Volume 1 Zhangqiao Iron Coffin Chapter 37: Shocking Change (Part 2)
Outside the Yizhuang Gate.
A group of officials paced back and forth, extremely anxious.
At this moment, except for the Criminal Censor Chen Taiji, all other officials were blocked outside the door, even the governor was no exception.
"What's going on?" Governor Li Yan asked Qiu Yongnian and others impatiently, "What's the problem with that jade pendant ?"
"I don't know, I really don't know!" Qiu Yongnian was terrified and replied in a low voice, "We have asked many people, but none of them could find out its origin. But I didn't expect that the censor actually knew..."
"How long has he been in there? Sigh!" Li Yan said anxiously, "This case is really terrible! It was like this two years ago, and it's like this again now!
"I'm telling you, you all know what happened to those county officials. If you don't handle this situation well, it will be a lesson for you! Humph!"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes..." Qiu Yongnian didn't know what to say as his body was shaking like a sieve.
At this moment, a guard from the Ministry of Justice walked out of the Yizhuang Hall, bowed to the officials and said:
"My Lords, please come in!"
Hearing the call, the officials hurried to the hall.
When Master Yao Jin was about to go in with Qiu Yongnian, they were stopped by the guards.
The guard did not explain, and Yao Jin tactfully withdrew.
There is no way. They say that only officials can enter, but legal advisors can only be considered clerks and are not qualified.
After the officials entered the funeral hall, they all covered their mouths and noses at the same time. Although the body had been embalmed, the stench was still extremely strong.
At this moment, Chen Taiji was standing in front of the Taoist's body, discussing something with one of his guards.
The white cloth on the Taoist priest had been taken off, revealing his body covered with scars.
"Sir Chen," Governor Li asked hurriedly, "what is the origin of this Taoist priest?"
"Yes!" Chen Taiji responded, and then warned everyone with a heavy face, "Remember, what I will say later are all royal secrets. If anyone dares to spread rumors, they will bear the consequences themselves!"
"Yes, yes, yes..." This time, it was the turn of all the officials to tremble like sieves.
No one expected that the matter would be so serious and actually involve royal secrets! ?
"Nine years after Guizong, that is, eleven years ago," Chen Taiji said, "there was an assassination attempt on the king in the palace!
"I am not in a position to tell you the details of what happened. You only need to know two things. One is that the assassin's target was Empress Dowager Lin! At that time, Empress Dowager Lin was still the queen!"
ah!?
Everyone was shocked, and Xu Zun's heart couldn't help but skip a beat. He never expected that this matter would involve the Queen Mother.
As everyone knows, in the current Daxuan Dynasty, the mother is strong and the son is weak, and the actual ruler of the Daxuan Dynasty is none other than the Empress Dowager Lin!
"The second thing," Chen Taiji said, "the assassins came from the Japanese country in the East China Sea. The jade pendants they carried," he raised the jade pendant in his hand, "were these jade pendants!"
Puff!
Upon hearing this, all the officials were struck by lightning. Except for Xu Zun, all the others fell to the ground with weak knees!
Finished!
Everyone was filled with despair. No one had expected that the Taoist priest in the coffin was actually an assassin from the Japanese Kingdom in the East China Sea, and the assassin who tried to assassinate Empress Dowager Lin!
"Back then," Chen Taiji continued, "if it weren't for the imperial guards who risked their lives to protect her, Empress Dowager Lin would have been assassinated long ago!
"And after a fight, the guards caught a live person!" He looked at the body in the coffin and said, "Back then, due to various reasons, the assassin was not sent to the Internal Guard House, but was imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, where he was interrogated! You see..."
As he spoke, he pointed at the corpse and said:
"Facial branding, shoulder sawing, limb piercing, nail extraction, and toe cutting and suturing are all routine procedures for the Ministry of Justice to interrogate serious criminals!"
ah?
Everyone was horrified when they heard this. Governor Li stood up and asked, "Then...what happened next?"
"Later..." Chen Taiji looked at the guard next to him and said, "Later, someone broke into the prison, killed all the jailers on duty that day, and rescued that man!"
Puff!
Governor Li finally got up but fell down again. This time, it was like falling into a bottomless abyss and he could never get up again!
"The Queen Mother was furious," Chen Taiji said with a gloomy face, "She believed that there must be a traitor in the Ministry of Justice, so... you should have heard about the catastrophe that happened later, right?"
After hearing this, there was a dead silence at the scene.
Xu Zun searched his memory and unexpectedly knew about this.
Shen Tiande once told him that after the prison break, all the officials in the Ministry of Justice were imprisoned overnight and suffered torture. In the end, only a few of them were able to get out of prison alive!
And it was precisely because of that catastrophe that Shen Tiande was able to rise to the position of Vice Minister in the Ministry of Justice!
"Fortunately... I had already gone to the Dali Temple and escaped!" Chen Taiji put his disappointed eyes back and said to everyone, "Now, everyone understands, right? The nature of the Iron Coffin Case has completely changed!
“Although dozens of people died in the Iron Coffin Case two years ago, it is just an unsolved case!
"But now the hanging coffin case has become a serious case that is hiding a most wanted criminal and is even suspected of treason!"
Boom!
All the officials were struck by lightning, and they all fell to the ground, their faces pale and their bodies trembling!
"Chen... Censor Chen..." Only Li Yan suppressed his excitement and asked, "Are you sure that this Taoist priest is the assassin who was rescued that year?"
Chen Taiji shook his head slightly, looked at the guard next to him again, and said, "I have never seen him, but I feel that he is similar to the portrait on the internal reference wanted poster. If you want to confirm it, you need to find the officials of the Ministry of Justice or the guards of the palace to come and identify him!
"But..." Having said this, he looked at the guards beside him for the third time, then raised the jade pendant and said, "No matter if this Taoist priest was the assassin back then, the appearance of this thing has linked the Iron Coffin Case and the assassination case together!
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that with the Queen Mother..."
"Censor Chen," Li Yan said hurriedly, "This is a serious matter, so let's submit a petition to His Majesty and the Queen Mother right away!"
"No!"
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the guard suddenly took a step forward and shouted in a high-pitched voice.
Just as everyone was surprised, the guard suddenly took out a yellow object from his sleeve, raised his hands above his head, and shouted:
"Everyone, listen up, the Queen Mother's decree has arrived! Why don't you all accept it quickly!!?"
ah!!?
All the officials were shocked and immediately knelt on the ground in fear and trepidation!
"I recently heard that the Xinye Iron Coffin Case happened again, so I ordered Cai Kun from the Internal Guard to follow the Ministry of Justice to secretly investigate the case," the man read out loud, "If there is an emergency, Cai Kun will be fully responsible and will exercise discretion. All prefectures, counties and military offices must fully cooperate. If anyone slacks off, they will be severely punished!"
"Your Highness, I accept your order!"
The officials shouted "receive the order", but they were already very panicked in their hearts.
Unexpectedly, the Queen Mother had already made preparations and placed the leader of the Internal Guard among the officials of the Ministry of Justice to keep track of the progress of the investigation at all times.
Could it be... that she had known that there would be an accident in this case?
Everyone else was panicking, and Xu Zun was even more panicking.
He seemed to have heard the phrase "exercise the power of convenience" from the TV series "Detective Di Renjie", which meant that he could do whatever he wanted with the situation. Not to mention the government, even the army in the barracks had to listen to his orders!
In addition, there was another important reason that made Xu Zun uneasy. His father-in-law, Shen Tiande, was forced to retire because he offended the Empress Dowager Lin!
This time, can you still reap the benefits?
Oh, God! What a sin!
Xu Zun originally thought that he could follow the routine and just take on a small case for fun since he was a newcomer!
But I didn't expect that the game would reach its climax right from the start, and it would suddenly reach the head of the empress dowager who had all the power in the world...
