It's already mid-July, but there is still no clue to the case. The entire Criminal Department has successively called in people known as "detectives" from all over the place to try, but there has been no progress at all.
Xue Gui's hair was almost turning gray, but nothing could be added to the file.
The people in Prince Lu's Mansion have already used torture to screen out those who can be tortured. All the confessions and found items have been sorted out repeatedly, but it still has no effect on the investigation of the case.
How did King Lu get killed, and who killed him?
I thought that this time I could find some clear clues like the last time I did the Wang case, and then the case would be thrown out, and the Criminal Department and the Major Case Department could take the opportunity to temporarily withdraw. It's nothing more than being used as a knife. What's the difference between doing it once and doing it twice?
But the problem is that there are no clues at all now!
It wasn't that Xue Gui didn't go to Xuan Qingwei for help because of his dignity, but that he went and Xuan Qingwei ignored him. The Ministry of Justice investigates the cases of the Ministry of Justice on its own, and Xuanqingwei will not help anyone without the emperor's order.
Even if Ma Xuanlin went to the command yamen to find Pang Ban in the end, the result would be the same. Xuanqingwei's attitude was very clear and he would not interfere.
If there is no direction in the investigation, there is no way to push the case forward. In the end, it looks like the Ministry of Justice is deliberately stalling for time.
This time, the emperor was not as angry and anxious as he had been with the Qian Wang case before. Instead, he said "investigate" lightly and did not seem to care as much as before, nor did he set any time limit for solving the case. In this way, the pressure on the Punishment Department has been relieved to a certain extent. I thought about going through it all over again, but I still don't believe that I can't find any breakthrough.
But if the emperor is not in a hurry, there will always be others who are. Not even one or two. Just yesterday, rumors began to spread in the imperial city. Most of them were in the streets and alleys, where some vendors and servants were whispering to each other. To this day, relevant words are spread on a small scale in the upper circles of the Imperial City.
Pass what? Of course, it is the recent case of King Lu being murdered.
Most of the yamen servants of the Ministry of Punishment live in the imperial city. They are ordinary people after they go on business. Their homes are not high-end and red-walled, and the neighbors around them also have things to ask them. When I first heard about it, I didn't think there was anything wrong. It wasn't until later that it seemed to mean something else, which aroused the vigilance of many government officials.
They say that King Qian is in front, King Lu is behind, and two princes have died. Is it time for another major change in the royal family? Many older people still remember that every time there was a major change in the royal family, many princes died.
Then he said, luckily it didn't affect us common people, otherwise any monk would kill us like a chicken.
Finally, I don’t know who did it. Forget it, this kind of thing has nothing to do with us ordinary people. But as the old saying goes, whoever takes action will take advantage. You can always see it clearly when you walk around.
These words in the market may seem ordinary, but they have a tendency to start a prairie fire, and finally spread quickly to the so-called upper circles in the imperial city.
Compared with ordinary people at the bottom, people in the upper class are much better informed and have more ideas. It is easy to draw new conclusions based on some of the opinions in the market and the news they hear.
"Whoever takes action will take advantage." This is a common saying in the imperial city of Jingjiu Dynasty. There are many explanations. But it is very interesting to use it in the upper class circle to use the murder cases of King Qian and King Lu.
The common people didn't know that King Lu had recently been ordered by the emperor to shut himself up and reflect on his mistakes, but who in the upper class didn't know? The reason is that the previous clues of King Qian's case were traced to King Lu, and the key criminal "Snake" has been missing, so King Lu can't argue. Even most people don't think King Lu is innocent. After all, the "big test" is nothing new. Killing people is nothing new.
But now King Lu, who is considered to be the mastermind behind the death of King Qian, is also dead, and there is news that King Lu's death was exactly the same as when King Qian died. Does this mean that King Lu was not actually the mastermind behind the murder of King Qian, but was just the unlucky guy who was framed as the blame?
Now that the unlucky guy is dead, doesn't it just mean that the murderer is still at large?
In the end, we have to go back to the old saying: Whoever takes action will take advantage.
Murder must have a purpose. Unless it is a madman or a murderous maniac, even an evil monk must have a reason for killing. For example, interests.
The old saying means the same thing in these two cases: look at who has benefited the most now, then who may be the murderer of King Qian and King Lu! And it is very likely that he will continue to kill with the same tricks!
As for who this "he" is? Except for one of these princes participating in the "big test", no one else can be thought of.
So who gained the greatest benefit from the death of the two princes?
If you count carefully, there seem to be only two people. One is the eldest prince, King Jing Yang Baicheng, who has captured most of the power behind the two deceased princes. The other is the seventh prince, Ling Wang Shu, who relied on his strong financial resources to win over the staff and military force left behind by the two princes after their deaths.
One is the eldest and the other is the youngest.
One belongs to the one who has always been the strongest among the princes; the other belongs to the biggest dark horse in this "big test".
Everyone is suspected, so what should we do? Naturally, I followed suit.
Who looks more pleasing to the eye, the eldest prince or the seventh prince? This question depends on who you ask. If you ask the merchants, the seventh prince will definitely be more pleasing to the eye; if you ask the so-called "upper class" in the imperial city or the aristocratic families, then the eldest prince will definitely be more pleasing to the eye. This is where the butt determines the head.
This is not a question of who sides with which prince, but a question of old and new forces.
Even if a wealthy family has princes from different sides, no matter who ascends the throne in the end, they will give face to the wealthy family and will not kill them all, because they are all in the same circle of influence and there is no need for them.
But the Seventh Prince was different. From the beginning, he took a different path from ordinary people. It is an absolutely new force, and it is getting stronger and stronger now. It is not just a few princes who are worried about it, but all the major aristocratic families are also worried about it. Because no one knows whether the new force represented by the Seventh Prince will carry out a big purge once it comes to power. After all, the powerful family has nothing to do with the Seventh Prince and has even been causing trouble.
Therefore, the result was concluded from here. The so-called high-ranking people in the imperial city quickly formed a unified voice, and intentionally or unintentionally led the "mastermind" to the seventh prince.
Don't think that this kind of "gossip" has no real meaning. It is a wind that is steadily blowing from the dark to the open. It also means that all forces are gradually forming a consensus.
The consensus is: Soul King Shu is a threat to everyone.
