Wandering the Heavens

Yu Xian used too much force and smashed the table made of rough hardwood into a pile of broken wood, shocking all the Jinyiwei present.

"Say!"

"I... I said, in fact, it was because the late emperor was incontinent from the time he fell ill to the moment he passed away, and the medical officers had limited education, so there were many corrections in the records." Doctor Li was frightened and stammered as he explained the reason for the problem in the diagnosis record.

"Then, what kind of acute illness did the late emperor have? Why would his body react so violently?" Yu Xian said coldly.

"We don't know. We have searched through all the books collected by the Imperial Medical Bureau but couldn't find any similar cases. We suspect... we suspect..." Doctor Li didn't dare to continue.

"You suspect it was poisoning, right? What about the pulse? Why is there no record of the pulse?" Yu Xian asked.

"The pulse is chaotic and none of us can diagnose anything." Doctor Li was also anxious.

"There is one last question. Tell me all the people you have come into contact with from the time you entered the palace for treatment to the time you were brought here by me, including but not limited to their names, places of origin, occupations, genders, ages, what you said, etc. Tell me one by one!" After Yu Xian finished speaking, he signaled the Jinyiwei to start recording, and left to interrogate other people.

He needed to interrogate seventeen problematic eunuchs and nine imperial doctors who participated in treating Zhu Zhanji one by one and organize and compare their transcripts, which was a huge workload.

Zhu Zhanji was the same. Two days before he fell ill, he came to Yu Xian to ask for money. Yu Xian also found an opportunity to feel his pulse and do other examinations. He had no other problems except for the injuries he suffered during the march and battle. Who would have thought that he would suddenly fall ill during the Chinese New Year and die two days later.

Then the whole city was filled with rumors that the Queen Mother wanted Prince Xiang to succeed to the throne.

Three days passed, and the ministers were handling Zhu Zhanji's funeral while preparing for Zhu Qizhen's coronation ceremony. The rumors circulating throughout the city were apparently calmed down as the Five Cities Army and Shuntian Prefecture Governor carried out large-scale arrests.

Yu Xian's progress was not good. Zhu Zhanji was arranged to eat foods that induce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases for a long time. If Zhu Zhanji had been arranged like this in his early years because of the long-term wars, it might be okay. But now he is either fighting crickets or reviewing memorials all day, so it must be abnormal for him to have such a heavy taste. No wonder when he came to his mansion to eat, he kept grabbing the vegetarian dishes without any seasoning.

The reason why these eunuchs did this was simple. They wanted to study in the inner school but were not selected. As for why they came up with this idea, it was because several eunuchs whose hometowns were near Datong found that the merchants who had been doing cattle and sheep business with the Mongols for many years had a heavy taste in their diet and mostly ate animal offal, and then they all died of sudden illness.

To this end, they also carefully developed relevant recipes based on Zhu Zhanji's taste.

This has nothing to do with the rumor, it's all in vain.

The imperial physician received money from many people to find out whether Zhu Zhanji was dead or alive. They were all important officials of the court. The emperor's life or death was unknown, so they paid money to pave the way for the future. It seemed reasonable, but in fact it was too unreasonable.

He had to start with the officials in Beijing, but given his reputation among the civil servants, he couldn't expect them to cooperate. Yu Qian, the only one he had a good relationship with, was still working outside as a governor, miserably.

The worst thing is that this matter cannot be made public. We have to find a scapegoat who is willing to admit the crime.

While Yu Xian was still thinking about recruiting, he didn't expect the Three Yangs and Zhang Fu to come together. The main reason was that they arrested people too harshly. The prisons of Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi were full of people. The rumors in the capital were even worse, saying all kinds of things, even that the Earl of Xuanwu wanted to take the opportunity to rebel.

The four people came to the Xuanwu Earl's Mansion, and Yu Xian received them in the lobby. After arranging for someone to serve tea, he started the formal conversation. In short, the investigation caused too much noise, and the people of Beijing were panicked. Many ministers had already impeached Yu Xian and demanded that he be released. This was still polite. Some simply attacked Yu Xian for setting up a large prison and doing a lot of things, and wanted to abolish his title and exile him three thousand miles away.

Yu Xian was very disdainful of these impeachments. He wanted to challenge them in front of the Ming Dynasty!

"Let's be frank. I'm under the order of the Grand Empress Dowager to investigate the rumors in the capital about Prince Xiang's accession to the throne. All of you bribed the imperial physician to find out about the late emperor's condition. You are deeply trusted by the late emperor and are often by his side. Why did you do something so suspicious?" Yu Xian was too lazy to chat with them.

"This……"

Several people looked at each other. They all came to negotiate with Yu Xian, but they never expected to be tricked first.

"I know that you have been in the court for many years and are good at calculating, but isn't it a bit too much to use such dirty thoughts on orphans and widows! The inheritance of the throne has never been normal since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. There have always been some disturbances. Don't you have any memory at all?" Yu Xian really wanted to arrest these four people.

It's really weird to say that, except for Zhu Houzhao, the succession of the throne in the Ming Dynasty went through the process quietly. Others all had some troubles, and even caused turmoil in the court. The famous three major cases in the Ming Palace were all related to the succession to the throne.

"Yu Xian, don't go too far. You are just an earl, and I am the hereditary Duke of England! What qualifications do you have to question me!" Zhang Fu was the first to lose his temper.

"You still know that you are the Duke of England, and you also know that the title is hereditary! But you disregard the emperor's grace and do such a dirty thing. How can you have the face to call yourself the number one noble? Aren't you afraid that the King of Hejian will know about it and drive you out of the house in a dream?" Yu Xian also retorted without any politeness.

"Duke of England, Earl of Xuanwu, we can talk it out in a relaxed manner." Yang Rong hurriedly stood up and advised.

"Since the four of you are here, we might as well speak openly. When the late emperor passed away, he had already issued an order to entrust the crown prince to you, although important matters require the approval of the empress dowager. Since ancient times, the inheritance of the royal family has been placed before the death of the elder brother and the younger brother. The empress dowager has experienced three dynasties and is well aware of righteousness, which earned her praise from Emperor Taizong and Emperor Renzong." Yu Xian first talked about the situation of the empress dowager.

"Even so, you still judge others by your own standards. Instead of directly petitioning the Crown Prince to ascend the throne, you sent people to spread rumors everywhere to force the Queen Mother to bring the Crown Prince to express his position in front of the ministers. You are no different from those sycophants who encouraged Jianwen to issue an order not to allow the princes to return to Nanjing to perform filial piety in front of Taizu's spirit!"

"Or should we follow the popular saying that it is better to provide timely assistance than to add icing on the cake? Or should we give the Crown Prince a warning?" Yu Xianzhen just pinned all kinds of charges on them.

Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu and Zhang Fu were so frightened by these words that they dared not retort, because this was indeed what they had been thinking. They had all been legitimately enthroned by the crown prince who had been entrusted with the care of the young emperor. Such a natural thing would not give the new emperor any extra weight over the court officials. After all, as Yu Xian said, adding icing on the cake is not as good as helping someone in need.

"Duke Xuanwu, your words are just judging a gentleman by one's own mean character."

After all, Yang Rong had been involved in society in his early years, so he quickly reacted and started bargaining.