"Damn it, Qin Hui had to do something unwarranted to kill Yue Fei, but Wu Zetian didn't even need to do something unwarranted to kill me!" Wang Wenzuo cursed secretly in his heart, but his mind was spinning fast. He knew that what the Queen said just now was indeed the truth. . If she really doubted herself, she could have thrown herself into jail first and then tried her with cruel officials. By then she would definitely not be able to endure it. But it would only be worse if he revealed the truth. Not to mention that he secretly colluded with Yang Sijian to fabricate lies, and also suggested that Yang Sijian killed Wu Minzhi himself and pinned the charge of raping the princess on the deceased (although it should be true that the two parties had an affair) . Just fabricating lies to deceive the prince and the queen is enough to get yourself thrown into the eighteenth level of hell and never be able to recover. So no matter what, I must grit my teeth and not let go.
"What I said is indeed true! If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can send a trustworthy person to investigate!"
"Of course I will send people to investigate! But after the investigation, Wang Wenzuo, you can't get away easily here!" Empress Wu sneered. After she suspected that Wang Wenzuo was related to the death of her nephew, her original resentment and disgust towards Wu Minzhi had disappeared and replaced her. What’s more is sympathy and pity, which further stimulates the hatred towards Wang Wenzuo: “Do you think that because of your superior achievements, others can’t deal with you? No matter how much merit you have, Wang Wenzuo, can’t surpass Han Xin? You should know what happened to Han Xin in the end, right? Come on, right? People, capture Wang Wenzuo, escort him to Yeting for custody, and set a day for interrogation!"
"Yeting? If I am not a concubine and not a palace maid, how can I be sent to that hellish place!" Wang Wenzuo was shocked. His only hope now is the prince. If he is imprisoned in a place like Dali Temple, he will definitely not be able to hide it from the prince. , will definitely find a way to save him, but it’s hard to say for Ye Ting. When sisters Li Xiayu and Li Suwen were imprisoned in that hellish place for several years, Prince Li Hong had no idea about it. If he were imprisoned there, it wouldn't be surprising if he couldn't find the prince for ten and a half months. By then, he would be a cripple even if he was rescued.
Wang Wenzuo was thinking about whether to give it a try. Even if he was hacked to death with random knives, it would be better than being tortured piecemeal to death in Yeting. However, he heard a burst of voices coming from outside. He turned around and saw that it was Prince Li. Hong came in and saw him holding a sword and a murderous look on his face. He walked straight to Wang Wenzuo and bowed to the queen.
"Hong'er, what are you doing?" Empress Wu looked at her son dumbfounded, as if she was meeting him for the first time.
"The child just remembered that there is an important matter that needs to be discussed with Saburo back to the East Palace. If the mother has finished asking, she plans to take him back. I am sorry for the rudeness!"
The queen seemed to understand her son's meaning at this moment, and her face suddenly turned red. She had a very strong temper. After becoming the queen, even her husband rarely disobeyed him, but she did not expect that she would always disobey him. The docile, benevolent and filial eldest son openly resisted his own life for a minister. She felt as if someone was hammering hard on her temples, and her blood vessels were beating so hard that they seemed about to burst in the next second.
"If mother doesn't speak, she must have finished asking her questions!" Li Hong kicked Wang Wenzuo: "It's already late at night. Now that we've finished talking, how can we continue to disturb His Majesty's rest?"
"Yes, yes!" Wang Wenzuo understood immediately, and he hurriedly kowtowed to Empress Wu: "I delay Your Majesty's rest, and interfere with the Holy Eucharist. It is a capital crime!" After saying this, he hurriedly walked backwards on his knees and walked out of the palace, and then struggled He stood up and followed Li Hong out of the hall.
"Sanlang, what did the mother in the palace say to you just now?" Li Hong asked in a low voice in the corridor.
"Her Majesty the Queen was deeply saddened by the death of Duke Zhou. She said that I was involved in the death of Duke Zhou and forced me to confess. If Your Highness hadn't just come in, I would have been escorted to Yeting!" Wang Wenzuo said with a bitter smile: "This time, His Highness the Crown Prince really It is to save the minister from water and fire!"
"Hey!" Li Hong sighed, his face full of sadness: "My mother is like this, she is very protective of her mother's family, but her two uncles were not born from the same mother as her, and the relationship has always been bad, so she treats her mother's family All my feelings were placed on Wu Minzhi, my sister’s son, and she even asked him to change his surname to Wu and inherit his grandfather’s title. But I didn’t expect that everything would come to nothing overnight. No wonder your mother would turn her anger on you. , luckily I caught up, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous!"
Wang Wenzuo opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment. In the end, he only managed to say: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Well, Sanlang, there is no need to be so polite between you and me!" The prince stopped, with a gentle smile on his face: "Besides, it was because of me that you were implicated. Otherwise, you would not have been involved tonight at all. Got involved!"
Looking into the clear eyes of Prince Li Hong, Wang Wenzuo suddenly had an impulse deep in his heart to tell the other party the whole story and then let the other party decide. But in the end, reason prevailed over impulse, and he lowered his head: "His Royal Highness is so kind to me, I really don't know how to repay you!"
"Sanlang, didn't I just say that? There is no need to be so polite between you and me!" The prince smiled, and then his smile faded: "But tonight, don't tell anyone about mother's affairs. Also, you’d better live in the East Palace in the near future, it will be safer!”
"I understand. Thank you, Your Majesty the Crown Prince!" Wang Wenzuo did not refuse. Wu Zetian's only bottom line in doing things is that there is no bottom line. This is not a video game. You can save and start over. If you die, you will have no chance.
"I want to send my wife back to my hometown tomorrow! Is that okay?" Wang Wenzuo asked.
"Well, that's a good idea!" Li Hong said with a smile: "Sanlang, you still have to think carefully. Only when you understand the whole story can you be truly safe!"
"I'm afraid there is no such thing as safety in Chang'an City!" Wang Wenzuo cursed, but he felt that he was exhausted and didn't want to say anything more. "
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Daming Palace, Hanliang Hall.
"The saint wakes up, the saint wakes up!"
Low cheers were passed among the maids and eunuchs surrounding the palace. The emperor had been resting here for a long time. Although all the doctors we could find were consulted, no one dared to promise a radical cure. The common diagnosis made by several of the most capable doctors is that the emperor's disease cannot be cured, and the symptoms can only be gradually alleviated by taking medicine, guidance, and rest. The prerequisite for rest is to get rid of the tedious government affairs and allow the body and mind to fully recover. Calmness of orientation.
In order to comply with the doctor's orders, Li Zhi had to let his son take on the task of supervising the country in advance. Different from the "Prince Supervising the Country" in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the "Prince Supervising the Country" during the Gaozong period was not just the prince's supervision of the country. Instead of presiding over government affairs during travel or recuperation, the East Palace staff, with the prince as the core, directly participated in government affairs. As mentioned in the previous article, the Eastern Palace official system in the early Tang Dynasty was a miniature imperial court, which in itself was used to reserve talents for future heirs to the empire. It is not difficult to imagine that after Li Hong was appointed as the supervisor of the country, the depth and breadth of his control of the imperial power far exceeded that of the subsequent princes. Moreover, this kind of supervising the country is irreversible in a sense, because the prince of the supervising country can hand over power, but after the Eastern Palace bureaucracy group behind the supervising prince gets a taste of power, it is not so easy to give up the power. .
"Her Majesty the Queen has arrived!"
Following the sound of communication, Queen Wu came in from the outside. Her residence was only separated from her husband's resting place by a corridor. So when she learned that her husband was awake, she rushed over immediately. Li Zhi, who had just woken up, saw his wife's figure and smiled: "Awu, you are here, what time is it now?"
"It's just past the second watch!" The queen sat down next to her husband and asked with concern: "Pheasant slave, do you feel better?"
"Much better!" Li Zhi said with a smile: "I'm just a little dizzy. After four or five days of rest, I should be almost recovered!"
"Hmph!" The Queen snorted coldly: "You might as well wake up, just in time to teach the prince a few words, otherwise no one will be able to cure him!"
"Hong'er?" Li Zhi laughed: "What's wrong? What else did he do to make you angry? Is it for state affairs?"
"It's just for the sake of state affairs! I'm not ignorant!" The Queen complained: "Isn't it because of that Wang Wenzuo? He is so devoted to protecting me that in his eyes he is dearer than me, the mother who gave birth to him and raised him!"
"Oh? What's going on?" Li Zhi frowned. Just as he was about to ask, he suddenly felt a stinging pain on the back of his head and couldn't help but let out an ouch. The Queen was startled when she heard this, and quickly helped her husband lie down again: "Are you okay?"
"It's no big deal!" Li Zhi lay there for a while and said with a wry smile: "Tell me! Tell me the whole story clearly. I know your temper. If you don't understand this matter, I'm afraid you will be so angry that you can't even eat. of!"
Hearing her husband's teasing, the queen laughed, and then became serious again. She told Li Hong that night that Wang Wenzuo had been brought to the palace to report: Wu Minzhi raped the future princess, the princess was humiliated but could not commit suicide, and Yang Sixian tried to kill Wu Min. The story was told once. As the story progressed, Li Zhi's expression became serious. Finally, he said solemnly: "Given the crime of your nephew, being able to hang him would be an extrajudicial mercy. There is nothing wrong with Yang Gong killing him. As for Wang Wenzuo , He seems to have done nothing wrong, right? Why do you want to punish him? "
"Your Majesty, please think about it. All of this is just the words of Wang Wenzuo and Yang Sijian. Wu Minzhi and Yueniang are both dead. The truth of the matter is not just based on the two words of Wang Wenzuo and Yang Sijian. ?”
"Awu, are you saying that Wang Wenzuo and Yang Sijian colluded to frame your nephew?" Li Zhi frowned: "This is unlikely, right? Wang Wenzuo and Yang Sijian have no friendship to begin with, and if nothing happens, Yang Sijian is Hong'er's father-in-law has gained a lot; what kind of bargaining chip can Wang Wenzuo offer to bribe Yang Sijian to leave the emperor's relatives alone and lose his own child's life just to frame Minzhi? Do you think this is possible? "
Facing Li Zhi's questioning, the queen suddenly became speechless. Her suspicion of Wang Wenzuo was more based on intuition rather than a solid logical chain. As Li Zhi said, how high could Wang Wenzuo offer to make Yang Sijian risk his daughter's life instead of the family's wealth? Betting to harm Wu Minzhi sounds too ridiculous.
"If there is no other evidence, then forget about Wang Wenzuo's matter! Talents are rare!" Li Zhi said with a smile.
"But not long before this, Wang Wenzuo came to my concubine to report Min Zhi. Doesn't it sound suspicious to think of it?" the queen argued forcefully.
"Then what Wang Wenzuo reported is true?"
"It's true!" The queen nodded with difficulty. She knew that she had lost tonight, but he was still a little unwilling: "But he did not finish the matter at once, but only half of it, and the rest was I found out on my own!"
"Oh? What's the matter?" Li Zhi asked.
The queen hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "My mother passed away a few days ago, so I took some money and asked Wu Minzhi to go to Da Ci'en Temple to build a villa to support my mother's deceased soul. And that guy actually put He put the money and silk into his own pocket, and then borrowed some manpower from the Six Leaders of the East Palace to build a separate courtyard at Da Ci'en Temple!"
"Is there such a thing?" Li Zhi's eyes widened, and then he sighed: "Awu, it's also because you were too doting on Minzhi in the past. This is your family's private matter. How dare Wang Wenzuo say it all? "
"Okay, even if I don't blame him that time, don't you think it's strange? These things are all related to Wang Wenzuo, and then Minzhi died so mysteriously, doesn't it have anything to do with it?"
"You want to deal with Wang Wenzuo just because of this?" Li Zhi sighed: "No wonder Hong'er wants to stop you, so be it! You can send a capable official to find out this matter. If it is really related to Wang Wenzuo, then deal with it." It won’t be too late for him to commit his crime. Otherwise, Hong’er might not agree if it’s just based on this little thing!”
"Since Your Majesty said so, that's all that can be done!" Seeing that her husband said the same thing, the queen could only nod her head. She keenly felt that after her husband became ill, her stance changed subtly, from unconditionally supporting her to siding more with Prince Li Hong. Obviously Li Zhi has completely recovered and does not have much hope in returning to power. Therefore, his role as the "temporary successor" has gradually passed away, and he has been replaced by Li Hong, the "successor". And people like Wang Wenzuo, who were regarded as weak ministers by Li Hong, could not be left to his own devices as they had been in the past.
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The palace.
Bang bang bang!
The sound of the door knocker hitting the copper beast's mouth was particularly harsh in the night sky, and soon heavy footsteps and complaints could be heard from inside the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Lang Jun who's back!" Li Bo said loudly.
"Ah?" There was a sudden chaos inside the door. After a while, the side door was opened, and a servant carrying a lantern walked out, bowed to Wang Wenzuo and said: "I was late just now, sir, please forgive me!" (End of this chapter) )
