The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

Yu Hanjiang took Concubine Xian and Qi Fenghua back together.

Concubine Xian is suspected of murdering the prince, empress, and concubine Shu 13 years ago, perhaps related to the serial poisoning case in Beijing. A felony of beheading all over the family!

How to deal with these two people, Yu Hanjiang had no choice but to write to the emperor to ask for his opinion.

In order to prevent the other party from rescuing the two of them, Yu Hanjiang deliberately vacated the room in the backyard, and secretly detained Concubine Xian and Qi Fenghua under personal guard. He asked Long Sen to go to the capital to see His Majesty.

However, before Long Sen set off, Lao Mo came to look for Yu Hanjiang with a sullen face, and said in a low voice, "Concubine Xian committed suicide in her room."

Yu Hanjiang's pupils shrank suddenly: "What? I checked her teeth just now and there is no hidden poison, and I asked Liu Qiao to watch her personally. How did she commit suicide?"

Mo Xuemin pressed his temple with a headache, and said, "She secretly smashed her bracelet while Liu Qiao was going out to get her food. She didn't expect her bracelet to have a compartment, which contained a poison... Oh, it’s really hard to guard against.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other, and immediately followed Lao Mo to the scene of the crime.

Concubine Xian was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, her hands lightly resting on her abdomen, her face was peaceful as if she was asleep.

She should have been ashamed, and she had already planned to commit suicide the moment Yu Hanjiang caught her, so she died calmly.

There was a letter on the table, written in her own handwriting.

Yu Hanjiang immediately picked up the "suicide note" and read it carefully.

Concubine Xian explained everything in the letter.

Her real name is Zhao Qingyan, and she is the daughter of an aristocrat in the Zhao Kingdom. Her father has always raised her as a boy, allowing her to read a lot of books since she was a child. Her mother is a descendant of a famous doctor, who taught her medical skills and wanted to train her to become the queen of the Zhao Kingdom.

Their family is powerful and has a close relationship with the royal family. The Emperor Zhao also fell in love with her and wanted to make her the crown princess.

That year, when she was young and playful, she sneaked to Daqi, a neighboring country, to see the legendary scenery of Jiangzhou, but she accidentally got separated from the guards and maids on the way, and was taken captive by bandits.The bandits forced her to be Mrs. Yazhai, and she managed to escape on the night when she was forced to pay homage. It happened that the former emperor visited Jiangzhou Weifu privately, and ran into her who had escaped from the mountain with bruises all over her body. She was fascinated by her beauty. He saved her easily.

When she woke up, she was already in Daqi capital.

The first emperor sent someone to heal her wounds, and took the opportunity to take her.She was alone in a foreign country and didn't know martial arts, so she didn't dare to confront the emperor rashly. Although she was very reluctant in her heart, she could only make up an excuse of "both parents died, no relatives and no reason" and was brought into the palace by the late emperor. In the palace, he became one of the emperor's many harem concubines.

When she entered the palace, the emperor already had four princes, the oldest was five years old, and the youngest was just born.

The emperor loves the empress the most, and the eldest prince born of the empress was logically established as the crown prince. She could tell that the other concubines were actually not convinced, but they did not dare to act recklessly.The situation in the harem is changing, and a group of women have their own thoughts. In order to protect herself, she had to find the most secluded place to live, pretending that she has nothing to do with the world, and chanting Buddha and making tea every day.

The emperor couldn't call her a favorite, but when he was depressed, he liked to come to her to sit, drink tea and meditate.Compared with a husband and wife, she and the emperor are more like friends who are leisurely drinking tea and chatting.

One year after entering the palace, an envoy from the State of Zhao came to visit, and she heard a message from the envoy - because the daughter of the Zhao family was missing, the family could not find her, and they thought she died at the hands of bandits. Her younger sister became the crown princess!

After she entered the palace, she had been secretly eating avoiding son soup. She didn't want to give birth to the emperor's offspring, but she had a glimmer of hope that she could return to Zhao State one day—but the news brought by the messenger made her completely desperate.Her younger sister was established as the Crown Princess and will become the Queen of Zhao State in the future. Her younger sister has always disliked her as an older sister, so what if she returns to Zhao State?

She has become the emperor's woman, can she go back to the country and marry someone else?

Zhao Qingyan was disheartened.

That night, the emperor warmly entertained Zhao Guo's envoys. In the imperial palace, singing and dancing was peaceful. Zhao Qingyan toasted three glasses of wine in the direction of his hometown alone in the remote courtyard of the harem—the first toast to his parents, and the second to his homeland. , Respect yourself three times.

That famous daughter-in-law named Zhao Qingyan died completely from this day onwards, leaving only the woman of Emperor Daqi.

It is impossible for her to return to Zhao country in this life, she has to plan for herself.

So she stopped using Bizitang and tried to seduce the emperor.Soon she was pregnant with an heir and gave birth to the eighth prince. His Majesty was very happy. After the child was born, he officially named her a concubine Xian, making her equal to Concubine Shu and Concubine Ming.

But there is also a queen on it, and every time she sees the queen, she must bow down.

On the Zhao side, the crown prince soon ascended the throne, and her younger sister changed from a crown princess to a queen respected by everyone - that position was originally hers!

How could she be willing to be a concubine here?

So, she began to plan carefully.

As the prince grew up, all forces in the harem began to move around.For so many years, Concubine Xian has gradually cultivated some of her cronies in Qi State. Several eunuchs and maids in the harem are her confidantes. There is an imperial doctor who listens to her very much. Officials were also controlled by her in various ways.

The opportunity has finally arrived.

She learned from the spies in the dispatch palace that the third prince had a dispute with His Highness the Crown Prince a few days ago, and next month will be the spring hunting time. His Highness the Crown Prince likes hunting the most, and he will go to the Royal Hunting Ground every year at this time.

She immediately handed over the self-made poison to the eunuch to take it out of the palace, and then handed it over to the dead man who had been trained in advance, so that the other party would dress up as the guard of the third prince's family, and shoot the prince to death with an arrow when the prince was hunting!

After the dead man was captured, he refused to confess at first, but finally insisted under severe torture that the third prince sent him there. In addition, the dispute between the third prince and the prince was quickly found out, and the third prince's house happened to be found. poisonous...

The moment the poison was discovered, it is said that the third prince was so frightened that he almost peed his pants.

With all the witnesses and physical evidence, His Majesty was furious and gave the third prince a glass of poisoned wine directly.

On the day when the third prince was bestowed to death, Concubine Xian carefully wrote down the names of the prince and the third prince in the bedroom, and burned the names of the two to ashes while making tea.

Killing two birds with one stone, the success of this strategy doubled her confidence.

Immediately after killing the prince and the third prince, she aimed at the women in the harem.

She bought a maid in Concubine Shu's palace, and when Concubine Shu went to deliver food to the empress, she secretly sprinkled a layer of colorless, odorless and highly poisonous fruit on the queen's favorite fruit plate.

The queen ate the grapes and died on the spot.

The emperor found Concubine Shu's head, and Concubine Shu did not plead guilty, she knelt on the ground and her head would be smashed, showing that she was innocent, no matter how brave she was, she would not dare to poison the queen!

That court lady had already been released from the palace privately by her.She purposely kept Concubine Shu in order to drag Concubine Ming into the water.

Since there was no proof of death, the emperor doubted Concubine Shu, but could not convict her. Gradually, she became suspicious of Concubine Shu and the fifth prince.

The same strategy was very easy to use - not long after, Concubine Shu was poisoned by her, and all signs and evidence of crime pointed to Concubine Ming.

The emperor was furious, and wanted to give the concubine Ming a three-foot white silk to kill herself, but the concubine Xian pretended to be kind and persuaded the emperor: "His Royal Highness and the third prince have already suffered misfortune because of brothers killing each other. After all, the fifth prince and the sixth prince are His Majesty's blood, for the prince's sake, His Majesty should spare Concubine Ming, otherwise, if this matter gets out, how will you let the fifth and sixth princes deal with each other? One's mother and concubine were poisoned to death by another's mother concubine, After knowing the truth, they might fight each other again. Does Your Majesty want to see their brothers turn against each other?"

His Majesty thought about it carefully and found it reasonable, so he announced to the outside world that both the Empress and Concubine Shu "died of illness".

The emperor hugged her shoulder and sighed: "Concubine Xian, you are the most knowledgeable and reasonable in the harem. If all the concubines were as gentle and kind as you, there would be no troubles in the harem!"

Concubine Xian sneered in her heart, but on the surface she wanted to pretend that she was pure-hearted and ascetic, while making tea for the emperor, she said: "The concubine has no relatives and no reason, thanks to His Majesty's taking in me back then, being able to serve Your Majesty is already a blessing from my concubine's three lives. The concubine dare not think too much..."

The emperor was so moved that tears filled his eyes, and he immediately said: "The position of empress has been vacant all the time. I have long thought that a virtuous concubine is gentle and virtuous, and she is an example of concubines in the harem. Why don't you choose a day to make you the empress and the eighth prince as the crown prince? From now on, you will be the queen." Concubine Xian is in charge of this harem for me."

Concubine Xian, in order not to show her flaws, and worried that the emperor was just testing her, immediately knelt down in front of the emperor in panic: "My concubine is terrified! Your Majesty has a deep relationship with the empress and his wife. The empress died of illness less than three months ago. It is really inappropriate to be an empress at this time." The concubine has no virtue and incompetence, I wish to pray for the empress, I dare not be a concubine as the queen..."

She thought at the time that if she was eager to become a queen, it might attract suspicion. It would be better to wait two years until her son became the prince and the queen's funeral period expired. The emperor was killed and his son ascended the throne directly.

What's so good about being a queen?A group of concubines in the harem stared at it, and a group of ministers in the court watched. Maybe the ministers analyzed and reasoned and thought that it was her who did it. If His Majesty was upset, he would depose the queen.

Queen Mother, that is the safest position.

No emperor would abolish his mother and queen.

Now, the original prince and the third prince are dead, and the fifth and sixth princes are dragged down by the concubine to disappoint His Majesty. Only her son, who is handsome and talented, deserves to be the "Prince" of Daqi.

She has been planning for so many years, and she can afford to wait another year. As long as the eighth prince successfully becomes the crown prince, she will immediately get rid of the emperor and promote herself to be the empress dowager without the need for others to do anything.

She never expected that the eighth prince had no intention of governing the country, so he sent a memorial to the emperor to decline before the emperor ordered the establishment of a prince!

Concubine Xian hated her so much at the time, she wanted to kill the young prince who had just been established, so that the eighth prince would not be able to push him away... But when she was about to make a move, the old emperor finally came to his senses.

Because too many things happened in the capital this year, the emperor was worried that the newly established little grandson would also be plotted against, so he thought of a way to let Yu Hanjiang, the grandson of Prime Minister Yu, enter the palace to accompany the little prince, to read and eat with the prince. live together; and transferred dozens of secretly trained shadow guards to protect the little prince every step of the way.

At the same time, in order to prevent the eighth prince from changing his mind and triggering party disputes, the emperor simply refused to do anything, and kept making the eighth prince the king of Zhenjiang, and transferred the eighth prince to Jiangzhou—and she, a hopeless son, was so happy. With a few wives and concubines, he ran to Jiangzhou to visit the mountains and rivers!

Concubine Xian was almost out of anger.

It wasn't until this moment that she realized that she had carefully planned for many years, but she had neglected a key point.

——She ignored her son's thoughts!

As a mother, she neglected to discipline her son. The Eighth Prince left her side when he was ten years old, and only returned to the palace to visit during the holidays. Every time mother and son met, she and her son had nothing to talk about.She thought that as long as he was a prince, who wouldn't love to be an emperor?

But her son just didn't like being emperor.

The disagreement between mother and child was the root cause of her plan's failure.

Failure in action can never catch up with yourself.Those maids and eunuchs who were released from the palace back then...all those who knew about it were silenced by her, including Xiao Lou's father who found out some clues, and they were also dealt with neatly.

The excuse to go back to Jiangzhou is because Jiangzhou is located at the junction of Qi and Zhao. She is still not reconciled and wants to contact Zhao to make another plan.At present, among the several princes of Emperor Zhao, the eldest prince has been established as the prince, and the other princes and their mothers and concubines will naturally not be reconciled.

She hid in the temple, waiting for the right time.

Until Zhao Guo and Qi Guo married again, the princess and the second prince of Zhao Guo had a marriage contract.

Taking advantage of this, she contacted the second prince and promised to jointly seize the throne.

She asked Qi Fenghua to bring a colorless and odorless poison to the front line, first make some military exploits on the front line, and then find a way to poison the general and plant it on the lieutenant general. In the end, Qi Fenghua, who has made great military exploits, will naturally take over the position of general.As long as Qi Fenghua has the military power in his hands, it is easy to join forces with Zhao Guo to rebel.

It's a pity that Qi Fenghua was spoiled by Mrs. Yun, and his work was sloppy. At that time, he was young and couldn't hold his breath. On the day he went to the military camp, Mrs. Yun packed his bags in person. He was afraid that his mother would find the bottle of poison, so he secretly hid it Locked up in a drawer in the house.

In the end, the prince hosted a banquet for him to practice at night. He was excited and drank some wine, got drunk, woke up late the next day, was urged by the people from the military camp, hurried on his way, and actually forgot the bottle at home.

When he got to the front line, he thought of this incident, regretted it so much, and wanted to go back to get it, but he didn't have the chance.Thinking of Concubine Xian's explanation, he decided to spend a few years training in the barracks first, and make some military achievements before taking action...

It's a pity that he was spoiled and spoiled, he was not acclimatized in the military camp, and he didn't know how to hide his strength and bide his time.The edge is too strong, not to mention making any military exploits for three consecutive years, but adding chaos to the front line everywhere.

It just so happened that the prince’s birthday banquet came to celebrate the birthday of Zhao Guo’s envoys. Qi Fenghua sneaked back to Jiangzhou. He wanted to take the bottle of poison back to the front line to kill the general without knowing it. Entering the palace and arresting the emperor—rebellion, wouldn't it be easier and quicker to go directly to the capital?

Qi Fenghua's mind was ridiculously simple, and when he was in the palace, his hands and feet were not agile enough, and there were many branches. In a panic, he killed his sister, Lin Shaobo silenced him, returned to Qingshan Temple, and knelt in front of the concubine Xian to explain all this.

At that moment, Concubine Xian knew - this grandson is too muddy to support the wall!

She asked Qi Fenghua to go back to the front line immediately, and be careful not to be caught by the investigators, and she would find a way to re-plan other things.However, this Qi Fenghua suddenly had a whimsical idea, and in the middle of the night, he asked the second prince of Zhao Guo to meet by the stream, wanting to confirm whether the other party really wanted to join forces with him, but was caught by Yu Hanjiang.

Twice carefully planned, but in the end it was nothing.

Concubine Xian said at the end of her suicide note——

"All my life, I have been good at calculating."

"But I forgot that the most difficult thing to calculate in this world is actually the human heart."