On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 584 The East Palace was stolen

Within the Sui Dynasty, there were not many people who knew that Cui Qiji had complained against his father Cui Che in the East Palace of Luoyang, but Yu Wenshu, Yu Wenhua and his father and son were just two of them.

The relationship between Yu Wenshu and Yang Guang needs no elaboration, such as the relationship between Fang Xuanling and Cui Che.

And Yu Wenhua and the favor he received were not given to his father.

As early as when Yang Guang was hiding in the East Palace, Yu Wenhuaji was the general of the East Palace Guards. He often went in and out of the East Palace and slept in the East Palace, and had a close relationship with Yang Guang.

Yu Wenshu was naturally tight-lipped about confidential matters, but during Yuwen Shiji's entry into the court, he learned a lot of information about the Yan Dynasty from Yu Wenshu through insinuations, including Cui Qiji's complaint at the entrance of the East Palace.

Cui Che verified the existence of Ying in the East Palace at the turn of summer and autumn through Yuwenshi and the letters sent back.

He was not in a hurry to alert the enemy, lest he expose Yuwen Shiji's existence.

On July 12, the third year of Kaiping (AD 611), a major case occurred in the East Palace. When the prince Cui Qiji was resting in the princess's palace, he lost a jade pendant given by the emperor.

Whether the imperial jade pendant is stolen or not, whether it's a small thing or a big deal, all depends on Cui Che's attitude towards the matter.

However, after Cui Qiji reported the matter, Emperor Dayan became furious about the existence of thieves in the East Palace and ordered the leading general Mai Mengcai to lead the army to the East Palace to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Princess Nanyang wanted to stop it, but Mai Mengcai had the emperor's orders, so she could only let the imperial army turn the East Palace upside down.

Cui Qiji was drinking tea with Mai Mengcai in the front hall. The two of them were not only monarchs and ministers, but also personal relatives. Mai Mengcai was the husband of Cui Che's eldest daughter Cui Wenhui.

Since she is a member of the family, Princess Nanyang was also summoned by Cui Qiji to see her guests.

Princess Nanyang took a sip of tea and said:

"The theft of the jade pendant is a big deal, but the crime of disturbing the prince's family is not a small crime. General Mai still needs to restrain his soldiers."

Although Cui Qiji was not as lustful as his father Cui Che, he still had many concubines living in the inner courtyard of the East Palace.

The Imperial Guards who searched the East Palace were naturally not very courageous, so they could rush in without warning and inevitably cause a commotion.

Princess Nanyang was also kindly reminding her that until now, she thought Mai Mengcai was really investigating the theft case.

In fact, the jade pendant had been hidden on Cui Qiji's body, but no one dared to search his body, and no one doubted that he would risk Cui Che's wrath by telling this lie.

Mai Mengcai laughed and quickly assured Cui Qiji and his wife:

"Before coming, I have already warned my subordinates that no one will dare to be rude to the women of the East Palace."

Princess Nanyang nodded slightly and no longer disturbed Cui Qiji and Mai Mengcai's reminiscences.

While the two were chatting, a general of the Forbidden Army came hurriedly:

"Your Majesty the Crown Prince, Mai led the army and searched inside and outside the East Palace. No stolen jade pendant was found at all."

Cui Qiji muttered:

"Could it be that a slave is hiding in a secret place?"

Mai Mengcai immediately stood up and said:

"Please also ask the prince to allow the ministers to take all the slaves in the palace into custody for interrogation."

Princess Nanyang frowned and objected:

"General Mai's move is a big deal. There are many concubines who have been serving me in the palace that day for nearly twenty years. I know them very well and there will never be any roosters or dogs."

After hearing this, Mai Mengcai looked at Cui Qiji, who persuaded him:

"The gift given by the emperor has been stolen. My father is not worried about a piece of jade pendant, but is worried that there is a traitor in the East Palace. If he can steal the jade pendant today, he will not be able to assassinate the king without tasting it tomorrow.

"I know my father well, he must investigate this matter thoroughly.

"If Mai leads the army back to resume his duties, he will definitely be reprimanded by his father.

"It's better to let Mai lead the people to take them away. I think Mai will not embarrass them. Once the real culprit is caught, he will return them to the East Palace."

With that said, Cui Qiji asked Mai Mengcai again:

"Mai leads the army, is Gu right?"

Mai Mengcai smiled and said:

"Just as His Royal Highness the Prince said."

When Princess Nanyang saw that she had already talked about this, she could only let go and let Mai Mengcai take him away.

Cui Che takes this very seriously. He used to oppose torture to extract confessions.

But now there is an internal agent around the prince whom he has high hopes for. It is like a time bomb. If the other party is not found out, once the other party takes advantage of Cui Youzhi to visit his parents in the East Palace and plots to assassinate Cui Qiji and his son, wouldn't it shake the foundation of Dayan?

.

For this reason, Cui Che specially sent the maids from the palace to torture the imprisoned eunuchs and maids of the East Palace. Finally, a female eunuch from the East Palace who followed Princess Nanyang as a dowry from the Jin Palace couldn't stand it anymore and took the whole matter to a close.

I confessed that it was she who leaked the news.

Cui Che finally breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that Princess Nanyang was not involved.

Cui Che had no intention of inciting the female official to rebel. He would not leave this person in the East Palace to lay hidden dangers.

If this person suddenly gets angry, it will be too late.

Cui Che announced to the public that the culprit of the theft in the East Palace could not be found, but he could not tolerate criminals hiding in the East Palace, so he simply sent all the eunuchs and maids who appeared in the Crown Princess's chamber that day to Mangshan to serve in Yang Lihua's Yuan Palace.

Anyway, the Ministry of Industry had previously built many houses next to the Yuan Palace of the mausoleum in accordance with Cui Che's orders, which were fully capable of accommodating so many people.

Princess Nanyang was naturally dissatisfied with this, and many of them were her confidant female officials and palace maids.

But Cui Che's will cannot be ignored, and Princess Nanyang can only accept it.

No matter how caring you are, you are just a slave after all.

As for the female official who leaked the information, she was secretly executed.

No one paid attention to her life or death, and the same was true for the Sui Dynasty's intelligence network in Luoyang.

Being in the East Palace and being able to get close to Cui Qiji, the female official will naturally be taken seriously.

Now in the eyes of outsiders, she was sent to Mang Mountain, so how could she possibly gain valuable information.

Do you really expect her to assassinate Cui Che when he goes to Mang Mountain to express his condolences?

Not to mention how she could get close to Emperor Yan with her status.

Cui Che, Cui Qiji and his son were all born in the military. Could it be that they could be assassinated by a woman?

She was of no value and was abandoned. Even the people who were in contact with her fled Luoyang overnight when they heard about the theft of the East Palace and the imprisonment of the female official.

Cui Che had worked hard to arrange this incident, and the Sui Dynasty's meticulous work in Luoyang did not suspect that Cui Che was trying to catch a mole.

It's just that the mole in the East Palace is easy to catch, but the mole hiding in the court is difficult to distinguish.

Cui Che was not completely at ease with Princess Nanyang. He secretly hinted Cui Qiji to leak some false news to Princess Nanyang when the couple were alone to see if Yang Guang would know about it.

It was not until he received a letter from Yu Wenshiji that Princess Nanyang was completely cleared of suspicion, that Cui Che felt relieved about his daughter-in-law.

However, what Cui Che, the instigator, never expected was that the East Palace theft case would become one of the unsolved cases in Dayan that would be discussed in later generations.

Of course, this is all for later.

Also, before twelve o'clock

(End of chapter)