Besides lying down, I also know a little about power struggles

Chapter 27 Tit for tat
After Liang Han finished speaking, the whole place fell silent.

Now everyone understood that Liang Han was not talking about the fire in Baixifang. He was clearly trying to investigate the attack on Feng Twelve during the Spring Hunt.

There were few confused ministers present, and for a moment, everyone's brains were working rapidly.

The first day of this spring hunting trip was not peaceful.

First, Prince Ping was assassinated, and then the twelfth prince was attacked. The assassination of Prince Ping was related to the Crown Prince, and the attack on the twelfth prince was related to Prince Ping. Although these things happened in the enclosure, there have never been secrets in the capital. In just two or three days, the news had spread among the court officials.

Although both the Prince's Mansion and the Prince Ping's Mansion seemed quiet on the surface during these twenty days, everyone knew that this was just the calm before the storm. When the emperor returned to Beijing, a big drama would be staged.

But no one expected that the one who kicked off this curtain was not King Ping or the Crown Prince, but Feng Twelve.

Although Feng Twelve belongs to the Prince's Party, he usually keeps silent and has almost no presence in the court. Who would have thought that a dog that bites doesn't bark? If this man doesn't take action, it's fine. But when he does, he throws down a huge thunder.

Wei Guangzheng spoke subconsciously: "The coroner's case file should be handed over to the Dali Temple for review. Are you, the Censorate, trying to take over the Dali Temple's work?"

Before he finished speaking, the Dali Temple official standing beside him spoke up: "Lord Liang asked me about this matter yesterday, but the Dali Temple had not received the coroner's file yet, so it rejected Lord Liang."

Wei Guangzheng originally wanted to stir up Dali Temple's dissatisfaction with Liang Han, but he didn't expect that the two sides had already met before, so he felt that he had gotten nothing, and laughed: "Dali Temple is really good-tempered."

Liang Han ignored the conversation between the two men and said to the emperor, "To be honest with you, Your Majesty, I have seen the wives and children of these two families. Both women said that their husbands were hired by their former superiors to do errands for the nobles, but they never returned. On the night of the Baixifang fire, these two families were knocked unconscious and thrown into the fire. Fortunately, they were rescued by the neighbors."

He pulled out a scroll from his sleeve and presented it with both hands: "This is the confession of the two women. Your Majesty, please take a look."

Chao En looked at the emperor's expression, walked down, took the confession, and presented it back to the emperor.

The emperor unfolded the scroll and took a look at it, then asked, "Do you suspect that those two beast trainers were the murderers who assassinated the twelfth prince?"

"That's right." Liang Han said, "The fire at Baixifang affected many people, so I had to investigate in detail. I happened to hear that the twelfth prince was in danger in the enclosure, and there were two murderers. I became suspicious and asked the guards of the prince's mansion for the portraits of the two people, but I didn't expect that the portraits were exactly the same as those given by the two women."

There is no need to say more. Since they look the same, it is obvious who the murderer is.

The emperor glanced at the Dali Temple officials below him and asked: "What do you think of this?"

The Dali Temple Minister stepped out and said: "Last night, the Dali Temple received two corpses sent by the Imperial Guards. However, after twenty days, the bodies are no longer recognizable. We have to wait for the two families to come and identify the bodies."

The emperor nodded and said, "In that case, let your Dali Temple handle it."

Liang Han continued, "Your Majesty, I have something else to say."

The emperor handed the confession in his hand to Chao En and said: "You, the Censorate, always speak out what you know, and you speak out everything you know. Tell me, what else do you have?"

Liang Han said: "Those two beast trainers originally belonged to the Beihe Army's Cavalry and Infantry Battalion. If I remember correctly, the commander of the guards of Prince Ping's Palace, Lin Tiande, was from the Cavalry and Infantry Battalion."

Before the emperor could speak, an official who was on good terms with Prince Ping said, "Lord Liang, please be careful with your words. The Dali Temple has not yet found out the truth. How can you make random accusations?"

Liang Han shook his head: "I just want to say that we can ask Commander Lin for help in identifying the corpse. He and the beast trainer are both from the cavalry and infantry camp, so it is possible that they know each other." This statement was well-reasoned and no one could find any reason to refute it.

The official said, "Commander Lin holds an important position, how could he recognize two soldiers? Sir Liang, you are asking too much."

Liang Han turned to look at him and smiled: "For Commander Lin, it's just a piece of cake. Could it be that Prince Ping's Mansion is unwilling to help even with this little favor? Speaking of which, the two murderers are both wearing the uniforms of Prince Ping's Mansion guards, and even their weapons were issued by Prince Ping's Mansion. Your Highness Prince Ping should take this opportunity to clear his suspicion."

"You--" The official was pulled on the sleeve by his colleague and had to swallow his rebuttal.

He knew that no matter what explanation he gave for Prince Ping at this moment, it would be like trying to cover up one's own guilt. It would be better for him to follow Liang Han's suggestion and let Lin Tiande come forward to help, so that Prince Ping's Mansion would appear to have a clear conscience.

The official was indignant and signaled with his eyes at Wei Guangzheng opposite him.

Since the twelfth prince took the lead in attacking, it is time for them to take action as well.

But Wei Guang was seen slowly moving back to the queue without saying a word.

Wei Guang was looking down at his ivory tablet, pretending not to notice the signal from Prince Ping's cronies.

It is true that he has always been at odds with the Censorate, but he is not a fool. Didn’t he see that Liang Han came prepared, and the evidence he prepared was more sufficient than his?

The prince hired assassins to kill people, relying on the confessions of several assassins and at most the itinerary of Meng Xuanyi, the Minister of Examination. But it was different when Prince Ping hired assassins, because all the details were revealed.

Didn't you hear Liang Han say that the two beast tamers were from the Beihe Army? Who was the commander of the Beihe Army? It was Sui Yongdao, the uncle of Prince Ping.

Lin Tiande was the former superior of the two men. Regardless of whether Prince Ping really ordered the two men to assassinate the twelfth prince, he was closely related to this matter.

What's more important is that whether it was the Crown Prince dealing with Prince Ping or Prince Ping dealing with the twelfth prince, it was all a fight between the princes. But a fire in Baixifang changed the nature of the matter.

The emperor has always loved his people like his own children. If what happened to Prince Ping is confirmed, it would be a slap in the face of His Majesty.

Your Majesty's son has killed a lot of people out of his own selfishness. It's not just a few or dozens of lives, but hundreds. In addition, houses and streets were damaged, and the Ministry of Revenue spent a large amount of money. Every single one of these things violated the emperor's taboos.

Wei Guangzheng unnoticeably hid himself behind others. He did not want to offend the emperor at this moment. If he went out to impeach the prince now, not to mention the emperor, even other court officials would think that he was helping Prince Ping to escape punishment.

Impeaching the crown prince was one thing, but placing oneself in the King Ping's camp was another.

The Pingwang Mansion had originally hoped that Wei Guangzheng would take the lead and they would follow up. However, who would have thought that he would desert the battlefield. The plan discussed in advance was completely ruined. They looked at each other in confusion, not knowing whether they should continue.

No wonder the prince's party didn't say much today. It turned out that they had no intention of paying attention to the assassination of Prince Ping at all. Isn't that right? Liang Han retreated after saying this, leaving all the problems to Prince Ping's Mansion and the Emperor.

The emperor looked at the courtiers below with different expressions and slowly said, "Besides this matter, do you have any other reports?"

(End of this chapter)