Chapter 18: The Former Dynasty

When Ming Huashang told her about Prince Luling, she finally understood why Ming Huazhang didn't want to tell her at first.

The current empress is in power. She is a legendary figure. Her surname is Wu. She was once the empress of Emperor Gaozong. She and Emperor Gaozong had four sons and two daughters, of which two sons and one daughter are still alive. Because Emperor Gaozong was in poor health, many political affairs were gradually handed over to Empress Wu. Later, Empress Wu proclaimed herself the Empress of Heaven and was called the Two Saints together with Emperor Gaozong. The two attended court together, and the Two Saints ruled for 19 years.

There have been many empresses who have been favored since ancient times, but an empress who can sit with the emperor and attend court together is more than just favored. After Emperor Gaozong died, Empress Wu became the empress dowager and still controlled the government. At that time, the third son of Empress Wu, who is now the Prince of Luling, succeeded Emperor Gaozong.

Prince Luling was dissatisfied with his mother's interference in government affairs, and he either complained or boasted to his father-in-law in the palace, saying that the world belonged to their Li family, and even if he made his father-in-law the emperor, who would care?

Of course, the Prince of Luling was just talking casually. Even if he promoted his wife's family, he would not pass the throne to his father-in-law. However, this handle was heard by Empress Wu, who silently planned a coup. One day during the court session, she launched a coup without warning, pulled the Prince of Luling off the throne, banished him to Luling, and appointed his youngest son Li Dan as the new emperor.

Prince Luling suddenly got the highest power in the world, and then suddenly lost it. You can imagine how terrified he was. The newly-appointed Li Dan also realized that his mother was not easy to mess with, so he obeyed her in everything. However, Empress Wu had already wanted to become emperor, and her closest relatives became the biggest stumbling block on her road to power. Whether she fought or not, Empress Wu had to clear the obstacles.

Sure enough, after Li Dan ascended the throne, he never enjoyed the treatment and power of an emperor and was always imprisoned in the palace. After a few years, Li Dan heard about the auspicious signs and good news that continued to emerge in various places, as well as the parades of the people outside the palace gates requesting Empress Wu to ascend the throne. He smiled bitterly, understood everything, and obediently meditated for his mother.

After Li Dan abdicated, he was still imprisoned in the palace. A few years later, he was named the crown prince by the empress. Although he only had the title of royal, he still lived in fear and uncertainty. The only thing he could do was to have children. During these years of imprisonment, he gave birth to many sons and daughters. For example, the Prince of Linzi and the Prince of Baling who came to the banquet were his illegitimate sons.

The world had the first female emperor in history. This empress was also very cruel. All the ministers and members of the Li Tang royal family who dared to oppose her were killed. Those who were a threat to her were exiled or imprisoned under various pretexts. Now the Li family members who were lucky enough to be alive have become frightened sheep. No ministers dared to tell whether a woman could be an emperor. They only cared about who would be the next emperor.

Is it Li or Wu? Is it a boy or a girl? Is it passed down by surname or by blood?

This was not a problem in the past, as the emperor's son would definitely have the same surname as him. However, the emperor was the first empress in history, and her son's surname was Li, so he was a blood relative and a member of the previous royal family. Once he succeeded to the throne, he would definitely abolish her country's name and even massacre the Wu family. Her nephew, who had the same surname as her, would protect her rule, but the problem was that she was not close to her nephew, and passing the throne to him without her son was against human nature.

The empress herself fell into a vicious circle. After ten years of thinking, she still hadn't decided who to appoint as the crown prince. The ministers were also very concerned about this matter. If the next emperor was surnamed Li, those who had been wrongly killed or exiled would have a chance to be rehabilitated. If he was surnamed Wu, then the Tang Dynasty would really be doomed.

For this reason, the struggle for the crown prince in the court has never subsided. This is not only about the loyalty of the ministers, but also about their lives and property, so the old ministers of the Li Tang Dynasty have been lobbying the empress to pass the throne to her son, whether it is the Prince of Luling or the Crown Prince, any son will do.

Although Li Dan was already the crown prince, the title of crown prince seems to have the same meaning as the crown prince. However, this title was coined by the empress. There was no such thing as the crown prince in history. The identity and power of the crown prince were all decided by the empress alone.

Only the crown prince is the heir recognized by official history and the court.

The old ministers wanted to go a step further and have the empress make her son the crown prince, thus restoring the legitimacy of the Li family from an institutional perspective.

The Empress's nephews were not to be outdone. With the great cause of the ages just before them, who would be willing to give up being the Emperor and become a prince? Therefore, the Wu family's princes were also very hesitant, wanting the Empress to depose the Crown Prince, or even better, to kill both of her sons and make her nephew the Crown Prince.

The argument over whether to establish Wu or Li has been going on for ten years. In recent years, as the empress's health has weakened and the two Zhang brothers have controlled the court, this voice has resurfaced.

Ming Huashang always felt that the court struggle had nothing to do with her. She was just an ordinary woman, without ambition, talent or virtue. Her father was not valued in the court, and her own qualifications were very ordinary. In Luoyang, she was like a drop of water in the ocean, which could be lost in the blink of an eye. How could the controversy over the establishment of the crown prince be linked to her?

She could never have imagined that after she came out of the banquet hall and spoke to an equally ordinary-looking maid, she would be inexplicably involved in the struggle between the Wu family and King Luling.

Ming Huashang also understood why Ming Huazhang first looked for the murderer from Prince Ding's side. First of all, the one who would target Prince Luling was from the Wu family. Although Prince Ding was not as active in politics as Prince Wei, he was also surnamed Wu, and he could not escape from whatever the Wu family wanted to do; secondly, Prince Ding was not only a prince, but also the consort of Princess Taiping. Who else could he be except the consort of Princess Taiping, who knew everything about the villa, who could have asked Princess Taiping's personal maid to go out at four o'clock in the morning, and who could have taken Lianxin to a secluded place when people were in panic?

Ming Huashang panicked a little, and looked up and asked, "Second brother, what should we do next?"

If you say that the guards around Prince Ding, the son-in-law of the emperor, killed people without Prince Ding's order, even a three-year-old child would not believe it. Prince Ding did not hesitate to use human lives as props to create a terrifying atmosphere of snake ghosts killing people. What did he, or the King of Wei, want to do?

They were unlucky enough to run into murder scenes again and again. In their eyes, they were investigating the case and catching the murderer, but in the eyes of King Wei, they were just working against the Wu family. The murderer put the dead body in Ming Huashang's room out of impulsive revenge, but the tacit approval of King Wei and King Ding was also behind it.

This time they just hid something in the bedding. If they interfere again, it will probably be more than just a warning.

Ming Huazhang was silent, his face was calm, his eyes were dark, the snow outside reflected on his face, he looked like a jade statue in a temple, cold and majestic. Ming Huachang looked at him expectantly for a long time, but Ming Huazhang said nothing, and said to her calmly: "It's late at night, you should go back to sleep. Your method of finding the murderer is very special, but don't show it to outsiders in the future."

Ming Huashang was stunned for a moment, not understanding: "Why?"

Ming Huazhang refused to say anything more. Ming Huachang herself did not understand what her previous portrait meant. To her, it might just be a large-scale experience game. However, when Ming Huachang heard Ming Huachang say that digging out eyes and killing people were two different behaviors, he was shocked.

In a playful tone, she spoke out the secret and got to the heart of the conspiracy.

No matter how skilled the coroner is, he can only prove that the eyes were dug out by the murderer. No matter how meticulous the detective is, he can only think along the lines of the murderer digging out the eyes. If they follow the facts, they may find that the murderer is the guards around Prince Ding. But I am afraid that until the murderer is interrogated - if the murderer has not committed suicide at that time, and it is still possible to interrogate, they will understand that the eyes were dug out at the request of Prince Ding or even Prince Wei, and the murderer killed people according to his own ideas.

Although the marks on the body appeared to be the work of one person, they were actually the work of two people.

Only Ming Huashang knew the truth the first time she saw the corpse.

She doesn't even know how precious and dangerous her abilities are. Ming Huazhang knows that Luoyang is not as peaceful and prosperous as it seems on the surface, and he can't let Ming Huachang get caught in the vortex.

His face darkened, and he said to her sternly, "It's better for you not to know these things. You didn't find anything tonight, go back and have a good sleep. You won't remember anything when you wake up tomorrow. Just protect yourself and don't worry about the dead anymore."

Ming Huashang felt that Ming Huazhang's cold face this time was different from before, he was serious. Ming Huashang did not dare to ask any more questions and responded in a low voice.

Ming Huazhang did what he said, and immediately took Ming Huashang out and sent her back to Jiangling's courtyard to sleep. Before Ming Huazhang went out, he asked his guards to guard the door. He knocked on the door seemingly casually, but the sound was exactly two long, three short, and one long. Soon, the door was opened from the inside, and the guard said, "My dear, you are finally back."

Ming Huazhang nodded casually and asked, "Has anyone been here?"

"no."

Ming Huazhang stopped asking questions. He walked Ming Huachang, who was wrapped up like a ball of wool, to the door and said, "Go in and sleep. When you wake up tomorrow, nothing will have happened."

Ming Huashang hummed lamely, and she walked in clumsily. The cold wind blew in through the cracks in the door, and Ren Yao murmured a few words behind the screen. Ming Huashang quickly slowed down her movements and carefully closed the door.

When the door was about to close, Ming Huashang stopped. Through the door and the light of the snow, she saw that Ming Huazhang did not return to his room, but went to knock on Xie Jichuan's door.

His knocking on the door seemed calm and casual, but Ming Huashang noticed that there were some ups and downs in it.

The door opened very quickly, which was not at all the speed a sleeping person would open a door. Ming Huazhang seemed to whisper something to Xie Jichuan, and then Xie Jichuan closed the door and could no longer be seen.

Ming Huashang silently closed the door and leaned against the door frame.

Ming Huazhang didn't want to tell her what happened next, but it was not hard to guess. There were only two choices. The first was to pretend that he knew nothing and stop there, not to pursue the murderer or investigate the cause of death of Chi Lan and the other two. The second was to insist on catching the murderer, which would inevitably ruin Ding Wang's plan.

It looks like the second brother is going to choose the second option.

Ming Huashang sighed slowly and long.

At this moment, in Xie Jichuan's house, after listening to Ming Huazhang's words, he also felt that Ming Huazhang was crazy: "Jingzhan, do you know what you are talking about? This is not an ordinary murder case. It is not just talk to seek justice for the deceased. The other party is Prince Ding, and even Prince Wei. We are just a bunch of people that can be seen everywhere in Luoyang. We don't even have an official position. What can we do to compete with Prince Ding and Prince Wei? Even if we don't want to die, is there anyone in Luoyang who is willing to take on this hot case?"

Xie Jichuan felt that he was speaking earnestly, but Ming Huazhang seemed not to hear him and remained unmoved, saying, "Since I know that those three maids died innocently just because of the ridiculous ambitions of those in power, and I can fully predict that many more maids will be killed in the future, how can I pretend that I know nothing? With my meager strength, I cannot compete with the Wu family, but I believe that evil cannot prevail over good, and there must be more reasonable people in the world."

Xie Jichuan looked at Ming Huazhang, not knowing what to say. He said, "You have learned the words of the sage book. I will go even if there are thousands of people against me. But what about the Zhenguogong Mansion? The Zhenguogong has been carefully flattering for many years, and it has not been easy to get the Ming family out of the Queen's sight. Do you want to drag the entire Ming family into the water?"

After Xie Jichuan finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment, and suddenly thought of something: "Are you planning to ask for help from the Li clan?"

Ming Huazhang said nothing, tacitly accepting the request. Xie Jichuan sighed and said, "I know you want to revive the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion, but now the Prince of Linzi and the Prince of Baling are in trouble. What's the point of asking them for help?"

"The Li family will never fight alone as the crown prince." Ming Huazhang said, "The timing is not right yet. There is no benefit in angering the King of Wei. However, the King of Ding is the consort of Princess Taiping. If Princess Taiping comes forward, the Wu family will not dare to do anything."

Xie Jichuan laughed coldly, his eyes as cold as ice: "Jingzhan, you also know that Prince Ding is Princess Taiping's consort. Between her husband and her brother, who will she choose? Do she still need to think about it?"

Ming Huazhang's face was calm, his eyes were dark, and the hazy light of the snow outside the window reflected on his face. For a moment, he looked like a jade statue in a temple, cold and majestic. "I believe she is the daughter of the Li family."