Chapter 571: The Pseudo-Boss Who Died Early
Ding, ding, ding...
The melodious bell rang three times in succession. The two brothers looked at each other in the study. After a long while, Sun Shaozu asked suspiciously, "It seems to be twenty-seven times?"
It was indeed twenty-seven.
According to the system of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Jingyang Bell would ring seven times to announce the official start of the morning court session; and sixteen times to indicate an emergency, summoning all civil and military officials to the palace to discuss matters.
As for the round of twenty-seven and thirty-six beats, they foreshadow the national mourning of the death of the emperor and empress. Unless there are special circumstances, officials above the fifth rank in the capital must wear mourning clothes and go to the palace to pay their respects.
The death of an emperor or an emperor emeritus is accompanied by thirty-six shouts. Now that there are only twenty-seven, it naturally has nothing to do with Emperor Guangde and his son.
It should be that one of the Empress Dowager, Empress, or Crown Prince [who had reached adulthood] suddenly passed away.
Uh~
If the emperor's biological mother died, she should also be included in the twenty-seven national mournings.
"It shouldn't be the Queen Mother and the Crown Prince."
Sun Shaozong pondered and said, "I wonder if it's the Empress Dowager or the Concubine Dowager..."
Having said that, he and Sun Shaozu looked at each other, and both felt a little uneasy.
One of these two people is the retired emperor's wife who has been with him for sixty years, and the other is the biological mother of the current emperor. If they died of terminal illness, it would not be a big deal.
But now he suddenly died without any clear reason...
Perhaps a huge wave will be set off inside and outside the court!
"Let's go."
Sun Shaozu made a prompt decision and said, "Go change your clothes first. I'll ask Zhao Zhongji to go ask around on the street to see if we can confirm which noble person has gone there."
As the saying goes, if it is a blessing, it will not be a disaster, but if it is a disaster, it cannot be avoided. For now, we can only take one step at a time and see how it goes.
Sun Shaozong returned home worriedly. Ruan Rong had already asked Xiangling what the bell sound meant, so she had already prepared plain clothes.
After changing quickly, Sun Shaozong returned to the front yard, but saw his elder brother talking to Zhao Zhongji under the second porch.
"how?"
He hurried a few steps forward and asked, "Have you found out which noble person in the palace has gone?"
The cheap elder brother looked strange and raised his chin towards Zhao Zhongji. Zhao Zhongji hurriedly responded: "To answer the second master, it is not a noble in the palace..."
"What?!"
Sun Shaozong was shocked: "Could it be that something happened to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?!"
This shouldn't be the case. The prince was fine two days ago, and now he is under heavy protection. Logically speaking, something unexpected should have happened...
"He's not the prince either."
Zhao Zhongji shook his head and said, "I heard that Prince Yizhong died."
righteous……
Prince Yizhong is dead?!
Sun Shaozong felt as if he had been hit by a club suddenly. He was confused and dazed, and didn't react for a long time.
Ever since traveling to this world, Prince Yizhong has been making his presence felt all the time. First, he forced the original owner to leave his hometown, and then gradually exposed his identity as a senior time traveler.
Coupled with his cronies hiding in the dark, Sun Shaozong has always treated him as the BOS S!
Especially after going to the palace two days ago, Prince Yi Zhong's strange behavior made Sun Shaozong secretly shocked, and his level of danger was raised to the level of the ultimate BOSS.
But who would have thought that after just a few days, this ultimate BOSS would be killed!
After being in a daze for a while, he finally remembered something was wrong and frowned suspiciously: "Even if Prince Yizhong is really dead, it can't be considered a national mourning, right?"
"I heard that it was the Emperor's intention to have the funeral held according to the standards for the Crown Prince."
This is even more strange!
Handling Prince Yoshitada's affairs after his death in this way would give some people the illusion that the person the retired emperor really wanted to pass the throne to was actually Prince Yoshitada.
How could Emperor Guangde agree to something that concerns his status and legitimacy? !
After pondering for a long time, Sun Shaozong still could not figure it out, so he had to continue asking, "Then have you ever found out how Prince Yi Zhong died?"
"I heard that he took the Taoist elixir incorrectly and died of poison."
Judging from Prince Yi Zhong's weird behavior that day, he really looked like a madman seeking immortality.
But ever since the hot air balloon incident, the royal palace began to impose restrictions on imports and exports. Medicines such as lead and mercury were taboos among taboos. Even if Prince Yi Zhong wanted to commit suicide by taking elixirs, he would have no chance at all.
In short, there is something fishy about this matter inside and out!
"Erlang, there's no point in thinking about anything now. Let's go to the palace and take a look at the situation first."
At this time, the cheap eldest brother called out and walked towards the stable first.
Seeing this, Sun Shaozong hurriedly followed.
No conversation along the way.
When they arrived in front of the Meridian Gate, there were already many officials standing in the square, discussing something in groups of three or four. Sun Shaozong pricked up his ears and listened for a while, but found that everyone was either discussing official business or talking about trivial matters at home, and no one dared to talk about the current national mourning.
Too.
How could someone who could become a fifth-rank official not understand the principle of seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune?
Perhaps only those second-generation rich and powerful people would be confused and unable to understand the situation.
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but stretch his neck and scan the front row, trying to find the person among the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, and get closer to listen to see if there was any inside information.
Before he could see clearly, a man came up from the side and asked, "Captain Sun, have you seen our governor?"
It turned out that it was the Chief Justice Chen Xingzhi, the Deputy Chief Justice Zhao Jiayi and others who came looking for him.
Seeing this, Sun Shaozong had to give up his original plan and stepped forward and whispered, "I just arrived too - maybe the governor hasn't arrived yet."
Chen Xingzhi and others exchanged glances with each other, but their faces showed some solemnity.
What is going on this again?
Sun Shaozong was just puzzled when he heard Zhao Jiayi whisper, "Lord Zhenfu went to the palace before dawn yesterday. We heard that you were also in the palace yesterday, so we thought we were together."
Lu Hui entered the palace before dawn yesterday?
This is the first time I've heard of Sun Shaozong.
He was secretly wondering whether Lu Hui's entry into the palace by imperial decree had any direct or indirect relationship with Prince Yi Zhong's death, but he said, "I left the palace yesterday morning, but I didn't run into the governor ."
After hearing this, Zhao Jiayi seemed to be hesitant to speak, and it seemed that he was also suspicious that Lu Hui was involved in this sudden national mourning.
Everyone was staring at each other in amazement when suddenly someone shouted, "Have the people from the Northern Pacification Office arrived yet? Why don't they urge the gentlemen to line up in front of the Meridian Gate?!"
The person who was shouting was none other than Dai Quan.
Although his words were apparently a rebuke to his subordinates, they were actually meant for all the civil and military officials to hear, so everyone lined up neatly in front of the Meridian Gate according to the size of their official rank.
As for Sun Shaozong and others, because of Dai Quan's words in front of them, they naturally had to pretend to be well behaved and maintain order .
As he held an official rank of fourth grade, Sun Shaozong was naturally responsible for the front row.
As soon as he greeted Xue Pan's father-in-law, Shangshu Wang, a young eunuch came quietly to his side and whispered in a low voice, "Sir Sun, Eunuch Dai wants you to come over and talk."
