I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 514: Pufferfish toxin!

"If that is the case, regardless of whether this longevity-borrowing ceremony is effective or not, it should have been carried out before my father's Fengshan ceremony, not after."

Liu Ju pointed out the biggest flaw in Huo Guang's speculation.
"Now that the longevity-borrowing ceremony has been completed, if it was really possible to borrow longevity, it would have been borrowed long ago. But trying to murder Huo Xian at this time should not be considered as closing the fold after the sheep have been sheeped, right?"

Therefore, although Huo Guang provided Liu Ju with a new idea, he did not make him doubt the other princes.

He even felt that even if any prince was involved in this matter, it was probably not to prevent Liu Che from borrowing his longevity successfully, because as he said, the timing was wrong.

"Then this is..."

Huo Guang also frowned when he heard this.

He had to admit that what Liu said was also common sense.

Who would want to stop something from happening by doing it after it happens instead of before it happens? Unless he has a problem with his brain.

"A variation of the alienation tactic."

Liu Ju pondered and said,
"As my cousin just said, according to common sense, from my perspective and that of the other princes, we probably don't want my father to succeed in borrowing his life and spend his entire life as a prince."

"Then for my father, if he thinks he has succeeded in borrowing his life, how will he view me and the other princes?"

"?!"

This question startled Huo Guang and his pupils shrank.

"Cousin, why don't you speak freely? There are only two of us here, and we are discussing the case properly, so there is no need to worry."

Liu Ju nodded encouragingly.

"Given your Majesty's temperament, I'm afraid... as Your Highness and the princes grow older and their abilities become stronger, while Your Majesty grows older and his energy and physical strength become less and less, although his life span has been extended, his concerns will become stronger and stronger. He is worried that someone will support Your Highness and the princes, and the imperial power will be divided."

Huo Guang lowered his voice and his expression became more solemn.

The fact that he could say these words in front of Liu Ju at this moment showed that in his heart, he still always regarded Liu Ju as his cousin. Otherwise, with his temper, if it were someone else, even if they put a knife to his neck, they would never let him say a word to objectively evaluate Liu Che.

"My cousin is indeed not an ordinary person."

Liu Ju nodded. This was exactly the speculation that had just occurred to him.

And this inference can be reversed in history.

After this Fengshan ceremony in history, Huo Xian died suddenly for unknown reasons. Then, more than ten years later, the "Witchcraft Incident" finally occurred, Liu Ju died, and the Wei family was destroyed.

After the "Witchcraft Incident", the third prince Liu Dan saw that Emperor Wu of Han was in deteriorating health and requested to stay in Chang'an to guard the city. Emperor Wu of Han was furious and killed Liu Dan's envoy. He also reduced three counties of his fiefdom as a warning. He also lamented that "giving birth to a son in the land of Yan and Zhao will indeed make him want to fight for power."

There is also the youngest prince of Emperor Liu Che, Liu Bo of the Li clan. After the "Witchcraft Incident", Li Guangli and Liu Quti privately discussed submitting a memorial to Emperor Liu Che suggesting that Liu Bo be made the crown prince.

When Liu Che learned about this, Prime Minister Liu Quti was beheaded immediately. Li Guangli, the second general, and his family were arrested and imprisoned by Liu Che, regardless of military taboos, while he was leading the army to the battle...

In the end, only the second prince Liu Hong, who died young, and the fourth prince Liu Xu, who was far away in Guangling and was addicted to hunting and recreation and had no achievements, were not targeted by Liu Che.

The one who benefited in the end was the youngest prince Liu Fuling, who was suspected to be a bastard.

There is no doubt that among these princes, the one who made Liu Che most at ease was naturally Liu Fuling.

After all, Liu Fuling was only 8 years old when he ascended the throne, so Liu Che naturally had no concerns about him.

Putting aside Liu Che's Alzheimer's disease, even if he did not have Alzheimer's disease, he would only be more nervous when he knew that he still had a long life but was gradually losing his ability to do things.

After all, for an emperor, the biggest trouble has never been "the person is dead and the money is not spent", but "the person is still there but the power is gone".

This naturally gives some people with ulterior motives a lot of room for manipulation...

If you think about it this way.

This is actually a big move, a hidden move that knows people's hearts well!

"But if that's the case, why did you try to murder Huo Xian?"

Huo Guang was still thinking about the rationality of this speculation, or assumption.

Now that he is still young, he is not yet the complete form of "the first of the eleven heroes of Qilin Pavilion", and there is still a lot of room for growth. At this moment, he feels a little itchy in his brain, as if something is growing rapidly inside.

"Cousin, do you think there is a possibility that the effect of this longevity-borrowing ceremony can only be verified by words, but if Huo Xian dies suddenly without any illness or disaster, it will make my father believe that his longevity has really been borrowed?"

Liu Ju said with concentration.

"Snapped!"

Huo Guang slapped his thigh with his hand, and a look of sudden enlightenment appeared on his face. He praised repeatedly:
"Why didn't your humble servant think of that! Why didn't your humble servant think of that!"

"Your Highness is right. If it was just a ceremony to borrow life, Your Majesty might still have doubts in his heart, wondering whether he really borrowed life from Huo Xian!"

"But if Huo Xian suddenly died immediately after the longevity ceremony, Your Majesty would have no choice but to believe it!"

"That must be it!"

"These treacherous villains must have wanted Your Majesty to believe in this longevity-borrowing ceremony, so they tried every means to murder Huo Shan at this time. As his uncle, I realized it too late and almost harmed Huo Shan's life without knowing it!"

Huo Guang's behavior was certainly not influenced by Liu Ju's verbal attacks.

For someone as meticulous and calm as him, even though Liu Ju was a full-level human, his influence on him was quite limited.

It was under Liu Ju's reverse analysis that he eliminated various doubtful speculations step by step and finally reached this impeccable conclusion.

"In this case, the person who is directly related to this matter is undoubtedly the wizard An Yu who presented the longevity ceremony to His Majesty!"

After coming to this conclusion, Huo Guang was extremely angry and shouted,
"Your Highness, there is no time to lose. Please go with me to capture this person immediately, so as to avoid any more trouble!"

"Don't worry, cousin."

Liu Ju shook his head again and said with a smile,
"As I just said, the purpose of this matter is definitely not just to make my father believe the effectiveness of the longevity ritual. This is just a lead. The real purpose is to target me and the other princes, and to use a variant of the sowing of dissension on my father."

"If this is accomplished, An Yu will be the biggest beneficiary in the short term, but he is just a Nanyue wizard with no power or influence in the court. He has no direct conflict of interest with me and the other princes, so he cannot be the mastermind behind this. There must be a big fish hiding behind him that has not yet surfaced."

"If we attack him now, we will definitely alert the enemy and force the mastermind behind this to survive."

"To eradicate evil, one must be completely clean. So my idea is, it is better to pretend to be ignorant and use him as bait to continue fishing."

Huo Guang pondered for a moment, and finally agreed:
"Your Highness is right. I wonder what Your Highness plans to do now?"

"Cousin, please be patient. I have made arrangements in advance. Soon someone will help me stir the bait and entice the big fish in the water to move." Liu Ju still smiled.

"But since you and I have obtained my father's special permission, we can go meet An Yu first to confirm some details that have not yet been verified, and by the way, put some pressure on An Yu to make the bait move itself."

As he spoke, Liu Ju finally took a step forward and walked out.

"promise……"

Huo Guang bowed and agreed, then looked at Liu Ju's back, but his vision seemed inexplicably unreal.

Can't tell.

He felt that he was becoming increasingly unable to distinguish between Liu Che and Liu Ju.

One is broad and fat, the other is tall and well-proportioned. The two extremely disproportionate figures seem to be constantly overlapping and gradually merging into a taller and more magnificent shadow.

……

The west wing of the palace.

After a meaningless exchange of pleasantries, although Liu Ju and Huo Guang sat down at An Yu's invitation, their eyes were quietly observing the items in An Yu's room.

As Liu Che's palace, there is no need to say much about the furniture and furnishings.

These items must have been prepared long before Liu Che arrived, so Liu Che and his entourage could move in directly with their bags.

And these items are purchased together.

Except for Liu Che's Mingtang bedroom, the residences of other officials and attendants also had unified configurations according to their different official ranks and identities, so it was easy to distinguish from these configurations what was brought by an individual.

In particular, the wing where An Yu lived was of the same specifications as the wing where Huo Guang lived, which made it easier to investigate.

"Wizard An Yu, although I have been to the Kingdom of Nanyue before, I know very little about Nanyue witchcraft, but I have a strong interest in it."

After such a calm observation, Liu Ju had a rough idea in his mind, so he smiled and said,
"Can Master An Yu please take me to see the magic tools commonly used by your South Vietnamese wizards to perform witchcraft, and also teach me to broaden my horizons?"

"..."

An Yu felt sad, but he couldn't say it.

Looking at the entire Han Dynasty, the person these wizards and alchemists least wanted to contact was none other than Liu Ju, because he was better at playing tricks than these wizards and alchemists, and naturally he was the person who was most difficult to fool in the Han Dynasty.

But Liu Ju is still the crown prince, and deceiving him would be deceiving the emperor. If one is not careful, one might be doomed to eternal damnation.

However, having said this, he did not dare to offend Liu Ju, so he could only stand up and bow:

"Since Your Highness is so interested, An Yu will obey your orders. Please!"

So it was another meaningless visit.

Come to think of it, the Nanyue wizards of this era didn't have many tricks. All they used for divination were some roasted chicken bones and tortoise shells, among which there seemed to be a few human bones... Liu Ju saw it all, but An Yu deliberately ignored it and didn't introduce it in detail, and he didn't ask any further questions.

This kind of witchcraft prop made of human remains was not uncommon in Southeast Asia in later generations. Liu Ju was not very interested in it and did not find it novel at all.

If An Yu really wanted to act mysteriously and adapt to local conditions, Liu Ju could even teach him a few tricks.

For example, at this time, there were no Kumantong, flying head barbarians, insect magic, medicine magic, and black magic that were spread and developed in the South Vietnamese wizard world...

If we really want to play tricks, Liu Ju could be An Yu's ancestor and give him a revolutionary opportunity.

In this way, the whole room was quickly visited.

Even after checking the inner room connected to the wing rooms, Liu Ju did not find anything worthy of special attention, especially anything related to the palace maid who died suddenly and inexplicably on behalf of Huo Xian.

Just as he was about to walk out of the inner room under the guidance of An Yu.

"Wow~"

Suddenly, a slight sound of water came from a vat placed by the door, and there seemed to be some living creature inside.

Liu Ju glanced sideways and saw that the radius of the jar was only about half a meter and the height was less than one meter. It was covered with a lid made of bamboo strips, so he couldn't see clearly what was stored inside.

"Wizard An Yu, what's in here?"

Liu Ju stopped and asked.

An Yuze turned around without changing his expression and said with a smile:

"Don't be surprised, Your Highness. These are just a few fish that I raise that are native to South Vietnam. Just as some people like to raise dogs, some like to raise cats, and some like to raise birds, Your Majesty has also raised lions and tigers in Shanglin Garden. South Vietnam has a lot of water and fish, so raising fish as pets has become a hobby for many people."

"I have been in Chang'an for many years and often miss my hometown, so I asked someone to bring a few fish from my hometown from Nanyue to raise to ease my homesickness."

While speaking, An Yu took the initiative to take off the bamboo cover on the tank, and while inviting Liu Ju to watch the fish in the tank together, he introduced:

"This fish is called croaker, and is also called blow belly by the people of Nanyue."

"The most peculiar thing about it is that when it is caught, it seems to suck water into its stomach, causing itself to swell up quickly, becoming round and plump like a big man's Cuju, hence the name."

"If you don't believe me, Your Highness, please look!"

As he spoke, An Yu had already reached into the tank, scooped twice and grabbed one of the fish.

As it came out of the water, the fish swelled up quickly, and in an instant it became a round ball. The short, not-so-sharp spines on its body also expanded, and with its round mouth, it looked actually quite cute.

"There are so many strange things in the world, including such a weird fish."

Huo Guang couldn't help but sigh when he saw this, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

However, Liu Ju's pupils shrank slightly.

Walk into the trap and solve the case!
What is croaker and what is blowfish? These are the puffer fish of later generations!

Admittedly, the pufferfish's characteristic of swelling when frightened is indeed peculiar, but what is more familiar to people in later generations is the pufferfish toxin that it carries in its body!
This is a neurotoxin, and one of the most toxic neurotoxins ever discovered in nature!

Unlike the poison that was popular in this era, neurotoxins work by hindering nerve conduction, causing nerve paralysis and death.

This explains why there was no sign of poisoning after the palace maid died suddenly. On the surface, it looked more like she died of suffocation, and ultimately it could only be classified as an unexplained death!

The reason why An Yu could openly show this thing to Liu Ju was that he dared to keep it by his side in case of emergency.

They must have been sure that there were no puffer fish in the northern part of China, and that no one understood the toxicity of this thing!
(End of this chapter)