1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2322
After dinner, Li Yan walked slowly in the garden of the palace with his hands behind his back. There was no one around, and he seemed quite deserted.

Qian Tiandun had already left the palace at this time, leaving a company of troops to serve as guards here.Although there are not many troops, it is only used to deter the young people who may be lurking in the dark in the city, and one company is enough.

The servants, maids, and guards who were originally in the palace have all been placed under house arrest by Qian Tiandun's order in the resettlement site outside the city, in order to conduct a follow-up investigation of what happened in the palace during the coup.Of course, there is another very important reason, that is, Qian Tiandun thinks that these people are unreliable, and it is better to replace them all for the sake of Li Yan's personal safety.Even the cook who cooks has been replaced by someone from the Haihan Army.

So apart from the few personal guards that Li Yan brought with him when he entered the palace, there is no one in the palace to serve him in his daily life for the time being.However, Li Xun obviously doesn't care about these small things now, as he is about to ascend the throne, he needs to spend more time thinking about how he will deal with the current situation and how to govern the country.

With Haihan behind him, Li Yi was no longer worried about his personal safety. He knew that from the moment Haihan's army successfully entered the city, it meant that the rebellious party in the city had chosen to compromise.At this time, if they want to take any action against themselves, it will be tantamount to seeking their own death.Therefore, Li Yan can also concentrate his energy on the many information received after entering the city today, and see if he can analyze some valuable information from it.

Although Li Yan didn't believe what happened to Jin Shangxian like Qian Tiandun did, he could also realize that there were indeed many details in Jin Shangxian's words that could not withstand scrutiny.For example, since the coup was initiated by his opponent Cui Mingji, and Cui Mingji did not even let the king go, why did the old enemy Kim Sang-heon survive and give him a chance to come back.If Cui Mingji had only such a level, how could he have fought with Jin Shangxian in the officialdom for half his life, and the grass on his grave would be three feet high.

As for the secret collusion between Cui Mingji and Man Qing, Kim Sang-heon has not produced any strong personal evidence to support his statement, the credibility is really limited.Li Yan also couldn't think of such a great man like Cui Mingji, why would he need to collude with foreign enemies to rebel.If it is said that he wanted to become king, but he obviously had a month to do it after he succeeded, but nothing happened during that time.

Why did Kim Sang-heon have these incomplete and untrue descriptions, of course there is only one answer, but Li Yan still does not want to think about it in this direction. After all, before he left the country, Kim Sang-heon was the minister who gave him the most support, and he was short of The "princeling" logo is pasted on the forehead.It was really hard for Li Xuan to accept that such an important court official who once stood behind him also participated in this coup.

However, considering Kim Sang-heon's influence in the court, it is inconvenient for Li Yi to take any coercive measures against him now, otherwise many official institutions may quickly fall into a state of shutdown.In order for the country to continue to operate normally, Li Yan can only pretend to be deaf and dumb, waiting for Haihan to make further conclusions on the investigation of the coup.

Fortunately, this time, the Haihan people took the initiative to take over all the dirty work that was inconvenient for Li Yan to speak out, saving him a lot of trouble.For example, if there are still people in the court who oppose his ascension to the throne at this time, then the Haihan people should just find a crime to pull him down and deal with it.Anyone who blocks his way forward, Haihan will take the initiative to clean them up.Perhaps at this very moment, Qian Tiandun is commanding a secret arrest mission somewhere in the city, and arresting those ministers who do not want to be loyal to him into prison.

However, the guess made by Li Yan was not accurate. Qian Tiandun was busy in the city at this time, but he was not directing the arrest mission.He now wants to check several very important evidences to infer whether what happened in the city during this period is consistent with what Kim Sang-heon said.

To be precise, Qian Tiandun is going to have an autopsy now, and there are not just one, but a total of three corpses.

The assassinated king Li Ji, the assassin who assassinated him, and Cui Mingji who committed suicide by taking poison, Qian Tiandun believes that the deaths of these three people are several important doubts in the series of chaos in Seoul, and their real cause of death may be revealed. Provide more clues for follow-up investigation.

Qian Tiandun specially brought in two veteran military doctors and asked them to serve as assistants temporarily.This is not too difficult for military doctors. They have been dealing with various traumas caused by fighting all year round, and they are very familiar with injuries caused by various weapons.The only one who is more troublesome is probably Cui Mingji. North Korea does not have any technology for testing deadly poisons. It can only be deduced from the general appearance whether it was poisoned or not.

As Li Yi, it was naturally inconvenient to come and inspect these special evidences in person, so Qian Tiandun did not arrange for Li Yan to participate in this matter at all.

According to Kim Sang-heon, the bodies of King Li Ji and the assassins were quietly transported out of the city after the accident and buried in the mountains north of the city.Today, after the conversation in Qinzheng Hall ended, Jin Shangxian responded to Qian Tiandun's request and immediately sent people to the burial site to dig out the two coffins, and then quietly transported them back to the city.As for Cui Mingji, he died not long ago, and the body has not been processed yet. In order to facilitate the autopsy, Jin Shangxian also sent someone to transport him out of the Cui Mansion, and put it together with the other two bodies for easy inspection.

Qian Tiandun walked into the house that had been taken over by the Haihan army, and Jin Shangxian was waiting inside. After a brief introduction of the situation, Qian Tiandun brought the military doctor into the house to examine the three corpses placed in coffins .

No less than thirty permanent lamps were lit in the room, but the visibility was still not ideal, and it seemed a bit blurry.The lids of the three coffins have been lifted, and the air is filled with a rotten smell. According to the time Jin Sangxian said, the corpses of the king and the assassin have been buried in the ground for a month, and it is the time of severe decay. The smell is naturally very unpleasant.

Although Qian Tiandun covered his mouth and nose with a cotton cloth before coming in, he still couldn't block the dizzy rancid smell.If it was a different person, he might turn around and leave, but Qian Tiandun knew that this matter was related to the Communist Party, so he still made up his mind and walked to the side of the coffin to observe the condition of the corpse.

The first thing Qian Tiandun looked at was the corpse of King Li Zhen.According to Kim Sang-heon, the king was assassinated in the royal study by an assassin disguised as a servant, and the weapon used was a dagger.And this dagger that killed King Li Zhen and the assassin himself is also one of the most important evidences in this incident.

The corpse in the coffin had been severely decomposed, and the original appearance of the facial features could hardly be recognized. Qian Tiandun could only judge from his height, which was almost the same as King Li Yu.The corpse was wearing a yellow robe, so no specific injuries could be seen. Qian Tiandun didn't intend to touch the corpse with his own hands, so the dirty work could only be done by two military doctors later.

Qian Tiandun was about to walk away when he suddenly noticed a detail on the corpse. He stopped and looked carefully before walking to the second coffin.

Compared with the large coffin made of high-quality wood in which King Li Zhen lay, the quality of the thin-skinned coffin in which the second corpse lay was really too perfunctory.If it wasn't for keeping the corpse as evidence, the authorities probably wouldn't even provide him with a coffin, and the rotten bamboo mat would be wrapped up and thrown into a mass grave outside the city, and the matter would be over.

The assassin's body was also severely decomposed, but there was still a deep sharp knife cut on the neck. It seemed that this was what Jin Shangxian said. The assassin chose to kill himself because there was no hope of escape.As for whether his identity was a spy sent by the Manchu Qing, it still needs to be tested later.

Qian Tiandun just glanced briefly, then walked to the third coffin.He didn't have much direct contact with Cui Mingji, but he recognized at a glance that the person lying in the coffin was indeed Cui Mingji.As for the cause of Cui Mingji's death, and whether he really committed suicide by taking poison, Qian Tiandun, as a layman, really couldn't see any clues.

"The next work will be hard on you two!" After Qian Tiandun had a quick look at the three corpses, he asked the two military doctors he had brought to take over the autopsy work.

The place where the coffin was temporarily parked was chosen by Jin Shangxian. He had already asked his servants to boil hot water. When Qian Tiandun came out, he quickly sent hot water for him to wash his hands and face, with a very considerate attitude.

"Talk in another place." Qian Tiandun briefly washed the exposed parts of his body, and then motioned for Jin Shangxian to find a convenient place to talk.

Jin Shangxian brought Qian Tiandun to the third courtyard of this house. There was a study room with simple furnishings. Although there seemed to be a slight smell of decay in the air, it was already better than the air in the previous courtyard. The quality is much better.

"Where are the assassin's weapons?" After sitting down, Qian Tiandun asked the question he was concerned about straight to the point.

Jin Shangxian looked prepared for this, and immediately asked someone to bring in the evidence.

This is a dagger only half a foot long, without a sheath, with a simple shape, a copper handle with a straight blade, and an anti-slip pattern engraved on the handle.The material of the blade has rusted faintly, and the hand-made traces of the blade body are obvious. It is just a very ordinary self-defense weapon.

But Qian Tiandun has seen similar weapons. After the end of the anti-Qing war last year, Haihan seized a large number of weapons and equipment in the process of chasing the Qing army, including this kind of portable dagger.

Sure enough, Jin Shangxian said next to him: "According to identification, this kind of dagger is a standard weapon issued by the Qing army to the Qianfeng Battalion, so we think this assassin should be a spy sent by the Qing Dynasty."

Qian Tiandun pondered and said: "During the battle with the Qing army last year, many such daggers were seized. There are at least [-] daggers in stock at the Datongjiang base alone. If only this one evidence is used to identify the assassin's Identity, isn’t that too hasty?”

Jin Shangxian said: "We also found a large amount of property in this person's residence that did not match his income level. There is reason to suspect that he was paid for his assassination mission. Among them were gold coins minted by the Qing Dynasty. This gold coin is said to be Huang Taiji. The tokens specially used to reward the warriors are not circulated in the market at all, and it should not be a coincidence that they appeared among the assassin's items."

Looking at the gold coins presented by Jin Shangxian, Qian Tiandun was also a little surprised. He didn't expect that the other party could produce other evidence. It seemed that he was really well-prepared for this situation.However, Qian Tiandun has no way to confirm the authenticity of this gold coin at the moment, and he has to send it back to the Military Intelligence Bureau for appraisal.

The main purpose of Qian Tiandun's autopsy is to find loopholes that can overthrow Jin Shangxian's statement from these corpses, so as to find out the real situation that happened in Seoul in the past month.But from the current point of view, although the story told by Kim Sang-heon is full of loopholes, a lot of preparatory work has been done around this story.If it wasn't for Qian Tiandun's guess from the beginning that there was something wrong with Jin Shangxian's statement, he would probably be fooled by these evidences.

Qian Tiandun said: "How did this assassin enter the palace, and how did he keep in touch with the Qing Dynasty? Has Mr. Jin found out?"

Jin Shangxian said with a wry smile: "This old man is just the Chief Sixian who is in charge of supervising the officials of the DPRK and China, not an expert in investigating cases, so this case has been handed over to the Yijin Mansion for investigation. If clues can be found later, he will definitely report to General Qian."

Yijinfu is a special agency under Bingcao Yamen, which combines the functions of procuratorial investigation, detention and trial, and its main function is to investigate cases related to national rebellion.There is specialization in the art industry, and the Forbidden City is only responsible to the king, and its action authority is quite high. It is indeed more efficient to investigate such cases than ordinary government arrests.

Qian Tiandun paused, and then continued to ask: "When Cui Mingji committed suicide by taking poison, was Mr. Jin also present?"

Jin Shangxian shook his head and said: "This old man is just a civil servant. When the Cui Mansion was besieged, he couldn't go to the front line to fight. He didn't enter the Cui Mansion until after the battle. At that time, Cui Mingji had committed suicide."

Qian Tiandun said: "Cui Mingji is already an extremely high-ranking minister with a respected status. Even if he joins the Qing Dynasty, it will be difficult to go further. What does Lord Jin think is his motive for rebellion?"

Cui Mingji's motive for rebellion has always been one of the doubts in this incident. His cooperation with Manqing seems to have no special benefits for him personally.

But Kim Sang-heon seems to have prepared for this issue: "The old man thinks that his main purpose is to push the second prince to the throne, but the king obviously prefers the eldest son, and he has the only chance to let the second prince take over the throne. , is to cook raw rice while the son is studying abroad. This assassin can lurk in the palace for a long time as a servant, and the old man suspects that Cui Mingji may also be there to provide convenience."

What Jin Shangxian said was half true and half false, even if Qian Tiandun listened very carefully, it was difficult to fully confirm which information in his words was true and which information was false.

(End of this chapter)