The Second Master of the Red Chamber

The night gradually deepens.

The wind is a little cold.

Outside the bedroom of Emperor Ning Kang, soldiers and armor were still standing in formation, shining brightly.

The sixth-rank young general knelt upright and said word for word everything he wanted to say.

His words also caused countless people to go from shock, to horror, to understanding, and then to silence.

Everyone had just accepted that the crown prince had betrayed his father, lost power and was killed.

But now, someone told them in front of the emperor in a loud and clear voice that the prince was killed by the third prince himself after the defeat.

Moreover, the deputy commander of the Guard Camp, Tian Qu, and his personal soldiers who discovered the secret were also killed by the Third Prince.

This all sounds a bit scary, but it is not too far-fetched. It just sends a slight chill down one's spine.

It is hard to imagine how the Third Prince, who is known for his elegance and kindness, could do such a thing.

Emperor Ning Kang naturally also listened to Tian Liang's statement. His body trembled slightly, but he tried to calm down.

He looked at the third prince beside him: "What do you have to say?"

The Third Prince glared at Tian Liang with resentment, then turned around and knelt down in front of Emperor Ning Kang, saying indignantly: "Father, this man is full of nonsense, pure slander.

I beg you to investigate this man thoroughly. He must have been instructed by someone to frame me.

Even if I am extremely bold, I will never dare to murder my eldest brother. Please be careful, father."

The third prince was in tears and banged his head against Emperor Ningkang's throne.

This scene made many people unconsciously believe in the Third Prince, thinking that he would not do such a thing. Could it be that someone really wanted to frame His Royal Highness the Third Prince?
Now that the crown prince is dead, the third prince has become the "target of public criticism" and it is indeed possible that someone wants to harm him.

Tian Liang keenly sensed that the wind was heading in an unfavorable direction, and he became a little anxious. He immediately said, "Your Majesty, I request an autopsy! Just ask a skilled coroner to examine the bodies of my brother and his guards, and then you will be able to tell whether what I said is true or false!"

The Third Prince seemed to have reached the limit of his tolerance for Tian Liang, and could no longer hold back and cursed at him, "Damn you! Your Majesty is here with a sick body to listen to you state your so-called grievances, but you've been talking for a long time, but it's all just empty talk and conjecture!

This king has tolerated you for a long time. If you have real evidence, please bring it out as soon as possible. Otherwise, if His Majesty's body is damaged, even if it means the lives of your entire family, you cannot afford it."

While the Third Prince was scolding Tian Liang, he quietly winked at the crowd.

Immediately, the ministers who were staying in the palace and came to watch the fun came out and said to Emperor Ning Kang: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, what the Third Prince said is right.

Your Majesty's health is the most important.

The coroner will take a long time to perform the autopsy. For the sake of your Majesty's health, you should return to the palace and rest first.

As for the injustices that Commander Tian has claimed, they can be handed over to the relevant authorities for review according to the law."

"Also, even though Your Majesty loves his soldiers and generals like his own sons, the Third Prince is also Your Majesty's biological son. Allowing others to accuse the Third Prince without any solid evidence is really hurtful to the relationship between Your Majesty and his son. I hope Your Majesty will think twice."

After this person said this, many people thought it made sense and tried to persuade him.

Tian Liang became a little anxious and quickly looked at Princess Zhaoyang on the corridor, but at least he was a smart man and did not take the initiative to curry favor with her at this time.

In the face of the advice of his ministers, Emperor Ning Kang did not respond. Instead, he unexpectedly turned to Princess Zhaoyang and said, "My son, what do you think?"

Princess Zhaoyang was originally a little distracted.

She had been observing Emperor Ning Kang's expression and reaction, and suddenly she felt confused:
Does the emperor know that the death of the eldest brother is related to the third brother?

If he knew but didn't say anything, does it mean that everything they did tonight was in vain?

After all, the purpose of doing all this was just to let Emperor Ning Kang know the truth, make Emperor Ning Kang dislike the Third Prince, and then consider letting the Fourth Prince take over.

But if Emperor Ning Kang had already made up his mind to make the Third Prince the heir, and didn't even care whether the Third Prince was the murderer who killed the Crown Prince, then what was the point of them doing all this?
Could it be that Erlang really miscalculated this time and misjudged Emperor Ning Kang's character?
Does it mean that once you sit in that position, you really have no feelings anymore?

Looking at Emperor Ning Kang's slightly meaningful expression, Princess Zhaoyang understood that Emperor Ning Kang probably knew it.

At least, he suspected it.

The reason why he came to ask me what I thought at this time was because my previous action of speaking up for Tian Liang had aroused his speculation?
So, how did he want to answer?

Princess Zhaoyang thought for a moment and said, "My eldest brother is the crown prince, the heir to the throne. This matter involves the cause of his death. I think we have to investigate it, and we must investigate it thoroughly and strictly, reveal the truth to the world, and stop the rumors at the beginning."

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince immediately stared at Princess Zhaoyang.

"Why is the Imperial Sister speaking for this person like this?"

"If you are innocent, why are you afraid of him checking? Do you want us to keep our father suspicious of you? Don't you want to clear yourself of suspicion in front of our father?"

The dispute between Princess Zhaoyang and the third prince happened in the palace, and few people knew about it.

But this happened in front of hundreds of people, and the prince and princess were competing against each other so fiercely that many people immediately sensed something unusual.

Emperor Ning Kang seemed not to notice the dispute between his children, and simply waved his hand: "If that's the case, then let's test it!"

……

Coroner is not an uncommon profession, and even many people in the military can do this job.

The coroners who can serve the royal family are the most professional.

Through the joint inspection of several professional coroners, all the details of the deaths of Tian Qu and others were restored one by one.

Perhaps Jia Lian should be thankful that when he killed Jia She, no one suspected him, and no one wanted to ask a coroner to perform an autopsy or anything, otherwise he might not have been able to cover up the incident.

"I have four questions for His Royal Highness the Third Prince!"

"First, the Third Prince had said before that my brother died in the counterattack of the rebels. Why did the coroners say that my brother's real cause of death was a crossbow? As far as I know, none of the rebels who were chasing the prince used crossbows, and none of our brothers who died in the pursuit were killed by crossbows.

On the contrary, the Third Prince had previously asked our Guards Camp for 100 sets of shoulder crossbows to equip his own soldiers."

"Second, since my brother and the others died from crossbow arrows, where did all those sword wounds on their bodies come from? And they all happened to be covered by the crossbow arrow wounds. Is someone trying to cover something up on purpose?"

"Third, His Majesty the Third Prince once said that my humble brother died bravely fighting the enemy. Why were my brother and his personal soldiers shot in the back? Were they killed because they fled in fear of the enemy, or was there a villain who shot an arrow in the back?"

"Fourth, the coroners said that in addition to the crossbow arrow, my brother was also fatally wounded by a musket. Although it was not fatal, it was also very deep.

As far as I know, no one in the prince's rebel army used muskets at that time. Instead, I heard from a brother in the Firearms Battalion that when the Third Prince accompanied the emperor to inspect the Firearms Battalion, he was given a short musket made by their commander, Lord Zhenyuan.

Could you please take out this musket, Your Highness, and shoot the person in the back, and then let the coroners examine the wound and the trajectory of the bullet?

As a sign of respect, I am willing to personally take the blow from His Majesty the Third Prince."

After the coroners reported the results to the emperor, Tian Liang took the opportunity to question the third prince.

His voice was loud and full of indignation, and his words were well-founded, so as he asked questions one by one, more and more people believed his accusations and began to suspect the Third Prince.

When facing his accusations, the Third Prince showed no reaction except a gloomy face and dark eyes.

Instead, his followers could no longer sit still and stood up to refute, "Ridiculous! Although the rebels don't have crossbows, don't they have them seized from the battlefield? Do you think that it was the Third Prince who killed the man? Then your Guards have so many people equipped with shoulder crossbows, why don't you suspect that it was someone from your Guards who killed the man?

As for sword wounds, it is common for blood, flesh and limbs to fly everywhere in a chaotic battlefield when people are killing each other. So what can a few more sword wounds on a corpse prove?
As for the arrow in the back... maybe our Highness just wanted to preserve General Tian's reputation, but you not only don't appreciate it, but instead use it as an excuse to blame your Highness. Why is that? Do you have to wait for our Highness to say that Tian Qu is a cowardly person before you are satisfied?"

"You..." Tian Liang glared at the man.

The man became more and more confident as he spoke: "As for the musket you mentioned, as far as I know, Lord Zhenyuan gave each prince one for your highness to play with, and the crown prince naturally has one. It is not reasonable for Tian Qu to be hit by a musket when he went to capture the crown prince... You actually used this as an excuse to accuse the third prince, which is really unreasonable, hehe..."

This person thought that he was extremely intelligent and even refuted all of Tian Liang's questions. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

If he had a feather fan in his hand, he would think he was Zhuge Wuhou.

But the third prince was not as optimistic as he was.

He knew that if he was really tried for the Tian Qu case, the truth would eventually come to light.

Even if the death of the crown prince is to be investigated, the truth can be uncovered by arresting his hundreds of cronies.

Originally, he didn't do these things very carefully.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

When he did this, he never did it based on thoroughness, but rather based his judgment on the situation.

As long as the crown prince is dead, who would offend the future crown prince for a crown prince who has already lost power and died?

Even his father, the Emperor, didn't seem to have such an intention!
At this point, if he still couldn't see that his father had already suspected him, then he would be really stupid.

He was thinking about what his father's attitude towards this matter was.

Unfortunately, Emperor Ning Kang just had a gloomy face throughout the whole process and did not show much emotional fluctuation.

But the Third Prince knew that this farce could not continue tonight. If it continued, he didn't know what terrible consequences would be caused when Emperor Ning Kang really exploded.

So he slapped the staff member who was still grinning foolishly in the face with his backhand.

"enough!"

The Third Prince knelt down at the feet of Emperor Ning Kang, kowtowed and said, "I am guilty, please punish me, father!"

Emperor Ning Kang lowered his head, and after a long while he said quietly: "Oh, what is your crime?"

"I, your son, deserve to die. I was confused for a moment and committed the great mistake of killing an honest man. Please punish me severely, father!"

This scene made many people open their eyes wide.

The third prince admitted his guilt now, and he didn't even struggle?
But Princess Zhaoyang, who was standing on the other side of Emperor Ning Kang, frowned as she looked at the Third Prince who was crying again.

She guessed what the third prince meant almost immediately.

Sure enough, the Third Prince raised his head with tears on his face, just like when he carried the Crown Prince's body to see Emperor Ning Kang.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Father, I did kill Tian Qu by mistake.

At that time, at that time... 呜呜呜, when I found my eldest brother's body among the corpses of the rebels, I was completely shocked. I didn't know how to explain it to you when I came back.

I was afraid. I was afraid that Your Majesty would not believe me, and that you would think that I had murdered my elder brother. That was why I was not in my right mind at that time.

At this time, Tian Qu came with his personal soldiers...

I don't know what happened at that time. I just thought that Tian Qu must have misunderstood. He will definitely come back and tell you, father, that it was me who killed my elder brother!

I was really wrong. I should have explained it clearly to Tian Qu at that time. But Tian Qu just wanted to escape from me, so I thought he must want to come back and slander you, father, so I had them all killed...

Wuwuwu, I was impulsive and made a big mistake. I am willing to accept any punishment from my father to comfort the spirit of Deputy Commander Tian in heaven."

The third prince knew that it would be impossible to escape unscathed now that things had come to this point.

In order to end the trial tonight and to give an explanation to Emperor Ning Kang, he had no choice but to sacrifice the pawns to save the chariot.

Killing a general without authorization is definitely a serious crime.

But compared to the murder of the crown prince, it seemed not so serious for them, the prince.

In particular, he also found an excuse for himself that it was manslaughter.

Of course, even he himself knew that Emperor Ning Kang would most likely not believe his words.

But what he was betting on was that Emperor Ning Kang would not really depose him just for the sake of a deposed or dead crown prince.

How could a prince who could become an emperor not be ruthless? Didn't Emperor Ning Kang fight his way out of so many brothers and eventually ascend to the throne?
He felt that his father could understand him.

Just like Li Shimin, although he killed his brothers, how many people would think that he was not a good emperor?

Tian Liang did not expect that the third prince would confess his guilt directly.

At this moment, he didn't know whether he should be happy or angry.

In fact, even if he had a 90% suspicion that the Third Prince had killed his brother, but as the Third Prince had said before, those were just his speculations!

Since it is speculation, it is impossible to completely prove the guilt, and it can only lead to speculation and suspicion.

He wanted to seek justice for his brother, but he also knew that the purpose of Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang was to convict the Third Prince of murdering the Crown Prince.

When the Third Prince is unable to prove his innocence in the death of Tian Qu, Princess Zhaoyang and others will take the opportunity to propose an autopsy for the Crown Prince!

As long as they could conclude that the Crown Prince's death was in doubt, they could legitimately arrest the people around the Third Prince and interrogate them one by one.

In that case, unless the third prince is truly innocent, he will not be able to escape the charge of murdering the crown prince.

Even if the prince has made a serious mistake this time, as long as Emperor Ning Kang has not issued an order to deal with the prince, then killing the prince, killing the heir to a country, is a heinous crime.

This is a crime that no one can afford.

At the very least, the third prince will definitely not have a chance of becoming emperor.

This is also the reason why Jia Lian dared to take action against the third prince. Of course, this is because Jia Lian relied on his understanding of Emperor Ning Kang. He knew that Emperor Ning Kang seemed harsh and unkind on the surface, but in fact he attached great importance to his children.

If it was an emperor with little affection for his family, and if he really "liked to raise poisonous insects" as the third prince judged, Jia Lian would never take action.

"Hehehe..."

Emperor Ning Kang's expression finally changed.

He laughed in anger.

He stood up and looked at the Third Prince who was kneeling on the ground admitting his mistake. He stretched out his hand and said, "Bring me the whip."

...(End of chapter)