Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 528 He deserves it
The simple sentence "The Queen doesn't like to eat fish" made Queen Wu feel a deep-seated fear.

She knew that Li Yifu's method of dealing with Li Hong was to put poisonous insects into the fish, without anyone knowing and concealing the truth.

Fish was an extremely popular delicacy at this time, and the custom of eating fish spread throughout the country.

Fish is not only a symbol of a rich life, but also a must-have delicacy for entertaining guests, and it has even become a custom that no banquet is complete without fish. From the emperor to the common people, everyone loves to eat fish, and a variety of cooking methods have been derived.

As the emperor and empress, Li Zhi and Empress Wu's daily food, in addition to seasonal vegetables, the most common food was lamb and fish...

The imperial chefs in the palace would find different ways to please the emperor and empress every day by preparing these two kinds of red meat and white meat.

However, when Empress Wu learned about this method of poisoning, she instinctively refused to eat fish.

When Li Zhi saw that Empress Wu suddenly didn't like eating fish, he didn't think much about it until he learned about "Li Yifu's" methods. Then he realized that this was the reason why his queen suddenly didn't like eating fish.

Faced with Li Zhi's excessive enthusiasm, Empress Wu looked at Li Zhi with a bit of pleading. With her political sense, she had already vaguely realized that Li Zhi already knew everything.

"Eat it! I specially ordered the food shop to prepare this for the queen!"

Li Zhi still spoke with a smile, but his tone was unquestionable.

This is how Li Zhi chose to deal with Empress Wu...

As an emperor, Li Zhi was never a benevolent ruler. His personal moral standards were not high. He did not care about the moral flaws of his subordinates, as long as they were not too extreme, he would turn a blind eye.

Therefore, he could tolerate some of Empress Wu's mistakes, and he could also tolerate the Wu family relying on his power to show off their power, but Empress Wu's behavior violated his taboos.

Li Hong was the crown prince, the heir of the royal family, the crown prince, and the future of the Tang Dynasty. Empress Wu actually used such a strange method to harm him...

In other words, this is an extraordinary moment, and for the sake of the overall situation, Li Zhi did not make a big deal out of it.

In fact, in reality, this did not make the matter a big deal, but for Empress Wu, it was even more terrifying than if it had been a big deal.

After all, Empress Wu was the queen of a country and the mother of the country. Even if she had committed a serious fault, it would not be appropriate to humiliate her. The white silk and poisoned wine were the highest standards.

But now it’s different…

Li Zhi now felt extremely disgusted with Empress Wu, and he even thought of the death of Princess Anding in the past...

There have been three theories about Princess Anding's death. Empress Wu said that Empress Wang strangled her to death, but this theory obviously has no basis in reason. Even if the dispute between Empress Wang and Empress Wu was already intense at that time, Empress Wang would not have attacked a baby girl in a swaddling clothes. How could a baby girl threaten her?

But out of political considerations, Li Zhi unreasonably believed this statement and wanted to use it to depose the queen.

However, ministers like Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang were not easy to fool. It was wishful thinking to convince them with such a fake thing.

The matter was left unresolved.

There are two other theories about Princess Anding's death. One is that she died young, and the other is that she was strangled to death by Empress Wu herself in order to frame Empress Wang.

Only Empress Wu, the person involved, knows which one is true.

Li Zhi initially thought it was the former, but now that he thought about it, it was not impossible that it was done by Empress Wu.

Once you have a bad feeling, no matter if there is evidence or not, whether it is true or false, at this moment it will be attributed to the other person.

Since Empress Wu used this method to persecute his son, the future crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, he would use the same method to retaliate.

If this thing can't kill people, then it can be considered that Empress Wu had a little "kindness" in her heart and saved her life. If it can kill people, and Empress Wu died because of it, then it is a worthy death, and she asked for it.

This punishment is undoubtedly the most cruel...

Li Hong did eat the fish that was poisoned by the poisonous insect, but he was completely unaware of it.

No matter how poisonous the medicine was, he had no psychological burden in eating it. But Empress Wu knew that the fish was poisoned. What would happen if he ate it?

Unpredictable...

The most important thing is that Empress Wu dared not disobey...

Li Zhi knew the reason, but pretended not to know.

Empress Wu knew the reason, and she also knew that if she didn't eat it, it would undoubtedly be an admission of her crime of murdering the crown prince, an unforgivable crime that would bring disaster to her entire family. She could only eat it with a smile and welcome her unknown fate.

Before she even finished eating the fish, Empress Wu had already lost her composure due to extreme fear...
-
Pinghefang, Chang'an.

Compared with the prosperous Chang'an in everyone's impression, this place seems deserted and lonely, even a little desolate.

At first glance, there are mostly abandoned houses and the long street is deserted. The few people who occasionally come and go are mostly elderly people, idle people, or beggars holding broken bowls.

The scene here is completely out of place in Chang'an, but this is a corner of Chang'an.

When the master architect Yuwen Kai was ordered to build Daxing City, in order to show the new atmosphere of the new dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui required that Chang'an City be renovated to be extremely large, far exceeding the previous...

There is no doubt that Yuwen Kai did it.

However, as it was the first time for Yuwen Kai to build a city of such scale, he overlooked many things, resulting in serious deficiencies in Chang'an City.

Especially since the palace city of Chang'an is located in the west and faces the east, the nobles and wealthy families all gather in the west city of Chang'an, which makes the land in the west city very valuable, while the land becomes poorer the closer to the east city...

Pinghefang is located in the corner of Chang'an City, the most remote place in the huge Chang'an City. Most of the people living here are the lowest class of people in Chang'an City, coolies, beggars, the elderly, or ruffians.

Due to environmental reasons, the government's jurisdiction over such remote areas is somewhat lax, which has led to many people from all walks of life gathering here.

The old drunkard was one of them. He was a well-known thief in Chang'an. He was over 50 years old, childless, and lived on his unique skills. He was idle and often did some petty thefts. He was a habitual criminal in the Wannian County government office...

The amount he stole was not large, so even if he was caught he would only spend a few months in jail, eating prison food, which he could just regard as a free canteen.

The old drunkard’s last name and first name could not be remembered, but because he loved drinking, he got the nickname of the old drunkard.

The old drunkard was so bored that he slumped under a big willow tree, and the sound of birds' voices was almost gone from his mouth.

He numbly picked up the wine jug beside him, shook it in his hand, looked inside, raised his head high, and poured it down with force, but not a drop came out for a long time.

He cursed and threw the wine jug aside.

Then he felt that the taste was not right. He looked around and saw that there was no one around. He secretly picked up the wine jug, put it to his nose and sniffed it, with a look of intoxication on his face.

"Old drunkard, look at you, did you get nothing yesterday?"

A thin young man suddenly jumped down from the tree.

The old drunkard shivered with fear and said, "You bastard, you scared your father to death. You don't go out to beg in broad daylight, but hide in the tree and be lazy. Sooner or later, you will starve to death."

The thin young man asked, "No harvest last night?"

The old drunkard was so angry that he cursed: "The son of a bitch lied to me, saying that a fat sheep moved into West Street and there were a lot of good things. In the end, I didn't see any good things, but saw a ghost. I was so scared that I peed my pants, and my crotch is still cold now."

A trace of fear flashed across the face of the thin young man, and he asked in a trembling voice: "Are there really ghosts in this world?"

"What a ghost, that's a human." The old drunkard said with a gloomy face, "I was so scared that I ran away. Looking back, I realized that I scared myself. I don't know why that face was disfigured, and I never want to look at it again. It was too scary."

"Disfigured face?" The thin young man's expression changed slightly, and he asked hurriedly, "How is it?"

The old drunkard thought for a moment and said, "I don't know how to put it. It's like being stung by dozens of poisonous bees. I've never seen your scary faces before."

There was a glimmer of joy in the eyes of the thin young man. When he was begging, he heard that someone was offering a large reward for a man with a terrifying and strange appearance. The person who issued the reward was Yin Ming, the bad leader of Chang'an County.

Yin Ming was well-known for his credibility in Chang'an, especially for the fact that he risked his life to save his good friend Zhao Chiman, which is still praised today.

There is a generous reward for those who provide information.

The old drunkard found it strange and asked, "Why? Is he the father who abandoned you?"

"Go away!" the thin young man said unhappily, "I'm just curious, someone actually scared an old drunkard like you to the point of peeing his pants."

The old drunkard said angrily, "Don't try to show off. I guarantee you won't dare to look at that face again after you've seen it once."

The thin young man jumped down from the tree and said, "I'm going to work..."

The old drunkard shouted, "If you see anyone with leftover wine, bring me some."

The thin young man waved his hand to show that he understood.

In just half a day, Yin Ming led a group of bad guys into Pinghefang.

None of the members of the Bad Leader were good people. They rushed into the neighborhood aggressively, scaring the idle people in the neighborhood into hiding.

They ignored all the rules and rushed into the yard pointed out by the thin young man. They kicked the door open and caught Li Yifu who was about to climb through the window.

Li Yifu looked at Yin Ming in disbelief with a grimace on his face, "How do you know about me?"

His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, and combined with his face, it made the vicious bad guys feel a little scared.

Yin Ming smiled and said, "You have to ask someone else about this question. I am only responsible for arresting people..."

Li Yifu never dreamed that after he turned into such a ghostly appearance, no one in the entire Chang'an would be able to recognize him.

Even if my revenge mission to Beijing fails, I can still escape safely.

Little did he know that he was meeting the most skilled prime minister in solving cases throughout history. It was by relying on his unrecognizable face that he was arrested in Chang'an, a city with a population of one million.

Li Yifu was cunning and vicious, calculating people's hearts and schemes, but he was never a tough guy.

Under the joint trial of the Dali Temple and the Censorate, he confessed everything he should and shouldn't have confessed.

Li Zhi felt a chill down his spine as he watched the sinister plot of the sword that was being used against him. If he succeeded, the Tang Dynasty would be in turmoil...

"Kill him!"

Li Zhi left three words.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

(End of this chapter)