Footsteps hurriedly sounded behind him, and Li Hong slowly walked out of the middle room to the front room. As the front room of the underground palace, it was more like a court hall like the Xuanzheng Palace.
The front room is equipped with a treasure tent, a sacred throne, as well as jade treasures, posthumous books, mourning books, etc. that will be placed in the future. The entire front room is completely built according to the court hall. Fortunately, no one will go to these sacred seats now. Everyone except Li Hong.
The Xianyang County Magistrate and the County Magistrate walked into the front room respectfully. Looking at the scene in front of him, his heart began to beat violently.
In addition to the two of them, there are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and his personal eunuch who has been with him for many years. Therefore, if the scene in the front room of the underground palace today is known to others, it goes without saying that it is naturally the result of one of them leaking the news.
"Did you accompany Hou Sizhi and Wang Hongyi here two days ago?" Li Hong asked leisurely.
The Prime Minister of Xianyang County bowed his head and saluted, his whole body was trembling. It was the first time he had heard of and seen the Crown Prince who dared to sit on the throne. Don't forget, even if there is no one here, These shrines also carry a certain degree of majesty, and no one is allowed to desecrate them. Even craftsmen must perform a ritual before they can build this underground palace.
But now, His Highness the Prince was sitting on the throne so casually, and he was slightly afraid. After leaving the underground palace today, His Highness the Prince would kill him and the county magistrate to silence him.
"When you return to His Highness the Crown Prince, I will accompany you." The Xianyang County Magistrate's voice was trembling, and he bowed his body, refusing to even look at His Highness the Crown Prince on the throne.
Naturally, Li Hong didn't understand what Xianyang County Magistrate was thinking. After giving the county magistrate a strange look, he then asked: "What did they say when they came to inspect? Tell me word for word. If there is anything to hide, Or omission, be careful I depose you.”
The system of human burial has been outlawed since the Han Dynasty. Although it still exists in foreign countries, in the Central Plains area, especially in the Han and Tang dynasties, burials with living people were mainly carried out, that is, for dignitaries, or The royal family members who were close to the emperor during his lifetime were buried around the imperial mausoleum after his death.
Just like the imperial mausoleum of the late emperor Li Shimin, the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, including other dignitaries and royal family members, are proud to be buried in Zhaoling after their death.
Li Zhi's imperial mausoleum has basically developed in this way. Except for the representative officials of the Guanlong Group headed by Changsun Wuji who were buried in the Zhaoling Mausoleum, the rest of the famous officials during the period when Li Zhi became emperor will The prime minister will select some people to be buried in the Qianling Mausoleum after their death through the screening of Taichang Temple and Zongzheng Temple.
These are basically the systems of the Imperial Tombs of the Tang Dynasty under Li Zhi today. However, even with such a humane and high-standard treatment of worthy ministers, some people still feel that it is too simple for the emperor's majesty.
Therefore, when the Prime Ministers of Taichang Temple and Zongzheng Temple were supervising the luxurious and even extravagant Qianling Mausoleum, they began to have the idea of the palace people. Seeing such a magnificent mausoleum, they obviously wanted to further deepen the relationship between the emperor and the emperor after his death. After the emperor's death, dozens of palace officials should be selected to be buried in front of the emperor.
"Are everything you said true?" Li Hong's voice sounded extremely serious in the deep underground palace, and the Xianyang County Magistrate's legs began to bend unconsciously.
"Everything I said is true, but I don't know if they will implement it like this. I just accompanied them here and heard them mention this matter. I didn't say a single word. Please take a closer look at it, His Highness the Crown Prince." Xianyang The county magistrate was almost crying.
It's not like he doesn't know the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince. Although His Highness the Crown Prince is not a person who will behead at the slightest disagreement, he is frequently dismissed from office, and exiled and exiled are also occasional things.
Li Hong's brows furrowed even more tightly. What were these people thinking? How could they come up with such an inhumane and despicable burial system
"You don't need to tell anyone what happened today. You can go down." Li Hong sat on the throne and said with his hand on his chin.
"Yes, Your Highness, I take my leave." The Xianyang County Magistrate had just taken two steps when he heard a thud from behind him.
The Xianyang County magistrate hurriedly turned around and saw his subordinate suddenly kneeling on the ground, grabbing his own legs and trying to stand up tremblingly.
"Help him out." Li Hong said lightly, but in this large underground palace, any gentle voice sounded like a sinister and resentful sound.
"Yes, Your Highness." The Xianyang County Magistrate, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, hurriedly grabbed his men's arms and dragged the two of them out in embarrassment.
Hua Meng watched the two people walking away, suddenly walked to Li Hong, knelt down, and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, I would like to follow the suggestions of Hou Sizhi and Wang Hongyi and be buried in your majesty. I think that all the palaces Everyone will be willing to..."
"Bang!"
Li Hong kicked Hua Meng hard in the face with a strong kick. Countless stars suddenly appeared in Hua Meng's eyes. With the force of His Highness the Crown Prince's foot, Hua Meng's whole body crashed towards the throne opposite.
With a bang, the entire jade throne was moved back several points by Hua Meng's bowing body.
The stooped Hua Meng had just stood up. Before he could say anything, he saw a blurry figure flashing in front of his eyes. His chin was strong, as if he had had a close contact with a stone.
Then the whole person flew out again, and his forehead instantly touched the armrest of another throne. Warm blood poured out of his forehead in an instant. In the blink of an eye, Hua Meng felt that half of his cheeks were warm. .
His groggy head could not regain his body consciousness in an instant, and he could not control his balance. His hands struggled to prop up his body through conditioned reflexes, but before he could prop up half of his body, His Highness the Crown Prince's foot had already stepped on his face. superior.
"Hua Meng, let me tell you, if you dare to speak like this again, I will destroy you now! Do you have any humanity at all when a living person is buried? The palace people have provoked you, and you need to be buried for a dead person? Didn't the late emperor ever Do you want your father to bring shame to the entire royal family because of this? Do you want the Imperial family of the Tang Dynasty to be blamed for cruelty in history? If you dare to speak like this if you don’t understand it, I will do it now. Kill you!" Li Hong stepped on Hua Meng's face, his voice cold and full of indignation.
After Li Hong's feet moved away from his face, Hua Meng closed her eyes and held her chin with one hand. Suddenly she pushed hard and heard a click. After moving her chin, she gasped and continued stubbornly: "I know this, but I only live for Your Highness!"
"Don't worry, I won't die before you. After returning to Chang'an, immediately investigate Hou Sizhi and Wang Hongyi to see if they have any grievances with the palace officials recently. Also, let the officials collect the information of these two people. Send it to the East Palace." Li Hong walked out without looking back, a buzzing sound echoed in the corridor.
Hua Meng struggled to get up from the ground and continued to stroke his chin. The thick-smelling blood in his mouth could not be spit out in this majestic place, so he had to swallow it with difficulty and swallow the blood back into his stomach.
After Li Hong walked out of the underground palace, his warm smile returned to his face again. He looked at the officials at the door with a smile, and then patted the Xianyang County Magistrate on the shoulder and motioned to return to Xianyang.
Along the way, Li Hong kept speculating about Father Long's indignant appearance in the East Palace yesterday. He did not believe that Father Long would agree to such a cruel and inhumane thing as burying a living person. In history, not even the queen mother had ever done this. Father Long would Are you doing this because of the instigation of two people
So, why did Father Long look for him so aggressively? With a look of complaint and unwillingness, could he be mistaken, or is it because of the prosperity and power of the Tang Dynasty that he was so arrogant that he thought he was qualified enough to do such an unjust thing
Li Hong had no impression of Hou Sizhi and Wang Hongyi, but as the chief minister of Zongzheng Temple and Taichang Temple, could it be that his father gave them orders? Or is it just their own idea
But no matter what, whether it was his father's intention or the bewitchment of Hou Sizhi and Wang Hongyi, I would never let this happen to him!
After arriving at Xianyang County, the Xianyang County Magistrate and the County Magistrate had just anxiously asked Li Hong to get off the carriage when they heard Li Hong's slightly cold voice coming from the carriage: "No, I'm going back to Chang'an directly to change horses and prepare grass."
Hua Meng hurriedly got down from the shaft of the carriage, ignoring the Xianyang County Magistrate and County Magistrate who were staying there. He hurriedly picked two good horses with endurance at first glance and started to get busy with the others.
The Xianyang County magistrate and the county magistrate looked at Hua Meng's swollen chin as if nothing had happened. They did not even dare to think about what happened in the underground palace after they walked out of the underground palace.
Wu Mei looked at the two memorials from Taichang Temple and Zongzheng Temple on the table in the study room. She picked up the memorials and was about to go out to question Li Zhi who was teasing the emperor's grandson outside. However, after thinking about it, she felt it was inappropriate, so she put down the memorials and prepared. He walked out, but when he reached the door, his eyes fell back on the memorial.
So Wu Mei, who shook her head helplessly, had no choice but to walk to the desk again, pick up the two memorials and walk out of the study.
The harem has not received memorials for a long time. Only occasionally, it will receive some memorials from the Fifth Eunuch of the Nine Temples about the palace or the royal clan. Today, if she had not been extremely bored and picked up the memorials and flipped through them, she would not have seen these two. A terrifying memorial.
Wu Mei, who was sitting opposite Li Zhi, took Li Ye from Li Zhi's arms, then handed him to the palace maid and said, "Take it back to the East Palace. Everyone else can go down."
When they were the only two people left in the warm hall, Wu Mei slowly put the memorial that had just been conveniently placed on the side of the sofa on the table.
"Are you going to agree?"
"Who said that?"
"Then why are you still here? Why haven't you questioned those two people yet?"
"Why do we care about the prince's affairs?"
"Is it because of this incident that Li Hong wandered to the window yesterday?"
"I don't know if that's the case. I didn't tell him about it and let him check it out on his own."
"How redundant!"
(End of chapter)