lcionline Chapter 881 It’s actually her
Chapter 881 It’s actually her
The Zhou family has been loyal and brave for generations, and they are deeply loved by the people. Their words have great weight among the people.
The Zhou family has said so, how could the people still blame Shen Zhinian for the failure of the war?
Because the Zhou family handled the matter very promptly, the words that were unfavorable to Shen Zhinian were nipped in the bud before they could spread.
Naturally, the confidants also knew the contents of the letter.
Handan sighed: "My Lady, this is called sowing good seeds and reaping good fruits!"
If it weren't for the Empress's reminder, General Zhou would have been ambushed and killed on his way back from suppressing the bandits.
Because of that incident, the Zhou family has always remembered the queen's kindness.
Otherwise, the Zhou family would only be loyal to His Majesty and never participate in the struggles in the court or the harem. Even if the Queen and Madam Zhou were close friends, they would not have defended the Queen in this way.
Only Shen Zhinian understood that delivering the message to save General Zhou was not accidental, but something she did deliberately based on her memories from her previous life.
The purpose was to make the Zhou family owe her a favor and thus win over the Zhou family.
Now it has really played the expected role!
Since Zhao Yungui already knew that Zhou Yuxi was injured, Shen Zhinian didn't have to worry that this news would upset her.
In the letter, she comforted her friend, and then asked who were the first to know about Zhou Yuxi's injury?
When the incident first happened, in order to stabilize the morale of the troops, it would definitely not be made public immediately. This means that only a handful of people knew about it at the beginning!
Later, the spy was caught, the situation was stabilized, and the news spread.
Since the person behind the scenes was able to set up this scheme and have the battle report delivered to the capital on the day of her enthronement ceremony, it proves that the other party had already known the inside story, otherwise where would they have had the time to lay out the plan?
Then as long as we figure out who was the first person to know the news, we can identify the person who framed her this time!
After writing the secret letter, Shen Zhinian sealed it and handed it to Fuqiu: "Send someone to deliver this letter to the Zhou family as quickly as possible and give it to Madam Zhou!"
Fuqiu nodded heavily: "I understand!"
……
The emperor only gave three days, and the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Rites and the Dali Temple did not stop at all.
In addition to arresting the palace servants involved and bringing them to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation, Su Quanye first investigated the storage process of the imperial seal.
There are complete records of when the seal was put into storage, who handled it, its specific storage location, etc.
What he wanted to confirm was the safekeeping of the seal before the enthronement ceremony, to see if there were any abnormal records of borrowing or moving it.
At the same time, Su Quanye also interrogated the relevant personnel in charge of keeping the seal to see whether it had any signs of collision or damage during its storage, and whether their specific operations and precautions during the storage process were strictly followed in accordance with the palace rules.
At the same time, the Ministry of Punishment also interrogated the palace servants who participated in the preparation and execution of the enthronement ceremony.
Including the female officials, eunuchs, and palace maids, to understand their whereabouts and activities before the ceremony and during the enthronement ceremony. See if they have the opportunity to touch the imperial seal? Is there anyone with abnormal behavior?
If someone's expression, attitude, words or actions are not right, or they are evasive or concealing something, question them immediately!
The Dali Temple was responsible for investigating the officials who were present at the time.
Of course, slaves can use torture at will, but officials cannot do so without evidence.
Therefore, the Dali Temple only asked them whether they saw the moment when the seal cracked and whether they found anything abnormal or suspicious.
We must unravel every detail and clue to find the truth!
The Ministry of Justice took the cracked seal away and asked several experienced craftsmen to check the shape of the cracks on the seal, as well as the direction and depth of the cracks to determine the cause of the cracks.
At the same time, the Ministry of Justice also investigated all the craftsmen and officials responsible for making the seal.
In addition to investigating them personally, their families and backgrounds were also thoroughly investigated to see if anyone had the motive to destroy the seal, or if anyone was instructed or bribed by others.
These things are a lot of work.
However, His Majesty has already said that if no results are found before the specified deadline, everyone will be stripped of their official hats and go home!
The official in charge of the matter had no choice but to investigate day and night. When he became too sleepy to bear it any longer, he would take a nap.
finally--
Before the deadline, the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple reported all the clues they had found to the emperor.
The Minister of Justice sorted out the evidence obtained by the three parties, handed it to Li Changde to present, and said respectfully: "...Your Majesty, we have finally found out that this matter was caused by a craftsman in the Seal Casting Bureau who tampered with the casting of the imperial seal!"
"The seal may appear intact from the outside, but once it is exposed to the sun for a short period of time, it will crack in the middle."
"The Imperial Seal was presented to Consort Chen at her canonization ceremony at noon. The Imperial Seal had already been exposed to the sun, so it cracked as soon as it reached Consort Chen's hands."
Even though Nangong Xuanyu had known for a long time that there was no such coincidence in the world, someone must be framing Nian Nian.
But when he really heard that someone had done this intentionally, raging rage burned in his deep eyes!
The emperor had a gloomy look on his face, and he gritted his teeth and asked word by word, "Who ordered this?!"
The Minister of Justice continued, "Your Majesty, after investigation, it was found that the craftsman and Concubine Kang's mother's family were distant relatives..."
"Under severe punishment, he confessed that he came here under the instructions of the Zhang family..."
Concubine Kang’s surname was Zhang.
If it was just an ordinary low-ranking palace concubine, the Ministry of Justice would have gone to the Zhang family to arrest her as soon as they got the news.
However, Concubine Kang was the head of a palace, had a high position in the harem, and was also raising the fifth prince.
One reason was that the time given by the emperor was too short. They only had time to investigate here and had not yet interrogated the Zhang family.
The second reason is that without the emperor's order, neither the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Justice nor the Supreme Court dared to take rash action against the fifth prince's maternal family.
The Minister of Justice bowed and asked, "Should we go and arrest the people involved and interrogate them strictly? Your Majesty, please decide!"
Kangpin's family background can only be considered extremely ordinary in the harem.
Moreover, the prime minister has several relatives who are from the countryside.
It is not surprising that the Zhang family has relatives working as craftsmen in a foundry.
What surprised Nangong Xuanyu was that the suspect finally found out was Concubine Kang?
He had never heard that Concubine Kang and Nian Nian had any grudge against each other.
I can't even think of the reason why she did this.
Nangong Xuanyu did not rush to issue an order, but narrowed his eyes and asked: "The crack of the seal and the news of the defeat in the war, is there any connection between the two?"