1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2327
Cui Mingji's mansion in the city is not large in scale, nor can it be considered luxurious. From the perspective of Fuli, it is far inferior to those private manors in Sanya built by big businessmen, let alone the mansions of high-ranking officials in Haihan.However, considering the actual social conditions in North Korea, being able to build a house with such two acres of land in the capital is indeed a treatment that only important officials of the court can enjoy.

There were still North Korean soldiers guarding the gate of the Cui Mansion. After asking about it, Fu Li found out that they were not the guards of the Cui Mansion, but were placed here to prevent idlers from entering.However, the Haihan army entering the city was limited in strength, and only took over the key points of the city defense, and did not care about such places.

Under normal circumstances, of course no idler would dare to break into the empty door of the leader's home, but after the chaos in Seoul, Cui Mingji was accused of being the mastermind behind the scenes, and all his family and servants were taken into custody. When people go to the empty house, it is natural to arrange for someone to guard it.

Fu Li holds Li Yi's letter, and there is Park Hongye who was sent by Li Yan to assist in the investigation of the case, so there is no problem in entering Cui's mansion.But after they entered the Cui Mansion, they were quickly disappointed.

The Cui Mansion was in a mess, with all kinds of household items scattered everywhere. It seemed that this place had been ransacked thoroughly, and it might have been more than once.

After they glanced around, they quickly turned their attention to the study.It is said that Cui Mingji usually handles government affairs in this study. If there are any evidence related to the palace coup, it is very likely that they will be stored in this study.

But when they walked into the study, they had to face another disappointment.The level of confiscation here is even worse, several bookshelves have been completely emptied, and there is not even half a piece of paper in such a large room.

"It seems that we are late." Fu Li's heart sank when he saw the situation in the study room. Obviously, the people who searched here did not intend to miss anything, so they simply moved the study room completely.

Park Hongye walked over and slowly stared at the empty bookshelf for a while, before he said, "Judging from the dust on the bookshelf, there should be a lot of books here. The person who ordered the inspection here must have liked reading."

Fu Li ignored his joke, and shook his head slowly: "Even if Cui Mingji left any written records before the accident, I'm afraid they will all be copied now. There is no need to turn over the things that are written on paper. Check, just one fire will destroy them all."

Park Hongye said: "Maybe we can check again, who sent people here to raid the house."

"It doesn't make much sense." Fu Li has obviously considered this approach, and understands the purpose of Park Hongye's idea: "Even if we can be sure that Da Sixian is behind the command to raid the house, it is useless. What we have to do is Find out the truth of the assassination case, if there is no hard evidence, it will be very difficult for us to convict Da Sixian."

In fact, after receiving the new investigation order from Qian Tiandun, Fu Li already understood that for some objective reasons, the higher-ups don't want to break skin with Jin Shangxian now, so if there is no credible evidence to prove that Jin Shangxian is here Given his culpable role in the chaos, it's almost impossible to bring him down.

With Jin Shangxian's influence in the court today, it is not an exaggeration to say that he can cover the sky with one hand.It is much easier for him to destroy the personal and physical evidence that is not good for him than for Fu Li to track down the matter.

However, the road was not completely blocked. After the autopsy the day before yesterday, Qian Tiandun mentioned to him a detail on Li Xi's remains, which might be used as an investigation clue.But before that, he still needs to find a way to verify that detail.

"Master Park, is there any way to find the records of the former king's daily life? The more detailed the better!"

Park Hongye couldn't help being a little surprised when he heard that Fu Li suddenly made such a request, but he nodded and said: "The House of Internal Affairs should be able to find the relevant records, but this is related to the royal family's secrets, and we may have to ask the king first. "

"There is no need to ask for instructions, the king has given the authority to investigate... Let's go, go to the servant's mansion immediately!" Fu Li made a decisive decision.

At this time, there are fewer and fewer directions that can be traced, and Fu Li does not want to miss any more clues.If the action is slow, maybe the other party will cut off the clue in advance.The details he has may not be able to play a decisive role in ascertaining the truth, but if they can be verified in place, they may be able to know more details about the assassination of the king.

Hurrying to the Internal Servant's Mansion, Fu Li showed Li Yi's letter to the steward here, asking to read the relevant files.Seeing that it was the king's order, the steward didn't dare to neglect it immediately, and hurriedly adjusted the relevant files according to Fu Li's request.

"My lords, that's all the information you need." The steward of the Internal Servant's Mansion sent the files they wanted to check. There were two thick stacks of books, five or six feet thick in total.Some books are obviously old and yellow, and they look like they have been aged for a while.

Fu Lidao: "We must keep the matter of accessing the archives secret to the outside world. If the news leaks out, we can only ask you. This matter involves the assassination of the late king, and anyone who obstructs the investigation will be punished with death. Your lord must know!"

The steward quickly responded: "My lords, please don't worry, I've always been strict and will never mention this to anyone!"

After the steward withdrew, Park Hongye also called his subordinates in and asked them to surround the House of Internal Servants first. No one was allowed to enter or leave at will until they completed their investigation.

"The words of these eunuchs are not credible. It's better to be careful and not leave them a channel to pass on information." Park Hongye then explained the reason for his doing so.

The servants in the royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty are actually eunuchs, and the same goes for these people in the palace of the servants.Park Hongye is a celebrity under the new king, and has a bright future in the future. He naturally looks down on these servants, and he will not believe how reliable this group is.

Fu Li didn't have much thought, and Haihan didn't have eunuchs, so it was difficult for him to understand and imagine the thoughts of this group.Park Hongye's approach is equivalent to adding an insurance policy to the investigation work, and Fu Li will naturally not object to this.

What Fu Li wanted to check was all the records from the year the former king Li Zhen was born.There are special personnel in the palace to record the king's words, deeds and living conditions, and there may be details that Fu Li wants to investigate.

Of course, it is also a way to ask Li Yan directly, but Li Yan may not know the details, and asking may mislead the conclusion of the investigation.So Fu Li decided to go through the pile of old papers, these first-hand information should be able to reflect the objective facts.

The records about the private lives of the former kings are of course non-public information, and the details that Fu Li wanted to check are relatively secret, and it is inconvenient to find more people to read these materials together, so the two of them can only do it personally.

"Master Fu, so what exactly are we going to check?" Before he started flipping through the pile of books, Park Hongye finally couldn't help asking questions.

Only then did Fu Li explain to him: "When we examined the remains of the late king, we found that his right arm had fractures and healed signs, and it was an old wound. Later, General Qian also asked the king about this intentionally or unintentionally. But the king doesn't seem to know that the right arm of the late king was injured like this. So I plan to check whether there is any record of the previous king's injury in the early years. If there is, I think this daily note should be able to find it."

This Pu Hongye is also a quick-witted person. Hearing this, he immediately thought of what Fu Li really wanted to confirm: "Master Fu means that if there is no record of injury, it is likely to be the remains of a fake king?"

Fu Li nodded slightly and said: "If even the remains are fake, then the events that Da Sixian said are also fake. It is very likely that there is even a problem with the assassination case."

Shocked, Park Hongye began to look through these old files with Fu Li.Li Jing was born in the 23rd year of Wanli, that is, in 1595, and records have been recorded every day since his birth until the assassination case.After more than 40 years, there are about [-] days of records. Even if you don’t need to check the last few years according to the injury status, it is still a huge workload to read these files.

This is almost the last clue that Fu Li can take the initiative to investigate. If the result is consistent with the objective facts, then there is no evidence to doubt Jin Shangxian.

Both of them knew that the matter was of great importance, and they didn't dare to slack off. They plunged into the pile of old papers without stopping.Even if you share half of it, you have to browse at least hundreds of thousands of words of content, which is really not an easy job.

The two entered the servant's mansion in the afternoon, and did not finish sorting out the relevant files until the early morning of the next day with red eyes.And the result is just as Fu Li assumed, there is no record of the right arm of the former king Li Ji being seriously injured in all the records.

For this result, the two did not feel any excitement. Apart from the fatigue caused by staying up all night reading, more importantly, they knew what this result meant.

"Since the remains of the former king are fake, it means that someone did not want to expose the real cause of death of the former king, so they found a fake corpse to replace him."

"However, the Skynet is very sparse and not leaking. The fakers can only find the corpse with the same body shape as the previous king, but they don't know that after the corpse rots, the old wounds on the body will reveal their identity."

"According to Da Sixian, the late king was assassinated and died in the imperial study, and the fake remains did have the injuries he said, but this just proves that the real cause of the late king's death was not the assassination."

"If it's another cause of death, it's actually not difficult to pretend to be an assassination. After all, it has been buried for more than a month, and after the body rots, there is basically nothing to detect."

"Then there are only two possibilities. One is that the actual cause of the late king's death was a special condition that even rot could not cover up. The other is that the late king was not dead at all, but some people wanted to find a reason to control the government, so the imperial court appeared. The study assassination, and the fake remains to make things seem believable."

"No matter what the possibility is, Mr. Jin, who once entered the imperial study with Cui Mingji after the incident, obviously concealed the truth from the outside world!"

Although Fu Li and Park Hongye were exhausted, they still deduced an unbelievable conclusion step by step based on the information they have now.They can no longer think about it in depth, and it is very likely that they will draw even more shocking conclusions.

After the case has been investigated to this extent, what they can do next is beyond their authority.Even if it is confirmed that Kim Sang-heon is a major suspect, they will not be able to arrest the other party, because doing so will most likely lead to another chaos in Seoul.

"This is really...exciting!" Park Hongye didn't know what words to use to describe his complicated mood at the moment.

Some clues that have been verified before can confirm that Cui Mingji played a disgraceful role after the assassination. For example, the army under his orders entered the palace and took away all the insiders. Now none of these insiders can be found. Maybe it was killed by him.It is also because of this that Kim Sang-heon's statement that Cui Mingji and the Manchu assassins cooperated internally and externally seems quite credible.

In the incident described by Kim Sang-heon, Cui Mingji was the big villain behind the scenes, who planned and implemented a series of actions such as assassinating the king, destroying evidence, and seizing power, while he himself endured the humiliation for a month before finally finding the opportunity to organize The hero who counterattacked and wiped out the chaotic party in one fell swoop.

But the evidence found now proves that Kim Sang-heon did not confess the truth about the assassination case, and the subsequent series of events are naturally unacceptable.

When the two most influential ministers in the court have evil intentions, what can the king do to change the situation?Li Jing obviously failed to discover this crisis in time, which is why there was chaos that lasted for more than a month.

"The things we can find, probably can only stop here. Whether we want to continue later, we still have to report the results of the investigation first." Fu Li stood up slowly while supporting the desk, and said with a tired face: "Let's go, go back and return!"

As soon as Qian Tiandun got up in the morning, he heard that Fu Li and Pu Hongye were waiting outside.He came out and saw that the two of them had dark circles under their eyes, obviously they hadn't slept all night, so he immediately ordered: "Eat breakfast first, if there is anything else, we can talk about it after dinner."

After breakfast, Qian Tiandun asked people to remove the bowls and chopsticks, and then asked them: "Did you find anything?"

Fu Li nodded and replied: "Fortunately, it is not disgraceful, just as the general expected, there is indeed something wrong with that remains!"

Fu Li then briefly told Qian Tiandun how the two went to the servant's mansion to investigate the whole night's daily life.

Qian Tiandun thought for a while after listening, and then said to them: "This matter is too influential, so don't spread it to the outside world for now. Go back and rest, get a good night's sleep, and report to me in the afternoon. I will go with you at that time Meet with the king and discuss how to deal with this matter together."

The two looked at each other, knowing that Qian Tiandun would probably have to make some arrangements during this period, so he tactfully didn't ask any further questions, and hurriedly said goodbye and left to go back to rest.

(End of this chapter)