Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 309 Let the Queen Ask Her for Me
After arriving at the side hall, he waited for a long time, but there was no sign of Di Renjie.

Du Yijian snorted and said, "Brother Di is becoming more and more arrogant as he gets promoted."

Gao Youdao said, "Be patient, Brother Di might be busy with some case."

At this moment, Dali Temple's Junior Secretary Yuan entered the side hall and bowed to the group, saying, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. His Majesty has just summoned Junior Secretary Di to the palace, so I'm afraid he won't be back for a while."

Gao Youdao said hurriedly: "It's okay, we can just wait a little longer."

Yuan Shaoqing was Di Renjie's confidant. Knowing that Di Renjie was on good terms with the three men, he did not dare to neglect them. He ordered someone to serve them tea and sat in the side hall to accompany the guests.

Gao Youdao took a sip of tea and suddenly said, "Young Master Yuan, when we came in just now, we heard people discussing the Luoyang case. It seems that five people have died in that case. Can you tell us more about it?"

Yuan Shaoqing smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, it was precisely because of this case that Di Siqing was summoned to the palace by the Saint."

Du Yijian also became interested and asked, "What kind of case is this? Has it alarmed even the Saint?"

Yuan Shaoqing's expression became very solemn, and he slowly said, "It's a serial murder case. The murderer is extremely cruel. He dismembered the victims and placed them at the crime scene, piecing together a certain text."

After hearing this, the three of them were shocked.

Gao Youdao forgot to drink the tea in his hand and asked, "I heard that five people have died. Doesn't that mean there are five words? What do they say?"

A hint of fear flashed across Yuan Shaoqing's face as he said, "The first five characters are Da, Li, Si, Di, and Ren."

Du Yijian blurted out, "Di Renjie from the Dali Temple!"

Yuan Shaoqing said in a deep voice: "We are all guessing that the last word must be 'Jie'. This thug is provoking Di Siqing!"

In fact, when the third person died, the governor of Luozhou sent a message saying that the bodies of the deceased had pieced together the three words "Dali Temple", and he thought the murderer was provoking the Dali Temple.

After receiving the news, Di Renjie sent Li Yuanfang to Luoyang to investigate.

It’s a pity that the murderer was not caught and two more people died.

Lu Zhaolin asked, "Do those deceased have anything in common?"

Yuan Shaoqing shook his head and said, "There is no commonality, and the motive for the murder is impossible to guess. Cases like this are often the most difficult to solve!"

At this time, a yamen runner ran over and said that Di Renjie was back.

Yuan Shaoqing quickly stood up and said, "Please wait a moment, everyone. I will go find Di Siqing and tell him about your visit."

About a quarter of an hour later, Di Renjie came to the side hall.

The four of them exchanged greetings. Di Renjie asked the three of them why they came. Du Yijian said, "We want to ask you for a favor."

Di Renjie glanced at Lu Zhaolin and said, "Brother Lu, you're here because of those rumors, right?"

Lu Zhaolin bowed and said, "That's right."

Di Renjie sighed, "It's not that I don't want to help, but there's a case in Luoyang that His Majesty has sent me to investigate. I have to leave tomorrow, so I'm truly sorry."

The three of them looked at each other and exchanged glances.

Lu Zhaolin said, "That's fine. Actually, we just heard Shaoqing Yuan mention the Luoyang case. Brother Di, please put your official duties first."

The three of them said goodbye and left together.

The sky had darkened. The three of them had waited in the Dali Temple for too long, and it was already curfew outside.

Fortunately, the three of them were on duty at Ganlu Palace, and sometimes due to special reasons, they would be so busy that they had to leave the court after curfew.

The patrolling Jinwu Guards would not make things difficult for them after seeing their official credentials.

It was early January and the cold wind was still blowing. The three of them walked on the empty Chang'an Street without speaking for a while.

As they passed a crossroads, Gao Youdao suddenly said, "Brother Lu, Brother Du, I don't know why, but the feeling of unease in my heart is getting worse and worse."

Du Yijian glared and said, "You come again!"

Lu Zhaolin said in a deep voice: "I feel the same way. We were just about to ask Brother Di for help, but he is about to leave Chang'an. This is too coincidental!"

"Hey, you two, that's enough. This is obviously a coincidence. Could it be that the Luoyang case has something to do with those rumors?" Du Yijian said.

Gao Youdao turned his head to look at him and said, "Don't forget, the person who spread the rumors about Brother Lu couldn't even be found by the Fanyang Lu family."

Du Yijian swallowed his saliva and said, "What do you want to say?"

Gao Youdao said, "Don't you think the Luoyang case is too strange? Why would the murderer write on the corpse to provoke Brother Di?"

Du Yijian felt a chill on his back: "Why?"

Gao Youdao said slowly: "Isn't this just a deliberate attempt to lure Brother Di over there?"

Du Yijian's heart skipped a beat. He said, "But... we asked Brother Di for help only to investigate the rumors about Brother Lu. Would he really send someone to commit such a brutal crime to attract Brother Di?"

Gao Youdao took a deep breath and said, "This shows that spreading rumors is just the beginning. There are other things to come!"

Du Yijian trembled all over and couldn't help but look around, as if a group of bad guys would suddenly rush out of the darkness and kill them!
Lu Zhaolin said, "The other party spread rumors in order to sabotage my wedding with the princess. His subsequent actions must be related to this!"

Du Yijian smiled bitterly and said, "This man is too crazy. Just because he is jealous of you, he actually did such a thing!"

Gao Youdao remained silent.

He felt that the other party's motive was more than just jealousy.

But then again, what other motives would drive the other party to disrupt the wedding of Lu Zhaolin and Princess Changshan?
A gust of cold wind blew, and the three of them shivered. They looked up and found that they had returned to Suzaku Street unknowingly.

Lu Zhaolin took a deep breath and said, "This matter ends here. Perhaps it's just a coincidence. It should be over after my wedding to the princess is over."

Gao Youdao really wanted to say that the wedding might not go smoothly, but when the words came to his lips, he thought it was too unlucky and swallowed them back.

Lu Zhaolin smiled slightly and said, "I'm going to visit King Deng tomorrow. Why don't you two come with me?"

Lu Zhaolin had a very good personal relationship with King Deng. Whenever King Deng came to Chang'an, he would visit him. With his introduction, Gao and Du also got to know King Deng.

After the three of them made an agreement, they parted ways at Zhuque Street and returned home.

After a while, silence returned to Suzaku Street, and the quiet moonlight sprinkled on the street, giving it a hazy glow.

The sound of horse hooves came from afar, and a horseman was galloping down Zhuque Street in the moonlight, heading from south to north, and soon arrived at the imperial city.

The man on horseback showed a token and entered through the small door next to the Suzaku Gate. He came to the Chengtian Gate and entered again with the token.

At such a late hour, even high-ranking officials needed to be summoned before entering the palace. Only the spies from the Internal Affairs Office and the Palace Affairs Office did not need to be summoned.

Tang Ping walked with big strides along the corridor next to the Taiji Hall.

Due to the reform of the Sigongtai, many gangsters were recruited. He, the most experienced gangster in the Sigongtai, also rose in rank and became one of the four supervisors of the Sigongtai.

He was also the only inspector with an intact body, and he also had the official title of Zhenwei Cavalry Captain, which gave him the power to enter the palace to report.

Tang Ping arrived outside Ganlu Gate, but was finally stopped and had to wait for notification.

After a while, a eunuch came over and said to him, "Follow me."

Tang Ping followed the eunuch and walked straight all the way without turning to go to Ganlu Palace, which meant that the emperor did not stay in Ganlu Palace tonight.

Although it was already night, the harem was still heavily guarded.

The two were stopped and questioned by the Qianniu Guards from time to time. In some dark corners, they could occasionally see flashes of light, indicating that there were quite a few secret sentries.

Tang Ping rarely went in and out of the harem, and after wandering around for a while, he had no idea where he was being taken.

There are so many buildings and pavilions in the harem that it is dazzling.

The eunuch led him to a side hall next to the main hall, stopped in front of a large red-painted house, knocked on the door, and said, "Master Eunuch, the man is here."

The light was on in the room, and Wang Fusheng's voice came from inside.

"Enter."

The eunuch pushed open the door and motioned Tang Ping to come in. After Tang Ping entered the room, he closed the door.

Tang Ping looked up and saw Wang Fusheng sitting at the table drinking tea.

Tang Ping took two steps forward, bowed, and said, "I pay my respects to the Grand Supervisor Wang."

Wang Fusheng looked up at him and said, "You came into the palace so late. Could it be that you got news so soon about the matter you were asked to investigate?"

Tang Ping said in a deep voice, "Yes, my subordinates have already investigated it thoroughly."

After hearing this, Wang Fusheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

After the Sigongtai was merged with the Changqiutai and restructured, it was redivided into five offices, namely: East City Office, West City Office, South City Office, North City Office, and Imperial City Office.

The West City Division is under the charge of Zhang Duohai, and most of the people in it are former employees of Changqiutai.

Of the remaining four, three were under the charge of his former three eunuchs.

The last Dongcheng Division is under the charge of Tang Ping, and his subordinates are all newly recruited gangsters.

After the reform, these five departments became independent and were under his unified command, and the difference in efficiency became more obvious.

The West City Division completely overwhelmed the three departments under him. Fortunately, the East City Division led by Tang Ping was also very capable, so he didn't suffer too much embarrassment.

Now that the Changqiutai was gone, there were only two agencies directly under the emperor: the Neilingfu, which dealt with external affairs, and the Sigongtai, which dealt with internal affairs. Both of them shared the mission of gathering intelligence for the emperor.

There have always been many rumors in Chang'an City, and the Palace Office would not have cared about them all. However, when the rumor was heard by the emperor, the situation became different.

Although the emperor did not ask him about this matter, Wang Fusheng had already sent people to investigate secretly so that he would not be unable to answer when the emperor asked questions.

Wang Fusheng said in a deep voice, "Who is spreading rumors about Lu Zhaolin?"

Tang Ping said: "Prince Deng Li Yuanyu!"

Wang Fusheng was slightly surprised.

Among the princes, Prince Deng Li Yuanyu has always been a very honest one. He is neither ostentatious nor causes trouble, and there is rarely any news about him on weekdays.

I only heard that this prince loved reading and had a collection of twelve carts of books in his mansion, which was far more than the collection of Han Wang Li Yuanjia.

Wang Fusheng's eyes flickered for a moment, and he asked, "Do you know why King Deng spread rumors?"

Tang Ping said, "I haven't found anything yet, but I have found another piece of information. It seems that King Deng and Lu Zhaolin are old acquaintances."

"Do the two have a grudge?"

Tang Ping said: "No, King Deng is indebted to Lu Zhaolin."

Wang Fusheng narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is the news true?"

Tang Pingdao said, "It's true. According to reliable sources, in the second year of the Yonghui reign, Lu Zhaolin entered the capital and was highly regarded by Lai Ji. Later, because Lu Chengqing was suppressed by Chu Suiliang and exiled to Shu, Lu Zhaolin angrily parted ways with Lai Ji and followed Lu Chengqing to Shu."

"At that time, Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang were powerful, and Lu Chengqing was being marginalized in Shu. He wanted to help Lu Zhaolin find an official position, but it was very difficult."

"It was at that time that King Deng accepted Lu Zhaolin and asked him to serve as a clerk in the palace. He even said to his officials: 'Lu Zhaolin is his Sima Xiangru.'"

"I heard that Lu Zhaolin stayed in Prince Deng's mansion for more than two years, reading all of Prince Deng's books and learning a lot. That's how he made his mark in the imperial examinations in the seventh year of the Yonghui reign."

Wang Fusheng frowned and said, "From this perspective, King Deng is indeed his benefactor."

Tang Ping said, "Yes."

Wang Fusheng asked, "Then why did he spread rumors and damage Lu Zhaolin's reputation?"

Tang Ping hesitated and said, "I find this strange too. I originally thought that after Lu Zhaolin became successful, he distanced himself from this benefactor, causing King Deng's anger. But after investigation, I found that the two had always had a good relationship. At the end of each year, when King Deng came to Chang'an, Lu Zhaolin would visit him!"

Wang Fusheng said in a deep voice: "There must be some secrets behind this that we don't know about. You continue to investigate!"

Tang Ping received the order and, seeing that Wang Fusheng had no other instructions, he took his leave and left the palace.

Wang Fusheng paced back and forth in the room, and the more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed.

The incident between Prince Zheng and Prince Huainan happened not long ago. Prince Deng, please don't cause trouble in Chang'an again and make the emperor worry.

He suddenly lost his sleepiness, put on his clothes, walked towards Shanchiyuan, came to the government office, and asked Qin Shaojian if he had slept well.

After the eunuch reported, he said that Qin Shaojian had not rested yet and invited him in.

After entering Qin Shaojian's room, through the thick smoke, I saw Qin Shaojian lying on the couch, his body leaning on a deer.

A closer look revealed that it was actually a deer hide, but with the deer head attached. At first glance, it looked like there was a deer lying on the bed.

Seeing his strange expression, Junior Eunuch Qin patted the deer's head with his hand and said with a smile, "This was given to me by a boy on duty in the Imperial Garden. He said sleeping with a deer hide as a pillow would help you sleep more soundly. And sure enough, I've been able to sleep longer lately. Senior Eunuch Wang, please take a seat."

Wang Fusheng found a chair and sat down. When he heard that he had trouble sleeping, he said a few words of concern and then explained his purpose.

"Mr. Qin, there is something I would like to ask you."

Qin Shaojian said with a smile, "Why are you being so polite? I am an old servant, almost buried in the ground. If I can still help Dajian Wang, I will be honored."

Wang Fusheng said in a deep voice, "You have been in the palace for a long time. Could you tell me about the affairs of Prince Deng, Li Yuanyu?"

Qin Shaojian was stunned for a moment, then raised his head slightly with a look of nostalgia. He said, "Prince Deng, this prince has a good character. Why are you suddenly asking him this?"

Wang Fusheng did not hide anything and told Deng Wang about spreading rumors about Lu Zhaolin.

After listening to the conversation, Qin Shaojian's dry face wrinkled like an orange peel and he said, "This shouldn't be the case. How could King Deng do such a thing?"

Wang Fusheng probed, "Don't you think this is unlike his style?"

Junior Eunuch Qin was silent for a moment, then suddenly changed the subject and said, "Grand Eunuch Wang, have you heard of Old Concubine Cui?"

Wang Fusheng asked, "You are talking about Prince Deng's biological mother, right?"

Qin Shaojian stared into the void, his dim eyes flashing with a glimmer of light, as if he had traveled through time and space and saw the scene of the past.

"Ah, this old Concubine Cui is a true Bodhisattva master. She is kind and gentle to every one of us servants. Not only is her character noble, but her abilities are also outstanding. She manages Tai'an Palace for Emperor Gaozu. Not only does Emperor Gaozu trust her deeply, but even the late Emperor holds her in the highest respect."

In the third year of Zhenguan, Li Yuan moved out of Taiji Palace and has lived in Tai'an Palace since then.

Wang Fusheng thought for a moment and said, "I've heard from many of my predecessors that Old Concubine Cui also assisted the late emperor and assisted in the management of the Taiji Palace."

Qin Shaojian said, "Yes, that happened in the tenth year of the Zhenguan reign. Empress Wende had just passed away, and the harem was in chaos. The late emperor didn't trust the other concubines, so he invited the old concubine back from Shu to Taiji Palace to help manage the harem."

When Empress Changsun died, Li Yuanyu had already left Beijing to become a fiefdom, and Concubine Cui lived with her son in Shu.

Wang Fusheng said, "But I heard that the harem was very competitive at the time, and many concubines died. The old concubine was unable to control it. She felt guilty towards the late emperor and died of depression."

Qin Shaojian said in a hoarse voice, "This can't be blamed on the old concubine. Empress Wende had just died, and people were in turmoil. Many concubines wanted to take the throne, and no one could do anything to stop them. Alas, the old concubine died of exhaustion!"

Wang Fusheng remained silent.

The fights among the late emperor's concubines were even more intense and bizarre than the fights between Empress Wu and Empress Wang.

He had heard some of them before, and every time he felt creepy and frightened.

Qin Shaojian glanced at him and said, "I mentioned the old concubine to you because I wanted to tell you that Prince Deng's personality is exactly the same as the old concubine's. He is a prince with a very good heart."

Wang Fusheng frowned and asked, "Then why did he spread rumors to prevent Lu Zhaolin from marrying the princess?"

Qin Shaojian had said too much, and his face showed fatigue. He said in a hoarse voice, "There must be some reason behind this."

Wang Fusheng didn't want to disturb him any further, so he stood up and said, "Thank you, Mr. Qin, for clearing up my confusion. I'll take my leave now."

Qin Shaojian thought for a moment and said, "If you want to know why King Deng did this, you can go find someone."

Wang Fusheng asked, "Who?"

Qin Shaojian said, "Madam Zhou, Ji Yichi, was also a tutor to King Deng before she became your majesty's tutor. She knows King Deng best and may know his motives."

It was past midnight, the bright moon had risen to the top, and the hazy moonlight was like a mirror.

The evening breeze was howling, and the branches were making rustling sounds. Wang Fusheng tightened his robe, quickened his pace, and returned to Chengxiang Palace.

Back in the house, he looked at the candlelight, lost in thought.

More and more people are involved in this matter, and it seems to be related to previous palace secrets.

It would be inappropriate for him to conduct the investigation alone, as it would be an act of usurpation.

Besides, as Mrs. Zhou, it was not easy for him to ask her directly.

"I'd better report to His Majesty tomorrow." Wang Fusheng made a decision in his heart and blew out the lights.

Early the next morning, Li Zhi put on his clothes with the help of Liu Chong'er.

Li Zhong was about to leave Beijing to become a fiefdom and be separated from his mother Liu Chong'er.

Li Zhi knew that they had a deep affection for each other as mother and son, so he came over specially last night and comforted Liu Chong'er with a few words, telling her not to be too sad.

After breakfast, Li Zhi went to Ganlu Palace to handle government affairs. On the way, Wang Fusheng took the opportunity to tell him about King Deng spreading rumors.

Li Zhi immediately stopped and said in a deep voice, "You mean King Deng?"

Wang Fusheng whispered, "Your Majesty, the news should be correct."

Li Zhi asked, "Does he have any grudge against Lu Zhaolin?"

Wang Fusheng said, "No, and as far as I know, he is indebted to Lu Zhaolin, and the two have a close relationship."

Li Zhi asked again, "Does he have any grudge against Changshan?"

Wang Fusheng was stunned.

He only thought that Prince Deng spread the rumors to target Lu Zhaolin, but he didn't expect that it might also be directed at Princess Changshan!

"This...I am not quite sure."

After a pause, he quickly said, "However, I have heard that Madam Zhou was once the tutor of King Deng and knows him very well. Your Majesty, if you summon her to question her, perhaps you can find out the reason."

Li Zhi pondered and said, "I remember that the Queen and Madam Zhou have a good relationship, right?"

"Yes."

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Go to Lizheng Palace and ask the Queen to ask her for me. By the way, check the relationship between Prince Deng and Changshan."

Wang Fusheng agreed and walked quickly towards the Lizheng Palace.

(End of this chapter)