Hou Men Splendid

Chapter 105 The Prince's Assassination

Luodu City sent people to respond immediately. By the time the seriously injured Crown Prince was escorted back to Luodu City, it was already the end of April. The fact that he went out to inspect the floods in the south turned into an assassination. When such news spread, people in Luodu City panicked.

A few years ago, there was the case of the prince's mansion Xiaojun being poisoned to death. Now that the emperor's health is getting worse every year, and the prince is assassinated again, it is not clear what the killer's intentions are.

After the prince was sent back to the Prince's Mansion, countless imperial physicians entered and left the Prince's Mansion. They rushed on the road for several days. The serious injuries were not relieved but aggravated. The Imperial Medical Office was sleepless for several days, checking day and night. It has stabilized, but the person is still unconscious.

The emperor was furious, and ordered a large number of people to go south to arrest the murderer. When the patrol team was assassinated, more than half of them were killed or injured, and some men in black were also strangled, and all of them were brought back to the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

In the Chengqian palace in the palace, the emperor sat on the dragon chair, showing a few strands of white hair, and his face was serious. After hearing the imperial doctor come in and report the situation of the prince again, his expression became more and more serious. His life can be saved, but he was hit. Poison, it is not sure when I will wake up.

"Your Majesty, according to the description of the guards escorting the prince, the men in black are all very skilled. They are not as many as the patrolling ones, but they can fight with one enemy. The target is His Royal Highness. They are vicious and quick. Chasing the evacuated team and not letting go, if it hadn't entered the city, I'm afraid I would really die, it doesn't look like they were trained in the martial arts academy and barracks." General Mu knelt on the ground and said.

"You mean these assassins are hidden guards." The emperor said in a deep voice, and General Mu nodded.

The emperor has hidden guards, and many princes' mansions will also train them, let alone the prince. Now that the prince is injured by the dark guards, someone must have deliberately trained so many dark guards for use. There are such people It exists, but it is not used by the emperor, it is a threat.

"Inspected by the Ministry of Criminal Justice, these hidden guards have a totem mark on their bodies." Mr. Zhang, Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, knelt down and said, "Please take a look, Your Majesty."

The eunuch sent the painted totem to the emperor, who only glanced at it and scolded, "Ridiculous!"

Others don't know about this totem, but the emperor knows it very well. This is a totem of the queen mother's mother family. How could it be a secret guard? The queen mother is the prince's real grandmother, so how could she assassinate the prince.

"Investigate, let me find out who sent these assassins, we must find out within a month!" The emperor immediately ordered, but General Mu and others who came out were full of sorrow.

All the assassins brought back were dead, and all the living ones fled. No useful evidence was found at the scene.

"Zhang Shangshu, the Holy Majesty is angry, what is the meaning of this totem?" General Mu looked at Zhang Shangshu and asked, Zhang Shangshu shook his head, "It's easy to check."

Lin Wenxi, who was silent on the side, said, "This is the totem of the main family of the Fan family. I have seen such a seal on the objects presented by the Fan family to the emperor."

"This is the mother family of the empress dowager." Zhang Shangshu and Lin Wenxi looked at each other, "After the death of the first emperor, the empress dowager handed over the harem to the queen, and the Fan family moved back to the ancestral house. The empress dowager passed away last year, and the Fan family came Many people went to the funeral, and then went back. It is said that the head of the Fan family swore in front of the queen mother that in order not to let the Fan family dominate, no officials above the second rank were allowed within three generations. Now the Fan family is active in the court. Rarely, basically do not participate in important government affairs."

"Farewell here." Minister of the Criminal Ministry thought of something, bid farewell to General Lin Wenximu, and immediately went to the Ministry of Criminal Justice
In the Ministry of Punishment here, after the inspection, some subtle things were discovered, that is, there seemed to be other traces around this obvious Fan family totem. More than half of them are like this, which is strange.

Shao Ziyu came in, covering his mouth and nose with a cloth soaked in medicine. In this weather, the unventilated autopsy room seemed even more suffocating. Wu Zuo said so, Shao Ziyu looked at the clearly carved totems, and compared them with the drawings. Yes, ask the author, "Sooner or later, you may be able to see the engraved time."

"These tattoos are at least three months old." There is no discomfort in the skin around the totem, and it must not be recent.

"Go and find two experienced tattoo masters." Shao Ziyu walked to one side to look at some evidence found at the scene, and compared the time of their appearance, this would not be a sudden assassination, it may have been premeditated.

Shao Ziyu will not be in charge of this case, he is only an assistant, and he will return to Shao's mansion after dark.

Lin Qingran also knew the seriousness of this matter, so she left him in the study after dinner, and played in the main house with her two children. The five-month-old Bo Geer is much smarter now, with a cushion on his back to sit on He was still holding the little doll that Brother Han had just stuffed in his hand, pulling his hands together, and he opened his mouth to laugh.

Lin Qingran came over after reading the book, probably tired from playing during the day, brother Han fell asleep on the soft couch, brother Bo lay next to his brother, and the two brothers fell asleep with their heads pressed against each other.

Asking the nanny to carry him back, Lin Qingran rinsed her mouth and went to the study to see Shao Ziyu, who was still looking for books on the shelf.

Lin Qingran went in with refreshing tea, "Did you encounter a problem?"

"I'm looking at something about the Fan family." It's just that it's not a big family that has disappeared, it has been included in the book, and there are very few things about the Fan family in Seoul.

"The queen mother's mother's family?" Lin Qingran sat down, "Isn't that already leaving Luodu City? Could the assassin have something to do with them?"

"I suspect that the tattoo on the man in black is not the original one. It must have been engraved for a short time. This is the totem of the Fan family. Look." Shao Ziyu opened a book and pointed to the uncomplicated Fan family tattoo on it. Totem, "If you see someone with a tattoo like this, it's the Fan family in Seoul, and not everyone has it, but the closer the person with this tattoo is to the owner of the Fan family, the more complicated the totem is, and it's not easy for outsiders to distinguish it. Because these are all carved by the masters in the Fan family, and the one on the man in black is the head of the Fan family."

"You mean, the hidden guard raised by Patriarch Fan?"

"Someone deliberately carved the totem of Patriarch Fan's house to cover up the original tattoo of the man in black." Shao Ziyu nodded.

"Why do you want to blame the Fan family?" With so many families in Luodu City, blaming any family is more convincing than blaming the Fan family. It is impossible for the mother family of the prince's grandmother to assassinate the prince. The Fan family will depend on the crown prince in the future.

"I don't think it's so complicated. It's just that the Fan family's tattoo is complex enough to cover up the original tattoo of the man in black." It's not because it can't be covered up. It must be that after being caught, others can recognize it .

This was tinged with some mystery. Lin Qingran knew that people like the Shao family also had family totems. She had seen them in the ancestral hall, but it was not complicated. People like the Lin family were not qualified to have family totems.

"Not everyone in the clan is qualified to have this tattoo." Shao Ziyu turned a few pages and showed her the ones she knows now. If there are hidden guards in the family, then these dark guards will also be engraved on their bodies to represent the Shao family, to distinguish them, one is representative identity, and the latter means that these dark guards are raised by the Shao family and sent by the Shao family as slaves."

This reminded Lin Qingran of the black trade, where the arms or the more visible parts of the body should be branded. After some slaves are bought back, the master will brand another one to represent the master, so that when slaves flee abroad, they will be caught. You can recognize it by looking at the branding.

"I was just wondering what kind of tattoo the man in black used to be. It would take a complex tattoo like the Fan family's to cover it up." Shao Ziyu didn't need to think about his motives at the moment. It was for the throne.

"You have to think in terms of complexity. In case someone who starts the job deliberately misleads you, it is actually a very simple tattoo, which is deliberately covered up with the most complicated to confuse the public." Lin Qingran looked at the one he picked out, "What are you doing now? Covering the head on this tattoo, even if five suspects are found, there are still five, and it doesn't explain anything."

Something flashed through Shao Ziyu's mind, and then he looked at Lin Qingran, "Say what you just said again."

"Even if five suspects are found, there are only five, and there is nothing to explain."

"No, the previous sentence."

"Confused?"

"Not this sentence."

"The person who started it deliberately misled you?"

Shao Ziyu's eyes lit up, "Yes, that's the sentence, intentionally misleading." From the time Wu Zuo discovered that there was something wrong with the tattoo to when he checked it, General Mu and the others in the palace were also wondering about the tattoo, and what Zhang Shangshu told him when he returned to the Ministry of Punishment was also about the Fan family. Regarding the issue of tattoos, they put all their attention on it, thus ignoring other things, but you must know that there is no way to find out the tattoos.

Shao Ziyu stood up and stroked Lin Qingran's shoulder, "You rest earlier, I'll go back to the Ministry of Punishment."

"Hey!" Lin Qingran couldn't laugh or cry seeing him running out in such a hurry
At the beginning of May, the assassination of the prince did not make much progress, but fortunately, the prince woke up and was still very weak, unable to help the emperor with government affairs, so the emperor let the second and third princes stay with him for the time being.

The matter was not investigated clearly, a lot of rumors and gossips came out, the prince was assassinated, if he really died, who would be appointed as the prince, except for the six princes who have not yet married, the rest of the princes are married, and the five princes are married. The concubine is already pregnant, and the prince is mediocre, it seems that any prince is more promising than him, and more qualified than him to be the prince.

As for His Royal Highness the grandson, who is ten years old this year, he was loved by the emperor because of his intelligence since he was a child. The throne can be inherited by the grandson, but whether he can defeat many wolves, tigers and leopards at a young age is another matter.

There was a lot of suspicion among the people, and there were also turmoil in the court.

In the past, there were people who kept jumping around. With the talent of a prince, he couldn't be a good emperor at all. Many princes are very smart. The country wants to prosper, and we can't let a person who is not good enough to take on the big responsibility be the king of the country because of orthodoxy.

Now the crown prince is seriously injured and needs a long recovery period after waking up. He is weak and unable to handle the government affairs properly. The matter of abolishing the crown prince is urgent. The emperor should consider my plans for me and can't go on like this.

A minister can ignore what he said, but a group of ministers have to pay attention to what they say. Even if they want to transfer the grandson, it must be settled, and it cannot be suspended like this.

It was at the time when the court was arguing like this, Lin Qingran received a letter from his father, telling Lin Qingran to "don't worry about it" when Shao Ziyu was investigating the case of the prince's assassination in the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Lin Wenxi's original words were these four words. When Shao Ziyu came back at night, Lin Qingran showed it to him, and the two of them thought that something big was going to happen in the court.

"Father doesn't want you to get involved in this matter, why don't you ask for leave." While the court is arguing over who is the crown prince, the Ministry of punishment is still intensively investigating. It's good that Shao Ziyu didn't find out. He just wanted to be dragged into this debate, to help the prince find out who was the killer, just to pull out some people, and the current position was too scary.

"It's not right, it's unreasonable to ask for leave suddenly." Shao Ziyu shook his head, seeing that she was worried, and took her hand, "Don't worry, my father-in-law said that I don't have to worry about it, so I just don't care. I don’t have to do anything that Shangshu has undertaken alone.” At most, the emperor would be angry and say it was too useless, so it’s better to restrain himself at this time.

"Your Majesty, it's really strange that they're all arguing like this." These are all loyal ministers, those who support the prince are like supporting the grandson, and some say good things to the princes, and there are not many neutral ones who don't say anything.

"Then it can't be settled." Shao Ziyu sighed, "Continuing to let the eldest prince be the prince is saying that the prince is not talented enough, not qualified enough, but if someone else is the prince, there will be many people who disagree. .”

"The Holy Majesty is not afraid of what he will do suddenly, the court will be chaotic?" She said so, but why did she have the feeling that the emperor is watching a good show, you can mess up, as long as the prince is still alive, as long as he is , in addition to saying that his talents are not enough, he can also tell that he is ugly and Yinmao.

"It's messed up now." Shao Ziyu pinched her nose, "Otherwise, why did father-in-law write this letter to instruct us?" Tell him not to do anything, let his wife stay at home, and don't have too close contact with the official wife, Shao I didn't go back home anyway, I just sent someone to look for it, and it's fine to find an excuse to delay because I'm sick, in short, I want to keep a low profile
This kind of court has continued through August, and the emperor is really capable enough to let them argue for so long, and the assassination of the prince, who promised to investigate thoroughly for a month, has been delayed until now.

That is to say, everyone thought they couldn't find it, and they just couldn't find it. When they didn't know who was going to attack the prince, late at night at the end of August, in the room where the prince was recuperating in the prince's mansion, a person in court lady's clothes carried a The food box came over and entered the room after being inspected by the guards at the door. After a while, there was a sudden sound of fighting in the room, followed by fighting sounds from other parts of the Prince's Mansion.

In this silent night, no one noticed the vicious fight going on in the prince's mansion. Three days later, when the court was going up, the guards suddenly entered the palace and arrested the second prince who was in the court.

(End of this chapter)