Chapter 42 Pretending to be Confused
The interrogation was forced to temporarily stop because no one dared to continue asking questions.
The person the assassins revealed was none other than someone else.
It was Li Xian, the current crown prince!
The prince of the East Palace sent assassins to murder the Queen Mother of the West Palace. This kind of thing is simply appalling.
It should be said that it is unheard of.
So should I report to the emperor directly, or arrest the prince for interrogation?
Obviously neither is right.
"This matter is tricky." Zhu Xiaochuan's brows condensed into a word "Sichuan".
Worry about not being able to catch the assassin, now that the assassin catches it, it's even more frighteningly worrying!
"It's my life." Wu Zicheng sighed and shook his head.
"I have to continue to investigate." Xiao Chen calmed down from the shock just now, after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this matter was too strange, maybe there was another reason.
No matter how heartless Prince Li Xian is, he would never do such a thing.
If it is reasonable to say that he assassinated his father Li Wanjiang, how about assassinating the queen? It is also unlikely.
Because the queen was dead would not do him any good.
The prince was very rude to the queen, but later Xiao Chen learned from Murong Danqiu that the reason why the prince did this was not to covet her beauty, but to control her after he got her.
He knew that his father, Li Wanjiang, had functional impairments, and he expected that he would not be able to satisfy the empress who was in her prime.
Besides, Li Wanjiang is nearly fifty years old, but his prince is not yet thirty years old, he is handsome and handsome, and he feels that he and the queen are a match made in heaven, a pair of dragon and phoenix.
There is another important section, as long as you can get the Queen's heart or even win her, you can get Murong Heng's support.
This is the most beneficial for him.
The queen has always been very indifferent to his enthusiasm, and even expressed deep disgust in person.
But in his opinion, the queen is just pretending to be reserved, and she is a little embarrassed.
As long as I continue to entangle myself, sooner or later I will be able to succeed.
As the saying goes, as long as there are no virgins in the world, I'm afraid there will be lovers!
Good girls are also afraid of pestering their husbands, right?
Therefore, according to Xiao Chen's analysis, the possibility of the prince doing this is very small, so small as to be negligible.
But the assassins spoke with certainty, but it didn't seem like they were lying...
There must be another hidden secret, but what is the hidden secret? Just have to keep checking.
"Oh? Little Eunuch Xiao, what do you mean?" Zhu Xiaochuan admired Xiao Chen's ingenuity after this incident, and he must have been hesitant when he said so firmly that he wanted to investigate.
"What the villain means is that the words of those people inside are not trustworthy!" Xiao Chen simply asserted, "There must be something hidden in it, how do you know that someone is pretending to be the prince?"
"Well, it makes sense, but I actually don't believe that the crown prince did this." Zhu Xiaochuan also felt that the trial could only proceed according to Xiao Chen's thinking.
"What if they insist that the prince ordered it?" As a general, Wu Zicheng's mind is relatively simple.
"Hehe, it's beyond their control." Xiao Chen smiled faintly.
"What do you mean? Could it be that you have to make a false confession to deceive the emperor?" Wu Zicheng was surprised when he heard this.
"Hey... Commander Wu, our emperor is wise and powerful, what can we hide from his old man? Let alone a villain, even if it is Lord Hou and your lord, plus the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, who can do it? Do you want to go to his old man?"
Xiao Chen thought in his heart that this is an elm lump, his head is full of paste!
Do you have to explain it directly to you before you understand?
The question is, can this be said frankly!
"Commander Wu, Little Eunuch Xiao means that we will interrogate ours. No matter what the outcome of the interrogation is, just submit it to the emperor, and the emperor will clearly distinguish it." Zhu Xiaochuan also felt that Wu Zicheng was a little careless.
What Xiao Chen meant was for us to pretend to be ignorant while pretending to be ignorant, you boy are so terribly ignorant!
Firstly, this matter involves the crown prince, so you can't investigate it too closely; secondly, if you interrogate clearly and can't find any faults, then how can you show my emperor's brilliance, intelligence, wisdom, and discernment?
can you? Show you? Are you smarter than the emperor?
Also, once the interrogation finds out that this matter was really done by the prince, if you report it directly to the emperor, will he still have room for maneuver?
"Oh...then continue the interrogation? Anyway, I'm stupid, so I'll listen to you two." Wu Zicheng seemed to be a little more sober.
Seeing the two staring at him, he hurriedly added: "I'm not trying to excuse myself, what I mean is that I'm up to you on how to interrogate, and I'll bear all the responsibilities with you..."
Continue the trial, or separate trials.
Zhao Laifu will be tried first.
You said that the crown prince ordered you, so may I ask, did the crown prince order you in person, or through other people?
The answer is that it is the prince himself.
We are not stupid for such a big matter, if the crown prince didn't come forward in person, who would dare to do it?
So where did you plan this?
Did you go to the East Palace to look for the crown prince, or did the crown prince look for you?
Of course you can't go to the East Palace, there are too many people... The place where we meet is Cuiyun Tower.
What building?
brothel.
There are four brothels in Fengyang, the capital city, namely Cuiyun Tower, Ningxiang Pavilion, Xiefang Pavilion and Wanchun Courtyard.
Cuiyun Tower is one of them, and the girls in it are famous for being good at playing and singing.
It belongs to a relatively high-end singing brothel.
It is also one of the most frequented by the prince.
Said that the prince can still lack a beautiful concubine? of course not.
But lustful things are radish and cabbage, everyone has their own love, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is impossible to guess with common sense.
Song Huizong was still the emperor, but he didn't like so many beauties in the Sangong Sixth Courtyard, but he was infatuated with Li Shishi, a prostitute.
Where to go to reason?
Three days ago, the prince gathered everyone together and ordered them to do it tonight.
They also gave each of them 3,000 taels of silver to arrange funeral arrangements.
After asking and asking, the assassins all said the same thing.
"I listen to you guys farting! How can the crown prince of the country, the future emperor, do such a rebellious thing? I think someone must be pretending to be him... Marquis, Commander Wu, what do you two think?"
Xiao Chen first decided the nature of the case.
The two nodded together and said yes. After such a detailed interrogation, they basically knew in their hearts that this matter was definitely not the work of the prince.
The whole process was so non-confidential, it was like child's play!
It is impossible for the prince to be such an idiot.
So here comes the problem.
Who pretended to be the prince to blame him?
This must be checked out.
Who will check?
Zhu Xiaotian and Wu Zicheng looked at Xiao Chen at the same time.
"What do you two want to do?" Xiao Chen felt that the eyes of these two men harbored malicious intentions.
"Little Eunuch Xiao, I have to trouble you to go to Cuiyun Tower in person." Zhu Xiaochuan said.
"Mr. Hou and I have special identities, so it's not easy to go to places like brothels. Those who know are investigating cases. Those who don't know think that we are misbehaving. When those censors find out, they will bite us again." Wu Zicheng Say.
The implication is that your Eunuch Xiao is a eunuch, so it is no problem to go to the brothel.
What else can Xiao Chen say? Can only reluctantly.
The three discussed it and decided to split up.
Wu Zicheng went to report the preliminary interrogation results to the emperor secretly, and at the same time express the opinions of the three of them.