At the third watch, as Li Ye's Vermilion Bird Pill came into play, Li Shi's poisonous blood was finally pulled out. Imperial doctors relayed emergency treatment. At dawn, Li Shi finally escaped the sight of death.
However, the poison was too overbearing and had irreversibly damaged his body, leaving Li Shi with serious sequelae.
Emperor Li Heng could not sleep well all night. At dawn, he met with the imperial physician Wang Shuming.
Wang Shuming was happy and ashamed at the same time. He was happy that King Lu survived, but he was ashamed that King Qi's Zhuque Pill had played a role. Their effect was not great. Especially King Lu's serious sequelae, Wang Shuming didn't know how to speak.
Wang Shuming still gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, the Vermilion Bird Pill has indeed played a huge role. The poisonous blood was pulled out, and with the full treatment of the imperial doctors, King Lu's life was saved."
Li Heng breathed a sigh of relief. When he saw Wang Shuming hesitate to speak, he frowned and asked again: "Are there any sequelae?"
"Wei Chen dare not hide it, there are indeed serious sequelae!"
"What are the sequelae?" Li Heng's heart that had just been relieved was starting to worry again.
"Your Majesty, the poison that the emperor's eldest grandson suffered is very overbearing. The internal organs and head have been seriously damaged and it is difficult to cure. There are two major sequelae. First, the emperor's eldest grandson's life span will be greatly shortened and he may not live to be forty years old. Secondly, the emperor's eldest grandson may not live past the age of forty.
The eldest grandson may develop symptoms of confusion."
"What delirium?"
"He may become stupid. He showed signs of it when he woke up. He kept giggling. He didn't even recognize his wife and mother."
Li Heng felt a pain in his heart, "Is there no way at all?"
Wang Shuming sighed and said: "Your Majesty, it is a blessing to be able to save your life. If you take good care of yourself, you may be able to live a few more years. But there is really no cure for his confusion. All I can say is try not to irritate him, and slowly
Take care of yourself and see if you can recover a little bit."
Pei Min, who was next to him, also said: "Your Majesty, the assassins will know they have succeeded once they stab your Highness. They know the power of the poison very well. If it were not for King Qi's Vermillion Bird Pill, His Highness King Lu would definitely die!"
Li Heng gritted his teeth with hatred and said: "According to my decree, the Criminal Department and Dali Temple must catch the murderer within three days, otherwise they will be dismissed and investigated!"
The heavy burden of investigating the case in Dali Temple fell on Shaoqing Peng Haiyan, but the scene was clean and the other party did not leave any clues, leaving him helpless.
The next morning, Peng Haiyan came to the site for inspection for the third time. Peng Haiyan stood in front of the big pit and pondered silently. Next to him, Yang Tao, the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, said: "Shaoqing, why did the other party dig a big pit at the gate where people come and go?"
It’s really not easy. They must have dug the pit at night and used some kind of cover during the day. The other party must also have mastered the rules of Prince Lu’s going to the palace to pay greetings. When the other party set off, they buried the people in it, and when the carriage passed by, they shot the horses with a heavy crossbow.
The carriage stopped right on the big pit."
Peng Haiyan nodded. They had deduced the process very clearly, but the other party left no clues.
At this time, a subordinate rushed to report, "Peng Shaoqing, we have a clue!"
Peng Haiyan perked up and asked hurriedly: "What clue?"
"An oxcart driver, bringing the body of an assassin."
Peng Haiyan was overjoyed and asked again: "Where is the coachman?"
Soon, several Dali Temple officials brought an old man and an ox cart. The officials pulled out a corpse, two heavy crossbows and weapons from the ox cart.
Peng Haiyan immediately asked two guards of King Lu who were cooperating with the case to come and identify him. The two guards unanimously confirmed that this was one of the assassins who ambushed King Lu yesterday afternoon. He had the same attire, the same weapon, and even the six-pointed star mark on the back of his hand.
Same.
"What happened to this corpse?" Peng Haiyan asked the coachman sharply.
The driver said tremblingly: "Yesterday afternoon, a villain drove an ox cart past the gate of the mill. Suddenly a man in black ran out of the mill, carrying a person on his back, and rushed onto the ox cart. They said they were going to Nanshi.
Not long after the villain drove away, one of them jumped out of the car and ran away. When he looked at the people in the car, he found that he was dead. The villain was frightened and drove home and hid all night. Early this morning, when the villain saw the notice, he
Come and report to the official."
Yang Tao, the Prime Minister of Dali Temple, picked up the heavy crossbow and looked at it and said: "Shaoqing, there is a number on the heavy crossbow. You can find out the army it belongs to!"
Peng Haiyan nodded, "Send someone to the weapons supervisor immediately to investigate!"
He asked the driver again, "The man got on the bus and said he was going to Nanshi?"
"Yes!"
Peng Haiyan immediately said: "Notify the Plum Blossom Guards immediately to search all Nanshi inns!"
There were a total of seventeen inns near Nan City. Two thousand Plum Blossom Guards soldiers were divided into seventeen teams and searched every inn at the same time.
One of the more than 100 Plum Blossom Guards soldiers was responsible for searching the Litong Inn. A school captain led more than 100 Plum Blossom Guards soldiers to run towards the inn. As soon as they reached the door, eight or nine heavy crossbow arrows were suddenly shot from the second floor window. The Plum Blossom Guards dodged.
When he failed, five people were shot down immediately and screamed to death.
The captain was overjoyed and immediately ordered people to seek support.
A soldier shouted: "Colonel, four men in black have escaped."
"Ignore the people who are running away and surround the inn immediately!"
The captain was very smart. He shot a total of eight crossbow arrows, and four people ran away. There should be four more people in the inn.
More than a hundred soldiers surrounded the inn, and soon the commander of the Plum Blossom Guards, Zhao Yan, led more than a thousand people to arrive and surrounded the Litong Inn.
Yan Wu, the minister of punishment, and Peng Haiyan, the young minister of Dali Temple, also arrived with their men.
The shopkeeper was found, and he found the target from the guest book, "Reporting to all my lords, there are five people in total who have booked three guest rooms, the three easternmost ones on the second floor."
The captain immediately said: "The crossbow arrows were shot from the last room!"
The commander, Zhao Min, immediately ordered: "Cover with heavy shields and charge in!"
Twenty soldiers holding heavy shields and sabers walked in front, followed by crossbowmen and spear soldiers. Five hundred soldiers blocked all the windows with crossbow arrows. Anyone who showed his head would be shot to death.
The soldiers slowly came to the door of the innermost room. A tall and strong soldier suddenly kicked the door open. The heavy shield soldiers swarmed in and saw four black warriors falling on the ground.
, two of them were still convulsing violently, and the other two were bleeding from their facial features and were already dead.
There were many other things on the ground, including a heavy crossbow and quiver, and there were some messy items on the bed and table.
At this time, Yan Wu and Peng Haiyan also entered the room. Two Dali Temple medical officers urgently inspected the two men in black who were convulsing. Gradually, the two men in black became motionless.
The medical officer stood up and shook his head, indicating that the two of them were dead.
"Search thoroughly for me and take everything away!"
In just one day, the case was solved. The next morning, Yang Wan, the Minister of Punishment, reported the situation of the assassination to Emperor Li Heng.
"Your Highness, the assassins were sent by Li Xilie. Four of the assassins committed suicide by taking poison. The poison used was the same as the one poisoned by King Lu. It was a very strong snake venom.
Secondly, we found the waistbands of five assassins in the inn, and they were definitely Li Xilie's men. The heavy crossbows they used were originally used by Li Zhongchen's army. They were finally wiped out by Li Xilie's army, and the weapons also fell into Li Xilie's hands. Various evidences show that they were
Li Xilie sent people to assassinate King Lu."
"boom!"
Li Heng slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said: "Kill my descendants, I will cut their bodies into thousands of pieces and kill them all!"
For a moment, Li Heng restrained his anger and asked: "Why did Li Xilie want to kill King Lu? They should have no personal grudges!"
Yang Wan said calmly: "Someone in the court wanted to kill King Lu, so they just borrowed Li Xilie's sword to kill him."