Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 115: The Prince Consort Confesses? (Three Updates)

Princess Yongchun's Mansion.

Lu Bing gripped the handle of the Xiuchun sword with his five fingers and watched the people coming in and out with a gloomy expression.

Soon, Li Ming, the coroner from Shuntian Prefecture, emerged. Nicknamed "Iron Mirror," he was unobstructed during his autopsy. He respectfully approached and reported, "The deceased was lying face up on the blue brick floor of a wing room, head to the north, feet to the south, arms slightly bent and outstretched, fingers curled in a grasping gesture. His face was a cyanotic color, eyes slightly wide open, lips and teeth dark blue, tongue tip pressed against teeth, front teeth chipped, scratch marks visible above the Adam's apple, one inch and three centimeters apart, and a transverse cartilage fracture..."

"He was strangled to death?"

Lu Bing said in a deep voice.

"Yes!"

Li Ming could see that the doctor was on the verge of a rage, so he stopped describing the autopsy process in detail and said simply, "The murderer must have reached out from behind and grabbed Imperial Physician Li's neck, strangling him to death!"

Lu Bing said, "Any clues?"

Li Mingdao said, "People who are strangled in this position will often instinctively reach out to grab the murderer, leaving behind the murderer's skin flakes and blood between their ten fingernails. Those who exert too much force may even break their nails. Imperial Physician Li's nails didn't break, but there was some blood between the nails..."

Lu Bing's eyes lit up: "Before Li Shaoting died, he scratched the murderer?"

"I don't know, but the autopsy results are like this."

Li Ming lowered his head.

The duty of a coroner is to perform an autopsy. Solving cases is never their responsibility. Being cautious in what you say and do is the way to survive.

Lu Bing had not originally planned to get an answer from the coroner. He took the corpse frame with the ink still wet, looked at it carefully, and when he had an idea in his mind, he turned around and hurried out.

As soon as he left the backyard, a donkey-faced man came towards him. It was Zhou Wu, Lu Bing's subordinate who was best at forcing confessions. Others called him Zhou Wu Poison, which showed how cruel his methods were.

At this moment, Zhou Wu came up to him and immediately reported: "Hui Xiang has given instructions!"

"Who is it?"

"Cishou Palace."

"really!"

Lu Bing snorted coldly.

The two Empress Dowagers, the Ciren Palace belonged to Empress Dowager Jiang, and the Cishou Palace belonged to Empress Dowager Zhang.

As a direct descendant of Prince Xing's Mansion, it is self-evident which side Lu Bing stands on.

And it's not just a political stance, he personally dislikes Empress Dowager Zhang Cishou.

Because in the first year of Jiajing, after Jiang and Zhu Houcong entered the palace, Empress Dowager Zhang actually asked the mother and son to kneel and pay their respects.

It would have been fine if Zhu Houcong had just knelt down, after all, the emperor had to treat the empress dowager with proper courtesy, but asking Jiang to kneel down as well was pure humiliation.

The old woman seemed to still think that she was the sole owner of the harem during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, or that she was the sole empress dowager in power during the reign of Emperor Wuzong.

After that, the two Empress Dowagers clashed with each other, fighting openly and secretly, and there were constant disturbances.

After the previous dynasty's grand ceremony was finally decided, in the eighth year of Jiajing, Empress Dowager Zhang's two arrogant brothers, Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, were stripped of their titles as relatives of the emperor. They instantly went from being the most powerful relatives of the emperor who dared to secretly wear the dragon robe in the palace to being criminals who were hated by everyone.

This was already the most severe warning, yet this old man actually dared to order the palace maids around and stir up trouble in the princess's mansion. Lu Bing gritted his teeth and asked, "Have you written your confession?"

Zhou Wu said, "Alright! Detailed information is needed. The contact person in the palace, including the personal nanny in Cishou Palace, has been specifically instructed to confirm Princess Fanglian's suspicion. The future of any Imperial Academy student who has any connection with Princess Fanglian will also be ruined!"

"So, the princess's poisoning is directly related to Cishou Palace!"

Lu Bing made a direct judgment: "This Li Shaoting must have been silenced! The guards were too lax last night..."

Zhou Wu and the two Jinyiwei following behind him knelt down together: "It's our fault!"

"stand up!"

Lu Bing frowned. "It was my fault for being so careless. I failed to take precautions. The murderer was so bold that he dared to commit the crime directly in the princess's mansion. What has this to do with you? Go and call the guards in the mansion!"

Soon, seven or eight guards knelt down in front of him tremblingly.

This time, Lu Bing didn't let them get up. He glanced at them with a cold look, full of disappointment.

These guards also belong to the Jinyiwei.

But there is no doubt that the Jinyiwei following Lu Bing are completely not of the same level as the Jinyiwei guarding the princess's mansion.

The latter are just a bunch of guys who just want to get by, and they are not much better than the imperial guards of the capital.

Lu Bing hadn't originally expected them to be so loyal to their duties, but the princess had just been in an accident and hadn't regained consciousness yet, and a murder had occurred in the guest room that night, so he was still furious. "You know, Imperial Physician Li was here to treat His Highness, and now he's been murdered by thieves. If His Highness doesn't regain consciousness, you will be held responsible!"

The guards were horrified and kowtowed profusely, "Mercy! Mercy!"

"Cut the crap out of me. Who was on patrol last night? Who was on duty?"

“I…” “And I…”

"Why are there only two of you?" "The others are guarding outside the main hall, and one is also watching over the illusion team."

"Tell me about your patrol."

"It was just a routine patrol. We heard Imperial Physician Li flipping through medical books in his room, probably looking for a way to detoxify His Highness. Later, he came out to ask us if His Highness had woken up... Oh, right! He seemed to want to go out at that time, but looked at the night and returned to his room..."

"You didn't ask?"

"This imperial physician has a bad temper and a gloomy face, as if something unacceptable has happened. Anyway, we dare not ask him with that look!"

"and then?"

"Then there's nothing left, so we just patrol..."

"How many watches do you patrol on?"

"Third watch... Second watch... roughly that time..."

Lu Bing glanced at the two of them coldly.

Through a brief interrogation, he had basically judged that these two guys could not tell the truth. They did not patrol carefully last night, but simply took a walk around. When they saw the candlelight in Li Shaoting's house, they went back to sleep.

This gave the murderer ample time to commit the crime.

"Luckily, the murderer left a flaw on the body. Otherwise, with the Princess's Mansion's guards being practically useless, any one or two people could have gotten in from outside and committed the crime. How would I have tracked them down?"

Lu Bing waved his hand and immediately ordered: "Take this group of people and seal off the Princess's residence inside and out. Then check each person's hands, from wrist to forearm, to see if there are any new scratches!"

"Yes!"

The Jinyiwei scattered.

A murder occurred in the princess's mansion, which was a serious matter. No one dared to neglect it at this moment, and everyone took action.

The results come out quickly.

"Let me go! Let me go! Mr. Lu, what are you doing?"

Looking at the person being escorted to him, Lu Bing couldn't help but narrow his eyes: "Captain Xie...it's you!"

The person who came was the son-in-law Xie Zhao. It was obvious that he had struggled for a while and seemed to have been dragged here. The soft towel wrapped around his head had fallen off, revealing his shiny forehead. He looked quite embarrassed.

The key point is that Lu Bing grabbed his sleeve and lifted it up, revealing several scratches on his wrist. "What's going on?"

Prince Consort Xie Zhao said in a trembling voice, "I just explained it. A wild raccoon jumped out last night and grabbed my hand. It hurt a lot!"

"Are there still wild raccoons in the princess's mansion?"

"Yes! I clearly heard the call of a wild cat last night, and then I saw a dark shadow flash by. You guys go look for it, maybe you can still find it!"

Lu Bing's expression turned cold. "Captain Xie, you'd better think it over. There's a difference between a wound caused by a wild cat scratch and one caused by a human fingernail. If you keep denying it, I'm afraid you'll be charged with a serious crime in front of the Queen Mother and His Majesty!"

Prince Consort Xie Zhao was silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "What happened again...is it going to cause a disturbance in the palace?"

Lu Bing said, "Li Shaoting, the imperial physician from the Imperial Hospital, died in the guest room last night. He was strangled to death by the murderer, and before he died, he also scratched the murderer's hand!"

Prince Consort Xie Zhao's voice trembled slightly: "Sheren Lu suspected that I had harmed Imperial Physician Li? Why would I do that?"

Lu Bing said calmly, "That's a question for you, Captain Xie. For example, did you have anything to do with Her Royal Highness the Princess's coma?"

"You! You guys! You can't slander me. I didn't do it! How could I harm my wife!!"

Prince Consort Xie Zhao suddenly became agitated and began to struggle with his arms until Lu Bing came over and said coldly, "We already know about Gao Zhongyuan's situation."

The son-in-law Xie Zhao suddenly froze, stopped struggling instantly, and his eyes quickly turned red.

When Princess Yongchun was choosing a son-in-law, he was not the only candidate, nor even the first choice. The first choice was Gao Zhongyuan, who was handsome and elegant. The concubines and eunuchs all thought that he was the most suitable son-in-law, but Empress Dowager Jiang did not like Gao Zhongyuan and chose Xie Zhao instead. In the end, the princess married him.

The princess was already feeling depressed, and as luck would have it, Xie Zhao's hair fell out early, and the news even got out, making him a laughing stock on the streets. The princess was furious and deliberately distanced herself from him during that period. Otherwise, the servants in the palace would not have dared to be so rampant and openly separate the princess and her husband. This was caused by multiple factors.

If Xie Zhao said he didn't mind, it would be a lie. Now that Lu Bing had exposed him, he felt even more ashamed. But he cried, "I would never harm my wife... How could I harm my wife..."

Hearing such a sorrowful voice, Lu Bing frowned slightly and said, "Go call Li Tiejian."

Coroner Li Ming hurried over. Lu Bing pointed at Xie Zhao and said, "Take a close look at his wound. Was it a wild cat scratch or a human hand? You can tell the difference, right?"

Li Ming stepped forward to examine the wound and immediately reported, "This is a wound caused by a scratch."

Lu Bing pressed on: "Was it the deceased, Li Shaoting, who caught him?"

Li Ming gestured and said, "I can't be completely sure, but the direction of the wound does match the position where Li Shaoting struggled and scratched the assailant with his backhand before his death."

Lu Bing's face darkened. He was so hesitant just now that he turned to Xie Zhao and said sternly, "What else do you have to say?"

Xie Zhao lowered his head and remained silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed deeply: "Okay... I admit... I killed Li Shaoting!"

(End of this chapter)