Xingqing Palace.
It was dark, but the candles were not lit.
At this moment, Emperor Wende does not need light.
He just wanted to hide in the darkness and grieve alone.
Only Chang En was by his side.
Emperor Wende sat on the steps, looking embarrassed.
He took the wine jug and poured it into his mouth.
There are some things that can only be said when you are drunk.
"From now on, I have no mother. I have become an orphan!"
"Your Majesty, take care of yourself!"
Emperor Wende said sadly, "I lost my mother, but my brothers still have their mother. They didn't get the throne, but they lived a life of wealth and glory, with children and grandchildren around them. Sometimes I wonder if fighting for the throne was wrong."
"If Your Majesty had not fought for the throne, you would not have lived to this day. The deposed King of Zhao cannot tolerate Your Majesty."
"You are right. Concubine Xue and Prince Zhao and his mother have always wanted to take my head. If I hadn't fought for it, the grass on my grave would have grown over and over again."
"The ground is cold, Your Majesty, please get up!"
Emperor Wende shook his head.
"Only at this moment can I put aside my imperial dignity and mourn my mother like a child. Don't try to persuade me."
"I am worried about your Majesty's health!"
"I'm fine! From now on, I'm an orphan, without my father and mother. I'm pitiful!"
Emperor Wende poured wine into his mouth, and the wine spilled and soaked his clothes.
Emperor Wende didn't care.
"How many of my women, my children and grandchildren are truly sincere? My mother was the only one in the world who treated me the best, yet she abandoned me long ago. I am the most pitiful person in the world."
Chang En was afraid that Emperor Wende would catch a cold, so he found a blanket and draped it over him.
Emperor Wende flipped it open and said, "I said I'm fine. I just want to be alone to mourn my mother. Why do you have to go against me?"
"This old slave deserves death!"
"Get up! You are an old man by my side, and I am always extra tolerant towards you."
"I bow to your majesty and thank you! I will serve you in this life, the next life, and the next life after that."
"That's great! I'm used to you serving me, so please don't let me down. I don't want to have to kill you one day."
Chang En shuddered, "This old servant dares not let your majesty down."
Emperor Wende was half drunk and spoke his mind, which made him feel much more at ease.
He covered his chest and said, "This breath has been weighing on my heart, and it has kept me awake all night. But tonight, I can sleep peacefully."
He staggered to his feet.
Chang En quickly reached out to support him, "Your Majesty, be careful!"
"I'm fine! I just want to see the Great Zhou. Go, get the map. I want to travel all over the Great Zhou."
"Your Majesty, please be careful. I will go get the map right away."
The map is in Xingqing Palace.
Chang En took the map without wasting any time.
Spread it out directly in the hall.
The huge map seemed to occupy the entire hall.
Emperor Wende still remembered to take off his shoes and step on the map in his cotton socks.
"This is the capital, this is Jiangnan, this is the frontier, this is... hiccup... I've been to all of these places. I've walked all the mountains and rivers of the Great Zhou. I came to the throne legitimately. Anyone who dares to say that I came to the throne illegitimately will have his entire clan executed. Where's the imperial seal? Go and get it."
"Your Majesty wants the imperial seal?"
"Yes! I want the imperial seal, go get it."
Chang En was troubled, but he still took the imperial seal obediently.
Emperor Wende was half drunk, his mind was clear, but his movements were very slow.
He took the imperial seal with both hands, stepped unsteadily on the map, looked around, pointed to a place in the southwest, and laughed.
Bang!
The imperial seal fell, leaving a red seal on the map.
"Who says I came to power illegitimately? Who says the imperial seal is a fake? Go, kill Liu Ling!"
Chang En was shocked.
"Your Majesty said that you want to keep him alive and make him witness the deaths of his trusted subordinates and family members one by one, and that their heads be placed before him."
Emperor Wende was stunned. "Did I ever say such a thing?"
"It is absolutely true. I dare not deceive Your Majesty."
"Is that so? I have changed my mind now. You take your men and kill him."
Chang En was in a dilemma.
Was he following orders or not?
What if Emperor Wende wakes up and regrets his actions?
"Your Majesty, are you going to kill Liu Ling now? It's getting dark. Can you wait until tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is fine! Keeping him here is a waste of food, so let's kill him and be done with it."
"I obey your command! I will handle this matter tomorrow."
Emperor Wende laughed, and finally, holding the imperial seal, he stepped on the map and fell into a deep sleep.
This really exhausted Chang En.
No one else can be trusted.
They had no choice but to call a few godsons over, and after great effort, they finally carried Emperor Wende back to bed.
…
Renqiu was also drinking.
Minister Lu was tired after a day of work, and seeing him leisurely sitting on the corridor drinking, he felt extremely envious and jealous.
"You didn't enter the palace today?"
"I went to the palace. I needed to calculate the time for the Queen Mother's burial, so I came back early."
At this time, only the Imperial Observatory felt a little relieved, as they didn't have to go to the palace to mourn every day.
"Have you calculated the time and direction?"
Ren Qiu was a little unhappy. "The calculation is done. I will report to His Majesty in the palace tomorrow. This matter should be consulted by a professional Yin-Yang master. Although I have dabbled in Yin-Yang, I really don't like doing it."
"I'm just helping His Majesty with his worries, so you have no right to be picky."
Renqiu rolled his eyes.
He took a sip of wine and, while still drunk, said to Lu Shizhong: "When I entered the palace today, I secretly took a look at the Queen Mother's body and found a small problem."
"What's the problem?"
"The Queen's nails are pink!"
Minister Lu was stunned for a moment.
Coming to his senses, he looked around and luckily there was no one there.
He grabbed the man from Renqiu and said, "Come here."
He pulled him into the study and slammed the door shut.
His face was grim, "Are you sure?"
Renqiu swung the wine jug around and said casually, "I took a quick look and it's indeed pink. You figured it out! Nails turn pink after death. I've only seen this in southern Xinjiang. It reminds me of a poison circulated in southern Xinjiang."
Those poisoned by this type of poison typically experience leg pain, heart problems, headaches, and other ailments. The specific symptoms vary depending on the victim's physical condition, and the manifestations of poisoning are not uniform. Furthermore, even the most renowned doctors would be unable to diagnose the problem; signs of poisoning are only discovered after death.
Minister Lu's face was solemn. "Have you told this to anyone else?"
Ren Qiu shook his head. "I know my limits. I wouldn't dare tell anyone about this kind of thing. I'm just reminding you that the Empress Dowager's passing is a complex matter. Don't get involved."
"It's too late! If you hadn't told me, I certainly wouldn't have gotten involved. But now that I know, I can't just sit back and do nothing."
"Then what do you want to do? Tell His Majesty that the Queen Mother died of poisoning? Kill another group of people from top to bottom in the palace?" Renqiu asked Minister Lu.
Minister Lu's face turned pale. "I have my own opinion on this matter. You should watch your mouth and eyes. Don't say or look at anything else."
Renqiu raised his hands in surrender. "I promise to keep my mouth shut and not look around from now on. But you also have to promise me not to tell His Majesty that I was the first to discover that the Queen Mother had been poisoned."
Minister Lu said with a stern face, "I shouldn't have let you come to the capital."
"I've been telling you. You should have let me resign and return to the mountains long ago, but you refused. Now I can't even leave if I want to. You even accepted the emperor's grandson as your apprentice. I must have been foolish to agree to accept the emperor's grandson as my apprentice. What do you think I should teach the emperor's grandson?"
"You can teach the Four Books and Five Classics as you like."
"The emperor's grandson has chosen me as his teacher, clearly intending to learn something beyond the Four Books and Five Classics. How about I teach him poison?"
"Don't mess around! If something goes wrong, you can't afford the consequences."
Minister Lu was very tired and kept reminding Renqiu like a nagging old woman.
Renqiu was so annoyed by him that he swore that he would never do anything wrong, and only then did Minister Lu let him go.
…
All night long, Minister Lu tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
My eyes were closed, but my mind was eerily clear.
When I opened my eyes, it was almost dawn.
Minister Lu quickly got up, washed, dressed, and prepared to enter the palace.
At this time, Renqiu was still fast asleep. He was the director of the Imperial Observatory, responsible for calculating the yin and yang for the Empress Dowager, so he did not need to enter the palace early.
Minister Lu did not wake up Renqiu and entered the palace alone.
mourning hall.
The Queen Mother's body was lying in the coffin.
There are people guarding it twelve hours a day.
Minister Lu coughed lightly and said, "The Queen Mother has been very kind to me. I would like to offer a stick of incense to her."
"Master Lu, please!"
Minister Lu lit the incense and candles, bowed, and finally inserted the incense and candles into the incense burner.
"I want to see the Queen Mother for the last time."
The eunuch hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"Master Lu, there's no need to get too close."
"I know the rules."
Minister Lu came to the coffin and, from two steps away, could clearly see one of the empress dowager's hands. The nails were indeed pink, as Renqiu had said.
He knew that people who were poisoned by this poison would show signs of poisoning within the first three days after death.
Three days later, all signs of poisoning disappeared and nothing could be found.
This is rumored to be the most deadly poison in southern Xinjiang.
The reason why it is said to be the most poisonous is not that it kills instantly, but that it is secretive enough.
When the poisoned person is alive, no matter how famous the doctor is or what methods he uses, he can't find any signs of poisoning. He just thinks it's a physical illness.
The most amazing thing is that the symptoms displayed vary depending on the physical condition of the poisoned person.
Empress Dowager Xiao suffered from heart pain on a daily basis.
After being poisoned, he suffered a heart attack.
No one would doubt that this was poisoning.
Everyone thought that Empress Dowager Xiao's heart disease had worsened, causing her illness to recur.
Minister Lu’s face turned pale and his eyes were dark.
He took a deep breath, said goodbye to the eunuch, and left the mourning hall.
He was eager to see Emperor Wende.
He could not conceal the fact that the Queen Mother was poisoned.
Emperor Wende woke up from a hangover and was not in good spirits.
He remembered everything that was said and done last night.
He remembered that he ordered Liu Ling to be killed.
He hurriedly asked Chang En, "Is Liu Ling dead?"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty said that Liu Ling would be executed today. Liu Ling is still alive."
Emperor Wende immediately said, "For the time being, spare his life. I will not rush to kill him."
Chang En secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately he was smart.
The eunuch reported, "Mr. Lu, the Minister of the Interior, requested an audience. He said he had an urgent matter to report."
"Let him in!"
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