The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 39: No Good Deed goes Unpunished

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 39: No Good Deed goes Unpunished

The Western Depot men looked at each other, with a look of embarrassment on their faces, and one of them said: "Tang Da-ren, the official of the Depot ordered us to invite you into the palace, he is waiting for you at the entrance!”


He said this politely, but it wasn't because the fierce and vicious Western Depot boys suddenly changed their nature, became docile and pure, but because these people saw Tang Fan being assigned by the palace, and even Wang Zhi didn't give him any orders, so they turned the tiller as they saw it, and gave him three points of respect.

Of course, if Tang Fan didn't want to go with them, and Wang Zhi's order was there, these people would still do what they did that night when they asked Tang Fan to enter the palace, and they just took him away without saying anything.

This is called "soft hand before hard smack", "courtesy before soldiers".

Tang Fan naturally also understood this point, he could only stand up, rubbed his stomach, felt as if he was not bloated as just now, now he said: "Let's go."

"Thank you Tang Da-ren for being compassionate." He laughed and asked for his opinion." I don't know if Tang Da-ren wants to ride a horse or a palanquin, we're all ready to go!"

With a sedan chair, Tang Fan would not be polite, and immediately went into the empty sedan chair carried by two sedan chairmen at the front and back.

Perhaps he had been pressed by the bossiness of Wang Zhi for a long time, the Western Depot is really not efficient, as soon as Tang Fan sat in the palanquin, he felt that the palanquin suddenly rose up as if in the air, and started to move fast, but rarely the palanquin only swayed slightly, it did not seem much bumpier than the flat ground, he lifted the curtain to look out, and saw the left and right scenery as if flying backwards, whooshing swept by, his eyes could not catch it, after looking for a long time, he still felt dizzy, he hurriedly lowered the curtain, and took this time to rest his eyes in the palanquin, he went to sleep directly, and then he went to sleep.

His closed eyes, surprisingly, went straight to sleep, when he woke up with two taps on his shoulder, only to see the Western Depot's men come into the palanquin and say: "Da-ren, the palace door is here ".

Tang Fan opened his eyes, felt his body was much better, after a short rest, the feeling of stomach pain also disappeared, could not help but stretch out a bit, bent down to leave the sedan chair.

Wang Zhi was waiting there, full of impatience, and saw him finally arrive, without saying a word turned his head to go inside.

"Quickly go, will be late!"

"What?" This unintentional phrase is puzzling to Tang Fan. “Yun Liang killed himself by swallowing gold.

"Yun Liang committed suicide by swallowing gold." Wang Zhi gave him a look and said.

Ah? Tang Fan was really surprised.

"What exactly have you done?"

"What did I do, I didn't do anything!" Wang Zhi said angrily.

"Then what's going on, why I've only been away for half a day, Yun Liang just..... Does the Crown Prince know about this?" Tang Fan was busy asking.

Wang Zhi asked him to enter the palace, so he took the opportunity of the journey to the Ciqing Palace to tell him about the incident.

After he and Wang Zhi parted ways, Wang Zhi entered the palace, and went directly to Yun Liang to ask about the cause of Han Zao's death.

Yun Liang naturally didn't know the cause of Han Zao's death, and then he was told that it was stupefying for him.

When Wang Zhi saw that he wouldn't confess, he said that he was afraid of the Crown Prince and wanted to cover it up for him, but you still wouldn't admit it, so don't blame me for what will happen to the Crown Prince.

He threatened Yun Liang, saying that he already knew about his collusion with Fu Ru, and if Yun Liang didn't tell the truth, he would have to report it to Her Highness, and then Yun Liang would die even worse, and even the Crown Prince, the Empress Wu, and others would be implicated.

Threats are threats, in fact Wang Zhi did not know what to do.

Han Hui will take action against Han Zao, but to do it at the right time when the Noble Consort Wan will deliver the soup, there must be cooperation from both sides.

One is Yun Liang, Yun Liang was the one who sent Han Zao into the palace, and was the only one in the palace who could have any contact with Han Hui.

Secondly, the Noble Consort Wan must have someone on his side who calculates the time to deliver the soup, and this person would have had to discuss with Yun Liang beforehand, and then choose this time to start.

Before that, Tang Fan had already inferred the truth about Wang Zhi:




The Noble Consort Wan was jealous and vindictive, and hated someone to the bone, and would never change her mind. Just like with the Crown Prince, before the Crown Prince Zhu Yuoqin appeared, there was no woman in the harem who got pregnant and no heir due to the Noble Consort Wan, but because the emperor was in favor of her and no minister in the court dared to speak out, so much so that the emperor had no son at his age and was about to die.

At this time the Crown Prince appeared, and actually was already six years old, that is to say, in her eyes for six years, the Noble Consort Wan was kept in the dark, did not know, this great sense of deception, let the Noble Consort Wan who always dominated the harem fail to endure, so even if she knew the Crown Prince has learned, may hold a grudge in the future,she also killed the Crown Prince's birth mother Ji-shi, the eunuch Zhang Min who helped hide the Crown Prince's existence, was scared directly swallowed metal to commit suicide, is afraid of the Noble Consort Wan revenge.

Therefore, judging from the Noble Consort Wan's character, she must have preferred to raise another concubine's son to be the Crown Prince, rather than let Zhu Youcheng be the Crown Prince.

If she didn't want Zhu Youcheng to be the Crown Prince, why did she give him some green bean and lily soup to please the Crown Prince? The fact that she was not willing to let Zhu Youcheng be the Crown Prince, then why did she send the soup to curry favor with the Crown Prince?

There were only a few people who could serve the Noble Consort Wan and persuade her to do so, and Fu Ru, who was relied on by the Noble Consort Wan, was definitely one of them.

Therefore, Tang Fan and Wang Zhi deduced that if Yun Liang was in collusion with someone close to the Noble Consort Wan, then this Fu Ru, must be the most likely one.

But Wang Zhi can't go to the Noble Consort Wan directly to explain the situation, in that case, the collusion between Yun Liang and Fu Ru will be exposed, Yun Liang is the Crown Prince's close servant again, the Noble Consort Wan will inevitably think that the Crown Prince wants to frame herself, and will definitely go to the Crown Prince to settle the score, then Wang Zhi's goal of trying to please both sides will not be achieved.

Also, Fu Ru is working as a court maid for the Noble Consort Wan, it's a good thing, why did he collude with Yun Liang, why did he come up with all these things?

So Wang Zhi must think of a way to find out the murderer behind the scenes, without giving the Noble Consort Wan an excuse to clean up the harem. Of course, this is not Eunuch Wang's fault.

Of course, this is not Eunuch Wang's compassion, but his desire for political speculation.

Well, no matter what the purpose is, in short, Eunuch Wang did his best.

It's not that he didn't want to take Yun Liang back to the Western Depot for interrogation, but if he did so, there would be a lot of trouble, and the Noble Consort Wan would be aware of it, so Wang Zhi could only take the opportunity of investigating the case first, while sending someone to secretly examine Fu Ru, he also approached Yun Liang, and told him, Fu Ru and Han Hui had already confessed, so that Yun Liang would know better, and confess what he had to, so as not to get more people involved, then all kinds of torture would be inflicted, and he wouldn't die.

In the face of Wang Zhi, Yun Liang could not argue anymore, but he acted calmly, and only said to Wang Zhi that he was responsible for his own work, and he hoped that he would not involve anyone else.

Wang Zhi said dismissively, you don't need to tell me that. If I wanted to make a big deal out of it, I would have gone to your Highness to take the credit.

Yun Liang got his assurance, he said he hoped to see the Crown Prince again, he still had something to say to the Crown Prince.

Wang Zhi agreed.

Then, Wang Zhi hurried out of the palace, came to Tang Fan.

Tang Fan listened to, was silent for a moment, asked: "He committed suicide after meeting with the Crown Prince?"

Wang Zhi nodded: "It's metal so swallowing is not going to make one die right away, there's still some time. It's just you and me who know the inside story from beginning to end. I asked you to come to the palace so that you can find out why Yun Liang did it, whether he did it for personal reasons or for other reasons. Also, we need to discuss what to do with Fu Ru so that we can hide it from Her Highness."

From the moment Yun Liang said he wanted to see the Crown Prince again, Wang Zhi already expected him to do so, because if he wanted to protect the Crown Prince, everything would be clean only if Yun Liang died, and then he would give Fu Ru an accusation, and Han Hui would have to deal with it again, and there would be no proof of his death.

As we were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the Ciqing Palace.

The Crown Prince soon came out to see them, his eyes were a little red, he was still calm, I don't know if I already know anything, he just said to Wang Zhi: "Chamberlain Wang, Prefect Tang, Chamberlain Yuan is very sick, he, he wants to see you....."

Wang Zhi nodded his head, and said, "Her Highness, please show us the way."

The Crown Prince said, "You come with me."

It must be said that the loyalty of those who served the Crown Prince in the East Palace was very high, because these men basically risked their lives in those days to help Ji-shi raise the Crown Prince without the knowledge of the Noble Consort Wan, to watch him grow up, and no one knew at the time that the child would become the Crown Prince, and no one knew if the child would die early, and they knew very well that if the Noble Consort found out, they would be in for a disaster. Nevertheless, these people did it anyway.

For no other reason than to say that even in dark places, there are good people. Because of these people, the Crown Prince didn't grow crooked, he still aspired to the light, pure of heart, Tang Fan could see his heart in his writings fonts, and was equally convinced that the Crown Prince had nothing to do with it, no matter what the weather was like outside.

No matter how the wind and rain troubles outside, the Eastern Palace was a small world many people had defended the Crown Prince with their lives this was not something that could be touched by any gold, silver or treasure that is why even the Western Depot of Wang Zhi could not penetrate in the past it was a place like this where the Crown Prince had no connection with this.

To be honest, with such a place, such a group of people, Tang Fan was also strange, why did Yun Liang do this?




The Crown Prince took Tang Fan to an inconspicuous small room in the East Palace.

At this time Yun Liang was lying on the bed, his face was waxy yellow, just like the two before, he looked as if he did not have many days left.

Suicide by swallowing gold is more difficult and painful than hanging and taking poison, but in the palace, it is not easy to hang yourself, you have to have tools, it is easy to be found, poison is even harder to find, it is much more convenient to swallow gold, as Yun Liang is of such a position, he must have saved a lot of money over the years, just cut some pieces of gold, and serve it with wine, you can achieve the purpose of suicide. This is also a common method of the people in the palace, when the thing was discovered because of the concealment of the birth of the prince, the inner eunuch Zhang Min fears the Noble Consort Wan retaliation, is this kind of suicide.

In addition, the Noble Consort Wan had a bad temper, and often scolded the palace maids around, if Fu Ru could not stand the Noble Consort Wan's actions and became vengeful, Tang Fan believed it, but did not know why she did not directly poison the noble consort, but to use such a roundabout way, this is another doubt to be solved.

But Yun Liang said that even though he was walking towards death, his face was still in a state of shock. When he saw them coming, he asked the Crown Prince to go out first, but without waiting for Tang Fan to ask questions, he took the initiative and said: "I know what you want to ask, I will tell you everything, but I ask you one thing, this has nothing to do with His Highness from the beginning to the end.

Wang Zhi's face was expressionless: "Stop talking nonsense, just say it, why are you doing this?"

Yun Liang sighed and looked sad: "When I first entered the palace, I was assigned to the inner palace to help clean up the Book Depository, at that time, I was young, illiterate, often offended people, and was beaten up, thanks to my sister Ji in the Book Depository, she took care of me, and taught me to read and write, when I was punished without food, she gave me her share of the day, this lifetime, I will never forget her kindness.

"It wasn't until one day that I noticed something strange about my Sister Ji, she couldn't eat and vomited a lot, I was worried that she was sick, so I asked her again and again, and she told me that she might be pregnant."

"After knowing that the child was His Majesty's, I was both happy for her and worried for her, glad that there was no heir in the harem at that time, and that if Sister Ji could give birth to a boy, she would be a consort, and perhaps the child would be made the Crown Prince. She was worried that the Noble Consort Wan was in charge of the harem, even the Empress was deposed for offending her, now the Noble Consort Wan had no heir, would she tolerate her sister to give birth to the child?"

"As it happens, soon afterwards, the Noble Consort Wan heard that Sister Ji was pregnant and sent a maiden to force her to have an abortion. Sister Ji was a good person and there were not many people like me who had benefited from her. After the maiden poured a bowl of abortion medicine into Sister Ji, but we begged for it.

"Fortunately, the medicine did not do much, and His Highness was finally born. You see the hair on the top of His Majesty's head is thinning now, because of the fetus poison that was left behind by the drug..."

Recalling the past, Yun Liang's eyes became distant and moistened.

"After His Highness was born, Sister Ji took him to hide every day, Sister Ji's health was not good, and there was no other case, we had to go around to find His Highness's food, and we had to hide it from Her Highness's eyes and ears, and every day we were scared and scared."

"And so it was until His Majesty was six years old, when Zhang Min confessed His Majesty's existence before His Majesty, and His Majesty was made the Crown Prince, and we all rejoiced, and were happy for Sister Ji, thinking that her good day was finally coming. But before we knew it, within a few months of His Highness being made the Crown Prince, Sister Ji died."




He shed tears, and sobbed: "They say that good people will be rewarded, but I don't understand why there is no good ending for such a good person as Sister Ji."

This question, not to mention Yun Liang, even Tang Fan can't answer it.

There are many people in this world, for such and such selfish purposes, who do things that harm other people's interests and even their lives.

You say the Noble Consort Wan can't even have a son, the Crown Prince is also established, and she persecutes Ji-shi, is it good for her?

In the position of the Noble Consort Wan, of course she would say yes, because she hated Ji-shi for having a son, she couldn't, because she hated Ji-shi for hiding his existence for so many years, and hated herself for being a fool, because she was afraid that the Crown Prince would be crowned, and Ji-shi would be the Empress Dowager, and she would only be a princess...

All of the above, if the Noble Consort Wan needed, naturally she could come up with a whole bunch of reasons.

In her mind, no forgiveness, no tolerance, no backing down from these words...

Now the officials of the dynasty, including the high ranking ministers in the cabinet, do nothing all day, they get by, but they are able to have grandchildren, to enjoy the wealth of glory.

When the Noble Consort Wan had inflicted so much trouble on the ladies and heirs of the royal court, they were the pillars of the country, but they didn't dare to say a word, for fear that the Noble Consort Wan would make them lose their hats and so they let her do whatever she wanted.

On the contrary, those who are usually despised by the civil servants and eunuchs, fought for their lives to save the Crown Prince, but in the end there is no good end.

Is it really true that loyalty and righteousness have been slandered since ancient times, the cunning can be well-funded?

The author has something to say:



When I wrote this, I thought I should pause, let it be a chapter of its own. Because of Yun Liang's doubts, I was writing, I also became disturbed, my eyes were a little wet.

About Yun Liang's statement that "The Crown Prince's hair is thinning because of birth poison", there is indeed a source, but I forget whether it's in Emperor Xiaozong reign's records or the state's records, and it's because of his congenital deficiency that he died early in history.

He didn't dig the Noble Consort Wan's grave, he didn't kill her nine clans, even if some say he was a showman, but I think it's great that he did it.

We ordinary people still have grudges, not to mention the emperor who was already in the highest power at that time, he could take revenge on whoever he wanted, not to mention that his revenge was justified.

There are many people in power in history who have done this, not to mention the nearest one, Jiang Yu, who, just because he was robbed of his heroine's qualification, later on, in a certain movement, he made his family die.

So it's not hard to hate, it's hard to be tolerant.

This chapter is a tribute to the Great Ming Hongxi Emperor, now the Crown Prince.






- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -

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