When Li Wei returned to Chongqing Palace, she couldn't wait to announce a few people. First, she had all six people who served closely in Hanyuan Palace that night detained. Then she had to ask them carefully.
If someone really did it, it would definitely be one of these six people. Then she announced several imperial doctors who had been suspended from their posts, and even approached the manager of the imperial kitchen and so on.
Then she began to deal with the matter. The first people she questioned were the imperial doctors.
"I already know what happened to the Emperor from your records before he died. I just want to ask, does a person become short of breath and unable to breathe when he is poisoned?"
The Shang imperial doctor hurriedly said: "Queen Mother, people do have such reactions when they are poisoned by certain poisons."
Li Wei glanced at a few people: "So according to what you have seen, did the Emperor die of poisoning?"
The four of them were all puzzled, and Fang Zheng was even more shocked: "No way, who would poison the emperor? This is a capital crime that implicates the nine clans."
Li Wei sneered: "But if it happens, who of you can guarantee that such a situation will not happen. Although the emperor's illness was a bit more dangerous before, it has obviously improved, so why does it suddenly take a turn for the worse? There is an incentive. The emperor's health is not that bad. You know better than me why he suddenly fell ill and died when he was about to recover. "
The four imperial doctors were all hard to explain.
"I will give you another chance. You must explain everything you found out that night. If you conceal anything, you will lose the lives of the entire family."
The four of them knew clearly that no one dared to bear the charge of murdering the emperor, which was a serious crime that implicated the nine clans. Everyone also expressed their willingness to cooperate well.
Li Wei asked about Fu Guang's pulse and various reactions before he died, as well as the strange things that appeared on his body. When asked if there was any almond smell in Fu Guang's mouth, another Dr. Qiao Fang replied: "Wei Chen seems to be really I smelled a strange smell in the emperor's mouth, but I didn't know what it was at the time, and I didn't think of it for a moment. The Queen Mother said that it did taste like almonds. "
"Then let me ask you, will eating too much Ringo seeds cause poisoning?"
Dr. Qiao was surprised and said hurriedly: "This Wei Chen has never been mentioned by anyone before. Wei Chen has never heard of it."
"Okay, I can't expect anything else from you. Let's go down."
Fang Zheng and others retreated. When they left Chongqing Palace, Fang Zheng asked doubtfully, "Is the Queen Mother suspicious of something?"
Judge Jiang said: "It seems so."
Doctor Shang immediately glanced at Doctor Qiao and complained: "You are the only one who knows everything. If you go on taking credit, wait until the Queen Mother rewards you."
Dr. Qiao said disdainfully: "I just told you exactly what I knew at the time. Otherwise, if I don't report what I know, I will lose my head. I don't dare to play around."
Li Wei had already sorted out his thoughts here, and then met with the manager of the imperial kitchen and the relevant personnel of the Twelve Yamen. Most of the day passed. Although she discovered some situations, she had not yet touched the truth.
Finally, she called several people from Hanyuan Hall for questioning alone. The first person she brought was Hongling, who was serving food and tea. If there were any suspicions, she should be the biggest suspect.
So Li Wei changed the method of interrogation.
Hong Ling was brought over.
"Kneel down!" Li Wei decided to bluff first to see if he could explode something.
Hong Ling panicked and quickly knelt down.
"You know what you have done. If you don't call me here soon, maybe I can spare the lives of your family members because of your voluntary confession."
Hong Ling's eyes were panicked and she begged: "Your Majesty, what have you done?"
"No, right? Then let me ask you, where do all the fruits that are taken out of the house every day go?"
"Everything has been taken care of. The rotten and inedible ones have been thrown away. The good ones have been shared by everyone."
"Oh, let me ask you, where are the seeds?"
Hong Ling's eyes widened and she asked, "Seeds? Don't you know this?"
"Then did you collect these seeds secretly?"
"My slave doesn't plant trees, so what are you doing collecting seeds?"
"Of course it is boiling medicine. The imperial doctor discovered Ringo seeds from the emperor's mouth. You were here to serve the food and medicine. How do you explain this?"
When Hongling heard about it, she hurriedly kowtowed and apologized: "The Queen Mother is aware of this, but I really don't know."
"I don't know? You were the only ones here that night. Who else could it be if it wasn't you?"
Hong Ling just kowtowed and said she didn't know.
After some interrogation, Hongling did not reveal any flaws. Li Wei was also tired, so he asked someone to take Hongling down, and then invited others to come. When she saw Caiyan, she still asked the same question, and Caiyan also said she didn't know.
Several people said they didn’t know. Could something have gone wrong, or was someone lying
Li Wei finally invited Zhang Chaoen, and she was much more polite to Zhang Chaoen.
"There is something about Zhang Banban that I don't quite understand, and I want to ask you for advice."
"I really don't dare to ask for advice. Please give me the Queen Mother's instructions."
"On what date did the Hanyuan Palace offer to Lin Yu start? Where were the fruits removed and how were the rotten ones disposed of? Logically speaking, five kilograms a day is not a small amount. If you want to eat it, you can't eat it. Finished."
Zhang Chaoen replied: "Our emperor actually doesn't like to eat such fruits. Most of the remaining fruits are divided among the people below."
Li Wei immediately felt something was wrong and asked again: "But I asked them, they said it takes ten days and a half to get one piece of fruit, so where does the remaining amount go?"
"This should be handed over to the waiter."
Li Wei was a little annoyed when he saw Zhang Chaoen's uncertain answer: "You are the manager of Hanyuan Palace, why don't you know these things?"
Zhang Chaoen said in a sweaty voice: "It's the slave's dereliction of duty."
Li Wei then said: "We found Ringo seeds from the emperor's mouth. This thing is said to have a certain degree of toxicity. The people below are collecting these things for the purpose of poisoning. How can you do nothing about such a big thing?" Don't know."
Zhang Chaoen's face turned pale when he heard this, and he kept pleading guilty.
Li Wei said sadly: "So what if we find out now, we can't save the emperor's life after all. If you had divided your work more carefully and responsibilities were more clear, you wouldn't have fallen to this point."
A mouse got into Hanyuan Palace, and Li Wei didn't believe that he couldn't catch the mouse. There is something fishy hidden among these people. It seems that they will not shed tears until they see the coffin. If necessary, they can only be sent to the Department of Punishment. If you don't believe it, you can't ask anything.
However, before Li Wei sent anyone to the Shenxing Division, news came that Hongling had hanged himself.
With Hong Ling's sudden suicide, the truth of the matter gradually emerged.
(End of chapter)