Hao Yuan is the chief historian of the palace. When he heard the news that Yuan Shou and his son were assassinated, he immediately realized that the situation was serious. If he studied carefully, Yang Ji, who was the number one enemy of the Yuan family, must be the first to be suspected. If this case cannot be cracked and remains unresolved, Yang Ji will also be affected to a certain extent. When he received Yang Ji's order to assemble everyone, he exercised his duties as a long history officer. While summoning his staff to analyze the incident, he also sent people out to investigate.
At this time, in the meeting hall of the front hall of the palace, Hao Yuan, Wei Zheng, Li Daoxuan, Liu Xiaosun, and Fang Yanzao were all there, as well as Yang Shi, Yang Xu, Yang Ling, and Yang Wan among the sixteen generals. Everyone looked serious, discussing and analyzing softly.
Just by looking at the assassin's crisp methods, as well as advance preparation and quick evacuation, everyone knew that the real culprit behind the scenes had an extraordinary origin and had made careful calculations. Don't catch the assassin now, even if he did, I'm afraid it would be too late. It is almost impossible to find clues about the assassins from the corpses of some dead soldiers with unfamiliar faces who could not escape and committed suicide.
This is just the incident that has surfaced. Will the real culprit behind the scenes have similar follow-up incidents? What is its purpose?
Li Daoxuan frowned and said to himself: "It's so good, how come Yuanshou and his son were suddenly assassinated? What was the motive of the real murderer behind the scenes?"
"The assassin killed his son first and then his father at the door of his house. It can be seen that these two things were not aimed at Yuan Min, but at Yuan Shou or the Yuan family." Wei Zheng paused and then said slowly: "If the assassin deliberately If there is physical evidence pointing to someone, then they intend to use the power of the Yuan family to deal with the "someone" they want to deal with. The reason why they did not assassinate other dignitaries, but acted against the Yuan family, is most likely the Yuan family. , 'someone' all have grudges against him. As for the others, we can't guess yet."
What Wei Zheng said is indeed the key, but the serious lack of information makes them, the wise men, helpless.
Hao Yuan frowned tightly and said nothing, but silently counted the main enemies of Yuanshou and the Yuan family in his heart. However, no matter how many times he counted, he had a vague intuition that the real murderer might point to Yang Ji.
"Xuan Cheng is right, the assassin really 'left' evidence of his crime, and it points to us." At this moment, Yang Ji entered the lobby, his eyes met the people who stood up and saluted, and while talking, he walked and sat on the main seat. Next: "The weapon used by the assassins to assassinate the Yuan family and his son was a crossbow, and the crossbow arrows used were specially made by Zhangye Kaigongcheng."
After listening to Yang Ji's words, everyone asked: "Your Majesty, what did the saint say?"
"The saint didn't say anything, because when I left the palace, he didn't know that the crossbow arrows came from Liangzhou." Yang Ji looked at everyone and said, "This is when I was in front of Zetian Gate, and Yuan Wendu lost the arrow to me. , I just found out. But Yuan Wendu seems to be more rational, and he also thinks it is framed."
Hao Yuan thought for a moment and said: "So, the real culprit is just like what Xuancheng said: He has enmity with both us and the Yuan family? This move can not only get rid of the Yuan family's father and son, but also kill us." Dragged into this case."
"What Chengyuan said is only one of them." Yang Ji told exactly what he said to Yuan Wendu in the palace, and finally said: "The other is that the real murderer has a grudge against the Yuan family, and has a grudge against the Yuan family. We have no enmity; it’s just that I have enmity with the Yuan family, so I plan to let me take the blame and draw the government’s attention to me and my enemies. However, I have too many enemies. In the end, no matter how I investigate, I can’t. The results will come out, so that the real culprit can go free."
Having said this, Yang Ji continued: "Of course, it is possible that he has enmity with us and not the Yuan family. The purpose of doing this is to use the Yuan family's hands to deal with us so that he can benefit, but I think it is possible It’s not very serious. After all, this move is too dangerous and offends two major forces at once. If the power of the government is added to it, it will be easy for them to be exposed. "
"Your Majesty is right!" Hao Yuan nodded silently and pondered for a moment. He bowed his hand to Yang Ji and asked, "According to your Majesty's wishes, are there any suspects already?"
"Not bad!" Yang Ji nodded and said, "I suspect it was Li Yuan who did it."
"This..." Everyone was stunned and found it incredible.
Hao Yuan followed Yang Ji's thoughts for a while, and suddenly an idea came to his mind, and asked: "The king thinks so, but because of Li Shimin's death,"
"Exactly!" Yang Ji said sanctimoniously: "Li Shimin met his death. All the evidence left by the murderer pointed to Liu Lunjia, who had a grudge against Li Yuan, and Liu Lunjia was a dog raised by the Yuan family. , so people thought that the Yuan family hired Liu Lunjia to kill Li Yuan’s favorite son. However, just when Li Changya and others were planning to further search for evidence of the crime, Li Yuan jumped out and asked the court to end the case."
"It can be seen that in his mind, he believed that the real culprit was the Yuan family; he said this because he was worried about the Yuan family's revenge and targeting later. After all, his power was pitifully small compared to the Yuan family. At this time, Li Yuan had already The Yuan family became the 'confidence' of the saint, but they were not the original Yuan family, so they began to treat others in their own way."
After listening, Hao Yuan said: "What the king said is not unreasonable. However, I have a question!"
Yang Ji looked at Hao Yuan and said, "Say."
"Based on the king's deduction, Li Yuan does have a grudge against the Yuan family, and he also has the motive of retaliating with tooth for tooth, eye for eye. But after all, Yuan Shou is the minister of Taifu Temple, and Li Yuan's assassination of this person is equivalent to going against the imperial court. Take it." After Hao Yuan said this, he said word by word: "If I were Li Yuan, my goal would definitely be Yuanwei without a position."
"Why?" Yang Ji smiled and said, "What is your reason?"
Hao Yuan assumed the role of the real murderer and said in a deep voice: "Yuanwei does not have an official position, but he is the head of the Yuan family. For the Yuan family, Yuanwei is the commander-in-chief and is indispensable. But from the official and legal perspective ; There is actually not much difference between him and ordinary people."
"Kill Yuanwei, then the Yuan family in crisis will become a piece of sand. The remaining people will be in a leaderless chaos during the two major events of reviewing the year and streamlining the military government. Then they will be exposed in internal fighting. It can be used as a clue for me to grasp. If it is not done well, the Yuan family will be destroyed. But in the government, his assassination was just a common man who was assassinated. A saint will not be angry and angry for a common man. We have mobilized a large number of people, and the intensity of the court's investigation will definitely not be as strong as it is now."
After glancing at Yang Ji and seeing that everyone was listening attentively, Hao Yuan continued: "Yuanshou is the minister of Taifu Temple and has an official title. If I kill him, I will be an enemy of the imperial court and be equally afraid of assassination." The civil and military people are enemies. Once the court becomes serious, the risk of exposure will increase at least a hundred times a thousand times. Therefore, assassinating Yuan Shou instead of Yuan Wei is really a foolish move and should not be done."
"Your Majesty, I agree with Hao Changshi's analysis!" Seeing that everyone was silent, Yang Shi stood up and saluted. Facing everyone's gaze, he said to Yang Ji solemnly: "Your Majesty, my main responsibility is to sort out He has connections with the Li family and knows the core figures of the Li family relatively well, so he understands Li Yuan far better than others."
Seeing that he was waiting for him to express his position, Yang Ji nodded with a smile and said in a gentle voice: "You gentlemen are all our own people who don't stick to trivial matters. It doesn't matter if you have something to say."
The sixteen generals are all the confidants of the palace. They and their elders all rely on the palace for their lives, and their descendants are no exception. Everyone is loyal to the palace. They are no different from ordinary soldiers who know what they are going to die for. The difference is that this is also the core and most powerful force of the palace. It's just that they are the unsung heroes of the palace who have lived in "darkness" for a long time, so they appear more reserved in such "public occasions".
"Here!" Yang Shi responded, gave a very solemn and formal salute, and said to Yang Ji: "Your Majesty, the world says that Li Yuan is loyal, honest, timid and cowardly. But according to our long-term observation, this person is different from what he looks like. He is ambiguous with the three factions of Guanlong nobles, and according to some detailed reports, although he has received strong support from the Dugu family and the Dou family, the difference between him and the two families is that he always regards them as dependent and cooperative. The target and the target of use, not the benefactor. However, the Dugu family and the Dou family did not realize this, and they were stupidly used by him."
"The Dugu family and the Dou family have countless wise men and countless staff, but they always think that he is honest and reliable. I think the two families have this understanding. On the one hand, Li Yuan and his family are too weak in front of the two families. They think that some people are weak. , incompetent, and easy to control, so over time they didn’t take it to heart. On the other hand, Li Yuan was good at disguising and taking advantage of his weak appearance, so that people could not discover his true intentions, so the two families relaxed about him. I was taken advantage of by him and thought he was honest and reliable.”
"Your Majesty, I second my humble opinion!" Yang Xu immediately stood up and saluted loudly: "I am also in the capital. My main responsibility is not to deal with the Li family, but I also know more or less about it. This person is clearly someone who has been working hard for a long time. Gou Jian, but many people were deceived by him."
Yang Ling and Yang Wan also agreed with serious faces:
"Humble position seconded!"
"Humble position seconded!"
Seeing that the four generals held the same view, Hao Yuan's eyes lit up and he quickly said: "The four generals are deeply involved in the capital, and they must know Li Yuan better than I do. I also agree with what the four generals said. However, since Li Yuan is Gou Jian who is willing to work hard, Why did he assassinate Yuanshou and his son instead of Yuanwei? But I wonder if the four generals have any other insights into the mystery?"
Yang Shi was stunned for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "Hao Changshi, I have a little cleverness in my humble position, but I don't have a big wisdom. Your problem has exceeded my ability. In terms of our talents, if we express our own opinions without authorization, not only It won’t help, but will only add to your confusion.”
After hearing this, Hao Yuan and others secretly nodded in approval. People with this kind of self-awareness should not be underestimated.
Seeing that everyone was silent, Yang Ji asked Yang Shi to sit down, and then said: "Li Yuan is the head of the Li family, and there must be ministers such as the Clan Elders Association under him. He is far away in Shuofang County at this time. I doubt this. It has nothing to do with him, but someone doing it without permission behind his back.”
Hao Yuan frowned and asked, "But who does the king think he is?"
"That is Li Yuan's wife, Li Dou." Yang Ji reported a name, and then said in a deep voice: "Li Dou is an amazing woman, and she loves her second son Li Shimin the most, but a woman is a woman after all. After all, her understanding of the outside world is not as good as that of men, and she lacks the overall view of the world as mentioned in Chengyuan theory. In addition, when Li Shimin was assassinated, Yuanshou was extremely active, so she most likely suspected that Yuanshou was responsible, so she took the needle To that."
During the meeting and conversation at Xiuyun Pavilion, Yang Ji didn't think there was anything strange about Li Dou. He thought it was normal for her to lead a team to participate in competitions and watch performances. But he was wary of Li Dou's sudden invitation, so he paid more attention to her tone and speed of speaking.
At this moment, when she related the assassinations of Yuan Shou and his son one by one, she found that when she said, "Yuan Min, the son of Yuan Taifu, has caused trouble for Xi'er a lot," she was actually speaking with great resentment. gas.
Taking a closer look at her words and deeds, Yang Ji suspected that she was responsible, and even Li Yuan didn't know.
The reason why Li Dou killed Yuan Shou and his son, rather than Yuan Wei, who could cause greater harm to the Yuan family, was that her role as a housewife and a mother avenging her son limited her thinking.
To put it bluntly, Mrs. Li is the mother of a child who was blinded by hatred; and the pain of losing her beloved son made her become more emotional, losing her reason and calmness. She only stared at the real " "Enemy", only focusing on revenge against real enemies, thereby ignoring the act of assassination and the benefits of assassination can actually be greater.
When Yang Ji spoke out these analyzes one by one, he also answered everyone's questions.
Although everyone was still in disbelief, thinking about the image of a mother who lost her son, they all agreed with Yang Ji's analysis. Hao Yuan was silent for a while and asked: "Your Majesty, you think that the case of Yuanshou and his son was done by Li Dou, and we also agree with this guess. So what should we do next?"
The pain of Li Dou's loss is understandable. Even the two core members, Hao Yuan and Wei Zheng, knew that Yang Ji sent people to do it, but this does not mean that they feel guilty about Li Dou. They expressed that they tolerated Li Dou's behavior of blaming Yang Ji.
Regarding her current frame-up, Hao Yuan must not only resolve it, but also let the Li family bear the blame. However, Yang Ji needs to make a decision on how to do it. They didn't even care whether it was Li Dou's fault or not.
After all, these people have nothing to do with the King Wei clan. As long as they can clear Yang Ji's name, no one else is important. It doesn't matter whether Li Yuan and Li Dou are the real murderers.
Yang Ji's thoughts were the same as everyone else's. In any case, all the factions, including his own, were not good, so as long as he could be removed safely, nothing else mattered. Let them fight on their own; He thought for a long time and said slowly: "Inform the Yuan family and let the Yuan family fight with the Li family."
After saying that, he ordered Li Shi again: "Send someone to tell this information to the Yuan family."
"Here!"
"Don't show your weakness."
"Here!"
