Chapter 199 Guess
Although Zhao Xing was only the crown prince, he was still a king.
"I understand what the teacher said. Since I said so, I am naturally confident." Zhao Xing said.
"Okay!" Han Zhang nodded and said, "Since Your Highness has said so, then let's do as Your Highness says. I will report to the emperor. However, this matter requires someone to supervise the whole process. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"
Just as he said, this matter was no joke. Although he promised Zhao Xing, he was still a little worried.
If it fails, not only will it damage Zhao Xing's prestige, but it will also waste time and money.
Send someone to supervise so that if the situation is not right, adjustments can be made in time.
"What the teacher said is good advice. What's wrong with it?" Zhao Xing shook his head.
"Then I will take my leave first!" Han Zhang bowed deeply and walked out.
"Someone, go and find Sheng Wei." Zhao Xing ordered.
"Yes!" Sanshui responded and quickly arranged for someone to pass the message.
"Your Highness!"
Just then a eunuch came in and saluted, saying, "Commander Yin wants to see you!"
"Let him in." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
The eunuch bowed and left, and soon Yin Hanzhang walked in.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.
"No need to be polite." Zhao Xing asked, "What do you want to see me for?"
"Your Highness, the one who bribed the eunuchs in the Eastern Palace was Chu Long from Prince Yan's Mansion. He had been under my surveillance. Last night, he quietly left Prince Yan's Mansion and hid in a house in the north of the city. This morning, after the city gates were opened, he wanted to leave the city. The people who were monitoring him noticed something was wrong and arrested him." Yin Hanzhang bowed and said
"Is there any movement at Prince Yan's Palace?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Everything is normal at Prince Yan's Mansion!" Yin Hanzhang replied.
"It's really interesting." Zhao Xing sneered, "There's no movement from Prince Yan's mansion, but he's thinking of escaping. Why does he sound a bit like Prince Yong before? Did you find out anything?"
"I made a brief inquiry and the man said that his father was sick and he went back to visit him. I hurried over to report to Your Highness, but no torture has been used for the time being!" Yin Hanzhang said.
"I heard that you are very good at interrogation. This time I want to see your ability. I will give you half a day. I want to know all the secrets he knows." Zhao Xing said.
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang replied.
"Go ahead." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
After Yin Hanzhang left, Zhao Xing looked thoughtful.
Before the incident involving Prince Yong, one of his confidants had already fled.
That confidant also contacted assassins on behalf of Prince Yong to kill him.
The Prince of Yan bribed the eunuchs of the Eastern Palace, which was all done by a man named Chu Long in his mansion.
Now Chu Long also realized that something was wrong and wanted to run away early.
He is exactly the same as Prince Yong's confidant.
Zhao Xing asked Yin Hanzhang to investigate the identities of these two people.
The two people's ancestral homes are in the south and the north respectively, and it seems that they have nothing in common.
But their situations are somewhat similar.
They are all students who started taking the imperial examinations in their teens and failed repeatedly.
The two entered the Prince of Yong's Palace and the Prince of Yan's Palace at about the same time.
This gave Zhao Xing an association.
Could there be someone behind this?
Following a similar trajectory, he realized something was wrong and chose to run away immediately without even notifying his master.
In fact, it is a bit far-fetched to suspect that there is something wrong with them.
After all, the two of them gave advice to Prince Yong and Prince Yan, and their target was him, the crown prince.
They must be aware of the consequences of exposing the matter. If they inform Prince Yong and Prince Yan, they will not be able to escape.
But Zhao Xing always felt something was wrong.
Whether he was overthinking it or not, we would have to wait until Yin Hanzhang finished interrogating him to find out.
Yin Hanzhang was moving faster than he had imagined.
It was almost noon when Yin Hanzhang came to the East Palace again.
Yin Hanzhang still looked half dead as usual, but the news he brought shocked Zhao Xing greatly.
"Your Highness, Chu Long has confessed. He was bribed by the Liao Kingdom in his early years. The Liao Kingdom asked him to find a way to get close to Prince Yan, gain his trust, and instigate Prince Yan and Prince Yong to fight for the position of crown prince.
The appearance of His Highness disrupted the Liao Kingdom's plan, so the Liao Kingdom asked him to instigate the King of Yan to murder His Highness. Not only that, Ma Lianpeng, who had escaped before, was also a member of the Liao Kingdom.
He was not aware of this before, but later when the Liao Kingdom introduced the two to each other and conspired together, he found out that someone on Prince Yong's side had also been bribed by the Liao Kingdom.
The last time His Highness was assassinated, those assassins were actually trained by Prince Yan, and were trained with the help of Princess Yan's family.
Chu Long persuaded the King of Yan several times to find an opportunity to assassinate His Highness, but the King of Yan was reluctant to agree. So Chu Long suggested to the King of Yan that he could use the King of Yong to assassinate His Highness. This would not only get rid of His Highness, but also get rid of King Yong. "Yin Hanzhang said.
Zhao Xing was shocked for a long time after hearing this. This way, many things could be explained.
Prince Yong and Prince Yan were both pawns. Prince Yan trained a group of assassins but was afraid to take action. Prince Yong had great ambitions but little talent, but was very courageous, and was fooled into preparing to assassinate him.
Qi Long and Ma Lianpeng manipulated behind the scenes to give the assassins trained by Prince Yan to Prince Yong. However, Prince Yong didn't know this and thought that the people he hired were all from the Green Forest.
"Did he say who bribed them?" Zhao Xing asked.
"He said that they were sent by the Liao emperor, who promised that after the matter was accomplished, they would be allowed to serve as officials in the Liao Kingdom," said Yin Hanzhang.
"It's impossible that they were sent by the Liao emperor." Zhao Xing shook his head and said, "They have been in the Yongwang Mansion and the Yanwang Mansion for nearly 20 years. Now the Liao emperor has changed. The Liao emperor has only been on the throne for a few years, and the situation in Liao is not under control. What good will it do them to kill me?"
When these two people went to the Prince of Yong's Palace and the Prince of Yan's Palace, he was not yet born, and even his mother was not pregnant with him.
At that time, the emperor had no children, so all the officials suggested that the emperor adopt a member of the royal family.
Prince Yong and Prince Yan had the highest support at the time. It was understandable that the previous emperor of Liao placed people around them and instigated them to fight for the throne, causing internal discord in the Song Dynasty.
However, the new emperor of Liao had only been on the throne for a few years and had not yet completely taken control of the internal situation. Why would he be assassinated at this time?
Now the Liao emperor cannot send troops to attack the Song Dynasty. If Zhao Xing dies, the Song Dynasty will be in chaos for a while, and the Liao Dynasty will not gain any benefit.
If the matter were to be exposed, it would lead to the Song Dynasty attacking the Liao Kingdom.
The Liao emperor was not stupid, so why would he do such a thankless task?
Zhao Xing was more inclined to believe that it was Yelu Chongyuan who was manipulating this matter behind the scenes.
Perhaps Yelu Chongyuan had already had the idea of seizing the throne more than ten years ago.
At that time, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty had no sons. He placed people around Prince Yong and Prince Yan, and instigated them to do things at critical moments to cause internal turmoil in the Song Dynasty and facilitate his actions.
"I will go back and continue the interrogation!" Yin Hanzhang thought that Zhao Xing was dissatisfied with the results of his interrogation, so he hurriedly said.
"No need. They may not even know who they are working for." Zhao Xing waved his hand.
These two people are not fools as they can gain the trust of King Yong and King Yan.
The person from Liao who contacted them must have given them something that made them believe.
However, Yelu Chongyuan was a prince of the Liao Kingdom, and it was impossible for the two of them to go to the Liao Kingdom to meet the Liao emperor. It was not difficult for Yelu Chongyuan to impersonate him.
Although these are just Zhao Xing's guesses, they are not random guesses, but have certain basis.
The basis for this is the two bottles of perfume mixed with poison.
He asked Liu Sanshi to do a brief study and found that the smell of the perfume mixed with the poison had no obvious change from the original one.
This means that the poison added is either very light in taste or colorless and tasteless.
Such poison was extremely rare in ancient times.
If he had previously guessed that Yelu Chongyuan wanted the secret recipe for perfume in order to murder the Liao emperor, then it is very likely that the poison in the perfume was the same as all the poisons Yelu Chongyuan had.
It is mixed in perfume not to cover up the smell of poison, but to poison.
Whether it was the Liao emperor or Zhao Xing, they would always test the food and drinks for poison, so it was very difficult to poison someone.
But it is different if it is perfumed. There are many types of rouge and powder for women in ancient times, but for women of status like Zhao Xing, they would remove their makeup and bathe before sleeping with him.
If it is applied into lip balm, it is feasible.
But this way, it is very likely that the person who applied the ointment will be poisoned to death before he even goes to bed.
Perfume is different. Apply a little to add some mood, and when you are intimate...
Moreover, if Zhao Xing shows any sign of trouble, the Song Dynasty will inevitably be in chaos.
It would also be much easier for the Liao Kingdom to obtain the secret recipe of perfume.
By then, Yelu Chongyuan would poison the Liao emperor and the Song Dynasty would be in chaos again, and he would have time to control the situation in the Liao Dynasty.
As to whether it is true or not, it is easy to judge.
After Li Ge left last time, Zhao Xing thought Li Ge would come again.
But after waiting for so long, Li Ge still didn't come.
This time, Prince Yan's attempt to assassinate him failed. If Yelu Chongyuan was really the man behind the scenes, he would definitely send Li Ge to buy the secret recipe of perfume from him.
Unless Yelu Chongyuan thought of another way.
"Let's put this matter aside for now. You should investigate those students in the Song Dynasty who have repeatedly failed the exams to see if any of them have been bribed by the Liao Kingdom." Zhao Xing said coldly.
Although these people read the books of sages, it does not mean that they are all sages.
Most people study in order to become officials, and they will naturally feel resentful if they fail repeatedly.
Not to mention being bribed, since the founding of the country, there have been many scholars who ran away to join the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.
The earliest imperial examinations had an elimination system, which did not mean that you could rest assured after passing the exam.
And all this was rewritten because of a man named Zhang Yuan.
Zhang Yuan failed in many examinations. He even passed the provincial examination once, but was eliminated in the palace examination.
In anger, he defected to Western Xia. Zhang Yuan was indeed talented, and with his understanding of the Song Dynasty, he was soon valued by Western Xia.
It even helped the Western Xia attack the Song Dynasty, causing great trouble to the Song Dynasty.
Zhang Yuan was also appointed prime minister because of his official duties.
Over the years, many scholars have followed Zhang Yuan's example and defected to Liao and Xia.
Although there was no one who rose to prominence as quickly as Zhang Yuan, he was also given a certain degree of importance.
Some people cannot commit such treasonous acts due to family reasons and other reasons, but this may not be the case if they are bewitched by others.
There are many people like Chu Long and Ma Lianpeng.
(End of this chapter)