Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 178 This is just an accident, my brothers, please don't think too much about it

Due to heavy rain for several days, the water level of the Wei River has risen sharply.

A civilian cemetery outside the city of Chang'an, on the bank of the Wei River.

There were no white banners, no incense or paper money, and no filial sons and grandsons crying at the funeral.

The funeral of Sun Simiao, a famous doctor of his generation, was extremely low-key.

Or rather, it should have been very low-key.

"I have long heard of your name as a great doctor, but it's a pity that we can only meet him in this kind of occasion."

Li Ming kept his promise, holding the dark coffin and walking forward on the muddy road.

Beside him, soldiers in golden armor guarded him on both sides, forming a fan-shaped formation and marching forward in alert.

It's really impossible to keep a low profile.

Old Sun lived a frugal life, so naturally there wouldn't be any "farewell ceremony" or anything like that.

There's nothing much to say about the funeral. They just dug a hole and buried the body.

The funeral crowd dispersed.

Li Ming sat on his horse holding an umbrella and slowly returned to the city, enjoying the rain scene all the way.

By the Wei River, an old man in a straw raincoat was fishing.

"Is there a mouth?" Li Ming asked casually.

The old man didn't even raise his head:

"Everything has been killed. There are only fish here."

"Will you take the bait?"

Li Ming chuckled, jumped off his horse, and sat next to the fisherman in a familiar manner.

"Dr. Sun, I have long admired you~"

In the spirit of "the more the enemy opposes, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing", after encountering many obstacles such as assassination attempts, Li Ming became more determined to meet with Sun Simiao.

When Lao Sun was "silenced", he agreed with him on the time and place for the next meeting -

When the coffin is carried during the funeral procession.

"Your Highness, you have the wrong person. My last name is not Sun." Sun Simiao lowered his straw hat:
"After today, if I have anything to do with the royal family again, I will be a grandson."

Li Ming laughed out loud:

"I'm sorry, we got the miracle doctor involved in our little family affair."

At the same time, his heart shuddered.

According to Sun Simiao, he was almost silenced that time, and it was confirmed that it was related to the royal family.

Lao Sun is not a common person who is isolated from the upper class.

Li Shimin had invited him to the palace many times to see patients and diagnose them, and even wanted to appoint him as a Doctor of Chinese Studies, but he declined.

He knew the royal family.

In other words, the mastermind behind all this is really...

"I am only talking to you because of your highness's superb medical skills."

Sun Simiao looked at the rolling river and spoke to himself:

"Around this time last year, someone came to me and told me that there was a rat infestation in their house.

"But my aunt is a bit neurotic and she refused to let me bring arsenic into the house. She asked me if I had any solution."

His thoughts were very clear, and he didn't look like a man in his seventies at all:

"I was also confused at the time and told him how to make arsenic by heating realgar wine. Ugh, ugh!"

Old Sun spat into the Wei River in an uncivilized manner.

It would be difficult for anyone to be civilized if he were like him and got into fatal disaster without knowing it.

"Later... I read in the Chang'an Express that someone had poisoned the emperor with realgar wine.

"Then, I left Chang'an."

As Sun Simiao spoke, his eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

Only then did Li Ming understand why this old miracle doctor whose hometown was in Gyeonggi Province suddenly disappeared from the world.

It took Lai Junchen and his team a lot of effort to find the trail.

Old man Lao Sun is quite smart. As soon as he found out that someone was using his prescription to do something bad, he ran away immediately.

"I didn't expect that after hiding away for half a year, I only returned to the capital to replenish some medicinal materials, and you, Your Highness, caught me red-handed, and even added a little bit of ingredients."

Sun Simiao turned his head, looked at Li Ming, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and raised his arms.

The wound caused by the tip of the umbrella had a black scab and still hurt a little.

Although the antidote was taken in advance, the toxicity was not completely suppressed.

"Same here." Li Ming lifted his hair and revealed an inconspicuous wound on his forehead, which was also scabbed.

He was injured when his head hit the wall after Yuchi Xunyu kicked him into the alley with a "go away" sound.

"So, who wants to kill you and me?" Li Ming asked in a deep voice:

"Who was the person who asked you for the poison that could conceal the truth, who almost poisoned the emperor, and who almost killed both of us?"

Sun Simiao snorted:
"For something like this, the other party will definitely not come forward to ask in person.

"The person who asked me about the 'wonderful uses' of realgar wine last year was a servant in your mansion."

Li Ming's ignited hope deflated again.

"But..." Sun Simiao changed the subject:
"The people in the Shang Pharmacy are all my disciples and grandchildren. I have been to the palace a few times to treat the illnesses of His Majesty and the princes and grandchildren, at their request."

Li Ming's breathing became rapid.

"Your Highness has a brother who has always been suffering from a strange disease. His Majesty asked me to treat him, so I have been to his bedroom several times and have become more or less familiar with him."

Sun Simiao said slowly:

“The servant who asked me about the poison had a beard and was in disguise, so I didn’t recognize him at first.

"But thinking back, that servant was the eunuch who served your brother who had a strange disease."

Li Ming's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

The royal brother with a strange disease, isn’t that Li Chengqian!

You are such a good prince. You did something bad but you dare not show it to others. How dare you come here to complain to me?
"Your brother is obviously in good health, but he claims to be ill and refuses to leave the palace to go to his fiefdom.

"Your Majesty asked me to treat him. What can I say? Say he is pretending to be sick or is he really sick? Isn't this putting me on the fire?
"I can only play it safe and say that the prince is suffering from a mental illness, which is difficult to cure."

To this day, Sun Simiao still gets angry when he talks about this.

"Huh?" Li Ming was stunned.

Judging from this description, it doesn't sound like Li Chengqian.

Rather, it seems...

"Your brother who has a 'heart disease' seems to be..."

Sun Simiao raised his head and recalled:
"It seems to be the King of Qi, whose name is Li You."

Li You...

Li Ming was at a loss.

It's him?

The mastermind behind poisoning the emperor, plotting the Jiucheng Palace, and assassinating him and Sun Simiao...

It's Li You? !

That incompetent royal brother who has strong muscles but a simple mind and has neither the emperor’s favor nor power?

You said that it was Thirteenth Master Li Fu who was behind this, which is more believable than Li You!
"Why is it him? Why is it always him?"

Li Ming was sitting on his horse on his way back to the city, his CPU was almost smoking.

The fifth brother, Li You, didn't cause any trouble when he was in the capital.

How come after he went to Qi, his legends were everywhere?
In addition to plotting to kill the emperor and the prince, it seems that Li You is the culprit who colluded with Zhang Liang and discredited Liaodong!

Could it be that the previous stupid behavior was just an appearance, and Li You is the master of pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger?

"Or... that idiot is just a puppet on the stage, and he is the one who does all the bad things that need to happen.

"So as to conceal the identity of the real mastermind..."

If you think along this line of thought, everything will become clear.

With Li You's brain capacity, it is obviously not suitable for him to continuously plan such high-end conspiracies.

He was just a puppet being used by others, and he was unknowingly helping the mastermind behind the scenes to take advantage of the situation.

“But the mastermind also left a loophole.

"Using Li You twice in a row, this criminal method is too unique.

"This shows that the same mastermind was behind the Jiucheng Palace Incident and the Zhang Liang Collusion Case."

The Jiucheng Palace Incident and Sun Simiao served as bridges to connect the Pingzhou false alarm case and the recent assassination case.

They are strung together. They are all strung together.

A series of cases that occurred since last year are all connected together.

"It's the same person who is behind all these events and has played us around!"

Li Ming suddenly felt his scalp tingling.

Combining similar items can certainly make your thinking much clearer.

The more events the mastermind is involved in, the greater the chance that he will be exposed.

But this also shows that the mastermind behind the scenes has a deep plan and great power.

"Oh, no matter how powerful you are, can you be more powerful than the emperor?"

Li Ming calmed down and looked at this series of events more calmly.

“The incident started with the Li Xiaogong case.

"Li You learned from Sun Simiao through the eunuchs around him that realgar wine is poisonous when heated, and informed Ashina Jieshelu.

"Ashina Jieshelu bribed Li Xiaogong's Turkic concubine and asked her to poison her husband with realgar wine, proving the effectiveness of this prescription."

The whole story of this case has finally been completely clarified.

"Then, the leader of the association put this method into practice on Li Shimin. Fortunately, I destroyed it, saved the emperor, and discovered the principle of poisoning with realgar wine.

"As the investigation of the case deepened, the Ashina Society launched the Jiucheng Palace Incident, which was disrupted by me..."

At this point, Li Ming realized that he had officially stepped into the sight of the mastermind behind this regicide conspiracy.

“Then there was the first meeting with Sun Simiao. After accidentally talking about this matter with Yang in Lide Hall, the traitor Wang told the mastermind about this move.

"The mastermind spread false news about internal and external troubles in Pingzhou, so that I canceled my meeting with Old Sun and set off for Liaodong ahead of schedule...

“No, it’s not fake news.”

"The urgent report from Pingzhou is true. Goguryeo planned to invade. This matter once alarmed the court."

Li Ming recalled the scene when he first arrived in Pingzhou.

At that time, the guard told him that Goguryeo did make moves to invade the south, but it was later abandoned.

Goguryeo's actions were so perfect that it seemed as if they were coordinating with the mastermind.

"Or did the mastermind really collude with Goguryeo and stage this feint attack?"

This is really...unexpected, but also reasonable.

The Heavenly Khan was the emperor most feared by the barbarians from all directions.

Assassinating him is in the interests of all the barbarians, including Goguryeo.

The shadow of Xueyantuo was already behind the Jiucheng Palace incident, so it is not difficult to understand the addition of Goguryeo.

"After that, the mastermind spread rumors that I was plotting a rebellion. It was not until I came back from Liaodong that I tried to meet Sun Simiao for the second time to find out the truth. Then I planned to assassinate and silence him..."

The context of each event was extremely clear and unfolded before Li Ming.

Although on the surface it was Prince of Qi Li You who did it.

But such a large-scale project obviously cannot be directed by an ordinary prince.

"Who is qualified to control a prince? Who can connect Xueyantuo and Goguryeo? Who can make the emperor's spy prince willingly surrender?"

Li Ming asked and answered his own questions.

The answer is ready to come out.

“Above the prince, below the emperor.

"Apart from my three legitimate brothers, who else could it be?"

After going around in circles, it turns out that the bad guy is among you three.

Li Chengqian is still the prime suspect.

It’s not because he is closest to Li You.

Before Li You set off, he invited his fifth brother to dinner and gave him a gift, which was not anything special.

This is mainly because Li Chengqian, as the crown prince, is the first in line to the throne.

He would benefit the most if the emperor died.

In addition to Li Chengqian, Li Tai is also a major suspect.

This guy is definitely not an easy person to deal with.

In the Jiucheng Palace incident, apart from Li Shimin, Li Chengqian faced the greatest danger.

If they were both killed at that time, Li Tai would have become the final winner. Moreover, after the emperor gave Li Ming and Li Zhi the right to compete for the throne, Li Tai was actually the biggest victim.

This can also partially explain why the first time they prevented him from meeting Sun Simiao, they simply lured Li Ming away to Liaodong, but the second time they directly killed him.

His attitude towards Li Ming changed.

Li Zhi is the least likely.

He was only ten years old last year, so how could he have done this?

But it’s hard to say.

Because Li Ming, who had the third eye of the future, knew that among the three brothers born to Empress Changsun, Li Zhi was the first to mature and the best at pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger.

Li Zhi was still young and couldn't think of such a shady idea, but there was no guarantee that the advisers and retainers around him wouldn't give him bad advice.

Back to my favorite werewolf killing segment with my brothers.

The meeting with Sun Simiao was indeed very helpful.

The amount of information is huge.

"No matter which of the three, the one who wants to kill me is my own brother.

"You have used all your breastfeeding skills to entertain me.

"Should I also give you a big treat on the night of the festival to cheer you up?"

Li Ming licked his lips and his eyes softened.

…………

Taiji Palace, inner courtyard.

Thanks to two fussy court officials, the palace maids and eunuchs had to brave the wind and rain and work 996 hours a day on the festival arrangements, and they were very busy.

There was a shortage of manpower, so Hu Sanniang, who had "made a mistake" and was driven out by Li Ming, also successfully mixed into the preparation team.

Her task was to repair the lampstand beside the sea pool.

The lampstand is several feet high and made of pine wood.

On the night of the festival, lighting incense on top of the lampstand can have the effect of calming the mind and praying for blessings. This is a traditional program for the Li family during every festival.

After more than ten years of wind and rain, these lampstands are a bit old and need repair.

Hu Sanniang took a bucket of insect-repellent paint made from tung oil and raw lacquer and approached the lampstand she was responsible for.

While no one was paying attention, she used her wide straw raincoat as a cover, scraped off the wood veneer at the mortise and tenon joints of the lampstand with a shovel, stuffed the fat white grubs into the cracks in the wood, and then covered the outside with wood chips.

Finally, she applied paint in place for the final cover-up.

There are so many grubs with amazing appetites, and the rainy weather is just the right time for them to eat away at the wood quickly.

Of course, it is somewhat unrealistic to expect the lampstands built by the imperial craftsmen to collapse simply by being eaten away by insects.

"You, what are you dawdling about!"

The leading palace maid strode over and loudly scolded Hu Sanniang.

At the same time, he took out a screwdriver from the carpenter from his straw raincoat and quietly handed it to her.

This person is also a spy who infiltrated the interior.

Hu Sanniang calmly put the screwdriver in her arms, picked up the paint bucket, and climbed to the top of the lampstand.

She repeated the old trick, adding bugs to various mortise and tenon joints, letting them slowly eat away at the wood.

Of course, the bugs are just a cover-up.

The lampstand is not only built with mortise and tenon structure, but also uses nails to connect the boards for double insurance.

So, bugs alone are not enough.

The nails have to be pulled out too.

Hu Sanniang leaned over, grabbed the nail head with a screwdriver, and applied force carefully.

After a long time, a nail was finally removed. The nail was still very straight and not bent. It was almost impossible to tell that it had been pried off with a screwdriver.

Then, Hu Sanniang gently put the nail back into its original position with her hand.

In this way, there are still some nails, but they are no longer useful and only serve a decorative purpose.

Hu Sanniang sprinkled a few wet leaves on the protruding nail head as camouflage and continued to deal with the next one.

In this way, in the next few days, she used this method to carefully handle the nails one by one.

If she accidentally used too much force and bent the nail, she would have to use a hammer to straighten it.

It is imperative that no one sees that the nail was pried out manually.

With her unyielding persistence, she had pulled out all the nails of the lampstand, and the entire building was on the verge of collapse.

Hu Sanniang pulled out the nails herself from top to bottom, so she was safe while working.

But now, if she were asked to climb to the top of the lampstand again, she would not dare to do so even if she had ten thousand courage.

The nails were pulled out and the mortise and tenon joints were eaten by insects.

From the outside, the lampstand appears to be still standing intact.

But the inside is rotten.

If someone climbs up there now, it might collapse.

"call……"

Hu Sanniang wiped the sweat off her forehead and calmly returned the screwdriver to the leading palace maid.

The two exchanged glances and nodded imperceptibly.

Our mission is accomplished!
…………

June.

The weather is getting warmer and the Dragon Boat Festival is here.

Thanks to good weather, the rain that had lasted for more than a month finally stopped.

We had dinner on the night of the Dragon Boat Festival.

The inner courtyard of Taiji Palace was bustling with people and brightly lit.

The royal family gathered here to pray for blessings, ward off evil spirits and celebrate the festival.

Although Your Majesty sympathizes with the princes living outside the capital, he does not force them to return to the capital.

But considering the royal family and relatives who stayed in the capital, the festival was still very lively and there was a great atmosphere.

At that time, the palace maids climbed up the lampstand and lit the brazier, which marked the climax of the festival celebration.

According to the custom brought from the south, some realgar wine would be placed in the brazier, and the realgar wine smoke would be lit to drive away insects and ward off evil spirits.

But due to well-known reasons, this session was cancelled.

Burn some incense and make do with it.

The royal family members stood by the pool, lit candles and placed them on paper boats to send away the god of plague.

The imperial family is the most particular about hierarchy among the old and the young.

Each concubine and their children had a roughly fixed seating order by the pool.

The place where everyone in Lide Hall was located was right under a lampstand.

Li Ming leaned in to listen and heard a rustling sound coming from the lamppost, as if something was gnawing at it.

He felt relieved and happily played with the sheep bladder filled with water by the pool, as if he was an ordinary naughty child.

Yang and the other concubines were chatting and watching this warm and harmonious scene happily.

Only Wang stayed away from them, sulking.

A few years ago, Yang lived in the palace as the wife and concubine of a criminal.

Li Shimin saw that Yang was beautiful and had sex with her, and she became pregnant with Li Ming.

This is how she transformed from a crow into a phoenix.

Wang also wanted to do the same thing, dressing in front of the mirror every day, just to attract the emperor's attention when he visited Lide Hall, so that he would discover her beauty.

Of course, the result was that Li Shimin didn't even remember that there was such a character in Lide Hall.

This made her very depressed, and she and Yang were always looking for trouble.

This also confused Yang for a while.

The original wife Li Yuanji has already learned how to do housework, so why are you still jealous of her?
"Sisters. The little prince is here too."

Wu Meiniang was sitting right next to them, so she naturally came over to chat.

"Hello, Aunt Wu~" Li Ming greeted her sweetly.

"Greetings to His Majesty the Young Prince."

Wu Meiniang bowed to Li Mingfu and looked very happy.

A little further away, Li Chengqian looked at her with burning eyes.

"Brother, which beauty are you admiring?"

Li Tai asked in a somewhat yin-yang tone.

According to etiquette, the three legitimate sons Li Chengqian, Li Tai and Li Zhi stood together.

The three contestants each have their own ulterior motives, but they don't want to stage a palace fight in front of the emperor and ruin his beautiful fantasy of "brotherly love and respect".

They can only get along together despite being unwilling to accept the situation.

"I'm looking at Li Ming." Li Chengqian reluctantly withdrew his beautiful eyes:
"Since the emperor's younger brother has been adopted, he is my biological brother.

"Why is he still hanging out with the people in Lide Hall?"

When Li Tai mentioned that little bastard who gave him a headache, he rubbed his temple unconsciously:

"Who can control him? He will go wherever there is benefit."

Li Zhi was still the same, silent as always, listening to his two brothers competing with each other, following Li Chengqian's gaze, silently looking in the direction of Li Ming.

At first glance, I saw Aunt Wu, who was wearing a thin bright red palace skirt and was as beautiful as a butterfly.

The adolescent boy blushed immediately and subconsciously avoided the sight.

A-zi Li Mingda was also looking at Li Ming's direction with resentment, pouting and muttering:

"Why did Xiao Ming go there..."

She also wanted to go play with Xiao Ming like Aunt Wu did.

However, there was Concubine Wei between her and the team in Lide Hall, so it was not easy to pass the message.

After Xiao Ming's scientific treatment, she now truly practices the famous saying "There are only wrong names, but no wrong nicknames."

It is really as strong as a little rhinoceros.

At this time, the palace maids placed the incense basin at the foot of the lampstand, preparing to climb up the lampstand to light incense after the Minister of Zongzheng Li Shenfu finished his opening remarks.

Yang and Wu Meiniang were chatting, while Aunt Wang was enjoying herself as usual, and Li Ming was happily playing with a ball made of sheep bladder.

Suddenly, he exerted force with his feet and kicked the ball hard.

The water ball hit the little palace maid's head. She staggered, slipped, and fell into the pool.

With a plop, the scene fell into chaos.

With such a big commotion happening, His Majesty the Emperor naturally passed over Concubine Wei and came to Yang's side.

The emperor was not bound by such red tape.

"What happened?" Li Shimin asked with a frown.

"If a palace maid accidentally falls into the water, drag her down and punish her with a stick." Wu Meiniang was as eager to show off as ever.

"Aunt Wu, Aunt Wu, all the other lamps are lit, why is ours not lit?" Li Ming pointed naively at the dark top of the lamp.

"Because of that maid..."

Wu Mei Niang looked at the frowning emperor and suddenly realized that she shouldn't be here, so she volunteered to pick up the spice basin left by the maid:

"Let me go up and burn incense and pray for blessings."

Li Shimin's frown finally relaxed.

Li Ming watched Wu Meiniang step onto the creaking escalator, then rushed to Wang's side and pulled her skirt:

"Auntie Wang, Auntie Wang, my ball has rolled under the lamp stand, please help me pick it up."

Who are you, little guy?... Wang subconsciously wanted to refuse.

But she found that the emperor's eyes were always following Li Ming.

He swallowed the words, raised the corners of his mouth, and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth in a friendly manner:

"Okay, Auntie will pick it up for you right away!"

She lifted her skirt and got under the lamp.

Just at this time, Wu Meiniang also climbed up to the top of the lampstand and was using a flint to light the fire.

"Damn you, you naughty kid, you kicked the ball so deep inside..."

Aunt Wang cursed softly and stretched out her hand to reach the ball in the corner.

My elbow accidentally touched the pillar of the lampstand.

The pine wood, which should have been solid, made a crackling sound.

It was as if there was nothing inside.

Followed by.

The lampstand collapsed with a loud bang.

(End of this chapter)