Nightwatcher

At the beginning of Chen Shi, the side door of the Meridian Gate opened slowly, and the old eunuch walked to the door and said loudly: "Go to court!"

The noise stopped immediately, and all civil and military officials entered the side door in an orderly manner, the civil officials were on the left, and the military officials were on the right, clearly distinguishing each other.

After entering the Meridian Gate, those above the fourth rank enter the hall, those below the fourth rank are at the gate of the hall, and those below the sixth rank are on the square.

The officials entered the hall and waited for a quarter of an hour, but Emperor Yuan Jing arrived late.

Clusters of eyes fell on the king of a country, trying to get a clue from his eyes and expressions.

None of them failed. Emperor Yuan Jing reigned for thirty-seven years, with deep scheming and rich experience, very few people in the temple could wrestle with him.

That is Wei Yuan and Wang Shoufu.

This court meeting is no different from the previous ones, and the monarchs and ministers played right as usual.

"Your Majesty, tens of thousands of people in Chuzhou froze to death in the middle of winter. The chief envoy has already asked for money and food to relieve the victims. I implore your majesty to draw up an order and allocate funds to the Ministry of Households."

"The national treasury is empty. For disaster relief, you can raise donations from the local gentry," Yuan Jingdi replied.

"Your Majesty, the northern barbarians have repeatedly violated the border. After the beginning of spring, border conflicts have become more intense. We have to guard against it."

"Your Majesty, King Zhenbei ignored the barbarians' plundering of the border and defended the border town without sending a single soldier. As a result, the people on the border were displaced and suffered heavy casualties. Your Majesty, please punish him."

Hearing this, Emperor Yuan Jing looked at Wei Yuan, without a happy or angry voice: "Wei Aiqing, what's the situation with the northern barbarians."

Wei Yuan frowned, and said, "At the end of last year, it snowed heavily in the north for several months, and countless animals froze to death. At that time, I expected that the barbarians would go south to plunder."

Emperor Yuan Jing suddenly remembered that this happened, and frowned, "What about the follow-up? The barbarians went south to invade the border. Why didn't the watchmen receive the news in advance?"

"The minister was negligent." Wei Yuan said.

In fact, he took back Anzi from the north and transferred him to the northeast.

Emperor Yuan Jing said indifferently: "The barbarians from the north went south to invade, and Wei Yuan was negligent, so he was dismissed from the position of censor of Zuodu. He was fined for one year."

The hall was quiet for a while, and dense question marks floated in the minds of the officials.

Although the watchmen have the duty to spy on intelligence, but that is incidental business. Furthermore, when the northern barbarians invaded southward, the king of Zhenbei could not defend himself and did not fight. Even if he knew in advance that the barbarians were going to invade the border, what was the point?

Why can't this pot be dumped on Wei Yuan's head?

However, it was rare for Emperor Yuan Jing to turn his gunfire on Wei Yuan. Although he was confused, the civil officials immediately seized the opportunity to attack Wei Yuan and shouted for the wise.

A censor came out and emphasized: "Your Majesty, the king of Zhenbei sits and watches the people suffer from the disaster of the war and remains indifferent. Please forgive me."

Emperor Yuan Jing's response was only four words: "I know."

The censor returned unwillingly.

The court meeting gradually came to an end. After dealing with the backlog of government affairs during this period of time and the officials stopped playing, Emperor Yuan Jing raised his index finger and tapped lightly on the table.

The old eunuch in python robe came out and looked around at the officials.

The hearts of the princes in the hall moved when they came.

It was normal just now, although the removal of Wei Yuan from the position of Zuodu censor was surprising, but the sudden meeting of Emperor Yuan Jing was definitely not because of this "small matter".

The old eunuch unfolded the imperial edict in his hand, and said in a clear voice: "I have found out the whole story of Concubine Fu's case, the Empress Shangguan ordered the maid Huang Xiaorou to kill Concubine Fu and frame the crown prince.

"After being questioned by me in every possible way, the Shangguan family confessed to his crimes. The queen is out of order, her virtue is not worthy, and she cannot bear the destiny. She has a seal and ribbon, and she will retire to Changchun Palace."

Changchun Palace is the cold palace.

Inside and outside the hall, there was a dead silence.

From the first rank and the third prince, down to the officials outside the palace, everyone who heard the content of the edict was dumbfounded.

In the silence, a deep voice sounded:

"Your Majesty, this is impossible."

Emperor Yuan Jing squinted his eyes and looked at the Tsing Yi who came out of the queue expressionlessly.

Wei Yuan's temples were gray, and the vicissitudes washed by the years were precipitated in his eyes, and he looked directly at Emperor Yuan Jing.

I don't know how long it took, the Minister of the Criminal Ministry and the Minister of Dali Temple came out at the same time, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the case of Concubine Fu has not been tried by the third division, so it cannot be easily concluded."

Emperor Yuan Jing said word by word: "This is my family business."

The new minister of the Ministry of Rites rushed out, bowed, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the abolition of the empress is also a major national event, and it should not be hasty. Please also submit the case of Concubine Fu to the third division for review before making a decision."

Although the edict stated that the queen had pleaded guilty. But the matter of abolishing the empress is very important, and the princes will not agree to the abolition of the empress by Emperor Yuan Jing without knowing the situation.

"Can!"

In the early morning, after Xu Xinian finished washing, he went to the back hall to have breakfast. From a distance, he saw Xu Lingyin in a small skirt sitting on the steps outside the hall, puffing his cheeks angrily.

The little figure looked lonely and pitiful.

"Lingyin, why are you sitting here?" Xu Nian asked.

Xu Lingyin looked up and ignored her.

"Second brother asked you something." Xu Xinian frowned.

"Mother kicked me out and beat me." Xu Lingyin complained, "Can second brother scold mother for me?"

Xu New Year shook his head.

Xiao Douding had such an expression on his face, wrinkled his nose and said, "It would be great if the elder brother was at home. The elder brother likes to bully mother the most."

Xu Nian entered the living room, sat in a familiar seat, waited for Lu'e to serve him a bowl of porridge, and said while eating, "Mother, did the ring tone make you angry again?"

"No, it's your elder brother who made me angry." The aunt said coldly.

"Brother didn't come back"

The aunt sneered and said: "This is what your elder brother is capable of. He can still piss me off when he's not around."

Xu Nian glanced at his sister and father who were drinking porridge with their heads down, and asked, "What's going on."

Xu Lingyue whispered: "Lingyin ate steamed buns today, and spit out every mouthful, saying that in this way, she can keep eating for the rest of her life."

"Big brother taught it?" Xu Xinian's mouth twitched.

Xu Lingyue nodded.

Second Uncle Xu added: "After the ring tone was vomited, I felt it was a pity, and wanted to pick it up and eat it, but was beaten up by your mother."

Xu New Year:

He lowered his head to look under the table, only to realize that he had spit out a lot of chewed bun scum.

"Brother didn't come home again today." Xu Lingyue said depressedly.

Xu Erlang and Xu Pingzhi said tacitly: "It must be in Jiaofang Division."

Xu Qi'an woke up in the wing room in the backyard of the yamen, the huge courtyard was quiet, only an old official hunched over, sweeping the floor in the courtyard.

"This quilt has not been washed for a long time. It smells strange. The public dormitory is garbage."

He lifted the quilt in disgust, got out of bed with sloppy steps, and opened the window to let the sun shine in.

This is the public dormitory of the watchman's yamen, where the officials and watchmen on duty at night can rest. Except for the exclusive room of Jinluo, the rest of the rooms are shared.

The hygienic conditions are very bad, and it is unknown how many people's children and grandchildren are buried in the thick quilts.

Thanks to Si Tianjian's elixir and his strong physique, the penetrating wound on his left shoulder has scabbed over, and it will heal in two days.

On the contrary, the overdrawn energy of Tiandi's sword has not yet recovered, and he is as tired as a leaf with seven thorns, and his body has been hollowed out.

Xu Qi'an poured a cup of tea to rinse his mouth, went to the yard to fetch a bucket of cold and clear well water, washed his face, and went to the Spring Breeze Hall.

"Huh, comfortable"

After eating the big meal brought by the officials, Xu Qi'an felt his swollen belly, and sat contentedly lying on Li Yuchun's chair, with his feet resting on the desk.

At this time, he had time to think about the assassination incident last night.

"Usually I leave the palace on time at the first hour of Shenshi. Yesterday, because of checking the list of entering and leaving the imperial pharmacy, I didn't leave the palace until after Youshi.

"It's not surprising that the assassins who ambushed me knew the route I took home. I take that route every day, but how did they get the timing so accurate?

"The watchmen are always on the lookout on the roof, so it is impossible for the three assassins to lie on the roof and wait for me, otherwise they would have been discovered by the watchmen on night watch.

"Obviously, they knew when I left the palace. The person behind the scenes is most likely someone in the palace, otherwise it cannot be explained.

"Is it the queen? I just found out clues against her yesterday. She turned around and sent someone to assassinate me. Does that mean I don't want me to continue the investigation?

"If the queen really did it, then Huaiqing and I will have to divorce."

Xu Qi'an squeezed the space between her eyebrows.

At this time, a black-clothed official entered the Spring Breeze Hall, and when he saw Xu Qi'an in the hall, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Just now I went to the backyard to look for Mr. Xu, but I couldn't find anyone. The humble official thought you had left the yamen."

Xu Qi'an still put his legs on the table, half-closed his eyes, "I won't go to the palace to investigate the case today, we'll talk about it after the injury recovers."

The official nodded and said, "Duke Wei is looking for you, you should go to the Haoqi Building first."

Ha, it seems that Wei Yuan knew about yesterday's assassination, he must be dumbfounded by my record Xu Qi'an put his legs down and got up from the chair, "Lead the way."

As the officials came to the Haoqi Building, they went up to the seventh floor with ease, but they didn't expect that besides Wei Yuan, there were two unexpected guests in the tea room.

The eldest princess Huaiqing, who is as elegant and noble as a snow lotus; the handsome and restrained son of Emperor Yuan Jing, the fourth prince.

As Huaiqing's elder brother, the fourth prince's facial features are not similar to those of his younger sister, but somewhat similar to Yuan Jingdi.

Huaiqing is somewhat similar to the empress, but the temperament of the mother and daughter is too different, and even the slightest similarity can't be seen.

The faces of the three were extremely ugly, Wei Yuan held the teacup in his hand, bowed his head in silence, as if he didn't notice Xu Qi'an's arrival. The fourth prince nodded slightly at him when he heard the sound.

Huaiqing also didn't look at Xu Qi'an, frowned and pondered.

"Wei Gong." Xu Qi'an cupped his fists.

Only then did Wei Yuan raise his head, pointed to the seat next to Huaiqing, and said gently, "Sit down."

Xu Qian took his seat.

"Assassinated last night?" Wei Yuan pushed the teapot to Xu Qi'an, motioning him to pour the tea himself.

Just now, Xu Qi'an poured a cup of tea and said without drinking, "The mastermind behind the scenes is related to the case of Concubine Fu and is in the palace."

"You suspect it's the queen?"

Wei Yuan's words were too straightforward, Xu Qi'an didn't know how to answer for a while, so he glanced at Huai Qing cautiously.

Huaiqing still didn't look at him, looking preoccupied.

The current appearance of the eldest princess is really like Xu Qi'an, a woman who is facing a divorce agreement, muttering to herself.

"Your Majesty proposed to abolish the Empress at the court meeting today because the real culprit behind the Concubine Fu case is the Empress." Wei Yuan said.

"???"

Xu Qi'an stared at him blankly, the first thought came to his mind: How long have I been asleep?

Why did I wake up feeling a little different, as if I had slept for a century.

He personally investigated the case of Concubine Fu, every step and every clue was deliberated and explored by him. He is still not sure that the queen is the murderer, why should Emperor Yuan Jing?

Did he think he was Conan or Di Renjie?

But then, Princess Huaiqing's words made Xu Qi'an confused again.

"The queen mother admitted it."

what are you talking about?

Xu Qi'an waved his hand, "I'm sorry, I want to calm down a bit"

He thought for a long time, and tentatively said: "Your Majesty wants to abolish the empress because the real culprit behind the Concubine Fu case is the empress, and the empress really admitted it?"

The fourth prince nodded.

"Could it be forced?" Xu Qi'an guessed.

"No." Wei Yuan shook his head, looked at him with vicissitudes of life, and said in a deep voice:

"You investigated the Concubine Fu case yourself. No one knows any clues or details better than you. If you think about it carefully, is there anything suspicious or unreasonable in it? The two Highnesses came to the Yamen today. I am discussing the matter of abolishing the future, and I also intend to ask you for help.

"Your Majesty hasn't taken back your gold medal yet. You need time to confirm this matter. You still have time to investigate this case."

Huaiqing and the fourth prince looked at Xu Qi'an at the same time.

The fourth prince cupped his hands and bowed: "Please trouble Mr. Xu."

Xu Qi'an ignored him, and turned his gaze to Huaiqing.

Her Royal Highness, who is as elegant and pure as a lotus flower, scrutinized him carefully with eyes like autumn water, "How is the injury?"

She didn't have a proposal, but cared about Xu Qi'an's injury.

For the sake of your sincere confession, you won't get a divorce. Xu Qi'an said "hmm", "Thank you princess for your concern, it's okay to be humble."

After a pause, he continued: "In the case of Concubine Fu, the queen did have sufficient motives and reasons to frame the prince. And according to the clues I found yesterday, the real culprit behind the scenes is indeed pointing to the queen."

The fourth prince interrupted excitedly: "Impossible, the queen mother would not do such a thing."

"Your Highness, don't worry, I haven't finished yet." Xu Qi'an looked at Huai Qing and asked, "Does Your Majesty have any evidence?"

Huaiqing shook his head: "No, the queen mother admitted it herself."

Xu Qi'an frowned: "This is strange. If Your Majesty has no evidence, why would the Queen admit it? Since the Queen has admitted it, why would she send someone to assassinate me?"

Herein lies the paradox.

The fourth prince sighed and said, "It's because I don't know, that's why I came to you. Master Xu, you have repeatedly solved strange cases. If there is anyone in the capital who can find out the truth in a short time and return the mother's innocence, then this person is only you." gone."

Xu Qi'an drank the first sip of tea after taking his seat, and said slowly: "When I first took over the case, I felt that there were only two possibilities for the case of Concubine Fu: First, the prince did have sex after drinking and killed Concubine Fu.

"Second, someone framed the prince and tried to seize the position of the East Palace.

"After inspecting Concubine Fu's Palace of Qingfeng, I can conclude that the crown prince was indeed wronged. Then this case belongs to the second possibility, someone wants to frame the crown prince.

"Following this line of thought and looking back, all kinds of clues point to the empress. To be honest with the two highnesses, just now, I was also suspicious of the empress, and suspected that she sent an assassin to assassinate me.

"But when I learned that the queen admitted that she was the real murderer behind the scenes, I suddenly became suspicious of this case. Then the purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes is not as simple as framing the prince, but killing two birds with one stone.

"But I have a question. The empress lives in seclusion, and the fourth prince is not the prince. Why did the messenger behind the scenes point the finger at the empress? What is he trying to do? It can't be the position of the master of the harem."

With an emperor who has been abstinent for more than ten years, does the throne of the master of the harem make sense?

Wei Yuan put down his teacup and sighed: "First of all, whether the fourth prince is a prince or not, he is the eldest son of His Majesty. Secondly, the mastermind behind the scenes is here for me."

"???" Xu Qi'an looked at him blankly.

Wei Yuan was silent for a while, and explained: "The Wei family and Shangguan's family are family friends, and the queen's surname is Shangguan again."

So, that is to say, Wei Yuan and the queen are political allies, and belong to the queen's "relatives". No wonder Princess Huaiqing is Wei Yuan's half apprentice. So the case of Concubine Fu, on the surface, is to frame the prince, but it is actually against Wei Yuan ?

Wei Yuan undoubtedly belonged to the Four Princes' Party, and Xu Qi'an was secretly dumbfounded by the fact that the concubine Fu case was solved at the same time by both the Princelings and the Four Princes' Party.

"Father, at the court meeting today, dismissed Duke Wei from the position of Censor of Zuodu." Princess Huaiqing said.

Eh, that's unreasonable. Even if the mastermind behind the scenes wanted to weaken Wei Yuan by bringing down the queen, it would be to weaken Wei Yuan's "ally" and weaken his power in a disguised form.

Why did Emperor Yuan Jing dismiss Wei Yuan's important status as soon as something happened to the empress, as if Emperor Yuan Jing was behind the scenes? Wait a minute, assuming that the empress is behind the framing of the prince, with the intention of supporting the fourth prince to become the prince.

After Emperor Yuan Jing knew about this, he immediately weakened and beat Wei Yuan. What does this mean?

It shows that Emperor Yuan Jing was very afraid of Wei Yuan.

Xu Qi'an suddenly understood why Emperor Yuan Jing chose to make the prince from the concubine the crown prince instead of the fourth prince from the empress.

The empress and Wei Yuan are political alliances, if the fourth prince is made the crown prince, if it were me, I would have trouble sleeping and eating.

Withdrawing his scattered thoughts, Xu Qi'an put his mind on the case and reorganized the case of Concubine Fu in his heart.

As Xu Qi'an fell into thinking, the tea room fell silent, only the gentle breathing of the four people.

"The prince had a drink from Concubine Chen, on the way back he met Huang Xiaorou, and was invited to Qingfeng Palace where Concubine Fu was invited. The prince was indeed intrigued by this father's woman.

"Then Concubine Fu fell to her death, and the prince became a suspect and was imprisoned in Dali Temple.

"I found out that Concubine Fu was murdered. After the prince was framed, Huang Xiaorou's body was found in Xie Pavilion the next day. What a coincidence, what a coincidence.

"No wonder I felt something was wrong at the time, Huang Xiaorou was silenced instead of committing suicide, so why did the perpetrator choose Xie Pavilion?

"If you want to kill someone, burying them secretly is better than throwing the corpse in the well. Taking a step back, there are dozens, or even hundreds, of wells in the inner garden of the deep palace, but I chose a densely populated crab pavilion that is easy to find.

"This is intentional, to let us discover Huang Xiaorou's connection with the queen.

"My initial guess was wrong? Huang Xiaorou wasn't the murderer who killed Concubine Fu, she was just a prop, let's pin our suspicions on the Queen's prop?

"No, Huang Xiaorou was indeed the one who lied to the prince to go to Qingfeng Palace. The prince can tell lies, but the guards around him can't. If she wants to fall in love with her fake husband, all of this must be done by a close-fitting palace lady.

"If the queen didn't do all this, why did she admit it? Maybe there is a reason why she had to admit it.

"What is the queen afraid of? This must be related to this case. The three main people involved in the case are Concubine Fu, the Crown Prince, and the maid Huang Xiaorou.

"Of the three, the only one who has contact with the queen is Huang Xiaorou."

Huang Xiaorou? !

All kinds of chaotic thoughts and guesses flashed in his mind, and Xu Qi'an combined the clues he had obtained to deliberate the case step by step.

Thinking of this, Xu Qi'an suddenly realized something, and took out a piece of dull yellow silk from his bosom.

It is embroidered with bright red lotus flowers and a line of words: Yuanjing thirty-one year spring.

Princess Huaiqing stared at the yellow silk cloth, and said: "This is on the body of the maid Huang Xiaorou."

"Yes!" Xu Qi'an nodded, looked around the three of them, and finally landed on Huaiqing, said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, we only know that the Queen saved Huang Xiaorou, but there are two doubtful points, I don't know if you have noticed it."

Huaiqing shook his head.

"First, why did the queen save Huang Xiaorou?"

"The queen mother has always been kind-hearted, so it's not surprising that she would spend a panacea to save a court lady," Huaiqing said.

The queen may be a good person, but that's not the point Xu Qi'an shook his head and said, "Then why does the queen pay attention to a court lady? She also sent He'er from Fengqi Palace to watch her?"

"I asked the empress, but the empress didn't tell me." Huaiqing frowned.

"Secondly, why did the maid Huang Xiaorou commit suicide?" Xu Qi'an pointed at the yellow silk cloth and said in a deep voice, "The answer is here."

PS: Change first and then change.

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