Her Highness Doesn’t Want to Work Hard Anymore

Chapter 176 Heartbreak

Originally, according to the regulations, the prince's coffin had to be parked in the prince's mansion for seven days.

But because the prince's coffin has been on the road for many days, and the weather is still relatively warm, the rotten smell can already be smelled around the coffin.

If it is left for a few more days, I am afraid that the whole mourning hall will become stinky.

So on the second day, the emperor ordered a funeral.

Civil and military officials surrounded the coffin of the prince to the imperial mausoleum. The concubine and the concubine were crying out of breath with the female relatives in the backyard. Every household in the city hung white flags and white lanterns.

As elders, the emperor and empress could not go out to attend the funeral, and could only weep silently in the direction of the imperial mausoleum.

Although the prince was buried, the case of investigating the cause of the prince's death is still in progress.

The three bandits brought back by King Zhao were investigated and interrogated by the Ministry of Punishment and the Privy Council.

Lin Qingzhi, who was the crown prince's concubine, was naturally unable to escape, and was imprisoned for interrogation.

Even Bian Ziming, who was a general of Xiaoqi, was put in the prison and interrogated several times.

If it wasn't for King Zhao being seriously injured and ordered by the emperor to contemplate his mistakes behind closed doors at home, he might even be invited to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Although there is no need to go to prison, some people from the Privy Council came to ask King Zhao to inquire about the incident.

Three days later, Minister of the Ministry of Justice entered the palace to report the investigation results to the emperor.

The emperor read the stack of confessions sent to him one by one.

The Minister of the Ministry of Justice carefully observed the emperor's face, but failed to find any clues.

The emperor has been in a high position for many years, and he has long developed the habit of not showing his emotions and anger. It is difficult for the courtiers to guess his true thoughts through his facial expressions.

Minister of the Ministry of Justice said cautiously.

"When His Royal Highness was killed, King Zhao and his personal guards were indeed not present. Not only General Xiaoqi can testify to this point, but all the soldiers of the Tiger Roar Camp can also testify. There is no falsehood."

The emperor casually put the stack of confessions on the table and asked.

"Have the bandits who assassinated the prince found out their origin?"

Minister of the Ministry of punishment answered truthfully.

"Wei Chen sent people to compare the sea arrest documents issued by the local governments, and found the arrest warrants of those bandits.

They are bandits entrenched in the Kaifeng Mountain area, and they make a living by robbing passing merchants.

They also looted several villages, burning, killing and looting.

They ambushed and snatched the relief money and food that the Ministry of War sent to escort them before, and they also killed the two accompanying censors. "

The emperor frowned slightly: "The local government doesn't care about such a vicious bandit?"

Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice explained in an embarrassing manner.

"These bandits are very cunning, they only pick those remote villages, and after they robbed them, they set fire to the villages, so no one went to the government office to report the crime.

When the government office learned about this, the group of mountain bandits had long been hiding somewhere, and they couldn't catch them even if they wanted to.

The government has no choice but to issue the sea arrest documents, hoping to find their traces. "

Minister of the Ministry of Justice thought to himself, now that all these bandits have been killed, it can be regarded as getting rid of a serious problem of the imperial court.

It's just that the price paid is heavy.

He didn't dare to say this, he only dared to sigh silently in his heart.

The emperor tapped the table with his index finger, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, he asked slowly.

"How did those mountain bandits find the prince? And why did they know the whereabouts of the prince?"

Minister of the Ministry of punishment answered truthfully.

"When bandits attacked the prince, Lin Liangyuan was also there.

She said that the entire family of the bandits had been killed. They thought it was the prince who sent someone to do it, so they desperately came to the prince for revenge.

The prince's whereabouts are not a secret, you only need to ask a little bit to find out. "

The emperor asked: "Who killed the family members of the bandits?"

Minister of the Ministry of Justice: "We have sent people to investigate, but there is no definite result yet."

The emperor said coldly.

"Continue to check."

"Here."

After the minister of punishment left, the queen came out from behind the screen.

The emperor ordered someone to pass the stack of confessions to her, and said slowly.

"You heard it just now. Judging from the clues found so far, this matter has nothing to do with King Zhao."

The queen quickly read all the confessions, her eyebrows frowned, obviously very dissatisfied with the results of this investigation.

"The crown prince did not order anyone to kill the family members of those bandits.

Someone must have killed the bandit's family, and then tried to put the blame on the prince, so as to attract the bandits to attack and assassinate the prince.

The only person who can do all this is King Zhao! "

The emperor asked calmly, "Do you have evidence?"

Queen: "As long as King Zhao and all the people around him are arrested and tortured, we will definitely find evidence."

The emperor looked at her fixedly.

"Arbitrarily arresting important court officials without evidence of guilt is not what Mingjun did."

The queen doesn't care what the king does not know. At this moment, in her heart, nothing is more important than revenge.

She stepped forward, staring at the emperor with red eyes, and said word by word.

"My concubine knows that you favor King Zhao, but this matter is related to the truth of the prince's murder. As the prince's father, shouldn't you seek justice for him?"

Zuo Ji reminded: "Empress, please pay attention to your tone of voice when talking to the saint."

It stands to reason that when the empress speaks, others are not qualified to interrupt.

But for Zuo Ji's words, the emperor did not reprimand him.

This is enough to show that the emperor acquiesced to Zuo Ji's words.

The queen's face was a little ugly.

She frowned and reprimanded: "You have no place to talk here."

Zuo Ji was not annoyed, but just smiled helplessly, and comforted him in a calm manner.

"My servant knows that you are sad because of the death of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

In fact, the sorrow in the heart of the saint is no less than that of you, so there is really no need for you to blame the saint for this.

To put it bluntly, the dead have passed away, and the living have to live on. "

In history, there are many cases of princes passing away unexpectedly, and I have never seen any dynasty that turned the entire court upside down because of the prince's disappearance.

After all, the emperor's son is more than one prince.

Without this prince, another one can be established.

The queen went to see the emperor, but the emperor was silent.

She immediately understood his attitude.

She suddenly laughed out loud, and she burst into tears when she smiled.

"Your Majesty has many children, but this concubine has only one child, Cheng'er, who is my lifeblood.

Now that he was killed, the concubine's heart died along with it. "

After she finished speaking, she stopped looking at the emperor, turned around, and left in a daze.

The emperor closed his eyes.

The hall of Hanzhang fell into silence.

Zuo Ji wanted to comfort the emperor, but he didn't know how to speak?

After a long time, he heard the emperor murmur like a dream.