Princess Jinyang of the Tang Dynasty

"Because the two kinds of wounds overlapped, Wu Zuo missed it during the autopsy and didn't notice it." Tian Hanshan continued to report, "When Zheng Lun died, the officials in charge of the case had checked all the people who had contact with him. Including food deliverers and guards, but no one was found to be suspected of committing the crime."

"Since he was poisoned by snake venom, there is no need to have direct contact with Zheng Lun." Li Mingda said.

Tian Hanshan: "I don't understand one thing, but how can I guarantee that the snake will definitely bite Zheng Lun?"

"Some snakes are particularly fond of blood. If a snake has been hungry for a long time, it is easy to attack. Therefore, someone must devise a coincidence to ensure that Zheng Lun will have fresh wounds before releasing the snake." After thinking about it, Li Mingda immediately He ordered Tian Hanshan to find out who had interrogated Zheng Lun that day, and started to flog him.

Tian Hanshan still had to serve the princess, and his travels were easy to attract attention, so the task of investigation finally fell on Cheng Chubi.

When Cheng Chubi arrived at the gate of the prison, he happened to see a man in front of him getting on a jujube steed, and was about to lead his subordinates to ride away.This man has a handsome figure and a very handsome demeanor. Cheng Chubi doesn't need to think too much about a man with such a style to know that he is Fang Yizhi.

Cheng Chubi hurriedly called him.

Fang Yi looked back and saw Cheng Chubi, smiled, got off his horse and came over.

Today Fang Yizhi was wearing a cyan-colored sky-scented silk gown, with a crescent white jade belt tied around his waist. It was very clean and simple, but it made him more handsome, elegant, modest and gentle.Fang Yizhi's appearance and temperament are like a bright moon emitting a soft light, beautiful but not dazzling.Thinking of this, Cheng Chubi unconsciously thought of Wei Shuyu, who was just in contrast to Fang Yizhi.Wei Shuyu happened to be as eye-catching in appearance and temperament as the scorching sun. He was unyielding, and he liked to speak frankly. He was following his father, a famous admonisher.

After the two parties exchanged pleasantries, before Cheng Chubi asked, Fang Yizhi seemed to be able to read minds, so he first opened his mouth to tell Cheng Chubi the name of the official who whipped Zheng Lun.

"What suspicion does this person have?" Cheng Chubi asked.

Fang Yizhi smiled lightly, "It's hard to say, there is no evidence yet."

Cheng Chubi was stunned for a moment, and then Fang Yi said that there was something urgent and he wanted to say goodbye to him, so he didn't dare to keep him any longer.

Cheng Chubi stared at Fang Yizhi's back in a daze for a while, and finally realized why he felt something was wrong from the very beginning.This Fang Yi has always received a secret decree to handle the case with Princess Jinyang, but from the beginning until now, he never asked about the situation of the princess.

Didn't he wonder why the princess sent him?

When Fang Yi went straight back to the mansion, he met his father Fang Xuanling getting off the carriage, so he stepped forward to greet him.After Fang Xuanling learned that he was helping the princess to investigate the case, he asked him to do his duty and keep his mouth shut.After all, Wei Zheng participated in this matter once, and he should not be involved in it for the second time by accident.

"Otherwise, you and I, father and son, would have to be forced to argue with him in the courtroom. In the end, our faces would be red-faced, but it has nothing to do with the national economy and the people's livelihood. What's the point?" Fang Xuanling sighed.

"No matter how big or small Zheng Gong's affairs are, they are strictly handled. There are advantages and disadvantages, but in the end there are still many advantages." Fang Yi smiled straight, and stretched out his hand to ask his father to go first, and he came after him.

Fang Xuanling twirled his beard and nodded, so instead of mentioning Wei Zheng, he asked Fang Yizhi how the investigation was going as he walked.

"There are windfalls."

Fang Xuanling: "Oh? What is it?"

"It's hard to say for now." Fang Yi said with a smile.

Fang Xuanling didn't ask any more questions, he was always at ease with this child, he just waited for the final answer.

"By the way, why hasn't your second brother been seen for the past two days?"

Fang Yi shook his head, "Maybe because I felt bored two days ago and left the city."

"Always not home." Fang Xuanling frowned, slightly displeased, and then instructed Fang Yizhi to meet Fang Yiai when he turned around and asked him to come see her immediately.

Fang Yi promised straight away and sent his father off respectfully, Fang turned cold and ordered his servants to find Fang Yi'ai as soon as possible.

Taiji Palace, Lizheng Hall.

Li Mingda had already received Cheng Chubi's reply, and ordered someone to investigate the background of this official surnamed Sun, and in the evening, he found out that this person was the former subordinate of the son-in-law's wife.Because there is no empirical evidence, but in this matter, there is still nothing to explain. It does not rule out a conspiracy, nor does it rule out a coincidence.

On the next day, through the list of internal servants provided by Song Changyuan, Li Mingda found out that three internal servants had entered Yeting Palace on the day of the incident.After that, Tian Hanshan was ordered to question the itinerary of the three people that day, and only one internal servant named Qi had no one to confirm where he was for half an hour in the morning.For the other two, the young eunuchs followed them all the time when they went in and out, and the other court ladies of Ye Ting Palace testified, so the suspicion can basically be ruled out.

Qi Changshi bit his stomach and complained, he didn't do anything bad.

When Li Mingda heard about it, he interrogated him himself.

When Qi Changshi first saw that Princess Jinyang was young and a woman, she must be innocent, and even more aggrieved and cried out for injustice, showing a very pitiful and innocent look.

Li Mingda listened to his cries quietly while drinking tea, occasionally sniffing.Just when Qi Changshi's crying was getting quieter, Li Mingda put down his teacup, got up and walked straight to Qi Changshi's right side.

Li Mingda bent down slightly, pointed at the direction of Qi Changshi's right arm, and gently smelled it.She can confirm this time, there is a little bit of blood.

Qi Changshi didn't realize that the princess was "sniffing" himself.Just the sudden bending of the princess beside him was enough to startle him, and he forgot to cry and was stunned.

Li Mingda stood up straight, with his hands behind his back, and stared at Qi Changshi, "Your arm is injured?"

"No...no! I don't understand what your lord means."

But Qi Changshi's flustered expression had already given Li Mingda an affirmative answer.

"Pick off his sleeve and have a look, I just saw a vague injury." Li Mingda said.

Tian Hanshan immediately led someone to hold down Qi Changshi, and rolled up Qi Changshi's sleeves.Sure enough, he saw several scratch marks on his arm, and a thin layer of scab had formed on the wound.

"This is clearly a woman's scratch, what explanation do you have!" Tian Hanshan shouted.

"This, this is the slave who messed around with the maid before, and accidentally caught it." Qi Changshi explained, shaking his body and voice.

"Which hall is it, and what's its name?" Li Mingda asked lightly.

Qi Changshi was instantly sluggish, his head drooped, and he crawled on the ground begging for mercy.

Li Mingda: "Who ordered you to do this?"

"No...no one, I just don't like them. These two sluts laughed at me as a rootless person, and they became murderous in a fit of anger."

Seeing his erratic eyes, Li Mingda knew he was lying.Since he refuses to confess, there must be some reason, so that he dare not speak out because he is afraid of this.Li Mingda knew that even if he asked again and again, there would be a result, so he didn't ask this question for the time being, and asked him about the crime process first.

"After these two people came to Yeting Palace from the Lizheng Palace, they couldn't bear hardships and cried every day. I took the opportunity to show my favor and tricked them into finding a way to send them out of the palace. The slave sent them to the palace one evening before the incident happened. They called out and asked them to temporarily hide in the haystacks of the firewood house, and told them that they could be taken out of the palace the next day. But in the daytime, when all the maids in the courtyard had gone, the slave made excuses and said that he would take them back to the courtyard to get Things. The slave first let Xiumei into the house to clean up, and then used the excuse of discussing things to lure Lvhe to the side of the well, and pushed her down while she was not paying attention, and then called Xiumei to save her, and pushed her down too."

Qi Changshi also said that he made a special investigation before the murder. Because the courtyard where Lv Hexiumei lived was slanted, the palace ladies had to do their work during the day, and no one was around. At this time, no one heard even if they were killing pigs in the courtyard. .So that day, no one heard the screams of these two people falling into the well.

Li Mingda felt that the process was reasonable, so he asked Qi Changshi to postpone the signature of the testimony, and asked him again who was behind the scenes, but he still refused to admit it.

"If you don't say it now, you will go to jail later. After you are tortured, you still have to say it, or you have to beg to say it." Tian Hanshan said in a bad mood.

Qi Changshi trembled in fear, but still gritted his teeth and didn't say anything.

Then Qi Changshi was taken down, but when he was leaving the Qianhua Gate, he suddenly went crazy and broke away from the escort.Seeing this, the guards pulled out their knives to frighten them, but they didn't want Qi Changshi to run straight for a knife, and directly stabbed the knife into his stomach.

Qi Changshi immediately vomited blood, his body convulsed and he died not long after.

After Li Mingda heard the news, he immediately changed into a eunuch's uniform, and led people to search his residence in a low-key manner.In Qi Changshi's closet, Li Mingda smelled the familiar incense, which was very mild.Later, Tian Hanshan and others found a silk handkerchief, silk jade yarn, and orchid pattern in a piece of clothing in the wardrobe. The embroidery pattern was very similar to the orchid pattern handkerchief embroidered by Li Mingda before.

Li Mingda ordered someone to dig out his old handkerchief for comparison.If so, the styles and materials of the two handkerchiefs are exactly the same, but the stitches are different.

Li Mingda stared at the handkerchief, feeling uneasy in his heart.

"Your lord, it has just been found out that this Changshi Qi was originally in the palace of Princess Gaoyang, but after the princess got married, he didn't follow and was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs." Tian Hanshan said.

At this time, Biyun also entered the palace to deliver a message: "Your lord, Princess Gaoyang has delivered a message. She said that she was not allowed to enter the palace because of her punishment, so she wanted to ask your lord to come out of the palace to see her, and said that you must agree to it." .”