Jiangshan is hired [rebirth]

Chapter 48

The emperor said he didn't see King Yu, so he really made up his mind not to see him. Even though King Yu had been in the prison for more than half a month, his voice became hoarse and he had a high fever. The officials of the prison came to report it again and again. The old emperor didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he didn't have this son.

Let’s say he is unfeeling. He does often talk about the old things in the past, and he seems very kind to other princes and grandchildren who have nothing to do with the throne; let’s say he is affectionate. Look at Prince Pingzhang back then, and now King Yu, They are all his own sons, but to him, it seems like a gecko's tail can be broken off.

As the person assigned to interrogate His Majesty in Tianlao, Huo Lan inevitably felt a little emotional in his heart, and this emotion reached its peak when he saw King Yu again.

Last time, King Yu, who was on His Majesty's [-]th birthday, looked a little depressed, but at least he still looked like a human being. Now in prison, this man's beard and hair are messy, his originally bloated figure has become thinner, and his cheekbones are raised high. , his eyes were bloodshot, his clothes were dirty, and he exuded an indescribable smell.

But in more than ten days, a person's changes can be so great.

On that day when His Majesty sent Du Chengyou to lead the troops northward, the ministers had some speculations in private.But now that Du Chengyou's army has arrived in the northern border, but he has been reluctant to send troops for a long time. This army is not so much for the crusade against Rongta, it is more like a defense against Qi Sheng.

It seems that His Majesty had a plan long ago, even if there was no such thing as the Jinxiang Palace later, King Yu would fall out of favor sooner or later.Some people even speculated that His Majesty was the person behind the Jinxiang Palace incident. Otherwise, who would be so bold as to pull out the tiger's two beards?

Human feelings are like this, when King Yu was high above, there was never a shortage of followers and compliments, but now that he has lost his power, Huo Lan glanced at the food placed by the door of King Yu's prison, although the jailer would not bring rotten food to him I abuse King Yu, but this food is probably no different from pig food in the eyes of King Yu.

"Why is it you?" Seeing Huo Lan stopped in front of his prison door, King Yu jumped up and clenched the railing with both hands, staring at the red eyes and wishing to stick his head out from the gap in the railing to see if the person he wanted to see was hiding in Huo Lan In the shadows behind.

It's a pity that the gap between the railings is too small, and the shadow behind Huo Lan is not so dark, leaving no room for Yu Wang to look forward to.

After King Yu stayed in prison for so many days, Xu Shi had already understood the emperor's attitude, but he was unwilling to reconcile, and shouted like crazy, shaking the iron fence of the prison cell desperately.

"I want to see my father, I want to see my father! Let me go out, you despicable people, didn't you tell my father what I said! When I go out, I must deal with you one by one!"

The iron gate was rattled, and the jailer who was leading the way for Huo Lan picked out his ears, and said to Yu Wang with a smile: "Come on, don't say 'my king', your majesty just decreed to take your The title of prince. You are not a king now, you should live in peace, don't think about punishing us, and save your own life first."

Zhong Jin choked up his voice, and stretched out his hand to grab the jailer's clothes, and roared angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about, you slave! How could my father take away my title? I want to see him! Let me see him!"

The jailer was short. Although Zhong Jin had suffered a lot these days, he was a martial arts practitioner after all, so he had a lot of strength. This time he picked up the jailer directly.

The jailer blushed from being strangled by his collar. If Huo Lan hadn't made a timely move, Zhong Jin would have almost suffocated him.

"Your Majesty doesn't want to see you. Tell me what you have to say, and I will tell Your Majesty for you." Huo Lan broke off Zhong Jin's fingers, rescued the jailer from Zhong Jin's hand, and sent the jailer away.

Zhong Jin's eyes finally shifted from Huo Lan's back to Huo Lan's face again, he poohed at Huo Lan, and cursed: "Which onion are you? You also deserve to pass the message for the king."

Huo Lan quickly turned sideways to avoid the oncoming saliva, and said indifferently, "Forget it."

She is somewhat emotional about King Yu's current predicament, but emotion does not mean sympathy. Even without those secret calculations, based on what King Yu has done, he is somewhat to blame for falling into the current situation.

Huo Lan dropped those words, turned around and was about to leave.Zhong Jin panicked now, and hurriedly shouted again: "Come back! Don't go, I'm really wronged, I have something to tell Father, please tell Father, I'm really wronged!"

Huo Lan was unmoved, and walked towards the prison gate.

"Come back! Did you hear what this king said? Hey! Hey! I was wronged, I was so wronged! You must tell my father for me, please! Please..." Seeing people walking away The farther away, Zhong Jin no longer cared about his face, and even brought out the crying tone after shouting.

For Huo Lan, Zhong Jin looked down on him before, and he still looks down on him now, but now he puts all his hopes on this one person, no matter how unwilling he is, he has no choice but to beg him.

"I really didn't kill Du Wenyao, I was wronged, come back... Please..." Seeing that the last hope was about to be dashed, Zhong Jin sat down leaning against the railing of the cell, his eyes glazed over, and he muttered .

"You said Du Wenyao was not killed by you, is there any evidence?"

Huo Lan's voice sounded behind him, and Zhong Jin got up suddenly. This time he didn't dare to take Joe again, and answered Huo Lan honestly: "No, but I really didn't kill him."

"Did you see those people in the cell next door?" Huo Lan raised his chin to Zhong Jin, "They also complain all the time. You have no evidence, I can't tell His Majesty."

"I didn't kill it, but I know who killed it, it was the fifth child! You were all deceived by him!" Zhong Jin was afraid that Huo Lan would leave again, so he grabbed Huo Lan's sleeve through the cell gate.

Huo Lan frowned and put his hands behind his back, avoiding Zhong Jin: "What's going on, please explain clearly."

Zhong Jin licked his dry lips, and told the whole story of the day Du Wenyao was killed.

During the day, Du Wenyao came to him and told him about the Minzhou officials giving him a shrine to Qi Shengli. Zhong Jin thought it was no big deal at the time, and the two had an argument and broke up unhappy.In the evening, Zhong Jin invited Concubine Xi to have a private meeting outside the palace, because the matter needed to be kept secret, Zhong Jin did not bring any guards, but only brought a confidant to go with him. Just happened to be bumped into by Du Wenyao!

"I was terrified and stabbed him, but I swear I didn't kill him!"

"He broke your secret, you stabbed him, but you said you didn't kill him, do you believe this?" Huo Lan questioned.

"Listen to me. At that time, I stabbed him once, and hurriedly asked my little servant to send Xibi back. I also hurried back. Halfway through, I suddenly thought that Du Wenyao is a majestic minister, let him die like this Outside the palace, it must not attract other people's attention? What if I follow this clue and find me?"

Zhong Jin was in a hurry when he stabbed Du Wenyao. After stabbing someone, he gradually calmed down and wanted to go back to deal with the scene and hide Du Wenyao's body.

"But do you know what I saw when I went back? I saw Lao Wu and his subordinates surrounding Du Wenyao, and Lao Wu was pressing Du Wenyao with a knife."

Zhong Jin swallowed, with a hint of nervousness in his voice, "I'm far away, so I don't know if Du Wenyao told him about me and Concubine Xi, but I saw that the fifth brother cut Du Wenyao's stomach open with his own hands, and cut it from his belly. I picked out a piece of letter paper... I didn't stab Du Wenyao to death with my knife, I didn't kill him, the fifth brother was the murderer! You arrested the wrong person, you should let me go, and arrest the fifth brother !"

"Even if what you said is true, King Zhuang killed Du Wenyao and you murdered Concubine Xi, the two of you are not far behind." Huo Lan looked at Zhong Jin coldly.

"Can it be the same?" Zhong Jin raised his voice and said in a low, nervous voice, "You didn't understand what I meant. At that time, there were several guards around Lao Wu, and he didn't let this kind of thing happen. Someone else did it for him, but with his own hands! Do you understand by your own hands? Just stuff your hands into Du Wenyao's stomach like that, and Du Wenyao's blood is all over your body and hands.

Du Wenyao was still alive at that time, his feet were still twitching, and the fifth child was still laughing!He is actually laughing!He is too scary, no, he is not a human, he is a man-eating evil ghost, too scary...too scary..."

That night, Zhong Jin witnessed all this by himself hiding behind a tree in the distance, and was so frightened that he dared not speak out.Rao is someone who has been on the battlefield to some extent, but the two sides on the battlefield are enemies for their respective missions, and what are Zhuang Wang and Du Wenyao?Zhuang Wang was able to slap such a cruel hand on a minister beside him who looked up and looked down, and he looked quite enjoying it. Whenever Zhong Jin recalled that scene, he felt a chill down his spine.

Huo Lan understood it. From Zhong Jin's point of view, the homicide of Concubine Xi was done by a dummy, while King Zhuang personally tortured and killed Du Wenyao. There is still a difference between the two.

Okay, there is some truth to saying that.It seemed that this time Yun Miaoqing was right again, Zhuang Wang was really vicious and vicious, he was an out-and-out murderer.

"Do you know what was written on the letter paper he took out from Du Wenyao's stomach?" Huo Lan didn't continue to argue with Zhong Jin about who was more guilty, he or King Zhuang. Anyway, the case was handled by a special person, and she was just here on behalf of the majesty. Just a question.

"Of course it is to expose my letter! Otherwise, why would Du Wenyao eat it?"

"He defended you until death. Since you witnessed his tragic death under King Zhuang, have you never thought of avenging Du Wenyao for the past three years?"

"How can I avenge Du Wenyao?" Zhong Jin wondered, "Old Five knows that someone stabbed Du Wenyao before he came, and maybe even saw me! He has something in his hand, if I take the initiative to bring it up , What if he bites me back?"

"How do you know that King Zhuang has something against you?" Huo Lan asked, judging from what King Zhuang told her and Yun Miaoqing afterwards, the letter paper was probably soaked in blood, preventing King Zhuang from seeing the key content.

"Isn't this obvious?" Zhong Jin replied, "He took Du Wenyao's body away on purpose, and threw it out again after half a year, just to warn me not to act rashly. Besides, Du Wenyao has been defending me to death? He It is clear that he did not bear the torture and told the fifth brother about me and Xipin, otherwise how would the fifth know? How could he have ordered that court lady to frame me?"

Huo Lan shook his head in his heart. This person is stupid and self-willed. He has been in prison for so many days and still hasn't figured out the ins and outs of the matter. No wonder the emperor will be the first to give up on him.

"You never thought that since Du Wenyao could bear the pain of being disemboweled and ate the letter that exposed you in front of King Zhuang, how could he tell him about you and Concubine Xi? Woolen cloth?"

Zhong Jin was taken aback, and his face was blank for a moment.

Huo Lan has already asked what happened on the night of Du Wenyao's death, and he has no intention of continuing to chat with Zhong Jin: "These are all your one-sided opinions, and I will pass them on to His Majesty for you. As for His Majesty's belief, I can't guarantee it."

Back in the palace, Huo Lan conveyed Zhong Jin's words to the emperor.Zhong Yu didn't react too much when he heard it, he just said "Got it", and told Huo Lan to "don't tell outsiders about this", and let Huo Lan go down, unable to see what he said to Zhong Jin at all. Believe it or not.

Maybe it doesn't matter, Huo Lan pondered His Majesty's thoughts, according to Yun Miaoqing's speculation that day, if King Yu fell, King Zhuang would be next.Whether this matter was done by King Zhuang, or whether it was made up by King Yu, it is all the same to the emperor, it only depends on whether this matter is of value to his next action.

Even though the emperor had ordered Huo Lan not to tell outsiders about this, Yun Miaoqing was not an "outsider". As soon as Huo Lan returned, she asked Yun Miaoqing to share what she had seen and heard in prison today.Although His Majesty has already granted her a house, the construction of a new house does not take a day or two, so Huo Lan has not moved out yet, and will still live in Yun Mansion before the house is completed.

If what Zhong Jin said was true, Huo Lan was a bit surprised by the truth. Unfortunately, her first listener had a mediocre reaction, and the second listener seemed to have known it for a long time.

"Look at this." Yun Miaoqing opened the drawer and threw out a few letters.

Huo Lan opened the envelope, and the contents of these letters were actually related to the Fuzhou refugees they met when they first came to the capital.

Taking advantage of Huo Lan's time reading the letter, Yun Miaoqing added an explanation for her: "On the Lantern Festival, I asked the little beggar about the origins of those people in Fuzhou, and I asked someone to help investigate after I came back. Guess what? ? I really guessed right, this is a big case."

According to the person who sent the letter, he went to the hometown of the fuzhou refugees to investigate, and learned that these people were originally farmers here, and many farmers here had their land seized by a squire, so they had to work as long-term labor for the squire in exchange for some meager income. rations.

Someone has reported this matter to the local government long ago, but the government didn't care about it at all. Not only did they ignore it, according to the investigation of the person who sent the letter, it wasn't just the township where the Fuzhou refugees were located. This situation covers almost half of the state, and it is not known whether it is also the case in other states.

It goes without saying that these squires colluded with officials, but it seems that these officials did not spend all the money they got.The person searched up the vine layer by layer, and spent several months of hard work, among which the hardships and dangers were ignored. In the end, the target of the offering of the money was pointed to a person in Beijing——Zhuang Wang.

So Yin of Qingjing Prefecture arrested those Fuzhou refugees to cover up for King Zhuang, and the current Yin of Qingjing Prefecture can take this position, the premise is that the previous Yin of Qingjing Prefecture was dismissed, and the former Yin of Qingjing Prefecture was dismissed It was because of the sudden appearance of Du Wenyao's corpse.

So who is this so-called stern and selfless Yin of the Qing capital doing things for? Who is the person behind the scenes who used Du Wenyao's corpse to push him to the top!

Unexpectedly, the death of Du Wenyao alone could involve so many things.Huo Lan put down the letter paper and asked Yun Miaoqing, "Then what are you going to do? Give these letters and evidence to the emperor?"

Yun Miaoqing waved her small fan and said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't you think it's strange after reading it? He is a prince, and his salary is quite a lot every year. It is more than enough to support his servants and retainers. He took the risk to make a living. What are you doing with so much money?"

"Bribe officials of the DPRK and China?" Huo Lan guessed.

"I can't stop guessing." Yun Miaoqing said "guess", but her expression seemed to be full of confidence, "Let's wait and see."

The author has something to say: