Yesterday evening, Jin Zhong and several other people who had just come to the Chunhe Hall cried and worshiped the deceased saint. Soon, the crown prince and the crown princess Zhang asked the ministers to have a place to discuss the future.

At that time, in addition to the prince and his wife, there were a total of nine people involved, including Jin Zhong and Guo Zi, senior officials at the level of the imperial court, and Yuan Hui, the young secretary of Taichang Temple; East Palace officials Yang Rong, Yang Pu, Yang Shiqi, as well as military generals Tan Qing and eunuch Haitao.

The crown prince did not like eunuchs, but he was an exception to Haitao, this eunuch had been with him for a long time; And Haitao is even more obedient to the words of the crown princess Zhang. Many eunuchs in the East Palace are also very grateful to the Zhang family, and I heard that the Zhang family saved the lives of those eunuchs more than once, and often spoke for the slaves and maids.

Jin Zhong and other civil and military officials only knew that the emperor had died, and they didn't know what was going on. So the prince first gave a general account of what happened, and then ordered the eunuch Haitao to bring the second concubine Guo and the eunuch Wang Gou'er, who had been imprisoned; Then he called the two royal doctors into the house to testify.

Only then did Jin Zhong gradually figure out what had happened during the unitary period.

……

When the saint played with the grandson by the pool of the spring and temple in the spring, the saint's hand was stained with mud, and he wanted to pinch a clay figure for the grandson on a whim.

Wang Gou'er, a close confidant eunuch, went to the edge of the pool and dug a piece of wet mud; The edge of the pool was built with masonry, and in one place the stone had collapsed, and only there could be mud to be found.

The saint took the wet mud, threw it on the stone a few times, made it square, and then began to knead it back and forth. Unexpectedly, before he could pinch it a few times, he suddenly stopped, gently wiped his palm, and saw blood beads coming out!

For a while, the people around were stunned, and their faces changed suddenly. The saint frowned, and immediately dug a few times from the wet mud, and dug out a tiny rusty iron needle.

The prince hurriedly ordered the palace maid to fetch water and bandage the wounds of the holy lord's hands.

The saint looked at the iron needle dug out for a while, then turned his head to look at the place where the masonry by the pond had collapsed, stretched out his hand to press the wound, and suddenly said: Go to the Tai Hospital and call the imperial doctor!

When the eunuch Wang Gou'er heard this, he immediately knelt down in front of the saint, and despite the fact that the saint's hands were full of mud, he went straight to suck the blood from the wound with his mouth.

At this time, the saint said angrily: The people of the East Palace, as well as these slaves and maids who came in, no one is allowed to leave!

The crown princess Zhang immediately sent the eunuch Haitao to call the imperial doctor. According to the meaning of the saint, Haitao first asked the eunuch at the gate of the East Palace to prohibit anyone from going out, and then hurried to the Wenhua Hall to tell Yang Pu, the official of the East Palace. Yang Pu went to call the imperial doctor.

The saint told the eunuch to tear off a strip of cloth from his clothes and tie up his right wrist. At this time, the slaves and maidservants brought water and brought chairs, and the Holy One sat on the chairs as little as possible and let the servants wash their hands. The eunuchs hurriedly carried the holy chairs into the palace.

…… There are thirteen departments in Damingtai Hospital, and the two medical officers who came to the East Palace were in charge of each department.

When the medical officer came to the East Palace, he didn't need to check the pulse, and when he saw the symptoms, he had already determined that the saint was poisoned! At this time, the Holy One had been stabbed for at least a moment (about fifteen minutes), his eyelids drooped, and his body sat loose and had little strength; The saint told the imperial doctor that he felt that his hands and feet were not easy to move, that it was a little difficult to breathe in and inhale, that it was not easy to swallow saliva, and that he wanted to sleep.

A medical officer hurried up to take the pulse, examined the pupils of the saint, and looked at his complexion carefully. Another medical officer examines the iron needle that stabbed the saint.

The two of them were busy for a while, and then they exchanged heads and discussed. The Holy One asked, "What kind of poison have I been poisoned in?"

The two medical officers didn't dare to be sure easily, so they asked more colleagues from the hospital to come over for diagnosis. The Holy Lord issued a decree to ask what kind of poison might be......

One of them finally said: Judging from the symptoms, it is very likely to be the venom of the silver krait!

The saint may not know much about the venom of the silver krait, but when he heard that it was snake venom, he immediately became angry and anxious, and struggled twice and couldn't sit up on the chair. The prince hurriedly called the slaves and maids, helped the saint to lie down on the bed, and urged the medical officer to treat him immediately.

The medical officer very cautiously took out a plaster from the medicine box, pasted the wound on the saint, and then said that he wanted more imperial doctors to confirm the diagnosis (share the responsibility).

Although the saint was angry and worried, he didn't bother to ask who was the culprit, let alone report it, and what he wanted most was, of course, to hurry up and do everything he could to save himself. The saint waved his hand, and at this time he couldn't even speak clearly.

One of the medical officers walked out of the palace, and the crown princess Zhang asked him: How can I save the saint?

The medical officer looked frightened and said: The venom of the silver krait snake is extremely poisonous, as long as the slightest invisible bit of poison can be fatal! Several political envoys in the south have bitten people every year, and once the bite person has a toxic attack, there is almost no cure.

Judging from the dossiers of various newspapers, it generally takes half an hour for the bitten people to develop symptoms of poison; And the saint was poisoned in less than a moment, which shows that the rusty iron needle has been soaked in the snake venom of many snakes and repeatedly stabbed people, which is much more poisonous than the snake bite! How can this be healed? Xia Guan and the other two, I'm afraid it's going to be over!

Zhang asked again: The eunuch Wang Gou'er has taken drugs for the saint, such a highly poisonous thing, why is Wang Gou'er fine?

The doctor said: As long as there is no injury in the mouth and abdomen, the venom of the krait snake enters from the mouth, and it cannot poison people.

Zhang asked: If it is not treated, when will the poisoned person die?

The doctor answered: Usually it takes a few hours to three days, but there are also longer. However, the poison that invaded the body of the Holy Dragon was obviously much more than the poison of a snake's bite, and it might not take that long.

At this moment, someone from the palace reported to the Zhang family, and the saint fell asleep.

So Zhang immediately made a decision and said: This matter is very important, if it suddenly spreads, I am afraid that the teachers and students in Beijing will be chaotic, and the consequences will be unimaginable. It's best not to alarm too many people, too many imperial doctors will be indecisive and delay the time, and the two of you will immediately try all means to save the saint!

Not long after the saint fell asleep in bed, the medical officer felt that the poison would spread faster when he fell asleep, so he tried to wake the saint. But the Holy One was completely unconscious and couldn't wake up at all.

The medical officer said that once the poisoned person falls into a coma, the toxicity will only get stronger and stronger, and it will be difficult to wake up again.

…… At that time, the people around him were completely helpless, and most of them were terrified. The prince angrily ordered Wang Gou'er to be arrested. Because the person who went to dig the mud by the pool was the eunuch Wang Gou'er, and he had the opportunity to insert a poison needle in the mud of the saint! Wang Gou'er cried and cried out for wrong.

Zhang said coldly: It's best to lock up Concubine Guo and ask......

Last time, there was an incident in which Concubine Guo attacked the Zhang family, instructed her henchman Luo'er, and designed to kill the child in Concubine Guo's womb. Zhang was furious and reminded Guo Cifei to stop in moderation, and threatened that Guo Cifei would not end well in the future (Zhang's own son Zhan Ji would take power sooner or later). Concubine Guo held a grudge and wanted to murder Zhan Ji and let her son Zhan Kai ascend to the throne, but she didn't have to!

And the wet mud that hid the poison needle was dug up from the edge of the pool. So it is also possible that Concubine Guo hid it before, the purpose was to harm Zhan Ji, but she accidentally injured the saint!

Zhang also pointed out another strange thing, Guo Ming, the father of Concubine Guo, sent snake gall medicine and wine into the East Palace to treat children's convulsions.

Snake gall! At this time, as soon as the snake was mentioned, Concubine Guo was immediately caught from her bedroom and locked up......

Zhang also suggested that the crown prince immediately drive the emperor's car outside the Chunhe Palace into the East Palace, block the Chunhe Palace, and not let the news leak out, so as not to have no time to prepare; and summoned the officials of the East Palace to the palace to discuss.

The prince thought it was good, and asked someone to invite Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi, who were still in the Wenhua Palace, into the East Palace.

After a while, the medical officer suddenly fell to his knees and said in horror: "The Holy One is no longer able to breathe!"

The prince called the medical officer to treat him immediately, and the two medical officers were helpless, and one of them dared to go straight to the chest of the saint. However, to no avail, the Holy Lord stopped inhaling in a coma, and the prince went up to probe the Holy Shang's nostrils, but he couldn't feel his breath at all.

Everyone in the palace fell to their knees and wept bitterly.

The crown prince and the crown princess summoned the three officials of the East Palace to a palace inside and discussed, what should be done now?

Zuo Yude Yang Shiqi believes that the emperor's death in the East Palace is a matter of great importance, and it is by no means only the officials of the East Palace who can maintain the situation; The ministers of the DPRK and China should be summoned immediately.

Zhang proposed that there should not be too many people who were summoned first, and only trustworthy people.

……

So Taichang Shaoqing Yuan Hui, Jin Zhong, the secretary of the military department, Guo Zi, the secretary of the household department, and Tan Qing, the commander of the Jinwu Zuowei, went to the East Palace one after another. As soon as everyone entered the East Palace, they found that the Holy Lord had died!

Then Jin Zhong and the others heard the narration of the crown prince and the crown princess, and then met the second concubine Guo and the eunuch Wang Gou'er, and finally understood how the saint died.

Concubine Guo and the eunuch Wang Gou'er came over to add some things, but they only cared about grievances.

Wang Gou'er said: The slave maid is loyal to the emperor, and he did not hesitate to protect the emperor with his life during the "Battle of Jingjing", but the emperor was poisoned, and the slave and maid hurriedly wanted to help the emperor suck the poison out, and his own life had already been put on the line. The slave would rather die for the emperor, how could she plot to kill the emperor?

Concubine Guo said coldly: Although I am not very harmonious with the crown princess, how can I use such a means to deal with the emperor and grandson of the saint after my Guo family is the Marquis of Wuding? There are so many people in the Hou Mansion, can I do such a thing?

Zhang raised his head and said: You don't think it will be found out.

Prince Zhu Gaochi said: That jar of medicinal wine is soaked in snake gall?

Guo Cifei said again: The medicinal wine is for Zhan Kai to cure diseases, how can it be poisonous? What's more, even if the father was brought to the palace, the eunuchs had already carefully checked it!

Zhang Shi said: What kind of snake is that?

Concubine Guo couldn't answer for a while, and stood there silent.

At this moment, Yang Shiqi suggested that the future affairs of the saint should be discussed first, and as for who committed the poison, we will investigate it in detail later. Although Yang Shiqi's official position is not high, and he is still born in Bai Ding and has no fame, what he said is very reasonable, so everyone seconded his words.

It stands to reason that although the situation was shocking and grieving, there was nothing to say. The country already has the crown prince as the crown prince, and now that the emperor has died, the crown prince only needs to send a national funeral according to the normal process, play Empress Xu, and then he can rightfully inherit the throne and ascend to the throne in front of the coffin of the first emperor.

But the problem is that the emperor was poisoned in the East Palace! And the next morning, the Han King Zhu Gaoxu will enter Beijing with the great merit of destroying the Annan Kingdom, will he take this opportunity to attack the crown prince? Can the crown prince succeed to the throne so smoothly?