinking fish soup?"

The king of Zhou replied: "The emperor is sick and needs to rest, so he can't drink fish soup for the time being."

"Oh!"

Zhu Jianshen was thoughtful, and then said: "Then wait for Father's illness to recover, and then I'll give Father electric fish and stew fish soup!"

Before the words fell, Zhu Qizhen on the bed twitched violently, it seemed that it wasn't the fish that was electrocuted, but himself...

King Zhou hurriedly said: "I'll talk about the fish soup later, Your Highnesses should go back first!"

Zhu Jianshen nodded, then greeted his two younger brothers and left together.

King Zhou looked at Empress Qian and said with a wry smile, "This matter...how should I go about it?"

Empress Qian shook her head and said, "I don't know."

Zhu Qizhen couldn't bear it anymore, he struggled to sit up, and hissed: "Immediately send someone to Xishan and tell Tong Xuan, if you dare to study electric fish again, I will punish his nine clans!"

(End of this chapter)