Chapter 163: Revenge for the murder of my brother
Chapter 163: Revenge for the murder of my brother
Before daybreak, the bells of the imperial city rang, marking the morning and evening bells, and the gates of the streets and the city were slowly opened.
Wang Bingqian also handed over his shift and left. When he walked out of the Dali Temple prison, he yawned, but he was very excited. With fifty taels of silver in his arms, he thought about going to a brothel to find his lover to spend the day with.
Wang Bingqian's parents died early, and he had been a scoundrel since childhood and had never married. His clansmen saw that he was causing trouble with a bunch of scoundrels all day long, so they pooled some money and found him a job as a jailer.
Although he no longer hung out with scoundrels, he spent any money he had in brothels and gambling houses. He was already thirty years old and had no money to marry, so his tribesmen were too lazy to care about him anymore.
Wang Bingqian looked around, trying to find an ox cart.
Just at this moment, an oxcart slowly drove up and stopped in front of him. The driver smiled and asked, "Where are you going, sir?"
It was just the right time. Wang Bingqian ordered, "Go to Pingkangfang!"
He got into the ox cart, but before he could sit firmly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and fell headfirst into the cart.
At dawn, the Dali Temple Prison was already in chaos. The jailer discovered that Chen Ye in the death row had died with blood coming out of all his orifices.
When Wang Qiu, the Dali Temple Minister, received the news, he was shocked and hurried to the Dali Temple by car.
Chen Ye's body had been moved out, and his body was stiff.
The coroner had finished examining the body and reported, "From the stiffness of the body, we can infer that he died around five o'clock in the morning. From the residue of wine in his mouth and the discoloration of the silver needle, the wine was highly poisonous. He died from drinking poison. There was meat in his teeth, and there were chicken bones and pig's trotters on the ground. He must have eaten last night."
Wang Qiu asked sternly, "Who was on duty last night?"
The prison boss stepped forward tremblingly and said, "There were three people on duty in Death Row No. 7 last night. I have interrogated them. The other prisoners in Death Row No. 7 saw the prison guard Wang Bingqian sneak into the cell with wine and food. The other two prison guards were sleeping and they were unaware of it."
Wang Qiu gritted his teeth and said, "Go find Wang Bingqian for me right now!"
"I have sent people to look for him, but there is no news yet."
Half an hour later, news came that Wang Bingqian had not returned home or gone to the prostitute he was having an affair with. Neither his friends nor his clansmen had seen him. He was missing.
As soon as it was time for court, the eunuch Li Pan came to the Prince of Jin's official chamber.
Prince of Jin Yang Guang had just arrived. He was listening to Wang Qiu's report when someone came to report, "Eunuch Li Pan wants to see you!"
Li Pan was Chen Guiren's trusted eunuch, so Yang Guang did not dare to neglect him. He ordered Wang Qiu to continue looking for Wang Bingqian's whereabouts, and then went out to meet Li Pan in person.
Li Pan narrowed his eyes and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is here to greet us personally. We cannot afford it!"
"Eunuch Li is too polite. Please come in quickly."
Yang Guang politely invited Li Pan into the official room and asked him to sit down. He took out a gift list and handed it to Li Pan, "This is a little gift from me to my wife. I beg you to pass it on to my wife."
On the gift list were thirty-six treasures from the Southern Dynasty given to him by the Xiao family. Yang Guang did not dare to keep them for himself and directly gave them to Concubine Chen.
Li Pan looked at the gift list and laughed, "Your Highness Prince Jin is so thoughtful. I will definitely pass it on to the Queen."
Yang Guang took out another box and handed it to Li Pan, "This is a little gift for you, father-in-law!"
Li Pan quickly took the box and opened it. Inside was an emerald that looked like a small red date. It was in excellent condition. Li Pan's eyes instantly lit up. He quickly said hypocritically, "Such an expensive gift is too expensive for our family!"
"This is a gift from my third son. Eunuch Li, you don't have to be polite. It's just a small token of my appreciation!"
The gems were indeed given to Yang Guang by Xiao Xia. He gave a total of five top-quality gems to his father. Yang Guang gave two of the best gems to his wife, and decided to use the other three as gifts, mainly to the three eunuchs in the palace, Yang Yue, Cheng Yuandao and Li Pan.
If you give it to one person but not to the other two, that would seriously offend that person, so it’s better not to give it at all.
Li Pan laughed, "So it's Xiao Qilang. His Majesty thinks highly of him, and His Majesty likes him very much, too. I'm afraid no one among the royal grandchildren can be liked by both His Majesty and His Majesty like him."
"Thank you for your good wishes, Eunuch Li!" Li Pan accepted the brocade box and then talked about business.
"The Queen asked me to ask about the assassination of Chen Shubao!"
Li Pan whispered again: "The queen is in great pain. She cried all night last night. After all, she is a close relative."
Yang Guang nodded, "I also plan to report this case to the emperor this morning. We caught the traitor yesterday afternoon. It was Chen Ye, the leader of Chen Shubao's guards. He was bribed with a large sum of money and betrayed his master. But he doesn't know who the other party is. He said he has a Hebei accent and lives in the old city. He doesn't know anything else."
“Hebei accent?”
Li Pan was stunned for a moment. "Could it be the remnants of Northern Qi? No, that's not right! What is the relationship between Northern Qi and Southern Chen?"
Yang Guang said slowly, "That's the problem. Northern Qi and Southern Chen have nothing to do with each other. Why did they kill Chen Shubao? The motive is wrong. We suspect that the Hebei accent was deliberately framed by the other party for the remnants of Northern Qi, just like the assassin holding the sword of a certain prince's mansion in the assassination case. I am sure that if it was really done by the remnants of Northern Qi, they would never have a Hebei accent."
"That makes sense. Who does your Highness think it is?"
Yang Guang sighed, "Last night, Chen Ye was poisoned in the Dali Temple. A jailer was bribed and disappeared. It is estimated that he was silenced. Even the Jingzhao Shaoyin committed suicide. I can only say that this case is very complicated. I can't investigate it anymore. I plan to hand it over to the emperor today. If the emperor wants to punish me severely for my incompetence, I can't do anything about it."
Yang Guang seemed to have said everything, but in fact he said nothing. He just guided Li Pan's thoughts in the direction he had prepared in advance.
Li Pan nodded, "I understand. I will go back and report to the queen right away."
After Li Pan left, Yang Guang immediately packed up and went to the imperial study to report the latest situation to his father.
In the imperial study, Emperor Yang Jian listened to the report of Prince of Jin Yang Guang. He pondered for a while and asked, "How many guards are there when the emperor goes to court every day?"
"Reporting to the Emperor, there are about seven or eight people following the carriage on both sides!"
"Have you ever been assassinated?"
Yang Guang shook his head, "Never before!"
Yang Jian said slowly, "With only seven or eight people guarding you, it is actually very easy to assassinate you. It would be even easier to assassinate Gao Jiong. So the remnants of Northern Qi did not assassinate you, but went to assassinate Chen Shubao, who has nothing to do with you. I don't understand what they want."
"Father is right. Chen Shubao has lived in Chang'an for more than ten years, living a life of drunkenness and debauchery every day. He won't live for many more years. He has no political value anymore. The remnants of Northern Qi have no motive or meaning to assassinate him. More importantly, the insider who was imprisoned in the death row of the Dali Temple was poisoned by a jailer last night. The jailer has disappeared and is probably silenced. This is definitely not something the remnants of Northern Qi can do."
Yang Jian stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, a complicated expression. He agreed with Yang Guang's inference that the other party wanted to put the blame on the remnants of Northern Qi, but their methods were too despicable. Yang Jian also knew who did it. This was a struggle for imperial power, and they would use any means necessary. But it was okay, it was just Chen Shubao, and the other party was still sensible.
Yang Jian sighed and said in a tired tone: "No need to investigate further, this case ends here, let's close it!"
In the harem, Concubine Chen gently put the gift list aside. Although she liked the treasures on the gift list very much, she was not in a good mood today.
"Tell me the King of Jin's exact words. Don't miss a single word."
"I obey your orders!"
Li Pan then told Concubine Chen everything Yang Guang had told him, and finally said, "My Lady, the King of Jin's claim that they are remnants of Northern Qi is just an excuse. If they were really remnants of Northern Qi, they wouldn't have a Hebei accent. It's like using a sword from a certain prince's mansion to assassinate someone. It's a very low-level frame-up."
"What did the King of Jin say in the end?"
"He said that Jingzhao Shaoyin Cui Kai committed suicide, and someone killed Chen Ye to silence him last night. These are not things that the remnants of Northern Qi could do. He said that this case is very complicated and he can't investigate further. Even if the emperor is furious and demotes him, he can only accept it."
"Does Prince Jin know who did it?" Concubine Chen asked coldly again.
Li Pan nodded, "He knew. He said that when Zhang Guo was dismissed, he knew this would happen."
Yang Guang didn't say the last sentence, Li Pan made it up in her own mind. Chen Guiren's eyes flashed with hatred and anger. She gritted her teeth and said, "What a good Yang Yong. In order to eliminate dissidents, he actually killed my brother. What crime did my brother commit? I will remember this grudge."
(End of this chapter)