The night was dark.
The cool moonlight shines on everyone's face.
At this time, it was past midnight, but most of the people present were not sleepy at all, except for the half-grown child who fell asleep in the servant's arms.
The two assassins were tied to a bench by the prince's order, with their faces upwards.
The prince rolled up his sleeves and took out a piece of paper as thin as cicada's wings from a basin on the ground. The soaked paper was dripping with water. He placed it directly on the face of one of the assassins.
The surrounding ministers and ladies still didn’t understand what this was about.
But King Gongxi had already understood, frowned, and said in disapproval: "Brother Crown Prince, this dynasty is governed by benevolence, so I'm afraid it's inappropriate..."
"This is an assassin who wants to kill my father. There is no need to talk about kindness when dealing with such a vicious person." The prince said, "Second brother, you come with me."
King Gongxi had no choice but to step forward and, together with the prince, put wet paper on the faces of the two assassins.
The two assassins didn't know what they were doing at first. They even felt that the water was cold and comfortable on their faces, but soon they began to feel uncomfortable.
My nose seemed to be blocked, and I tried my best to breathe just to get a tiny bit of air in, but it was completely unable to relieve the feeling of suffocation.
"I promise to both of you that whoever attacks you first will be treated well." The prince said slowly, "The one with the tougher tongue will enjoy this torture."
Only then did the people around understand what was going on.
It turns out that paper and water are used to slowly kill people. This process takes at least half an hour, and it is simply impossible to survive or die.
Many people were talking quietly.
"The prince's clever move will surely make the assassin use it."
"The prince has always been kind-hearted, how could he know how to interrogate assassins?"
"Although this move is bloodless, it is actually extremely cruel..."
Standing in the crowd, Yunchu thought about the fact that in his previous life, the prince often got into trouble. It seemed that it was because the prince's daily behavior did not match the image everyone knew.
The benevolence of the prince is the perfect image carefully created by the queen, but the prince himself is actually just an ordinary person. He will make mistakes, do some deviant things, and will slowly deviate from the prosperous road paved for him by the queen...
Even if she died early, she could guess that the prince must have been defeated.
Therefore, she never thought about letting the Yun family establish a prince...
"I'll move, I'll move!"
During the mild torture, one of the assassins finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted in a muffled voice.
A smile appeared on the prince's face, and he personally took off the paper from the assassin's face.
"That token was given to me by General Mingwei. Let's use the token as a secret code to connect and find the right opportunity to take action!"
The prince frowned. There were many generals in the court, but he only knew the names of the first and second rank generals. This was the first time he heard of General Mingwei.
But he didn't need to speak. The guards outside suddenly became restless, and then, a man about forty years old was escorted forward.
"Are you General Mingwei?" The prince smiled, "Do you want to be like them and have a taste of this?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man prostrated on the ground and cried bitterly: "Your Majesty... Wei Chen was coerced. There are old men and young men. King Anjing captured Wei Chen's mother and children. Wei Chen I have no choice but to do something for King Anjing, otherwise my family will be ruined..."
"You are talking nonsense!" Before he could finish speaking, Concubine De kicked him over, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the Fourth Brother will never instruct someone to do such a treasonous thing. He is He's a bit of a bastard, but he can't do something like patricide even if you give him ten guts. Your Majesty, please be aware of everything and clear the fourth child's name!"
The prince also knelt down: "Father, last time my son was seriously ill, the clues pointed directly to the fourth brother. This time the assassination, the evidence also points to the fourth brother..."
"The emperor has found out what happened last time. Someone deliberately framed the fourth child!" Concubine De hurriedly explained, "This time, it must be General Mingwei who colluded with the people behind the scenes to frame my son. He must have lied. Please interrogate him carefully. He will definitely be able to find out the truth!"
King Gongxi raised his eyes and looked at General Mingwei who was kneeling on the ground.
General Mingwei slowly raised his head and met King Gongxi's eyes, his throat couldn't help but tremble.
He suddenly stood up and said frantically: "Yes, it was me who framed Prince Anjing. This matter has nothing to do with Prince Anjing, and it has nothing to do with my family. It was me who conspired to rebel and assassinate alone. I am guilty and I deserve to die!" Your Majesty, I am willing to die to apologize!"
Before anyone could react, he pulled out the sword from the guard's waist and stabbed his own throat. Blood spurted out and he fell to the ground dead.
Concubine De was so frightened that her face turned pale, and then she screamed: "Come here, doctor, please save him quickly, he can't die!"
If he dies, the fourth child will be convicted.
The queen said coldly: "Concubine De, the truth of the matter will be known when we find the fourth child."
Concubine De's heart clenched, and an ominous premonition spread.
After a while, Chu Yi came galloping over on horseback: "Back to my father, I led people to search Yanshan, but could not find the whereabouts of the fourth brother. I sent people down the mountain to find out that a villager saw a young man. Surrounded by dozens of people, he fled from the west, and when he showed the portrait of his fourth brother, the villagers at the foot of the mountain confirmed that he was the fourth brother."
"No, it's impossible!" Concubine De knelt and crawled to the emperor's feet, "Your Majesty, the fourth child is innocent. It is impossible for him to do such a thing..."
The emperor, who had been silent all this time, suddenly stood up and kicked Concubine De aside.
Xie Ping next to her was so frightened that she froze.
In her mind, Concubine De was already a supreme being. She was so noble and arrogant in front of her, but now she was lying on the ground, humbler than dust.
She thought with some malice, who made Concubine De so domineering, now the retribution has come.
But she also knew that if Prince Anjing was convicted of the assassination, her fate would be no better than Concubine De.
"Go back to the palace!" The emperor suppressed his anger, raised his sleeves, paused and said, "Lao San, you continue to stay in Yanshan, and you have to dig three feet into the ground to find this person!"
Chu Yi accepted the order: "Yes, father!"
"Second brother, take people to Prince Anjing's Mansion and conduct a thorough search." The emperor said solemnly, "If this traitor has long been determined to kill his father, we will definitely be able to find evidence!"
King Gongxi lowered his head to cover the calculation in his eyes: "Yes, father!"
The autumn hunting trip ended at the beginning of Yinshi on September 22nd.
The emperor drove back to the palace, and the ministers, ladies and ladies followed the palace procession. They did not return to the capital until almost dawn.
Yunchu and Xie Shian returned to Xie's house together.
As soon as he entered the door, Xie Jingyu greeted him: "I heard that there was an assassination attempt in Yanshan. What happened?"
"All the evidence points to King Anjing." Xie Shi'an looked gloomy. "It would have been better for him to have done it earlier, but he arranged for someone to assassinate the emperor a month after the eldest sister got married... If the charges are proven, the eldest sister is afraid... we The Xie family will also be affected.”
