Song Yi

Chapter 404 The Night Trial
The Kangyuan envoy Gudong knelt down and kowtowed: "Queen Mother, I don't know, this medicine was not prepared by the minister, nor was it retested by the minister..."

"Who is it?" The Empress Dowager snapped.

"The signature on the paper package should be the drug seized by Huang Jinmu and re-examined by Hu Xu."

The Empress Dowager turned her head to Jiao Gonggong and said: "Immediately send someone to bring these two people to Aijia!"

Eunuch Jiao agreed, and hurried out of the lobby with a team of thugs.

In the lobby, the empress dowager sat there with a gloomy face. Although she saw the fat pig poisoned to death by taking cinnabar with her own eyes, she couldn't understand it. She looked at Du Wenhao and said, "Du Aiqing, why can cinnabar be poisoned?"

The ancients have always believed that cinnabar is non-toxic. That is because cinnabar is different from arsenic. The poisoning amount is relatively large and the lethal amount is greater, while the amount of medicinal cinnabar is very small and generally cannot reach the lethal dose. Although it is said that cinnabar can prolong life, the common people I know, it needs to be refined by an alchemist, so no one takes cinnabar directly for the purpose of prolonging life.Therefore, cinnabar poisoning is very rare, so there is a lack of understanding of cinnabar toxicity, and cinnabar poisoning is mostly chronic poisoning, such as some emperors who seek immortality, taking cinnabar-containing elixir and chronic poisoning.

Du Wenhao had already figured out how to explain this question, and he leaned forward and replied: "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, the so-called medicine is three-point poisonous. Any kind of medicine is actually poisonous. It depends on the dose taken in a single dose. If the dose is within the normal range , even highly poisonous arsenic is also a medicine. For example, there is arsenic ointment in Shenghuifang, which can treat malignant sores with carrion, and Zijin Dan made of arsenic can also treat asthma with cold phlegm. Such high-grade drugs are also poisonous. Another example is the commonly used medicinal material 'Isatidis', which is commonly used to treat fever and febrile diseases caused by exogenous diseases. Throughout the ages, there has never been a single medical book stating that Isatidis is poisonous. However, if it is used in large doses, it will also cause death. Weichen has also encountered such cases in his previous practice of medicine. Another example is 'Qingmuxiang', which can cure diarrhea and abdominal pain. According to medical records, it is non-toxic, but he often encounters cases of death due to large doses. If the empress do not believe it, You can take advantage of this time to try again!"

The Empress Dowager said: "The Ai family believes what you say, so there is no need to try it."

Du Wenhao bowed and cupped his hands: "Thank you, Empress Dowager, the emperor took cinnabar, and there is another more harmful thing, which is the emperor's disease. The emperor's disease is called kidney failure, which means that there is a problem with the kidneys, and the direct consequence of taking large doses of cinnabar, It is to greatly aggravate the degree of this failure, which will lead to acute renal failure and death. Therefore, such a large dose of cinnabar is no different from arsenic to the emperor!"

The empress dowager nodded slowly: "The Ai family understands. This matter needs to be investigated to find out the truth! The Ai family has its own discretion!"

"Yes!" Du Wenhao was secretly happy. He had always suspected that Prince Yong was playing tricks. Now it seems that there are more and more signs to prove this.As long as the empress dowager has this attitude, she is not afraid that King Yong will still be able to ascend the throne.

After a while, Huang Jinmu and Hu Xu, the court judges of the Imperial Medicine Academy, were brought in. When they saw the medicine packages spread out on the table and the dead pig on the ground, both of them were startled, turned over and knelt down and kowtowed.

The Empress Dowager asked coldly: "The medicine on this table, but you prepared it for retesting?"

Eunuch Jiao stepped forward and took the medicine to the ground in front of them.After the two checked it out, they kowtowed and answered yes.

The Empress Dowager sternly said: "Just now Aijia used the same amount of cinnabar in the medicine you grabbed to feed this pig, but the pig died of poisoning. Come on, what's going on?"

The two were stunned, and they kowtowed loudly: "Empress Dowager, please spare me! This is all ordered by Prince Yong."

The empress dowager raised her brows and said sharply: "What's going on? Tell the truth! Otherwise, the Ai family will execute you two in a hurry, and beheaded all over the house!"

The two were scared out of their wits, Huang Jinmu tremblingly said: "I am willing to recruit! Before the emperor dies..."

"Wait!" Du Wenhao interrupted him, and said to the Empress Dowager: "Empress Dowager, the two of them should be interrogated separately, make a record, and then compare the statements to know the truth."

The empress dowager was stunned, and ordered Hu Xu to be brought down for trial, and Huang Jinmu to be interrogated first.

Huang Jinmu kowtowed and said: "Three days before the emperor passed away, Prince Yong came to the imperial pharmacy and asked the two of us to call aside, saying that the emperor is not in good spirits today and needs to be recuperated. He has already consulted Zheng Gu, the envoy of the imperial hospital, and said that Increase the dose of cinnabar in the emperor's prescription. The two of us were a little embarrassed and said that we could only take the medicine according to the dosage on the prescription. Prince Yong said that this was to make the emperor prolong his life. He was responsible for what happened and asked us to follow his advice. We All in all, cinnabar is a high-grade elixir, not only non-toxic, but also has the effect of prolonging life, there is nothing wrong with increasing the dose. I agree..."

The empress dowager sternly said: "Do you know what the crime is if you don't take the medicine according to the prescription?"

Huang Jinmu prostrated himself on the ground and wept: "If you're guilty...you should be executed if you're guilty...I deserve to die, but these are all orders from Prince Yong, and I dare not disobey. I was confused for a while, please forgive me!"

Du Wenhao interjected: "The medicine used on the day the emperor died was far greater than the dosage in the previous three days. What's going on?"

Huang Jinmu said: "One day before the emperor passed away, Prince Yong came to see us two again, saying that the emperor still felt out of spirits, and asked us to increase the dose. We didn't think much, so we did it. The second When we learned that the emperor passed away, we were also worried about the elixir that the emperor took, so we asked Lord Yong. Lord Yong asked me if I have ever heard of cinnabar eating dead people? Of course we shook our heads, and King Yong comforted him. This incident is a coincidence, the emperor is suffering from a sudden illness, it has nothing to do with our medicine, so don't worry about it, and don't talk about it outside."

The Empress Dowager ordered Huang Jinmu to be taken down with a sullen face, and Hu Xu to be brought up for interrogation. The events described were completely consistent with Huang Jinmu's.

The empress dowager ordered the two to be thrown into prison and handed over to Dali Temple for questioning.He was removed from all the positions of the Kangyuan Envoy of the Royal Medicine Academy and demoted to a commoner.Then he took all those medicine bags and drove back to the palace.
Back in the palace, the empress dowager called Du Wenhao into the room, turned away from the screen, and burst into tears: "Wen Hao, what should I do...?"

The empress dowager did not expect that such a result would be found out. Her second son poisoned the eldest son of the emperor with non-poisonous poison.This is an unacceptable fact for any mother.

This result actually made Du Wenhao chuckle secretly, but he also had a very sympathetic look on his face: "Tao Tao, you don't have to be too sad, maybe Prince Yong didn't know that a large dose of cinnabar can kill people. That's what kindness does."

When the Empress Dowager heard this, she said happily with tears in her eyes: "That's right! Fortunately, you reminded me that this is entirely possible! Hao'er is kind-hearted, and would never do such a thing of killing a brother and seizing the throne. He must have made a mistake. It’s wrong, or I misunderstood someone’s words! That’s right, I’ll send someone to call Hao’er right away, and I’ll know as soon as I ask…!”

"Wait! Taotao." Du Wenhao hurriedly grabbed her hand.

"What's the matter?" the queen mother raised her face and asked.

"Do you really want to find out the truth, or do you want to exonerate King Yong?"

"Naturally, we must find out the truth!"

"Then you can't ask like that."

The empress dowager was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood the meaning of Du Wenhao's words, she nodded and said: "That's right, if you ask Hao'er directly like this, maybe Hao'er will shirk responsibility, if you can't ask the real situation, the result is not credible , do you have any good suggestions?"

Du Wenhao said slowly: "There is always one way, but you have to take some risks."

"What method, you talk about it first."

"Have you heard the story of Kou Zhun's night trial of Pan Renmei?"

The empress dowager was stunned for a moment: "Kou Zhun, Kou Pingzhong? The prime minister of Emperor Taizong?"

"Yes."

"I know this, but Pan Renmei has never heard of it. Who is it?"

Du Wenhao was stunned for a moment, Pan Renmei was such a famous treacherous official in the Northern Song Dynasty, how could she, as the Empress Dowager, not know about it?I have watched a lot of Yang Jiajiang's stories, novels, storytelling, and TV dramas, especially Yang Jiajiang's storytelling. His daughter Pan Surong is Emperor Taizong's Empress of the West Palace!"

"Emperor Taizong's West Palace Empress?" The empress dowager frowned slightly. As an empress dowager, she was very familiar with the royal family tree. After thinking about it carefully, "Emperor Taizong had four empresses in total, namely Empress Yin, Empress Fu, and Empress Li. And Concubine Li Xian. Concubine Li Xian pursued her posthumous posthumous posthumously. The only concubine is Wang Defei, and there is no concubine with the surname Pan."

"Really?" Du Wenhao was a little dumbfounded. After thinking about it, he realized that the stories of the generals of the Yang family had been changed through artistic processing. Hitomi might be the same, perhaps modeled on someone from history.So I didn't know the number, so I smiled and said: "This..., hehe, I also read it from Unofficial Romance, maybe it's not accurate."

The empress dowager just wanted to know how to find out whether her second son Yong Wang Zhao Hao had poisoned his eldest son Song Shenzong.Without going into details, he nodded and said, "That's it, then you can continue with the story."

Du Wenhao beamed with joy and said: "Emperor Taizong's favorite general Yang Lao Linggong Yang Jiye is world-class in martial arts, brave and resourceful. There are eight sons under his knees, known as the Seven Langs and Eight Tigers, all of them are brave and good at fighting, loyal and sincere. The treacherous and cunning Grand Master Pan Renmei, Plotting the Great Song Dynasty, he indulged his son Pan Bao to set up a ring to seize the commander-in-chief seal, but was hacked to death on the ring by Yang Jiye's son Yang Qilang. Monarch, bloody battle on the Golden Sands..."

The Empress Dowager wondered: "Has Emperor Taizong been trapped in Youzhou? How come I don't know?"

"Hey, I've said it all, this is a story from wild history, it can't be done right."

"Oh, go ahead."

"The generals of the Yang family fought in a bloody battle on the Golden Beach, Yang Jiye's soldiers trapped Li Lingbei, and Yang Qilang broke out from the siege and went down the mountain to move troops. On the flagpole, ten thousand arrows were fired, and he was shot to death. Mr. Yang Linggong did not want to be captured and humiliated, so he rammed his head to death in front of the Li Ling monument. In the Battle of Jinshatan, the whole family of the Yang family died. In the end, only The remaining Liulang Yang Yanzhao..."

"Wait, I heard you tell this story, it seems to be about Emperor Taizong Yang Ye. Yang Ye's son is called Yang Yanzhao."

"That's right! Yang Ye, Yang Jiye, almost. By the way, do the generals of the Yang family have any descendants?"

"If it's really General Yang Ye, then there will be more. Tianbo Yang's Mansion is not far behind the palace."

Du Wenhao said happily: "Is Yang Liulang still there?"

"You're talking about Yang Yanzhao, right? He's gone for a long time. After his death, he was buried in Yonghou Mausoleum for Emperor Yingzong."

Only then did Du Wenhao understand that after Yang Yanzhao's death, Meng Shengen was buried in the emperor's tomb, and he was buried in the tomb of Song Yingzong, the empress dowager's husband.He asked again, "What about his son Yang Zongbao?"

"Yang Zongbao?" The Empress Dowager said in surprise, "I heard that Yang Yanzhao had three sons, the youngest one was named Yang Wenguang, but I've never heard of Yang Zongbao. But Yang Wenguang is dead, almost ten years, Xining Died in seven years."

"Who else is there in the Yang family?"

The story of the generals of the Yang family became popular after the Ming Dynasty, but the generals of the Yang family in the Song Dynasty were far less famous than they are in modern times.The Empress Dowager didn't know very well, and shook her head: "When you're done with your work for a while, you go to Tianbo Yang's Mansion to pay a visit, don't you know? You'd better talk about Pan Renmei that night first."

"That's right! Later, Yang Yanzhao was sad and angry, and sued Pan Renmei to avenge her personal revenge at the Jindian Palace. Pan Renmei tried every means and refused to admit it. The emperor asked Yushi Kou Zhun to try the case. The eight sages Zhao Defang and Kou Zhun set up a plan Assuming that the underworld, Zhao Defang, the eight sages, pretended to be the Lord of the Underworld, and Kou Zhun, the imperial censor, pretended to be the judge, and tried Pan Renmei at night. Pan Renmei was brought to the Hall of Yama. In the dark, he didn't know if it was a fraud, but in a trance, it seemed that he had really arrived in the underworld. In the end, I was frightened and frightened, so I confessed the truth, and was finally killed. Hehe"

The empress dowager said in a daze: "You mean, we also set up a hellish mansion to interrogate Hao'er?"

"Well! Let's also set up a hellish mansion, so that Prince Yong can meet the emperor in the underworld. As the saying goes: 'If you don't do anything wrong, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door'! If Prince Yong didn't poison the emperor, he wouldn't be afraid to see the emperor. I will be afraid, if it is really him who did it, I will definitely be scared to death, and then I will have someone pretend to be King Yama for the first trial, and I will definitely tell the truth."

The empress dowager was stunned for a while, then nodded slowly: "That's a good idea. Let's do it this way! You arrange it! But hurry up, and find out this matter before the fifth watch, so as not to delay the funeral at dawn tomorrow."

"Okay!" Du Wenhao hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "But..., I'm just worried about one thing..."

"what's up?"

"If Prince Yong really murdered the emperor, then..., once he sees the emperor in the underworld, he may be frightened crazy. You must be mentally prepared for this, lest King Yong go crazy from fright, and you blame me. "

The empress dowager's expression was gloomy. She hoped that the result would prove that her second son Yong Wang Zhao Hao did not murder her eldest son Song Shenzong. Bajiu was poisoned to death by his second son Zhao Hao.Hearing Du Wenhao's words, he couldn't help weeping and said: "Don't worry, I won't blame you. If Hao'er really murdered his emperor brother, then he..., he went crazy because of it, and it's his own fault. He usurped the throne one day , killing the emperor brother, the crime deserves to die, just going crazy, it is already very cheap for him..."

"That's good!" Du Wenhao whispered his plan in the Empress Dowager's ear, and the Empress Dowager nodded slowly after listening: "Okay, I will do as you said. Immediately!"

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King Yong Zhao Hao followed his mother out of the palace in a sedan chair and walked on the quiet street.After the death of the emperor and the empress dowager, there was a curfew throughout the city during the funeral, so the streets were very quiet, and occasionally a few dogs barking could be heard.

King Yong didn't know where he was going, and the queen mother didn't tell him. He wanted to pick up the car curtain to have a look, but the car curtain was locked from the outside.He could only follow along in a muffled voice.

After a while, the sedan chair finally stopped.Then, someone outside said: "My lord, we're here, you can get off the sedan chair."It's like being in a jar.

Prince Yong waited for a while, but no one helped him pick out the car curtain, so he had to pull the car curtain by himself, and found that it had been unbuttoned.

He lifted up the sedan chair curtain, got out of the sedan chair, and looked up, it seemed to be a house, very deserted, but he didn't know whose house it belonged to. In the dim moonlight, he could see a bend of lake water not far away, reflecting the Moonlight, emitting a faint silver light.On the surface of the lake, flat bubbles can be seen gurgling like boiling water.

His sedan chair was parked by the lake.The person who carried the sedan chair had disappeared.The mother's sedan chair also disappeared.There is no one around.

King Yong was a little scared, he felt chilly all over his body, suddenly, he heard a sound coming from behind him, it was the sound of footsteps, clicking.

Turning around suddenly, I saw a person standing not far away, to be precise, it was a person in a yellow robe. When the person saw him turn around, he stood still.

"Who is it?" King Yong asked boldly.

The other party didn't answer, just stood there motionless.

He took a closer look and found that the man was wearing a golden dragon yellow robe!And with a crown!At this time, the emperor's dress, who is so bold to wear a yellow robe?He wanted to ask sharply, but suddenly felt that the man's eyes were very familiar, very familiar.However, the mouth was gone, and it became a big black hole!
At this moment, King Yong heard a sound behind him again, it was a kind of fluttering rushing sound, he turned his head suddenly, and saw two black and white human figures floating in the air, with long robes floating all the way to the surface of the lake.

Looking closely, he found that the two men were both blue-faced and long-fanged, with long tongues and mourning sticks in their hands, sneering sharply at him. ——Could it be that this is the legendary black and white impermanence?
King Yong was frightened, he backed up a few steps, bumped into something in a panic, turned his head, and found that the man in yellow robe had arrived behind him at some point. The dead brother Shenzong!
This frightened him so much that he fell to the ground and wanted to get up and run, but his hands and feet were so frightened that he couldn't move.Seeing Song Shenzong drifting over, a voice fluttered from far away and nearer: "Give me back my life! Give me back my life...!"

(End of this chapter)