Jiuxi

Chapter 371 Chapter 369 [Kill two birds with one stone]

Ding will associate the assassin with Mo Yuan, and his intention is self-evident.

Although his goal was obvious enough to even Hua'er who had just entered the court, because his inference was completely in line with common sense and was not a forcible trap created out of thin air, other courtiers could not help but follow his train of thought.

Qin Zheng knew his thoughts well, but in front of everyone in the court, he could only reply calmly: "Ding Shangshu, I have asked the Weaving Department to temporarily control the people of Moyuan, and are now investigating one by one. "

Ding Hui pressed forward step by step: "I wonder if Master Tiju has found a result?"

Qin Zheng shook his head and said: "As of the time when I enter the palace, no suspicious candidates have been found."

Ding Hui said with a heavy expression: "This is really an unbelievable thing. As the Marquis of Qi State and the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Army, General Hou Mu Fengzhiyu worked hard and made great achievements. Now he suffered such an insidious assassination just because he attended a night banquet. If the court cannot find out the real culprit and clear his name, won’t it make the world question justice?”

Li Duan, who was sitting on the dragon chair, narrowed his eyes slightly and said slowly: "If Ding Qing's family has anything to say, speak directly."

Ding Hui hesitated for a moment, bowed and said: "Return to your majesty, I don't dare."

These six words made the atmosphere in the court suddenly change.

Ding Hui was stunned.

Ding Hui vaguely felt that something was wrong, but at this moment, facing everyone's gaze, he could only control the urge to look at the Minister of Justice, and said in a slightly slower tone: "Your Majesty, after listening to Qin Tiju's brief introduction , I thought he was too lenient towards the people of Mo Yuan. There is obviously something fishy about this assassination of Marquis Nan'an, and it was definitely not an accidental move."

However, the situation suddenly changed after Lu Chen returned to the capital. When the second prince invited Lu Chen to attend the Moyuan Cultural Conference outside the palace in front of all the important ministers, the emperor did not express any objection, and also asked Xue Ruogu, the eldest son of his right minister Xue Nanting, Things get interesting when escorting Lu Chen.

Ding Huidao: "It can be seen from Qin Tiju's description that the assassin is very familiar with the internal terrain of Moyuan. This is fine. After all, many people in Beijing have been to Moyuan. If they are interested in inquiring, they can always note the terrain. Location. However, Privy Guo and the two generals Hou and Lu were having a banquet in Moyuan yesterday. They had no intention of staying there. It was only because of some accidents that the two generals decided to stay. How could the assassin react to this? Is it clear?"

Combined with Ding Hui's previous actions to connect the assassin with Mo Yuan, this sentence "I dare not" can be said to be the essence of court language, giving people unlimited room for imagination without revealing any flaws.

Li Duan said expressionlessly: "Continue."

The atmosphere in the hall became increasingly tense, but Lu Chen still stood calmly, as if he had no intention of showing up at all.

In this case, let him be a wealthy prince. The property of Moyuan is enough to maintain the daily expenses of the palace, and it can also allow the second prince to make friends with some literati and live a leisurely life.

If we connect this incident with Ding Hui's expression in the court today, it is not difficult to see that Hou Yu's assassination is very likely to become a big trouble that the second prince needs to face.

If it were in the past, perhaps the emperor would have suppressed this matter, but today he said bluntly and forcefully: "I will pardon your innocence, but it doesn't matter."

But he didn't expect that the emperor would directly challenge this issue. In this case, how could he dare to agree?

The ministers were horrified.

When the second prince took over Mo Yuan, the world only regarded it as the emperor's compensation for him. After all, no matter from which point of view, the prince born to the concubine Shu had no hope of becoming the heir apparent.

Li Duan looked around at the ministers, and finally his eyes fell on Ding Hui, and said indifferently: "Ding Qing's family wants to say that the mastermind behind the assassination of Hou Yu is Mo Yuan's big boss, my second son, Prime Minister Li Zongben?"

For the second prince who already lacked the support of his righteousness and reputation, any small mistake would cause him to move further and further away from that position.

Although Ding Hui only talked about Mo Yuan from beginning to end, who doesn't know whose territory Mo Yuan belongs to?

Even though many people didn't react at the time, they figured it out afterwards.

The smoother he spoke, the more confident he became. He raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, there is one more thing I don't understand. How could the assassin know where the Marquis of Nan'an was staying? How could he avoid Mo Yuan's guards? Close to there? In short, I believe that this assassination case is definitely related to Mo Yuan, maybe it is an act of cooperating with the outside to plot the great Qi prince!"

The emperor seemed to be using this obscure method to express his thoughts to the officials.

What he said before was a roundabout way of saying it, but it did have this intention. Mo Yuan's problem would eventually fall on the second prince, and at least he would have to be punished for the crime of laxity among his subordinates.

Even if Ding Hui had been Minister of War for many years, he could not bear the burden of accusing a prince of assassinating a prince without any evidence.

Thinking of this, Ding Hui said in a panic: "Your Majesty, how dare I make such random accusations against the prince? I just feel that the suspicions of Mo Yuan's people are too high, and they should all be arrested and released after being investigated by the Secretary. During this period, Mo Yuan should temporarily close its doors and thank guests until the assassin who assassinated the Marquis of Nan'an is caught."

At this moment, Xue Nanting, the right minister, frowned and said, "According to the words of Ding Shangshu, if the assassin is not caught, Moyuan will not be able to open its doors to welcome guests from now on?" The golden brick floor beside my feet gradually made me feel disappointed.

Before entering the palace, he specifically told Ding Hui that he only needed to kill the stewards and guards of Moyuan today. Once the power to investigate the case was taken away from the Sutra Weaving Department, no matter whether the Ministry of Punishment or the Dali Temple took action, everything would follow. There is a lot of room for maneuver.

However, this guy likes to make his own decisions and insists on shutting down Moyuan. He really succeeds more than he fails.

Faced with Xue Nanting's cold blow, Ding Hui forced himself to reply calmly: "Xue Xiang's words are reasonable. It's because the official didn't think carefully. In fact, as long as it can be found out that Mo Yuan's people have nothing to do with the assassination, then Mo Yuan will naturally Then we can clear away the suspicion and reopen the door.”

Although he changed his tone in time, after Xue Nanting interrupted him, his vigor was no longer what it was before.

At this moment, another official stood up, still coming for Ding Hui.

His name was Qi Weili, and he was the Shaoqing of Dali Temple.

The Dali Temple is in charge of the trial of prison cases, and the chief official is Chu Danian, the minister of Dali Temple. Because Mr. Chu has been ill recently, the temple affairs are jointly managed by Qi Weili and another young minister, Wu Zhisheng.

Qi Weili has a slender face and slightly raised eyebrows. He has been in charge of prisons and trial cases for a long time. His temperament is slightly cold, and you can tell at a glance that he is not an easy person.

He went out to ask the emperor to report, and then said to Ding Hui: "Ding Shangshu, although the assassination of Nan'an Marquis is related to Mo Yuan, the suspects are obviously more than that. I really don't understand why Lord Shangshu died. Chasing Mo Yuan to the death."

Everyone in the court has a position, but many times it is like seeing flowers in the fog, unable to distinguish the other party's true purpose until the last moment.

For example, now, Qi Weili's statement seemed to some ministers to be a rescue for the second prince, but Ding Hui knew that was not the case, because he and Qi Weili were originally people in the inner circle around Li Shizhi.

Qi Weili's timely intervention made Ding Hui secretly relieved. Although he respected the left prime minister Li Daoyan very much, the person he really feared was Xue Nanting, because the right prime minister was best at finding loopholes in his opponent's words, and he could make people laugh on the spot. If he can't get off the stage, there are countless courtiers who have suffered losses at his hands over the years.

At this moment, he turned to Qi Weili and asked, "What does Mr. Qi mean by this?"

Qi Weili said coldly: "Qin Tiju said before that at the banquet in Moyuan last night, there was a fierce conflict between the Marquis of Shanyang and the Marquis of Nan'an. If His Highness the Prime Minister had not arrived in time to stop it, the two princes would have fought with swords. Xiang Xiang. Privy Guo, may I ask if this is true?"

At this point in the court meeting, as the initiator of last night's banquet, Privy Councilor Guo Congyi has been acting like a transparent person, seemingly determined not to get involved in these matters.

Upon hearing Qi Weili's inquiry, Guo Congyi said unhurriedly: "It is indeed true. However, in my opinion, they are all members of the army. They have straightforward temperaments and never pretend to be pretentious. In addition, they drank a lot of wine. It's normal to want to compete in martial arts when you are excited. Even if His Highness the Prime Minister didn't come, there wouldn't be any trouble at that time. Qi Shaoqing shouldn't think too much about it."

"Thank you, Lord Privy, for clarifying my doubts."

Qi Weili bowed his hand, and then said coldly: "Ding Shangshu just discussed the strangeness of this assassination case in detail. The subordinate agreed with his analysis of the assassin. He must have internal help, otherwise he would not be able to approach the Marquis of Nan'an without any hindrance." , and was able to escape smoothly afterwards. However, people from Mo Yuan are not the only ones who know this information, General Shanyang Houlu is also not exempt from suspicion!"

As soon as these words came out, the emperor on the dragon throne finally frowned slightly.

He looked at the unpleasant-looking young minister of Dali Temple and said in a deep voice: "Is the Qi Qing family accusing Shanyang Marquis?"

Qi Weili showed no fear and raised his head and said: "Your Majesty, this is a reasonable suspicion. If the people of Mo Yuan are suspected of colluding with the assassins, Shanyang Marquis also needs to accept the court's investigation!"

At this point, the second prince and Lu Chen finally became a pair of close brothers.

The ministers looked at Lu Chen one after another, but to their disappointment and surprise, the young prince in their eyes showed neither anger nor fear.

Instead... he seemed to be in a fuzzy state.

Lu Chen was not pretending. In fact, from the moment Ding Hui jumped out, he had been secretly analyzing everything from yesterday to now.

When Xue Susu was taking a bath with him last night, he was thinking about a question, why did Hou Yu take the initiative to provoke him?

After watching the performance of these ministers throughout today, Lu Chen finally completed the last step of the deduction.

Facing the attention of all the ministers in the palace, he dusted his sleeves calmly, with a faint smile on his lips, and silently recited four words in his heart.

"I see."

(End of this chapter)