In the Wende Palace, the atmosphere is extremely dignified.

Although many Wenchen had a bad impression of Qin Zheng, it was only out of natural disgust for the privileged yamen of the Warp Weaving Division, not for Qin Zheng himself.

In fact, there are not a few courtiers who have praised Qin Zheng in private, including those important ministers from the Jiangnan family, not only because Qin Zheng assisted the Son of Heaven as a lonely minister, but also because of the level of ability he has shown for more than ten years.

Therefore, when Qin Zheng told the latest discovery, even if the evidence he presented was not perfect and conclusive, no one in the palace questioned it.

The next moment was a crowd of emotions, and the sound gradually rose.

"Your Majesty, the matter involves the prince of the Heavenly Family, and the minister should not have said anything, but the assassination of the commander of the Beijing camp on the street is actually a provocation to the court of Daqi and a contempt for the law of the country, and the minister has the courage to implore His Majesty to investigate strictly!"

The first person to stand up was Qi Fangyuan, the young secretary of Dali Temple.

"The minister seconded the proposal! Your Majesty, the sages once said that the law is not noble, the rope is not bent, the law is added, the wise can resign, and the brave dare to fight. Punishment does not avoid the minister, reward the good and leave no stone unturned, so it is the right way! ”

This official with sonorous and powerful words is Lin Mengzhong, the right attendant of the Criminal Department.

"Your Majesty, if what Qin Tiju said is true, then you should investigate the people in King Chen's mansion, so as to clarify whether King Chen has anything to do with this matter."

Ning Yuanfu, the secretary of the ministry, did not lag behind, but compared to his previous questioning of the eldest prince, these words seemed to have the intention of taking the eldest prince out, but what he was really worried about was that the Son of Heaven would bring this matter over.

As long as the Son of Heaven continues to investigate, the eldest prince will have no possibility of turning over.

For a while, there was a lot of uproar in the hall, although no one dared to openly shout for the Son of Heaven to deal with the eldest prince ruthlessly, but this scale of condemnation was enough for the Son of Heaven to consider carefully, at least he would not raise it high and put it down gently.

Among these courtiers who stood up and expressed their hearts directly, some received hints from the three princes in advance, some were out of awe of the national law, and some were concerned about the stability of the overall situation of the court.

A large number of officials headed by Right Prime Minister Xue Nanting looked solemn and silent.

If you use the words of Ning Yuanfu and others to describe it, these officials are the imperial party that the Son of Heaven has been enveloping for 14 years, and they basically don't have too many opinions of their own, and all actions follow the will of the Son of Heaven.

In the past two years, these officials have charged forward for the Son of Heaven, making the Jiangnan clan, which originally had an absolute advantage, deflated again and again, Ning Yuanfu and the others have long been resentful, and at this moment, seeing that they finally closed their mouths and couldn't say a word, they couldn't help but feel very happy.

Of course, the most heartfelt person in the palace at this moment must be the three princes.

Since many years ago, the three princes have tried every means to install eyeliner around the two brothers, and the eldest prince's mansion is tight on the outside and loose on the inside, so the arrangement of the three princes is going very smoothly, and the eldest grandson Jun even became a very important guest of the eldest prince, and then buried a lot of ambushes under the command of the three princes.

On the contrary, the second prince, who seemed to be chic and arbitrary, was extremely cautious, and although the people of the third prince could get close to the periphery of the palace, they could never get close to the second prince's side.

The third prince was not in a hurry, as long as he used the perjury arranged in advance this time to cut off the hope of the eldest prince competing for the crown, he would succeed for the most part.

Thinking that even Qin Zheng didn't see through his clever plan, the third prince almost couldn't control the expression on his face, he pretended to be shocked and worried and looked at the eldest prince, but in his heart he hoped that his father would make up his mind to take the position of the eldest prince at today's court meeting.

On the dragon chair, Li Duan looked at the courtiers below with an expressionless face, unable to see what mood he was in at the moment.

All living beings fell into the eyes of this Son of Heaven, and in the end he still looked at the eldest son, who was standing alone on the lower left.

The eldest prince's face was like a blank piece of paper, and the whole person seemed to be drained of energy, and there was not even anger, at this moment he only felt that he was floating in the clouds, and all his past ambitions turned into a sad smile.

He didn't fall into such a state of mind because of the impeachment of his ministers, and at this moment there were only four words echoing repeatedly in his mind.

I see.

He knew that he was indeed not as smart as the second brother, and in some ways he was not as good as the third, but he understood his father's temperament.

Without the acquiescence of his father, Qin Zheng would not dare to assert himself even if he burned his eyebrows, and openly put the evidence involving a prince in front of the civil and military officials.

In other words, Qin Zheng's appearance was originally arranged by his father.

As for the authenticity of the evidence, what is the more true significance?

The eldest prince took a light breath and plucked up the courage to look up at the Son of Heaven on the dragon chair.

Lu Shen's statement at the Fengyuan banquet was very clear, but he did not immediately choose to withdraw from the competition for the position of prince.

On that night three days ago, the father had ostensibly admonished the three of them, and now it seemed that he should have reminded him, hoping that he would take the initiative to let Xian, but he didn't understand the meaning.

If all this happened, his father must have been very disappointed, so he decided to let Qin Zheng show the evidence at the court meeting, so as to completely kill his hope of competing for the crown.

When the eldest prince thought of this, a decisive sadness appeared in his eyes.

Li Duan looked at him quietly, the father and son looked at each other for a moment, and just as the eldest prince was about to speak, a clear voice resounded in the hall.

"Your Majesty, the minister believes that the Qingfeng Street assassination case has nothing to do with His Royal Highness King Chen."

As the bitter master of this assassination case, Lu Shen is very low-key in the court today, which is completely different from the violent and domineering that day when he led the troops and horses to the Privy Council and smashed dozens of heads in front of Guo Congyi, so he also gained the favor of many courtiers.

The eldest prince looked back at Lu Shen in disbelief.

He didn't expect that Lu Shen, who had tried his best to keep his distance and never responded to his enthusiasm when he was in Fengyuan Paradise before, would stand up in the situation that he was now referring to by Qianfu.

Lu Shen looked calm, met the gaze of the Son of Heaven, and said calmly: "Your Majesty, the minister and His Royal Highness King Chen have had several encounters, and they have also talked freely in Fengyuan for a long time. His Royal Highness King Chen may have the responsibility of not being strict with the emperor, but he will never send someone to assassinate his ministers. ”

Li Duan said slowly: "Why? ”

Lu Shen raised his tone slightly: "If the minister dies on Qingfeng Street, what good will it do to His Royal Highness King Chen?" Regardless of whether he will be suspected by His Majesty because of this, everything must always consider the cause and effect. The minister and His Royal Highness King Chen have no suspicion and grudge, and there is no conflict of interest at the moment, what is the reason why His Royal Highness King Chen took a great risk and sent someone to assassinate the commander of the Beijing camp on the street? ”

The eldest prince had to use almost all his strength to restrain the tears that were about to burst out of his eyes.

Li Duan tasted his true thoughts from Lu Shen's gaze, it was obvious that this young courtier had seen through the reason for Qin Zheng's sudden appearance, although he did not object to the Son of Heaven's serial methods, but he also did not want the eldest prince to embark on that desperate road because of this.

Li Duan sighed lightly in his heart, and said with a slightly gloomy face: "Your analysis is also reasonable, but now that there is evidence pointing to King Chen, if you are vague and perfunctory, how can you give a satisfactory explanation to the people of Chinese Wu and Daqi?" Qin Zheng. ”

"The minister is here."

"I order you to mobilize manpower, thoroughly investigate the people of the Chen Palace, and arrest the eldest grandson Jun as soon as possible, and be sure to find more conclusive and detailed evidence."

"Obey."

Qin Zheng bowed.

"Your Majesty, the old minister has something to say."

Just when everyone thought that the eldest prince would not be spared this time, an old man walked forward slowly and saluted respectfully towards the Son of Heaven.

Li Duanxun followed the prestige, looked at the old man's thin body, and a complicated emotion surged in his heart, and he said, "It's okay to say it. ”

Li Daoyan straightened his body, like an old tree that had been eroded by wind and rain for a long time, although it was old and tenacious, his face showed a little sorrow, and he said slowly: "The old minister knows who is the mastermind behind the assassination on Qingfeng Street. ”

His tone was calm, but there was a sudden commotion in the courtroom.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty did not change their color, and all kinds of emotions came one after another, no one thought that when the curtain was about to fall, this old man who had been silent for a long time would say such a sentence.

It can be described as earth-shattering.

Immediately afterwards, many people were deeply puzzled, since Zuo Xiang had long known the truth about the assassination, why didn't he make it public earlier, so that the imperial court had to spend a lot of manpower to investigate, and let the Son of Heaven be in such a difficult situation.

Li Duan didn't get angry, he just asked quietly, "Who is the mastermind behind the scenes?" ”

Li Daoyan glanced at the three princes standing next to the imperial steps, laughed at himself and said: "There are two conspirators in this case, one of whom is the grandson of Li Daoyan, the left minister, Li Yunyi. ”

The last three words fell into the ears of the ministers, and it was undoubtedly a thunderclap that shook the world.

The thunder stopped, and there was a dead silence in the Wende Palace.

Li Daoyan lowered his head slightly and continued: "The other person is the third prince, Li Zongjian, the founding king. ”

Li Duan slowly stood up.

When the third prince heard the three words Li Yunyi, his brain fell into a complete stagnation, and when he heard his name again, he didn't know what kind of expression to maintain, but he felt that there seemed to be a flower withering in the depths of his heart, and it seemed that it was just a dream today.

But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't wake up, and was dragged into the depths of his dark dreams.

Li Daoyan looked up at the Son of Heaven, his old eyes were full of guilt, and there was also a bit of the determination of a strong man to break his wrist, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, the old minister has been hesitant today, because this matter is too big, the Li family has such an unscrupulous descendant, almost let the Great Qi court fall into civil strife, he is not sorry to die, and the old minister also has an unshirkable responsibility." ”

"Don't hide it from Your Majesty, the old minister once had a momentary thought in his heart, that is, no one can find out the truth of this case, Li Yunyi's role in this matter will never be known, Jinlin Li will not be depressed because of this, but ......"

Li Daoyan paused slightly, shook his head and said: "But the old minister remembered that in the past fourteen years, he has assisted His Majesty in stabilizing the overall situation, from the precarious situation at the beginning to the current foothold in the south. Although the enemy in the north is still strong, the soldiers of our border army are also brave and good at fighting, and there are also loyal and capable ministers like Xue Xiang in the prime of life, as well as rising stars like Shanyang Hou who don't care about personal gains and losses. Although there are still many problems inside and outside the court, the old ministers can already see the upward trend. ”

"Such a situation is not easy, it is the result of His Majesty and tens of millions of people who have eaten and dressed at night, and it is also the picture that His Majesty and his ministers have been looking forward to seeing day and night. How could the old minister bury a bane for Daqi that was enough to tear the court apart because of his own selfishness? Let the hard work of countless people with lofty ideals go to waste? ”

Speaking of this, Li Daoyan knelt down slowly facing the Son of Heaven, bowed his head and said: "Minister Li Daoyan, I implore Your Majesty to condemn the Li family, and to correct the atmosphere of the court and calm the hearts of the people in the world!" ”

(End of chapter)