Chongxi [rebirth]

The king who was left behind was horrified beyond words.

All along, the principle he has followed is to find work in his place.He doesn't get involved in complicated power struggles, and he will follow whatever orders from his superiors.

But he didn't expect that such a shocking truth would be involved in the Zhao family's treason case.

The first emperor killed his brother to seize the throne, and in order to smooth out the evidence, he unjustly killed the whole family of the Zhao family.Even the first concubine's dystocia in the East Palace was vaguely related to it.He thought this was shocking enough, but the emperor threw out an even more shocking news lightly.

The rumors outside? It turned out to be true.

He has handled countless cases, according to the emperor's words, and after a little scrutiny, he almost understood that the "coincidence" the emperor said was the truth.

There are not no coincidences in this world, but such a coincidence and a coincidence, most of them are intentional.

Silently digesting? After a while, Wang Qiang walked away with difficulty.When he stepped out of the palace gate, he looked back, and saw thick dark clouds descending heavily. It should be early spring, but snowflakes were still flying, covering the magnificent palace with a bone-chilling chill.

He finally returned to Dali Temple without looking back.

After that, according to the emperor's instructions, the case was closed and announced to the world.

During the period, many courtiers with relevant interests put pressure on him, openly and secretly, after hearing the news, but he pushed back with only one sentence from the emperor.

As a result, notices about Zhao's rehabilitating and the former emperor killing his brother and seizing the throne were posted all over the city.

Murdering the eldest brother, unjustly killing loyal ministers... The crimes of the first emperor were listed in the notice one by one.

Suddenly the whole country was in an uproar.

The veterans of the clan knelt down in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, imploring the emperor to withdraw the notice, prohibiting public discussion of this matter, and clearing up the stigma of the late emperor.

Li Zong leaned on the dragon chair, laughing so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist: "Just because of the dirty things that the father did, they are so embarrassed to say that the 'stigma' is cleared?" After laughing, he shook his head again. : "Forget it, why do I need to argue with them any more?"

After all, he is no different from those old ministers kneeling in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

He murmured in a low voice: "Are you satisfied with this?"

In Taifu's mansion, Han Chan and Wei Shuqing were sitting opposite each other. There was a chessboard in front of them. Han Chan was holding the white pieces, and Wei Shuqing was holding the black pieces.

"You're distracted." Wei Shuqing disrupted the game boringly: "What are you thinking?"

At this moment, Wei Shuqing's attitude was completely different from before. He didn't use the honorific title, but he became a little more close to each other regardless of each other.

Han Chan recovered from her contemplation: "The Zhao family has overturned the case, and the truth about His Highness' death has also been revealed."

"It's time to take the next step." Wei Shuqing's eyes flashed hatred: "Is this not a good thing? Why do you look worried? We have been planning for so many years, isn't it just for this moment?"

There were countless courtiers who followed the late prince.After the death of the first prince, these courtiers were gradually removed by the first emperor, or were relegated to exile, or imprisoned for crimes, and none of them ended well.

The first emperor who killed his brother and seized the throne held the power of life and death, and did not even give them the last chance to survive.

Over the years, Han Chan united them who were almost desperate, arranged new identities, and inserted them into various positions, just for revenge.The family members who died in vain for the former prince and also for themselves...they have long since had no way out, they can only bet their own lives, expose the dirty face of the late emperor, and let the royal family overthrow it!

Not only the late emperor, but also the descendants of the late emperor are not worthy of this position.

Originally, the most suitable candidate should be the heir of His Highness...

"I always feel that the emperor is a bit abnormal recently." Han Chan's voice interrupted his thoughts: "Our plan is going too smoothly."

"Isn't this what you planned a long time ago?" Wei Shuqing looked puzzled.

When Han Chan was in trouble because of the Yin family, in order to save himself, he borrowed the identity of the orphan of the Zhao family. One was to get out of the predicament and regain the trust of the emperor.The second is to use the emperor's guilt to reverse the case for the Zhao family.

The emperor didn't know what was behind the unjust case of the Zhao family, but they knew it all.

At the beginning, the old imperial doctor secretly handed over the evidence of His Highness's murder to the crown prince Taifu Zhao Mingquan, and he himself exposed the evil deed of the second prince's murder of his brother in the open.However, Emperor Chengzong not only failed to punish the second prince severely, but instead controlled the old imperial doctor.Zhao Mingquan, who heard the news, was aware of Emperor Chengzong's attitude and did not stand up again.

Immediately afterwards, the East Palace was flooded, and the Crown Princess and the unborn child were buried in a sea of ​​flames.

The lineage of the former prince was completely cut off.

Emperor Chengzong became seriously ill after hearing the news, and summoned the second prince to scold him, but he did not seek justice for the deceased, but cared about the reputation of the royal family and the stability of the court, and personally helped the murderer to become the crown prince.

How ridiculous is this? !

Zhao Mingquan was upright and resolutely chose to resign after realizing that Emperor Chengzong had given up on his dead eldest son and objected to the invalidation of the crown prince several times.That piece of evidence was hidden by him, and he turned to secretly looking for an opportunity to avenge the former prince.

But he didn't expect that the first emperor was narrow-minded and held grudges. He also knew that Zhao Mingquan knew what happened back then.

Behind the unjust case of the Zhao family is the late emperor who, in order to conceal the crime of murdering his brother, created an unjust case to kill people.

The reason why Han Chan gave herself the status of an orphan of the Zhao family was to use Emperor Xiao to overturn the case of the Zhao family, and then pull out the carrots and bring out the mud, so as to expose the crimes of the late emperor to the public.

Even if the first emperor was not in the right position, and the little emperor is his son, how can this dragon chair sit securely?

They had already created momentum and contacted the rebel army. As long as they found an excuse, they could push the little prince off the dragon seat.

As for who wants to sit on the throne, that's Han Chan's concern.

Wei Shuqing had never been so happy before, so he didn't take Han Chan's worries seriously: "I'm afraid the victory came too soon, and you are not ready yet. After all, we have been planning for so many years and spent so much effort. ..."

"I can't explain it to you." Han Chan shook her head, got up and walked out of the tea room, and stood on the porch looking at Feixue outside.

These days the emperor seldom came to look for him again, and the few times he said some inexplicable words made him feel restless.He closed his eyes, forced himself to suppress the anxiety that had arisen, and recalled Li Zong's recent behavior over and over again, but found nothing unusual.

He was just ashamed of him, eager to break up with the first emperor, and wanted to please him.

This is also the purpose of his choice of Zhao's orphan status.

He knows this child who has been taught and raised by himself so well, and his every move, every word and deed is under his control, so that when he grows older, the untimely little thoughts that he has come into being have become his own. part of the plan.

"Forget it, go ahead with the plan."

Wei Shuqing smiled heartily, got up and bowed to him, turned and left.

The imperial family begged to no avail, the late emperor's crimes were widely spread, and the rumors about the royal family became more and more unsavory. In contrast, the voice of King Yong'an, who was in the limelight, became louder and louder.

Jiaozuo has been lurking in Shangjing for these days, and he can clearly see the undercurrent in it.

"It's time to go back." He asked Xiaoer to pour himself a pot of wine, and rode out of Beijing that afternoon to Jizhou.

When he arrived in Jizhou day and night, he found that the people in the city were discussing the matter of the late emperor killing his brother, and the atmosphere was in full swing.Occasionally, it is mentioned that King Yong'an is the orthodox royal family...

Jiao Zuo's expression was gloomy, the news of going to Beijing actually ran faster than his horse, he would never believe that there was no push behind it.

Riding his horse into the Dudu's Mansion, he didn't dare to waste time, so he went directly to see the prince.

Hearing that Jiaozuo had returned, the two who were discussing with a group of officials and generals looked at each other, found an excuse in tacit agreement to dismiss the crowd, and summoned Jiaozuo to the study to discuss the matter.

Jiao Zuo rushed back all the way, but finally saw King Yong'an, he hesitated before speaking: "The two things that the prince asked his subordinates to investigate have already got clues."

"Let's talk about it." Li Fengqi sat behind the table, Ye Yunting was beside him, the expressions of the two? Unconsciously, they were somewhat similar.

Jiao Zuo's expression? Wei Lin, took out the portrait carefully hidden in his arms, and handed it to Li Fengqi, and just now began to talk about the process of investigation.

"After the subordinates arrived in Shangjing, they first tried to find the old people from the East Palace and the palace. It turned out that those old people either silenced or disappeared. After searching for a long time, they finally found an old maid."

Before leaving the palace, the old maid was serving in the East Palace.It's just that she is not allowed to be reused, she is just an ordinary court lady.Under Jiaozuo's coercion and lure, she told a lot about the past.

According to her, the relationship between the first princess and the old concubine was very good, and because they were almost pregnant back and forth, they often made appointments for small gatherings.But whenever the crown princess gets any good things, she must send a copy to the old princess.Of course, this is what the old maid said when she tried to fool Jiao Zuo at the beginning, but it also makes her later words more feasible.

The old maid's grade is not high, so she can only serve outside.She happened to be off duty on the day the East Palace was flooded.It's just that when the news of the crown prince's death came that day, the crown princess who was about to give birth was frightened and dystocia. Many palace people were panic-stricken and gathered near the crown prince's bedroom, wanting to find out how the crown princess was doing.

——The crown prince is dead, if something happens to the crown princess again, these servants like them will have a hard time in the future.

There were screams in the dormitory of the Crown Princess, and the maids of Wen Po came in and out, and these lowly palace people were also guarding outside from dawn to dusk.The old maid was also panicking at that time, thinking that if something happened to the crown princess, the East Palace might be about to change. She sneaked back to the residence while everyone was not paying attention, packed up her things, and prepared for the situation. If something goes wrong, he escapes from the palace before dawn.

As a result, she never expected that when she was packing up the clothes in the dark, she accidentally saw the princess's close nurse.With a baby in her arms, she hurriedly left through the side door where palace people often come and go.

At the time, she didn't understand what happened, she just thought that even the princess's personal nanny had escaped, fearing that something serious would happen, so she also fled behind the nanny in the dark.After leaving the East Palace, she didn't dare to follow, and found a direction to escape and hide by herself.As a result, she hid for the whole night, and when she was about to find an opportunity to leave Shangjing, she heard that the East Palace was flooded, and the crown princess and the newborn fetus died.

It wasn't until this moment that she realized that something was wrong. That night, the personal nurse of the crown princess obviously escaped from the East Palace with a child in her arms, and only the crown princess was pregnant in the East Palace... She guessed that she might have accidentally broken a secret For fear of being silenced, he fled Shangjing in a hurry.After hiding for a long time, she realized that no one had caught her, and just returned to her hometown, concealing her experience in the East Palace to marry and have children.

It was probably because Taiping, who had lived in these years, recalled the past when Jiaozuo came to her door, and she was too flustered to reveal her flaws.

It took Jiao Zuo some coercion and inducement to force her to reveal the truth?

"Can she see where that nanny has gone?" Li Fengqi asked.

"East. She chose the opposite direction from Mammy. So I remember it well."

"Leave the East Palace and go east..." Li Fengqi's eyes drooped slightly: "Yong'an Palace is to the east,"

Jiao Zuo took a deep breath, seeing his calm appearance, he guessed that the prince might have expected it.After thinking for a while, she continued: "The nanny ran away with the child in her arms before leaving the water. I'm afraid the Crown Princess had noticed this earlier, so she ordered her confidants to secretly send the child out of the East Palace."

Hearing the news of her husband's death, she was frightened and had a dystocia.In such a situation, but still able to predict the opportunity and send the child out of the East Palace one step earlier, the former Crown Princess is not an ordinary person.

As for where the child will be sent in a hurry, according to what the old maid said earlier, other than Yong'an Palace, he doesn't think about it.

Li Fengqi's fingers tightened slightly, and after a moment of silence, he opened the paper that Jiao Zuo handed over, and on it was a portrait: "What is this?"

"It's the portraits of the first prince and concubine. I searched for a long time before I found this one." He frowned and said, "The portraits of the former prince and concubine were deliberately destroyed. It is said that they belonged to Emperor Chengzong. When I heard the bad news, I was very sad. In order not to hurt the painting, I destroyed all the portraits."

He glanced at Li Fengqi before he dared to speak out his guess: "I think... the facial features of the prince are very similar to the former crown prince and the former crown prince."

This kind of similarity is not only the similarity in facial features, but also the charm and temperament.

If people who are not familiar with it look at it, they will never feel that the prince is similar to the person in the painting, but those who are familiar with it can recognize it at a glance. The eyes of the prince are very similar to the former crown prince, but the lips are the same as the former prince's concubine...

He then thought of the prince's brother who was said to have died at birth, and horrified guesses followed one after another in his mind, and he almost touched the truth, but he firmly suppressed it.

Once this happens, it may overturn the whole Beizhao.