First of all, the identity of the eunuch who broke into the palace and violated the ban has been initially determined. Although he may not have the chance to hear anything under the orchestra's performance: but this kind of snooping into the inner temple is a very dangerous signal. This time it is just snooping, but what about next time?
Wouldn't it be possible to carry weapons and threaten the East Palace? On the other hand, this young eunuch named Sun Guoer is not strictly a member of the East Palace, but an envoy for the Provincial Pharmacy Bureau in the palace to run errands between the East Palace; So little relationship.
This makes things more complicated. Compared with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is composed solely of eunuchs and is responsible for managing palace affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is an institution dedicated to serving the life of the royal family. Therefore, in addition to many internal officials and palace maids, there are also some foreign ministers with legitimate backgrounds.
For example, the Shang Yao Bureau, which is responsible for preparing imperial medicines and diagnosing diseases in the palace, has officials such as fengyu, imperial physician, direct chief, chief physician, and medical assistant, as well as subordinate chief pharmacists and medicine boys. Auxiliary personnel who are not yet in the first rank, such as pharmacists, curse masters, and lip sealers. Almost all of them are foreign ministers.
Since the preparation of the imperial medicine involves the safety of the emperor, in order to prevent any eventuality, according to the regulations of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the imperial eunuch and the imperial eunuch who must be present, one person each from Menxia Province, Zhongshu Province and the generals of the guards on duty must be present. You must also be present and monitor together with the chiefs of the Palace Provincial Department and the Shang Yao Bureau.
When the medicine is ready, the medical assistant in charge must personally taste it, seal it and stamp it with the seal of the Pharmacy Bureau, write down the prescription, indicate the year, month, and day of preparation and the name of the official and agency that supervised the preparation of the medicine. When the medicine was presented to the emperor for consumption, the emperor tasted it first, followed by the eunuch and the prince in turn.
The prince Li Hong has been weak and sick for many years, so not only the medicine storehouse in the East Palace is very busy, but also the imperial medical officers from Shangyao Bureau are also very diligent in visiting and dispensing medicines. In addition, from time to time, there are nourishing tonics given by the two saints, which need to be adjusted and prepared before they can be taken with confidence.
Therefore, Sun Guo'er, the young eunuch, is not very old. He is actually an old man who has run many errands during his visit. Although, during the torture, he kept confessing that he was bored waiting in the East Palace and wandering around in the East Palace, which disturbed the prince, but how could a guard who felt he had failed in his duty dare to believe it.
What's more, does he have anything to do with the custodian of the Right Prison Gate, one of the ten commanders of the East Palace? The left and right prison gates are the smallest establishment among them, with only seventy-eight people in length; but they are in charge of the guards of the gates of the East Palace. All property, utensils, and personnel coming in and out have door records (registration records).
Therefore, after he couldn't survive it, he changed his confession again and confessed that he was entrusted by Zhang Yunqing, the Zuodian of the Prince's Neifang. He took the opportunity of passing by to deliver medicine and found out about the Prince's stay in the Xichi courtyard of Houyuan several times during these days. reason. This also involved the Prince's Neifang.
The so-called Prince's Neifang, as its name suggests, is the eunuch management organization of the East Palace established based on the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It has over a thousand eunuchs under its jurisdiction, and also supervises several times that number of palace servants and slaves. Zhang Yunqing, the Zuo Dianshi, is in charge of it. Weaving labor, without instructions, how dare you pry into the secrets of others.
However, when the prisoner who led the mansion from the right prison gate was captured, the other party had already caught wind of it and escaped. Only some letters were copied out of his living room and were not burned in time; to the unnamed person, there were a few brief mentions of the prince's daily remarks. However, there is another thing that is even more alarming.
"The general on duty outside the palace is Pei Liangdong, the minister and chief minister of the right guard." Li Beiyu, the deputy commander in charge of the interrogation, reported in a low voice: "When this officer broke into the corridor, he happened to lead people to another place. Patrolling from the side; therefore, the suspicion of being secretly instigated by others and acting as a cooperator cannot be ruled out."
However, upon hearing this name, although Prince Li Hong's appearance remained unchanged, someone behind Li Beiyu let out a low groan; obviously, this Pei Dongliang seemed to have some origins. Prince Li Hong also remembered: "It turned out to be him. Back then, on the polo field, he was still the one chosen by his relatives."
According to Li Hong, it turned out that Pei Liangdong was a relative of the Crown Princess Pei; he was a distant cousin in terms of seniority. In his early years, he was a good polo player and was known as "Pei Rufeng"; therefore, he was valued by the prince Li Hong shortly after his marriage and promoted him to the rank of guard of the East Palace.
Although they are only the most basic guards, they also represent the leap from the white body to the prepared level. Then, because of his status as a half-mother princess and her polo skills, his promotion was easily on the fast track; so he became a senior official in his early twenties.
Entering the third level of the four-color personal officials of Zhonghou, Sijie, Zhiji, and Sige. Therefore, he was qualified to regularly participate in guarding and patrolling, and the prince moved to the outside of the inner hall where he stayed. However, it was obvious that he had betrayed this trust and had become the spy's spy at some point.
Even under torture, he repeatedly begged for mercy and confessed with tears streaming down his face that he had no intention of offending the prince; it was just because his best friend Qi Pu lost a large sum of money and someone was willing to repay the debt on his behalf, provided that he repaid the debt while he was on duty in the East Palace. It's a favor; but I won't say who the other party is.
Instead, he violently mutilated himself on the spot and was currently unconscious. However, his private acquaintance was quickly found out; it was Si Zeyuan who was next to the Crown Princess and one of the female historians. This is also normal; as long as they see each other or like each other,
You can report it to your father, and it’s rare that you won’t be told a good story. However, this female historian named Cui Zhi, who was entrusted with Si Zeyuan, had already requested the favor a few days ago to go to her hometown in Hebei to visit relatives. It's an incomparable coincidence that the clues are stuck here.
Therefore, the Crown Princess Pei also rushed over, and the moment she stepped into the door, she knelt down on the ground with a plop, knocked her forehead heavily on the ground and said: "I am incompetent, and I can't be a good manager." The palace cannot restrain relatives, but I ask His Highness to severely punish you and serve as a police officer."
"Don't think it's like this, Zhirou." Prince Li Hong sighed deeply: "You and I, a young couple, have known each other and supported each other for many years, how can we not know your thoughts and behavior? The old man who has been serving you for many years, This kind of right and wrong actually happened, could it be that I didn't make any oversights?"
"Your Highness! I am so frightened..." Mrs. Pei couldn't help but choked on the ground: "This is because I have no idea who I am, and I have failed to live up to Your Highness's expectations. How dare I blame you..." But Prince Li Hong still helped her. He got up, wiped his tears and makeup with a towel, and expressed his anger and comfort over and over again.
"It's just that in order to explain this matter to the outside world and Dongdu, I will inevitably have to wrong you a little or two." At this point, a certain light flashed in Li Hong's eyes and he continued to say warmly; "Because of my illness, I have to waste so much time. After many years, the whole East Palace should be put in order."
"It's just that next, I want you to explain everything to your mother." "Your Majesty, there is no need to elaborate. This is the duty and righteousness of a concubine." Mrs. Pei was full of emotions. Holding Li Hong's knee, he confided: "If His Highness is uneasy, how can I behave myself?"
However, Jiang Tian, who was hiding behind the scenes and being treated like a dog in the live broadcast, curled his lips in surprise. Well, the relationship between Li Hong and the Crown Princess seems to be quite good; no wonder in another time and space line, after Li Hong passed away, the Pei family soon became depressed and unhappy.
In fact, when Jiang Tian was traveling near Luoyang in modern times, he visited a relatively unpopular tourist attraction, which is the Gongling Mausoleum of the current prince Li Hong. He also saw that it was more than six meters high and was personally built by Tang Gaozong Li Zhi. A large stone tablet with a record of "Records of Filial Piety to the Emperor Ruide".
Therefore, as a means for Jiang Tian to win his trust, he read an excerpt of this inscription to Prince Li Hong. "The gifts are rich and beautiful, and the tin is melted. The love and respect are both strong, and the king and relatives are in harmony. He has a good reputation and is responsible for the army, and he is famous for supervising the country. He sits down and hangs his model, and the bed door is followed by rules. Measure Zhan and use rush to transform Yuan Mo. .”
So when Mr. Pei retreated again, Li Hong stood up and stared at the sky in the distance. He took a long breath and murmured to himself: "It turns out that there are so many eyes, ears and eyeliners around me; my mother, my mother." Mother, are you really worried about your son at all times?"
"That may not be the case!" At this time, Jiang Tian also emerged from hiding: "Does the prince think that the Queen of Heaven in Luodu is so powerful that she can control all the disturbances in Xijing in time? Then directly ascend to the throne No, why bother planning for years?"
"What do you mean by Li Sheng?" After hearing this, Prince Li Hong's expression relaxed slightly; because when he thought that someone approaching the East Palace might be that person's eyes and ears, he felt uncomfortable all over, and also felt indescribable sadness and anger. : "Is there any hidden secret in this, or other reasons?"
"Didn't His Highness not bear to see blood, and asked me to observe the specific interrogation process?" Jiang Tian said lightly: "I can only say that the methods of those East Palace guards are too rough, and they are too lacking and inexperienced; they can't catch them. Focus on the key points, and it’s easy to overlook the key points.”
"But fortunately, the other party is not a determined soldier, or a loyal and stubborn person; therefore, during the interrogation, some rumors and clues were inevitably leaked unconsciously; but most of them were ignored by these guards who were eager to achieve results. , ignored on the spot."
"I have benefited a lot from Gu Yiyi, but please continue to teach me!" Prince Li Hong said seriously when he heard this, "To be honest, there are very few people available for Gu at the moment, and there is also a lack of people who can really entrust the secrets to me, so I can only trouble Li Sheng." , continue to work hard for it."
"It's all just fun. As long as you can provide me with more fun, why don't I participate more?" Jiang Tian waved his tail and said: "Speaking of which, His Highness feels that Pei Sijie is unwilling to confess. , is it because the other party is more powerful than the East Palace?"
"There is an obvious question. If the Queen of Heaven takes action, does it require such twists and turns and cooperation from many parties? Isn't it a secret decree? Naturally, there are people secretly running for it, and it still needs to be so secretive. Is there any clue to self-destruction?”
"In other words, Pei Sijie had his own backing and calculations in his heart. After the incident happened, he was not worried that His Highness would implicate his relatives behind him. Instead, he was afraid that after being punished and leaking the secret, the other party would take the opportunity to vent his anger on the Pei family, leading to a series of unbearable incidents. Consequences. So, what do you think, Your Highness?"
"..." At this moment, Prince Li Hong's mind was suddenly confused; it was not until a while later that he uttered a few words with some difficulty: "The Wu family..."
"It seems so." Jiang Tian nodded and continued to reason and analyze: "But even if a relative of the Wu clan can be favored and trusted by the Queen, and entrusted with important tasks; although he may not be able to win the East Palace, he has enough power to threaten How many people must be in the Pei family?" (End of this chapter)
