The twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month, Yongjiafang.
Deep in the southeast of the square, there are few people in the mansion of Guide County Lord.
In the secluded mansion, white flags are hung high, yellow paper is everywhere, incense is filled, and white candles are always bright.
Since the death of Princess Yin Zheng Guanyin, the funeral has been suspended for five days, and the period is about to expire.
After a while, mournful music sounded.
Liang Wujian, the young minister of the Taifu, stood in front of the mansion, welcoming visitors in twos and threes.
Pei Guangxiao, the minister of Zongzheng Temple, stood under the mourning shed and held his hands solemnly.
After all, Concubine Zheng was once the legitimate daughter of the Zheng family in Xingyang. When she was the Crown Princess, she was gentle and virtuous, not inferior to Empress Changsun.
Concubine Zheng passed away. Although the news was kept secret, all the major families heard about it, and the concubine of the family's side house was sent to offer incense in mourning.
Even so, people are extremely sparse.
In particular, this mansion is not big, with only three floors, and a mourning hall almost takes up the entire courtyard.
Li Xuan was wearing black mourning clothes, with a white cloth hanging on her left arm. She stood at the entrance of the deserted Dongkua Courtyard, looking at everything in the mansion calmly.
Especially Liu Yingdao, the consort of the lord of Guide County and the lord of Wenxi County, who was wearing white linen mourning clothes and knelt down in front of the mourning hall.
The head of Guide County was Concubine Zheng's last daughter, and Liu Yingdao was Concubine Zheng's second son-in-law and her closest family member in Chang'an.
…
"The prince seems a little uneasy?" Ming Chongyan's familiar voice sounded behind Li Xuan, and he seemed to have discovered something.
Li Xuan did not look back, but said lightly: "No one from the Zheng family has come at all during the five days since the funeral."
The Li family in Longxi is the husband's family, and the Zheng family in Xingyang is the mother's family.
The daughter of the Zheng family died, and they should come to pay homage to her no matter what, not to mention that Zheng Guanyin was still the legitimate daughter at that time.
All the other major aristocratic families sent people to come, but the Zheng family didn't even come with their concubines and servants, which was a bit unreasonable.
"People from the Zheng family should be here today. They couldn't get away in the past few days." Ming Chongyan, wearing a black Taoist robe, walked up from behind Li Xuan and said side by side with him: "Zheng Yi is here in five days." Some time ago, he was found dead in the ditch of Pingkangfang. He seemed to have been drunk and drowned. Does the prince think it was the work of King Donghai or someone from the Zheng family? "
The King of Donghai wanted to prevent Zheng Yi from revealing the mystery of the underground secret room in Li Jingye's courtyard, and the Zheng family wanted to prevent Zheng Yi and the King of Donghai from being implicated in the Zheng family.
They all have motives to kill and they all know how to kill.
Li Xuan shook her head and said: "The real person may have said it wrong. Zheng Yi may have really died of drunkenness and drowning."
"Ha, the prince didn't dare to offend the Zheng family in Xingyang!" Ming Chongyan looked at Li Xuan with a half-smile, and everything he said was provocative.
Li Xuan unexpectedly nodded calmly and said: "Now that the war is imminent, as long as you are not colluding with Tubo and hoping that the army will be defeated, then there is no need to kill everyone, even the British."
Li Xuan looked at Ming Chongyan with deep eyes, and Ming Chongyan's face suddenly became solemn.
Li Xuan reported Li Jingye's matter to the emperor, and the emperor naturally would not hide anything from Empress Wu.
If Empress Wu knew about it, then people like Ming Chongyan, Fan Lubing, Yuan Wanqing, and Miao Chuke would also know about it.
But these people are all old foxes, and they all know what kind of words should be rotten in their stomachs.
Revealing forbidden words is a serious crime.
Looking at Ming Chongyan's solemn look, Li Xian turned to ask: "Master, there should be no unusual movements among those who have been watched by Qianniu Guard in the past few days."
"No, the disciples of the family, as well as the literati, all have their own affairs to be busy with. Many of them don't even know that Princess Xiyin has passed away." Ming Chongyan shook his head, his expression serious.
Donghai King has never been easy to deal with. During the last Taipingfang incident, Ming Chongyan thought that Donghai King had exposed some flaws and could be easily caught. However, more than ten days have passed and he still found nothing.
On the contrary, it was the King of Nanchang who stared at the Tubo people and unexpectedly made them catch Li Jingye's evildoing.
The war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo was about to begin, but the caravan of Li Jingye's family was still smuggling ironware, private salt, tea, silk and other items with Tubo.
Baiqisi has found some evidence of these things, but even they did not expect that Li Jingye's trade route had been used by the King of East China Sea.
Among them, I don’t know how much information was sent to the Tubo people.
Although he was used by others, there were many crimes involved. If he didn't want Tubo to discover the secret too early, Li Jingye would have been jailed and convicted long ago.
Li Jingye's case was exposed, and the plot of King Donghai was also completely exposed.
If it weren't for the imminent war and the British government's huge influence in the military, Li Jingye would have been dealt with long ago.
The King of East China Sea is trying to win over Li Jingye. If he fails to win over, destroying him will also be of great benefit to the subsequent war between Tubo and Datang.
The emperor could see clearly, so he temporarily abated the thunder's wrath.
Li Xuan didn't want to talk about Li Jingye. Li Jingye's matter had come to an end for the time being. Dealing with him later would be after the war.
"Today, he will definitely come, it's just a matter of sooner or later." Li Xuan looked at the door and said softly: "Maybe in the next moment, maybe after everything is over, if he misses today, he will never be there again." Any chance."
Ming Chongyan followed Li Xuan's gaze in surprise, and suddenly saw a white-haired old man in scarlet clothes walking in, supported by a middle-aged man in his thirties dressed in green, all dressed in white linen. , staggering steps and sad eyes.
…
"Why is he here? Didn't it mean that he had a bad relationship with the Lord of Leling County, which led to the early death of the Lord of Leling County?" Li Xuan turned sideways and looked at Ming Chongyan.
After the Xuanwumen Incident, Prince Yin Li Jiancheng and Princess Yin Zheng Guanyin only had five daughters alive. Among them, only the second daughter Wenxi County Princess, the third daughter Leling County Princess and the fifth daughter Guide County Princess were named.
Among these three, County Lord Wenxi's marriage was relatively harmonious. Although Liu Yingdao was unable to move forward due to the incident involving County Lord Wenxi, County Lord Wenxi finally gave birth to several sons for him, and the couple was considered loving.
The head of Leling County married Yu Shanxun, the son of Yu Qianchang, a doctor from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the founding father of Ping'en County. Yu Shanxun eventually became a Chaosan doctor and the magistrate of Wen County in Luozhou.
The relationship between the couple was quite bad, and there were even rumors that the head of Leling County was beaten by Yu Shanxun many times, and eventually died of illness after more than thirty years of marriage.
Standing next to Yu Shanxun was Yu Siwen, the son of Yu Shanxun and the lord of Leling County, the magistrate of Jincheng County in Shangzhu Kingdom and Zezhou.
The two of them were never in Chang'an. Yu Shanxun returned to his hometown of Mengjin after taking office, while Yu Siwen took office in Zezhou.
Now it looks like it has just come from a dusty place.
The leader of Guide County, who stood up to greet Yu Shanxun, was the most comfortable among the many sisters. Her husband was the son of Sun Fuga, the first number one scholar in the Tang Dynasty.
But unfortunately, that one fell into the water and died ten years after marrying the Lord of Guide County.
I don’t know if there is any secret in this, but the Lord of Guide County and his husband had no heirs and lived their lives alone.
After Yu Shanxun and Liu Yingdao saw the ceremony, they took their son and knelt down in front of the mourning hall, sobbing silently.
At this moment, there was movement outside the door again.
A burst of rapid horse hooves stopped outside the door of the mansion, and a faint quarrel sounded. It seemed that many guards were left outside the door.
Immediately afterwards, a man in his fifties with a full beard carefully supported a petite woman in her fifties and walked in from outside.
Both of them were dressed in black, with a white ribbon wrapped around their black left arms.
Ming Chongyan looked at the visitor with a surprised expression and asked in a low voice: "Why is the Governor of Anle Prefecture here?"
Murong Nuohebo, the governor of Anle Prefecture, the Prince Consort, General Zuo Xiaowei, the governor of Anle Prefecture, the King of Qinghai, and the son of the former King Tuyuhun.
Li Xuan said calmly: "That one is Princess Honghua, the adopted daughter of Emperor Taizong and the daughter of the clan."
"Daughter of the clan?" Ming Chongyan suddenly looked at Li Xuan with a surprised look on his face.
Li Xuan nodded and said: "Yes, the daughter of the clan, the daughter of the guilty minister, was adopted as a righteous daughter by the emperor. The genealogy records that Princess Honghua is the granddaughter of Emperor Gaozu, but that's all. Today, she traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an , it’s clear whose daughter it is.”
Behind Princess Honghua and Governor Murong Nuohebo of Anle Prefecture, there was also a middle-aged man in black with the same left arm tied.
The general of the town army, General Murong Zhong of Youbao Taowei.
The group of people once again knelt down and worshiped under the mourning hall of Princess Yin Zheng Guanyin like the three previous families.
…
Ming Chongyan looked at this scene and sighed softly: "I originally thought that there were not many descendants of Prince Yin left, but I didn't expect that except for the eldest daughter, who is missing, all the others actually have descendants alive."
The Lord of Wenxi County, Princess Honghua, the Lord of Leling County, and the Lord of Guide County are all here now.
"The late emperor was merciful." Li Xuan sighed, and then said: "If what happened back then had a different ending, I'm afraid it would be different."
"Oh, why does it sound like the prince doesn't like Prince Yin very much?" Ming Chongyan looked at Li Xuan with an inquiring gaze.
Li Xuan nodded directly without any hesitation, and then said: "It is indeed true. I am not secretive. I don't like Prince Yin. Even back then, I hoped that the late emperor could win."
"Why?"
"Prince Qi." Li Xuan said with a sneer at the corner of her mouth: "At that time, the most disliked person around Prince Yin was Prince Qi. The so-called prince of Qi is far from a villain, but Prince Qi is a veritable tyrannical villain. , Uncle Xi is close to him, and you can tell at a glance what kind of person he is."
King Li Yuanji of Qi pushed countless people from Li Jiancheng to Li Shimin.
Except for Li Jiancheng, this is indeed the case.
These words are not unreasonable.
Ming Chongyan didn't know what to say for a moment. At this moment, a sound sounded outside the door again.
Li Xuan looked at the door and said softly: "Today is the last day of the funeral. Everyone who should come and everyone who shouldn't come will come."
Ming Chongyan nodded slightly. At this moment, a familiar figure walked in from the door and was admonishing doctor Xue Yuanchao.
The son-in-law of King Li Yuanji of Qi, who was admonishing the official Xue Yuanchao, came to offer incense and worship on behalf of King Li Yuanji of Qi.
Although the husband-in-law of Hejing County Lord who was "not allowed to marry a girl with the fifth surname" was full of complaints, he still had three sons with Hejing County Lord.
For many things, you can't just look at what they said, but what they did is the most important.
Li Xuan and Ming Chongyan were still standing under the east courtyard, watching Xue Yuanchao walk towards the memorial shed with calm eyes.
After the calmness of the past few days, everything finally exploded today.
Soon, someone came to the door again. This time, Li Xuan's expression finally changed slightly: "Why is he here?"
A solemn middle-aged man wearing a scarlet robe walked steadily into the courtyard and then headed towards the mourning hall.
"Zheng Guogong, Wei Shuyu, the governor of Shaanxi Province, should have come in place of Prime Minister Wei. Prime Minister Wei was very affectionate. The emperor had praised him before. Although Prime Minister Wei has passed away for a long time, Wei Shuyu sent Concubine Zheng on her last journey on behalf of his father. No one should be able to Criticism?" Although Ming Chongyan's tone was relaxed, his face was very serious.
Wei Shuyu. The son of Wei Zheng, he is here now. If he is allowed to meet the King of East China Sea, the consequences will be...
(End of chapter)
