She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

Chapter 485 Lots of doubts

The emperor of Northern Qi was the first to learn of the news.

After the prefect and the guard on duty that night died, Li Leshan immediately wrote a letter and gave it to the Northern Qi emperor's guard, ordering the guard to deliver it to the emperor's desk with the utmost urgency.

After reading the letter, the Emperor of Northern Qi slammed it on the table and said to the secret guard who delivered it, "The prefect clearly did not commit suicide by poisoning, but was poisoned to death. The person behind this killed my secret guard using the same method and deliberately fabricated the illusion that the guard killed the prefect and, fearing exposure, committed suicide by swallowing poison."

The guard explained, "Your Majesty, after the prefect died, An San has been staying in the governor's mansion's secret prison and has not left for even a moment. During this time, no one else has approached the study."

This statement undoubtedly rules out homicide.

Upon hearing this, the Emperor of Northern Qi was consumed by rage.

If it wasn't murder, could it really have been suicide?

Emperor Bei Qi was probably furious, for his head began to throb. A short while later, the headache intensified; he felt the pain radiating from his veins and tendons throughout his head, instantly turning his face pale.

He shakily pulled out a porcelain bottle, poured out a few pills, and swallowed them.

"Your Majesty, please calm down." Seeing that the Northern Qi Emperor's headache was flaring up from anger, Eunuch Liu quickly put down his whisk and massaged his temples. "Should I send someone to fetch the imperial physician?"

The Northern Qi emperor leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and rested for a quarter of an hour. His headache seemed to have lessened somewhat.

He said weakly, "No need, I'm fine."

Eunuch Liu understood the Northern Qi Emperor's thoughts. Calling the imperial physician for his headache wouldn't be of much use. Besides prescribing some painkillers, he could only instruct the emperor to rest and not get angry.

If the imperial physician is summoned too often, it might give rise to other ulterior motives among the court officials.

Eunuch Liu carefully examined the Northern Qi Emperor's face. It was no longer as pale as before, which relieved him slightly.

He glanced at the kneeling guard and asked, "Your Majesty, now that An San is dead, doesn't the death of the Prefect become an unsolved case?"

The Emperor of Northern Qi frowned.

If An San hadn't died, he could be certain that the murderer was the Prince of Guangling.

After all, only the people of the Prince of Guangling had contact with him before he was taken to the execution ground.

It is highly likely that the Prince of Guangling made a deal with the Prefect, giving him poison in advance and instructing him to confess to the Prince of Xian at the execution ground before swallowing the poison and committing suicide, thus confirming the Prince of Xian's guilt.

"Even if An San is dead, I will still find the murderer. Every goose leaves a trace, every wind leaves a sound. There will always be clues to what has been done." The Emperor of Northern Qi had another guess in his mind: "Starting with the secret guards, I have two other guesses."

"The first possibility is that I once issued a secret order for my guards to assassinate the prefect. Because of their mistake, they failed to silence the prefect before his execution, which gave him the opportunity to implicate the wise prince on the execution ground."

"In order to clear the Xianwang's name, Li Leshan re-detained the Tongpan. However, An San was inflexible and did not know how much harm the Tongpan's death would bring to the Xianwang. He only remembered the secret order I had given, so he took advantage of a break in his duty to poison the Tongpan."

"After the magistrate died, An San realized that he had made a grave mistake, so he committed suicide by swallowing poison to atone for his sins."

"The second possibility is that An San betrayed me and was bribed to kill the prefect."

However, the second possibility is extremely unlikely.

The bodyguards are orphans, with no ties to the world, and cannot be bribed at all.

The Northern Qi emperor preferred the first option.

However, if An San wanted to apologize, he should have returned to the capital to plead guilty and beg for his life.

The Northern Qi emperor felt that there were many suspicious points in this case.

The perpetrators are likely one of three groups.

He was either the Wise King or the King of Guangling.

There was no one else besides them.

At this point, it doesn't matter who the real murderer is.

The key is how to manage public opinion.

The Northern Qi emperor temporarily set the case aside and ordered his secret guards: "Convey my oral decree to Li Leshan: suppress public opinion by any means necessary..."

At this moment, an anxious voice rang out from outside the door: "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Rumors have spread throughout the capital that the Prince Xian has abused his power, sold official positions, solicited and accepted bribes, and persecuted the people of Yongqing County."