The sky in late autumn dawned late, it was already the time of day, and the sun had just risen. A ray of golden sunlight slanted in from outside the temple, shining on the discerning stone floor, reflecting several scattered rays.
One of the rays of light happened to fall on the front wall. Empress Wu, who was immersed in the official documents, was immediately shaken. She couldn't help but cover her eyes with her hands, raised her head, and revealed a slightly tired look on Zhang's face.
face.
Age is not forgiving. Although Empress Wu has always taken good care of herself and is almost fifty years old, she still looks like she is in her early thirties. However, her energy is not as good as before after all. After not sleeping well last night, today
I had just corrected a few memorials earlier, and some of them felt sleepy. They were just worried about it, but they had to brace themselves up and sit in the Qianyuan Hall, correcting those who knew that their efforts were most likely in vain.
Zhezi - Although Luoyang and Chang'an are not far away, it is only about two days' journey by fast horse, but both the prince and Prince Lu have a very obedient attitude towards the manuscripts sent back from Luoyang. This makes
Empress Wu was extremely annoyed, but she was helpless. It was one thing that she was beyond her reach. What was more important was that although her power in the current court situation was not small, it was far from the level of complete control. If she wanted to change
This kind of situation obviously requires time and opportunity, and Empress Wu naturally knew this, but she knew it, but Empress Wu was still unwilling to accept it. Maybe it was time to make some changes!
"Mother, something happened."
Just as Empress Wu was in a daze, Gao Hesheng, the eunuch in charge of ceremony, walked in quickly from outside the palace. He walked hurriedly to Empress Wu's side, bowed and reported in an anxious tone.
"Um?"
Hearing the noise, Empress Wu woke up from her fugue, raised her head slightly, glanced at Gao Hesheng, and snorted softly from her nostrils.
"Your Majesty, Wang Yi is dead, Yan Desheng is missing, and all the people he brought with him died together with Wang Yi. Early this morning, Luoyang Mansion received a report from the people, and something strange was discovered at the scene, and they did not dare to do anything about it.
, I have handed a sign outside the palace gate asking to see His Majesty."
The situation was urgent, and Gao Hesheng did not dare to show any signs of neglect, and hurriedly reported the information he knew, with a hint of fear and uneasiness in his words.
"snort!"
Upon hearing that things turned out to be such a result, Empress Wu's face turned gloomy in an instant, and she snorted coldly, but she didn't say a word, but the evil aura on her body was surging in waves.
"Empress, look at this..."
Gao Hesheng had followed Empress Wu for a long time, so he knew Empress Wu's temperament. When he saw Empress Wu being silent, he knew that Empress Wu was extremely angry, and he did not dare to say anything for fear of being offended. The problem was with the Luoyang officials outside.
Still waiting for a reply, Gao Hesheng did not dare to delay for too long, so he could only bravely remind him half of the words in a low voice.
"Well, Eunuch Gao, in your opinion, is Yan Desheng alive or dead now?"
Empress Wu ignored Gao Hesheng's request and asked a seemingly irrelevant question.
"this……"
Although Gao Hesheng held a high position among the eunuchs and was nominally in charge of the secret forces under Empress Wu, because he did not know martial arts, he did not have enough control over the action faction of Yan Desheng's group, and the relationship between them was not only negotiable.
They are not friendly, but have friction from time to time. For Gao Hesheng, it would be better if Yan Desheng died, so as not to compete with him for favor every day. But naturally, such thoughts cannot be said in front of Empress Wu. Besides,
, Gao Hesheng is also confused now. He really can't understand how something that was supposed to be simple could turn into such a serious situation now. He doesn't dare to make random guesses, and can only stutter and pretend to be confused.
"Go ahead and say that your majesty's dragon body has violated the law. The matter will be handed over to Luoyang Mansion for review and retribution."
Empress Wu did not pursue the question any further, but waved her hand impatiently and gave the order directly.
"Yes, I obey the order."
When Gao Hesheng heard Empress Wu's order, there was no time limit for solving the case, and he did not specify the person responsible for solving the case. He knew that Empress Wu was planning to delay the matter and cover it up, but he did not dare to say anything about it, so he could only respond respectfully.
With a sound, he hurriedly exited the hall.
"waste!"
Empress Wu didn't pay attention to Gao Hesheng's departure, but sat silently behind Long An. After a long time, she suddenly bit her lip and cursed fiercely. Her dignified face was actually twisted into something ferocious, clearly showing the anger in her heart.
It's already raging.
"My dear, something happened."
While Empress Wu was getting angry, she saw Gao Hesheng turning back quickly, running towards him in a panic, and said something nervously.
"explain!"
Empress Wu was in an extremely bad mood at this moment. Seeing Gao Hesheng's face full of panic, she became very angry and snorted coldly with a straight face.
"I'm reporting to you, your Majesty. I went to deliver the message according to your Majesty's order, but unexpectedly His Highness the King of Zhou rushed over. After asking about the reason, he refused to let Pei Fuyin leave and insisted on confronting the emperor. I didn't dare to resist, so I could only
I agreed perfunctorily at first and begged the empress to judge."
Seeing that Empress Wu's face had turned extremely ugly, Gao Hesheng was already panicking even more. He did not dare to neglect and hurriedly told what happened in detail.
"What?"
When Empress Wu heard this, the anger in her heart could no longer be suppressed. She threw out the langhao pen in her hand with a "pop" sound. She stood up suddenly and glared at Gao Hesheng angrily. Gao Hesheng was frightened.
He quickly fell to his knees on the ground, trembling all over.
"Xuan!"
Just when Gao Hesheng thought that Empress Wu was going to be furious, Empress Wu suddenly calmed down and uttered one word without expression.
"Yes, I obey your order."
Gao Hesheng breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly answered, and rushed out of the Qianyuan Hall, summoning the relevant people.
"My sons, please bow to your mother."
"The humble minister goes to see the Queen."
Not long after Gao Hesheng left, he accompanied Li Xian and Luoyang Governor Pei Heng back. When they saw Empress Wu sitting expressionlessly behind the Dragon Case, they hurriedly came forward to pay homage.
stand up.
"Just be flat."
Looking at Li Xian's heroic face, Empress Wu felt angry for no reason, and her eyelids twitched wildly for a while, but she did not get angry, and instead screamed calmly.
"My son, I would like to express my gratitude to my mother and the empress for her kindness."
Li Xian thanked him as usual, stood up straight, cupped his hands, and spoke in a neither arrogant nor humble tone: "To inform my mother, my son and I were shocked to hear that a horrific murder occurred in the city last night on their way to the palace to pay their respects.
I was surprised and thought that this matter was serious and must not be ignored, so I came here to ask my father to judge it."
"Oh? What do you think of this, my son?"
Empress Wu glanced at Li Xian indifferently and asked calmly.
"I would like to report to my mother that one of the deceased, Wang Yi, was a member of the Zuoyu Lin Army, and the other four were actually eunuchs in the palace. They had no control over each other, and now they actually died together. The situation is really suspicious. If it is not clear,
Check, I am afraid that there is something wrong with the imperial guards in the palace, which will be detrimental to the country, so it is important to find out the root cause!" Li Xian talked freely with a face full of righteous indignation, as if he was thinking about the safety of the palace.
"Does Governor Pei have any insights?"
Empress Wu was such a shrewd person. Although she had never witnessed what happened last night, how could she not know that the real culprit in this case was Li Xian? Seeing Li Xian pretending to be a thief and shouting "Catch the thief", Empress Wu was so angry that her lungs almost exploded. , However, he was talking about it, but he couldn't tell the truth. After all, there was no evidence in hand, and no one could do anything about Li Xian. Besides, Yan Desheng's unknown whereabouts also made Empress Wu worried. Therefore, no matter how resentful she was, Empress Wu could only Able to knock off his teeth and swallow it in his stomach, he simply ignored Li Xian, turned to look at Luoyang Prefecture Yin Pei Heng, and asked in a calm tone.
"The ministers have no objections. Everything is left to the Holy See."
Pei Heng came from a prominent family and had been in officialdom for a long time. He was not an ordinary person. He was very cunning. Although he didn't understand what the case was about, he could vaguely sense the smell of gunpowder between Empress Wu and Li Xian. After hearing this, Empress Wu would talk about the topic. Turning to himself, he did not dare to express his position easily, so he replied vaguely. No one could tell whether the Holy Inquisition he mentioned was referring to Empress Wu's Holy Inquisition or Gaozong's Holy Inquisition. cut.
Slippery!
Hearing what Pei Heng said, Empress Wu and Li Xian both cursed in their hearts. However, neither of them could force Pei Heng to express his position. They could only remain silent, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed to have solidified. Average.
"Your Majesty is here!"
Just as the three of them were silently concentrating on their own thoughts, a shout came from outside the hall, and immediately, the pale-faced Gaozong staggered into the hall.
"My son, I bow to my father."
As soon as he saw Gaozong entering the palace, Li Xian immediately rushed forward and bowed respectfully.
"Come here, Xian'er, okay, no need, no need."
Among Gaozong's sons, Li Xian was the tallest and tallest, quite like Taizong at that time. The more he looked at him, the more he liked him. When he saw Li Xian greeting him, Gaozong's pale face immediately showed a kind smile. , Xu raised his hand and shouted.
"I am here to pay my respects to Your Majesty."
Pei Heng was uncomfortable being sandwiched between Empress Wu and Li Xian. When he saw Gaozong arriving, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurried forward to pay homage.
"Huh? Why is Aiqing here?"
Emperor Gaozong took a closer look and saw that the person doing the salute was Pei Heng. He couldn't help but froze for a moment and asked angrily - Qianyuan Hall is a restricted area, and important ministers are not allowed to enter without the order, let alone Pei Heng is a local official.
"this……"
Pei Heng couldn't decide whether to report last night's murder to the emperor, so he couldn't help but became speechless, his old eyes spinning like spinning tops.
"Huh? What's going on? Tell me!"
Looking at Pei Heng's hesitant look, Gaozong immediately became suspicious. He frowned, looked at Pei Heng displeased, and asked in a stiff tone. As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the hall changed. This is where it gets weird...