jdhmnovel Chapter 248: Inner Guard Prison
Chapter 248: Inner Guard Prison
It was already evening when we returned home.
All the people in the Prince of Wei's Palace arrived in Luoyang under the protection of the Qianniu Guards and lived in the newly built Prince of Wei's Palace.
Lady Gong Zhao of King Wei had not seen her son Wu Yanhao for many days, and when she heard that Wu Yanhao had been promoted, she invited Li Cunxi to her house for a meal.
On his way back home, he happened to meet Li Yuanfang who had gone to the general's mansion of Yingyang Guard to find the general of Yingyang Guard to handle some matters. It was said that he would be transferred to Qianniu Guard and serve as the Inspector of the Lieutenant General of Qianniu Guard.
This is a new imperial decree issued by Wu Zetian, which promotes Li Yuanfang. Now Li Yuanfang and Hu Jinghui have the same official rank, but he has no military power.
Throughout the Wu Dynasty, any general with the title of "Jianxiu" in front of his title basically had no military power. In other words, they were just holding an official title, but in reality they only sounded impressive, and they had basically no power to lead troops.
This is roughly consistent with the situation of Li Yuanfang in the original novel. After all, Li Yuanfang finally became the Inspector General of the Thousand Oxen Guards, and he always had the little things assigned to him by Wu Zetian.
After visiting Qiao Tai who was resting after being seriously injured, and urging Xuguzi who was still reciting some Taoist classics, Li Cunxi was bored, so he returned to the main hall and sat down, watching the guards hurrying outside.
These inner guards, led by Shadow, were temporarily stationed in Li Cunxi's mansion at the request of Wu Zetian. In name, they were there to protect him, but in reality they also had the intention of supervising him.
As for today's events, since leaving court until now, Wu Zetian has been recalling why Li Cunxi was so brave in the Golden Palace and why he confronted Li's old ministers so hard that they even forced them to fight. This is the second incident in the Wu Zhou court.
As for the first one, it was naturally about Wu Chengye, the Prince of Changshan many years ago. That mad dog is now missing, and it is possible that Wu Zetian had assigned him some secret mission.
After drinking some tea, Li Cunxi leaned back in his chair and sighed repeatedly. These comfortable and leisurely days were really intoxicating, but he felt anxious and didn't know what to do next.
The most important thing is, no one knows whether Princess Taiping Li Lingyue has any strategy.
While I was daydreaming, a man suddenly walked in from outside, with his head and chest puffed out, and one hand on the knife at his waist.
Li Cunxi looked closely and found that it was Huang Shengyan, the leader of the Inner Guard. Logically, this guy should be interrogating Li Lingyue, but he didn't expect that he would get the result in just one afternoon.
Huang Shengyan, with a resolute face, bowed to Li Cunxi and said loudly:
"Please ask Li Shaoyin to go to the Internal Guard House to meet Princess Taiping."
Li Cunxi was confused, frowned, and asked:
"Princess Taiping Li Lingyue wants to see me?"
Huang Shengyan did not refute, but continued expressionlessly:
"Princess Taiping has confessed to plotting to harm Your Majesty. The confession has been handed over to Your Majesty for review. Your Majesty personally approved the execution of Princess Taiping at a certain date. He also asked Princess Taiping about her last wish before her death. Princess Taiping only hoped to see Shao Yin once more before her execution. Your Majesty then ordered me to come and deliver the message!"
Li Cunxi exhaled, slowly stood up, and said:
"In that case, please lead the way, and Cunxi will go with him to the Inner Guard Palace."
Huang Shengyan retreated to the door and said:
"The carriage is waiting outside, sir, please!"
Li Cunxi followed Huang Shengyan out of the Li Mansion and onto the street. As expected, he saw a horse-drawn carriage parked at the foot of the steps under the protection of the inner guards. The vendors setting up stalls on the street stopped to watch.
"please."
Huang Shengyan gestured and invited Li Cunxi to get in the car.
An internal guard had been standing by with a small stool for Li Cunxi to use as a footstool.
Li Cunxi stepped on a small stool and got into the carriage. He sat in the carriage, closed his eyes and thought about why Princess Taiping wanted to see him.
Logically speaking, the two of them should have discussed everything in the side room, especially the funeral arrangements for Princess Taiping.
When Princess Taiping's mansion was sealed off in the morning, in a corner near the dressing table where no one could see her, Princess Taiping was putting on makeup while handing two letters to Li Cunxi.
The contents of the two letters were probably about Princess Taiping's funeral. After receiving the letters, Li Cunxi naturally thought that he would never see Princess Taiping again, but he didn't expect that they would have the chance to meet again.
The inner guards escorted the carriage all the way to the outside of the inner guard palace. The young Fenghuang came outside and personally helped Li Cunxi get off the carriage.
After entering the Inner Guard Palace, Xiao Qingfang brought You Huan forward and accompanied Li Cunxi to the dungeon of the Inner Guard Palace.
The huge dungeon of the Inner Guard Palace was covered with blood. Everyone who was captured here had at least one or two terrifying identities. For example, the first cell that Li Cunxi saw, the person imprisoned inside was Zong Qinke, who looked ten years older.
Zong Qinke seemed to have been beaten badly. He curled up in the cell, trembling all over. He was only wearing his undershirt, and most of the undershirt was stained red with blood. He looked quite... cool.
"Li Shaoyin, this is the Imperial Censor Zong Qinke. His hair is disheveled now, so you may not recognize him. He was disrespectful in front of the palace and openly threatened a loyal minister like you. His Majesty ordered us to interrogate him strictly, but he got beaten like this by accident."
As if she saw Li Cunxi's eyes fall on Zong Qinke, Xiao Qingfang introduced him to Li Cunxi.
"Ah, this thief is so vicious, he must be severely punished. I wonder who is interrogating him?"
Li Cunxi understood the implication of Xiao Qingfang's words and knew that the old man was not involved in paying money to buy his life, so he started asking.
"Li Shaoyin, it's me." Huang Shengyan bowed, with a rare look of shame on his face. "Zong Yushi is a senior official in the court after all. I didn't dare to beat him too hard, fearing that he would take revenge for personal gain, so I only used a whip dipped in salt water."
"Dip the whip in salt water?" Li Cunxi was surprised for a second, then he couldn't help but praise, "Dip the whip in salt water, it will disinfect while you're beating!"
"Hiss, your Excellency is absolutely right. I will whip him 300 times later, and I will make sure to use salt water every time!"
"Good!" Li Cunxi clapped his hands and turned to Xiao Qingfang, "General Xiao, I think Huang Geling is a good official!"
Xiao Qingfang smiled and said, "I think Huang Shengyan is also a good official. So, Huang Shengyan, go and whip Censor Zong three hundred times, and each whip must be dipped in salt water."
Huang Shengyan nodded heavily, feeling like he was about to take off. He clasped his fists and shouted, "Please rest assured, Li Shaoyin, I, Huang Shengyan, will definitely beat you with a whip dipped in salt water and will not show any mercy!"
"Good! I think you are a good official!" Li Cunxi shouted and continued to move forward.
Huang Shengyan, who had left the team, called two internal guards and asked them to prepare coarse salt and a bucket of cold water. He also got a new whip and prepared to serve Zong Qinke well.
Under the guidance of Xiao Qingfang, Li Cunxi soon met Princess Taiping in prison.
Princess Taiping's body was covered with blood and her clothes were already in tatters. Out of respect for this royal princess, the Internal Guards did not strip her clothes and change her clothes. Instead, they made her wear the clothes she was wearing and then whipped her.
"Li Lingyue, I'm here." Li Cunxi said softly.