Yanzhou, Luwangfu.
Zhu Tan, the Prince of Lu, was born two months ago when the Ming Dynasty was founded. He was named the Prince of Lu, which shows how much the Hongwu Emperor liked him. The founding emperor must go to Qufu, Shandong to worship Confucius, which has already determined the hearts of scholars in the world. At that time, the Hongwu Emperor sent someone to offer sacrifices on his behalf, and also offered sacrifices to the mountains and rivers of the Prince of Lu in the name of the emperor on behalf of the infant Prince of Lu:
“… The king is in charge of the worship of the mountains and rivers in Lu, the tenth son, Danguo. Because he is young, he is unable to go to the sacrifice. I want him to write a poem to offer. The poem has not been written yet, but it has been a long time since I reported it to the gods, and I feel very guilty. Now I have reported the truth with the poem, sent an envoy with incense and silk, and presented sacrificial offerings to the gods. I hope the gods will see it!”
The sacrificial text fully demonstrates the father's love, which shows that Emperor Hongwu really loved Prince Lu. In order to build the Prince Lu's Palace, Emperor Hongwu even ordered the Ministry of Works to demolish the city wall on the south side of Yanzhou City and expand it by two miles and thirty feet to ensure that the Prince Lu's Palace had a fourteen-li royal city.
Although Yanzhou is not a border city, it is close to Qufu. In the future, the King of Lu will offer sacrifices to Confucius on behalf of the Emperor, which is also a great honor.
The huge funeral procession entered the south gate of Yanzhou City. Hu Shanwei and others were surprised to find that the gate had three openings. Its specifications exceeded those of Zhongdu in Fengyang. The Prince of Lu's Palace, which was built on the central axis of the city, was extremely similar to the royal family of Fengyang.
Outside the Duanli Gate, there are two altars, one for land and grain and the other for mountains and rivers, which are completely modeled after the style of the capital city Nanjing.
It is obvious that the specifications of the Prince of Lu's Palace have exceeded those of ordinary princes' palaces, and there is a suspicion of usurpation.
Ru Siyao was editing medical books in the Zhou Palace in Kaifeng, and Hu Shanwei had been to the Qin Palace in Xi'an to investigate the disappearance of Liu Siyan and his group. However, both the Zhou Palace and the Qin Palace were far inferior to the Lu Palace in terms of grandeur, and were almost on par with the Fengyang Imperial City.
Seeing the grandness of Prince Lu's Mansion, everyone turned their eyes to Crown Prince Zhu Biao. Compared with Prince Lu's Mansion, the Crown Prince's East Palace looked like the courtyard of a small landlord.
The prince is thirty-seven years old this year. He is more sophisticated than before and does not show his emotions. He said, "Shandong is the land of poetry and etiquette. When the Ministry of Works built the Prince of Lu's Palace, it was slightly higher than the Prince's Palace. It was also for the convenience of welcoming the emperor to come and worship Confucius. Seeing it today, it is indeed magnificent."
Now it can be seen that Emperor Hongwu was biased. Although he always scolded Prince Lu, he was still very honest in his heart. He always thought about his tenth son when he had anything good.
The fiefdom in Shandong was simply perfect: it was protected from the wind and rain, and was also close to the Confucius Mansion in Qufu.
When we arrived at the main hall, we could hear a baby crying from a distance.
It was the first son of the Prince of Lu, who had just turned one month old and had not yet been named, born to the concubine Ge. The Princess of Lu, Tang, dressed in mourning, welcomed the funeral procession, with the nurse behind her holding the baby. If the child could survive, he would be the heir to the Prince of Lu's mansion in the future. Everyone in the Prince of Lu's mansion depended on the baby to keep their jobs.
If there is no heir, the line of the Prince of Lu will be stripped of his title. The Prince of Lu's Palace will be closed after the death of the Princess of Lu.
It wasn't that Prince Lu favored his concubine over his wife. In fact, Princess Tang was of too prominent a family, and she often took out Concubine Guo's letters to persuade Prince Lu to make progress. Prince Lu had a bad temper by nature, and when he saw Princess Lu, he felt like seeing his own mother. Respect for her was more important than love between men and women, so it was difficult for him to sleep with her, and as a result, Princess Lu had never been pregnant.
Princess Tang of Prince Lu was born into a prominent family and had a cool head. The palace was in turmoil, and the most important thing now was whether the eldest son of a concubine could be successfully canonized as the crown prince. Grief was secondary. After the crown prince took the throne and everyone performed the ritual of monarch and subject, Princess Lu took the swaddling clothes from the wet nurse and handed them to the crown prince. "Before Prince Lu died, he was reluctant to part with his son. His eyes were blinded by pain and he could not see people. He asked me to hold the child in my arms and stroked his face with my hands, as if he wanted to remember the child's outline in my heart."
Princess Lu choked up and said, "Prince Lu also said that the Crown Prince was kind-hearted and had always loved his younger brothers since they were young. Whenever they did something wrong and were scolded or beaten, the Crown Prince would always stand up to protect his younger brothers and take the punishment for him. Now that he is about to die, this child will be taken care of by the Crown Prince, and he will die with peace of mind."
Princess Lu spoke so sadly that everyone shed tears. The prince took the swaddling clothes, shook his head and sighed, "My little brother is so confused."
In fact, Prince Lu was not conscious before his death and did not say these words at all. Princess Lu just wanted to use the Crown Prince to confirm the identity of the child. This virtuous wife, with a first-class background, clever means, and a calm mind, has long surpassed her mother-in-law many times. It's a pity that she met Prince Lu, a short-lived husband. Otherwise, with the help of this virtuous wife, Prince Lu's future would be limitless.
Princess Lu knelt down and cried, "Now that Prince Lu is gone, I haven't had time to name the child. Prince Lu respected the prince the most when he was alive, so please give the child a name."
The child was in his arms, crying loudly, his face red, very pitiful. The prince was known for his benevolence, so he could not refuse, so he said: "The emperor has to decide the name of my nephew, I will give him a nickname. It is ridiculous that the prince of Lu died at such a young age after taking elixirs, so the emperor gave him the posthumous title of 'Huang', and he is the prince of Lu Huang."
"Mencius said, 'People always make mistakes, and then they can correct them, and then they know that they are born in sorrow and die in comfort. This child lost his father when he was still a baby, and was born in sorrow. Let's call him Guo'er. I hope he will learn from this and correct the mistakes of King Luhuang in the future, benefit the vassal state, and bring peace and happiness."
A lowly life is easy to raise, and as long as it is given by the prince, let alone a son, even a dog is good. Princess Lu then took the swaddling clothes and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the name. I will definitely educate the child well until he grows up."
The prince gave him a nickname, and Guo'er's position as the crown prince was halfway achieved. The Prince of Lu's Palace had a pillar, and the faces of thousands of people in the palace were no longer filled with fear.
Hu Shanwei secretly observed the people in Prince Lu's Mansion and sighed in his heart: Prince Lu is such a failure as a prince. Everyone is only concerned about the future of Prince Lu's Mansion. No one is heartbroken about Prince Lu's death, and no one even suspects that Prince Lu was poisoned. This shows what kind of person Prince Lu is.
Shen Qionglian's comment that he was a good man with no use was true. Princess Lu even thought that the baby was more important than her husband. She must have given up on Prince Lu. As a husband, you can't blame Princess Lu for being ruthless.
The three female officials followed the Princess of Lu out of the main hall. The Crown Prince stayed in the main hall and arranged for people from the Ministry of Works to select a site for the tomb of Prince Lu. People from the Ministry of Rites began to arrange the mourning hall according to the specifications of the prince's funeral.
Princess Lu knew Ru Siyao. The baby in her cradle was the mainstay of the palace, and no mistakes could be made. She hurriedly asked Ru Siyao to examine Guoer.
Ru Siyao stripped Guo'er naked in the warm room, examined him from head to toe, checked his ears, eyes, reaction and grasp, etc., and then skillfully wrapped the baby loosely, "Swaddle like this, a little loose, don't wrap it up like a candle. The child can move freely inside without being restrained. This is how I raised my son, and he is in good health now."
Princess Lu was extremely grateful and said to Hu Shanwei, "Please tell the Imperial Concubine, Hu Siyan, that Ru Siyao has personally examined Guo'er and he is in good health. He is the continuation of the bloodline of Prince Luhuang. When he grows up, I will definitely find a chance to go to the capital and kowtow to Imperial Concubine Guo."
Hu Shanwei agreed, "Don't worry, Princess. I will tell the Royal Concubine the truth."
Princess Lu is only concerned about whether Guo'er will be able to smoothly inherit the title of prince in the future. Guo'er is the only grandson of Concubine Guo, and will be crowned queen in the future, making her a great supporter of the Lu Palace.
Before the body of the King of Lu was cold, everyone had already moved on. In the end, only his mother cared about him and sought the truth about his death.
However, judging from the people in Prince Lu's Mansion, especially the performance of Princess Lu, it seems that Prince Lu did not die unjustly. He only cared about his own pleasure and never cared about others. He seemed to be able to do such a ridiculous thing as increasing the dosage of pills and poisoning himself just to get ecstatic happiness.
Hu Shanwei winked at Ru Siyao, who understood. She walked over and said to Princess Lu, "After all, the Imperial Concubine is a mother. The death of King Lu Huang has dealt a heavy blow to the Imperial Concubine. She refuses to accept the reality and insists that we examine the body and the alchemy room. It's just that this matter cannot be spread out, as it seems that the Imperial Concubine is suspicious. Please cooperate with us, Princess Lu, and don't let outsiders know."
Princess Lu cried, "I have failed the Imperial Concubine's trust and failed to supervise my husband properly, causing such a disaster. It is too late to regret. In the future, I will raise the only child of King Lu Huang and go to the capital to apologize and leave it to the Imperial Concubine to decide."
Princess Lu seemed to have been prepared and took out two keys. "This one is the key to the underground alchemy room, and the other is the key to the ice cave in the cellar where the body of King Lu Huang is stored. After the incident, I regretted it so much and took every precaution, but I didn't expect that he would... Alas, the only thing I can do is to stay as it is and wait for the queen to send someone over so that I can have an explanation."
The Princess of Lu was also wronged. As a wife, she had to become her husband's second mother because of her incompetent husband who always said "he's still a child". But she had no choice. The emperor's marriage and the glory of the Tang family forced her to become the "wife" of the Prince of Lu.
Now that Prince Lu is dead, she doesn't feel very sad. Instead, she feels relieved and liberated.
Princess Lu held the swaddled Guo'er in her arms. From now on, she was a real mother. Guo'er was a real child who could be educated into something useful. As for Prince Luhuang... he was a useless husband, almost like a widower.
Princess Lu devoted herself to raising the child. The three female officials began to divide the work. Shen Qionglian changed into men's clothes and dressed like a scholar. "Our Shen family has a business in Yanzhou, which has shares in several medicine shops. I heard from Ru Siyao that all the recipes for elixirs cannot be separated from a kind of stone called alum. Arsenic is extracted from it. Because it is highly toxic, all the shops have records of the alum sold. I will take the portrait of Prince Lu to ask where Prince Lu usually buys this."
The Shen family was the richest family in the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. During their heyday, it was said that nine out of ten shops owned by Shen. Now the Shen family has declined due to several raids on their family property and the division of their family property, but a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and Shen Qionglian has more than enough information to go to the drug store to find out the details.
As soon as Shen Qionglian left, Ru Siyao and Hu Shanwei went to the ice cellar in the palace first. Hu Shanwei took the key and poked it several times but couldn't open it.
"I'll open it." Ru Siyao said, "I thought you were born brave, but I didn't expect you would be afraid of a corpse."
Hu Shanwei handed her the key and said, "I'm not afraid of corpses, I'm afraid of ice caves. When I went to the Qin Palace to investigate Liu Siyan's disappearance, Liu Siyan and his companions were killed in the ice cellar and their tongues were pulled out alive... When I heard the name of the ice cave, I had a bad association and never set foot here."
While they were talking, Ru Siyao had already opened the padlock. Hu Shanwei said to Haitang, "Stay outside and don't allow anyone to disturb you. Leave a few more spies in front. If the prince sends someone to embalm the prince of Lu, find a way to delay them."
Haitang agreed, and now Hu Shanwei also had his own "people" in the harem.
The two went down the stairs to the ice cave. It was cold in early spring, and the underground ice cave was even colder because it was filled with thick ice taken from the lake last winter. Layers of ice were stacked in the ice cellar, like a "crystal palace."
Prince Lu was lying in the middle of the Crystal Palace, between two benches and a door panel. He had been lying here alone for fourteen days.
No matter how low the temperature was, the corpse would rot quietly. King Lu covered his eyes with two copper coins, and his lips and teeth slightly opened, revealing a tongue as thin as a fingernail, with a black tip.
When Ru Siyao took the copper coin, Hu Shanwei was shocked, but he saw that Prince Lu's eyes were wide open, his eyeballs were bulging, and they were all black.
Hu Shanwei couldn't help but say, "King Luhuang died with his eyes open. Could it be that he was really poisoned?"
Ru Siyao rolled her eyes at her. "Rotten air will force some organs out of the body. All dead people are like this. The so-called intestines are pierced and the stomach is rotten. King Luhuang was blinded by the poison first, and now his eyeballs have burst out of the eye sockets, but they haven't rolled out yet. It's all because the temperature in the ice cellar is too low. It's like ice sticking to it like glue. Once it thaws, it-"
"Stop!" Hu Shanwei couldn't stand it anymore. "Don't say anything more. Just tell me how Prince Lu died."
Ru Siyao opened a booklet used exclusively by coroners, called "Corpse Frame", which described the appearance of the corpse from head to toe.
Ru Siyao examined and dictated while Hu Shanwei helped him fill in the "Corpse Frame". "Bleeding from all seven orifices. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth all have bloodstains. Especially the eyeballs..."
"Hair is falling out. In severe cases, patches of baldness the size of a fingernail appear. The hair is fragile and will fall out if it is pulled lightly."
“There are many black herpes in the skin folds of the neck, elbows, armpits, belly, and knees…”
"There is a white line in the middle of the nail, spreading to both sides. There are grain-shaped bumps on the edge of the palm and the base of the fingers. Commonly known as arsenic frost, all of the above are typical characteristics of arsenic/frost poisoning. It is speculated that it is caused by an excessive amount of alum in Wushisan."
Ru Siyao carefully examined King Luhuang's body, even the cracks between his fingernails. Finally, he put the two copper coins back on the surface of his eyes, which were covering his bulging eyes. "According to the rules, we need to dissect his stomach for examination, but I can't damage King Luhuang's body. From the outside, it looks like he was poisoned by arsenic. This is the result of almost all people who take Wushisan. King Luhuang was poisoned acutely, while others were poisoned chronically after taking the medicine for more than ten years, or even decades."
Ru Siyao washed her hands. "However, I need to test the remaining five pills in the alchemy room to see if they have reached a lethal dose. If they are just ordinary Five Stone Powder, they won't kill you. Maybe someone poisoned them through other foods."
This is also the main reason why Concubine Guo suspected her son's death. For the Wu Shi San to accumulate to a lethal dose, it would probably take until Prince Lu was forty years old to take effect. How could he die in his early twenties
The two worked together to dress the corpse. When they came out of the ice cave, they smelled a burning smell and heard black smoke billowing from a house in front of them.
"What's going on? That's the alchemy room?"
Haitang shook her head and whispered, "Just now the crown prince sent people to embalm King Luhuang's body. I ordered people to light a fire in a house and pretend to fetch water to put out the fire, so they got soaked. It's winter, they can't wear wet cotton clothes. They should go back and change clothes and come back later."
Hu Shanwei said: "You actually set fires at every turn. This is too dangerous."
Haitang pointed at the magnificent Prince Lu's Mansion and said, "There are more than 900 houses here, which is half the size of the imperial palace. Burning one house is like a drop in the bucket. Besides, the roof is covered with snow and water. The fire has been under control long ago."
That's true. The Prince of Lu's Palace can be said to be the most luxurious prince's palace in the Ming Dynasty.
The author has something to say: Princess Lu: What use do I have for this husband~
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№14 Netizen: angeldododo Comment: "Hu Shanwei" Score: 2 Published: 2019-03-01 20:33:58 Reviewed chapter: 130
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