Chapter 71 071 The Crown Prince murders his father and grandson in an attempt to rebel; he is given poisoned wine...
Eunuch Ma was the chief eunuch by Emperor Yongcheng's side. If the important officials in the court were Emperor Yongcheng's right arms and legs, then Eunuch Ma was his eyes, ears, mouth, and hands and feet. Eunuch Ma had to keep a close eye on all the news in the palace for Emperor Yongcheng at all times. Whom Emperor Yongcheng wanted to see was relayed to the junior eunuchs by Eunuch Ma. Sometimes Emperor Yongcheng would sit in the imperial study for half a day, while Eunuch Ma would frequently go in and out of the imperial study countless times.
Eunuch Ma also had a very important task: to verify every dish, pastry, and fruit sent from the imperial kitchen.
To prevent poisoning of his food, Emperor Yongcheng appointed over a dozen supervisors to the imperial kitchen. Every step of the process—from selecting and sorting rice, flour, vegetables, and meat to washing, cutting, cooking, plating, and presentation to the emperor—was overseen by these supervisors, and the individuals responsible for each step were recorded. This way, if Emperor Yongcheng experienced any discomfort after consuming anything, these records could be used to identify the culprit.
What Eunuch Ma had to do was check the imperial meal records for that day, confirm that the eunuchs who delivered the meals were familiar faces and had no unusual expressions, and supervise the junior eunuchs as they tasted the dishes.
There is only one situation where no supervision or food tasting is required: when Empress Gao is in a good mood and personally cooks for Emperor Yongcheng.
Today's longevity noodles were made by the Crown Prince's great-grandson under Empress Gao's very nose. Empress Gao signaled to him with her eyes that he was exempt from inspecting the dish, so Eunuch Ma was no longer worried.
But when the Emperor suggested that the Crown Prince be summoned so that three generations of the royal family could share this bowl of longevity noodles, Eunuch Ma's eye twitched.
When the Emperor suggested that the Crown Prince feed the young Emperor's great-grandson three strands of noodles first, Eunuch Ma's hand, hidden in his sleeve, trembled.
When Empress Gao turned her back to the Crown Prince while he fed him noodles, and the Emperor suddenly snatched the bowl to feed the Crown Prince himself, Eunuch Ma's knees buckled, and he almost knelt down. Damn it, does the Crown Prince really have such audacity and such a cruel heart?
When the Crown Prince clearly resisted eating the fourth noodle but had to eat it, and after eating the sixth noodle, he vomited up all six... no, countless noodles and other dishes eaten at the lunch banquet, Eunuch Ma rushed over like a warhorse, spreading his arms to separate Emperor Yongcheng on the couch and Empress Gao next to him from the Crown Prince, firmly protecting him behind him!
"Your Majesty, should we call the Imperial Guards?" Eunuch Ma asked with great concern.
Emperor Yongcheng had already turned Haoge'er around and was holding him, pressing the back of his great-grandson's head to prevent him from looking. He, on the other hand, was looking at the Crown Prince, who was kneeling on the ground clutching his chest and still complaining bitterly. Looking at that pale face, Emperor Yongcheng gave a faint "hmm".
At a shout from Eunuch Ma, eight armored Imperial Guards with swords standing guard outside immediately rushed in.
Emperor Yongcheng had the eight guards stand aside before asking the Crown Prince with a puzzled tone, "Why are you vomiting like this? Could it be that Hao-ge'er's longevity noodles weren't good?"
Four-year-old Hao Ge'er wanted to defend himself, saying that his grandfather had asked his mother to train him for several days, and that the noodles he made were clearly delicious. However, the child who grew up in the Eastern Palace knew that his great-grandfather had summoned the Imperial Guards to protect the emperor, so the sensible little guy kept quiet.
On the ground, the prince vomited tears.
When he made the decision to poison his father, the Crown Prince was fully aware of the danger. He ate three noodles in a row, showing no fear. But after eating six, he suddenly became unsure of the exact amount of arsenic in those noodles, and whether he would die from poisoning before he could return to the Eastern Palace to induce vomiting. When death truly seemed imminent, all his courage and reason vanished, and the instinct for survival made him vomit violently.
"Father, I have a stomachache. I suspect someone has poisoned the noodles!"
Even though he guessed that his father was already on guard, the Crown Prince still refused to give up his last hope. He collapsed to the ground in agony, looking at his father and mother with tearful eyes: "Father, please summon the imperial physician! Save your son! Your son is in so much pain..."
Arsenic is used regularly in the palace to kill rats, and it is distributed by palace servants in charge of this matter. A small amount is kept in the Eastern Palace. Last night, the Crown Prince sent his trusted eunuch Xu Wan with the key to steal some from the storeroom. Under the pretext of having Xu Wan supervise the kitchen, he secretly mixed the arsenic into the noodles being prepared for his grandson's longevity noodles.
Xu Wan would not betray him. He could simply shift the blame onto everyone in the kitchen. Even if his father suspected him, his father had no evidence!
Empress Gao, who only glanced back twice when the Crown Prince vomited, burst into tears behind everyone's back.
When the Crown Prince suggested making longevity noodles for Hao-ge'er, Empress Gao's suspicions arose only out of caution. In truth, she desperately didn't want to admit it, and even secretly breathed a sigh of relief when the Crown Prince nonchalantly prepared to feed Hao-ge'er the noodles, believing she had been overthinking it. However, the Crown Prince's subsequent actions unequivocally proved that her and her husband's precautions were justified, demonstrating that the Crown Prince they had raised truly harbored patricide intentions!
Empress Gao did not want to see her son kill his father, but she could not bear to see her husband kill their son either.
Emperor Yongcheng heard his wife's cries. It is said that a loving mother loves her son. Although he was a strict father, his heart was also made of flesh and blood. For the future of the Great Zhou, he had to depose the Crown Prince and force him to make a mistake. However, the Crown Prince, whom he had trusted for thirty years, actually sent him a bowl of poisoned noodles. He could even cruelly poison the little Hao Ge'er. Emperor Yongcheng's heart felt as if it had been stabbed twice by the Crown Prince.
"Summon the imperial physician."
Amid the cries of the Crown Prince, Empress Gao, and Hao Ge'er, Emperor Yongcheng numbly spoke, and then moved to the main hall.
As soon as his father and mother left, the crown prince immediately found all the tea and water he could drink, poured it down his throat, and then forced himself to vomit it out, trying to reduce the amount of poison remaining in his body.
Two teams of imperial physicians rushed to the scene and, following Emperor Yongcheng's instructions, first tested the bowl of longevity noodles for poison. Only after confirming that the noodles were indeed poisoned did they begin to induce vomiting and administer medication to the crown prince.
Emperor Yongcheng did not see the Crown Prince again. Instead, he ordered the Imperial Guards to escort the Crown Prince and his grandson back to the Eastern Palace. At the same time, he sealed off the Eastern Palace and summoned the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice to jointly try the case.
After receiving the imperial decree, Grand Censor Fan Yan led several censors from the Censorate and ran away. As soon as he left, the news that "the Crown Prince is suspected of poisoning the Emperor" spread like wildfire to every corner of the Censorate.
Xiao Yu sat in his office at the Censorate, with an impeachment file sent back by a supervising censor who had been sent out to investigate a case in front of him.
Hearing several imperial censors on duty whispering among themselves, Xiao Yu glanced up and said nothing. The censors quickly shut up and went about their business.
Xiao Yu then looked out the window, a hint of worry in his eyes for Emperor Yongcheng, who was unsure if he had been poisoned.
.
Last time, the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice jointly tried the Crown Prince to see if anyone in the Crown Prince's palace was involved in a corruption case. Each person had to be questioned and investigated in detail. This time, the case is about poisoning and regicide. The number of people with clear motives and opportunities to obtain arsenic and put the poison into the noodles is limited, so the three departments can investigate very quickly.
Nevertheless, their interrogation was not as fast as the Crown Prince's poisoning. The Crown Prince had eaten six noodles in a row, each noodle containing the same poisonous broth. Emperor Yongcheng had even given him time to chew each noodle carefully. Although the Crown Prince vomited them all up, the arsenic took effect extremely quickly. Long before the Crown Prince vomited, some of the poison had already invaded his blood and internal organs.
The Three Departments sent someone to report the news of the Crown Prince's illness to Emperor Yongcheng.
The heartache and anger that Emperor Yongcheng felt after being poisoned by the Crown Prince had subsided, leaving only a bone-chilling cold.
The fact that the Crown Prince was unharmed indicates that the amount of poison he used was insufficient, and that he was not ruthless enough towards his father. However, the fact that the Crown Prince vomited immediately after eating only six noodles and still showed symptoms of poisoning indicates that the amount of poison he used was very sufficient, and that he was extremely ruthless towards his father, determined to use nine noodles to completely poison him!
The Crown Prince no longer wants him as his father, so why would Emperor Yongcheng show him any more leniency?
"Continue the interrogation; no one can feign illness to escape questioning."
The implication was that the crown prince's illness was feigned and there was no need to arrange for an imperial physician to treat him.
The prince's abdominal pain was not enough to kill him immediately, but he did not expect that the three judicial departments would interrogate him and Xu Wan at the same time.
The three officials did not torture the crown prince who was suffering from abdominal pain, but they tortured Xu Wan repeatedly in front of the crown prince.
Xu Wan's hands were pinched and bleeding profusely. The Crown Prince lay on his blanket with his back to Xu Wan, his back hunched and he groaned in pain, as if he was in so much pain that he couldn't hear Xu Wan's cries.
Lin Bangzhen, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, used to be most afraid of causing trouble. Now that the Crown Prince was about to be deposed, he had fewer scruples. Lin Bangzhen stroked his white beard, squinted his small eyes, and came to the Crown Prince. He sighed and said, "Who poisoned him? Actually, there's no need to investigate. Your Highness and I both know the truth. Why do you insist on denying it? Besides, do you really think this is something that can be covered up?"
The prince ignored him and continued to clutch his stomach and cry out in pain.
Lin Bangzhen: "To be honest, Your Highness, His Majesty personally issued an order for us to investigate the case with all our might. In other words, only after the case is solved will we request His Majesty to arrange for the imperial physician to treat Your Highness. If the case is not solved and Your Highness's condition is delayed, even if Your Highness is cleared of the poison afterward, what use will that clearing of the poison be if Your Highness has already been poisoned throughout your body?"
The crown prince stopped crying out in pain and said with unwavering resolve, "I did not poison my father! I would rather die than betray my innocence!"
Lin Zhenbang, who seemed to know medicine, took the Crown Prince's pulse and then forcibly pried open his eyelids, reassuring him, "Your Highness, rest assured, the poison you have ingested is mild. At most, you will need to rest in bed for a while, but you will not die. However, Xu Wan is loyal to Your Highness. Can Your Highness really bear to watch him die in front of you for the sake of your innocence, which may or may not even exist?"
Crown Prince: "...That's all your fault!"
Lin Bangzhen sneered, "We did not instruct him to poison anyone, nor did we personally push him to his death. Continue the torture!"
At Lin Bangzhen's command, two constables pulled hard on the splints binding Xu Wan's hands.
Xu Wan was in pain again and again, and he looked towards the Crown Prince again and again. This was the master he had sworn to serve to the death. When he was willing to die for his master, his master did not even give him a look of pity or guilt, and did not even want to hear his wails.
"I'll confess, I'll confess!"
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With conclusive witness testimony and physical evidence, the case of the Crown Prince poisoning the Emperor was resolved on July 21st of the 35th year of Yongcheng.
The crown prince was disloyal and unfilial, murdering his father and grandson with the intention of rebellion. He was deposed from his position as crown prince, given poisoned wine to commit suicide, and his wives, concubines, children and grandchildren in the Eastern Palace were all demoted to commoners and exiled to Lingnan.
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Author's Note: Here it is! 100 little red envelopes! See you at the second update tonight!
P.S.: According to unreliable searches, the silver needle poison testing method seems to have originated in the Song Dynasty. Since our story is set before the Song Dynasty (similar to the Sui and Tang Dynasties), the emperor didn't use the silver needle poison testing step often seen in TV dramas. Therefore, the crown prince's plan to poison his father during his four-year-old grandson's birthday celebration still had a chance of success. He just underestimated his own parents; he was desperate and resorted to such measures. [Clown][Clown][Clown]
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