Placid Chang'an

Su Cen said that killing Tian Pingzhi was not the late emperor's original intention, it was not groundless or trying to find a way out for himself, but in his opinion, the late emperor was indeed not a person who wanted to kill.

Liu Zhen, who was related to this case, was not dead, Zhang He was not dead, and Chen Guanglu, who advocated the investigation, was not dead. Even if he was such a key witness as Xiao Liuzi, the late emperor just sent him to guard the tomb.

Moreover, during the eight years of the first emperor's reign, although there were no major achievements in political achievements, there were indeed fewer death-row criminals who were sentenced to lenient sentences and scheduled to be executed in autumn.Compared with the thick stack of criminal and prison files during the Yonglong period, there was only a small book during the Tianshou period, which was not even as good as the prisoners executed in the first few years of Yonglong.

All these can prove that the first emperor was not a cruel person, most likely he was at the mercy of others.

And Lu Xun, in order to win over Song Yi, slaughtered more than 200 lives in Lujiazhuang, and ignored tens of thousands of people in Xuzhou for his own selfish desires. He is just a violent person who is good at playing with people.

Su Cen looked at Lu Xun coldly, "Over the years, secret doors have been hidden in the dark, involving merchants, the military, and even courts, manipulating private salt, colluding with Turks, arranging spies in the court, and assassinating court officials. Everyone present I believe there are some who have been wooed or stumbling."

Among the officials present, some of their faces turned green and white, obviously they were the ones Su Cen mentioned.

There were also a few people who thought they were upright and said: "According to what you said, how could such a rebellious rebel party not be discovered? Why did no one send troops to encircle and suppress it?"

Before Su Cen could speak, it was Lu Xun who was behind him who laughed first, "Treason? Do you know that the so-called rebel in your mouth was cultivated by your superior late emperor?"

Su Cen pursed his lips. In fact, he already had a premonition that the secret door with such a scale and such financial resources must have a strong backing for it to be able to infiltrate the officialdom of the Great Zhou.And Li Shi has been fighting against the secret door for many years, but he has never put it on the bright side, probably because of the royal family's face.

"You're talking nonsense!" The person who spoke earlier turned blue, but he still argued forcefully, "How could the late emperor collude with a person like you?!"

Su Cen lowered her eyes lightly, "Yeah, why did the late emperor trust you so much? Even if it's about seizing the heir, he has to discuss with you, and he kept you by his side knowing that raising a tiger would be a problem. I couldn't figure it out before. I didn’t realize it until yesterday.”

Lu Xun smiled, "Qu Ling'er told you all about it."

"Before you chased and killed Ling'er, forcing him to jump off a cliff to protect himself, and then Ling'er came to me by accident. You and I have fought several times. It is impossible not to know that Ling'er is by my side. The reason why you Don’t chase him any more, don’t you just want to tell me through his mouth?” Su Cen looked away from Lu Xun, turned to look at the courtiers, and asked: “I called him Li Sheng before, everyone? There seems to be no reaction, but if I say Prince Chongde, do you still have any impression?"

Everyone took a deep breath.

The so-called Prince Chongde was actually the first crown prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Since then, the Great Zhou Dynasty has never established a prince. Even the little emperor was directly sent to the throne after the sudden death of the first emperor.

Emperor Taizu was majestic and strategic. He fought all his life, settled the chaos of the previous dynasty, and unified the Central Plains.In his later years, Emperor Taizu may have felt that he had killed too much, and it happened that Da Zhou also needed a leader to lead the recuperation and restore the people's livelihood, so he appointed the mild-tempered eldest son of the emperor as the crown prince.Prince Chongde, as his name suggests, is approachable and has noble morals. Most of the generals who followed Emperor Taizu in the war in the early years were of civilian origin. Many people were saved because of Prince Chongde's mediation.Therefore, it can be said that Prince Chongde's succession to the throne is expected by everyone. Even though Emperor Taizu was still there at that time, Prince Chongde already had his own team, and those who admired and recommended themselves broke through the threshold every day.

But in the 26th year of Wude, Prince Chongde suddenly became seriously ill and even died before Emperor Taizu.

Of course, this is the official statement. In private, it is widely circulated that Emperor Taizong Li Yu took advantage of the palace change when Emperor Taizu was critically ill, poisoned Prince Chongde, held Emperor Taizu hostage, and imprisoned all members of the royal family in Sanqing In the hall, when these people were released, he had already ascended the throne in Hanyuan Hall.

This is why in the early years of Yonglong Emperor Taizong's Daxing Prison, those followers who followed Prince Chongde, and anyone who said that his throne was not upright, from the important ministers of the former court to the common people, were all spared.

The words "Prince Chongde" became taboo words.

Most of the courtiers here today have never experienced that palace change, but they still talk about it with pale faces, and the bold ones only dare to murmur: "You mean..."

Su Cen looked back at Lu Xun, and said word by word: "This is the only blood relative of Prince Chongde who survived that palace coup, the son of Prince Chongde—Li Sheng."

Everyone froze in place, stupefied by shock, even Cui Hao, who was pressed to the ground and struggling hard, paused for a moment.

Su Cen looked at Lu Xun, or Li Sheng, and said, "I noticed the layout of your mansion in Lujiazhuang before, and it was built after the Taiji Palace. The Taiji Palace was once the main palace of the previous dynasty, so at first I I thought you were from the previous dynasty. But I forgot, the Tai Chi Palace is still the East Palace, the former residence of Prince Chongde, how long have you lived there? Five years? Or six years?"

"It was eight years and seven months." Li Sheng raised his head slightly, as if recalling the situation back then, and sighed softly, "Back then, my father was hand-picked as the prince, and our family moved in from Prince Yu's mansion. Tai Chi Palace, what a splendid and majestic place, it looks like you can’t get to the end no matter how you walk, in my opinion at the time, it was the best place in the whole world.”

Li Sheng looked up at Li Shi who was sitting in the hall, and smiled softly, "Do you still remember? I played with you all back then, and A Luan likes to follow me as a follower the most, 'Emperor brother, brother' It's annoying to scream, but you have been a person with different opinions since you were a child, you obviously wanted to play with us, but you insisted on pretending not to care, and coyly holding a book."

A Luan is the late emperor's baby name, which is why the late emperor trusted him so much. This is his elder brother, who has a certain blood relationship with him.

Li Shi shook his head calmly, "I don't remember."

Su Cen pursed his lips lightly. Although Li Shi was also of the royal blood, his mother and concubine left early, and he was not a child who talked eloquently. Naturally, he was not favored by Emperor Taizong.It may have been commonplace for the children of the royal family to exclude him and not take him to play. If they were hit too hard, they would naturally stop joining in the fun.That's why I developed this temperament of not showing emotions or anger.

"It's still so duplicity." Li Sheng laughed at Li Shi's answer, and continued: "When the palace changed, I was playing hide-and-seek with A Luan in the imperial garden, and the people in the palace couldn't find it even after digging three feet. I, how could they have thought that it was the new master they were about to enshrine who hid me. Li Yu killed my father, but his son saved me. Do you think this is called "karma reincarnation, retribution is not good" '?Ha ha ha ha……"

Li Sheng's laughter echoed back and forth in the hall, but the hearts of those who heard it grew colder.Li Sheng smiled and asked: "You might as well guess again, when I was sent out of the palace, who was the one who met me outside the palace?"

Su Cen said in a deep voice, "It's Mrs. Ning."

"That's right! It's your highly respected Taifu!" Li Sheng laughed, "Back then Ning Yi was just a small editor at the Imperial Academy, and he was reprimanded by a bachelor because he edited the wrong page number. It was my father who begged for him. This matter was suppressed. Later, the Yonglong Palace changed, and Ning Yi was ignored because his official position was too small, so he escaped. He remembered that his father, Wang Ende, took me in, and sent me out of the city when the limelight came. "

Legend has it that Emperor Taizong kept secret about this descendant of Prince Chongde back then, secretly pursued him several times, and even traced him outside the pass, and stayed under his nose without thinking about anyone.

Su Cen added for Li Sheng, "After you left the city, you kept in touch with the late emperor until the end of Emperor Taizong's time. You took the opportunity to encourage the late emperor to seize the heir apparent, but in fact, you secretly organized your own forces with the intention of plotting rebellion!"

"I was right not to kill you at the beginning," Li Sheng raised his lips and smiled, "You are really smart and bold. But the secret door is not for rebellion, the secret door was founded by the late emperor, and it only obeys the late emperor Orders, from the beginning to the end, have never been half-hearted. After the death of the first emperor, we intended to continue to obey the command of the Holy One, but the emperor was too young, and the prince was covering the sky with one hand in the court, chasing and blocking the secret door. All we did was to protect ourselves. "

Su Cen gritted his teeth in resentment. This is Li Sheng's insidious move. This remark is to put Li Shi and the late emperor on the opposite side, creating a situation where Li Shi holds a grudge after being taken away from the throne and coerces the emperor to make the princes illusion.He said coldly: "Then you colluded with the Turks for self-protection? Is it also for self-protection that you win over officials? Is it also for self-protection that you robbed official banks and displaced tens of thousands of people in Xuzhou?!"

Li Sheng nodded without changing his expression: "Yes."

Su Cen gritted her teeth and swallowed it back into her stomach. She had never seen such a brazen person before. She wanted to say more, but was interrupted by someone.

"Go ahead." Li Shi said, "Five murderers, and one more?"

Su Cen came back to look at the hall, looked at Li Shi's bottomless eyes for a few moments, and then said softly: "The last murderer is you, my lord."