The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1042 Everyone has their own thoughts

Seeing the emperor and the heads of the three provinces staring at him with sparkling eyes, each person had a different look in their eyes.

Wang Xuance swallowed his saliva and said with a stiff face, "After hearing the news, I immediately led people to rush over. Officials from the Taichang Temple, Zongzheng Temple, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Justice, as well as the coroners and runners from Jingzhao Yin, Chang'an, and Wannian County also rushed over."

"After preliminary investigation, we found that the princess died at 3:30 last night. There were no signs of injury or struggle on her body. There was a stool under her feet for her to reach the white silk. This is our preliminary judgment."

"Ruling out homicide, the princess must have hanged herself."

When Wang Xuance was doing things, he used the most capable people of the Jinyiwei, including the most proficient assassin, a coroner with 30 years of experience, and the most capable person who was good at disguising and cleaning up the scene. First, Gao Yang was covered in mask and then hung from the beam.

Only when one is about to suffocate will one regain consciousness briefly.

But it was too late. Under the struggle of life instinct, all human reactions were exactly the same as the out-of-control behavior after suicide.

Including the footprints left on the surface of the stool, the scratches when the stool was kicked away, and the strength of the neck, everything was perfectly arranged to ensure that no one could find out.

It was just that Wang Xuance himself felt guilty and was still a little panicked when facing these core leaders of the Tang Dynasty. However, considering that such a big thing had happened, anyone would be a little scared, and no one suspected him.

"Gao Yang, my imperial sister!"

Li Yan's body suddenly swayed, and he collapsed on the dragon chair, his face was sad, and he even squeezed out a few tears. He stretched out his arms, as if he was trying to grab something powerlessly: "Why are you so depressed? I just scolded you yesterday and asked you to reflect in front of the royal ancestor."

"You actually"

"She is gone just like that. How can I explain this to the Queen Mother? How can I explain this to my unconscious father? My dear sister?"

For a moment, the only sound echoing in the imperial study was Li Yan's screams and howls, and all the ministers fell silent.

But Changsun Wuji frowned thoughtfully, stroked his beard with his hand, and felt something was wrong. He began to recall Gao Yang's past behavior in his mind, and after thinking for a long time, he still shook his head in disbelief.

According to the other person's spoiled, willful and capricious temper.

How could she, who even cheated on her husband, not be able to withstand the pressure of public opinion and choose to commit suicide?
No matter how you think about it, this doesn't seem like something a shameless person would do.

If it was murder, being able to kill a princess quietly in a place like the Imperial Ancestral Temple and disguise it as suicide is definitely not something that an average person can do.

Could it be the Fang family?
Fang Xuanling's shrewd and calculating appearance came to mind, as well as the way he fainted on the spot in the court yesterday. Changsun Wuji shook his head secretly. If this matter had not been exposed, Fang Xuanling might have done it to maintain the family image.

Take a chance and he has the ability to adapt.

But that was not right. Gao Yang was not an ordinary daughter-in-law of the Fang family. She was a princess of the royal family and Li Shimin's favorite daughter. After Ankang got married, he gave all his love to Gao Yang, which made her spoiled beyond recognition.

No matter how angry Fang Xuanling was, he did not dare to do such a cruel thing. If the news got out, it would lead to the extermination of the entire clan.

Could it be those aristocratic families?

They did have the ability, but what was the point of killing Gao Yang? Once Gao Yang's affair was exposed, he became a laughing stock of the royal family, and they were too busy protecting him. As long as Gao Yang was alive and swaggering on the street, the Li family would always bear this shame.

If there were anyone who really wanted Gao Yang dead, it would undoubtedly be someone from the royal family. Especially the emperor, who was humiliated by the aristocratic family yesterday, had been wandering outside for sixteen years, and had little affection for these royal children.

'Well'

Thinking of this, Changsun Wuji was suddenly startled and shuddered uncontrollably. He quickly lowered his head and suppressed his desire to check Li Yan's current expression. If it was really the emperor who did it, then the ruthlessness and decisiveness of his nephew would be far beyond his imagination.

Changsun Wuji didn't dare to look at Li Yan. He swallowed, turned around, and secretly checked the expressions of several other important ministers.

Xiao Yu was very happy. The behavior of a woman like Gao Yang was extremely disgusting in the eyes of the upright Xiao Yu. If it were in the folks, such an unfaithful woman would have been put into a bamboo cage and drowned in the river. Yesterday in the court, he spoke up for his old friend Fang Xuanling.

When she learned that Gao Yang had committed suicide, she felt pleased that she still had some sense of shame.

Ma Zhou and Liu Bo were very confused and frowned in thought, but deep in their eyes there was a kind of indifference as if it had nothing to do with them.

Cen Wenben's eyes gleamed, he understood, and then pretended to be confused.

Changsun Wuji was startled. This old man Cen Benwen was indeed cunning and sly. He had clearly seen through the clues and mysteries, but pretended to know nothing. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, otherwise he would have been fooled by him. Xiao Yu was old and upright, and he would not tolerate any injustice. Liu Bo was one of his own, and Ma Zhou was inexperienced, so they were not worth worrying about.

Only Cen Wenben appears to be smooth on the outside, but he is actually very cunning and a difficult character to deal with!
No wonder the emperor values ​​him so much and puts him in a position to restrain himself. This man can be said to be a formidable rival.

Feeling that he had vaguely guessed the key to the matter, Changsun Wuji made up his mind that he should not get involved in this matter and no longer cared about it. He began to focus his attention on his rival.

"Your Majesty, please accept my condolences!"

Seeing Li Yan's grief, Xiao Yu tried to persuade her: "The princess is still young. She must have reflected in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Seeing her ancestors in front of her, she deeply regretted everything she had done in the past. She was so sad that she committed suicide."

"The only thing we can do now is to quickly notify the Fang Mansion and have them come to pick her up. We should also make sure that the event is handled in a grand manner to comfort the princess' spirit in heaven."

There was no trace of sadness in Xiao Yu's words, and he was too lazy to even pretend. He even showed some joy, and was just short of clapping and cheering, saying that it was a good death, a wonderful death. This made Changsun Wuji, Cen Wenben and others secretly curl their lips.

A princess died in such an unclear manner. Aren't there any investigations? They just rushed her back to make a final conclusion without even going through the formalities?
However, this is none of my business.

If something like this happened normally, it was inevitable that several court officials would take advantage of this to intervene and start a game to gain benefits for themselves. However, everyone knew about this, and the emperor did not want to cause any more trouble.

So Changsun Wuji, Cen Wenben and others followed Xiao Yu's words and advised in unison: "Yes, Your Majesty, please accept my condolences!"

Li Yan raised his head with tearful eyes and waved his hands weakly: "You all go down, I want to be alone"

Seeing how loyal and righteous Li Yan was, Changsun Wuji felt a chill in his heart and withdrew with his ministers.

But it was obvious that everyone was much more respectful this time. They bowed their hands and lowered their heads in front of Li Yan, and only stood up straight after they stepped behind the screen.

Changsun Wuji and Cen Wenben looked at each other tacitly, with deep fear flashing in their eyes, and then they quickly looked away.

Cen Wenben even found a place in the outer hall to sit and slowly ponder the weirdness.

He dared to conclude that the death of Princess Gaoyang must have been secretly planned by the emperor. The Gaoyang incident gave the nobles an opportunity to attack the royal family, causing the emperor to be humiliated in his first official court appearance. How could the emperor not hate it?
He couldn't deal with the aristocratic families for the time being, but he could deal with Gao Yang, who was serving as a gun for the aristocratic families, at will.

I heard that Gao Yang had contradicted the emperor in the imperial study yesterday. This would undoubtedly further anger this elder brother, who had only met Gao Yang a few times since childhood and had no feelings for him at all.

The emperor cut the Gordian knot and resolved Gao Yang's incident in the shortest possible time, preventing it from continuing to ferment and affect the reputation of the royal family. This was very wise.

Cen Wenben could only think of these things, but they were the life experience he had accumulated in the power arena throughout his life. But he did not expect that the emperor, at such a young age, could think of a way to break the impasse so quickly and deal with it without any delay.

They even used the excuse that Gao Yang committed suicide out of guilt!

Don't underestimate this name, it is very clever, and it also defines Gao Yang's death. This move is purely for self-protection, it is an internal matter of the royal family, it has no impact on the aristocratic families, and it will not stimulate the aristocratic families to join forces again.

Besides, the nobles were really going too far by spreading rumors everywhere and undermining the royal reputation.

In Cen Wenben's eyes, the nobles were too stupid. Gao Yang's matter had been used once in the court, and that was enough. They even spread it everywhere, trying to continue to put pressure on the imperial power. This was greed, and things would turn into the opposite when they reached the extreme.

The emperor was forced to take drastic measures and end the matter quickly, so this move was wasted.

No matter how shameful Gao Yang's actions were, when she committed suicide in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and washed away her shame in front of her ancestors with death, the people would no longer hold on to her. She was just a little girl, who was just confused for a moment and cheated on her husband.

It's not like he committed an unforgivable crime. The person is dead, do you still need to whip his corpse?
This is only the case in the royal family. If it happened in an ordinary family, it would not be a big deal. At most, it would be embarrassing.
If it doesn't cause a big uproar or someone's life is lost, even the government won't intervene.

Cen Wenben sipped his tea gently, his eyes were deep, and he saw the emperor's deeper intention. The emperor acted decisively, not only solving the Gaoyang issue, but also shocking the royal family and the civil and military officials in the court, and initially establishing his authority.

Just imagine, if he showed no mercy to his own sister who is also a member of the royal family, then the emperor would certainly not be lenient towards others.

Thinking of this, Cen Wenben's face showed excitement.

Changsun Wuji felt disheartened because he wanted to monopolize power. An emperor who was shrewd and decisive would only make it difficult for him to achieve his goal.

(End of this chapter)