All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

Chapter 329: Killing the donkey (two in one)

Once the matter involves embroidery, it instantly becomes very unusual.

The emperor frowned coldly.

He glanced at Zhu Lianxi, who had been following Chu Hong from beginning to end, his eyes wandering at the moment.

Then he looked at Concubine Qi whose expression had obviously changed.

There was also Chu Hong who tried his best to appear calm, but the wound on his shoulder began to bleed again due to his emotional fluctuations.

Even if the emperor no longer wanted to believe it, the doubt in his heart had already gained the upper hand.

He could spare Chu Hong this time because of his father-son relationship with Chu Hong and his past relationship with Concubine Qi.

But it doesn't mean that he can be spared the sins he committed in the past.

In particular, these crimes also involve the embroidered picture and the lives behind the embroidered picture.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

Concubine Qi noticed the emperor's gaze, clenched the feather arrow in her hand, and said coldly: "The king is successful and the bandit is defeated. The Crown Princess wants to be killed or beheaded. Please do as you please. There is no need to do it in front of so many people." story."

Next to him, Zhu Lianxi also knelt on the ground and said to the emperor very innocently: "Your Majesty, after the princess embroidered the picture that day, the servant was able to see the small words on it... It was also the princess who asked the servant to enter the palace to tell the emperor. Yes, I really don’t know what the princess said.”

The emperor glanced at Zhu Lianxi lightly, then looked at Shen Lingxi and asked, "Do you have any evidence for what you said?"

"Of course the evidence is conclusive." Shen Lingxi ordered Chunjun in the audience: "Bring all the witnesses."

As soon as the words fell, an embroidered messenger led a few people and walked up to the mausoleum from the side.

Those people's hands were tied behind their backs, and their heads were covered with white cloths, so their faces could not be seen clearly.His mouth seemed to be stuffed with cloth, and his body was twisting and turning, and he could only make a sound of "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuu".

They were wearing identical prison uniforms, so it was impossible to tell who they were.

When Shen Lingxi waited for them to step onto the stage and was pushed down to the ground by the embroiderer, Shen Lingxi gave Wei King Chu Hong a meaningful look and said softly:

"The story begins after Yun Chong faked his death and entered the capital..."

"In order to find out who Yun Chong was colluding with in the capital, the Embroidered Clothes Master arranged for Yun Chong to fake his death and escape. After Yun Chong escaped from Yunjiang, he disguised himself as Zhao Long, a spice merchant in Suzhou - Zhao Yuanwai, Entered the capital."

Not long ago, the gossip about Zhao Yuanwai and Li Xiaoqing of the Yiyang Marquis Mansion spread with great fanfare in the capital.

Everyone present, even the emperor, heard about it.

At this moment, when they learned that Zhao Long was actually Yun Chong, the former prince of Yun Kingdom, their faces showed shock.

Shen Lingxi took in all their expressions and continued:

"Yun Chong knew very well what Li Xiangyang, the Marquis of Yiyang, did to Emperor Xiaode five years ago. Therefore, he used the spice shop as bait to get close to Madam Li, and pretended to be deeply in love with Madam Li. This aroused the rift between Lady Li and her brother Li Xiangyang. Li Xiangyang had murderous intentions towards "Zhao Long", so Yun Chong took advantage of the situation and fled. Before his death, he left Lady Li with the "Tianxiang Pavilion" by his side. .”

"Ms. Li opened the 'Tianxiang Pavilion' because of 'Zhao Long''s 'deep friendship' towards her and wanted to have money with her. Yun Chong used the manpower placed around Mrs. Li before his death to escape. According to the trajectory of five years ago, Tianxiang Pavilion entered the purchase list of the Chamberlain step by step, and the 'Goose Warm Incense' also became a tribute incense and was distributed to each palace by the Chamberlain."

Having said this, Shen Lingxi paused intentionally and looked at Zhu Lianxi, "Eunuch Zhu, you are the eunuch in charge of the emperor. Please tell me about a woman who had a quarrel with her brother and was abandoned by her husband's family. I have neither power nor power, but I just opened an incense shop. How can I be selected by the Chamberlain as tribute incense to buy into the palace in less than a month, and distributed to the palaces for daily use?"

The palace ministers closest to the mausoleum twirled their beards and shook their heads when they heard Shen Lingxi's words.

The harem is not an ordinary people's home. How can shopping be like going out to buy a cabbage and just buying it?
Not to mention the harem, even aristocratic families with a little bit of background have a complete purchasing system.

In less than a month, no matter how valuable it is, at most a concubine from some palace will like it and send someone out of the palace to buy it privately.But if we follow the process and go to the inner chamber to purchase the list, and then report it to the imperial treasury for the purchase, and finally distribute it to the various palaces, it will take at least a month or two.

According to the speed of "Goose Nuanxiang" entering the palace, this young lady Li must have someone from the inner chamber to help her.

The emperor naturally understood this truth and looked at Zhu Lianxi with a deep look.

Zhu Lianxi shuddered.

He hurriedly said: "Although I am the general manager of the palace, there is always a dedicated person responsible for these purchases. I really don't know about it. What's more... the poisoning of the tenth prince has not been found out, but it was His Highness Prince Rui who ordered the Marquis of Yiyang. Did Li Xiangyang do it? It’s not surprising that Prince Rui and Li Xiangyang used their power and money to bribe the eunuchs.”

Hearing this, Shen Lingxi looked at Zhu Lianxi and smiled.

"Prince Rui wanted to kill the tenth prince, and ordered the imperial doctor and wet nurse to bewitch Concubine Zhao, and then put the blame on me. Then he could kill two birds with one stone and eliminate the two heirs of the prince and the tenth prince. In this situation, there is no need for another Li family And Li’s spices.”

"Precisely because there is one more Li Xiangyang in this game, the Li family will become the biggest loophole in this game."

"First of all, if Prince Rui is really Li Xiangyang's behind-the-scenes instigator, he will never drag the Li family into the situation easily. If he does, it will be tantamount to forcing the Li family to rebel. Doesn't he want to live?"

"Secondly, Li Xiangyang already has a quarrel with his sister Li Xiaoqing and doesn't want Li Xiaoqing to appear in public, so he will never secretly help Li Xiaoqing's business."

"Thirdly, things like 'Goose Nuanxiang' are involved in the sudden death of Emperor Xiaode five years ago. As long as Li Xiangyang has any brains, he will not help Madam Li to send Goose Nuanxiang into the palace. Otherwise , isn’t it like handing someone a knife to stab yourself?”

"What's more, Prince Rui is just a sick prince, and his mother-in-law is just the daughter of a seventh-grade county magistrate. She has neither power nor money. How can he bribe the people in the inner chamber to do such things as confiscating the family and exterminating the clan for him? event?"

"Therefore, it was neither Prince Rui's arrangement nor Li Xiangyang's arrangement for Go Nuanxiang to enter the palace. Then there is only one person left, and that is Yun Chong's own arrangement."

When Zhu Lianxi heard this, he was already panicking.

He hurriedly said: "The Crown Princess may have forgotten that Li Xiangyang has already identified that Yun Chong has a close relationship with Prince Rui. Yun Chong has been lurking in Da Zhou for many years. He has money and connections, and he helps Prince Rui..."

Before he could finish, Shen Lingxi interrupted him, "But Yun Chong went to Zuihua Courtyard and met Mr. Chunshan on the night of his death escape."

Shen Lingxi's eyes fell on the prisoners whose faces were covered, and he asked meaningfully: "Eunuch Zhu, who do you think Mr. Chunshan belongs to? Who not only acquiesced that Yun Chong was going to be killed?" The idea of ​​the Li family is to treat the Li family as abandoned sons and help Yun Chong to make Li Xiangyang and Prince Rui fight each other, so as to put all the blame on the 'scapegoat' Prince Rui?"

Zhu Lianxi's pupils suddenly tightened.

But compared to Zhu Lianxi, one of the prisoners covered with white cloth suddenly twisted his body excitedly and screamed "Uh-huh".

Shen Lingxi winked at Chunjun.

Chunjun stepped forward directly, reached out and took off the white cloth covering the man's face.

Everyone looked towards that person——

He immediately recognized that he was none other than the person Shen Lingxi mentioned, Li Xiangyang, Marquis of Yiyang.

Li Xiangyang's angry eyes searched for the people on the mausoleum. When he saw King Chu Hong of Wei hiding behind Concubine Qi, his eyes showed strong hatred.

He never expected that the person who actually stabbed him in the back and told the Li family to die would be the master to whom he was loyal wholeheartedly.

Chunjun opened his mouth cloth in time. "King Wei, we have always been loyal to you, why do you treat me like this!" Li Xiangyang asked bitterly.

As soon as these words came out, Chu Hong's eyes quickly flashed with a hint of evil.

"Marquis Yiyang, don't slander anyone." Concubine Qi blocked Li Xiangyang's sight and scolded: "My son and you have never interacted, why would I harm you?"

Li Xiangyang was extremely angry. When he heard Concubine Qi's words, his eyes were split open and he stared into Concubine Qi's eyes.

"Your Highness Princess, it was you who said that as long as my Li family is loyal to King Wei, and King Wei is crowned the Great Treasure in the future, my Li family will be the most powerful person in the Zhou Dynasty... But now, he is not even the crown prince, so he has already given up. Kill the donkey, is this how you, mother and son, treat us?”

Everyone present changed their expressions when they heard this.

As we all know, the Li family is a family that defected from the previous dynasty before the war.

He calls Concubine Qi "princess", which is definitely not a princess of this dynasty, but...

Thinking of this, everyone, including the emperor, thought of a rumor that had been widely circulated in the capital -

"... Princess Rui was born into a noble family from the previous dynasty. As a defector from the previous dynasty, it is reasonable for Marquis Yiyang to collude with the old master and attempt to subvert the Zhou regime."

If Concubine Qi is really the princess of the previous dynasty, then wouldn't it be just right to change 'Prince Rui' to 'Prince Wei' in this rumor?

The emperor's eyes narrowed slightly. He could never have imagined that Concubine Qi, who was once his bedside friend and had known him in adversity, could have such an identity.

"Yuan Niang, are what he said true?" he asked.

There was no trace of panic on Concubine Qi's face. She replied slowly, "Your Majesty, the Qi family and the Chu family live next to each other. I and you have known each other since childhood. No one else knows who I am, and neither do you." do you know?"

The emperor frowned, with a slight wavering on his face.

Li Xiangyang laughed out loud, "Haha", "The daughter of the Qi family has indeed known the emperor since she was a child. It's a pity that when the Chu family was in great prosperity, she died of illness on the way to Beijing, and you replaced her. All this was arranged by my Li family." of."

Having said this, he looked at Concubine Qi with hatred and asked sullenly: "So, Your Royal Highness, our Li family has done so much for you mother and son, why would King Wei be so stupid as to put us to death?" ?”

When Shen Lingxi heard this, she looked at Yun Chong, who was floating beside Li Xiangyang.

At this moment, Yun Chong looked at Li Xiangyang and then at King Wei, smiling happily.

The fact that King Wei stabbed Li Xiangyang in the back was not King Wei's original intention at the beginning.

It was Yun Chong's personal revenge.

Yun Chong colluded with King Wei and Li Xiangyang to stir up trouble among the dignitaries in the capital. He also lurked beside King Rui, trying to get close to the Queen Mother and Chu Yan in King Rui's name.

Later Yun Chong was captured by Chu Yan and taken to Yunjiang.

From beginning to end, neither King Wei nor Li Xiangyang came to his rescue.

Therefore, when Shen Lingxi asked Yun Chong to "exchange his merits for his life," the first thing Yun Chong thought of was to use Li Xiangyang as a proxy.

In this way, he can not only take revenge on Li Xiangyang, but also get rid of his mortal enemy in front of King Wei, so that King Wei can only rely on him.

Therefore, Yun Chong approached Li Xiaoqing and set up the "Tianxiang Pavilion" game.

After Yun Chong escaped, he went to "Mr. Chunshan" as soon as possible and told the truth about what he had done, using the plan of "killing two birds with one stone".

At that time, Yun Chong had pushed the Li family to the forefront. In addition, Li Yuejiao entered the palace as a concubine and was favored by the emperor. King Wei felt that the Li family had different intentions.

Therefore, the King of Wei pushed the boat along the current and gave Yun Chong a helping hand to pull the Li family into the water, making the Li family and King Rui "dog eat dog", while he could sit high on the Diaoyutai and reap the benefits of the fisherman.

If the King of Wei had thought about Li Xiangyang's kindness from beginning to end, he would not have done such a thing.

But he just did it.

This is also the reason why Li Xiangyang is angry.

Relying on her understanding of Yun Chong, Shen Lingxi treated him as a chess piece on the chessboard when leaving Yunjiang.

Step by step, Yun Chong did not disappoint her.

Stupid, bad, self-righteously smart, and extremely ambitious...

Such Yun Chong, to his allies, is simply a powerful killer with all five poisons.

To this day, he is still happy to watch the jokes between Li Xiangyang and Queen Wei's mother and son, and is complacent.Without realizing that he was a part of the chess game, Shen Lingxi could only say that fools are blessed.

Shen Lingxi and Chu Yan never tried Li Xiangyang after he was imprisoned. They were just waiting for this opportunity -

Only Li Xiangyang could see with his own eyes what a piece of shit the master he served wholeheartedly was.

Only then could he become the greatest weapon to nail King Wei to this mausoleum.

Thinking of this, Shen Lingxi looked at Concubine Qi in a leisurely manner.

"I don't understand what you are talking about." Concubine Qi frowned and said in a cold voice, "Your Majesty, don't listen to this man's nonsense. He must have been sent by others to deliberately instigate him. He said that he was Prince Rui's man , that must be Prince Rui’s people.”

Li Xiangyang seemed to have expected that she would deny it and said directly to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the Qi family and the Chu family live next to each other. You should know that the Qi family is related by marriage to the Sui family of the former dynasty. The Sui family was a prominent family of the former dynasty. , who is the best at curing poisons. Sui clan members, regardless of gender, all have butterfly-shaped birthmarks on their bodies."

When the emperor heard this, his expression changed slightly.

Li Xiangyang turned to look at Concubine Qi and said bitterly: "Princess Fengyi, the youngest daughter of the former tyrant, her mother-in-law is the daughter of the Sui family. Princess Fengyi was born with a butterfly-shaped birthmark on her waist. The Li family has a relationship with the Sui family. Well, after I surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty, I was entrusted by the Sui family to secretly place Princess Fengyi in her place."

"The Sui family fell apart after the fall of the previous dynasty and became anonymous. In order to win over King Rui and Xu Yuanshan, the second son of Zhenguo Gong, the imperial concubine secretly sent descendants of the Sui family to treat the illnesses that King Rui and Xu Yuanshan had in their mother's womb. .”

"And the person who cured them, the emperor must have heard of it, was Dr. Liu, who was executed because of the sudden death of Emperor Xiaode five years ago."

"If your Majesty doesn't believe it, I have seen Danzhu, the only remaining bloodline of the Liu family, while in prison. She has the same birthmark as Concubine Qi."

"After Imperial Physician Liu cured Prince Rui and Xu Yuanshan for Concubine Qi, he was set up by them to wipe out the whole family."

"Then, in the harem, Concubine Qi and King Wei, Concubine Wen, who was the best friend, and the Eighth Prince all died at the hands of their mother and son..."

As soon as these words came out, the emperor turned to look at Concubine Qi, with murderous intent in his eyes...

(End of this chapter)