Princess Jinyang of the Tang Dynasty

"Who's right?" Li Mingda asked.

The maids shrank their heads in fright, and immediately admitted that this was Princess Hengshan's claim. Although they blocked it, they were reprimanded.

"Xiao Wuniang said go and go back, it's nothing serious, the maids really can't stop it." The maids knew that if the matter was discovered, they would be implicated, and they were so anxious that they burst into tears, kowtowed to Li Mingda for forgiveness.

"Confused!" Li Mingda stared at them, "Kneel in the hall and reflect on yourself, praying that Princess Hengshan can come back safely, otherwise no one can save you!"

Li Mingda immediately ordered the guards to guard these maids and not allow anyone to release the letter.After she came out of the palace, she ordered the guards to lead troops to surround Xiao's house, looking for Li Hui'an, and at the same time hurried to see Li Shimin.

Li Shimin was discussing matters with the minister, when he heard that his daughter was looking for him, he waved his hand and signaled Fang Qirui to send a message, and see you later when we are done.No sooner had his hand dropped than Li Mingda broke into the hall.The gatekeeper awkwardly entered the room to intercept him, and then apologized to Li Shimin.

Seeing Li Mingda's anxious expression, Li Shimin also knew that his daughter was a measured person and would not do this casually.Li Shimin immediately asked Li Mingda what happened.

Li Mingda glanced at the five ministers waiting in the palace, among them there were two who were still related to the Xiao family.

Li Mingda pursed his lips slightly, "My daughter has an important matter to discuss with her father, which is a matter of her life."

Upon hearing this, several courtiers hurriedly asked to leave.Li Shimin frowned slightly, naturally wondering why Li Mingda would suddenly say such a thing, this is not like her style.But Li Shimin still agreed that all the courtiers would retreat, and he always wanted to give his daughter some face.

Li Mingda then walked quickly to Li Shimin, told him the story and his doubts in a low voice, and then told Li Shimin about Li Hui'an's situation.

Li Shimin has lived to this day and became a king, and he has seen a lot of things in the world, but this time he was really shocked by Li Mingda's words.

"What did you say? You said that the final culprit in the cases you solved was actually Xiao Wuniang? The fifth daughter of the Xiao family?" Li Shimin emphasized her identity, because he couldn't believe it, and was afraid that he might have made a mistake.

"At the moment, I suspect that it is her. It is very likely." Li Mingda said.

Li Shimin widened his eyes, then blinked, and looked at Li Mingda: "Didn't you suspect Xiao Kai before?"

"Xiao Kai's alibi for practicing in Zhenyun Temple three or four years ago has been confirmed. The Taoist Master Kongwu of Zhenyun Temple adopted a daughter and lived in the temple. She was the same age as Xiao Kai, and it was the first love at that time. At a young age, after seeing the young man brought by Master Wudao, he fell in love with him at first sight, and often ran to the back mountain to sneak a look at him. The real murderer appeared in Wutou Mountain for half a year, and this girl was still behind Zhenyun Temple from time to time Shan peeked at Xiao Kai. And Zhenyun Guan was fifty miles away from Nobody's head, and her peeks came at will, not necessarily at any time, sometimes at most a dozen times a day, so she watched in terms of the time of committing the crime. , Xiao Kai will rule out the suspicion." Li Mingda explained the latest evidence she obtained to Li Shimin in detail.

Li Shimin nodded, "Then why is she Xiao Wuniang? I've seen this child before, she looks like a daughter of an aristocratic family. She is lively and smart, and she looks well-behaved and clean. How could a girl do such a cruel thing? Also, she has time to commit crimes?"

"It has always been popular among the nobles of various families to send their underage children to Taoist temples for a period of time. This not only has a sense of immortality, but also has the saying that there is no disaster or disease to support them. Three or four years ago, Xiao Wuniang was about 11 years old. She She was sent to become a monk together with her elder brother Xiao Kai."

Li Shimin nodded in agreement. In fact, not only the aristocratic family, but also many people in the royal family were like this.A large part of the reason is naturally that their Li royal family regards Taoism as the state religion and regards "Taoism" as the foundation of governing the country.Therefore, from the time of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Daoist wind was the most fierce, from the emperors to the common people, and everyone flocked to it.It has long been common for nobles to send their children to become monks for a year or two.

"Xiao Wuniang was sent one step earlier. Before her father was demoted, she first became a monk at the lotus temple outside Chang'an City. Later, Xiao Gong was demoted to Dingzhou, and Xiao Kai then became a monk. At that time, Xiao Wuniang had been in the Lotus Temple did not move with her parents."

Li Mingda paused, and seeing that Li Shimin understood what he just said, he continued: "This matter is not a secret among the aristocratic families. When and how long a woman from an aristocratic family becomes a monk is usually used to show off. I've heard of it too. But when I investigated Xiao Kai, because I was limited by the "juvenile" confessed by Jiang Lin, I always believed that the murderer was a man. In addition, the secret of Cha Ji Wang, the director of Mingjing, was leaked, which made me suspect that it was Insiders are causing trouble, and Der Spiegel's suspects are all men. Therefore, I completely ignored the possibility of women, and here is the son who is not thinking carefully;

"You are already very good. If you were someone else, you would never think of such a thing in your life." Li Shimin smiled very proudly, and immediately realized, "Hui'an!"

"My daughter has already sent people to Xiao's house, but it was unexpected, so I asked Aye to order and send people to guard the city. If the situation in Xiao's house goes wrong, the gate of Chang'an City will be very important." Li Mingda said.

Li Shimin agreed and immediately issued an order.Li Shimin thought about it, and continued to ask Li Mingda in puzzlement: "Then why didn't you talk about the matter directly when you entered the door just now, and why did you talk about life-long events as an excuse to deliberately hide those ministers?"

"Because the matter is still uncertain, we can't disclose the news. Besides, if the princess is lost in the palace, if the whole city knows about it before the princess is found, it will only cause trouble." Li Mingda explained.

"If Xiao Wuniang is really as you said, the real murderer behind the scenes who instigated people to kill people, and she is extremely clever, then is it possible that she took Hui'an away this time with a conspiracy?"

Li Mingda shook his head uncertainly, "It shouldn't be so. Ever since I found out that the news was leaked, this aspect has been kept secret. She should not be aware of any serious situation."

Li Shimin still couldn't feel at ease, he was furious, and immediately slapped the table, and ordered all the palace people around Li Hui'an to die.

Li Mingda hurriedly advised Li Shimin not to get angry, "Just let it be a blessing that there will be no blood before my sister is found."

Hearing this, Li Shimin calmed down his anger a little bit, and immediately ordered people to send more troops, and if there was no news from the Xiao family, he was ready to search all over the city.

Shortly thereafter, the guards guarding the palace gate were brought up.

"When and how did Xiao Wuniang leave the palace?" Li Mingda asked.

"One hour ago, I handed over the token and drove away." The guard said,

"Aye, I want to go to Xiao's house in person." Li Mingda asked for instructions.

Li Shimin agreed, and immediately sent his trusted bodyguards Zhou Changhuai and Cheng Muyuan to Li Mingda, and took the token to dispatch the imperial army, so that Li Mingda could dispatch them at will when he had something to do.

"You must bring your 21st sister back safely." Li Shimin frowned worriedly. Hui'an was his youngest daughter and also his heart.If something good or bad happens to her, he will definitely let the entire Xiao family be buried with her.

Although Li Shimin is still curious about what is the reason for Xiao Wuniang to do all this, and how much the Xiao family is involved in it.But the matter of finding Li Hui'an is the most urgent right now, and she can only care about it later.

Li Mingda rushed back to the palace, but Li Hui'an was not found, which made her very uneasy.She unconsciously clenched the whip in her hand, whipping the horse non-stop, wishing she could jump to Xiao's house in one step.

When Li Mingda left the palace, he immediately sent someone to inform Fang Yizhi, and handed over the token for dispatching the forbidden army that Li Shimin had just given her to Fang Yizhi, and asked him to be responsible for arranging the call of the forbidden army.

After Fang Yizhi got the news, he knew the seriousness of the matter, and immediately set off to Xiao's house.

Li Mingda arrived first.

The guard in charge of guarding Xiao's house hurried over and reported back to Li Mingda: "It is said that he went to Qujiang Pond for a cruise, and the guards have already brought people to Qujiang Pond to look for it. The subordinates have also confirmed that there is indeed no one in the Xiao family."

Without saying a word, Li Mingda got on his horse and went straight to Qujiang Pond.

After arriving at the place, I saw more than a dozen painted boats on Qujiang Pond.Cheng Chubi was ordering people to prepare the boat, when he turned his eyes and saw the princess coming, he quickly saluted. "There are too many boats, I don't know which one is the right one. It's because the subordinates didn't think carefully, so someone from the Xiao family should be arrested to identify the boat."

After Cheng Chubi finished speaking, he sent someone back to Xiao's house to ask for someone, and here he began to investigate one by one.

Li Mingda raised his hand to signal Cheng Chubi to keep silent for now.She rode on the horse, closed her eyes, frowned, and listened carefully to the sounds coming from all directions.There are people coming and going in Qujiang Lake, and there is a lot of noise all around. Most of them are drinking, having fun, reciting poems and composing Fu.Among these noisy voices, Li Mingda finally heard a familiar and crisp smile.She opened her eyes and looked towards the east of the pool, and saw two women standing by the window on the third floor of a restaurant on the other side of the river.The taller one is Xiao Wuniang, and the shorter one is her sister Li Hui'an.

When Li Mingda looked over, Xiao Wuniang's eyes just happened to sweep in this direction, and Li Mingda immediately turned around, with his back to them.Li Mingda glanced at it just now, and noticed Xiao Wuniang's face, she was calm and smiling, and she should be chatting happily with Li Hui'an.Li Mingda wasn't sure if Xiao Wuniang had discovered them. Did Xiao Wuniang choose a high place because she wanted to observe the situation near Qujiang Pool?

Li Mingda did not act rashly out of caution.She coughed and told Cheng Chubi beside her not to move around at will, let alone look across the river deliberately after listening to her words.

"You can get some straw hats later, or secretly order a few faces to go to the Yuelai Restaurant on the other side of the river to get someone, the second window from the left on the third floor." Li Mingda had investigated cases in Qujiang Pond before, so I still remember the name of that restaurant.

Cheng Chubi agreed and did so immediately.

At this time, Fang Yizhi also rode over.

Li Mingda quickly turned to meet him.

Seeing Li Mingda's actions, Fang Yi was stunned for a moment, then jumped off the horse, walked up to Li Mingda, and asked her in a low voice if she had found someone, but what trouble did she encounter.

"I know me too well." Li Mingda sighed in surprise. She turned to pat the horse Fang Yizhi was riding, letting the horse cover most of their bodies, and then said to Fang Yizhi, "People are The Yuelai Restaurant on the other side of the river, I have already ordered people to surround the restaurant secretly, but I am a little worried that Empress Xiao Wu has discovered me."

"I have ordered people to block all the main roads near Qujiang Pond. I have notified the forbidden army, and then they came to enclose the entire Qujiang Pond airtightly. The upstream and downstream of this pool are also guarded." Left straight.

"The arrangement is very thoughtful. Sure enough, this token is more useful in your hands." Li Mingda sighed. After hearing Fang Yizhi's words, she felt a little bit down. At least Xiao Wuniang couldn't run away, but Li Hui'an's She was still worried about her safety.

Not to be alarmed, Li Mingda pretended to be on the bank with Fang Yizhi to investigate the case, and then rode back on horseback.Not long after, a signal was sent from Yuelai Building, and Li Mingda immediately turned his horse and ran to the other side of the river.When Li Ming arrived at Yuelai Building, Li Hui'an was still yelling at the guards, blaming them for imprisoning Xiao Wuniang and forcing her to return to the palace.Li Hui'an even used the title of princess to detain these people, threatening them that even if she can't get them now, she will remember this grudge, and she will definitely get revenge in the future!

Li Mingda was shocked when he heard this, rushed in and grabbed Li Hui'an's arm, and stared at her warningly: "What are you talking about, you are the one who left the palace without authorization and made a mistake, what should you say?"

Seeing Li Mingda's sudden appearance, Li Hui'an was stunned, and then his flushed face was filled with guilt, and he lowered his head listlessly, "Why is Nineteenth Sister here?"

"You leave the palace without saying a word, and I will go back to find you. If you are not here, can I not be in a hurry, can Aye not be in a hurry? Hui'an, what do you think, why do you do such impulsive things? Do you know yours? How much danger will your identity bring you? Don’t think that you are a princess, everything will be safe.” Li Mingda said while checking Li Hui’an’s physical condition to see if she was injured anywhere, and then asked her if there was anything wrong there. Comfortable.When we were together with Xiao Wuniang, what did we eat, and whether there was any abnormality in the body after eating.

Li Hui'an shook his head, "I didn't eat anything except drinking some water. I came out of the palace to play, and seeing the excitement and freshness everywhere, how can I have any intention of eating, I can't even tell." Li Hui'an explained, Then he took Li Mingda's arm with a smile, and acted like a baby with her, "Just now I said that I plan to go to the Department of Mirrors, and I want to see where Nineteenth Sister handles the case."

"I told you earlier that I will take you to see it in the future. Are you so anxious?"

"Hui'an is too curious, and I don't know how long I'll have to wait, so I became self-willed when I was in a hurry. Sister Nineteen, Hui'an was wrong." Li Hui'an saluted Li Mingda honestly, pouted and admitted his mistake.He also said that it was her idea not to do Xiao Wuniang's business.

"Sister Nineteen, don't blame her. If you really deal with her, which noble sister will dare to play with me in the future. Father, please help me and say it's all my fault. I was scolded, and it doesn't matter if I get punished for a while Yes, if Xiao Wuniang is punished, it will affect her for the rest of her life. Besides, I really forced her to do so, and she has no choice but to obey." Li Hui'an repeatedly pleaded for Xiao Wuniang.

"I can't protect myself, and I pleaded for others. Maybe she is not as good as you think." Li Mingda touched Li Hui'an's face. This kind of real touch finally made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Hui'an still didn't understand what was going on, raised his head and blinked his black and white eyes, and asked Li Mingda inexplicably, "Did Nineteenth Sister have a quarrel with Xiao Wuniang?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Did Nineteenth Sister just say that Xiao Wuniang is not as good as I thought. Xiao Wuniang met me today and asked me about Nineteenth Sister from time to time. I just thought it should be the two of you who had a fight before. What's awkward. Xiao Wuniang's mouth is a bit broken. I know that Nineteenth Sister doesn't like her, but she is still sincere and has a good heart. Nineteenth Sister shouldn't bother with her about this. Did Miss Nineteen forget what she told me before? Everyone has shortcomings." Li Hui'an seriously wanted to explain, hoping to persuade the two of them to get along.

"You girl," Li Mingda couldn't help laughing, feeling relieved for his sister's kindness. He touched Li Hui'an's face and said to Li Hui'an, "Okay, sister nineteen understands. Be good. Follow Zhou Changhuai back to the palace, so I can plead guilty to my father. Take care of yourself first, and see how you can get a lighter punishment. Don't worry about other things." Li Mingda smiled and scratched Li Hui'an's nose, and let her go back.

When Li Hui'an heard what Li Mingda said, his head grew big, he nodded obediently, and went.Li Hui'an's entourage and bodyguards, Li Mingda ordered them to stay, and also told Zhou Changhuai that after returning to the palace, he must ask the imperial physician to diagnose Li Hui'an's pulse.

After Li Mingda watched Li Huian leave, his face turned cold and he turned to look at Fang Yizhi.

Fang Yi said straightly: "He is guarded in room No. [-], Tianzi."

Li Mingda immediately went up to the third floor to see Xiao Wuniang.

Xiao Wuniang was sitting alone at the table, quietly holding her chin.Seeing that the door opened and Li Mingda came, Xiao Wuniang laughed and immediately saluted her. After being dismissed, seeing Li Mingda's complexion was not good, she asked her what was wrong.Immediately, he raised his eyebrows again feeling the great battle, and apologized to Li Mingda again and again, saying that he would not change his audacity and could not stand Li Hui'an's begging, so he brought her out without permission.

"I thought I would take her out for an hour, and then go back immediately. It's time for sleeping and taking a nap. Who would have thought that when she came out, she would walk here and there, time flies so fast, and she forgets herself after playing." Xiao Wuniang immediately He apologized and said it was his fault, "I blame me for not changing to Princess Hengshan's temperament, even if Princess Hengshan forced me with a knife, I shouldn't have brought her out."

"Use a knife to force you?" Li Mingda was originally impatient to listen to Xiao Wuniang's words, but when he heard this sentence, he couldn't help being surprised.

Xiao Wuniang immediately covered her mouth, glanced at Li Mingda, lowered her head and hurriedly changed her words: "You have said something wrong and nonsense, your lord must not take it seriously."

These few words are really "there is no silver 300 taels here", no one will believe it.

Li Mingda then looked at Xiao Wuniang's attendants and asked her: "But that's the case, is Princess Hengshan forcing Xiao Wuniang with a knife?"

The maid hurriedly knelt down, agreed tremblingly, admitted so.It happened that Li Hui'an's entourage also stayed, so Li Mingda sent someone to ask, and got the same answer.

Li Mingda turned to look at Xiao Wuniang's unusually calm face, smiled, and then sat down before letting Xiao Wuniang get up without courtesy.

Cheng Chubi and Cheng Muyuan stood behind Li Mingda as personal guards.Fang Yizhi stood a little further back and was happy to give way. At this time, what he hopes most is that the safety of the princess can be guaranteed.

Xiao Wuniang seemed to be a little wrong in observing the situation, and smiled, "Your lord will not be disappointed with Wuniang because of this incident, and guard against Wuniang?"

"You brought Hui'an out so abruptly, I should be angry with you. But now there is another important matter, so this is to interrogate you now." Li Mingda said.

Xiao Wuniang was stunned, raised her eyebrows and looked at Li Mingda puzzledly: "Trial me? Why is this? I am a weak woman who has lived in the back house for a long time. If I don't steal or rob, what kind of crime can I commit? So far, The biggest thing I did was to take Princess Hengshan out of the palace without authorization today."

After hearing Ah's words, Li Mingda looked at Fang Yizhi.

Fang Yizhi nodded to Li Mingda.

Seeing the two people winking at each other, Xiao Wuniang pursed her lips, "Don't be like this, it's so scary, what happened? Could it be that someone accused me of murdering? Haha, this is interesting, tell me quickly, I would like to prove my innocence."

"Still laughing?" Li Mingda asked while observing Xiao Wuniang.

"Because I knew that I definitely didn't do it, so I thought it was funny. I was curious how this kind of thing happened to me." Xiao Wuniang said with the same expression.

Li Mingda took a breath slowly, and said seriously to Xiao Wuniang: "It's your second brother. He is suspected of murder. We came to you because we wanted to ask you something about your second brother."

"My second brother? He killed people? This is impossible, your lord and Fang Shizi have known my second brother since they were young, and we grew up together. You should know his character, how could he kill someone?" Xiao Wu Mother was surprised, and immediately shook her head to express her disbelief.

"People can pretend, she looks normal, no different from ordinary people, but in fact, the real her is a brutal murderer, and as early as when she was young, she had already hid in the bandit's den and began to practice how Instigated someone to kill someone." Li Mingda stared at Xiao Wuniang closely, then asked Jiang Lin's testimony to be shown to her, and said to Xiao Wuniang, "We have confirmed that your second brother practiced in Zhenyun Temple. For a while, it happened to coincide with the time of Wutou Mountain. Moreover, Jiang Lin changed his words suddenly in order to cover for your second brother."

Xiao Wuniang looked at the testimony, and after a long silence, she said to Li Mingda with red eyes, "You mean the boy who appeared in Wutou Mountain in Jianglin's testimony is my second brother Xiao Kai?"

Xiao Wuniang specifically said "youth" and did not directly mention Jiang Liang's name. It is clear that Jiang Liang's name appeared many times in the testimony, but the word "juvenile" only appeared once.After all, the names are different. If Xiao Wuniang is anxious to rectify Xiao Kai's name at this moment, the first thing she should do is to raise doubts about the different names.But she didn't, she instinctively chose to protect herself first, so she emphasized that it was a 'juvenile' first.

And if the murderer is a woman, it can just explain why the back door and all the servants were driven away on the day of Ji Wang's death.When a woman meets a man in private, it is natural to avoid suspicion.And a strong general who can stab someone unsuspectingly without the power to fight back can only be an intimate woman.Because no matter how good the relationship is between the two men, they won't be physically close together when they talk and chat with each other, Ji Wang still has room for reaction.Moreover, when men meet, Ji Wang, a rough warrior, will not deliberately bother to send away all the servants in front of him.