The first prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 19 Murder in the Palace
Zhao Xu rushed to the gate of the palace without stopping, but the guards standing at the gate did not stop him. They had already received the order from above, and the emperor allowed Zhao Xu to ride a horse in the palace.

Riding horses in the Forbidden Palace must be chartered by the emperor, and only those who have made great contributions or are the favorites of the emperor can receive such honors.

Zhao Xu didn't have such qualifications at the moment, and it was only because the matter was too urgent that he was allowed to ride a horse to see him.

He hurried to the Daqing Palace where the emperor was. Gao Huailiang told him that the messenger told him to go directly to the Daqing Palace.

Zhao Xu didn't know that just as he was galloping his horse, the atmosphere in Daqing Palace became extraordinarily solemn today.

The eunuchs and court ladies hurriedly walked, and acquaintances did not say hello when they met, but just passed by, exchanging at most a meaningful look.

The outside of the Daqing Palace seemed very oppressive, the maids and eunuchs were all standing outside the palace, no one dared to move, only panicked eyes glanced into the palace from time to time, with panic in their eyes.

Dong Zhenhai and Liu Qinhu were not qualified to enter here, so the two of them waited outside the palace gate.

Zhao Xu entered the Daqing hall of the imperial palace without any obstacles, and handed a piece of gold to the little eunuch who was guarding the gate.

Even though these little eunuchs didn't have much authority, they were more ruthless than anyone else if they did something bad. Zhao Xu didn't want to fall into the hands of such little eunuchs in the future.

The eunuchs are physically incomplete, and they are very perverted in their hearts. They have no role in being officials, and only money is their only pursuit.

Especially when they see real gold and silver, their eyes will shine, otherwise, the dynasties and dynasties would not have the right to eunuch greed to reach millions.

The little eunuch's eyes lit up when he saw the gold that Zhao Xu handed over, like a fly smelling fishy.

Naturally, I would like to thank Zhao Xu a lot. Zhao Xu was just about to ask him a little about why Chai Rong recruited him into the palace.

Before he could ask, Zhang Dejun, the eunuch here, hastily ran out from inside.

"Hey, little general Zhao, you are here, come in with the servants, the emperor is angry, and several generals are here."

Zhao Xu also thought about it in his heart, why is the emperor angry, did something big happen, and why are all the generals here?

But he didn't have time to think about it here. Zhang Dejun was full of anxiety, and he pulled Zhao Xu into the Daqing Palace.

Zhao Xu was dragged by him and kept walking inside. He also felt uncomfortable, so he asked;
"I said Eunuch Zhang, please slow down, I can hardly keep up with your pace, what does the emperor want from me?"

"I told you, General Zhao, don't ask, even if you ask the servants, you won't dare to tell. Look at the Imperial Guards around here, and you'll know when you go in."

It seems to be a big deal, even you, a great eunuch in the palace, dare not say it, isn't that a big deal?
Zhang Dejun is the chief steward of the palace, he knows all about big and small things, but he dare not say it at this time, there is only one possibility.

Zhang Dejun's speed did not slow down, and he dragged Zhao Xu into the Daqing Palace a few steps. No one would see Zhang Dejun so anxious on weekdays.

Originally, Zhao Xu felt that there was something more here today, but after Zhang Dejun's reminder, it turned out that there were many guards around.

These imperial guards are still some fresh faces, it seems that they have just been transferred from elsewhere, which means that something big happened in the palace, and Chai Rong doesn't trust the original group of people anymore.

Not long after they came to the inner hall of Daqing Palace, Zhang Dejun bowed:
"Report to the emperor that General Zhao Xu has arrived."

"My minister, Zhao Xu, sees the emperor, and may my emperor live long and long." Zhao Xu respectfully saluted on the ground.

Although as a modern person, he is quite repulsed by this kind of etiquette, but he knows that this kind of etiquette cannot be missed.

"Zhao Aiqing, let's get back together." Chai Rong's expression was very bad, and it was written on his face that I was not happy.

Zhao Xu took a look. Next to him were Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin. It can be said that they were all the emperor's cronies. Zhang Yongde and Chai Rong were relatives.

What surprised Zhao Xu was that if there was a major event, why wouldn't Sangong and Jiuqing be there?It seems that it should be the emperor's private matter.

Chai Rong turned his face and said to Zhao Kuangyin:

"Kuang Yin, why don't you tell Zhao Xu what happened?"

Zhao Kuangyin said that he complied with the order, so he roughly shared what happened in the palace with Zhao Xu.

It stands to reason that Zhao Xu's official position is not big, so he cannot touch such secrets.But Zhao Kuangyin is Chai Rong's sworn brother, and Zhao Xu is also his own!
Zhang Yongde is a good old man, and also Chai Rong's cousin-in-law. Speaking of which, they are all from his own family, and they are the people Chai Rong can trust the most.

After Zhao Kuangyin's explanation, Zhao Xu finally knew what was going on.It's just two words: kill.

Yes, it was a murder, someone was killed, and this person was an unknown person in the palace, two little maids.

The death of the maids in the palace would not alarm the emperor, but these two maids were killed by Chai Rong.

Chai Rong killed someone. It is very common for the emperor to kill someone. All the people in the world are Chai Rong's subjects. No one dares to say anything when he kills someone.

The key point is that Chai Rong is a wise gentleman, and he claims that he will not take human life lightly, but this time he killed two court ladies with his own hands.

It wasn't a big deal, and he didn't need to call some of his confidants over, but he killed people unconsciously.

Last night, Chai Rong was very late in reviewing the memorials in the Daqing Hall, so he ordered the imperial dining room to prepare some supper for him.

After a while, the two little maids brought some pastries and some light tonic broth, exuding a tempting fragrance.

Maybe it was because Chai Rong was really hungry, he quickly finished the pastries and drank the broth.

Chai Rong, who finished his supper, was in good spirits, so he was going to review the memorials again, and he was like this every night, determined to be a wise king.

But just when he was about to continue "working", he suddenly felt dizzy, and then he felt that his eyes went dark, and he didn't know anything.

When he woke up, the two maids were already lying on the ground, and the dead couldn't die anymore, they were stabbed with swords all over their bodies.

He was also injured, Chai Rong didn't know what happened, so he let Zhang Dejun in immediately.

Zhang Dejun happened to be ordered by him to deliver medicine to the queen tonight, so he was not by his side.

Zhang Dejun just came back at this time, and when he heard the emperor calling him, he ran in immediately, saw that the emperor was covered in blood, and hurriedly called the imperial guards and the imperial physician over.

After bandaging Chai Rong's wound, the imperial physician moved his nose, and then saw the bowl of broth.

After some tests, the imperial physician concluded that the residue of the broth was highly poisonous and could cause immediate death.

Chai Rong was shocked when he heard this, and broke out in a cold sweat. Only he himself was secretly thankful.

When I was in distress, I met a Taoist priest who was very strong and immortal. He said that he would be very expensive in the future, and he gave himself a thousand-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, saying that it would be invulnerable to all poisons in the future.

Maybe it's because of this Polygonum multiflorum that I was not poisoned to death. I just vaguely felt that someone was going to kill me.

I could only instinctively draw out the sword beside me to resist, maybe I accidentally stabbed these two people to death.

Thinking about it, I was really scared, the guards in the forbidden palace were strict, and the emperor's diet was strictly inspected, but even this could make that person poison, and the lives of other people were not guaranteed at all.

Chai Rong was furious and ordered to immediately surround the imperial dining room and conduct a strict investigation, but when the imperial guards arrived at the imperial dining room, all the people inside were dead.

Now the matter became even bigger, Chai Rong immediately called Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin into the palace to discuss what to do.

He didn't dare to reveal the fact that he was poisoned, otherwise it would cause an uproar and give people with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of it.

The residence of the two court ladies was also surrounded, and no one could enter without the emperor's imperial decree.

After this explanation, Zhao Xu understood that it was not as simple as Chai Rong's murder, but that Chai Rong was assassinated without knowing who the murderer was.

This is the reason for his real anger. Those court ladies and eunuchs outside are people who usually have a good relationship with these two court ladies.

Maybe they don't know anything about it, but it's also possible that there are their accomplices among them. Chai Rong didn't dare to be careless and asked people to watch them.

Zhao Xu understood that this was a conspiracy. He believed that Chai Rong was like a mirror in his heart. The reason why Chai Rong asked them to come was because he really trusted them.

Zhao Xu said to Chai Rong: "Then what does Your Majesty want us to do?"

"I want you to investigate carefully who is so courageous to come to the palace to murder me. If it's not for keeping this matter secret, I will let Dali Temple investigate and deal with it."

As he spoke, Chai Rong coughed a few more times, quickly wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and then put the handkerchief away without leaving any traces.

Others might not have noticed, but Zhao Xu, who saw it, did notice that it was slightly red.

"It's no wonder that Chai Rong died young. It turned out that he had been ill for a long time. Maybe the poisoning this time had a lot to do with it." Zhao Xu thought silently in his heart.

"You are all the people I trust the most. I will leave this time to you. You must investigate the truth for me. Cough cough cough..."

Before Chai Rong could finish his sentence, he coughed violently, and Zhang Dejun hurriedly came up to give Chai Rong his breath.

He also wanted to teach the imperial physician, but Chai Rong stopped him, and Chai Rong asked Zhang Yongde and the others to continue to investigate this matter.

The three of Zhao Xu bowed and retreated, only to hear Chai Rong's coughing...

Now their task is to get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible. They were poisoned in their own home. This matter is very serious.

This means that there is no protection for my life at all. I always have to drink water and eat. If I don’t have enough protection, someone will poison me again.
Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Xu all felt the weight on their shoulders. They were valued by the emperor, so they could get in touch with the emperor's private affairs.

But if this cannot be found out, it would be a bit of a disappointment to the emperor, so they went straight to the scene of the crime without any nonsense.

(End of this chapter)