The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou brought Qi Fenghua back to the Jiangzhou government office, while Ye Qi and Liu Qiao continued to track down the second prince.

Jiangzhou is just at the junction of Qi State and Zhao State. The second prince and the envoys rode fast horses late at night, and soon reached the border of the two countries. A group of people from Zhao State came to meet the second prince. Qi immediately reported what he had seen and heard to Xiao Lou: "The second prince has returned to Zhao, and there are a group of people to meet him. Should Liu Qiao and I continue to follow?"

Xiao Lou thought for a while, and said: "You guys come back first, the time for the invisibility cloak is coming soon, if you are discovered, you two will be arrested by Zhao Guo, and it will be bad."

Ye Qi and Liu Qiao returned immediately obediently.

Yu Hanjiang interrogated Qi Fenghua overnight.

The young master was proud and arrogant, and his expression remained calm after being captured.

Yu Hanjiang said coldly: "Eldest young master, on the fifteenth day of this month, on the day of the prince's birthday banquet, what do you want to do when you return to the palace pretending to be a guard?"

Qi Fenghua said coldly: "You have misunderstood the person, I am not some young master, I am just a hunter on the mountain."

Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrows, and stared sharply into his eyes: "You were in the backyard of the palace, and you happened to meet the young lady Qi Yiyao, she recognized you, and asked why you came back, you were worried that things would be revealed, so you cruelly gave your sister to me. Poisoned her to death, and hid her body, and hung her on a tree with white silk when there was no one in the backyard late at night, pretending to commit suicide, right?"

Qi Fenghua sullenly refused to answer.

Yu Hanjiang continued: "Lin Shaobo returned to the backyard of the palace. He wanted to explain to the eldest lady, but he happened to see the scene where you hung her on the tree. Lin Shaobo ran away in a hurry, and you immediately flew behind him and pinched her hard. Hold him, in the struggle, he tore off a piece of fabric from your sleeve, you pushed him into the pond, and then left the palace, right?"

Qi Fenghua's face became even more ugly, and he couldn't help but sneered when he heard this: "Master Yu can really make up stories, I don't know what you are talking about, all you said is just your speculation, is there any evidence? "

Yu Hanjiang said indifferently: "The sky's net is extensive, sparse but not leaky. The eldest young master really thinks that what he did was seamless, without leaving any clues?"

Qi Fenghua was startled, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he was wondering if he had left any physical evidence.

Yu Hanjiang did not continue the interrogation, and secretly detained Qi Fenghua in the prefect's backyard.

When he returned to the study, Xiao Lou was waiting anxiously. Looking at Yu Hanjiang's expression, he knew that the result of the interrogation was not ideal. He took a step forward and asked with concern, "Wouldn't Qi Fenghua want to recruit?"

Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice: "He refuses to say anything. But the evidence of his participation in the rebellion is now conclusive. Ye Qi and Liu Qiao saw him contact the second prince of Zhao State with their own eyes, and agreed with the second prince to 'share this prosperous world' , We have ready-made witnesses. Physical evidence, we found this medicine bottle from him, and along the clue of the medicine bottle, we may be able to dig out deeper secrets."

Deeper secret?

Xiao Lou immediately reacted: "You mean, my father solved the serial poisoning case back then?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded; "I remember my wife once said that your father discovered the medicine powder used by the poison murderer in the capital?"

"That's right. At that time, several people in the capital committed suicide suddenly. The government almost settled the case as 'suicide'. After careful autopsy and investigation of the scene, my father found that there was residual powder in their diet. After experimenting on animals, it was confirmed that this was the case. It is a colorless, odorless and highly poisonous poison mixed into food, so it is classified as a murder case." Xiao Lou thought about it carefully, and then said, "Later, after investigation by the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it was found that the murderers were several masters of drug production. During the arrest process, the principal criminal escaped, and only two accomplices were caught. After the two were imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, they committed suicide that night in fear of crime, and nothing came out of the trial."

"Suicide in fear of crime, or be silenced?" Yu Hanjiang asked suddenly.

"This..." Xiao Lou was slightly startled, and he was not sure, but after thinking about it carefully, he also felt that the matter was not simple, "Could it be that the two accomplices knew some secrets, so they were silenced?"

"It's very likely to be the case." Yu Hanjiang said, "The prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice is closely guarded. It is very difficult for prisoners to commit suicide in the prison. They will also be searched before being locked up in the prison. The possibility of hiding drugs on their bodies is almost zero. Suicide in fear of crime. It’s just on the surface, but in fact, there may be spies in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and they were silenced the night the murderer was caught.”

"That makes sense. Back then, when my father and the others arrested criminals, why did they let the main criminal escape? Maybe it was someone from the Ministry of Punishment who tipped off the news!" Xiao Lou felt a sudden enlightenment in his heart.The case that my father participated in back then was not simple. The main criminal escaped, and the two accomplices "suicide in fear of crime" as soon as they were imprisoned in the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. In the end, it became an unsolved case, and even the father was murdered!

"What is the connection between these dead people in the capital?" Yu Hanjiang put his thumb to his chin, thoughtful.After a while, he suddenly asked, "What year did your father investigate this case?"

"It seems to be 13 years ago." Xiao Lou recalled for a moment, and said with certainty, "I fled with my mother for 13 years."

"13 years ago?" Yu Hanjiang carefully searched the events of this year in his memory. When he was a child, he was the accompanying reader for His Royal Highness for a period of time. Thinking carefully, it was exactly 13 years ago!

At that time, the first emperor had just appointed the emperor's grandson as the prince, and the young prince was only ten years old.Not long before this, the Empress and Concubine Shu suddenly "died of illness" in the palace successively. These things all happened in the same year, could it be too coincidental?

Perhaps, Xiao Lou's father was inadvertently involved in the capital poisoning case, which also involved court secrets, so it was suppressed?

Thinking of this, Yu Hanjiang immediately became vigilant, looked at Xiao Lou and said, "Do you remember how your father died back then?"

Xiao Lou carefully recalled the memory fragments in his mind, and said: "That day, my mother happened to take me out, and when I came home, I saw my father lying on the floor of the study room. My mother immediately checked my father's body and found that my father died of poisoning. She guessed that the murderer came back for revenge, so she packed her luggage that day and took my brother and me to flee the capital overnight."

Although it was just a memory imposed on him by the gatekeepers, those past events were too clear in his mind. Thinking of the scene of his father's death, Xiao Lou still felt anxious.

"The scene at that time, is there any trace of being turned over?" Yu Hanjiang asked.

"It seems to be there." Xiao Lou frowned slightly, and then said firmly; "The desk was turned into a mess, and the books in the bookcase were also thrown on the ground. It looks like someone entered the house to steal."

"That person should be searching for the clues collected by your father and destroying the evidence," Yu Hanjiang said.

"Well, I thought so too. The case my father participated in was very weird. The two accomplices committed suicide in fear of crime, and the principal escaped. The family members of the deceased also strangely stopped pursuing the case. The Ministry of Criminal Justice also gave up the investigation and closed the case directly. " Xiao Lou looked up at Yu Hanjiang, and asked softly, "Have you thought of anything?"

"I have a guess that this case may be related to the death of the prince and queen." Yu Hanjiang said in a deep voice.

"The prince and the queen?" Xiao Lou opened his eyes slightly. He was only ten years old back then, and he knew nothing about the court and the palace. He learned medical skills from his mother and autopsy knowledge from his father every day. to so many secrets.

"The secret room with 8 hearts is actually three cases." Only now did Yu Hanjiang finally straighten out the structure of the secret room in troubled times.

——The Jiangzhou Assassin Case, the Murder Case of the Palace, the serial poisoning case in the capital and the internal struggles in the palace that may be involved behind it.When Qi Fenghua was arrested and the colorless and odorless medicinal powder reappeared in the rivers and lakes, the mystery of the past 13 years ago was finally unveiled.

"13 years ago, many things happened in the capital." Yu Hanjiang took out a notebook and wrote while saying, "This spring, when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince went hunting, he was injured by a poisoned arrow from a masked man and died on the spot. The late emperor Furious, he ordered the Ministry of Criminal Justice to investigate immediately, and after investigation, the Ministry of Criminal Justice found that it was the third prince's men who did it, so the late emperor simply gave the third prince a glass of poisoned wine."

"..." Seeing Yu Hanjiang seriously drawing the timeline in his notebook, Xiao Lou also walked over and stood by his side to watch.

"After the crown prince suffered misfortune, the late emperor began to choose another heir among several princes. The mother of the fifth prince was Concubine Shu, and the mother of the sixth prince was Concubine Ming. There was a conspiracy in the harem. The emperor's careful investigation found that the queen was probably poisoned by concubine Shu; Concubine Shu also "died of illness", and the investigation found that she was poisoned by concubine Ming - this is also mentioned in the gossip that the nine princesses told Qu Wanyue things. The deaths of the Empress and Concubine Shu all happened in Xia Tian.”

"Well, I remember this part." Xiao Lou recalled the gossip about the harem that Qu Wanyue mentioned, and analyzed, "Concubine Shu and Concubine Ming both participated in the harem struggle, and the former emperor would be very disappointed with the fifth and sixth princes, so I just The eighth prince was able to be appointed as the crown prince, but unexpectedly the eighth prince took the initiative to submit a memorial, suggesting that the late emperor should establish the eldest son and the first-line grandson, so the late emperor finally made the emperor's grandson the crown prince?"

"That's right, the first emperor changed the crown prince, and it happened in autumn. In that autumn, I entered the palace as the prince's companion, and I also heard rumors that some empresses and concubines died of illness. The late emperor investigated in the harem, but there was no evidence, so in the end, I could only Let's settle the case with 'died of illness'."

"I remember the case my father participated in very clearly. It was winter." Xiao Lou frowned thoughtfully.

The capital city has been in chaos all year.

On spring day, at the royal hunting ground outside the capital, His Royal Highness was shot to death by a poisonous arrow while hunting.

In the summer, the queen and concubine Shu were poisoned one after another. In the end, because no evidence could be found, it can only be said that they "died of illness" to the outside world.

In autumn, the eight princes wrote a letter to the first emperor, hoping that the first emperor would make a rule that only the eldest son and grandson would be passed on. So the first emperor listened to the youngest son's suggestion and formally made the emperor's grandson the new prince. It was Yu Hanjiang who was a child, who was called into the palace to accompany the prince to read.

In winter, serial murders suddenly appeared in the capital, and Xiao Lou's father accidentally got involved and was murdered by the murderer.This serial poisoning case was finally fooled by the Criminal Ministry and became an unsolved case.

Looking at the timeline clearly marked by Yu Hanjiang in the notebook, Xiao Lou was shocked: "From the chronological order, the serial poisoning case happened at the end, it seems that someone is doing the aftermath, killing a group of people to silence them? Kill all those who know a certain secret?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Moreover, all the cases involve a common factor - poison."

The crown prince was poisoned with poisoned arrows, the queen was poisoned, the concubine Shu was poisoned, the serial murders in the capital also used poison, and Xiao Lou’s father was still poisoned to death. All seemingly unrelated cases actually have a core - the same tool for committing crimes , All are "poison" killing!

It is very possible that all the people who died in the accident were poisoned by the same poison, and it was the poison that Qi Fenghua gave to the second prince of Zhao Guo - it looks like rock sugar powder, and it will be colorless and tasteless after adding it to food , People were poisoned to death without anyone noticing.

The more Xiao Lou thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong: "If you analyze this matter carefully, there are many doubts. The prince died, and the murderer was found to be the third prince; ...This suspicion is too wide, how could so many people get the rare poison at the same time? The harem system is strict, the third prince, concubine Shu, and concubine Ming all got the poison, it's impossible!"

Yu Hanjiang frowned and said: "Ma'am is right. In the harem, it is impossible for so many murderers to use the same method to kill people. Poison should be a forbidden product, and it is not so easy to bring it into the palace. Third Prince, Concubine Shu Concubine Ming, they don't all have poison in their hands. Then, it's more likely that...they were framed!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lou couldn't help feeling chills down his spine: "In other words, the real murderer has been lurking in the harem?"

If this is the case, then the murderer's scheming is terrifyingly deep!

Yu Hanjiang carefully analyzed: "Assuming that our speculation is reasonable, the real murderer first sent someone to shoot the prince with a poisoned arrow and plant it on the third prince, which caused the late emperor to kill the third prince by mistake. Then he secretly poisoned the queen and planted it on Concubine Shu, causing The first emperor was terribly disappointed with Concubine Shu’s son, the fifth prince. She poisoned Concubine Shu and planted it on Concubine Ming, and the first emperor couldn’t like Concubine Ming’s son, the sixth prince. The first emperor had only five sons in total, the crown prince and the third prince were dead. The fifth prince and the sixth prince fell out of favor in the heart of the late emperor—who would be the most beneficial?"

Xiao Lou: "..."

Then there is only the Eighth Prince, who is now the Eighth Prince.

Except for those perverted murderers who are anti-social, most murderers have motives for committing crimes. According to Yu Hanjiang's analysis, this real murderer killed the prince, the third prince, the empress, concubine Shu, and concubine Ming almost in one go. A large group of forces, all the sons of the first emperor were pulled down, only the eighth prince was not affected.

who can that be?

It can be seen that the Eighth Prince does not love power. After the emperor brothers died one by one and fell out of favor, the first emperor wanted to pass the throne to him, but he actually made a memorial to let the first emperor make the emperor's grandson the prince, which is equivalent to giving up on his own initiative. throne.

If he hadn't voluntarily given up, he would have been the logical crown prince back then.

Who is going to plan for him to this extent?

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other, and said at the same time, "The mother and concubine of the Eighth Prince?"