Jiuxi

Chapter 685 [Death]

The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month of the seventh year of the Dajing Tiande reign.

There are only three days left until the New Year.

There are many differences between the Jinglian people and the Qi people in terms of folk festivals, but both sides have the custom of celebrating the New Year.

Under normal circumstances, the entire city of Dadu would have been decorated with lights and filled with a festive atmosphere at this time.

Today, the Dajing Dynasty is at its peak. After annexing Zhao and Yan, the vast territory of Dajing has far exceeded that of Southern Qi, making it the undisputed number one dynasty in the world.

For the people of Dajing, especially the Jinglian people living in Dadu, they have a strong sense of pride and honor about this and will not miss any festival worth celebrating, let alone the most important New Year festival for the Jinglian people.

However, the city is now in a desolate and solemn atmosphere.

There were few pedestrians on the streets and alleys. Teams of armored soldiers patrolled back and forth, controlling every important road in the city, especially the East City where the powerful and wealthy gathered and where a large number of the emperor's personal troops were stationed.

The tension of the situation is terrifying.

Inside the palace, the imperial guards, known as "Hezha" by the Jinglian people, were stationed every three steps and every five steps, and the guarding was extremely strict.

All the palace servants were walking on thin ice, especially the palace maids and eunuchs who had been transferred to Longfu Palace recently. They would fall into fear every time they opened their eyes, fearing that they would follow in the footsteps of the previous palace servants in Longfu Palace and be arrested by the imperial guards and thrown into death row.

The reason was that Longfu Palace was the prince's bedroom, and the Dajing prince Alihenalan died suddenly for no reason, so naturally none of the palace servants could escape.

In the side hall of Longfu Palace, a group of Prince Dajing dressed in mourning clothes were kneeling outside.

Since Nalan was both the crown prince and the eldest son, it was natural for these princes to keep vigil and observe mourning.

Among them, there are several who are relatively outstanding, including the third prince Wuyan and the fourth prince Haige, who are born to the crown prince from the same mother, the second prince Nagu, born to the virtuous concubine Du Nu, the sixth prince Wulie and the eighth prince Ahudai, born to the virtuous concubine Pei Man.

These five princes each have their own strengths. When Nalan was alive, they could at least maintain superficial harmony, but these days there has been an obvious undercurrent surging among them.

The fourth prince, Brother Hai, had a solemn expression on his face. He occasionally glanced in the direction of the inner hall and seemed to be in an extremely heavy mood.

The prince's death was too strange, and even the cause of death has not been found out until now. The chief auditor Tian Jue has lost more than ten pounds in these days. If the cause of the prince's death cannot be found out in the end, I am afraid he will have to follow suit.

Originally, this matter had nothing to do with Brother Hai. After all, even if the crown prince died suddenly, he still had two older brothers, and the position of crown prince would never be his.

However, rumors have been spreading in the city recently, hinting that the Crown Prince's death may be related to the Fourth Prince Hai Ge, and his accomplice is Changshan Prince Qing Yugong.

In this situation, Brother Hai didn't even dare to defend himself, because those were just rumors in the streets and had not been reported to the palace. How could he do such a thing as trying to cover up his own guilt?

What he was really worried about was that the emperor could not have not heard these rumors but had not made any statement.

At this moment, he wished he could go to the inner hall to get everything clear.

The body of Crown Prince Nalan is placed in the inner hall. Although the weather is cold, there are still a lot of ice blocks placed around the coffin. Because the cause of death of the crown prince has not been determined yet, the coffin and burial have been delayed.

The air was filled with a bone-chilling chill. Queen Chemugun's eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her voice was hoarse.

Nalan is her eldest son. She has spent almost all her efforts over the past twenty years to train him and make him a qualified heir. Therefore, she is inevitably indebted to the third prince Wu Yan and the fourth prince Hai Ge. She can only do her best to love them as a compensation.

Now that Nalan has passed away, it means that all her efforts have been in vain. How can she bear such grief and sorrow?

She looked at the middle-aged man standing beside the coffin with blurry tearful eyes and said sadly, "Your Majesty, Nalan must have been murdered by someone."

"I know."

The middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the body of his eldest son on the coffin.

No one knows how much of a blow the sudden death of the crown prince was to Emperor Jing.

This king who had a broad mind ruled for fifteen years. In his hands, the Jing Dynasty became increasingly powerful, and did not follow the old path of rapid expansion and decline of nomadic dynasties. Even though the Jing Dynasty's war in the south had not gone well in the past two years, it did not shake the foundation of the Jinglian clan, and the Jing Dynasty was still the most powerful dynasty in the world.

Just when he was focusing on Jiangnan and making plans, the prince died inexplicably. This was undoubtedly a major change that was likely to affect the country's destiny.

What the court and the public were most worried about at this moment was naturally that the emperor would change his temperament drastically because of this incident, and the good situation would be ruined.

"His Majesty……"

The queen spoke in a sad tone and hatred was evident in her eyes.

But before she could utter the name "Brother Hai", Emperor Jing said indifferently: "Send the queen back to the palace to rest."

The palace maids around hurriedly responded, and then a female official came forward and helped the queen leave.

Emperor Jing took a last look at the prince's remains on the coffin, then turned and walked out.

When the princes heard the footsteps, they immediately calmed down and waited in awe.

Emperor Jing stepped closer, glanced at all the people kneeling on the ground, and said expressionlessly: "Follow me to the court." "Your son obeys your order."

The princes responded cautiously in unison.

Inside the Daqing Hall, civil and military officials of the Jing Dynasty stood in groups.

Looking around, I saw that everyone's expression was very depressed, but there were still some differences upon closer inspection.

Most of the court officials were worried and would look at two ministers from time to time. One of them was Qing Yugong, Prince of Changshan. Rumor has it that the sudden death of the crown prince was related to him. The other was Tian Jue, the chief minister of the Ministry of Music.

As the emperor's right-hand man, this man was tasked with finding out the cause of the prince's death. I wonder if there has been any progress.

"Your Majesty is here!"

Amid the sharp and high-pitched shouts of the eunuch leader, Emperor Jing appeared in the sight of the ministers, followed by a group of princes.

All the ministers shouted "Long live the emperor".

Emperor Jing sat high on the dragon throne and said in a deep voice, "Stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The ministers stood up.

Emperor Jing went straight to the point and said, "Tian Jue."

"The minister is here."

"Have you found out the cause of the prince's death?"

Tian Jue stood outside the class. This civil servant, secretly called a "living dead" by the Jinglian nobles, was thin, with obvious depressions on his cheeks and bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that this period of time was extremely torturous for him.

Under the tense and concerned gaze of the ministers, Tian Jue bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have imprisoned and interrogated all the palace servants who served the crown prince, a total of 124 people, but after repeated interrogations, nothing was found. I also interrogated the people in the Imperial Hospital, but still found nothing. When I checked the imperial kitchen, I finally found a clue."

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became stagnant.

The Fourth Prince Hai Ge's heart suddenly tightened, but he managed to keep his composure and looked at Tian Jue with indignation.

At this time, Marshal Sagai of the North Court did not look at Tian Jue, but looked at Qing Yugong who was standing next to him, but all he saw was a face full of sorrow because of the death of the prince.

Tian Jue continued, "According to the junior supervisor of the Imperial Kitchen, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince likes a kind of fine wine called Queshan Red, so the Imperial Kitchen often stores a batch of it for emergency use. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince fell into a coma 21 days ago and passed away nine days ago. On the night that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince fell into a coma, there was a jar of Queshan Red in the meal sent by the Imperial Kitchen. At first, I couldn't confirm whether there was anything strange about this Queshan Red. After all, according to the rules of the palace, all meals must be tested for poison, and there was nothing unusual in the inspection that night."

He paused for a moment, his tone becoming heavier. "The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for purchasing this Queshan Red, and the supplier is the Dachang Store in Beijing. I led people to Dachang Store, and there was nothing unusual at first. However, according to the storekeeper of Dachang Store, one of the guys who delivered Queshan Red to the palace recently suddenly disappeared. After searching the entire city, I finally found the guy this morning, but he had turned into a corpse."

Deathly silence.

What followed was the angry roar of a group of Jinglian nobles.

Tian Jue did not come to a conclusion, but the clues he found were enough to prove that the prince's sudden death must be related to the fine wine called Queshan Red, otherwise how could one of the guys who delivered the wine die so strangely?

This was undoubtedly a sinister murder!

Sitting on the dragon throne, Emperor Jing looked coldly at the excited crowd below. His gaze lingered on Qing Yugong's face for a moment, then he coughed lightly a few times, and the noise below quickly subsided.

He silently clenched his right fist and said slowly, "Is there any problem with the Dachang?"

Tian Jue replied, "Your Majesty, I have arrested all the people related to Dachang Hao. After repeated torture, they all refused to admit that they were related to this case. However, I have found out the identity of the dead clerk. He has no parents and came to Dadu to survive eight years ago. The owner of Dachang Hao saw that he was smart and hardworking, so he gave him a meal. This person does not have many social contacts outside the company. The only thing that can be confirmed is that he is from Qi."

After hearing these words, the Fourth Prince Hai Ge felt relieved.

Emperor Jing nodded slightly and said to his ministers, "From this clue, it seems that the Crown Prince was murdered by the people of Qi. Do you have any objections?"

More than a dozen Jinglian nobles shouted in unison: "Your Majesty, the Qi people are so hateful, we must kill them all to avenge His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"I beg Your Majesty to issue an order to dispatch all the troops to Jiangnan, cut off the head of the Southern Qi emperor, and offer it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in front of the mausoleum!"

"I am willing to personally lead the troops to slaughter Southern Qi and avenge His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Prince Dajing was murdered by the villain of Southern Qi. This hatred is irreconcilable!"

Compared to the ferocious-looking Jinglian nobles, the civil officials seemed quieter. It was not that they dared to offend the emperor at this time, but that the military power of Dajing had nothing to do with them, and it was not their turn to show their loyalty at all.

Emperor Jing looked at them one by one, as if he felt a little comforted, and nodded, "You are so loyal and brave, which proves that I have not misjudged you over the years, but--"

Everyone waited quietly for the emperor's decision.

Emperor Jing's eyes stayed on the head of the military merit class, and he said in a deep voice: "I don't believe that a mere spy from Southern Qi could so easily put poison into the mouth of the crown prince!"

(End of this chapter)