95Chapter 95 Conspiracy

"The fourth prince died?" Jing Shao stood up in shock after hearing this.

Duofu frowned: "It has been reported to the palace."

"No, I have to go to the Rui Wang Mansion!" Jing Shao said as he was about to change clothes.

"You are still under house arrest, how can you go? I will go." Mu Hanzhang held him back. The fourth prince was going to go to war tomorrow. If Jing Shao ran out of the mansion at this time regardless of the emperor's order, who knows what unpleasant words might be spread.

Jing Shao was silent for a moment, and slowly clenched his fists. How could he forget about this? He was still fighting outside at that time, and he didn't hear that his brother had a fourth son in the fourteenth year of Hongzheng. He thought that his rebirth had caused some changes. Now thinking about it, maybe the second son in the sixteenth year of Hongzheng was born early, and the second son did not live past one year old. At that time, he was recuperating in the capital, and he didn't go even after hearing the news. The relationship with his brother became more rigid from that time.

"No, I must go." Jing Shao stood up and went to the inner room regardless of everyone's dissuasion.

Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips, turned around and quickly wrote a memorial, and handed it to Duofu: "Send it to the palace immediately."

Duofu agreed, took the memorial and walked out, his usually clumsy short legs were now moving very fast. He was a eunuch from the palace. Now, except for the two masters of Chengwang Mansion, he was the only one who could go directly to the palace. If he wanted to hand it to the emperor immediately, he had to go there in person.

Mu Hanzhang shook his head at Duofu's back. It seemed that this guy was not slow to walk, but he was too lazy on weekdays, so he was slow.

After the two changed their clothes, Jing Shao hugged his princess and climbed onto Xiaohei, and ran out quickly.

Ruiwang Mansion was not far from Chengwang Mansion, and they arrived at the door in a short time.

The guards in front of the door hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and the butler hurriedly came to greet him.

"Where is my brother?" Jing Shao threw the reins to the servant and walked in.

"The prince is in the princess's courtyard." The housekeeper looked worried. Seeing Jing Shao was about to go to the inner house, he hurriedly stopped him and asked him to go to the main courtyard to rest, saying that Jingchen would come out in a while.

"No, I have to go in and take a look." Jing Shao said he was going to go in, but was pulled by Mu Hanzhang.

"How can you enter the inner house casually!" Mu Hanzhang glared at him and pulled him to the main courtyard where Jingchen lived.

The main wife of the Rui Wangfu was a woman, so Jingchen had his own courtyard. The two sat in the main hall. The maid poured tea and then retreated politely. Not long after, Jingchen walked in. He was stunned when he saw Jingshao in the room, and the coldness on his face suddenly subsided a lot: "Why are you here?"

"I heard that something happened in the mansion, so the prince ran out without caring." Mu Hanzhang said helplessly.

"Nonsense!" Jingchen glared at Jingshao, flicked his sleeves and sat down.

Jing Shao glanced at the young wife who complained to his uncle, and dared not get angry or say anything: "Brother, how come Xiao Si suddenly died?"

Jing Chen sighed and rubbed his eyebrows: "The imperial physician said that she was born with a deficiency. She had a fever for the past few days and could not be cured. She died early this morning."

Mu Hanzhang remembered what her mother said, that Princess Rui seemed to have always believed in an old nun, so she glanced at Jing Shao. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly heard a noise. Princess Rui with messy hair suddenly rushed in, followed by a group of flustered servants.

When Xiao saw Jing Shao when she entered the door, she immediately stopped and looked at Jing Shao for a long time.

"What else do you have to say?" Jing Chen looked at Xiao coldly, and turned to the servants behind him, "Why are you all standing there? Send the princess back quickly. Without the king's order, you are not allowed to step out of the yard!"

"Your Majesty!" Xiao looked at Jing Chen in shock, but her good upbringing did not allow her to scream. She was just a little trembling with anger, and turned stiffly and left.

Jing Shao was stared at inexplicably, not knowing what had happened.

Jing Chen had no intention of explaining, and said to the two of them: "Even if there is a reason, you should go back quickly. I will submit another memorial to my father.

On the way back, Jing Shao's brows never relaxed. What happened in the Rui Palace was very strange. Why did Xiao stare at him? What did his brother mean by that?

"If I'm not mistaken, the Rui Princess must have told my brother something about you." Seeing that Jing Shao was absent-minded and Xiao Hei was about to go to the vegetable stall to eat cabbage, Mu Hanzhang hurriedly took the reins from his hand and said slowly.

"What are you talking about me? If I didn't go, would I have killed Xiao Si? "Jing Shao frowned even more deeply when he heard this. From the look of his brother, he didn't seem to doubt him, but his sister-in-law's behavior was really confusing.

"That's not the case," Mu Hanzhang lightly kicked the horse's belly to let Xiao Hei walk faster, "maybe she said that the legitimate son died, but you, her own brother, didn't show up."

"She still wants to say this?" Jing Shao was a little surprised. His son just died, and Xiao looked very sad. At this time, she would still pay attention to other people's etiquette?

Mu Hanzhang's lips curled up a sneer. Xiao must not have thought this in her heart, but with Jing Chen's temper, she certainly didn't dare to say what she thought, so she could only pick out reasonable things to criticize Jing Shao: "This matter is strange, we must investigate it. "

Jing Shao nodded. He also wanted to know why Xiao Shi targeted him so much. It was like this in the last life, and it turned out to be like this again in this life. But at that time, he blamed all this on his brother, thinking that the princess's attitude was what his brother meant. Now that he saw it clearly, he had to figure it out.

The next day, the fourth prince went to the battle, and Emperor Hongzheng personally went to the city gate to see him off. The fourth prince wore armor and led his troops away in high spirits, as if victory was already in sight.

Emperor Hongzheng stood on the high city gate, looking at the army that was gradually going away with deep eyes.

"Your Majesty, the evidence of the Minister of Rites' corruption and bribery has been collected." An official behind him whispered.

"Lock him first," Emperor Hongzheng's expression remained unchanged, and a sharp look flashed in his eyes, "Ask me everything you can."

"Yes." The man agreed and slowly retreated.

Regarding the fact that Prince Cheng violated the emperor's order and ran out of Prince Cheng's mansion, Emperor Hongzheng did not pursue it much. In view of the fact that the royal family had just lost a grandson, the court officials did not dare to make a fuss about it, and just mentioned it briefly and let it go.

Without the fourth prince, the court seemed to be much calmer than before. Emperor Hongzheng took out the maritime trade regulations written by Mu Hanzhang and showed them to everyone. For a while, the court was full of discussions, and it seemed to be lively again.

The conservative court officials naturally opposed it, thinking that this was a meaningless matter. Some officials from the south who were from the sea knew more, and many of them thought it was a good thing. Several high-ranking officials did not say anything and took the regulations back to read.

"Dead?" Mu Hanzhang widened his eyes in surprise.

Jing Shao nodded. He followed his princess's words to check the old nun Mo Bei in Biyun Temple. Who knew that when the people he sent arrived, the old nun had already hanged herself in the room.

"This is really a case of trying to cover up the truth." Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips. In this way, the matter of the Rui Wang Mansion was indeed closely related to this nun, but now that she is dead, there is nothing to be learned.

"This is what I got from questioning the little nun." Jing Shao put a few confessions and something wrapped in yellow paper on the table.

Confession? Mu Hanzhang took the papers and looked at them. They explained the number of times Mo Bei went in and out of the Rui Wang Mansion and what he did. The little nun didn't know much, mostly about what kind of lamp wicks Mo Bei persuaded Princess Rui to buy and what kind of incense table to offer. It can be seen that the little nun Jing Shao caught should be Mo Bei's close servant, but Mo Bei always chased the little nuns out of the door when talking to Xiao, so she didn't know what they said.

"What is this?" Mu Hanzhang took the yellow paper package and opened it. There was some powder inside, which looked like incense ash.

"This is the 'magic medicine' that Mo Bei gave to Xiao Si." Jing Shao curled his lips and said. The little nun thought that the medicine that the master gave to the emperor's grandson must be extraordinary, so she took advantage of Mo Bei's inattention to hide a bag, and now he looted it.

Mu Hanzhang poured half of the powder into a small porcelain bottle, and wrapped the other half with yellow paper: "Xiao Shao, I think this matter cannot be hidden from my brother."

Jing Shao frowned. He was thinking about finding out the truth before he said anything. After all, these were all their guesses. His brother must be heartbroken after losing his young son. Wouldn't it be hurtful to speak rashly before finding out the truth?

Mu Hanzhang put the small porcelain bottle away, stood up and took Jing Shao's hand, and stuffed the yellow paper package into his palm: "This matter is definitely not that simple. No matter what the purpose of the person behind it is, I am sure that provoking the relationship between you brothers accounts for at least half of it."

Jing Shao raised his head suddenly: "What do you mean?"

"Whether this medicine is the thing that killed Xiao Si or not, we can't find someone to test it," Mu Hanzhang held Jing Shao's hand. If this matter was known to others, it would be hard to explain. "Listen to me, give this medicine and the little nun to my brother."

Now is the cusp of the storm. If it is not to cherish this brotherhood, who is willing to wade into this muddy water? With Jingchen's wisdom, he will definitely understand his brother's sincerity. As long as the two brothers are united, nothing else matters.

Jingshao listened blankly, and gradually clenched the yellow paper in his hand. If he was to provoke the relationship between brothers again in his life, he would have lived in vain.

Jingchen took the medicine powder and the confession, and did not speak for a long time. He looked at Jingshao deeply: "The imperial physician had tested this medicine when she gave it to Xiao Si before."

Jingshao was stunned for a moment and scratched his head: "I just think Mo Bei's death is very suspicious, and nothing else has been found out."

Jingchen looked at him for a long time, slowly reached out and touched Jingshao's head.

Half a month later, the fourth prince arrived in Jiangnan.

Jiangnan has a flat terrain, few natural barriers, and is easy to attack but difficult to defend, but Jingyu forgot that he understood this principle, and the King of Huainan naturally understood it. Therefore, before the fourth prince's army had set up camp, the Huainan army took the initiative to attack.