Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 337 Changsun Wuji's Conjecture

When Wu Meiniang heard Wang Dejian say that there was a secret, she did not show any surprise, but stared at Wang Dejian with her narrow and long phoenix eyes.

"Is there another mastermind behind this?"

Wang Dejian was shocked. He looked up at Wu Meiniang, then lowered his head again.

"I can't hide it from you. How did you figure it out?"

Wu Meiniang said, "There's a clear flaw in what you said just now. Xu Ang was clearly depressed after being demoted, so why did he suddenly come to you and plot this treason?"

Wang Dejian whispered, "Your Highness is very perceptive. I also found this strange, so I asked Xu Ang about it, but he refused to speak. I secretly investigated and found that when Xu Ang was visiting a brothel, he met a man from Shu named Meng Jiu. I suspect it was this man who influenced Xu Ang and gave him the idea."

"Later, when I went to investigate Meng Jiu, I discovered that he had vanished into thin air. I immediately felt a chill run down my spine, knowing someone was secretly manipulating Xu Ang."

Wu Meiniang asked, "Who is this person?"

Wang Dejian shook his head and said, "I, the guilty minister, cannot find out any information about him."

Wu Meiniang thought to herself that anyone with this ability was either a prince from the royal family or a high-ranking official in the court.

This person wanted to assassinate the emperor, but was unwilling to take the risk, so he hid himself perfectly behind the scenes. His methods were very clever.

If it weren’t for Wang Dejian’s words, I’m afraid no one would know of his existence.

Wu Meiniang fixed her gaze on Wang Dejian and said calmly, "Wang Dejian, since you committed such a heinous crime, why did you tell me this secret before you died?"

Wang Dejian lowered his head and said nothing.

He was a very anxious person. Since he was demoted to another state, he felt uncertain about his future and suffered from insomnia every night. He had premature gray hair before he was fifty years old.

After Xu Jingzong transferred him back to Chang'an to serve as the Prince's attendant, he was still uneasy. He felt that the emperor was moody and the empress was too ruthless, and he was always worried that he would be demoted to another province.

It was not until he met the prince that his heart finally found peace.

Although the prince was young, he was kind and generous, and treated people sincerely. People showed sympathy and compassion to him and entrusted him with important tasks.

Wang Dejian was deeply grateful for this.

He felt that only such a benevolent monarch could govern the world better, so he agreed to Xu Ang's plan just to let the prince ascend the throne as soon as possible.

In this plan, they forged the prince's handwriting and lured the emperor back to Beijing, which might make the emperor suspicious of the prince.

And the person behind the scenes is obviously not a supporter of the prince and is also a potential danger.

He had originally wanted to wait until the crown prince ascended the throne before finding him out and getting rid of him, but now that was no longer possible.

Since he was going to die, he could not implicate the prince, nor could he leave behind anyone who posed a threat to the prince.

So after his plan failed, he made up his mind to turn himself in, explain all the details clearly, and expose the person who controlled Xu Ang to the public.

He knew that revealing his thoughts would do more harm than good to the prince, so he was unwilling to tell anyone, including the prince's biological mother.

Wu Meiniang tilted her head slightly, looked at him deeply, and without asking any more questions, she walked out of the cell.

After leaving the Dali Temple, Wu Meiniang returned to the palace on a phoenix carriage.

Zhang Dahai followed the chariot and reminded, "Your Highness, do you want to send someone to check on this man named Meng Jiu?"

Wu Meiniang shook her head and said, "It's been so long, it should be difficult to find out."

Zhang Duohai was stunned and said, "If we can't catch Meng Jiu, I'm afraid we won't be able to find out the identity of the person behind this."

Wu Meiniang said: "That may not be the case. There is another person who may be able to find some clues."

"What you said is..."

Wu Meiniang said, "Pass on my order to summon Yu to the palace for an audience."

Zhang Dahai was stunned for a moment, then he understood.

Xu Ang had an affair with Yu. It is difficult for a man to hide his secret from a woman with whom he had physical contact. Yu might know the identity of that man.

"I'll do it now!"

When Zhang Da Hai went out to do business, he always traveled in a horse-drawn carriage. Any horse that he rode for a long time would not live long.

Now that he had been following the emperor on tours for half a year and had lost some weight, he started riding again, riding a tall horse straight to Xu Jingzong's mansion.

When I arrived at the gate of Xu's house, I found that the door was wide open, but there was no one behind the door.

Zhang Duohai was feeling strange when he suddenly saw a group of yamen runners coming on the street. The one walking in front was Xu Yanbo, the eldest grandson of the Xu family.

When Xu Yanbo and his men arrived outside the mansion, they were surprised to see Zhang Duohai, thinking that Empress Wu had another order.

"I have met Zhang Shaojian." He bowed.

Zhang Duohai glanced behind him and said, "Young Master, has something happened in the mansion? Why are there a group of yamen runners?"

Xu Yanbo whispered, "To be honest with you, Junior Supervisor Zhang, someone died in the palace shortly after Her Majesty the Queen's carriage left."

Zhang Duohai was startled and asked, "Who died? Could it be Minister Xu?"

Xu Yanbo shook his head and said, "She is Weng Weng's second wife. Yu is dead." He didn't like Yu, so he called her by her name.

Zhang Duohai's face changed drastically, and he didn't bother to ask questions anymore. He ran quickly into the mansion.

……

Wu Meiniang's phoenix carriage quickly returned to the palace.

She ordered people to go to Ganlu Palace to investigate and learned that Li Zhi had met with Li Ji and Di Renjie, and had also summoned the crown prince, King Yue Li Zhen and Minister of War Xiao Siye.

He is currently resting in the bedroom.

Wu Meiniang changed her clothes and headed towards Ganlu Palace.

After arriving outside the hall and being informed, he went inside and saw Li Zhi changing his clothes, as if he was preparing to leave the bedroom.

"Where are you going, Your Majesty?" she asked.

Li Zhi said, "I have been away for so long. I want to go to Penglai Palace early tonight to talk to Concubine Xian."

Wu Meiniang walked over, took the clothes from the palace maid, and personally helped Li Zhi dress. She said, "Sister Xianfei has been guarding the palace alone for half a year. Your Majesty should go and accompany her tonight."

After a while, Li Zhi changed his clothes and asked her, "By the way, I heard that you just left the palace. Did you go to see Xu Jingzong?"

Wu Meiniang raised her head and said, "Your Majesty, Xu Jingzong seems to have gone crazy."

"Crazy?" Li Zhi was slightly surprised.

When he met Di Renjie just now, he had heard about what happened in the Xu Mansion. He thought that Xu Jingzong might really go crazy after suffering such a blow.

Wu Meiniang pulled him to sit on the couch and said seriously, "I went to see Wang Dejian again and heard a piece of news from him. I came here to tell Your Majesty."

Li Zhi said, "What news?"

Wu Meiniang then told Li Zhi everything Wang Dejian had just said.

Li Zhi was about to pick up the teacup to drink tea, but after listening to it, his expression became solemn and he put the teacup down again.

"From what you said, there's someone else behind this, and Xu Ang and the others are just being manipulated?"

Wu Meiniang nodded and said, "I heard from Wang Dejian that the person who influenced Xu Ang was a Shu person."

When Li Zhi heard the word "Shu people", an idea flashed through his mind.

The person who dares to plot a rebellion is most likely a prince of the royal family.

There were two princes in Shu, one was the King of Yue, whom he trusted the most, and the other was the King of Han, whom he was least worried about.

Could it be that the King of Han was planning this?

Just then, a eunuch came to report that Zhang Duohai wanted to see him, and Li Zhi ordered him in.

After a while, Zhang Duohai walked in quickly with a look of panic on his face.

When Wu Meiniang saw this, she scolded him, "Why are you so panicked?"

Zhang Duohai bowed to Li Zhi first, then bowed to Wu Meiniang and said, "Your Highness, Yu is dead."

Wu Meiniang was slightly startled and was about to ask how Yu died, but suddenly remembered that Li Zhi didn't know about Yu yet, so she turned around and explained to him.

"Your Majesty, Xu Ang and Yu Shi are having an affair, so I have sent someone to summon Yu Shi to an audience, hoping to get Xu Ang's secret from her."

Li Zhi nodded and asked Zhang Duohai, "How did Yu die?"

Zhang Duohai said, "He died of poisoning. Toxins were found in a teacup in the house. The Wannian County yamen officer initially determined that he committed suicide by taking poison."

Wu Meiniang said decisively: "The death is so coincidental, it is impossible that he committed suicide."

Li Zhi agreed, "It must have been the mastermind Wang Dejian mentioned. He had everything planned long ago. Once Xu Ang was dead, he would kill the Yu family to silence them. By the way, is Xu Jingzong okay?"

Zhang Duohai said cautiously, "Minister Xu is fine. He seems to have gone mad. After seeing Yu's body, he actually mistook her for his daughter."

Li Zhi was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Send an order to the Dali Temple to thoroughly investigate the case of Yu's murder."

……

There were only three days left until the end of the year, and all the officials in Chang'an City were on holiday.

The investigation into the Donggong murder case had already been announced, with Wang Dejian as the perpetrator. As for Li Zhi's assassination, because the culprit had yet to be fully identified, Li Zhi ordered a cover-up.

As a result, the government and the people recovered from the panic of the previous few days, and the matter became just a topic of conversation after dinner.

However, there were also people with a keen sense of smell who noticed something unusual.

Because in these few days, several officials in Chang'an City committed suicide, and all of them were former pro-military officials.

What is even more surprising is that the Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong suddenly went crazy, was dismissed from his post by the emperor, and was left idle at home.

Many people are racking their brains to figure out the connections between these events, trying to piece together a clue.

King Han Li Yuanjia was one of them.

Ever since his plan failed, he has been staying in his mansion, not going anywhere, thinking hard about several major events that have happened recently.

That morning, just as he was listening to one of his subordinates reporting the news he had just heard, he saw Prince Lu striding in with a look of joy on his face.

"Brother, have you heard?"

King Han waved his hand to dismiss the subordinate and asked, "What did you hear?"

Prince Lu walked to the table, picked up the teacup that Prince Han had just used, took a sip of tea, and said with a smile: "Something happened in Xu Jingzong's mansion again. His second wife, Yu, has died."

King Han's eyes flickered as he said, "Xu's residence has been quite bustling these past few days."

Prince Lu winked and said, "I heard that he died yesterday afternoon. After the emperor learned the news, he actually sent Di Renjie to investigate the matter."

The King of Han saw his expression and understood what he meant.

Since the emperor sent Di Renjie to investigate, it shows that Yu's death was not simple.

In the past few days, he has speculated that the murder in the Eastern Palace was secretly planned by the former pro-military faction, and Wang Dejian was just following orders.

The emperor suddenly returned to Beijing to deal with this matter. Within a few days, Yuan Gongyu, Hou Shanye and Xu Ang all committed suicide, probably out of fear of punishment.

Judging from the current situation, the plan of this group of pro-military forces has failed, which is bad news for him.

However, Yu died suddenly, and the emperor sent Di Renjie to investigate, which showed that the matter was not over yet and there might be a mastermind behind it who had not been caught.

This is good news, no wonder King Lu is so happy.

Prince Lu walked over to the chair and sat down, crossing his legs. He said with a smile, "This scene is getting more and more interesting. Let's just sit back and watch and see if there are any bigger surprises."

Just as he finished speaking, a scholar suddenly rushed in from outside the door and bowed to King Han, saying, "Your Majesty, this is bad! The people from the Dali Temple are here!"

Prince Lu was drinking tea. Upon hearing this, he slammed the cup on the table and said angrily, "What did you say?"

King Han was calmer than him and said in a deep voice, "Don't be impatient. Tell me slowly. How many people came to the Dali Temple and why did they come?"

The scholar said with a bitter face, "A team of several dozen people, led by the Supreme Court Justice Di Renjie himself, has arrived, and it seems they want to arrest you."

Prince Lu said sternly, "You bastard! This matter has nothing to do with us. Why did he arrest us?"

King Han took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Nineteenth brother, please be patient. Wait here while I go check on the situation."

King Lu shouted, "I'll go with you!"

The two of them soon came to the hall together.

The hall was already full of people, all of them were officials from the Dali Temple, and the leader was Di Renjie.

Prince Lu said with a sullen face, "Di Renjie, you are so bold! You actually brought someone to Prince Han's mansion to arrest him. Who gave you the authority?"

Li Yuanfang glanced at him and said, "Your Majesty has issued an order allowing the Minister of the Court of Imperial Di to exercise discretion in handling cases. Is Your Highness the Prince of Lu dissatisfied with the authority Your Majesty has granted him?"

Prince Lu said sternly, "Who are you to speak to me like that?"

Li Yuanfang said bluntly, "I am the General of the Palace, Li Yuanfang. I am here to protect Lord Di Si by order of Your Majesty."

King Lu said: "Don't take the emperor's advice..."

"Nineteenth brother, please be quiet for a while."

The King of Han interrupted the King of Lu, looked at Di Renjie, and said calmly, "You, Lord Di, have mobilized such a large army? Could it be that I have committed some heinous crime?"

Di Renjie bowed and said, "Your Highness, please forgive me. I am also investigating a case under orders. I am investigating a murder case at the Xu residence that may be related to Your Highness. I would like to ask Your Highness to go to the Dali Temple and cooperate with the investigation."

Prince Lu angrily said, "Someone died in Xu Jingzong's mansion. What does this have to do with us? Di Renjie, can you solve this case?"

Li Yuanfang laughed and said, "It's a coincidence. Every time we arrest a criminal, he always says this."

"Yuanfang, you must not be rude to the two princes. We are just asking questions, not arresting anyone." Di Renjie glanced at Li Yuanfang.

Li Yuanfang finally stopped talking.

King Han also used his eyes to stop King Lu from speaking, and slowly said, "Nineteenth brother, there is no need to be anxious. It is said that Di Siqing is as good as a god in solving cases. I believe he will find out the truth and will not wrongly accuse me."

……

British Mansion, back garden.

The surface of the lake was frozen with a layer of ice, and there were two small holes in the ice. Li Ji and Changsun Wuji were sitting on the shore, ice fishing.

A while ago, Li Ji was so busy with his work that he had almost no time to go fishing. It was not until the emperor finally returned to Beijing that he felt relieved and had a few days of leisure at home.

He glanced at Changsun Wuji and said with a smile, "Brother Wuji never comes to visit me unless it's something important. You came to see me today, so I guess you have something to ask?"

Changsun Wuji didn't beat around the bush and said bluntly, "I heard that Di Renjie captured the King of Han. Is that true?"

Li Ji nodded and said, "Di Renjie found a piece of rag at the scene of Yu's death. Following this clue, he found the Prince of Han's mansion."

Changsun Wuji asked, "Is that all?"

Li Ji glanced at him and said, "There are some inside stories that I cannot reveal."

Chang Sun Wuji asked, "Is it related to the assassination of His Majesty?"

Li Ji was slightly surprised and asked, "How did you know this?"

Changsun Wuji smiled and said nothing.

Li Ji shook his head and said, "It's really not easy to hide this from you. Yes, Your Majesty was indeed assassinated. According to Wang Dejian's confession, there was someone behind the assassination. That person had a subordinate, a Shu native named Meng Jiu. Coincidentally, the King of Han had a personal guard named Meng Lei. According to the King of Yue, this man always accompanied the King of Han, but this year he was not by his side."

Changsun Wuji listened silently and said, "So you suspect Meng Jiu is Meng Lei?"

Li Ji stared at him and said, "Brother Wuji, do you have any other discoveries?"

Changsun Wuji laughed and said, "I'm not as good at solving cases as Di Renjie, but I'm old and like to daydream. It just so happened that I thought of something interesting these days and wanted to find someone to talk to."

Li Ji was moved and said, "I would like to hear the details."

Changsun Wuji said, "I'd like to ask Brother Li first, have you met Xiao Siye?"

Li Ji nodded and said, "Yes, their plan is to use the Crown Prince's seal to obtain a transfer order from the Ministry of War, and then dispatch an army to Puzhou to carry out the assassination plan."

"When Xiao Siye heard that Fu Baolang of the Eastern Palace had died, he knew he had made a grave mistake and told me everything."

Changsun Wuji asked, "Your Majesty, have you met with Xiao Siye? Have you punished him?"

Li Ji said, "He was originally going to be punished, but I felt it would be difficult for him to atone for his sins, so I pleaded with His Majesty. Your Majesty only demoted him by two ranks, but his actual official position remained unchanged."

Changsun Wuji smiled and said, "That's right."

Li Ji said in a deep voice, "Brother Wuji, why are you suddenly asking about Xiao Siye?"

Chang Sun Wuji smiled and said, "Like I said earlier, I like to daydream. I just thought of a possibility that I find quite interesting."

Li Ji said in a deep voice: "What's possible?"

Changsun Wuji laughed and said, "I was wondering, if someone wanted to assassinate the emperor but was worried about being held accountable if he failed, what would he do?"

Li Ji's heart trembled: "How to do it?"

Changsun Wuji laughed and said, "If it were me, I would find someone who is dissatisfied with the emperor and send someone to seduce him so that he can complete my plan."

"I will complete the most difficult part of this plan for him. Of course, I will pretend to be completely unaware of what happened. After the incident, I will do my best to make amends. For example, I will find someone the emperor trusts, explain the situation to him, and then apologize to him for my negligence."

"That person already knew everything and wanted to stop the plan, but it was too late. In this way, even if the plan fails, I will at most be guilty of dereliction of duty, and perhaps that person will even plead for me."

"Also, I've prepared a follow-up plan. The person I sent to find Xu Ang was deliberately chosen to be from Shu, and he has the same surname as the guards around King Han. King Han appears to be a virtuous king, but he actually harbors hidden ambitions. The emperor has long suspected him, making him a perfect scapegoat for me."

The more Li Ji listened, the uglier his expression became. He stared at him intently and asked, "The person you are talking about is Xiao Siye?"

Changsun Wuji asked, "What do you think?"

Li Ji pondered for a long time and asked, "Do you have any evidence?"

Changsun Wuji said calmly, "No, I've already said it all. This is just a random guess of mine. Just listen to it."

Li Ji was silent for a long time, then gave a wry smile and said, "It's better to believe this kind of thing. It seems I won't be able to rest for long. Are you willing to accompany me to the palace to meet the emperor?"

Changsun Wuji said, "Your Majesty probably doesn't want to see me right now. You should go by yourself."

Li Ji stopped persuading him, bowed to him, got on a carriage and headed towards the palace.

(End of this chapter)