Hairpin Phoenix

   Chapter 629 Interrogation (2)

   Li Chang is indeed dead!

  Li Hao's eyes were red, and hot tears welled up in his eyes.

   His hatred for Li Chang is real, and his love for Li Chang is not fake. The eldest brother is like a father. Over the years, he is not only Li Chang's elder brother, but also half of Li Chang's father.

  The raging anger and fear in his chest mixed together, screaming and almost tearing him to pieces.

  Li Hao couldn't control himself any longer, and punched Dongping County King in the face.

   The Duke of Dongping gave a miserable cry and stepped back, his nose bleeds. I don't know if the nose is crooked or not.

   Li Hao was about to punch him a second time, and several personal soldiers on the side rushed over and worked together to stop him. Li Hao seemed to be dazed by the anger, with red eyes and several personal soldiers fighting endlessly.

  The Duke of Dongping screamed miserably while covering his face.

   Yao Shangshu frowned, supported the Duke of Dongping, and quickly whispered, "How is the Duke?"

  Dongping County King wailed: "It hurts! It hurts to death! My nose is broken!"

   Yao Shangshu couldn't do anything, so he immediately called for the imperial doctor Xuan to come over.

   Perhaps because he was not the one who was beaten, or perhaps because of his cold temperament, Yao Shangshu quickly calmed down. He squinted his eyes and suddenly raised the volume: "Stop!"

   The personal soldiers did not dare to make another move, and retreated one after another.

  Li Hao, like a mad beast, caught up with one of the personal soldiers and kicked the personal soldiers flying with one leg. The unfortunate personal soldier screamed and was kicked to the ground.

   Yao Shangshu's heart surged with anger, and shouted angrily, "Stop the third prince!"

   Li Hao didn't hear it, and continued to do it.

   Yao Shangshu was so angry that he said loudly, "You guys, hurry up and take down the third prince!"

   The personal soldiers also held back their fire. Hearing Yao Shangshu's words, he was no longer polite, and they surrounded Li Hao in the middle again, and no longer held hands.

   These personal soldiers are all elite guards in the sect's palace. Fighting alone is not necessarily Li Hao's opponent. However, with the five people joining forces, Li Hao quickly retreated. After a stick of incense, one of the palms hit the back of the neck and passed out.

   The personal soldier who knocked down Li Hao was the personal bodyguard of the Duke of Dongping.

   "Master Yao, the little one has taken the liberty to knock out His Royal Highness the Third Prince." The guard had a generous and heroic expression of sacrifice: "The little one has offended His Highness, please Master Yao to deal with it."

   Yao Shangshu is in no mood to deal with a personal soldier now, frowning and said: "This is my order. If anyone is investigated, it will be the responsibility of this officer."

   At this moment, the imperial doctor also trotted over, busy looking for the wound of Dongping County King, whose face was full of blood.

  Yao Shangshu ordered the unconscious Li Hao to be carried to the bed and exited the dungeon by himself. Then, let out a long sigh.

   What a mess!

  A case trial is not afraid of complicated cases, but what is most afraid of is the situation in front of you. People are dead, and there is no physical evidence. The prisoner's status is honorable, and punishment cannot be used, and the other party must be made to confess his guilt.

   He originally wanted to cheat, so Li Hao pleaded guilty by surprise.

  I never thought that Li Hao's palace was too deep, sinister and cunning. Not only did he not plead guilty, but he also beat the Duke of Dongping into this.

  The imperial physician neatly applied medicine to the bones of the king of Dongping County, and wrapped a gauze around his nose. The Prince of Dongping County cried out in pain.

   After all this was done, it was already half an hour later.

   "Master Yao, I'm really sorry." The Duke of Dongping covered his face with several layers of gauze, looking funny and ridiculous, and his voice was like being crushed by a stone: "I was so excited just now that I missed my mouth."

   "It's all at this time, so don't talk about it." Yao Shangshu sighed: "Let's think about it, how to interrogate it next!"

  …

  Li Hao was in a coma all night and didn't wake up until dawn the next day.

  The Duke of Dongping changed the medicine again, but the bridge of the nose still hurts terribly. Fortunately, the bridge of the nose was not broken.

   Yao Shangshu slept hastily for two hours in the Zongren's mansion, and then summoned Zhu Shilang from the Ministry of Punishment to come to interrogate him together. Also, Shi Lang Min, who had gone to Jiangnan, also returned to Beijing, and he also came to Zongren Mansion early in the morning.

  The murder of brothers and feet by the princes is a scandal in the family of heaven, and it is not suitable for rumors. Therefore, Yao Shangshu did not want to make a statement. Only the two ministers of the Ministry of Justice were ordered to try the case together.

  However, no matter what they said or asked, Li Hao didn't say a word and stayed silent.

   Yao Shangshu was not in a hurry, and asked over and over for most of the day.

   If you can't use punishment, you have to defeat and destroy Li Hao's will.

   "You don't need to ask anything." Li Hao finally opened his mouth: "Li Chang is my younger brother, no matter what he does, I will not kill him."

   "He definitely didn't want to implicate me, so he took poison and committed suicide."

   "If I had known that one day, I'd rather take all the blame."

"You return to the palace and report my words to the emperor. Just say that I, Li Hao, have not done anything that I can't do to Li Chang. When the emperor is angry, he wants to kill or slash, and I admit it. But, I will never plead guilty!"

   These words were recorded on the file and presented to Emperor Yongjia half an hour later.

  Yao Shangshu knelt down nine feet in front of the dragon couch and replied in a low voice, "...Please forgive me for my incompetence. I went to the ancestral mansion last night, and until now, I have not been able to make His Royal Highness the Third Prince confess his guilt."

   Eunuch Liu opened the file, bent down, and presented the file to Emperor Yongjia.

   The dossier is three pages in total.

  Yongjia Emperor couldn't move, but his eyesight was fine. He read a page and motioned Eunuch Liu to turn the next page. After reading all three pages, Emperor Yongjia's face turned gloomy again.

   Yao Shangshu was still kneeling.

   After a while, Emperor Yongjia opened his mouth and said, "I will give you three more days to interrogate the truth."

   paused, and then slowed down his voice: "You have been a minister of punishment for many years, and you have tried countless cases. I want to ask you, in your opinion, is Li Chang's death the work of Li Hao?"

  Yao Shangshu raised his head and said solemnly: "Without evidence and evidence, this minister does not dare to speculate on his own."

  In Yao Shangshu's opinion, Li Hao did it nine times out of ten.

   However, in front of Emperor Yongjia, you must not say that.

   He is a courtier, and he is not impatient anymore, how can he dictate the affairs between the princes!

  Emperor Yongjia didn't make a sound.

   Yao Shangshu saluted and retired.

   After Yao Shangshu left, Emperor Yongjia looked at General Liang beside the dragon couch and asked slowly, "Liang Zhan, tell me, who killed Li Chang's life?"

  General Liang was upright by nature, but he was not blindly reckless. There are some things that the Crown Princess can say, but he, the General of the Royal Forest, cannot say.

   "The minister is ignorant and dare not guess randomly."

  Emperor Yongjia sighed and closed his eyes.

   It was getting dark soon.

   Liu Gonggong held a medicine bowl and served Emperor Yongjia to drink medicine. Emperor Yongjia was in a bad mood, drinking the terribly bitter decoction, an evil fire suddenly burst out of his heart: "I don't drink it, take it!"

   Eunuch Liu had to kneel down and plead guilty.

   At this moment, a servant came in with a pale face and reported tremblingly: "Report to the emperor, the Fifth Prince's Mansion has sent a letter to the palace, and the Fifth Prince's Concubine... hanged herself."

   (end of this chapter)